Gacha Leveling

The rain fell like a torrent with strong winds and endless lightning bolts coloring the sky blue. The stable where Matthew was in gave him poor shelter against the storm. The horses around him neighed and moved around in their pens trying to get out.

That message from the dungeon said it was a dungeon fluctuation. It seemed he no longer could ask the dungeon for surrender. Therefore the stakes were now much higher. He could not wait for the others anymore, he had to go inside and see what was happening.

He then felt the hand of someone on his shoulder pulling him back. He thought it was just one of the coachmen there calling him to a place away from the rain. However, when he turned his head to look at the person pulling him, he saw a distorted face with eyes pitch black, gray skin and fangs moaning at him.

He recognized immediately what that was. It was a vampire scion. A person made undead without will of its own by the bite of a vampire. Unlike vampire spawns that retained their conscience and could evolve into full-fledged vampires, a vampire scion was more akin to a zombie. It would only follow its own hunger and their master's orders.

And like zombies, they were slow and lacked any proper martial prowess. The one holding Matthew simply tried to bite him, but it was too slow. Matthew shoved it away making it fall to the ground. He took out his gun from under his shirt and destroyed it with a simple shot to its head.

That's when it hit him. That vampire scion he just killed was one of the coachmen that were eating with him. He looked around. The horses all had fangs, he saw shadows moving slowly under the rain. Everyone, even the animals, around him became vampire scions.

One of the horses broke free from its pen and tried to charge Matthew, but he easily destroyed it with a single bullet to the head. His second bullet. He only had 28 more, 13 in his gun and another 15 in the clip he had in his pocket. He needed another weapon.

Matthew grabbed a pitchfork that was laying around the stable to use as weapon. Ffyr then alerted him of another one of the horses almost breaking the gate of its pen. Matthew rushed and destroyed it with the pitchfork before it could get free.

"It's better to destroy them all while they are restrained than deal with them when they flee." Ffyr said to Matthew.

Matthew nodded and went from pen to pen destroying the horses.

"Do you think the others are all right?" He asked Ffyr.

"Of course. Your professor is with them." She tried to tranquilize him, but she herself was worried.

"We need to get inside. Can you keep the rain away from me?" Matthew asked.

"Sure." Ffyr said creating a wall of wind around Matthew that would keep most part of the rain away from him making it easier for him to walk and fight in the storm.

Matthew moved fast towards to castle's entrance, but was soon met by more vampire scions. He recognized a lot of them. They were the coachmen, the guards and the maids he saw strolling around earlier. He disposed of them easily, with both bullets and strikes from the pitchfork. But their numbers didn't seem to decrease at all, no matter how many he destroyed..

When Matthew finally reached the front door, he found it wide open. Getting off of the cold rain felt like a blessing. Even with Ffyr's wind protection, the raging storm drentched him from head to toe.

He closed the front doors in a hurry, using nearby furniture as a barricade to keep it shut from the vampire scions from outside.

The inside of the castle was a mess. It seemed like hundreds of years had passed. The paintings on the walls were faded, the tapestry on the floor was eaten by bugs, the stone walls cracked and the furniture all had a thick layer of dust upon them.

Matthew could hear the sounds of fighting coming from inside the castle. He ran towards the sounds and quickly found himself in the dinning hall where everyone else were.

Orpheu was in a frantic battle with Novak while Faralynn, Helen, Erin, Tina and Mia were holding their position against a horde of vampire scions coming from the lower levels of the castle.

"Matt!" Tina called him as soon as she saw him. "Your weapons!" She said taking his swords and his second gun from her Inventory and throwing them to him.

"What the hell is going on?" Matthew asked grabbing his stuff and letting go of the pitchfork. "Everyone in the castle became a vampire scion all of the sudden!"

"Orpheu said something to the dungeon boss that made it go haywire!" Tina explained while downing a vampire scion with a magic missile.

Matthew unsheathed one of his swords and charged in to help the girls.

Helen was making point, holding the mass of enemies behind her shield, while Faralynn flanked her destroying them with her sword coated in holy mana.

Erin, Mia and Tina where farther behind using their spells to thin the horde.

Matthew approached Helen from the other side of which Faralynn was and used his sword and gun to help destroy the horde.

Novak held a long sword with black hilt and gold plated guard and pommel. His strikes were precise and quick. It was clear he was as good with a sword on his hand as Orpheu was with his.

They were evenly matched.

Every time Novak tried to cast a spell, like the sleep spell he used on Faralynn earlier, Orpheu charged forward and didn't give him the time to concentrate on the spell.

The vampire had a look of anger in his eyes:

"You made me kill her! You humans and your sweet poisonous words led my daughter astray from me! Die! Die!" He screamed while trying to stab Orpheu.

Orpheu didn't answer him. He knew it was only a simulacrum of a real vampire. There was no point in arguing against him now. He didn't expect the dungeon to react this violently to his inquiry, but now he had the information he wanted. All that was left to do is to destroy Novak.

A feat that was proving to be harder than he expected. Usually Novak was not that powerful, judging by the other times Orpheu was in that dungeon. This must've been the true power of the real Novak.

"This will never end!" Tina screamed noticing that the amount of vampire scions they were killing couldn't possibly fit all underneath the castle. "We have to kill Novak!"

"Erin! Help Professor Orpheu!" Faralynn screamed. "We can hold them!"

Erin complied without protesting and turned to help Orpheu in her fight.

Without Erin's holy lightning, the fight against the horde of vampire scions became way more difficult. Helen was forced to take some steps back.

It is then that Orpheu saw a gold lighting bolt fly and hit Novak on the shoulder taking a scream out of him. The professor didn't waste the opportunity and with a quick strike made a deep slash on the vampire's face and blinding him from one eye.

Novak kicked Orpheu away to gain come space and recover from his injury, but Erin took advantage of the space created between the two of them and fired a massive lightning bolt coated with holy mana straight through the vampire's chest.

Novak fell to his knees with a hole on his chest. He looked around searching for something.

"Where are you? Cecilia?" He groaned trying to close the hole in his chest with his hand.

Orpheu decapitated him before he could say another word. Novak faded into a mist of mana together with all the vampire scions.

The party fell to the floor, some sitting down and others on their knees, breathing heavily and trying to get rid of their tiredness.

"What happened here?" Matthew asked looking at the others.

"I was after some information." Orpheu started to explain. "It's been a long time that I've been studying this dungeon. And I learned that Novak was a real person and the dungeon was molded on him."

"That was dangerous." Tina protested.

"I know. I'm sorry. I didn't think it would trigger a dungeon fluctuation." Orpheu explained himself.

"And what was the information?" Mia asked interested on the part she played in that dungeon.

"Cecilia's tomb." Orpheu said. "Novak's daughter's resting place."

"And why is that important?" Mia asked again.

"According to my research, Cecilia was buried with Novak's treasures. Among them, the Orb of Vast Skies. I need this orb." The professor said.

"Why?" Faralynn asked with the authority of her family.

"To save a friend of mine. He's been missing for 10 years now. I believe that the orb will show me where he is."

"Missing?" Erin asked.

"Yes. We partied together for a while. But he was caught in a teleportation trap and I never found him again." Orpheu said. "I need to find him. Or at least his remains."

Everyone was silent after those words. It was perfectly reasonable to try to save a friend. But the students were still a bit hurt for being put in danger like that. However, not one would say a word about it anymore. They'd all do the same for each other.

"Let's go then?" Helen said pointing at a gate that had opened since Novak's death. "I don't know about you all, but I could use a shower.