Chapter 614: The Vampire Wife and Her Husband’s Family |
Charlie was riding in a car. This world still felt strange to her. But she was happy. She and Luke had taken a big step together. Just remembering what they had shared made heat rise into her cheeks. Charlie touched a finger to her own lips.
It’s been a few days since I last kissed Master Luke.
Then she remembered their first night together, how little they had slept, how intense it had all felt. She pressed both hands to her cheeks, her heart racing.
I need to calm down. Why am I thinking about that now? Do I just miss Master Luke that much?
“We’re almost there,” the driver said.
Her focus snapped back.
“O-okay.”
Truthfully, she had no idea how to get around in a place like this, but she had been following the route through something called GPS.
Are we close?
Today is Master Luke’s birthday.
It was also the day she would be introduced to his family as his girlfriend. She looked down at the clothes she was wearing.
Is this dress pretty?
She wanted to make a good impression. But now it struck her that she had no idea how to behave. What was she supposed to say? Something like: I like your son, I think he’s adorable, and I want to stay by his side forever? Or, Would you permit me to steal your son away for myself?
She laughed quietly at the thought.
Then the nerves came rushing back, because she truly had no idea how to interact with Luke’s parents as his girlfriend.
“We’re here.”
Without thinking, Charlie almost reached for the sword in her system inventory.
“Ah. Right,” she said, climbing out and taking the gift from the seat.
The moment she stepped out of the car, she pressed a hand to her heart. Even as a kind of undead, able to command her organs to function or remain still, her heart was beating much too fast from nerves.
“Charlie,” someone called, and she nearly jumped.
“Layla? What are you doing here?”
Layla was crouched on the sidewalk, practically curled in on herself.
“I-I got here late, and now I’m too embarrassed to go in,” she said.
“It’s the devil, isn’t it?” another voice said.
An old woman stepped out of the neighboring house.
“You’re going to the devil’s party, aren’t you? Oh, I know all about it. For fifteen years, that little pest Moon has come every Halloween birthday to throw toilet paper all over my house. But he didn’t come this year, even after coming back from the dead.”
She looked toward Luke’s house and clutched a necklace with a cross hanging from it.
“That’s exactly how I know he’s the devil. The real little menace died.”
“That woman is insane, Charlie,” Layla whispered.
“She’s not crazy,” Charlie murmured. “I think her name is Rosa.”
“You don’t believe me, do you?” the old woman said, laughing as she backed toward her door. “But I know the truth. When the devil comes back, he’ll bring the end of the world with him.”
Then she went back inside.
“Why don’t we just go in?” Charlie asked.
“I-I can’t,” Layla said. “You go first. I-I’m leaving.”
“But why? You’re already here.”
“It’s just... Charlie, I expected his family to be mobsters or criminals or psychopaths. I was honestly scared to come here. But everything’s normal. The neighborhood is ordinary. The lawn is normal. There is no way that bastard came from a regular family. How did he end up like that?” she said in one breath.
“We should go.”
“I-I’m too embarrassed. Professor Eleanor is in there, and I quit the job she got for me. S-so here’s what I’ll do. You go in, get welcomed as the girlfriend, and I’ll show up later for dinner.”
“You’re leaving?”
“I live two blocks from here. The bastard is basically my neighbor. Go ahead. I don’t want to ruin your big entrance.”
Then Layla turned and ran off.
She’s a little crazy.
Charlie took a deep breath and walked up to the door. The street was decorated with playful Halloween decorations. There were even skeletons.
Good to know this place is welcoming to monsters.
She pressed the doorbell. Her heart started pounding. Charlie almost focused her super hearing to find out what was happening inside, but decided that would only make her more nervous.
I need to calm down.
The door opened.
“Hello, dear. Who are you?” a woman asked.
Master Luke’s adoptive mother. What do I say? I’m not ready. I didn’t know she’d be the one to answer the door.
“C-Charlie.”
Then Luke appeared behind her.
“This is the person I told you was still coming, Mom,” he said.
“H-here. Happy birthday, Master Luk— I mean, Luke,” Charlie said, offering the gift with a trembling hand.
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“You missed lunch, unfortunately,” Clara said.
Did I lose points with her? Please, don’t let me have lost points. I swear I’ll be a good wife for him.
That thought only made her more nervous.
“How was the trip from your hotel?” Luke asked.
The moment she stepped into the room, everyone turned to look at her.
“Who... is this?” Evangeline asked.
“This is Charlie. The knight who came with me during the tutorial.”
“I thought she was a zombie, not a gorgeous woman,” Evangeline said bluntly.
“Zombie?” Luke’s adoptive father asked.
Things gradually settled after that. Everyone started warming up to her. But then everything changed all at once.
[Planetary Event Successfully Activated!]
[Your planet has reached 51% system integration. With this, the final requirement for full integration has been fulfilled. A global-scale event has been triggered to complete the integration of all living beings. The remaining 49% of non-integrated individuals will be automatically integrated during the Planetary Event. The predominant race of this world (humans) will be transported to another realm, integrated or non-integrated, where they will undergo the Planetary Event.]
And no one understood what was happening.
[The theme of your Planetary Event is... Sunken Realms!]
“Master Lu—” Charlie began, just as she felt her body start to disappear.
She was pulled upward into the sky, then beyond it, into a dark place full of stars. For a brief moment, she saw several planets, and then her body was hurled toward one that was entirely blue.
[Selecting which island you will be assigned to...]
[Selecting participants for your island’s challenge!]
[The theme of your island’s challenge is... Night of Horror!]
Charlie found herself trapped inside a box. She punched until it broke open, and when she climbed out, she realized she was inside a cabin.
“Master Luke!” she screamed.
At the same time, she looked down at herself. Her dress was gone, replaced by simple, worn-looking clothes.
“A coffin?”
She had been trapped inside a coffin. When she stepped out of the cabin, she found herself in a village.
“My family!” someone screamed.
“Where am I?!” another shouted.
People poured out of the houses in confusion, yelling over one another.
“Where’s my wife? Have you seen my wife?” a man shouted as he ran past her.
“Master Luke!” Charlie called again.
She jumped and landed on top of a house, scanning the village for him. Then she opened the system screen and drew her sword, a system item she had received back during the tutorial.
Island Challenge: Night of Horror
In this challenge, a thousand participants woke up scattered across villages on the island. Weapons and tools are spread throughout the villages for those who do not have any. Arm yourselves, work together, and prepare. At night, the beasts of this island become hostile and will come at you in hordes. The forest is their home, and the village is where they keep away during the day. Protect the village, or lose it, and you will have no safe place at dawn.
There is only one objective on this first day: survive the first night. When the 24-hour time limit ends, the Stage 1 challenge of your island will be fully revealed.
Good luck.
For the next several hours, Charlie ran from place to place looking for Luke, or anyone she recognized.
Far in the distance, she spotted other villages and sprinted toward them.
“What do we do?” someone asked.
The village she reached was in the middle of a meeting. Everyone had gathered in the center.
“I don’t know, but you all saw the system notification. Tonight, any of us could die,” one of them said.
Charlie moved through the crowd, checking faces.
“I was a supermarket chain manager, not some damn soldier. I have no idea what’s happening here, but I demand that you send me back home.”
“Did you have a system?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Then that’s why you’re stuck in this hell with the rest of us.”
“We need to reinforce the houses, build barricades, set traps,” someone else said.
“Master Luke?” Charlie stepped closer to a man, but when he turned around, it was not him.
She tried to focus on Luke’s scent, but she could not find it. Even so, she kept searching while the others argued over what to do.
“I haven’t even leveled my class. I don’t know how to use a damn sword.”
“If your class is already chosen, then the knowledge is in there somewhere. You’ll have to figure out how to use it.”
“What did each of you do before this? Who can help me with traps or barricades?”
“I worked for a mining company,” one man said, raising his hand. “My profession level is thirty-seven. I’ve got skills that can help.”
“I used to cut wood for my brother-in-law’s construction business,” another said. “I know barricades, and I’ve got construction skills.”
“Who else can help?”
Charlie stood atop a house as night fell. There was still no sign of Master Luke. The entire village had gone silent. Everyone was afraid, clutching their weapons tightly. Then came the howls from the forest. Then the growls. And finally, the creatures emerged: monstrous wolves.
“May God help us,” someone whispered, trembling.
The villagers had scattered sharpened stakes around the area and tried to build barricades, but they were unfinished. Then the beasts hit. The attack began. Almost half the people ran immediately.
“Damn it, we need to stay together,” someone shouted.
“They’re low level. Most of them were civilians with systems meant for work,” said a calm man holding a crossbow. “I was a police officer in Texas. Stay together and don’t break formation.”
He fired bolt after bolt. Charlie saw people getting dragged away by the beasts. Angry, frustrated, still searching for Luke, she walked straight into the middle of the monsters. When one lunged at her, she turned and cut through its neck in a single motion. With a kick, she sent another flying. One clean thrust drove her sword through the skull of a third.
[Ravenous Wolf - Lvl 32]
Charlie blinked. The beasts were unbelievably...
Weak.
She was almost annoyed at herself for preparing so seriously. Charlie kept walking forward, meeting the beasts head-on.
“This is insane,” someone muttered.
She spun her sword. Struck. And the beasts died.
“Who is she?”
With one swing, Charlie severed the head of another wolf.
I need Blood Energy for my Blood Core.
[Blood Core: 73/100]
Charlie lured one of the beasts into a house. Once inside, she wounded it, then plunged her hand into the injury. The creature started melting, as if its body were made of red wax. Then, from the blood, a small bat emerged.
“Lulie.”
The little bat greeted her. Charlie leveled her sword at it. The little bat dissolved into blood and spread across the blade, staining it a deep crimson as her skill activated.
[Sword Vampire Drain (Epic)]: The Blood Familiar dissolves into liquid crimson, coating the Blood Death Knight’s blade in a deep, hungry red. Every strike not only inflicts bleeding but siphons Blood Energy from living foes whose essence is compatible with vampiric feeding. This synergy turns the Blood Death Knight into a true execution machine on the battlefield, class and race operating in perfect harmony.
Combined with her Vampiric Beast skill, it was perfect for her.
[Vampiric Beast Devour (Ancient)]: The Beast within you begins to awaken, granting the power of Beast Devouring. Your Bloodline expands your capacity to feed. Now, when you drain the blood of Magical Beasts, that vital fluid is converted into Blood Energy, strengthening your Blood Core and easing your Vampiric Hunger even more efficiently than Vampiric Bite. In addition, the ferocity inside you answers the call. By devouring parts of living enemies, your Beast extracts fragments of vitality and essence, which also generate Blood Energy. Beast Devour not only nourishes your body, it sharpens your instincts, fuels your predatory nature, and pushes your Vampiric Bloodline into a wilder state. Let the Beast within you grow stronger. Answer the call of your blood and walk the path of ferocity.
Killing with Lulie’s power did not grant as much Blood Energy as drinking the blood herself, but it still helped.
“Thank you,” a woman said after Charlie killed the beast attacking her.
When dawn came, the monsters should have retreated back into the forest. Instead, Charlie had killed every last one of them.
[Objective successfully completed!]
More information loaded.
Next Challenge: The Archipelago of Horror
Your island is part of an archipelago with three other islands. At the end of the one-month time limit, all four islands will draw together and become a single island. However, one of those four islands is made up of people who were formerly imprisoned in your world. You should prepare yourselves, because when they arrive, they may not be as peaceful as you are.
May the strongest survive, and may the true survivors be forged.
Good luck.