Chapter 305 Interference



'What the hell did you do, Elysia?! Why is it that at random times I cannot connect with you!? Now because of that my spell protection slipped!!!' Alice sounded furious, but I think I knew what the cause of the interference she mentioned was. It seemed to happen right as I brought up the system.

At first this didn't make sense to me. Why would it cut our connection just because I used the system? But wait, Alice sees everything I do... if she's seeing through my eyes, would she also see the system menu? Was the system trying to stop her from learning of its existence? This never happened with anyone else... but perhaps, since Alice is technically invading my privacy, she triggered some preventative measure to stop her from finding out. It would also explain why Alice hadn't mentioned the system, wondering what it is.

'Fuck there it is again, this weird fuzziness! Whatever you're doing stop, otherwise you will die!' Halting my thoughts, I quickly took a peek out the door to see if the vampire was still suspicious.

'You need to hide!' Alice's frustration now turned into panic as the vampire was walking right towards me.

'Shit!' I felt incredibly stupid. Who knew that bringing up the system would cause such problems.

'Just start running down the hall and enter the first room you can. I doubt he would turn this tower upside down.' I spotted a door not far away and hurried inside after listening to Alice's instructions. The room was some kind of storage room, as there were crates upon crates. No Idea what was in them, but I couldn't care less right now.

*BOOM* *Rumble* A loud explosion coming from the hallway caused the entire tower I was in to shake. The stacked crates that were in front of me also began to topple over and I braced myself for impact, but luckily none of them hit me. Instead, it conveniently made it easier for me to get behind them.

'Phew, if I were any closer, the crates would have crushed me.' The crates were just mere inches away from me, but I had nowhere to run as the vampire was just outside.

Climbing on top of the fallen crates, I saw a hole in the pile, which allowed me to slip inside. It was extremely uncomfortable, but right now this was my best bet to stay hidden.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

The small, audible clank of the vampire's shoes echoed through the hall, progressively getting louder. Once the sound was just outside the storage room door, they came to a halt. Then a few seconds later another blast occurred.

It wasn't as strong, but the door came crashing into the crates, crushing me in between them. I felt the wood dig into my body, but I tried my damn best to keep my mouth shut.

I knew that as long as I did not make a sound, I could always heal myself later once I'm safe.

"Tch, no rat in here." The vampire left annoyed, continuing to check every room. The tower continued to shake from further explosions as the sounds got further and further away. I waited until I no longer heard any explosions, wanting to ensure he was nowhere near me.

'You are safe to move for now and judging from your thoughts, you know what is causing me to lose connection.' Pushing the crates aside and climbing out of the pile, I used a tiny amount of flames to heal the cuts and bruises. Alice on the other hand, did not sound happy, but at least it indirectly provided confirmation that she was on my side. If she truly wasn't then she would have let me be killed by that extremely strong vampire.

'Y-yes, I think. I don't exactly know why, but I won't do it again.' There was no point in playing dumb, but I still didn't want to give specifics.

*Sigh* 'It's something from the gods isn't it?' Alice let out a defeated sigh, feeling my hesitation about the topic.

'I didn't receive it from them, but it does indeed originate from a god.' With Alice already aware of it, the least I could do was answer the question and hope she doesn't dig any deeper.

'Alright, that makes a lot more sense now. Just make sure to not do it again, otherwise I will be angry at you next time.' Alice was understanding, but she wasn't going to tolerate it a second time, which was completely fair.

'Thank you.' I was glad, but it also meant I had to handicap myself for however long I would be in here.

'This is going to suck. I won't be able to message Shaman or Clara at all!' It was painful to think about, and all I could do was hope that I won't lose my mind.

'What did I say?! You're lucky your thoughts only make annoying white noise when mentioning this thing, but please spare me!' Alice yelled to get me to stop, which just goes to show how strict the system is when it comes to mentioning it.

'S-sorry.' I wish at this point I could allow Alice to hear information or even see it, but right now I can't even touch the thing without getting myself killed.

'It's manageable, but I need to concentrate in order to protect you. Right now you are seen as a regular vampire because of my mana, but as soon as I lose connection to you, that veil vanishes.' Explaining how I was kept hidden truly made me grateful for Alice, especially after that close call with the dungeon boss.

'I-I understand, so what now?' With the dungeon boss out and about, surely this would be a good time to make a move.

'Well firstly, before it's too late, start running towards the main cathedral. There is no loot to be had unless you want to fight tier 9 vampires.' Nodding my head, I exited the tower and began sprinting along the bridge. The tower still shook from periodic explosions that shot rocks from above. The good news was that by looking where they were dropping from, I could roughly judge how close he was to the top.

'Why are none of the other vampires making a fuss?' It was oddly quiet, especially after stirring up the boss. I'd have thought there would be more of a commotion.

'Because they are afraid. Until you get to the cathedral the vampires out here will not dare make a move. Of course, if you did not have my protection they would try to hunt you down, but they only see you as a reckless vampire comically running around. Also, they can't use magic, so as long as you don't use yours they will have no reason to suspect you.'

'That's why, when someone walks in here conjuring flames, they immediately know it's an invader. Don't get me wrong, they have abilities, but besides that everything else is seen as witchcraft.' As I continued to run, Alice gave more context to this dungeon which was quite interesting. This place was its own miniature-world which made me curious about how they lived here.

In a dungeon that seems to be rarely entered, wouldn't they shrivel up and die from the lack of blood? Or is there some human population down here somewhere? It could be that this world is on some kind of time loop created by some divine power, but from what I know of the gods, they are a lot more cruel.

'You think of very interesting possibilities. Unfortunately, even with my 2000 years I still can't tell you how these dungeons came to exist. When they first appeared, I tried figuring out how they worked, but I came up with nothing. The only feasible explanation is "the gods did it", so until we get an answer from them, there is no way to say whether or not these dungeons are actual places in the universe.' Alice, being as invasive as ever, gave her insight into the dungeons.

'What else would it be but the doing of a god? The monsters inside come back to life and act like nothing happened.' There were many unexplainable things about the dungeon, but I didn't have the brain power to keep thinking of hypotheticals.

'True, but enough about that. You're about to run into a door.' Too invested in the conversation, I stopped paying attention to where I was going and, before I knew it, I was already at the cathedral.

'Could have warned me earlier!' Sliding on my feet, I tried to stop myself but unfortunately, it was too late. I crashed right into the door, causing it to swing wide open. Having flung myself inside the cathedral, my body slid across the ground for a moment until I hit something hard.

"Ow!" Considering that Alice hasn't bothered giving me any new warnings, I assumed it was safe, so I took the moment to get my bearings. However, when I looked around, it occurred to me that it might not be as safe as I thought.

Surrounding me were a bunch of hooded figures, all with piercing red eyes.

'Play along, Elysia, they see you as one of them for now.' There was a slight cheeky tone in Alice's voice, as if she planned this.

I desperately wanted to see the level of these vampires, but if I dared bring up the inspection window my cover would be instantly blown.

"H-hi?" With not much of a choice, I spoke up, wondering how these vampires would react.

"Why doesn't she have her hood?"

"She might be one of the kids that has been making a ruckus lately."

"How did she even get here?"

The vampires all whispered to themselves, trying to figure out how I got here. Little did they know I was the intruder, but it was a good sign that Alice's protection was working.

"Quickly get her covered up before Alucard returns!" leaving me no say in the matter, one of the vampires grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me further in.