The Secret Hole I Dug Just for Today!!

CLAIRE

Milia led me to a shack that looked like it was one stiff breeze away from a total structural failure. For some reason, the interior was halfway buried under a massive pile of dirt and sand.

As the air grew heavy with the suffocating scent of dust and mold, Milia lit a lamp.

"There’s a chair over there, if you want it..." she said, though she made no move to sit down herself.

"I’ll pass," I replied. Pretty sure that thing would crumble into toothpicks the second I sat on it.

"Suit yourself. You’re Claire, right? Your brother is most likely being held in the 'Red Tower'—the Queen of Blood Elisabeth’s personal fortress."

"And what exactly did you mean by 'sacrifice'?"

"To explain that, I have to start with Elisabeth herself. She was a Progenitor Vampire, a true queen. Over a thousand years ago, her kind ruled the night. Back then, there were other Progenitors too, and the world was essentially their playground..."

Milia started drifting off, her eyes getting that glazed-over look people get when they’re about to drop a massive lore dump.

"They ruled the world’s night, but eventually, humans figured out their weaknesses. The hunters became the hunted. See, Vampires have three major flaws.

One: if you destroy the heart, they stay dead. They have insane regenerative abilities—people used to call them immortal—but they can’t grow a new heart. That realization was a game-changer for humanity.

Two: they’re high-maintenance. If they don't drink blood, they lose their edge. A Vampire who’s been 'fasting' for too long is basically as weak as a regular human. Evolution-wise, they were never meant to wipe us out; they literally can't survive without us.

And three: they turn to ash in the sun. It doesn’t matter how overpowered a Vampire is or how pathetic the human is—if you catch them in the daylight, they’re toast. You could trap them, blow up their houses, whatever. Daytime became their personal execution hour..."

"You certainly know your stuff," I noted, genuinely impressed by the history lesson.

Knowledge about Vampires is hard to come by these days. They’re basically considered myths or relics of the past. Aside from the Lawless City, reports of Vampire attacks have been practically zero for centuries. Even the guy running the Spellsword Association meeting admitted he’d never seen one in the flesh—he was just quoting stuff he’d read in old books.

"The world drove them into the shadows," Milia continued. "Eventually, they vanished from the night, and people started to forget they ever existed. But then, a thousand years ago, that 'incident' happened... On a night when the Red Moon hung in the sky, an entire country was wiped off the map in a single evening. It was a tiny nation, so small its name has been lost to time... but it was the work of the Queen of Blood and her Family."

"The Red Moon... you mean that creepy red glow the moon has had lately?"

Milia nodded. "The Red Moon acts like a massive stat buff for Vampires and their Family. Driven into a corner a millennium ago, they used that power to stage a rebellion. The Red Moon lasted for three days. On the first night, a country fell. On the next two, three more nations were pushed to the brink of extinction. But once the Red Moon faded, the Queen of Blood and her subordinates vanished into thin air, hiding until the world forgot them again..."

"So you're saying they're planning a comeback tour?"

Milia nodded again. "They see humans as nothing more than livestock. They’ve spent a thousand years stewing over the humiliation of being hunted by their own food. Right now, the Queen of Blood is in a deep, thousand-year slumber. The one currently running the show in the Lawless City is an aide named Crimson. Once the Red Moon reaches its peak, Crimson will resurrect Elisabeth. And then, the tragedy from a thousand years ago starts all over again."

"Wait, so the sacrifice is...?"

"Resurrecting the Queen of Blood requires the fresh blood of a young man with a massive amount of Magic Power. Your brother is the perfect candidate, Claire. They're going to use him as a juice box for the Queen."

"Like hell they will! When does this Red Moon officially start?!"

Milia looked out through a hole in the crumbling wall. The moon was already stained a deep, visceral crimson.

Right on cue, the screaming started in the distance.

"It just began..."

The night air of the Lawless City was suddenly filled with the sounds of pure terror.

"Ghouls! It's the Ghouls! Run for your lives!!"

Panic erupted as the metallic tang of blood began to drift through the streets.

"The rampage has started... The Red Moon gives them incredible power, but the trade-off is an uncontrollable Vampiric Impulse. This is only the beginning..."

"Sid! My brother is in that Red Tower, isn't he?!" I shouted, ready to bolt.

"Hold on." Milia grabbed my arm. "Crimson is a perfectionist. He’ll wait for the moment the moon is at its absolute reddest to bring her back. We still have about twelve hours."

"Half a day? But that’ll be noon!"

"The Red Moon lasts for three days. For the next seventy-two hours, the sun isn't coming up. Don't worry, I have a plan."

Milia knelt down and started prying up the rotting floorboards.

"I’ve spent a long time preparing for this day... I dug a hole."

"...A hole?" Seriously? That's the master plan?

It was definitely a hole. Beneath the floor was a tunnel just wide enough for a person to crawl through.

"Usually, the Red Tower is crawling with her Family, making it impossible to sneak in. But now that the Red Moon is out, they’re all hitting the streets to hunt. This is our only window to infiltrate."

"So this tunnel leads to...?"

"Going in through the front door is suicide. So, I dug this all the way to the foundation of the Red Tower."

"I see. Practical."

"One last thing," Milia said, looking me in the eye. "My goal is to kill the Queen of Blood, Elisabeth. Your goal is to save your brother. Are we officially partners?"

"Works for me. Let’s do this, Milia."

"Glad to hear it, Claire."

We shook hands, a silent pact made in the dim lamplight.

"Enough talk. Let's move. Just hang on, Sid. Big sister is coming for you."

I didn't hesitate, dropping into the tunnel and crawling forward. Milia let me take the lead, but she paused for a second to look back at the crimson moon. There was a flicker of something—sadness, maybe?—in her eyes.

"Lady Elisabeth... it’s almost time," she whispered to herself.

Then, she followed me into the dark.