“I am-” Bones started, but Frank cut him off. “Skip the introductions! Your arm - what happened?” Frank's voice rose in distress. Jeanie watched quietly, furrowing her brows, unable to conceal her own worry.

  "Come. Sit down! Mathias, get another chair," Frank commanded, as Albion approached with weary steps and sank into the chair. He raised his hand to his face, conveying stress and disappointment. The man was clearly in pain. After taking a deep breath...

  "I should begin from the start. About a month ago..." Albion began his story. The resistance leader had vowed to uncover the threat lurking in the Undercity, and through sheer determination, he succeeded, but at a great cost. Albion used his rat familiars to navigate the sewers and tunnels of the Undercity, tracing the sources of shrill sounds echoing through the passageways. Initially unnoticed, he got close enough to identify the sources: dozens of pale, hairless figures moving aimlessly. These figures mingled and screeched at each other, seemingly communicating. Albion identified them as Lesser Vampires, similar in appearance to the Vampire Spawn beyond the city walls.

  "Wait, are you sure they were Lesser Vampires and not Vampire Spawn?" Frank interjected. There is a significant difference between the two. Lesser Vampires could somewhat control their cravings, were capable of speech, and possessed a basic level of intelligence. Though they couldn't use blood magic, their physical capabilities far exceeded those of humans of the same level.

  "I'm certain. My Identify revealed them to be between levels fifty-one and fifty-four, at least the ones I identified. But the one from back then... that one was different." Albion trailed off, his eyes vacant as he shivered at the memory of his encounter.

  "That one?" Frank pressed for details.

  "The one I encountered two weeks ago. I made a hideout, a small hole in one of the remote caverns to hide and spend the nights. Each day I ventured further and marked the vampire sightings on the map." Albion reached inside his coat and pulled out a rolled map. He unrolled it, revealing a web of tunnels with numerous red markings and one black skull icon. He pointed at the skull and continued.

  "This is the place. I was being careful, as always, so as not to be detected but he was there, waiting for me, as if he anticipated me. He appeared out of nowhere and said, 'So you were the one sneaking around?' My body froze. I had never heard one talk; they always screeched at each other. Hearing him talk terrified me more than all the screeching." Albion paused as Bones noted the exchanged looks in the room. It was unexpected; Lesser Vampires shouldn't have developed cognitive processes for complex thoughts and coherent speech. Were there exceptions? Bones wondered.

  "Did you identify the vampire?" he asked, seeing others wondering the same.

  Albion nodded and replied, "Lesser Vampire, level sixty."

  After a brief silence, Mathias asked what happened next. Albion's face grew tense. "I used my rat familiars to distract the vampire while I fled. I ran past my hiding place without looking back. I could hear him gaining on me. I ran until I reached the old sewer system I used to enter the Undercity, then kept running until I reached our hideout - the resistance's hideout."

  "Don't tell me..." Jeanie stood up, a bead of sweat running down her cheek. Albion nodded again, choking on his words. The vampire followed his scent to the hideout, where he began massacring young and old alike. Out of thirty or so members, only six survived, wounded and injured, and Albion sacrificed an arm to escape.

  The resistance leader hid his tears behind his hand. His risky endeavor had caused the deaths of others, but no one blamed him. Jeanie's comforting words helped ease his pain and reassured him that the information he provided was crucial for the upcoming plan. She helped him walk out of the basement and up the stairs to join the other survivors on the second floor of the smithy. The others waited for her return, then voiced their thoughts.

  "The last vampire was no doubt a Lesser Vampire; I don't have an explanation about the others, they shouldn't appear as primal." Mathias was the first one to speak.

  "I agree." Frank agreed., then shared his own thoughts. "It was as if someone evolved the Vampire Spawn to second tier without actually evolving their race to Lesser Vampires…is that even possible?" He asked.

  "Not from what we know, but then again, we don't really know much about the abilities of a Vampire Lord, do we?" Jeanie pitched in. "What about you Bones? Any thoughts on the matter?"

  Lost in thought, Bones acknowledged that his understanding of vampires came from literature and previous dungeon encounters. Regrettably, the dungeon had altered their abilities to fit its difficulty. Shaking his head, he conceded his experience was confined to dungeon runs but voiced his concerns.

  "Won't the vampires be on alert now? What if Alucard's brides, or even Alucard himself, come looking for us?"

  The group fell silent, considering the implications.

  Stolen story; please report.

  "Not necessarily," Frank replied. "The resistances were discovered and dealt with, not us. There's no reason for the Vampire Lord or his direct subordinates to act. I doubt they'll even hear about it; opposition has existed before. We'll proceed with caution and observe for any changes. If things remain normal over the next few days, we'll continue with our plan." The others nodded in agreement.

  No search for surviving resistance members occurred, nor were there any changes in the behavior of guards and patrols. Disappearances persisted daily, and everyone spent their time preparing in their own way.

  Jeanie, as Bones recently discovered, didn't rely as heavily on stealth tactics as the other two did. She had an affinity with earth and wood elements, which was the source of her strength. Intrigued by her wood sculpting skills, Bones watched her transform a wooden block into a hawk. Ignoring the details, the sculpture was anatomically accurate and simple in design, except for a small compartment in the chest area that Jeanie used to safely store the reports on their findings and the upcoming plan. After the sculpting and shaping came the creation of the nucleus. At least that's how Bones created his minions. Jeanie made her familiars a bit differently. She channeled mana into the hawk for five minutes, and after she finished, the hawk transformed into a more refined version with sharp claws and a beak, a long tail, and short rounded wings capable of flight. The familiar came to life shortly after, and Bones watched in fascination as hundreds of thin tendrils of mana from within allowed the hawk to move freely as if it were alive. Jeanie sent her hawk to Wolford to report. What would result from her report, she didn’t know.

  Mathias practiced stealth techniques, combining advanced stealth that almost completely erased his presence with illusions that distorted his form and rendered him invisible to the naked eye. Even Bones, with his Omnipresent Perception, failed to detect his form as the man moved around the basement, unnoticed. Mathias, true to his haughty character, continued showcasing his superior skills with a blade, even demonstrating an ability to create a temporary shadow familiar in the form of a dog, capable of reconnaissance.

  Frank was perhaps the busiest. As a blacksmith in his situation, he had to maintain appearances, crafting commissioned tools while separately designing and creating a drill powered with mana stones, capable of boring a hole through concrete within an hour. The drill was a solution he devised that would allow them to reach the areas and tunnels separated by thick layers of earth. Two weeks later, their plan to infiltrate the Undercity was ready.

  On the day of worship, when the streets were most crowded, five cloaked figures exited the smithy and headed to the western district. Unlike the citizens, the second-tier guards stayed vigilant at their posts.

  "As expected, we'll need to take an alternative route," Mathias remarked, observing the guarded district entrance through a window. He turned to the others behind him and nodded. The five of them descended into the house's basement, where a hole had been drilled through the concrete wall, and the previous residents lay buried.

  The day before the mission, Albion had led Mathias back to the tunnel entrance he once used to escape a pursuing vampire. They aimed to see if the same path could be used again, but found it blocked and collapsed. Since the route was already known, drilling through the obstructed entrance wasn't an option. Guided by Albion's familiar, they scouted for the optimal starting point for their operation and were led to the house they now occupied. Mathias, refusing to take any risks, eliminated the couple who previously lived there. Using Frank's drill, he bored a hole through the wall and descended into the sewers. While Albion stayed behind to control the familiar from the basement, Mathias followed the rat until he was halted by iron doors. Peering through the keyhole, he saw toxic fumes further down the tunnel. He returned to the basement, and together, they went back to the smithy. After sharing the new information, the team adjusted their plan, involving Bones and his expertise.

  "Even though our original plan has been slightly modified, our mission remains the same. Bones will enter the tunnel with Albion's familiar and, using the drill as guided, will create an opening for Mathias. From there, you two are on your own, but I'm confident in your capabilities. While I don't know you personally, Bones, the fact that both Gauss and Lewry vouched for you is sufficient for me. Mathias, don't forget the gas mask; you never know when it might come in handy."

  "Meanwhile, Jeanie and I will wait until nightfall to initiate our part. I'm not certain if the disturbance we create will be enough of a distraction to gain access to the Western District, so just concentrate on your mission. If things go awry, you know where to retreat. Albion, you'll stay here and focus on your familiar. You've been invaluable so far, and I don't want to put you in further danger. You've done enough." Frank concluded his motivational speech. Albion nodded solemnly, aware of his limitations, especially now with only one arm, while the others displayed the resolve needed to succeed and return home. Bones remained indifferent; his journey didn’t end with this mission, but he too wished for its success.

  With nods exchanged instead of farewells, Bones descended into the hole, crawling at an angle until he encountered a sudden drop. He landed flat on his back, narrowly avoiding head injury. Once he regained his bearings, he assessed his surroundings. The sewer tunnels were narrow, reaching only up to his torso in height. He had to proceed by crouching or moving on all fours. Albion's rat familiar fell shortly after, chose a direction, and began running. Not wanting to fall behind, Bones followed on all fours. Albion, experienced in navigating the tunnels, quickly led them to the spot where Mathias had stopped. Bones examined the lock on the iron bars, then the hinges holding the doors. Pausing briefly, he pressed his hand against the door, released a contained mana pulse, and knocked the doors off their hinges. He glanced at Albion through the rat's eyes and simply said, "The door hinges had deteriorated over time."

  The rat scurried ahead and Bones followed, undeterred by the fumes. Eventually, the familiar stopped and scratched at the floor, marking the drilling spot. Moments later, the rat collapsed, dead. Bones exhaled, summoned the drill, and began his work.

  In the basement outside the sewers, Albion opened his eyes, no longer required to concentrate on his familiar, and informed others that Bones had begun to drill. As previously arranged, an hour later, Albion sent another rat familiar to Bones. This time, the toxic fumes were dispersed, seeping through a drilled hole into the old sewer system below. The rat leaped down the hole and landed in Bones' hands, who was expecting its arrival. After setting the rat down, the two continued, and an hour later, the rat once again marked the spot, and Bones drilled. This time, directly into the bowels of the Undercity.