By now Layla and Erin had both fallen unconscious, leaving Amy, Pierogi, Garret, and Jerry to their spoils.
Pierogi walked over to the others, away from Earl's body.
"Good news, that jerk, Earl, is unconscious," Pierogi spoke with a vindictive tone, crossing their arms, "Good riddance. It's what he deserves."
"I'm sick of him bossing us around," Amy spat out, stomping her foot down.
That was when she picked up Layla's bow, and an idea popped in her head, "Although… We could just steal their beast gear, and sell it, keeping the money to ourselves. Do we really need him around? With the amount of crystals we've stolen from other teams, I'm sure we'll be set for the week."
"If Earl gets eaten by some beast here, so be it," Garret spoke with venom in his voice before spitting on the ground, "It's what he deserves for breaking your arm, Pierogi."
Pierogi shook, recalling the sound of the crunch, "Eugh, don't remind me."
That was when Pierogi turned to Jerry, who was frantically staring at them wide eyed. He was sweating and it wasn't because of the sun. He feared what they might do to him. Jerry had followed Earl's command because he feared what Earl might do to him, but he had no idea what these three wanted out of him.
Seeing Jerry so scared, the trio began laughing at him before Garret casually wrapped an arm around him, causing him to flinch, "Hey, don't worry! We'll take good care of you. I'm sure you've been treated like weak trash before, right? Join the club! And you'll get a share of our spoils."
One of Pierogi's clones then revealed to the group that they were now holding Erin's paleneedle rapier, still covered in blood.
"Hmm, I think it'll be quite the improvement from my previous sword," the Pierogi clone said before sheathing it at their waist.
Jerry nervously laughed alongside the group, seeing the blood. These guys were ruthless, but some part of him wanted to get rewarded for being at the bottom of the food chain for so long.
The 3rd clone of Pierogi had joined them, each one holding the basic tier crystals Erin and Layla had hunted that day.
"I found their stash! If I counted right, I think we have 100 crystals now!" One of the Pierogi clones said with a smile, and their friends cheered.
Soon after, the group left, leaving behind Earl, Erin, and Layla without any of their beast gear.
—
Hazy, groggy, blurred vision was what Erin woke up to. Checking her notifications, she remembered what had happened not too long ago.
[Your hunger grows]
[You will no longer heal]
[Your HP will continue to decrease by – 1 HP until human blood has been consumed]
[-1 HP]
[HP 1/19]
Erin's body was covered in blood, and it was clear she was going to bleed out soon if she wasn't to do something about this soon.
A gnawing hunger clawed in Erin's stomach. She hadn't been nearly this hungry since planet Pioletic, and in front of her was the unconscious body of Earl. Without thinking about it, she had dragged herself over his body, fangs ready to pierce.
Earl was beginning to wake up from the paralysis effect of her bite, and he almost flinched seeing Erin's glowing red eyes, and sharp fangs.
She needed blood, and there was a fresh bleeding body right in front of her.
There was an overwhelming blood lust in her eyes, one that out matched his own. He was trying to move, but his body was still groggy.
"Get— Away from me—" Earl slurred.
He tried to form a simple earth club around his hands, but before he could even swing it, Erin hungrily bit into his neck.
The paralysis effect happened once again, and Earl's eyes closed forever as Erin drank more and more of his blood.
[+ 6 HP]
[+ 5 HP]
[+ 7 HP]
…
[Blood Bank 100/100 ML]
Without even realizing it, Erin had consumed far more blood in Earl than what his body could handle.
[First human killed]
[You have killed a level 4 ability user]
[Reward: 180 Exp gained]
[445/400 EXP]
[You have leveled up]
[You have gained 2 stat points]
Once Erin's mouth left Earl's skin, she let go, feeling a droplet of blood fall from her face.
'I… I killed him,' Erin thought, looking at the now lifeless body in front of her.
Just a moment ago, that body had been moving, trying to escape her grasp, but now it stopped. Like prey after it was hunted. Erin had been familiar with the concept of death, being quite aware of how it looked. In the past, she might've been mortified seeing a dead human, but now? She didn't feel anything.
The human body in front of her was simply empty of blood, unable to give her more. Maybe she could've just been fine with having hunted her kill, the notion that the two weren't of the same species, until she got a notification from Quinn.
{Quinn} Erin!? Whats going on!?
{Quinn} Were you attacked?!
{Quinn} I thought you were in danger, I saw your health go down, but—
{Quinn} Did you just KILL someone?
{Quinn} Erin, answer me!
Erin, however was more preoccupied with something. The sun. It was making her incredibly weak, far weaker than normal. Her limbs had been shaky, coordination off. It was as if the sun here was stronger than the sun on earth, making everything feel worse.
Getting onto her feet, Erin wiped away the sweat from her forehead. Her body was wobbly, but looking around, she saw that her rapier wasn't with her anymore. Not only that, but her chest piece had been broken, which now no longer provided her a boost in strength, and only gave a single point of defense.
Holding her head, Erin was trying to figure out what to do next, when a dark thought passed her head.
'Wait… Layla!'
"Layla?!" Erin hoarsely called out for her.
She hobbled over to where she had last seen her, near the back where the giant boulders were. Then, she saw Layla's unmoving body on the ground.
"Layla!" Erin yelled, as she ran over.
She jumped to where she was, sliding onto her knees, and lifted Layla's body up, shaking it.
Layla's eyes fluttered opened, then she yelped in pain from the stinging burns on her body.
"Ack—!" Layla winced, rubbing her burned skin, then asked, "What happened?"
"Where did the crystals go? You hid them, where are they?!" Erin hurriedly asked.
Layla shifted her body, turning to where the crystals had been hidden, but it was obvious they were taken. The beast corpse they were under had fully dissipated by now.
"We need to go after them, that group— they stole our crystals! They stole our beast gear!" Erin yelled, getting up, and about to storm off, when she collapsed to the floor, and got a new system message.
[Long exposure to the sun has been confirmed]
[Your body has been weakened further]
[All stats will now be reduced by 80 percent]
"What…?" Erin muttered, her vision going blurry.
Her skin felt far warmer, almost burning, and itchy all over. It was perhaps the weakest her body's ever been, her arms struggling to hold herself vaguely upright.
'What's going on!? System, what's happening?!' Erin shouted in her mind.
"You're a vampire now," The system began, "Don't you remember those stories of all those vampires who stood in the sun? Well, perhaps you didn't read about them, but if you stay outside in the sun for too long, there will be bad effects."
'Bad effects?!' Erin worried.
"Indeed, and if you continue to stay out here, then your stats will continue to decrease further and further, until eventually, POOF!" The system spoke casually, seemingly no care in the world.
The idea of going 'POOF' was something Erin had no plans on figuring out what it meant. She was about to get up, try to find where her umbrella was, when a sudden school uniform was dumped on top of her head.
"Does this help, Erin?" Layla asked, concerned for her friend, "I'm sorry, I'm trying to help, but I don't have a spare umbrella for you. They took everything— Oh my god— They took my bow!"
Erin lifted the uniform a little, noticing that there was a shadow underneath her. While the uniform didn't undo the effects of the sun, she had a new idea.
Right then and there, Erin lifted a hand, controlling the shadows underneath her. Her entire body slowly became enveloped in shadow, and soon she felt relief from the sun's scorching rays.
[Stats have returned to normal]