Chapter 334: Back to the base
After a few more hours, Damon walked out of the tall mountain, which was pretty much empty now. Erin followed him quietly, her robes back on and her face covered up, revealing only her mesmerizing eyes.
The two of them stood outside the mountain and waited. Soon, a horde of corrupted, mindless monsters appeared in front of them.
"These are the last of them, my Lord." Erin eagerly offered up all the minions she had gathered so far.
"Don’t you have any more of those Scale Fiends?"
Damon had gained a lot more from those powerful C-rank monsters. Each of them had given a lot more stats, levels, and a couple of unique skills. Besides, they also had a slight touch of the draconic taste, though it was extremely minuscule and just barely there.
However, it looked like he was out of luck as Erin only shook her head. "Please forgive me, my Lord. I do not have any more of those Scale Fiends for your consumption."
"I only managed to encounter those rare creatures one time in all these years. A group of them wandered into my lair, and my corruption overtook them. It was easier for me to manipulate them. They were similar to me in some ways."
"But despite my control over them, I couldn’t bring them to give up any information. I have no idea where they even hail from. If I am not wrong, they probably live in some kind of hidden territory, and perhaps even they forget where they are from once they set outside. This is just my assumption."
Damon nodded. If she didn’t have them, then she didn’t have them. There was no point in dwelling on it. "Don’t worry about it. These many corrupted monsters are more than enough to give me another solid boost. You did well."
He then ended up spending a couple more hours absorbing more of the miasma and the corrupted blood essence from the mindless monsters. They did not net him any new skills, but he got a couple of upgrades on the existing skills.
By the time Damon finished, the air around them felt thinner and cleaner. The entire place was different, with not much of the corruption left.
Erin looked at the place one last time as she quietly followed Damon into the Blood Gate. There was no hesitation or doubt in her actions. She did not look back as she stepped through the portal.
Kaelthorn, who had found them by now, also stepped into the Blood Gate as the three of them disappeared from the area and arrived back at the Blood Hall.
It was the normal game time cycle again, and in fact, almost the end of it, and many vampire players were roaming around the Blood Hall. As soon as they saw Damon, many of them tried to approach him, but Kaelthorn quickly stopped them.
He stepped forward like a wall of steel, one hand on the hilt of his blade and the other raised in a silent command to halt, not hiding his murderous aura. His cold, unblinking glare made it clear that Damon wasn’t entertaining casual conversation right now.
The crowd hesitated, some players looking frustrated, others backing away quickly as they couldn’t handle the killing intent. Even Erin approved of Kaelthorn’s swift method of dealing with the pests.
"Should I permanently erase these flies, my Lord?" Erin offered her services.
Damon chuckled. "Let them be."
"As you command, my Lord. I simply thought to save you the nuisance of ever seeing them again."
Her gaze slid over the crowd like a blade, and several players who met her eyes quickly froze on the spot, some even trembling and shaking in fear. Behind them, whispers resumed in hushed tones, but no one dared approach again.
Damon continued to walk to the throne room, where only he was allowed, and some high-ranking officials in the blood hall on occasions. He sat down on the throne and let out a sigh. He was pretty exhausted from the constant use of his bloodline ability.
In a way, it was also a sort of body tempering, and he had only just now undergone hours and hours of intense training. He had expected this trip to be problematic, but everything had turned out in a completely different way. He had gained a lot more than just gold coins.
But the problem now was these gold coins. He needed them, and he needed a lot of them. Damon let out a sigh and rubbed his temples. He then immediately put his exhaustion aside and started taking inventory of all of his loot from the Plaguelands.
He drew up the translucent system interface with a flick of thought, the tally of loot spreading out like a glowing ledger before his eyes. Corrupted cores, monster hides, venom sacs, weapons still dripping with miasma, stacks of fragmented bones, corrupted meat, and so on.
The system neatly listed their sell value in shimmering golden numbers, and Damon’s lips pressed into a thin line. Naturally, this was nothing.
The big haul was the treasure chests. The abundant gold coins he had pocketed from these treasure chests, along with different items and trinkets, and gems.
The even bigger haul was the mountain of gold coins and miscellaneous items he had pulled straight from Erin’s lair. The poor woman had been collecting these for who knows how long, and clearly she had a thing for them, but she gave them all away without a word.
Damon smiled, throwing a glance her way. Erin was still busy glaring at the entrance of the throne room. Some players were trying to enter, and it clearly made her very displeased.
Damon shook his head and returned to his system interface. Now for the final verdict. Did he have enough or not?
Compared to the measly vendor values the system listed for corrupted junk, this mountain of treasure was the real prize. Piles of gleaming coins, intricate chalices with various enchantments, strings of pearls, and rare gemstones whose cut suggested they once belonged to nobles or ancient sects.
Even if half of it turned out to be ornamental scrap, the sheer weight of wealth he had amassed was staggering. Surely, it should be enough?