“Hah!”

Lapirie gasped for breath, quickly scanning her surroundings.
She had fallen onto a dark staircase, with no companions in sight.

“Could it be that the gate was enchanted...?”

This place wasn’t our domain but the territory of demons.
Being left alone in an unfamiliar fortress meant extreme danger.

Rumbling...

The fortress let out an unsettling wail that shook her heart.
Gripping her bow tightly, Lapirie cautiously ascended the stairs, remembering the bracelet that had been given to her earlier.

“That’s right.”

Surely, this bracelet had the spell to track the Hero's location.

“Did she know about this...?”

No, that couldn’t be.
It was purely a coincidence, or it was just her careful and calculated personality coming through.
Realizing this, Lapirie’s once-shaken heart quickly calmed down.

Flash!

As she touched the bracelet, a golden arrow appeared, spinning rapidly before stopping abruptly in one direction.

Could it be that the Hero was over there?

Lapirie cautiously began to move. As she did, the arrow adjusted slightly, continuing to point in the same direction.
It seemed the Hero was moving, albeit slowly.

In a place where they had no information, having a clear objective was invaluable.
Thanks to this, Lapirie was able to regain her resolve.

“Everyone must be careful.”

This place was a demon’s den, after all.

“Which corridor is this, exactly?”

The Hero’s party had been scattered by the magic laid upon the Dusk Fortress.
As a result, I found myself in one of the fortress's many corridors.

‘It would’ve been better if we could’ve broken the spell.’

But that would have taken too much time, so instead, I had created the tracking bracelets.
By now, the Hero, Aria, Serelin, and Lapirie were probably searching for one another.

In situations where a party is split, non-combatants are typically at the greatest disadvantage.
In other words, reuniting with Aria as soon as possible should have been the priority.

However, this was a fortress built by demons.
And she was a saint who wielded divine power, something demons despised.

Just by walking, she would leave traces of her divine power in her footprints, preventing lesser demons from even approaching.
Only the master of the Dusk Fortress or a demon of equivalent strength could pose a threat to her.

And those types of demons were usually too arrogant to act directly.
Besides, the Hero would likely reunite with Aria quickly, thanks to the tracking bracelet.

Serelin and Lapirie also had the strength to fend off demons, so there was no need to worry too much.

“Hup.”

So, what should I do until then?
I needed to gather information about this fortress—specifically, how to bring it down.

“These fortress bricks were made in the demon realm, if I remember correctly.”

I set up the master key as a makeshift workbench and began crafting a small magical tool, similar to a drill.

“Extract.”

Whirring!

Soon, the drill began to chip away at the side of the fortress.
I used the master key to analyze the debris.

The results of this analysis could potentially be used to the Hero party’s advantage in future battles.

Beep.

The analysis of the black bricks was soon complete.

“Well... this is certainly strange.”

The bricks were made from a substance presumed to be soil from the demon realm, mixed with a red liquid and soft organic matter.
In simpler terms, it was a blend of corpses and blood.

And among those corpses, humans were included.
In essence, this fortress was built from dead bodies.
Since this hadn’t been mentioned in the original story, even I was a little surprised.

I pocketed the analysis device and the master key, then began walking in one direction.

‘In the original, there wasn’t much description of this fortress.’

Most of the focus had been on the battles and the demons, leaving little room for details about the fortress.
But from now on, I would have to gather the information myself.

“To dismantle an area like this, there are two main ways.”

You either attack the creator of the space or target its weak points.

I had to aim for the latter.

Clink.

I reached into a small pocket dimension and pulled out two tiny spheres.
I threw one in the direction I was heading and the other in the opposite direction.

“Synchronize.”

Using my pen, I drew a large dot and two smaller dots in the air, muttering the spell.
The spheres shimmered briefly before they began to move forward.

In sync, the two small dots in the air also started to shift slowly.
These were small magical devices for mapping, and while they weren’t perfect, they gave me a rough idea of the layout ahead.

‘I’ll need to do some additional research on forks in the path.’

For now, I could only proceed in one direction, even when I encountered a split.
So, it wasn’t possible to gather complete information about the area, but this was still helpful.

“If I hadn’t prepared this in advance, I would’ve had to search each path one by one.”

The Dusk Fortress was much larger inside than it appeared from the outside, making it impossible to navigate on foot.
In the original story, one reason the Hero’s party had taken so long to reunite was due to the fortress's vast scale.

Beep.

One of the spheres detected a fork ahead.
I’d have to check if it led to another corridor or a room.

A short while later, following the signal, I arrived at a dark room.

“What’s that smell?”

The source of the stench was immediately clear: dozens of containers were stacked within the room.
The white containers emitted a strong, bloody odor.

Opening one of the containers, I confirmed its contents.
Blood.

“A storage room...”

The demons of this fortress loved blood.
They drank it to fill their bellies, moved through it, and chased it to feel pleasure.

A room filled with blood, then, would be incredibly valuable to them.

“I should get out of here before they—”

“Hmm?”

Of all times, I happened to run into a demon entering the room.
A humanoid demon with pale white skin and sharp fangs.

“A human.”

A vampire.

As depicted in many works of fiction, vampires in this world were among the most powerful demons.

Boom!

With just a flick of the wrist, the demon’s hand sent a spell flying toward me, triggering the protective barrier on my robe.

“So, you weren’t just a lost wanderer?”

‘He cast three different spells with just a flick of his hand.’

As expected of a demon.

“You’re not just a snack, huh? What a shame.”

The male vampire ran a hand through his hair with a chuckle.
Despite his light tone, his pride had clearly been hurt.

Vampires in this world were easy to sum up:

Prideful, arrogant pools of blood.

Their magical prowess far surpassed that of humans, to the point where this vampire had unleashed three spells with a mere gesture.
But because I, who appeared to be an ordinary person, had blocked his attack, his magical pride must have taken a serious blow.

As proof, I could see the veins bulging slightly beneath his pale skin.

“I’m no ordinary person.”

“Not ordinary, huh... What are you, then? Ah, come to think of it, I heard something about a party entering the fortress. So...”

Suddenly, the vampire muttered to himself before grinning at me.

“You, are you with the Hero’s party?”

“Yes.”

Boom!

No sooner had I answered than another spell came flying my way.
Once again, it was blocked by my robe’s barrier. I quickly drew my pen to clear the smoke.

“I should’ve listened more carefully. I don’t have any information about you.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Well, I heard the Hero is a man, so... you must be one of the stragglers.”

Thud!

“That’s right. Now, how about we change locations? What’s behind you is your food, isn’t it?”

With those words, I tossed a large object from my pocket dimension at him.

Rumble...

It was the aerial crusher I had used to kill and dismember the monster Acturas in Intrelle Village.
Unfortunately, unlike Acturas, who had died quickly, vampires had superior physical abilities.
They excelled in mana sensitivity, demonic energy, and physical strength—traits that defined vampires.

“Alright. I’ll concede that you have a point.”

The crusher embedded in the wall was swiftly pulled back toward me.
I summoned the pocket dimension and stored it again, meeting the vampire's gaze as he emerged from the rubble.

Despite being struck by the same weapon that had crushed a monster, he appeared unscathed.

‘I expected it to have little effect, but this is something else.’

This meant he was even stronger than I had anticipated.

“Master key.”

I put away my pen and summoned the master key.
At the same time, the vampire introduced himself.

“I am Aled, the third bloodline of the great Vampire Clan.”

The third bloodline, huh.
Vampires ranked themselves by bloodline, with lower numbers indicating greater strength.

Since the fortress's master was of the first bloodline, Aled, being of the third, was roughly the third most powerful being here.

‘This is going to be tougher than I thought.’

While the Hero and the heroines had ways to deal with demons, I didn’t have any special tools for this.
Especially against a vampire with high regenerative powers—there was no way for me to completely destroy him right now.

But still, I had no choice but to fight.

“Louis, mage of the Hero’s party.”

Because I am a mage of the Hero’s party, after all.

“Louis, huh? Sounds like a soft name. And you’re a mage? Perfect.”

Aled snapped his fingers as he spoke.

“Well then, struggle as hard as you can.”

The next moment, parts of the fortress began to writhe and transform.