Annie nodded, "Vigo, the Dream Maiden, I've heard of her. It's said her illusion magic is incredibly powerful; her illusionary barriers can easily trap the frost giants of the Arctic."
Rosen couldn't help but praise, "That's impressive. No wonder high-ranking vampires have her as a target for elimination."
He hadn't heard of Vigo, but he knew that illusion magic truly existed in this world. Powerful illusionists were extremely difficult to defeat; even high-ranking vampires found them very troublesome.
He continued reading the third name.
"Emile, the Glorious Saintess, age 16, current location: Westin Temple, Berkeley, Free City. Possesses terrifying Holy Light talent, and is expected to master the legendary Divine Punishment Magic in the future. A significant threat, she must be eliminated first!"
Upon hearing this name, Annie scoffed, "Tch, the Glorious Saintess? Shameless!"
Her expression was one of utter disgust.
Rosen knew that the Eternal Flame Cult was a popular sect in the northern part of the continent, using fire as its totem and boasting a large following. It was said that the sect acted radically, hating all black magic and forbidden secret arts, and even training temple warriors to hunt down black magicians.
Annie was a mutated hunter, a product of black magic, so it was normal for her to be at odds with the Eternal Flame Cult.
He didn't ask further and continued reading.
At the bottom of the parchment scroll was a blood-red seal. The seal's design was an equilateral triangle facing downwards, inscribed with a circle, within which was a blooming flower.
Rosen hadn't seen the seal before. He handed the scroll to Annie: "Have you seen it before?"
Annie glanced at it, then stopped abruptly: "It's Blood Rose!"
"Explain," Rosen said, feeling his information from the game was pitifully scarce, far inferior to that of Annie, a native.
Annie sighed. "My mentor told me that most monsters are actually quite intelligent, especially high-ranking vampires, who are often far more intelligent than ordinary humans. We humans have always been trying to hunt monsters. Monsters, of course, won't just surrender; they're also trying to eliminate any rebellious humans. The Blood Rose is such a monster organization, its members all being powerful monsters. Their goal is to hunt down humans who dare to rebel or possess the power to rebel."
"Oh~" Rosen couldn't help but slap his forehead, giving a wry smile. "If we kill Viken now, wouldn't we be stirring up a hornet's nest?"
Annie nodded, looking helpless. "There's nothing we can do about it. If we don't kill him, he'll kill us. We have no choice. Besides, as far as I know, the killing of a high-ranking vampire is a major event; it will definitely shake the monster world. The Blood Rose will definitely issue a bounty, and the monsters will be searching everywhere for Viken's killer."
Rosen felt his eyelids twitching violently. Just as he was about to speak, Viken's voice suddenly came from the side of the cave: "Little girl, you do have some knowledge." Rosen immediately turned to look and saw Viken's head leaning against the cliff face. His facial wounds had completely healed; if one ignored the fact that he lacked a physical body, he would still be a handsome, blond man.
Sensing Rosen's gaze, Viken immediately turned his eyes. The instant he saw Rosen, a terrifying killing intent flashed in his lake-blue eyes: "Little brat, you think you can burn me to death with this firewood? Dream on!"
Rosen hadn't expected Viken's head to be able to speak.
Hearing Viken's words, he wasn't surprised at all. He glanced at Viken's head, pursed his lips, and then turned to Annie, saying, "Ignore him. He's just a head left; all he can do is talk."
At this point, how could he possibly be afraid of Viken? What truly worried him was the Blood Rose.
Transmigrating was bad enough, being hunted by vampires from the start was bad enough, and now he'd managed to turn the tables, but there was this massive monster organization lurking behind them—trouble was endless.
"The Blood Rose is such a nuisance," he said, scratching his head, his face contorted in a grimace.
"Heh heh, now you know your place, huh?" Viken spoke again.
Rosen nodded. "Now I know."
Viken laughed. "Since you know, why don't you stop?"
Rosen immediately shook his head.
Viken's face turned cold: "What? You don't actually think you can kill me, do you?"
Rosen ignored the head, shook it, and said, "We'll deal with whatever comes our way. Blood Rose or Blood Rose, we'll worry about that later. I'm going to get some firewood."
And so, Annie chopped the meat, Rosen gathered firewood, and the two worked together seamlessly.
As for Viken, he remained silent, sitting in a corner, watching helplessly as Annie used her steel sword to gradually mince his body into a bloody pulp.
About an hour later, the firewood Rosen had gathered had piled up into a small mountain at the cave entrance, and Annie had chopped Viken's body, except for his head, into mincemeat. She began to walk towards Viken's head.
Viken, far from being afraid, chuckled: "Come on, little girl, aim for my forehead."
Annie took a deep breath, raised her steel sword, and brought it down hard on Viken's head.
"Hey~~"
"Clang~~~~~"
Sparks flew as the steel sword sliced through the scalp, striking the skull with a metallic clang. Then, the sword couldn't cut any further!
Annie picked up the sword and saw several chips on the blade.
"This head is really hard!" Rosen exclaimed in amazement.
Viken laughed: "Haha~ harder, little girl, didn't you eat?"
"I'll try again!"
Annie, unconvinced, swung the steel sword with all her might and chopped down.
"Whoosh~~" A powerful whistling sound.
"Clang~~"
A deafening cracking sound rang out as the steel sword broke in two. Looking at Viken's head, apart from a cut on the scalp, he was completely unharmed.
What's terrifying is that even the scalp injury didn't last long; the wound was healing at a visible speed.
"This..." Annie stared at the broken sword, her face filled with disbelief.