After the attack of the giants, the trip towards Stronghold was not as intense for the next few days

  Of course, the group weren't left alone and had to overcome several challenges, such as an ambush attack by an orc tribe, or an attack by a chimera.

  But these were retively minor threats and Asn had insta-killed several chimera's by himself on the way to Astin, when they were attacked!

  The group actually worked well together, with the two rge combatants the Warrior Monk Titan and the Barbarian Asterion taking the lead as the main tankers, while the warriors Alicia, Galtar and Thundar the damage dealers. Bolo and Dossinger provided support, and Asn provided rge area of effect damage.

  Asn didn't have to do much, except provide help surreptitiously with his shadow abilities, or when he burned the whole orc vilge to the ground with a wide area of effect spell

  He used to consider whether he should feel something or not, seeing that his father was a high orc King, but after many years, he no longer bothered. His father was no longer the orc king, and no longer had any contact with them. Apparently, when he and his wife fled the Demon King's nds, the orcs betrayed Orcrage and they were estranged anyway!

  In fact, there so happened to be a orc shaman in the vilge, who was proficient in fire magic! The orc chief wielded a fire sword too. He battled with Thundar, but Thundar got the better of him. And the shaman was outcssed by Asn as he burned to into ashes!

  Three days ter, after a few days of minor inconveniences, they arrived in a town called Mavern, a middle sized town ruled by a Count who lived on the castle on the hill overlooking the vilge

  This was one of the stops they could rest in civilization before reaching Stronghold

  But the town seemed to be deserted, and it was dark and gloomy. And though it was getting dark, nobody in the town seemed to be lighting any torches on the street, or even in any of the houses. Even the castle seemed dark!

  None of them had been here before, so they weren't certain if this was normal. Maybe, as a small farming town, many of the residents have gone home for dinner and slept early!

  But even in the tavern in the hotel they were staying in, it all seemed dark, quiet and abandoned

  Asn hoped to listen in to the gossip of the locals drinking there, but nobody but them were at the tables having dinner!

  "Come! Let us drink to our exciting journey so far!" Titan said in a loud voice as the drinks arrived, served by a quiet, gloomy looking waitress

  "Hear hear!" Thundar said, trying to liven up the mood of the pce

  Asn and the rest toasted each other and raised their mugs, all of them taking a swig of their ale

  They unanimously spit out whatever they were drinking, finding their beverages stale and undrinkable

  "What the hell?" Galtar asked as he smmed his mug on the table

  Just then, several men walked into the tavern and surrounded the table, silent but staring at them

  "What do you want?" Thundar asked angrily, as his drink was foul

  The men remained silent, but one of them suddenly moved and grabbed Thundar by the throat and lifted him up!

  "Thundar!" Titan, who was the nearest, moved towards the man but another man punched him on the chest!

  Titan had coated himself with aura, and the punch barely moved him. But he was surprised at how he nearly felt the punch, even after covering his body with aura!

  Asterion moved and swung his axe down, severing the arm of the man holding Thundar in the air

  But the man threw Thundar away and avoided the axe strike, and started fighting for the axe with Asterion!

  Asterion was shocked at how strong the man was, and the man even threw him to the wall, even though he was half his size!

  The other men started drawing their swords, and Bolo, Alicia, Galtar and Dossinger drew their weapons too!

  "Freeze!" Asn commanded, and the multitude of men that had entered and approached their table found that suddenly, they could not move!

  Asn controlled their shadows, and what the shadow does, the physical was forced to follow too! Only dragons had been able to resist this shadow control ability and the men were nowhere as powerful or willful as a dragon

  "I know what this is!" Asn said as he walked up to one of the men

  Using the man's own shadow, Asn moved his upper lip, exposing his fangs as the man hissed threateningly

  "As I thought" Asn said

  "What is it?" Alicia asked

  "Vampire!" Asn replied

  "Vampire? Here in the human realm?" Alicia asked

  "Don't know" Asn replied as all the men started hissing in anger

  Maya emerged out of the shadows and Asn asked her what she thinks

  She looked at them, but they hissed at her too! She cwed the nearest man's face and he crumbled to dust

  "Many generations beneath me. He didn't even acknowledge my position as their Queen!" Maya said angrily

  "Do you think the whole town has been affected?" Asn asked

  "No doubt about it. I'll handle this" Maya seethed angrily, as she walked out the door

  "What is going on?" Galtar asked Asn

  "It means we are in for a battle" Asn said, shadow spikes piercing the hearts of all the vampires here. They crumbled to dust instantly

  The whole hotel was covered in vampires, even the waitress, who tried to attack Asn when he walked into the kitchen

  The group completely went through the whole hotel and walked outside

  Asn looked up and saw an explosion in the castle. He summoned Mya to help the rest of the group clean up the town from all over vampires and flew into the air towards the castle with his flying cloak!

  Suddenly, several vampires flew at him from the town below, but he non-chalntly sliced of their heads with his shadow, crumbling to dust before they even reached the ground

  As he reached the castle, he entered a hole in the wall, created by Maya in her rampage and followed the trail of ashes all the way to the main hall

  There, he saw Maya lifting a vampire in the air with one hand. She didn't looked pleased at all

  This was a shock for Asn, as he has always seen Maya and Mya (and Gloria) as always pleasant and unaffected by anything. Now, Maya was completely angered and her face showed her hatred for the man

  "Maya! What's going on?" Asn asked as he entered the room

  "This.... it Count Nordstrom, who is the vampire lord of this era. And he serves... the demon King!" Maya said with venom in her voice

  "It is our pleasure to do so!" Count Nordstrom said, while struggling in her grasp

  "We are vampires! We rule, not follow!" Maya shouted

  Asn wondered how it was different since she served him willingly. sexually and with all her body?

  Suddenly, Count Nordstrom's hand turned to blood and formed a bde, shoving it into Maya's chest and piercing her heart!

  "Maya!" Asn yelled

  But Maya simply smiled at him as Count Nordstrom smiled triumphantly, only for that look to turn in horror

  "At least the modern vampire still can control his own blood" Maya said as Count Nordstrom suddenly screamed in pain!

  His hand that had pierced her chest suddenly melted as her blood mixed with his hand, corroding his blood

  Within seconds, his hand withered and the corrosion spread up his hand and started corroding his body

  "No vampire is as pure blooded as myself!" Maya said, as Count Nordstrom literally melted in a pool of blood

  Asn approached her and touched her breast, seeing her wound close up

  "Are you alright, Maya?" he asked

  She calmed down and smiled before kissing him

  "I could use a good fucking" she said

  Asn smiled and both of them entered the shadow realm

  --

  An hour ter, Alicia and the rest of the group reached the castle. All they found was dust everywhere, but there was no sight of Asn, or Maya

  "What's the status in town?" Asn suddenly appeared and asked

  "We.. we fought several more vampires. But we ended up defeating them all, especially with the help of Mya" Alicia said

  Mya looked at Asn and smiled knowingly at what he had been up to.

  "Nobody injured?" Asn asked

  "No. But they were very strong. Barely overpowering us aura users" Titan said

  Indeed the strength of a vampire was beyond that of an aura user. But the aura user at least could protect himself or herself from being completely overwhelmed

  At least Mya could match and overpower a typical vampire and help out. It was unsure if she could overpower Maya though

  They found that everyone in the town had been turned, and now the town was empty

  "What do we do now?" Thundar asked

  "I think we should still stay the night, as it is safer in the town than in the forest. It seems that the human realm is being invaded by monsters and demonic creatures

  "Me and Mya will be on the lookout" Maya suddenly said as she appeared from the shadows

  The group agreed, since they could rest assured that Maya and Mya should be able to handle anything

  And it would be nice to sleep in a proper bed, after days of travelling on the road!

  So they paired up for the night, with Maya and Mya standing guard in the hotel all night

  Titan paired up with Asterion, Galtar with Thundar, Dossinger with Bolo

  Asn offered to sleep alone, but Alicia said it was alright. They should share a room

  Maya and Mya looked at each other but remained silent. The others wanted to share room with her too, but they had seen how powerful Asn was and remained silent

  So they broke up into their rooms, and fell asleep in their individual rooms, safe in the knowledge that they would be guarded by powerful guards Maya and Mya for the night