Chapter 37: Nightmare
Vlad slowly moved deeper, quickly realizing that the bloody scene was not the doing of an adventurer party, not only because he was the first to discover it but because every Bear had died of claw marks.
So that meant a powerful beast, likely a bear judging by the claw marks, had forced its way into the mountain bears’ den and butchered everything in its path.
The Nightmare difficulty made it clear that while the dungeon only housed creatures of up to peak first rank, their strength surpassed any normal Awakened Beast.
While dead and rotting, Vlad could see that every other Bear was a greater beast, so he did not doubt the dungeon boss was a Beast Lord and, from the dungeon description, one with a King’s bloodline.
So if a creature had attacked the Bear Den and butchered his way inside with what looked like ease, he must be a third Rank creature.
It was unlikely that a Third Rank creature would wander so far away from the core area of the forest since, in the outer area, the beasts he could hunt would never satiate his hunger.
Still, this scenario was possible because the Dungeon boss was a holder of a Beast King’s bloodline, but there was another possibility.
The spirit he had been searching for, the one that escaped from the Realm Tear, could very well be responsible for this slaughter, as it may have possessed the dungeon master’s body, slaughtered its cohort, and claimed the den for itself.
The deeper Vlad ventured, the stronger the stench of blood and death became, thick, metallic, and clinging to the back of his throat. The bodies grew in number, some left whole, others torn beyond recognition.
He moved through the long tunnel with practiced caution, his Inhuman Instincts guiding each step as he followed the trail of blood deeper into the dark.
’Let’s see who is responsible for this bloody mess,’ Vlad muttered, eyes narrowing as the blood trail ended and the passage opened into a vast chamber swallowed by darkness.