Chapter 7 : Gear Items III

In Blood Carnival, convenience stores and restaurants offer food, clothing stores provide basic materials for making armor, and gun shops have gunpowder and firearms.

These rules apply to this world too.

Of course, materials for crafting weapons or armor hadn’t appeared yet.

The first place we visited was a large supermarket.

Half-collapsed, but still sturdy enough that many interior facilities remained.

“Gasp…! Charlotte, there’s a frozen pizza here!”

I examined the frozen pizza Aurel had found.

It must have been lying in a freezer somewhere. Given that the electricity had been out for years, the pizza couldn’t be fine.

The pizza’s packaging was stained with black spots and covered in mold.

“Were you planning to eat that…?”

“No… I was just curious.”

“Throw it away.”

“Okaayyy…”

Aurel seemed to be trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn’t a great choice.

I remained vigilant, continuing to search the area.

The only edible items were gum and chocolate.

Even those had long passed their expiration dates and likely lost their original taste.

In this large food section, gum and chocolate were all we could find.

Someone had already scoured this place.

We left the supermarket and moved to a large hospital.

The white exterior walls were covered in black mold and vines.

The interior was just as devastated.

Dusty lab coats and decayed bandages.

A pristine white skeleton wedged between a dented wheelchair.

Medical tools scattered messily in the hallways.

The sight of what happened here was too dreadful to imagine, and I sighed.

“Charlotte! A red potion!”

Aurel, who was exploring the hospital, brought a usable bandage and a red potion.

Judging by the lack of other items, someone had already been here before us.

I stuffed the items Aurel handed me into my backpack and left the hospital.

“Phew…”

Stepping outside, I sighed at the sight of the vast city.

The thought of two small vampire girls having to explore the entire city was daunting.

Just as we moved towards the next building,

my sharp hearing detected a strange sound.

Tap…tap…

The sound of something hitting the ground.

Aurel seemed to hear it too, as she looked around.

I held my breath and pricked up my ears.

Tap…tap…tap…!!!

The sound grew clearer, and I turned towards its source.

I could pinpoint the location.

Without a word, Aurel and I moved in the direction of the sound.

We crossed between collapsed buildings, heading towards the city’s center.

After carefully walking for a while,

“Charlotte…!”

“Shh.”

Aurel and I finally saw someone else.

The figure was clad in thick clothing, including a motorcycle helmet and a black leather jacket, making it impossible to discern their gender. However, it was clear they were no ordinary person.

Their light, fluid movements and the ability to leap over the debris of collapsed buildings were beyond the capabilities of a regular human.

I took a subtle sniff, nodding to myself.

The scent was sweet and alluring—definitely the smell of blood.

The person ahead was undoubtedly a [human] player.

“Shall we attack?” Aurel asked.

“No,” I replied, shaking my head.

The purpose of our search here was clear: to find any shop NPCs that might be around.

Who knows? That human player might know the location of a shop NPC.

Aurel and I cautiously followed the human player.

“This place seems very familiar to them…” Aurel noted.

I nodded.

Indeed, the human player seemed very familiar with the terrain, moving confidently and swiftly between buildings without hesitation.

“No hybrids here. They must be patrolling this area regularly,” I observed.

“Huh…”

After a while, the human player, who had been moving confidently, suddenly became very cautious, looking around carefully.

Suspicious movements.

Then, without warning, the human player knelt and lifted a manhole cover, slipping inside.

The suddenness of the situation left me speechless.

What should I do in times like this?

I found myself looking at Aurel, who tilted her head at me in confusion.

“Should we follow?” she asked.

“…No.”

I hesitated, then shook my head.

Chasing that player down wasn’t the best choice.

Who knows what lies below?

We could be ambushed.

“Let’s wait…”

“Can’t we just open another manhole and go in?”

“Are you serious? Do you have any idea how complex and filthy the sewer system is?”

“Hmm…”

Blindly diving in out of curiosity wasn’t an option.

We only have one life, so we must be cautious.

So we waited.

Finally, the player who had gone down the manhole resurfaced.

There was a noticeable change in him.

He now had two Katanas strapped to his back and a long sword dangling from his waist, items he didn’t have before.

“That’s…!”

No doubt about it.

The player had come out with two [Matte Katanas] and a [Military Longsword], all shop-grade weapons.

Definite proof that there was a shop NPC down in the sewers.

He was alone, which meant there was nothing to fear.

Gripping my Katana tightly, I moved cautiously.

“Are we attacking?”

“You stay here.”

I didn’t needed Aurel’s help.

I was confident of victory.

The distance between us was a straight line.

If I ran at full speed, I could cover it in a second.

Fortunately, the opponent hadn’t noticed us yet.

I took a deep breath and summoned the shadows.

Ssshhh…

The more I used my abilities, the more familiar I became with the vampire [Charlotte].

The shadow rose from the ground, climbing up my legs, past my waist, and extending towards the katana.

Then, black bats began to scatter behind me.

Flap….flap…flap….!!!

Now…

Tap!!!

As soon as I lightly pushed off the ground, my body slid forward with the shadow.

A silent charge.

The human player turned to notice me, but it was too late.

The tip of the katana’s blade reached the motorcycle helmet.

Crunch!!!

With a chilling sound, red blood splattered.

A clean instant kill with one skill.

I stopped and aimed the katana at the staggering corpse.

It was a precautionary stance, but the headless human player wouldn’t move again.

Thud!!!

Leaving the blood-spilling corpse behind, I remained vigilant.

The shadow, heightened by the absorbed blood, growled fiercely.

I stayed on guard for a while.

I finally let out a sigh of relief and sheathed my katana. I gestured to Aurel, who was watching from a distance, signaling that it was safe to come out.

“Charlotte…!”

Aurel ran over, her eyes wide with excitement as she stared at the fallen body. She looked like a child in front of a delicious meal, her small tongue licking her soft lips—a bit cute, honestly.

Vampires need human blood to survive. It’s only natural to feel hunger at the scent of blood.

After a moment’s hesitation, I turned to Aurel and said, “You can eat.”

“Really…?”

I nodded silently, picking up the weapons scattered on the ground. Suddenly, I noticed the blood on my hands.

I had killed without hesitation.

I sighed and shook my head. The world had changed, and so had people. So, shouldn’t I change too?

The first human player I encountered had aimed a gun at me without a second thought. I only won because I was a level 20 vampire. If I had been as low-level as Aurel, I would have ended up like the hunted werewolf.

So, this was only natural.

I rummaged through the human player’s backpack with a calm expression.

“Delicious… so good…”

Aurel began drinking the blood eagerly. Her build focused on enhancing blood control for close combat, so she didn’t need to drink through her mouth. Yet, she licked the blood off the ground with her tongue, looking like a puppy.

I frowned and turned away.

“Drink quickly. We need to go down the sewer.”

“Yes!”

I pondered over the four weapons I now had.

Even if Aurel and I each took one katana, two would still be left.

I couldn’t carry dual swords.

Then, the shadow caught my eye.

I extended the katana towards it, and the shadow naturally swallowed it.

“Gasp…”

I found it.

My inventory.

After stashing the two katanas in the shadow, I handed the remaining katana to Aurel, who had finished her meal.

“Here.”

“Are you really giving this to me?”

“Yes.”

Aurel accepted the katana with both hands, overjoyed like a child receiving a Christmas gift.

I watched her bright smile for a moment before clearing my throat and turning away.

This wasn’t the time to relax.

Aurel and I opened the manhole cover and descended into the sewer.

“Ugh…”

The stench of decay hit us as soon as we entered the sewer, making us wrinkle our noses.

Aurel even covered her nose with a groan.

The sewer was quiet.

No dangerous hybrids or other human players were in sight.

We needed to explore the sewer to find the shop NPC.

But Aurel and I couldn’t move forward.

An instinctive aversion. Something imprinted in our minds prevented us from advancing.

“Water…”

Aurel and I groaned, looking at the contaminated water flowing beneath our feet.

Vampires cannot cross water.