The heavy iron door groaned as it swung open, revealing the path ahead. Going through the left door Lily, Arlen and Gina ended up in a cave filled with webs and corpses. It wasn't just a few webs; the entire cavern was draped in thick, sticky shrouds that seemed to pulse in the low light. The rotten stench almost made them threw up, hitting them like a physical wall of decay. It was the smell of old blood and stagnant air. They slowly advanced towards the center to find the spider, with Arlen in the front, his shield gripped tight, and Gina in the middle. Lily stood besides them as they arrived at the center, her eyes darting through the gloom, looking for any sign of movement.
However they did not see the monster they had been briefed on. Instead, a humanoid figure with his teeth bared was chomping down on a spider corpse that was thrice as big as Lily. The sound of tearing flesh echoed through the hollow space. It took them a second before they realized that the figure was eating the spider-general! This was the floor boss, a creature that should have been their final test, and it was being treated like a snack.
Lily looked at her teammates who were confused and afraid. The confusion was almost as thick as the fear—the academy wasn't supposed to let things like this happen. Lily also felt scared at the fact that something had defeated the spider, and it might not be a part of the exam. If this wasn't an illusion or a test, then they were trapped in a room with a predator that was far beyond their level.
They silently agreed to retreat as they slowly turned back to the door, their hearts hammering against their ribs. But the figure had sensed their presence and turned around. He looked annoyed that his meal was disrupted, standing up with a fluid, terrifying grace. He showed his face covered with blood, and only now did Lily notice that the monster had fangs, just like a vampire!
This made Lily tremble even more as vampires were rare creatures that even most advanced mages couldn't defeat. These noble monsters were adept at blood magic which is a type of forbidden magic! This wasn't just power; it was a dark art that manipulated the very life force of others. The three trembled as the vampire spoke, his voice deep and echoing with a strange, melodic power.
"Where do you think you are going?" he asked, his eyes glinting with a predator's curiosity. "I was getting bored after killing this bug. Why were you guys so slow?"
Lily was unable to form a reply as did Arlen. Their voices seemed to have died in their throats. But Gina had mustered up some courage, though it was a shaky kind of bravery. "Who are you and how did you get here?" she stammered as she spoke.
The vampire smirked, looking at them like they were interesting insects. "Why should I tell you that? But I suppose I can give you a hint, hmm... the hint you'll know if you believe, though I doubt you know what that means." After saying that, the vampire folded his hands together and looked upwards in reverence, as if he were acknowledging some unseen deity or performing a sacred rite.
Lily was too focused on thinking about her next action to care about the vampire's riddle. While Arlen and Gina were pondering about the hint, Lily knew she had to strike now or they wouldn't leave this cave alive. She gathered her mana, stabilizing the complex equations in her mind.
Lily casted "Purifier!"
A gun that had a barrel longer than the handle appeared, created out of pure, condensed light. It had a holy glow that illuminated the dark corners of the cave. As Lily had patched most of the problems with the spell's structure during her recent studies, the spell should mostly be stable now. Lily raised her gun at the vampire and quickly fired multiple rounds.
The bullets shot out as it went in covered the area the vampire was in. The vampire didn't dodge instead it separated into small bits of darkness and scattered around. However, having read up on most of the monsters Lily expected this. As the casing of the bullet dissipated to reveal countless needles made of darkness, the needles went in every direction as the black dots scrambled to dodge.
As the barrage ended, the vampire reformed itself, revealing scratches around his body which quickly healed. The vampire bit his lips to hold in the pain the needles caused. He wasn't smiling anymore. Lily didn't stop as she made a ball of light and threw it at the vampire, but he had already stopped fooling around.
The blood from the spider's corpse suddenly surged, draining together into a ball that floated in front of him. The sphere of light exploded near the vampire which made him sustain some damage, but it wasn't too serious. Having woken up from their fear, Arlen and Gina were also about to attack, but the vampire was one step ahead. He exploded the ball of blood as it covered the ground in the entire cave.
As the blood spread onto their feet, it condensed into blades that cut into their bodies. The three students tried their best to dodge, but the floor itself had become a weapon, and they were still cut. Lily was about to cast a water spell to dilute the blood on the ground, hoping to break his control, but she found that no sound came out. Her voice was gone. As she tried to breathe it became more and more difficult, the air itself feeling thick and heavy.
As the three of them collapsed onto the ground, their strength leaving them, the vampire stood over them. He tapped four spots across his chest in a precise, ritualistic pattern before folding his hands together. Lily was just about to pass out, her vision blurring into darkness, before she heard the vampire say to himself:
"Its not time yet, I'll leave you guys since I got what I came here for."
The vampire turned around and simply disappeared into the air. A professor shortly appeared, bursting into the room, and casted a spell on them as Lily passed out.
Meanwhile, on Kane's side, things were quiet—too quiet. They walked towards the right door as it didn't make them automatically fail. They had braced for a fight, but walking in they saw nothing. There were no monsters, no blood, and no sounds. As the path stretched endlessly before them into a white, sterile void, they realized that the challenge of the right door was not about strength, but about something else entirely.