Chapter 30: 30. A 500 years old summon?
AT THE SAME TIME
ALEXANDER
The fall ended with me face first in a pile of snow. For a few seconds, nobody moved. Then groans started echoing through the darkness.
"I am alive." Isabella’s voice came first.
"Unfortunately, so am I." Michael groaned from somewhere nearby.
"Everyone report injuries." Noa ordered immediately.
One by one, voices answered, nobody was dead. That alone felt miraculous. I slowly sat up. The first thing I noticed was the darkness, not normal darkness, complete darkness. The kind that swallowed light, the kind that made your brain uncomfortable. Scarlet raised her hand and summoned a sphere of light, golden illumination spread outward. Massive stone walls emerged from the darkness, a cavern. An enormous cavern. Then I noticed the second thing that the cold was gone. Reduced. I checked the temperature crystal and saw -22°C.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Why does this feel warm?" I asked.
Nobody laughed, because everyone agreed. Michael looked at the reading, then looked at me, then looked at the reading again.
"We have officially lost perspective."Michael said.
"We considered -22 comfortable."I said.
"That sentence should not exist." Rosalia muttered.
Aiko adjusted his glasses and began scanning the cavern. His eyes narrowed.
"DING."Then the system appeared.
"No." Michael said immediately.
"Underground route discovered."The system ignored him.
A glowing map appeared. The cavern beneath the mountain lit up with blue pathways. Everyone gathered around.
"The Raven tunnels." The system announced.
"The what?" I asked.
"Ancient underground passage connecting deeper sectors of the Northern Forest." The system said.
The map expanded. A network of tunnels stretched for kilometers beneath the mountain range.
"This route is not in guild records."Scarlet blinked.
"It should not exist." Michael frowned.
"Frostheart bloom location updated."The system continued.
A new marker appeared, much closer, significantly closer. The estimated travel time was four hours. The entire group froze.
"Four hours?" Isabella stared.
"It was five hours through the blizzard." Noa said.
"Now four hours underground."Aiko said.
"I spent years managing this region."Michael looked offended.
The system ignored him as usual. We began moving deeper into the cavern, the tunnel was wide enough for wagons. Ancient support pillars emerged from the darkness, some were cracked, others were covered in strange blue frost crystals. The deeper we walked, the quieter everything became, no wind, no storms, no monster sounds. Just footsteps and something else. A smell, faint, almost impossible to notice. I stopped.
"Wait."I said.
Everyone immediately became alert.
"What happened?" Scarlet asked.
I looked toward a side passage. A narrow corridor branched away from the main route, darkness filled it completely yet something felt wrong. Very wrong. Aiko looked in the same direction, then his expression changed.
"Interesting."He said.
That was not comforting.
"What?" Michael asked.
"There is a chamber approximately seventy meters down that corridor."Aiko adjusted his glasses.
"So?"Michael asked.
Aiko paused, then looked at his readings again.
"Temperature anomaly detected."He said.
"What kind of anomaly?"I frowned.
"It is warmer."Aiko said.
Everyone froze. Warmer? Underground? At this depth? That made no sense, then I smelled air again. A strange scent, metallic, heavy, almost sweet. My stomach tightened, it was blood. Old blood and lots of it.
"You smell it too."Rosalia immediately noticed my expression.
I nodded. Noa’s hand moved toward her weapon, Scarlet’s light brightened, and even Michael looked uneasy.
"Tell me that is not what I think it is."He said.
Aiko studied the scanner.
"I can not."Aiko said.
Nobody liked that answer, the chamber wasn’t marked on the system map. It wasn’t marked anywhere, yet it was radiating warmth and carrying the scent of blood through a frozen underground tunnel. Far ahead, the route toward the Frostheart bloom continued, but the dark side chamber sat quietly in the corner of the cavern, and for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever was inside had been waiting for a very long time.
The moment we stepped into the chamber, every instinct in my body told me something was wrong, the room was enormous. Ancient stone pillars surrounded the center, strange crimson crystals glowed from the wall and chained to the far side of the chamber was a woman. Long blond hair, pale skin, black dress that somehow looked untouched despite being underground for who knew how long. Heavy chains wrapped around both wrists and ankles, the entire room smelled faintly of blood. Nobody spoke.
Then the system appeared.
"DING." The screen expanded. "Target identified. Name: Iris, classification: vampire queen, threat Level: SSS, age: 500+, status: sealed. Danger rating: extremely high. Relationship status: unknown."The system said.
The entire chamber froze.
"SSS?" Michael whispered.
"500 years?" Isabella whispered.
"Why is she underground?" Scarlet asked.
Nobody had an answer, then Iris opened her eyes. Pink, bright, beautiful, dangerous. The temperature in the room seemed to change as she blinked once, twice, then looked directly at me.
"Oh." That was all she said.
"Oh?" I repeated.
Then she smiled, everything immediately became worse.
"Interesting."She said.
Before anyone could react, my feet started moving. Forward, one step, then another, then another.
"Master?" Aiko frowned.
"Why am I walking?"I asked.
Noa grabbed my shoulder, nothing happened as I kept walking. Scarlet grabbed my other arm as I was still walking.
"Is he being mind controlled?"Rosalia stared.
"Yes." Aiko answered.
"That seems bad."Rosalia said.
"Very."Aiko said.
"WHY IS THE SSS VAMPIRE LOOKING AT HIM LIKE THAT?"Michael looked horrified.
Nobody answered because everyone was watching. I reached the chained woman, she looked up at me, tilted her head, then smiled warmly. Like we were meeting after being separated for years which was concerning.
"Hello."She said.
"Hello?"I asked.
"I missed you."She said.
"I have literally never met you."I said.
"Details."She grinned.
Then she pulled me closer, before I could protest, bite right on the neck.
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The entire room froze. Scarlet froze, Noa froze, Rosalia froze, and Michael nearly died. Even Aiko adjusted his glasses twice. Iris drank exactly enough blood to be dramatic, then released me. A glowing symbol suddenly appeared on her neck, a card-shaped symbol.
"DING. DING. DING. Emergency compatibility detected. Previous owner status: deceased. Legacy summon identified. Candidate transfer accepted. New summon contract forming."The system exploded.
The chains around Iris cracked, Michael stared so hard I thought he might achieve a new class.
"What does that mean?"Michael asked.
"Former Gacha summon discovered. Owner abandoned 417 years ago. Current status: eligible for transfer."The system answered.
The room became silent, Iris blinked, then looked at the message, rhen looked at me and smiled. That smile somehow became even more dangerous.
"Master."Iris said.
"No."I said.
"Master."She said again.
"No."I repeated.
"Master."She said again.
The card symbol completed, the contract established, the chains shattered completely. Iris simply stood up, an SSS-rank vampire queen. Then immediately moved beside me, like that was normal. It was not normal. Scarlet looked at her, Iris looked at Scarlet, Scarlet smiled politely, Iris smiled politely. The atmosphere instantly became hostile as Noa stepped forward. Iris looked at Noa, Noa looked at Iris. The temperature somehow dropped despite being underground.
"I am not qualified for this conversation."Michael slowly backed away.
"Smart."Rosalia nodded.
"Question."Isabella raised her hand.
"Can we put the SSS Vampire Queen back in the chains?"Everyone looked at her.
"No."Noa said.
"Fair."Scarlet sighed.
"Master has acquired another problematic summon."Aiko adjusted his glasses.
"Another?"I asked.
"ANOTHER?"Michael looked offended.
"Do not worry."Iris gently wrapped an arm around mine.
"That sentence never helps."I groaned.
"I only waited five centuries."She said.
The entire room froze. Michael sat down immediately.
"I need tea."Michael said.
"There is no tea."Aiko said.
"Then I need stronger tea."Michael sighed.
Iris leaned closer, pink eyes shining.
"Five centuries is not that long."Iris said.
"That is literally longer than most kingdoms."I said.
She seemed unconvinced, meanwhile, Scarlet looked unhappy. Noa looked suspicious, Rosalia looked amused, Isabella looked fascinated, Aiko looked resigned, while Michael looked ready for retirement, and somewhere in the distance, the Frostheart bloom mission was still waiting, completely forgotten.
