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"I have found two more Ability Cores too…! Did these corpses dropped them?" asked Iris with curiosity, already going back to her cute and shy personality.
"Indeed, it seems that we simply had bad luck when you killed those two at the rooftop…" said Noah.
"Y-You had already killed more people?" asked Arthur.
"Yeah, well, she did," said Noah.
"A-Ah… Well… I was a bit wild there… Hehe…" said Iris apologetically.
"Anyways, did you know that Hunters can also drop Ability Cores? The chance is often kind of the same as normal monsters, which is quite low, but it seems that we got lucky this time, with three Ability Cores out of five people…" laughed Noah.
"I… did not…" said Arthur.
"Well, that's because we have never killed a person…" said Timassa.
"Hmm…" nodded Jon in affirmation.
"Well, I am not planning on stopping here. There are a few more people I really want to get rid of… but anyways, make sure to save the carcasses and the items they held," said Noah, as Arthur slowly walked with his new legs, still getting used to them as he collected the items.
"Now we have… around 18 Cores, we just need to defeat a few more monsters and we should be done in here… We still have around six hours or a bit more," said Arthur.
"Hm, let's grind for five hours then, we cannot waste the opportunity of grinding in such a Dungeon, as they had closed the dungeon entrances at night," said Noah.
"That's… well, it makes sense," said Arthur.
"Wouldn't we be disqualified if we get out of the dungeon late?" asked Timassa.
"No, the only thing they care about is getting out within these seven hours, this is why we can stay as much as we want," said Noah, walking around with his new party of vampiric subordinates.
"This could also be a good opportunity for all three of you to get more used to your new Skills and bodies," said Iris.
"Don't worry about appearances, as you can get back to your original human ones just by willing it. As long as you do not activate your Skills, that is it," said Noah, showcasing how his hair and eye colors suddenly turned back to normal.
"I-I see… Like this?" wondered Arthur, as his pale white skin suddenly turned healthy once more, and his crimson eyes became aquamarine.
"Oh, Arthur-sama, your appearance…" muttered Timassa, as her purple hair turned black alongside her crimson eyes turning black as well.
Jon also changed his appearance without saying a word.
"I wonder how we will explain my legs growing back… You don't want to reveal your power yet, Noah?" asked Arthur.
"Not yet, until I get my revenge that's it. After that, I might reveal it and then just leave this place altogether, with enough strength we can register as Hunters outside of this School and do as we please," said Noah.
"R-Really?" asked Arthur.
"Yeah, now that you have gotten your legs back and that your strength is surging, do you really care about this school altogether? We can even get our own manor now with your resources, after killing a few bastards in here, we will get out," said Noah, deciding the fate of his party immediately.
"I see… now that I think about it, if we can simply become Hunters, it would be better. Military School is just a hindrance," said Arthur.
"I will accompany you anywhere you go, Arthur-sama…" said Timassa with enamored eyes, although she was now devoted to Noah too, she was the most to Arthur.
Noah did not mind this as long as she was a loyal subordinate to him, and was not interested in her in the least nor in what she could feel for Arthur.
"However, I do have planned some kind of excuse for your legs growing back, so don't worry. And for Jon's eye, he can cover it with his hair," said Noah.
"I-I see…" said Arthur.
"Hm," said Jon while nodding in affirmation.
The party explored the Dungeon for the rest of five hours, without coming across another party, it seemed that the other parties might had already gathered their Cores and exited the Dungeon or… as Noah thought, they might have been caught by other parties and gotten their Cores stolen and then left to the mercy of the monsters while being wounded.
After five hours, the party had gathered up to 43 Cores in total, defeating any Walking Mushrooms and Shadow Lynxes that they came across, alongside the occasional Gale Bird, which was a large hawk with the ability to release strong winds.
There was not any Ability Core drop through the whole hunt, but Noah had already gotten three, which he planned to gift one to Iris (as she killed three of the girls, one of them that dropped an Ability Core) while keeping another two for himself.
Arthur, Timassa, and Jon practiced their new skills a bit more, and Jon's clairvoyance seemed to be very useful in detecting upcoming Monsters even more than his former Hawk Eye Skill.
Arthur practiced his Waves of Erosion, finding out that they were very effective on slowing down monsters and slowly affect them with a decaying effect on their bodies.
Lastly, Timassa was able to unleash even stronger bolt attacks, and her speed and mana pool had increased a large amount after becoming a Ghoul, she was even able to stockpile energy from the flesh she ate which she could use to heal her Mana quickly, similarly to Vampire's Blood Sphere, although Ghouls were not able to have these special skills.
When the party finally finished their exploration and gathering of Cores, they decided to slowly walk back to the entrance, as Arthur asked Noah what he planned to explain his legs growing back.
"Pretty simply, we'll cut them down, stop them from growing back by patching them with coagulated blood, and then you can come back tomorrow with them grown back, giving the excuse that your parents finally found you some kind of potion, you could even use this excuse with your parents, drinking some kind of tonic in front of them so they can see your legs growing back…" said Noah.
"Oh, that's such a good idea! I would have never thought about that," said Iris.
"Hmm," said Jon, nodding in affirmation.
"…Eh? You mean… cutting my legs… off?!" asked Arthur.
"Is there no other way, Noah-sama?!" asked Timassa.
"No, so grab him, it will be quick, and the pain will be a bit dull as you're a Dhampir, so don't worry about it," said Noah.
"I… But I…" muttered Timassa.
"I-It's fine, Timassa, please make sure to grab me tightly," said Arthur with a bitter smile, swallowing saliva as he sat down on his wheelchair again.
"Arthur-sama… Very well then!" said Timassa, grabbing Arthur's arms and chest, and tightly hugging him with her arms, making him feel comfortable through the floral scent of her cologne and her hair.
"It will be quick!" said Noah, laughing a bit as he extended his blood claws.
SLASH!
"UNNGGGAAH…!"
Arthur cried in pain as he gnashed his teeth, his legs tried to slowly grow back, but Noah quickly patched them with coagulated blood through his Blood Manipulation Skill, stopping the regeneration in time.
"Whenever you take off these blood patches, your legs would begin to regenerate again," said Noah.
"I-I see…" sighed Arthur, he had to bear the pain quite surprisingly, as Noah had expected him to scream louder, but it seemed that while being embraced by Timassa, he felt more reassured.
"W-What are you going to do with my legs?" asked Arthur.
"Well you can feed them to your wife- I mean Timassa," said Noah.
"W-Wife?!" asked Arthur while blushing.
"I… would gladly receive this gift, Noah-sama, Arthur-sama!" said Timassa, glaring at the freshly cut-off legs with a lot of voracity.
"…Eh?" muttered Arthur, with a bit of nausea.
Arthur ended up saving the legs for later, and the party finally walked out of the rift, surprising the many students and teachers who had expected them to have died because of how long they took inside.
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Author's Note: If you like the story please give any powerstone you could spare, if we reach a nice number there will be bonus chapters at the end of the week, it all depends on you!
Thank you very much for reading!