Chapter 185 – Eight Monsters

Min Do-jun and Theodore continued walking through the forest after leaving the cabin.

Min Do-jun was still leading the way, but Theodore, who was following behind, had a slightly dissatisfied expression on his face.

‘Rather than walking aimlessly like this, it would be better to find the castle…’

Vampire’s Night consists of the forest field and the castle sub-dungeon.

The field has fewer monsters, but each one is quite strong, while the castle is different.

‘There are more monsters in the castle, and they’re weaker than the werewolves.’

And since the experience points were higher, it was better to hunt inside the castle.

‘But Hunter Min Do-jun is just walking without any direction.’

Thanks to their aimless wandering earlier, they had managed to defeat a boss-like creature, but such luck wouldn’t strike twice.

‘If I knew the direction to the castle, I would have told him…’

Since Theodore didn’t know where they were either, he couldn’t suggest heading to the castle.

But his worries were unfounded.

Though it seemed like Min Do-jun was walking without purpose, he was actually heading precisely toward the castle.

‘Now that I’ve defeated the field boss, I need to take down the sub-dungeon boss.’

There was a boss in the castle too.

Not an intermediate boss like before, but a main boss.

As they continued walking, occasionally hunting werewolves that appeared, a notification popped up.

[Achievement – S-rank Monster Slaughterer!]

-Condition: Hunt 1,000 S-rank monsters

-Reward: S-grade magic stone

‘Huh? Have I already killed 1,000 monsters?’

Even combining the S-rank monsters he had killed in the Shadow of the Desert and here, it shouldn’t reach 1,000.

‘Could the monsters I killed in the Tower of Infinity be counted too?’

If S-rank monsters were being counted, he had killed quite a few in the Tower of Infinity, so that was likely.

‘The Tower of Infinity is quite generous.’

Just then.

Growl-

A monster the size of a wild boar appeared.

‘That’s a Vampire Hound!’

Theodore recognized the monster and brightened.

‘If Vampire Hounds are appearing, it means the castle is nearby!’

Min Do-jun, who also knew this, smiled slightly.

After defeating a boss on his own, he certainly wasn’t afraid of Vampire Hounds.

Woof woof- Kyaang!

Slash-

[Experience +138,000] (100% contribution)

Vampire Hounds were weaker than werewolves.

‘With Vampire Hounds, you just need to watch out for their teeth.’

If bitten by one, anyone would be paralyzed.

‘And they’ll suck your blood at the same time.’

Paralyzed while having your blood drained?

In such a situation, unless a companion rescued you, there was no way out.

You would have to watch yourself die with your eyes wide open.

“Die!”

Theodore swung his hammer at a hound that was targeting him.

Crunch!

He crushed its head, but he failed to notice another hound charging from behind.

Chomp!

“Ugh!”

Theodore, whose leg had been slightly bitten, suddenly felt all the strength drain from his body.

‘Pa-paralysis!’

The fortunate thing was that he was in the middle of swinging his hammer.

Thud-!

The hound was hit by the hammer and knocked away.

But since he couldn’t put his full strength into it, the hound staggered back to its feet and approached.

‘Quickly, quickly!’

The paralysis was gradually wearing off, but the hound had already come right up to his face.

‘No, no!’

Just as he was about to be bitten again and have his blood drained without being able to move.

Stab!

Min Do-jun, who had finished dealing with his own targets, stabbed the hound’s head.

“Haah… I survived.”

“Don’t let your guard down. If you were alone, you would have died.”

“Yes. Thank you, Hunter Min Do-jun.”

Theodore wiped away his cold sweat and bowed deeply.

Having always hunted in parties, he hadn’t realized how terrifying Vampire Hounds could be until now.

‘If I get bitten while alone, it’s really dangerous.’

It was fortunate that he had a companion to help him; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to get up so easily.

“Has the paralysis worn off completely?”

“Yes. I’m perfectly fine!”

“What about where you were bitten?”

Theodore examined his leg.

“It’s bleeding a little, but not enough to prevent me from walking.”

Min Do-jun nodded and turned around.

‘I’d like to heal him, but if I did that, I might be called a monster.’

Having already demonstrated his abilities to some extent, if it became known that he also possessed healing powers, the repercussions would be significant.

“Let’s go then.”

The two continued walking through the forest.

As they progressed, hunting Vampire Hounds along the way, Theodore suddenly shouted.

“I can see the castle over there!”

Following his finger, they could see an old castle peeking through the trees.

It was the sub-dungeon commonly referred to as the castle, though it was practically a main dungeon in its own right.

“How did we manage to arrive without getting lost?”

“Indeed.”

“If we go inside, we’ll probably meet the other party members, right?”

Min Do-jun smiled at Theodore, who seemed somewhat excited.

‘Is he that eager to get away from me?’

Considering how he was looking for party members he wasn’t even close to, he must have been quite hungry for hunting opportunities.

‘Well, it’s not like he could hunt much while sticking with me.’

After declaring that no one should touch his prey and then dispatching monsters in 5 seconds flat, there wasn’t much left for Theodore.

‘Seeing how eager he is to get away from me, I guess he’s finished evaluating my skills.’

Min Do-jun wasn’t sure how Theodore had valued him, but judging by his surprised expressions, it was at least enough to qualify for the Overlord Guild.

‘Hmm?’

Just then, Min Do-jun’s presence detection caught some monsters.

‘Eight monsters ahead… Vampire Hounds?’

Usually, they would gather in groups of at most five, but eight was unusual.

Sure enough, as they advanced a bit further, the monsters revealed themselves.

‘Huh?’

But they weren’t monsters.

At least, not in appearance.

“Oh! It’s our party members! I didn’t expect to meet them here!”

As Theodore brightened and was about to approach, Min Do-jun grabbed his shoulder.

“Wait a moment.”

“Why?”

“They might not be the party members we know.”

“What? What are you suddenly saying…”

“Grrrr…”

Theodore was startled by the sudden beast-like sound coming from one of the party members.

“Wh-what? Did I hear wrong…”

“Grrrr…”

As if to prove he hadn’t misheard, all the party members made guttural sounds.

“Why, why are they acting like this? Is this some kind of prank because we went off on our own?”

“Grrrr…”

The party members didn’t answer.

They just slowly approached, each gripping their weapons.

“Wh-what are you doing? It’s scary. Stop joking around and put down your weapons.”

“This is no joke.”

The answer came from Min Do-jun.

“They’re trying to kill us.”

“What? How do you know that?”

He couldn’t help but know.

His characteristic was telling him that all eight members were directing killing intent toward them.

‘What’s going on?’

Even Min Do-jun, who knew information from the future, didn’t understand why the party members had suddenly changed.

‘I’ve never heard of or seen this phenomenon in Vampire’s Night before.’

Despite having conquered it dozens of times, Min Do-jun had never experienced party members turning on each other.

‘They’re clearly not in a normal state.’

Min Do-jun drew his sword as he watched the party members growling like beasts that had lost their intelligence.

“W-wait a moment. They’re our party members.”

Theodore stepped in front of Min Do-jun and called out to the approaching Gilbert.

“Hey, Gilbert! Snap out of it! Are you planning to fight us?”

“Grrrr…”

But Gilbert, ignoring him and emitting only killing intent, charged with his shield raised.

Boom-!

“Ugh!”

Theodore, who was in front, was sent flying backward.

As he struggled to regain his senses from the impact that felt like being hit by a truck.

“Grrrroar!”

With Gilbert leading, all the party members charged with their weapons raised.

Then.

Boom!

Min Do-jun struck Gilbert, who was charging first, with the flat of his sword, sending him flying.

The same happened to the other party members.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Even when they raised their weapons to block Min Do-jun’s sword, it was useless.

Each hit sent them flying backward, tumbling on the ground.

‘I won’t kill them. I’ll just subdue them with force.’

Min Do-jun’s current strength exceeded 4,700.

This was possible because his Battle Avatar was at full stack.

‘Since I’m hitting them with the flat of my sword, they shouldn’t be injured.’

Though he didn’t understand why they had suddenly lost their reason and attacked, he couldn’t just kill them.

‘They might return to normal.’

He also didn’t want to be labeled a murderer by Theodore.

‘For now, I’ll just subdue them.’

Bang!

Though the sound was loud for a mere subduing, being S-rank hunters, they quickly got back up even after being knocked down.

‘They’re just charging with weapons without using skills, suggesting they’re moving purely on instinct.’

A state with no reason, only instinct.

That was Min Do-jun’s assessment.

‘If that’s the case, subduing them shouldn’t be difficult.’

A hunter’s strength comes from their skills and abilities.

In such a situation, party members charging with only physical strength weren’t threatening.

Thud- Thud!

Min Do-jun, using invisibility, quickly moved in and struck their necks to knock them unconscious.

Thump- Thump-

It took less than a minute to subdue all eight members.

“Ugh…”

Theodore, who had been knocked down, regained consciousness and stood up.

He was shocked by what he saw.

Among the fallen party members, only Min Do-jun remained standing.

“H-Hunter Min Do-jun? You didn’t kill them, did you…?”

Min Do-jun frowned.

“What do you take me for… I merely knocked them unconscious.”

“Ah.”

Even so, to cleanly knock out eight S-rank hunters.

‘Just how strong is Hunter Min Do-jun?’

It was astonishing that he was still only A-rank.

“Why did the party members suddenly attack? Did they all take some kind of drug?”

Min Do-jun shook his head at Theodore’s question.

“I don’t know. This is my first time seeing something like this too.”

There had to be a reason for this sudden change.

‘Was there some kind of intervention?’

It was as if they were being mentally controlled by someone.

Just then, an unexpected message appeared.

[Blood Witch Bathory is attempting possession.]

[Strong Mind characteristic activates.]

[Debuff has been nullified.]

‘What is this?’

As Min Do-jun was puzzled by the sudden message.

“Guheck!”

Theodore suddenly rolled his eyes and began trembling violently.

At the same time, Min Do-jun’s gaze sharpened.

He sensed killing intent.

And the direction it was coming from…

“Theodore?”

It was emanating from his close companion.