Several months had passed, and I continued my forest hunting expeditions. Now, I could skillfully set traps and hunt boars, hares, and occasionally snakes for their venom. Orion had developed antibodies against snake venom by consuming it in small quantities.
Presently, Orion held two daggers smeared with snake venom and a sturdy long saber made of boar's horns at his waist.
Today marked a special occasion - his first encounter with his formidable adversary, the ruler of the lake, a crocodile that had devoured his prey months ago.
Orion climbed a tree, strategically placing a deer carcass beside it to lure the crocodile. Patiently, he awaited on the branch, observing the enormous crocodile approaching, about 15 times his size. Unflinching, Orion waited.
As the crocodile neared the bait, Orion's heart raced with adrenaline. The reptile fell into a meticulously dug pit, the result of several days of hard work. Seizing the opportunity, Orion leaped onto the crocodile, aiming to thrust his dagger into its eyes. However, the attempt failed, and the crocodile retaliated with a powerful tail strike, leaving Orion battered but standing.
"Cough, cough. It looks bad; I underestimated you," Orion admitted, coughing up blood with broken ribs. Undeterred, he stood up.
The crocodile charged, jaws open wide, aiming to consume Orion in one swift motion. Swiftly, Orion placed his long saber across its mouth, executed a flip onto its head, and pierced its eyes. Despite its struggles and a futile attempt to escape the pit, the crocodile succumbed to its injuries.
Orion, standing by: "Hahaha, pity I had to kill you in such a way. I thought of finishing you in one blow; guess you are a *masochist, you pervert croco.* "
After draining the crocodile's blood to satisfy his increased appetite, Orion, despite his age appearing as a 5-year-old, with white hair and crimson red eyes, anticipated the return of his father, Arthur Night Shade, sister Olivia Night Shade, and butler Joseph.
Considering the maids might check on him, Orion decided to return to his room, feigning months of hibernation. But before that, he resolved to unveil the mysteries of the ancient wall in the cave.
After months of research, Orion discovered the wall's connection to the first patriarch of the Night Shades family. To open it, he had to provide the blood of the Nightshade family. Drawing his blood with a dagger, the wall trembled and opened a pathway, leading him to a room adorned with ancient writings of demons and magic engravings.
Walking further, Orion encountered a massive throne with an old vampire seated upon it – A very old primordial vampire was sitting with pale skin and then he opened his eyes,
SHhhh...he opened his eyes.
"It has been millennia to see one of my kind, and that too such a young lad. You must be very talented to find me here."
'Hum Who is he? I don't remember any ancient vampires in the novel is it a hidden plot? Anyways looks like I hit a jackpot.'
Orion nodded respectfully: "Descendant salutes to the ancient vampire lord, may I know your name?"
"I am Dracula, one of the 4 generals of the Dragon lord and the first patriarch of the Nightshade family."
'No way! Why is he here in a cave like this? and more importantly what is this about Dragon lord'?
" Well, and white hair and red eyes, that's quite a surprise. Your hair resembles the dragon lord of my time, but you don't have the smell of a dragon."
"Patriarch, did dragons exist in the past?"
Dracula, relatively surprised by that question: "What? Boy, answer me sincerely, how many decades have passed after my death?"
Orion: "Patriarch, according to my knowledge, it has been over a couple of millennia since your era, and the world has no dragons in it."
Dracula: "Boy, hear me carefully. The things I am about to tell you will shake the world to the core. In the past, the world was united by the dragons; they were rulers of the skies, supreme beings under the god. Under them, there were four tribes of different species, and I was head of the vampire family and ruled the west, and other tribes lived in different continents. But one day, there was a weird phenomenon called dungeons which had hordes of monsters coming from them. Initially, we ignored them, but as time passed, the strength of them increased exponentially.
*The Dragon lord had assigned us to help him curb these dungeons; I was at my peak back then, an SSS class powerhouse, and the Dragon Lord was an X class powerhouse, one of the strongest dragons in history. But no matter what we did, dungeons weren't stopping, and people died. Although with Dragon Lords help, we were able to defeat multiple SSS class dungeons, and after that, no dungeons appeared or so we thought a dungeon formed on top of the skies with the size of an entire continent and it was an X Rank dungeon named Lucifer. It connected this world with floors of hell, and demons rushed outside it to kill anything and everything. *
*Later, the Dragon Lord stopped us from entering it, as even the SSS Rank powerhouses couldn't stand a chance against X Rank individuals. After his departure, we waited for quite some time, but he didn't return, no matter how much time passed. But the dragons never lost hope in their leader and waited for his return. *
*Finally, after 5 years, the huge dungeon crashed into the center of the ocean, floating on it and formed the central continent as you know now. In the middle of this continent, there was a huge chamber that was the awakener's chamber as you call now, but in reality, it is the will of the Dragon Lord. After the death of their leader, dragons returned back to their homeland to recuperate the losses. *"
'The f*ck is this old man on about, he talks as if SSS Rank is a joke, more importantly what is this about X Rank, am I in trouble?'