Rise Of The Hoarder

“E—eh?!”

That was the only sound that leaked out of Niggaruth the moment he saw what had happened.

His Golem was gone.

It hadn’t turned invisible—though it could—and it certainly didn’t vanish on its own. Since that was the case, then where was his prized possession?

The Ancient Vampire was dumbfounded. So much so that his glare reached the masked man in front of him.

‘He hasn’t done anything, though…’ Niggaruth pondered.

It made no sense how his champion vanished, leaving no trace, as though it was never there.

“W-what did you do?” His lips quivered.

He had no choice but to ask the one who seemed unfazed about the whole thing. But, instead of getting a proper response, the Masked human simply shrugged.

That was the height of it—the disrespect!

“I ASKED WHAT YOU DID!!!” Niggaruth bellowed.

But he knew within himself that his rage was only covering the deep fear he felt within himself. Whatever that human did, he hadn’t been able to perceive it.

Was it Magic? No, if it was, he would have sensed it.

Niggaruth was an expert in the art, after all.

It was probably a Skill, or maybe a Gift, but those had limits. There was no way the humans would be able to bypass Goliath’s multiple defenses.

“Let’s wrap things up here…” The human finally spoke, as though he was bored of their whole exchange.

“That vial behind you is the stuff you’re working on, yeah?”

Niggaruth felt a tense emotion swell within him.

‘He knows about my research… my work!’

Did he come to have it for himself?

If that was the case, the human had to be stopped no matter what. Niggaruth had invested too much in this project. There was no way he would have this human reap the reward of his tireless efforts.

‘I may not be as adept at combat as Goliath, but…’

Yes, he was still a powerful Mage as a Vampire.

Surely, he could still stall for time until his Elixir was ready.

“Grimoire.” The human’s voice rang out and a golden book appeared.

It floated and emitted an aura of regal light.

‘H-he’s a Mage too? And that grimoire… I didn’t know humans would have the means to get them yet! I underestimated this one!’

Niggaruth was cautious, but he was secretly happy.

If they were both Mages, it was clear that only the superior one would win. Unlike a mesh of Classes that could cause problems, when two individuals of the same kind fought, the one with the most Skill, MP, and experience would emerge victorious.

Niggaruth knew that was him.

He was a Vampire that had lived for thousands of years. He had extremely high MP, and this was even his domain—where he could draw an endless supply of Mana from.

The young boy before him was finished.

“Very well, then! I don’t know what you did to my Golem, but…”

‘Since he hasn’t done the same to me, I’ll assume he can’t use it for now.’

“… This is the end of the line for yo—”

Before Niggaruth could complete his sentence, the boy was already in front of him—achieving a speed that shouldn’t be possible for Mages.

‘W-wha—?!’

Unfortunately, he wasn’t even granted permission to complete his thoughts. The boy’s hand was raised, and something eerie emanated from it.

Niggaruth was frightened.

‘M-my Elixir!’ He tried reaching out for the vial, but it was no longer there. It had already vanished—same as the Golem.

His life’s work, his dream… his hope!

Everything crumbled before his eyes, and then, he saw the human bringing down his eerie-looking hand that was covered in some sort of transparent mist.

“Soul Reaping,”

Niggaruth felt his body becoming light, his strength getting drained, and his consciousness fading. Then, everything went blurry… before darkness took over and he lost all semblance of reality.

In essence, he died.

‘My lord… I only wish… I could have stayed by your side… foreveeerrr…’

These were his last thoughts before he completely slipped into the abyss.

**********

“Wow, that was easy,” I mumbled, looking at the purplish orb that floated atop my fingertips.

It was the Soul of this Boss Demon, and I used <Soul Reaping> to take it. To be honest, I was surprised it worked so well, but that was probably because of the nature of the Demon.

It was assailed by a Status Condition called ‘Soul Damage’, making it relatively weak. Plus, its HP was despairingly low. Was it sick?

That made sense.

‘It was probably making some sort of potion to cure itself…’ My thoughts trailed.

But, this monster’s MP was amazing.

To be honest, I hadn’t seen anything like it since I arrived in this world.

It was on the level of a Grade 5 Demon. Its other Stats were shit, but I had to give the monster props for its incredible Mana.

‘Welp, I won. That’s all that matters, right?’

[SYSTEM INFORMATION]

<Primary Quest> Has Been Partially Achieved

Find the Origin of this Calamity and Destroy it. (Achieved)

Destroy the Source. (Unachieved)

[END OF INFORMATION]

‘The source probably refers to this machine, eh?’ I looked at the bunch of pipes that previously connected to the Vial I stole.

It looked whatever it was doing hadn’t been completed yet, so I was hesitant to use [Subspace] to retrieve it. Still, I couldn’t take the risk that there was a surprising twist to the whole thing, so I decided to be careful about things.

‘Well, I have this guy’s Soul now… I can just enslave it with my other Ghost Spell, and then have it tell me whatever I want.’

That way, I could complete this mission in the easiest way possible.

“Now, then…” I stared wickedly at the orb.

“Let’s begin.”

************

Niggaruth found himself in an endless sea of darkness.

He was one with nothingness, and nothingness was one with him.

This was the fate of those who couldn’t die but couldn’t live either. It was one worse than death.

As Niggaruth wondered what to do as his consciousness faded and appeared again, a bright light shone through the surrounding darkness.

‘W-WHAT?!’ His thoughts echoed in his realm of consciousness/unconsciousness.

-.ᴄᴏm The light became too blinding for Niggaruth to see, so he simply braced himself for what would happen next.

Perhaps his master had heard his deep wish and wanted to save him. If that was the case, then he wouldn’t resist.

Yes, he would give himself wholeheartedly to salvation!

… To his master!