Appetizer

The first level of the catacombs.

The sweet, metallic stench of fresh blood hung thick in the gloomy air.

Balu the beastkin gripped his rusty warhammer, looking first at the pile of ashes on the ground, then over at Nikus, who was locked in combat with the werewolf.

He scratched his bald green head.

Balu hesitated for a moment before coming to a decision.

Tightening his grip on the handle, he stomped over toward Nikus.

He was going to give the tin can a hand.

After all, that fierce human woman had promised to help him find his priest's killer.

The werewolf lashed out with a claw, tearing through the air with a sharp whistle. Nikus raised his broadsword horizontally to block, sparks showering where steel met claw.

Balu swung his hammer, bringing it down viciously toward the werewolf.

However, the heavy, powerful strike hit nothing but air.

The moment a sharp whistle pierced the air, the werewolf abandoned Nikus, scrambling across the floor on all fours toward Hawk.

This sudden shift caused Balu's hammer to miss completely.

At that exact second, Rosie's meteoric iron sword cleaved the air, tracing a teal arc directly above Hawk as it sliced down.

Hawk didn't dare block it directly. He jerked his body to the side, the sharp edge severing threads off his clothes by a hair's breadth.

Snapping his right wrist, he hurled his handaxe, sending it flying in a treacherous curve straight for Rosie's face.

Rosie simply flicked her wrist, flicking the tip of her meteoric iron sword upward.

The blade deflected Hawk's handaxe off course, sending it clattering against the adjacent stone wall with a loud clang.

Seeing Hawk disarmed, Rosie prepared to press her advantage.

Suddenly, the sound of rushing air cut through the space behind her.

Vera's voice followed immediately after: “Look out!”

Without hesitating or looking back, Rosie ducked low to the side and executed a swift roll across the stone floor.

A powerful gust grazed her back, sending a draft scraping past the edges of her brigandine armor.

She completed her roll, bounced back to her feet, and raised her eyes.

A massive figure now stood between her and Hawk.

The werewolf's crimson eyes locked onto Rosie. Baring its fangs, a low, continuous growl rumbled deep in its throat.

“Steel Tooth! Kill her! Kill all of them!”

Hawk's voice called out from behind the werewolf, laced with desperate fury.

The werewolf dropped low on its forelimbs, its shoulder blades bulging beneath its fur as the muscles along its spine coiled like springs.

Then it kicked off the ground and pounced.

The moment its feet pushed off, Rosie drew a deep breath, gripped her meteoric iron sword with both hands, and swung fiercely straight through the creature's path.

Blade met claw in midair, producing a sharp, ringing metallic clash.

The massive impact pushed Rosie back, the soles of her boots scraping harshly against the stone floor.

Putting the full force of her arms into the blade, she dragged the sword horizontally across the claws.

The meteoric iron edge grated against the werewolf's claws with an ear-splitting screech, raining showers of bright orange sparks from the point of contact.

The claws shattered at the knuckles, sending fragments of bone and keratin flying meters away.

Almost at the exact instant the claws broke, a silver bolt came flying from the side, sinking cleanly into one of the werewolf's eye sockets.

The bolt lodged halfway deep, its fletching vibrating rapidly while a sizzling sound hissed from around the wound.

The werewolf let out a low howl of agony, reaching up to yank out the bolt.

Rosie's second swing arrived with flawless timing.

The keen blade bit deep into the crook of the werewolf's elbow, slicing through fur, flesh, and tendon before bursting out the other side.

A thick forearm slid free along the cut, crashing to the floor with a heavy thud.

Combat Skill—Severing Strike.

When facing monsters with rapid regeneration, taking off a limb was far better than inflicting a hundred shallow wounds.

“Argh!”

The werewolf cried out in anguish.

No matter how fast its regeneration was, it couldn't instantly regrow a whole arm.

Right at that moment, another broad swath of silver light swung in from the side.

Carrying every ounce of Nikus's pent-up strength, his broadsword whirled straight toward the werewolf's head.

Driven by pure survival instinct, the werewolf whipped its remaining claw around and caught the broadsword by the blade.

At the same time, it opened its fanged maw and lunged straight for Nikus's head.

Gleaming fangs glinted with cold, lethal intent.

Just then, a hammer jabbed in from the side.

Afraid swinging the warhammer might hit Nikus, Balu the beastkin simply shoved the head of the hammer straight into the werewolf's jaws.

The heavy hammerhead wedged between the werewolf's jaws with a nauseating screech of grinding metal and teeth.

Seizing the opening, Rosie threw her entire weight into the sword hilt, pivoting hard at the hips as the blade whirled around her in a broad, sweeping arc.

The meteoric iron sword bit sideways into the werewolf's cervical spine, slicing straight through the cartilage and bone before exiting out the other side.

The head slid free from the neck and thudded onto the stone floor.

The headless body stood frozen for a second, dark red blood surging from the severed neck before it pitched forward with a heavy thud.

The hall fell dead silent for a moment.

Rosie's chest heaved, her sword hand trembling slightly. The continuous high-speed bursts and that final spinning cut had taken a heavy toll on her stamina.

She rested the tip of her sword against the floor and gasped heavily for air.

“Hahaha... To think you've gotten this strong in such a short time.”

Hawk's voice drifted over from the stairwell.

He was currently sitting on the steps, slumped against the wall, a bolt pinning his knee to the stone.

Blood trickled down the bolt shaft, spreading into a wide, dark stain across his trousers.

He had intended to flee the moment Rosie severed the werewolf's arm.

However, Vera had put a bolt right through his knee—a fatal handicap that made even moving an ordeal.

Just as Hawk had intended to massacre everyone from the start, Vera had no intention of letting him leave alive either.

Rosie lifted her meteoric iron sword off the floor and stepped toward the stairs.

“Thanks for the compliment! Now please die.”

She raised her sword, pointing it straight at Hawk.

Hawk tilted his head back against the wall, his eyes lingering on the tip of the blade.

“Do you know where that werewolf came from? He was actually—”

The meteoric iron sword sheared through the left side of his neck, locking his unfinished words forever in his throat.

The scarred head slid down the angle of the cut and tumbled down the steps.

His body remained seated on the step for a moment, blood spurting from the neck before it sloughed sideways onto the stone.

“Doesn't matter who he was. He's dead now, just like you.”

Rosie flicked her wrist to clean the blood off the blade, then sheathed her sword.

Silence descended over the hall once more.

Only the heavy stench of blood mixed with the damp, claustrophobic air of the catacombs remained, enough to make anyone gag.

“Huh? Is... is it over already?” Balu asked.

Rosie turned to look at Vera.

Vera was unlatching her bolt magazine, pulling fresh crossbow bolts from her hip quiver to reload it.

Sensing Rosie's gaze, she spoke up:

“Of course not. This was just an appetizer. The actual vampire hasn't been eliminated yet.”

“What was that creature from before, then?” Rosie asked.

“A mimic gargoyle. The vampire likely summoned it specifically to deal with us,” Vera said as she slung her repeating crossbow back across her shoulders.

“So it was a trap?” Rosie said.

“You could say that. Gargoyles are nearly invulnerable to conventional weapons; they can only be destroyed by shattering their core. Without the werewolf distracting it, plus Balu's hammer, killing it would have been nearly impossible.”

Vera glanced over at the beastkin.

Balu puffed out his chest proudly. “Ha! Now you see why taking me along was a good idea!”

“If that vampire can summon a gargoyle to impersonate itself, what if it can disguise itself as something else...”

Rosie's tone bore a hint of anxiety.

She wasn't terrified by the vampire's power, but rather worried about failing to find its true body.

If she couldn't find it, she couldn't kill it—and if she couldn't kill it, she couldn't claim the quest rewards.

Without rewards, wouldn't this entire trip be a total waste?

Vera walked over and crossed her arms over her chest. “Our only choice is to keep guarding the High Priestess of Art. I refuse to believe it can resist such high-quality prey for long.”

“That broad at the Temple of Art is probably scared out of her mind,” Balu chimed in. “She used to wander around the city every single day, bewitching you humans into becoming her followers. Now she doesn't even dare step outside during daytime.”

Rosie's attention was instantly piqued by his words.

“How do you know that?”

“Me and our priest used to compete with that broad for followers every day. But she was too cunning—taking advantage of having bigger pecs than any of us to steal our worshipers!”

Balu spoke with deep resentment.

“Pecs? No... I mean, how do you know she doesn't dare go out during the day?”

“She used to make a massive show of going out every single day, but lately nobody's seen her come out at all.”

Rosie narrowed her eyes.

She felt her train of thought ignite like dry tinder, crackling into vivid clarity in an instant.

She burst out laughing. “I see. Right under our noses!”

Vera glanced at her. “You don't suspect the High Priestess, do you?”

“I'm not certain, but we'll know once we test it.”

Rosie said, then turned back to the beastkin.

“Balu! Do me a favor and toss these corpses into the pit on the third level. I'll buy you a meal later.”

“Will do!” The beastkin put down his warhammer, walked over, and picked up a corpse in each hand.

While the beastkin cleared the bodies, Vera stole a glance at Nikus.

Nikus hadn't said a word the entire time, but through the visor of his helm, his eyes burned with resentment and helplessness.

After all, no one would be thrilled to find out a death order had been issued against them.

Catching Vera's glance, Rosie reminded him, “Sir Nikus, Hawk's words don't add up. If the royal family truly wanted you dead, they wouldn't need to go through all this trouble. Besides, you forgot that Hawk joined later. He was never part of the original plan.”

“Goluk! It must be him!” Nikus spat bitterly. “That bastard has been conducting forbidden research in the outskirts of the royal city all along.”

“Since it wasn't the royal family's doing, you have nothing to worry about, Nikus,” Vera said.

Nikus said nothing more, merely giving a silent nod.

“What about this big guy? I think he's a bit too huge to fit into the pit,” the beastkin asked, gesturing to the massive werewolf carcass.

Rosie walked over. With a few swift, decisive strikes of her sword, she hacked the werewolf carcass into several manageable pieces.

“That'll do.”

With that, she walked over to the stairwell, picked up Hawk's headless body, and headed toward the lower level.

“Lend a hand, everyone. The sooner we clear this up, the sooner we can head to the temple to meet the High Priestess.”

With her sentence finished, she punted Hawk's head like a ball, sending it flying straight down into the catacombs below.