"Oh! There he is!" Celene's wolf ears flinched as Dov stepped into her line of senses.
Not long after, the masked Hunter came walking through the east gate of the Shrine, moving slowly as if he lost every bit of his motivation.
"Goddess gracious, Dov! Could you walk any faster? You worried us all with how silent the shrine went." Celene ran toward him looking all relieved.
"Hm? You can just ask Leyna about my condition." Dov couldn't get what all the rush was about. Even Heidi looks like she's been holding her breath.
"Uhh…" Celene glanced her eyes to the right with an awkward gaze. There Dov found Leyna fidgeting really hard, panting like crazy, struggling to control all the lust she accumulated as the sedative she took during the battle finally lost its effect.
"By the Stars!" Dov immediately rushed himself toward the poor lady and carried her somewhere no eyes could see. "Damn it, Leyna! Penn will murder me if I let you fall this hard." Let alone teleport, she was so drugged by lust, she couldn't even put words out of her mouth.
On the other hand…
"Is Bl— I mean Dov, went off to mate the human woman?" Heidi asked as she and the lycan saw him and Leyna hopping around the ashen ground, getting away from the group.
"I-I don't know." Said Celene feeling hesitant. "But I think Dov trusted and knew Leyna long enough to show her his skin."
"Ahh, right. You haven't seen his face, haven't you?" Heidi commented.
"Wait! He showed you his face!?" A vampire was the last thing Celene would expect to know Dov's real identity.
"Oh, darling… I've known him far before he became a Hunter. He showed me a LOT more than his face." The vampiress bit her lips from just reminiscing their past. "Are you romantically interested in Dov, miss lycan?"
"W-Wha— no… I admired him, nothing more." Celene threw her face away to hide her shades of bright red. "Besides, I never seen what he looks like, what if he turned out ugly?"
"Well, all I can tell you is that if a female is close enough to him, it's almost guaranteed that he had laid her in bed at least once." The vampiress put up a teasing smile. "He needs to power up that ring after all…" she then quietly muttered.
"Ring?" Celene's ears were a lot sharper than she predicted.
"F-forget I ever said that!" Sweat dripped down her pale forehead.
"Hmm…" The lycan got her suspicion, but she respected Dov too much to dig his past from this monster. "Yeah, I can see what you mean. He's an incubus after all. Although…"
"Now that we're on the topic, I never saw Dov feast on someone's lust. His meeting with Leyna was the first time I ever witness him approaching sexual thingy." She added.
"Huh? Never?" Heidi was struck surprised.
"Never. And I've been his apprentice for months now." The lycan replied.
"If I may know… what level was Dov when you first met him?"
"Around 61, and he's 63 now. Why you ask?"
"Nothing. Nothing…"
Unlike the first time Dov relieved Leyna from her lust, this one took quite a while. But after almost half an hour has passed, the two finally back to the group with Leyna being some kind of fat white bird, nesting above Dov's bear mask.
"Uhh… Leyna? Why are you so… fat?" Celene was genuinely confused. Meanwhile, Heidi tried her best to contain her laughter.
"I spent too much mana and stamina," Leyna said while trying to reposition her comforts. "I just wanna be round and sleep."
"Okay…" Celene stuck lost for words. But she couldn't blame her since she did so much during the last battle. If Leyna wasn't there, most of the vampires probably lost their life already.
"Let's get out of here, our enemies are still many, and some of them might be an excellent scout." Dov reminded. "Our mission might become harder if they were to make an advance on us before we get to track the next 3 targets."
"Understood. We're this late because of you though."
"Apologies."
*
The group followed the road east of the shrine to finally arrived at the Bloodhound Castle Complex. It took them a couple hours to reach the nest since they didn't travel with haste due to the lack of urgency after they exited the outer black wall.
As the name suggests, this place is filled with lots of castles. Every vampire family has its own castle, with its size and details depending on how pure their nobility is, and how many their members are.
Unlike most buildings in Lustmist, vampire castles are made out of grey blocks of stones. They are guarded by gargoyles and banners colored in black and red can be seen decorating each castle's wall. The light emitted from their lamps and windows was also blood red, not purple nor yellow.
"Thank you for your help, Heidi. That fight would tax us a lot without you noble and royal vampires." Both Hunter bowed, showing their gratitude. Leyna however, was still fast asleep on Dov's head.
"Don't mention it, Dov. Fighting them is part of our mission too." Heidi answered with a bright smile. "Although the elders only asked us to harass them… not you know… full-blown genocide." Her smile turned awkward. "But what's done is done." And went bright again.
"What's your destination after this, Hunter?" One of the noble vampiresses curiously asked.
"To the next target who's part of this scheme." Dov retorted. "I can't tell you where and who, since I don't know if the Broker allowed me to. And the only Broker with us is in her dream world at the moment." The blue eyes on his masked glanced at the bird above him.
"That's alright." The vampiress replied. "Come visit us again when you have the time okay~"
"Oh! Yeah! Please do, Dov!" Heidi excitedly added. "It's been years since you do."
"But don't come through the front door, you'll trigger the nest and it'll be awkward if we were to start killing each other… again…"
"Sure. I'll keep that in mind." Said the Hunter.
*
With all the vampires going back to their nest, the Hunters headed straight north to a place called the Right Naiad's Eye. It's a humongous tall tower, so tall that it's impossible to see the top of it. Even on a sunny day, clouds still gather around it.
Unlike before, this part of the Lustmist border doesn't have a gate that separates it from another province, mostly because it's an area that's under a monster (vampire) control.
So as they left Lustmist, they were immediately greeted by a swampy land, crowded with the croaking sounds of frogs, watery movements of fishes, and noises of all kinds of aquatic swamp animals.
This is the province of the water element, namely, Siren Marsh. A place filled with tall grasses, swamps, and a huge river known as the Great River of Atargatis. This is the home of merfolk, water nymphs, and water human.
And before you ask, no, they're completely different from the ice human, no one even considers them true humans. They're far less intelligent, far more primitive, and far less threatening than their ice counterpart.
"I still can't believe none of the vampires died from that battle!" Celene said on their way there, she was fully amazed.
"No, we lost one," Dov replied. "They killed Nneka with a silver spear."
"Oh right… her." She turned a bit blue for a moment. "But she's a dark elf once, not one of the born vampires."
"Correct. Not to mention, turned vampires are pretty weak compared to the born ones." Dov added.
"By the way, Dov. Where are we heading next? Leyna is still asleep to give us any intel or instruction." The lycan got curious.
"Don't worry, we have a Broker waiting for us at the Naiad's Eye." The masked Hunter answered.
"Oh, we have? Did a black dove fetch you a letter on your way out of the shrine?" Celene asked.
"No. Leyna told me during our… intercourse. Brokers can set up a telepathic network amongst themselves to keep each other informed."
"Well, that's… convenient." The wolf felt a bit jealous. "Why do Brokers gain a lot of very useful skills and we're not?"
"Don't be like that, the skills we gained are also useful for us. Especially for tracking and surviving." Dov scolded.
"But we don't have things as handy as an observer! Or telepathy!" Celene babbled like an old dwarf.
"We don't need observers when we can track and sense everything around us, and most Hunter usually hunt ALONE."
"B-But—"
"Enough! Be grateful with what you got. The Unknown Artisan was kind enough to create this system for us. Don't disdain the gift He gave to you."
Celene pout and sulked at how Dov scolded her. She thought it was a bit harsh for him to get mad at her for her little complaint.
The trip went silent after that until they arrived at the Right Naiad's Eye. But not because they needed to talk to the Broker, but because the Broker was a presence none of them can ignore.
"Good morning, Hunters. Congratulation on finishing the first part of your mission." Only one person can make such a sentence feel eerie and sinister. The smile on his face only made it worse, with how chilling it was to look at.
"Thank you… Chameleon." Even Dov felt a bit unease around him. Probably for another reason, however. "I believe you have the intel for our next target?"
"Indeed I do, Night Bear."
Like how he did previously, and unlike most high-level adventurers, Penn didn't pull his stuff from an [Adventurer Ring]. He's powerful enough to create his own storage dimension.
Penn lifted his right hand, and flickers of light gathered around his fingers. A rectangular frame then shaped itself and crystals of ice began to fill and shape it clean with flowery patterns. Then as the light perished, it turned into pure white documents for the Hunters to analyze.
"Have fun with it." Penn gave them to Dov's hands.
The masked Hunter then proceeded to read it, with Celene standing behind him, trying to get a read from above. Although this time, Leyna was kind of in her way.
*Snap!*
But Penn quickly snapped his fingers, and his sister suddenly got teleported into his hands. Now Celene can finally get a clear view.
"Your next target is at the Merchant City of Maid's Harbor, home of the finest, most beautiful mermaids the continent could offer." There's passion in Penn's tone, even though it still sounded sinister.
"Do you have any interest in mermaid, sir Penn?" Celene knew at the very least that Penn is a human knight like every human male currently under the age of 40 and some who are above, so she need to address him correctly if she wanted to call him by his name.
"Everyone has their favorites, Crescent Night." He calmly replied.
"Now, your target is the Ruling Admiral of the city, you might as well call him the mayor." Penn shared a bit of explanation. "Unlike Ezesinachi, he's an experienced adventurer and once a Protector."
"However, the mer has passed his prime and is no longer on active duty. He's now ranked as a Master (one rank after profession)."
"Please note that Maid's Harbor is an international city which resided by every possible race on the continent. Please be careful with who you kill as most people there are either adventurers, merchants, or customers who have no connection with the Ruling Admiral."
"You can't commit large-scale genocide there."
"Understood. We'll take extra care with our hunt." Both Dov and Celene nodded, and he swiftly put his new documents inside his [Inventory Ring].
"I'll be taking Snow Chameleon for now, but I'm sure you'll find more familiar faces at the Harbor." Penn undo his sister's shapeshift, and gently carried her in his arms. White cold mists began to shroud them, as the view of them slowly faded away.
"Thank you for your guidance, Chameleon." The two Hunters bowed.
"Good luck with your hunt, Hunters."