The room was gigantic, decorated with many corpses hanging from the ceiling and impaled heads around the road to the rulers of this labyrinth.
As I looked at them a name tag appeared above them "The Twin Kings Koga and Moga". According to the name tags the one named Koga was an elf with purple colored skin while the other one was a giant Ogre, around seven meters in size, with black skin and red eyes.
"What's up~ Ready to die?", In a matter of seconds the battle began with multiple ice arrows being shot towards me followed by thrown rocks.
"Really? Thats all? How boring. Let me show you real artillery~", I raised my hand mid-air, as I dodged their attacks, gathering all blood from the corpses above me.
The two kings started screaming in rage as they kept on attacking me.
"Oh, sorry, did I destroy your precious decorations? But don't worry you won't grief too long~", The blood above me then turned into an intimidating number of spears which all were directed towards the two kings.
"And now, die.", The spears instantly flew towards the king destroying half the room upon impact, causing more than just a little earthquake.
But once the fog veil vanished, I was surprised with a heartwarming image.
The Ogre sacrificed himself to protect the elf and slowly fell to the ground, still impaled with all my spears. The elf's hands kept shaking until a loud and horrifying scream left his lungs. But what happened then was pure insanity, the elf started eating his fellow brother while crying.
I smiled slightly amused as I created another spear in my hand ready to end this battle, but then I noticed the meaning behind the elf's action. His body started growing massively in size and his color became a mix of purple and black.
"Not bad. And here I thought the fun would already end~"
But in just one moment my body was shot against the wall, completely destroyed once it hit the wall.
I instantly emerged out of a shadow, right next to the elf.
[Deathless Thirst activated! Remaining lives: 13.]
I grabbed one of my spears, pierced inside the wall, and rammed it through his back. But the spear broke halfway through, allowing the elf king to turn around and attack me. I reacted quick enough to jump in the air, and pushed me from the wall to the middle of the room.
"Phew. Your body is pretty tough you know that? But that won't be enough to stop me from impaling you like you did to the other people before me."
Something I noticed as I talked so lively was that since I became a Vampire, I felt much more emotions than before. In fact, only after I died, I felt truly alive.
"Let me try something new~", I once again summoned all the blood around me above me.
'It's a rather strange idea but it could prove itself really useful in the future if enhanced properly...' The blood started wrapping itself around my arms and harden itself.
"They just a prototype but let's call them "Titan Crusher" for now.", After hardening it the blood turned into two giant gauntlets, around as big as the king's arms.
I grinned at him before I shot towards him, punishing him through multiple walls, which once again caused a massive earthquake.
'I should hold back a little. I wouldn't wanna let the Gate collapse while I'm still inside.'
"Maybe I should end this fight and stop wasting time...", But as I said that, the elf suddenly appeared behind me with an abnormal speed.
"Woah!! Not bad!!!", We both went in for a punch, hitting each other's fist not even a second after. The shock wave obliterated anything in the room, shotting the elf towards the wall while my humble self was completely torn apart.
'Being Undead means that your bodies durability stays low. But that's fine, because...' I once again emerged from one of the shadows.
"I'm immortal anyways~", I started stretching myself as I summoned my gauntlets back to me.
"Now then. Ready for round two?"
The elf king looked up to me and slowly stood up as he raised his fist.
"I would almost feel bad if I didn't know what you have done to the people which appeared before me."
We both started running towards each other ready to exchange the final blow but in that moment, I activated my trap.
"I said it didn't I?", The elf king looked at me, with his body completely impaled by multiple pikes, "Your though body won't be enough to stop me from Impaling you~"
The fingers on my gauntlet then sharpened as I cut of the king's head, and impale it like the other heads around us.
I wasn't angry because of the people's death, it's their own fault after choosing to become a Player. But as the one who did that to them, the king had to prepare himself to suffer the same fate.
And it also filled me with joy, seeing him suffer such an ironic fate~
[Boss felled! Gate will close itself within three hours!]
"Hm? So, the collectors only have three hours to do their job, huh?", Next to the throne a Gate appeared and opened itself.
Soon after, multiple groups of people started invading the room and collected anything inside. In the meanwhile, another person approached me, with a familiar face alongside him.
"Stella? What are you doing here?"
"To reward you, silly.", She suddenly grabbed my head and buried it inside her chest.
The man next to her coughed after a while, making Stella stop.
"Have you defeated the Boss all by yourself?"
"Well... Ehm... Yes?"
"Truly amazing. For a lower Champion Tier Player is that quite a feat. After all this Gate was an Elite dungeon and nearly about to open itself. Its thanks to you that this didn't happen."
'Well... I did die a few times, so I guess it was really a quite dangerous dungeon.'
"It was quite dangerous, but I managed it. But about the missing Players--"
Before I could end my sentence, the man interrupted me, "Don't worry, we know that they're probably not alive anymore, but that's not your fault."
I looked at him, quite irritated, before I opened my shadow to let them out, "The female Players are still alive, but the male ones suffered a worse fate."
"I see...", The man then walked to the women and guided them outside.
"Does something like this happen often?", I asked Stella as I watched the women leave.
"Sometimes. But this is exactly what you have to prepare yourself for; the life of a Player is dangerous. We just lately rescued a group of women which were held as slaves inside a goblin dungeon and forced to give birth to more goblins..."
"..."
'...Even when hearing that I feel nothing...'
"I..."
"Hm? Did you say something, Vlad?"
"No..."
***
After I left the Gate, I was caught by Stella which wrapped her arm around mine, "How about we go to a cafe and talk for a bit?"
"Do all receptionist have such a relationship with their Players?"
"Not really. Only to those who are also married to them~"
"I- I see..."
"Come on! Lets go", She screamed, as she dragged me to a nearby cafe.
Once we went inside, she dragged me to the table at the corner of the room. She then sat down in front of me and smiled.
"What's wrong?" I asked her once our eyes met.
But once I said that her smile dropped, "Nero... Can you tell me how you became a Player?"
I went silent for a moment, remembering what happened. I've just now realized how much I've tried to forget that, trying to not let it affect me. But the truth was it already did.
"Why do you want to know that?", I responded after a while.
"The way you look at Players... No, at all people... It is filled with so much disgust... And after seeing you, looking the same way at monsters, I became... Let's say curious."
I looked at her, noticing her rather worried look.
"Fine... But it isn't a nice one..."
"..."
I then started to tell her my story. I told her anything: Why I entered the Gate, About the second Gate, what happened inside the second Gate, how I was left behind and eaten by the stone knights and what happened afterwards.
"You are no longer human...?", The way she looked at me changed, something I noticed the moment it happened, and as she seemed to have noticed it herself, she lowered her face.
But then she asked me another question, as she lifted her face up again, "Vlad... Don't you have a grudge against humans?"
"...", I looked at her and thought a little about the question until I chose to tell her what I felt.
"The way I see it, mankind and monsters are pretty much the same... They're both truly Disgusting and endlessly selfish creatures."
"..."