My Vampire System (WN)

Colonel Longblade continued to inform them about the annoyance the humanoid Demi-god beast posed. Although it wouldn't outright confront them, every so often, when they tried to mine, it would come and stop their mining process by destroying the Mechs. It was apparently utilising guerilla tactics and would disappear as soon as it had finished its tasks.

Because of this, Longblade had taken an interest in taking down this Demi-god beast, and it was what had led to the discovery of the dead beast bodies. Following its trails had eventually led them to certain previously unexplored areas in the tunnels where they had found a mountain of dead bodies, all at different stages of decay, but none of which had a beast crystal.

Making things even worse for the military was the fact that members of Pure had recently gotten involved. It had devolved into a battle between three fronts, which had made capturing the beast nearly impossible. Whenever they had gotten close, Pure would foil their plan, although the same had happened vice versa too.

After listening to everything, they arrived outside the main base building, which was placed towards the back of the camp. It was a dull looking rectangular building that was focused entirely on pragmatism over aesthetics. The Shelter was very much like a military base compared to others which felt more like cities with military presence.

There was a lot of open ground, vehicles moving, and it was well organised. Turning around, the Colonel looked over his reinforcement. He checked each one up and down, analysing their equipment. In Bucky's case, he spent only a fraction of a second.

He came to the conclusion that it would be a waste of his breath to even say anything to them. It looked like the Cursed faction had mostly sent over some peons. Perhaps as some stunt to influence public opinion, they had sent two people who were known V, but they didn't seem too strong either.

"Due to everything I have told you so far, that is why our group is suffering from a crystal crisis. We are unable to mine for crystals because the Demi-god tier keeps attacking us when we do. We are unable to hunt for beasts because four out of five we do find, are already dead."

"The key to solving this problem is simple, we need to get rid of the Demi-god tier beast. Unfortunately, we can't do that because Pure keeps on getting involved. I called for help from headquarters to get someone to occupy them long enough to capture it. I just didn't expect them to call the Cursed faction." Longblade looked at Nathan as if this was all his fault.

The truth was, Logan already had access to most of their files, so once the report had been made, the Cursed faction had been made aware of the existence of a humanoid Demi-god tier beast.

"Nathan should know where the living barracks are, the bases are set up in a similar way and most of the people here already recognise him. Make yourself at home as much as you can for now. We will move out, and inform you when the Demi-god tier beast has been found." Longblade said. And he was already walking into the building.

Originally, Longblade was meant to show them where they would be staying, but instead, he had brushed this off seemingly to Nathan.

"Huh, so they aren't just going to let us go out and explore this place on our own?" Fex complained. "I thought we were going to go into those tunnels and explore underground or something searching for the beast. Damn it, would they still treat us like this if er...Quinn was here?"

"I'm afraid so, actually their treatment would very likely be even worse," Nathan answered. "The good news is that the Colonel doesn't think you guys will be able to be of any help, so he hasn't imposed any restrictions on you. If he thought you were too strong or good, then maybe he wouldn't want you to solve the problem. It would look bad on them after all."

"Although those living in the Shelter idolise the late Head General Innu, the same can't be said about the other Generals. Although he shouldn't know about Oscar yet, Longblade surely knows about Innu, and must be hoping to rack up accomplishments to rise up the ladder."

"What about you?" Logan asked. "Aren't you a high ranking member as well?"

"I have no right to be a leader." Nathan smiled bitterly, looking at Quinn. "Just take a look at my history. Back at second base, I was in charge of the first-year students. I knew something was up, but I had no idea that everyone was being treated that badly."

"Even then, I couldn't stand up to Duke for what he was doing. I had been hoping to rely on Paul, until a certain individual came and defeated him. I couldn't do a good job back then, so how could I accept to do a better job in an even higher position with even more responsibility?"

"I tell you now 'Bucky', I don't envy your position, not at all."

Heading to the sleeping barracks, Nathan was to show them where they would be staying. So they could then all go off and do their own thing. The others didn't mind that much because they were sure that there was a chance that Quinn was going to act behind the scenes anyway, and that was what was currently on his mind as well.

'Vincent, if you're correct, then we need to act sooner rather than later. If it evolves, who knows just how powerful it can get?'

Speaking of beasts, on their tour they had encountered several captured beasts of all different shapes and sizes being carted around in special cages. Some of them had been asleep, most likely drugged, while others were banging against them trying to escape, and they were all heading to a certain place. A facility where there were a few men standing outside in lab coats inspecting the beast with special tools and such.

"What is that for?" Layla asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. It's not normal by any means for beasts to be inside a Shelter. This is usually considered a large risk." Nathan replied.

With it getting late, it was time for the others to get some sleep. When they entered the barracks, they realised it was just a large hangar with several beds lying on the floor. Soldiers were sleeping together side by side, and it was obvious that they weren't being treated as important guests at all.

From the right, suddenly Fex started to sniff the air. He immediately turned his head to where the smell was coming from.

"Is someone hurt?" He thought, but instead, all he could see was a person who was a couple of rows over from where they were with a blade in his hand. He had cut the palm of his hand with a beast weapon, and was smiling towards them.

"Did you see that? He could tell straight away? I guess it's true they really are sensitive to blood."

"And we're meant to sleep with these people. General Innu sacrificed his life to take out these guys, and we should be doing the same!"

Due to their sensitive hearing, they could hear all that was being said to them as well.

"Do you really think it will be safe if we stay here?" Layla asked. "What if they attempt to do something?"

"I don't think they will have done anything. If they did plan on it, they would have done it when we first arrived like General Innu did." Quinn replied.

The smell of blood was getting stronger in the sleeping area. Which was strange since the injured would stay at the hospital to be treated. There shouldn't be any open wounds either because they had healers.

That's when Quinn noticed that more and more people were playing tricks on them. Cutting themselves. It was a strange resolve, it took a lot for a person to cut themselves, especially due to something as petty as this, but it was the fear in them. They were doing it as some type of test that would make them feel better.

*Grurglel

A rumbling noise had come from one of the group, and the one it happens to be from, was Fex. His body was reacting to the sweet smell of the blood around him, whether he liked it or not, and the looks of everyone around them was filled with fear.

'What's going to happen now?' Layla thought.

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