NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 26: Vampire Cathedral
Chapter 26: Vampire Cathedral
Noah's family had traveled through the forest for three days.
During the day, Noah built a quick web camp and rested with Athena.
They each slept only six hours and never at the same time, always staying on guard.
Eleonora slept at night, with Noah as her bed.
Because of that, his Tenebris Spiders' Robes carried their supplies differently.
He looked like a strange Santa pushing a sled, except the sled was a black carpet of tendrils holding the boxes while he did cardio.
Near the forest border, there were no monsters or ghouls.
Only after venturing deeper did they face hunter ghouls and black bears.
Some of them were advanced enough to team up, with black bears serving as steeds for the ghouls.
They caught Noah off guard at first, but he adapted.
He used his bow to thin their ranks, then switched to his scythe.
For three days, the only things he saw were trees, ghouls, black bears, and his alluring companions.
That changed on the fourth midnight, when Noah and Athena's familiars found a building in a wide clearing.
With a gentle nudge, Noah woke Eleonora and told her about the discovery.
She sprang off his back, eager to see something new, and stayed close behind him in case of danger.
Noah chuckled, then glanced at Athena, making sure she was ready.
Following their familiars, they soon reached the clearing's edge and saw a huge cathedral.
It had tall crosses with bat wings atop its towers and stained glass windows brimming with crimson light and black frames.
It gave Noah no sense of holiness, more a sense of something cruel lurking inside.
He recalled talking about vampires back at the mansion and guessed it belonged to them.
It might not be a proper cathedral in their culture, just built that way.
He turned to his beloveds, who agreed.
Eleonora gained some knowledge on seeing the building.
She said it was part of a vampire household and a place where non-vampires offered blood in exchange for protection and power.
Noah and Athena found that interesting.
"We have packs of blood," Noah said. "We might clear whatever awaits us inside and pass the trial, right?"
Athena nodded.
Eleonora clicked her tongue. "I am receiving no further guidance. Either it's locked inside the cathedral or the Universe Library refuses to help. Damn limitation."
Noah stroked her hair, then dragged their supplies across the clearing to the grand doors.
He pushed them open and stepped onto a polished floor, Eleonora and Athena beside him.
Countless wooden benches filled the cathedral, each with a silver cup for the vampires' followers.
Far at the front stood the main altar with larger silver cups and crosses, each resting on a marble stand.
A red carpet stretched down the center toward the altar.
What most caught Noah's eye was the marble monument of the same woman he had seen before.
The statue reached the ceiling, standing at the back of the altar as though watching over the cathedral.
She wore stylish armor that highlighted her slender figure instead of protecting it.
At her feet was a crimson sword lodged in the floor.
Eleonora received fresh guidance from the trial.
She noticed Noah focusing on the sword and said, "You are correct. We must fill the cathedral's silver cups with hunter ghoul blood and then pick up the sword to clear this trial. Removing the sword grants the first trial's blessing, unlocks at least one innate ability, and lets us leave for Earth-41A."
A vein popped on Eleonora's temple. "We lugged around all those blood packs, and none is from hunter ghouls!"
Noah and Athena sighed.
There was no way they could have known.
Noah said, "We didn't fight that many on our way here. We finished them off without collecting blood as well."
Athena added, "I fear the forest ghouls alone will not fill all these cups. We may find one or two large groups by a water source, but it still might not be enough. We must return to the mansion once more."
Eleonora rolled her eyes. "All roads lead to bullshit."
Noah could only agree.