Chapitre 62: 2 Days.

"That was really close..." Trevor muttered as he caught his breath. The gargoyle elders were still visible in the distance, glaring at them like they'd defiled their wives and daughters. In fact, they could feel their aura from where they stood and knew that with just a thought, they would be dead. That was the kind of power they couldn't begin to fathom but it seemed that the system was right as the gargoyle elders hadn't attacked. They've brushed past death more than once in this place and just needed a place to hide till the quest and their time in the place was over.

Ethan recalled his spear and gathered energy around himself and Trevor and leaped off the last island that separated them from what appeared to be a grassland.

Landing in a patch of grass, Ethan sucked in a deep breath and released it along with the tension he felt earlier. Now they were clear of Babel's Hive, and he wasn't making plans to return, not anytime soon. He then summoned Galeno who transformed into a huge house-sized black tortoise with a huge silver shell and horns and a long draconic tail. He then leapt onto it with Trevor and Galeno moved forward.

*Warning! Warning! Warning! *

*Effects of sunlight on Vampires commencing. *

*Find something to block sunlight or survive it. *

*In 3... 2... 1...*

Ethan and Trevor felt their human appearance literally fall off like a disguise, exposing their pale skins to the sun which had turned scorching hot without them realizing until now. They appeared in a somewhat large and strange desert. The sands were reddish brown while the two suns of the beast planes appeared closer here but the thing that stood out most was that it was so hot and their weakness as vampires had kicked in. They felt their strength and power drop by a very large margin plus a searing pain in their stomachs. Ethan hurriedly pulled his hood over his head and felt the effects of the sun vanish without a trace. Trevor wasn't faring well as he didn't know how to stop the effects of the sun.

"Trevor! Change your sweater into a hoodie to cover your head. Any point of contact with the sun can affect you!" Ethan quickly prompted Trevor who hastened to do it without questioning.

Then it hit them. A severe hunger like never before. They felt like their insides were eating themselves.

"What's happening?! I feel like I'm dying." Trevor exclaimed in pain.

"I don't know!" Ethan replied while holding his stomach in a painful grimace.

*Consume blood in the next 3 minutes or risk going berserk! *

The system as always, came to their rescue even though it didn't really help with their situation directly. How and where were they supposed to get blood? They were in a wasteland of a desert with only them and Galeno. Nothing more, nothing less. Not from what they could see.

Ethan gritted his teeth as he fought through the pain and released his senses. His perception had grown after the evolution and level ups that he could now cover up to almost 5 kilometers. Very soon, he spotted a huge warthog just a kilometer away from them. Signaling Galeno, they moved with speed towards the beast. Galeno could feel its master's emotion and knew what it must do. Fortunately, the beast turned out to be Silver rank which was more like a rat to Galeno. It controlled the sand on the desert to form small spikes of hardened sand crystals which impaled the beast before it could even relax. Its metallic scales were like balloons to the sand spikes Galeno conjured. Not even waiting for the beast to die, Ethan and Trevor pounced at it, their fangs bare and glinting in the sunlights. They tore at the beast like ravenous beasts, their claws boring into its body preventing any movement from it. The beast was almost half the size of Galeno, but the strength of the Vampire duo was enough to force it down as they drank its blood. Their eyes had turned a dangerous shade of blood red while they released a chilly aura. After five minutes, the boys fell off the beast who now looked like a huge rag of body and bones. They had drained it of blood. It was still breathing but it won't be long before it gave up its life thanks to the ravenous beasts who attacked it.

The ravenous beasts in question were now lying on the hot sand while breathing roughly. For a moment, they felt their consciousness and reasoning disappearing and all that was left was the thirst for blood.

They stayed like this for another five minutes before they picked themselves of the ground. Climbing back on top of Galeno, Ethan asked the system some questions that had been bugging him since the whole ordeal and how they had escaped the gargoyle elders with relative ease.

*Hmm... It's like this. For your first question, the reason why you automatically went into Vampire-mode is because of this place. In fact, you are no longer humans but vampires. The human form is just a mutation which has been happening since your ancestors started mix breeding among themselves but essentially, you are now vampires. The human aspect of you is less than 5%, giving you the ability to turn into humans. The reason why you weren't hit with the hunger and why didn't go into vampire form is because I was keeping it dormant, and the Hive has some strange energy which allows all creatures of the night to live on it without suffering any effects. Gargoyles are also night creatures like vampires just that they are a lesser race of night creatures. ^

Trevor could also hear this and he was just as shocked as Ethan at the revelation.

*The second is related to the first in a strange way. Gargoyles are a lesser race of night creatures as compared to vampires who come directly from the essence of the Blood Primogenitor. Because of that, there is a certain kind of hate directed towards vampires by all night creatures. Any other night creature apart from demons who aren't really night creatures would try to kill you when they see you. This brings us to how you escaped with relative ease from the gargoyle elders. The elders used a certain forbidden spell for trapping night creatures, especially vampires. If you were in this form at the time, you would have been captured and killed but because you were in human forms, it didn't work on you and that spell requires the use of all their energy to use and control, so when it failed, they were weak and couldn't do anything to trap you. That's how and why you managed to escape 5 Platinum rank beasts with no less than a scratch. This desert though, is more like the resting place of the suns in the beast plane and the natural nemesis of all night creatures that's why the gargoyles will never cross over to this place no matter what. You are really lucky as your human bloodline is still keeping you safe even if it's minimal otherwise, you would have turned to ash by now. Congratulations on escaping death for the fourth time! *

"Thanks" 'That was really close...'

Ethan and Trevor sat in silence while Galeno took them across the vast desert. They met some stray beasts on their path which they killed and drained of blood into stone bottles Ethan managed to make with hard work and willpower. If the beast was Gold rank, Ethan erased their aura to escaped it as they were still too weak to take on a full-fledged Gold rank beast.

Soon, after travelling for 6 hours, they spotted an oasis in the distance. Trevor took the skies and covered himself in black smoke to scout ahead. He returned soon.

"There are a few Bronze rank and Silver rank beasts close to the oasis. They won't pose much of a threat if we erase our presence and kill them swiftly."

"Mm. Let's go."

...

"They escaped! Again!"

"What possibly went wrong?! They were vampires, right?"

"Yes. Which makes it stranger."

In a dark cave, the gargoyle elders sat with different emotions playing on their faces and in their eyes but the most dominant was hate and confusion. They had used their power and energy for nothing. They couldn't even scratch the clothes of their enemies, and they lost warriors in the process. For beings of their level of power, this was more than shameful. It did a good blow to their pride, a blow which was equivalent to a nuclear bomb. They had failed twice to kill two "ants" and even lost an elder and gargoyle warriors in the process. This was more than a blow to their pride. It was literally shattered with no pieces left to take unless the killed the perpetrators but that wasn't happening any time soon as they had escaped to where the gargoyles dreaded the most. A place only the Great Chief Babel had managed to survive and ascended to higher existence. Even the gargoyle elders who were known as the strongest and most powerful after the Wings of the chief won't survive even a day there.

The beast plane was a very dangerous place even to its inhabitants.

...

Oblivious to the mysterious feat they had performed again, Ethan and Trevor sat in a beautiful cave while having a feast of grilled goat meat with some herbal spices, blood and fruits. A feast anyone back home would kill to have because of their properties. Even the blood was a treat for vampires. Although it wasn't as thirsty as human blood or the blood of the high races (which they didn't know), the blood of a beast still provided energy to them.

After the feast, they chatted a little and went to sleep. The had a day a more and just prayed that nothing else would happen so that they could go back home safely. They were tired spiritually, mentally, psychologically and physically.

Fortunately, nothing happened the next day and they were transported back home where they went to sleep as quickly as they had returned.