Fiona took a few seconds to think about it before she sighed and looked at Elio. "Fine, you can stay."

Her words made the boy's eyes brighten with excitement. He wasn't very hopeful she would accept, as he knew how Fiona thought. But the fact that she accepted took him by complete surprise. Still, a rush of motivation and determination hit him as he clenched his teeth and smiled.

"Thank you, Fiona! I will do my best!"

"However," Fiona said. "I have one condition for you to stay here. If you don't abide by it, I will be extremely upset."

"... What is it?" Elio asked with a wary look on his face. He could guess that it wasn't an easy condition, but he was ready to accept anything as long as he could stay around and help her in any way he could.

"If we face a threat of any kind and I tell you to run, you MUST run. There is no if or maybe; you must escape as fast as possible. This is non-negotiable. I do not intend to put your life at risk when you are still not fully ready to take on such challenges." Fiona said.

"..."

'Escape when she tells me to, huh?' He mused to himself. It wasn't ideal since he knew Fiona would probably say it at the first sight of a threat. But, he also had no other choice since he could tell that she was dead serious and wouldn't even listen to any argument against her condition.

So, as bitter as it was, Elio nodded his head. "I understand. I will do that."

"Promise me," Fiona replied coldly. "Put it on my life."

"That much?!" Elio blurted out. "Haha… Why should I put it in your life? Isn't that a bit too muc-"

"Put it on my life. You must take that oath."

"..." Elio was completely speechless. He didn't realize how worried Fiona was. He had never even heard her put an oath like that before or ask for it. That only proved how much she truly cherished him and that this was merely her being very considerate of him. He felt that if he refused to, it would be extremely disrespectful toward her wishes.

"On your life, and my own life, I will run away," Elio said as he stared into Fiona's eyes, conveying honesty. He knew that he was going to have to escape at some point if things got horrendous, so this wasn't a horrible oath to put.

For a few seconds, Fiona tried to read his mind before she finally nodded her head. "Ok, you can tag along. The squads are getting ready to go and investigate the situation. I expect to face a very dangerous enemy, so you should be ready and aware."

"I am ready. I will do my best."

Then, Fiona gave Elio all the details she had gathered. The situation felt so eerie and mysterious that the young man could only gulp nervously. Entire squads losing contact with the main base was not good, no matter how positive they try to be. Especially the audio recording they heard, it was nightmarish.

A few minutes later, the squads walked out, clad in their armor and carrying their weapons.

"We are ready, Lady Fiona. We have contacted the higher command. They will be sending reinforcements soon."

"Good. Gather everyone, we will be moving immediately."

"Hey, Elio."

As the group was getting ready to start moving, Elio was called by his grandmother.

"Are you going with them?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure, son? You could just stay here and-"

"No, I need this, Grandma. I realized that I require experience more than anything. The kind of mistake I have been making in fights… It can only be because of a lack of experience and battles. I want to learn." Elio said. "This is the only way that will happen."

Even if it was a deadly situation, Elio wanted to fight real fights and gather experience. His mind was already like a sponge that absorbs all information and learns faster than everyone else.

"I see…" Emilia didn't even try to stop her grandson. He was clearly adamant about it, and changing his mind was impossible. 'You're even more stubborn than your father.'

"I will be back safely, don't worry."

"Of course you will come back safe, or I will beat your ass," Emilia said. "You better not piss me off."

"Hahaha…" Elio knew that this was his grandmother's way of easing his worry and tension, and he greatly appreciated it.

"Elio! We are about to move." Fiona called for him.

That was when he turned around and said. "I'm coming. I will be going now, I should be back later."

"Stay safe."

"You too."

With that, he bid his grandma farewell and chased after the group. Everyone looked at Elio weirdly, not knowing who he is, but seeing him walk with Fiona, they assumed he was an acquaintance of hers. Fiona knew so many people after all, so they didn't think too much about it.

Their minds were too occupied with what they were going to find there. All they could see was the rising smoke from an explosion that happened not that long ago… A sense of dread loomed over their minds.

***

Walking up to the northern district wasn't that long. It barely took 15 minutes with a slow, careful pace. At the same time, the group tried to establish contact with the other groups without success.

It was like they existed, and then they disappeared off the face of the earth. As they approached the area where they were last discovered, the group started noticing something odd…

"This smell… What's this smell?" One person commented as he sniffed. "It's almost like the smell of rotten corpses…"

"Or vomit. This is nasty."

The closer they got, the stronger this foul smell became. Even Fiona and Elio couldn't bear it. It was utterly awful.

Not that long after, as they took a turn around the corner, they halted as they saw something that made them freeze. Hanging off the wall of a building was the mangled corpse of a hunter… His body was so disfigured that he was unrecognizable. It was like his lower body had melted off him by acid.

Then, they saw another corpse to the side, its head crushed mercilessly, and then another one completely decapitated. Each corpse is worse than the one before it. The look on the intact faces of the dead looked so horrified that it sent chills down the hunter's spine.

"... What… The fuck…" One person muttered.

Some hunters put their hands on their faces while others closed their eyes and looked away. These were their comrades, their friends, and people they had known for a long time. Seeing their bodies so desecrated like that ached their hearts greatly. Even with all the mental strength in the world, this was a strong blow.

'Who could do this to them? Vampires don't kill like this…' Elio held the urge to vomit as he tried to analyze the situation reasonably. Each corpse looked like it had been dunked in flesh-eating acid, with how it was melting, with many body parts missing. He had never seen such a thing before in his life.

The only one who stood strong was Fiona as she walked ahead, scanning the area for any traces of the culprit.

"Stay vigilant. The monsters are still around here." She said. "They didn't go far away."