Chapter 20：Cavern Moles (VI): Rewards, What The Hell Is A Vampire?

Rezar pulled the mole hanging on his shoulder off, wincing a bit at the sound and feeling of flesh being torn off. He immediately bashed the head of the mole against the cave wall, before pulling back and stomping on the head of another mole, smashing its skull to bits with way more strength than he thought himself possible. He was tired, so tired. He had been carrying on with this battle for the better part of an hour, and he had lost count of how many moles he had killed, or how many times he's had to pick his guts from the ground as he slowly healed.

He was also out of magic and was practically running on fumes, of all the moles he had raised, there were only 8 of them left, and he knew it wouldn't be too long from now before the first of them expired. He was hunched over breathing hard as he held his broken sword in one hand, during the course of the fight he had retrieved his harpoon and had subsequently lost it again, using it against an endless amount of enemies that were small and came at you from every angle was a bit cumbersome, especially when the harpoon itself was so off balance and quite difficult to use when you're swarmed.

Rezar raised his head up, ignoring the trickle of blood from his right shoulder and his left thigh as he looked for his next enemy; there were none in sight. All he could see were hundreds of dead moles, and the over two dozen zombie moles on his side, mostly due to Screet's involvement. Rezar knew if not for the mole-man, he would pretty much be dead by now, so quite frankly Screet was the best investment he ever made in his life, but when you think about it fully, the mole man was the only investment he had.

Rezar dipped his hand into his sack to pull out another earthworm, but it was empty. He didn't know how, but during the course of the fight he had used up all his supplies of the earthworm, which meant he had to find his way back home before he bled out. But it couldn't be that easy could it? Rezar raised his head and looked at the three caves that still held elite moles. He really couldn't see them, but he knew they could see him, and from the look of things none of them seemed all that willing to make any sort of move.

"Screet lets go, let the rest of the zombie moles stay behind us."

Rezar wasn't sure that the zombie moles would be enough to deter the elite moles should they decide to move, but this was the only plan he could come up with. As he was now, he could not even deal with half an elite much less three, his stamina surprised him, but there was only so much he could do, he was at the end of his rope.

Thankfully the elite moles didn't seem all than interested in disemboweling Rezar and he was honestly very thankful for that. They made their way back through the tunnel that had brought them in, and with every step he took; Rezar looked back, just to be sure the elite moles weren't coming after them. Honestly he was feeling quite tense, but yet he was still calm about the entire situation, and quite frankly it made him angry. His distinct lack of fear had already been noticed, and he knew it was also making him quite reckless.

Not many would agree, but while fear can cause widespread panic and chaos, it also held people back from doing incredibly stupid shit, without an iota of fear in his body, Rezar took action the moment a thought entered his mind.

And not once did he ever care about the consequences, and more often than not those consequences were quite dire. If not for anything he knew he had to get this lack of fear under control, it wasn't a good thing as amazing as it might sound. Fear made people irrational, but a lack of fear also did the same thing.

He let out a breath of relief he didn't know he was holding after they came out of the tunnel, after that it was an uphill walk up the slope as they passed the area he had been mining before coming up to the tunnel that led to the entrance and then going past that to come up to the place that Rezar have taken to calling home. But this was not home, he didn't feel that warmth associated with the word, instead this place felt like an office, or a gym. A place; where he could make money and grow stronger, to face bigger threats, and maybe, one day find a home for himself.

He immediately went to the haphazard pen he had made for the earthworms. He noticed that some of them had crawled out and had escaped while others were in the process of doing so. He grabbed the first and threw it into his mouth with so much as a hint of discomfort, he had absolutely gotten used to its taste and texture. He turned to the zombie moles and Screet and gave the best order he could come up with at the moment.

"All of you go mine ores and gems; pile them all in front of the cart. Screet! You stay behind and keep watch, wake me up if anything goes wrong."

The most any of these other zombies would last should be another 2hours give or take a few minutes. This was even more time than the previous batch that Screet belonged to. He knew that even most of these zombie moles had reached max level from the killing and could evolve just like Screet; he couldn't take them back to town because he had an agreement with Red not to come back until after every week.

So it would be a pitiful waste, but a necessary one, besides he had a plan for how to get some of the moles to a high level and bring them back to the spire for a class upgrade/racial change. But none of the moles in front of him qualifies for that as they would expire soon. But he still had a cave filled with very much dead moles waiting to be resurrected and trained, so his plan was still pretty much fool proof. But with that out of the way, there was just one thing left to do, and that was to check up on all the system messages he had received during the fight.

(You have achieved a milestone by fighting for over an hour straight against odds you could not fully win against. +3 to power, + 5 to defense, + 2 to magic)

(you and your undead have slain 246 basic cavern moles and 4 elite cavern moles. 39,960 battle exp earned, 5,433 normal exp earned)

(You have achieved a milestone by defeating 300 monsters in one battle. + 3 to power, +3 to defense, +3 to magic)

(Raise undead has reached level 9. Rot has reached level 7. Dark magic mastery has reached level 4. Basic sword mastery has reached level 5. You have learnt passive skill Basic staff mastery level 1)

(You have danced, dined, embraced and come ever closer to death. The Mental stat has been unlocked; you have been given the passive skill life sense. Life sense and the passive skill night vision have combined to form the active/passive skill life sight)

(You have survived by taking the lives and vitality of a living thing, and as such you have been cursed! Your own vitality will now give life to all who take it from you.)

[The vampire racial path has been unlocked! Complete all racial quests to change your race from human to Lesser Vampire]

"Okay that's cool and all, but what the hell is a vampire?"