Chapter 232: In a Bind

The remaining three were in complete agreement with the Storm Valkyrie, as they also called upon their power without a second of hesitation. Being scolded by Kaiden later was an infinitely brighter prospect than attending his funeral.

Not hearing Luna’s declaration, Kaiden’s muscles burned as he kept his sword raised, locked in a struggle he was clearly losing.

The vampire’s strength was inhuman, born not from flesh and training, but from centuries of predation and cursed might. But just as Kaiden gritted his teeth and braced for a second strike, the air around the pair shifted.

The noble’s bloodshot eyes twitched.

And then, with a rush of wind and fluttering wings, his entire body dissolved into a cloud of screeching bats.

“What?!” Luna shouted, her electric swing hitting nothing but thin air.

Aria’s staff began glowing with magic, but the bats spun around her spell formation and out of reach. They dispersed like smoke in every direction before swirling together again at the far end of the chamber.

The vampire reformed midair, landing gracefully on a fractured pillar. His pale hand rubbed his hollow stomach as he let out a low, mirthless chuckle.

“I must apologize… I almost forgot the basics of combat. It’s been far too long since I last fed.”

Then his jaw unhinged unnaturally wide, stretching far beyond human limits, revealing row upon row of jagged fangs. A shrill sound burst out, a sonic screech that ripped through the hall like a curse, making the air quiver.

“Cover your ears!” Nyx shouted, subtly moving her friends’ hands with [Telekinesis] as much as she could so that they all reacted in time.

But the sound wasn’t meant to deafen.

It was a summons.

From the cracked archways and hidden corners of the room, they came, shambling, snarling, screeching.

[Starved Thrall – Level 21]

[Starved Thrall – Level 22]

[Starved Thrall – Level 20]

[Starved Thrall – Level 23]

[Starved Thrall – Level 19]

A horde.

Arms flailing. Eyes glowing. Teeth gnashing.

Dozens. Maybe more. All of them ravenous.

And then…

Kaiden froze.

A pulse of magic rolled over them. Heavy. Dense.

Familiar to the vampire they just fought, but not the same. It wasn’t his doing.

Three more presences.

One behind the broken staircase.

One in the ceiling shadows.

One emerged from the ruined hallway ahead.

And then came the voice.

“I hope you don’t mind,” the noble said with mock civility, placing a hand over his chest and bowing slightly.

“I took the liberty of inviting my wives. It would be rude of me to eat without sharing my meal with them. I’m a caring husband, after all.”

Kaiden didn’t like the realization his brain arrived at.

“Three more…?”

Luna cursed under her breath, spinning her blade with electricity crackling at the edges. “We’re surrounded. We just started, and we’re already in such a bind? This is fucked up.”

“… Very much so,” Aria agreed gravely, clutching her staff tight.

Nyx’s eyes scanned the growing crowd. “We took five steps past the entrance, and this happens?!”

Bastet’s tail lashed once as she began calling upon her solar might. “This isn’t just a dungeon. This is a trap. The monsters are starving; there’s nothing for them to consume further in. Thus they came to the entrance, hoping maybe something would come out of the strange portal in the ballroom.”

“Bingo~” one of the female vampires purred. “What a smart kitten.”

“Maybe we should keep her… I always wanted a black cat,” another added with a similarly honeyed tone.

“No… I refuse to let this into my home. Can’t you two feel her energy? She radiates something toxic to our kind…” the final wife growled once she sensed her solar powers.

Bastet didn’t respond to their words. She couldn’t afford to get offended.

They were outnumbered.

Outleveled.

And now… outmaneuvered.

There was no Vespera here to save their hides. No bodyguards to protect them, for they left the twins behind. Their contract was to protect them from humans, not monsters.

Riven and Rae weren’t employed to carry them in dungeons. Kaiden wouldn’t have accepted that in the first place, but now… He was missing their reassuring presence greatly.

The entrance of the dungeon, which they once thought of as a zone teeming with weak monsters, had become a feeding ground.

And they were the meal.

‘No. I cannot allow myself to panic now! We’ll win without external help!’ he shouted inwardly at himself, knowing full well that should he fall into despair, it would be game over.

He and his wives would become vampire feed.

With all this in mind, Kaiden inhaled and exhaled, steeling his heart.

He stepped forward.

The clamor of dozens of snarling, starved undead faded into the background. His violet eyes burned bright, lit with arcs of arcane energy that flowed from his core.

His cape billowed from a wind that didn’t exist.

His stance was effortless, yet immovable.

Not rage. Not recklessness.

Pride.

It emanated from him. Not arrogance, but certainty.

The presence of someone who would not kneel.

A storm of calm in the center of hell’s banquet.

The girls around him—his Valkyries, his felinid—felt it.

Felt him.

Their fear… flickered.

And died.

The air solidified around his body like a throne of mana.

“We face our greatest challenge yet…”

His voice echoed throughout the room.

“But I am not afraid.”

“I am Kaiden Grey, the Paragon of Sin.”

“And I am up for the task.”

His hand tightened on Twilight Ripper’s hilt.

“Are my Sinners with me?”

There was no hesitation.

“Always, Master~” Bastet purred as a wide, feral grin materialized on her tanned lips.

Two radiant solar beams burst into existence in her palms. They were miniature suns, each radiating waves of heat that made the thralls flinch on instinct.

Luna scoffed, shaking her head with disappointment at herself as her confidence flooded back.

How had she let herself waver?

She spun her [Stormblade] once, the crackling sound of lightning responding with glee.

“Someone’s getting rewarded tonight~” she decreed, shooting back a flirty look at Kaiden as she stepped forward toward the nearest vampire wife and her pack of snarling thralls.

“I won’t disappoint, Kai!” Aria shouted from behind, her gym-honed arms glowing with pale silver light as lunar magic surged through her staff.

Glittering moonlight traced elegant patterns in the air, spiraling upward.

She aimed directly at the second wife.

Nyx, however, said nothing at first.

She simply raised both her hands.

Dozens of astral spears flickered into the air above her.

They hovered, humming in sync with her heartbeat, each one sharp and deadly.

And then, with a smirk forming on her lips…

She spoke.

“Let’s party!”