Vampire's Blood Ascension-Chapter 48: Seventh Night

The circle lay on the ground, battered by the explosion, wounds filled their bodies, yet none of them had a look of sorrow.

Sera was joyous for having slain the Dawn Beetle.

Kalien was delighted to have outlived the absurd situation he had gotten himself into.

Rudy, on the other hand, was neither merry nor dejected. He had gained victory, yes. But what did that victory gain him? nothing. It was simply a waste, but he wasn’t someone to put down the significance of what they had just done.

Three deviant humans had slain a deviant horror, something most irregulars couldn’t even dream of doing.

Feeling the cold wind brush her wounded body, Sera gritted her teeth and pushed herself to her feet.

"We have to move," she said as she looked in the direction from which she and Rudy had come. Her face was grave, marred by dark sand and her own blood, though her eyes were no longer heavy.

At her words, Rudy and Kalien’s expressions turned confused. They pushed themselves off the ground and looked at her as Kalien spoke first, "Shouldn’t we rest first, my lady?"

Sera shook her head and spoke as she limped towards the remains of the Dawn Beetle, "We don’t have enough time."

"What it is that’s scaring you?" Rudy asked while holding his injured shoulder.

Seeing him dare to question Sera, Kalien’s expression shifted furiously, and he turned to spew, but before he could, Sera pointed at the moon and said,

"It’s the moon."

Kalien’s fury went up in smoke, and both he and Rudy looked at her with puzzled faces.

’The moon? Why would she be scared of the moon?’ He thought as he looked at the moon and noticed something: ’It is brighter than yesterday...’

Sera wiped the blood from her face and said while dismembering the corpse of the Dawn Beetle for its four essence shards, "Help me."

Kalien and Rudy looked at each other for a moment, and Kalien snorted as he walked to the corpse and mumbled, "As you wish, my lady."

’Why isn’t she telling us what’s going to happen?’ Rudy wondered as he trudged towards the corpse. ’Does she not know herself?’

Considering the nature of dreams, it was possible that she knew something would happen, but not what that something was.

He reached the corpse and, using his bare hands, helped them find the essence shards.

Ten minutes later, they took out four glassy orbs the size of a boy’s palm with silver smoke wisps coiling within, and a soft glow spread from them, lending them the mystique they deserved.

"Let’s go," Sera said as she limped towards the dome standing at the opposite end of the settlement.

Kalien immediately shot to his feet and stepped beside her with a dear smile stretching across his lips.

"Let me help you walk, my lady."

Sera glanced at him with her usual impassive expression, and as she was about to answer him, a snapping sound echoed throughout the place.

Both of them turned their backs, and their gaze fell on Rudy, who held a bone as big as a limb in his hand.

"What are you doing, you brute?" Kalien spewed.

Rudy glanced at him for a moment before he threw the bone before Sera and said, "Use that, we can’t have two people weigh down the circle."

Sera looked at the bone that he had just pulled out of the beetle’s carcass, and she nodded, "Alright."

Kalien’s expression darkened. "My lady, you don’t have to—"

"It’s not yet over, Kalien. We can’t have two cripples," Sera muttered as she picked up the bone and used it as a cane to walk towards the dome.

Kalien glared at Rudy before he looked away and murmured under his breath, "Damned brute!"

They walked through the rubble, and after five minutes, they neared the dome, having regained nearly half of their essence.

All of a sudden, extremely cold air blew throughout the desert, and all three of them froze in their spots.

They shivered, and Kalien blurted, "W-What was that?!"

Rudy looked at Sera and, seeing her expression turn grave, he understood that whatever she had warned them about was here.

Sera’s lips parted, "Let’s go—"

A tremor ran throughout the place, all three of them stumbled, and before their very eyes, all of the rabble floated above the ground, and the ruins were once again what they used to be.

The circle fell silent, and Rudy mumbled, "I’ve never seen this happen before..."

"It happens every seventh night," Sera mumbled and asked Rudy, "What do you think those giant bones are?"

Rudy tilted his head and gripped his coat closer as he mumbled, "What?"

She turned around and pointed ahead.

Rudy and Kalien followed her and muttered at the same time, "What the fuck?!"

Far away, at the very edge of their vision, stood a giant skeleton resembling a centipede, and then seven corrupt cores rose from the dark sand and flew into the skeleton to begin its resurrection.

"A deviant calamity..." the three of them mumbled at the same time before Sera shook her head and said while nudging at them, "We have to go."

Rudy and Kalien nodded as they tore their gazes from the centipede and entered the dome. Then they descended the stairs and stepped into the round chamber with four tunnels.

Sera gave her essence shard to Rudy and looked between him and Kalien as she spoke, pointing at the gate leading to the east, "There are four slots on the gates. Place these shards in that one and open it."

"Why are you the one to take that epic artifact?" Rudy asked with furrowed brows.

Before Sera could answer, Kalien spat, "Who else then?! We are only alive because of Lady Seraphel, and yet your greed manages to flare!"

Rudy looked at Sera and said, "Alright..."

Sera stared at him and stepped into the tunnel leading to the rune.

Kalien snorted, and the two of them walked towards the gate.

’I hope it’s not filled with dreadborns,’ Rudy thought as they placed the shards in their slots and stepped back.

The shards glowed brightly, and the light climbed the gate, spilling all across its engravings as it let a loud groan and opened.

A long tunnel, its end hidden, with torches lining its walls, came into view.

Rudy clenched his right fist and thought, holding his injured right shoulder, ’Soon.’