I almost died again, didn’t I? It was the first thing that came to Zane's mind as he sat on the floor of his living room. For the third time, his trip to the fantasy world ended with another close-to-death experience. And almost being eaten by a giant spider was the epitome of dying not in peace.

Taking a sniff at his armpit, Zane headed to the bathroom. He stood still under the cold shower, letting reality sunk in as his streak of bad luck felt like being orchestrated. Or was he too reckless? He thought.

He came out. Get dressed. And jumped on his bed. Looking outside, the sky was dark as the earth was the opposite of where the Sol-Gaal Kingdom was. He shut his eyes, trying to get some sleep. But the image of that giant spider kept coming at him, haunting him whenever he closed his eyes.

“I hate this,” he said. Staring at the ceiling as time moved on. An hour passed, and the clock struck midnight. “I think I need a drink,” opening up the fridge met him with disappointment. The cold inside was like the barren wasteland, mostly empty with nothing that he wanted.

He got out with his flip-flops. And went down to the parking lot. Rows of cars filled the empty spaces with not a soul in sight. The silence was unnerving as it reminded him of that damnable forest. He shivered a bit just from thinking about it. Reaching the motorbike area, Zane found his yellow moped. Dust covered the seats as he took a few slaps at it, dusting it off. It’d been a while since his last ride with this moped since most of the time he used the train to go to work. Nonetheless, it kinda got him excited a bit.

He twisted the key a few times, and the 50cc engine lightly purred. Echoing through the silent parking lot. He sat and geared up, twisting the throttle down as the tires rolled away.

It was dark and quiet, with only a few cars moving on the road. The night breeze nipped at his cheeks and neck as he rode further to the city. Usually, he would have been scared riding through the night as this part of the road had rumors of ghosts wandering around. Flying above their heads with ragged white clothes and long messy dark hair, scaring the shit out of unaware people into tears. Well, he had never seen it before, but listening to those stories really made his imagination run wild. And Zane was kinda a scaredy-cat in a way specifically to ghost. So he was the type to watch horror films through the slit between his fingers.

Yet going through those shit situations for the past few days shed what was left of his cowardice towards the unseen ghastly creatures. In his book, he met worse than a ghost. From panther wanting to eat him to psychotic beast girl torturing him for something he didn’t know, and last but not least, a giant spider that was so close to sucking the fluid out of him.

And so he felt at ease. Riding through the night in Singapore never felt safer, knowing nothing was trying to eat his ass. Soon, he reached his destination, a twenty-four hours Starbucks. He got in and ordered as there were quite a lot of people sitting around here this late in the night. From their clothing, he assumed they were from the clubs nearby, probably taking a break from all the drinking, and dancing. Some were already lying their heads on the table, knocked out too early in the late of night.

His name came up, and Zane picked up his drink. Leaving the premise as he sat back on his moped while sipping on the ice-cold frappuccino. He was parked close to an alleyway, and before he could start up his moped again he picked up a voice coming from the darkness of the alley. Straining his eyes, he spotted two silhouettes pinned against each other on the wall. Knowing what they were doing, Zane clicked his tongue in disgust with a tint of hidden jealousy behind it.

It was a normal thing around this area as the clubs were plenty and when people were under the influence their kinkiness got the better of them. "Sheesh, get a room or something," Zane mumbled. Shouldn’t they pick a better place or something? The alleyway is the least desirable place for having a go at it as it's the dirtiest and stinkiest place to be. Or it might be a weird kink or something. His body shuddered just from a brief thought of it. Ignoring those people, he donned his half-helmet and readied to go. But the moaning from the woman made him take another glance.

Did she just say help? Zane wondered. Hoping he misheard. Straining his ears for the first time to hear her properly.

“He…lp,” a subtle moan betrayed his expectation as the lady was indeed asking for help. He got down from his moped and slowly approached the figures in the shadows.

“Hey, is everything okay?” he asked. Letting his voice as loud as possible. At the same time loosening his arms a bit, ready for a sudden fight. He pulled up his phone and shone a light at the duo. The woman was pinned to the wall helpless against the man. She looked weak and could barely let out a voice as if being drugged or something. While the man kept on kissing her neck, ignoring Zane’s presence. Zane’s arm reached out for the man and grabbed him by the shoulder. A hint of coldness spread through Zane’s palm as the man finally turned his head around.

The man hissed at him like a snake warning its prey. His black ghoulish eyes stared at him like a black hole sucking in all the light around the vicinity. And the worst of all, his long canines dripped with fresh crimson blood with his lips and jaws smothered with wet viscous blood.

“What the fuck?” Zane was shocked. And before he could react a hand grabbed him by the shirt as he was tossed in the air, slamming him against the dumpster. His body ached as he looked at the one who did this to him. The man left the listless woman at the wall and trod slowly to where Zane was.

[Vampire][Lv.20][Earth]

[Alias Micahel Bruhl. In its previous human life born in Germany. Lurker of the night. A predator that seeks the blood of its prey. Blending in with the crowd with its humane appearance, luring oblivious prey to its sharp fangs.]

The fuck? It was the first thing that crossed his mind. Something that shouldn’t exist in his world was now there, coming closer with hideous snarling noises. Its row of sharp fangs betrayed the usual depiction of vampires on the big screen. It was pale, gaunt, and barely had any hair.

At the corner of Zane’s eyes, he saw a clump of hair on the street as it might be a wig. Looking back at the vampire with blood dripping from its chin, it appeared confident in dealing with another human as if Zane was just an ant under its boots.

Distribute five points to agility, he demanded. Using the five points from level twelve for precaution against an enemy like this. He knew well not to look down on it, more so over the tales he heard and saw about this creature. Even if they were fictional, there must be some truths among the lies. But it was a pity he didn’t have any weapons on him.

Zane charged first, taking the vampire by surprise. His speed caught it off guard as Zane slammed his open palm at its flank as he uttered these words, “Wind Burst.” A compressed air blew the vampire off the ground, sending it hurling to the other end of the alley. It fell and rolled, getting back immediately, snarling at the human that did the impossible.

“What are you?” its rough, husky voice questioned. As no human could ever do such feat.

But Zane didn’t answer. He ran towards it with his fist clenched tight.

The vampire snarled even louder as if it felt humiliated being treated like this by a human. It bounced over the walls in quick succession and lunged at Zane.

He saw it coming. His perception was on full blast as Zane side-stepped the claws and sent a hook right at the vampire’s right cheek. He felt the coldness of the vampire’s skin as the creature fell right on the street with a thud. It got back up again instantly, lashing out, screaming at Zane.

Its sharp nails were swung high and low as Zane retreated. The creature was fast and Zane felt it was a tad faster than him. His clothes were getting ripped apart bit by bit even with all the dodging Zane was doing. Shallow cuts riddled across his body with blood trickling down as the smell of it riled the bloodsucker into a bout of frenzy. The vampire got faster and managed to grab Zane by the shoulder, sinking its sharp nail into Zane’s flesh.

Yet ten seconds were up. Zane snickered as a ball of flame hit the vampire at point-blank. It didn’t have the time and space to dodge as its whole body erupted into ablaze. Screaming, the vampire scurried around frantically, bouncing over the walls like a child having tantrums.

Zane had to end it now while he had the chance. Rather than finding something that could stake it to the heart, Zane cast his spell with the last remaining bit of his MP. Noticing it tried to flee, Zane chased after it and leaped at the vampire, sending a dropkick right at its back. It fell face forward as Zane swore he could hear a crack. It tried to get up with the fire still burning its darkening skin and flesh, but Zane wasn’t going to let it do so.

He stomped at the creature with the sole of his flip-flop. The smell of plastic being burned lingered, yet Zane wasn’t going to stop. He made sure it was down as the cast time reached zero. “Die,” he uttered. Aiming his open palm right behind its back, right where the heart was supposed to be. Fireball emerged out of thin air and burned a hole right through the vampire’s fragile skin, reaching its cold dead heart and lighted it up in flames.

Zane retreated. As he watched the fire grew bigger as if the vampire’s heart was a fire-starter. He stood there alone, watching a real-life vampire getting burned like it was a bonfire. Then the screech stopped. A sign it was truly dead for good.

[You have leveled up to 13. Five stat points have been given.]

[Mage-class leveled up to 12. Stat points distributed; +2 Arcane Power.]

[Mage-class leveled up to 13. Stat points distributed; +2 Arcane Power.]

He was surprised by the notification. But it made sense considering the vampire had a level. Yet there was no loot around the burnt corpse as if the system didn’t really work fully in this world.

Staring at the pile of ashes, Zane thought hard over what the fuck was going on here.

“Since when did vampire exist here?”