The Cub Raised in a Horror Game - Chapter 5 - The Vampire and the Baby

Thorns and mist enveloped the Gothic castle; the black roses of the estate bloomed beneath the moonlight.

The biting wind howled, and the dead trees groaned as if weeping.

The dark denizens of the undead wandered silently throughout the castle grounds; the pale moonlight made their rugged faces appear even more hideous and terrifying.

In such a grim and eerie environment, regardless of a visitor’s status, a profound sense of danger would rise from the depths of their soul.

—However, this iron law seemed to have no effect on Inia.

The bedding beneath the baby was soft and springy, its surface silky to the touch, making her instantly want to crawl across it.

In the strange environment, Inia was unafraid. Instead, she stared around curiously with wide eyes, and her body naturally and uncontrollably began to crawl across the expansive bed.

At that moment, her tiny instincts stirred with awareness of the danger behind her, yet she was far too young to react. In the next instant, someone had already taken hold of the scruff of her clothes and lifted her up.

The baby was lifted into the air, her small body turning half a circle before her eyes met a pair of crimson ones.

Before her stood a handsome young man, his skin pale and his brow bones casting deep shadows. In the dim light, his blood-red eyes appeared somber and cold.

There was a terrifying danger about him, the kind that made the body tense on instinct—like a primal fear of a predator etched deep into one’s DNA.

It was the first time Inia had ever been lifted by the scruff of her clothes. Though it felt a little uncomfortable, the sensation was strangely amusing. The baby let out a delighted laugh, her eyes bright and sparkling.

The young man raised his eyebrows slightly, narrowing his eyes as he looked her over.

“Little one, are you a player too?”

He spoke in a language entirely different from Chu Wang and the others. His voice was low and continuous, and there was a quiet charm in the way his words flowed.

Suspended in midair, the baby understood nothing. She simply wiggled her small feet, turning herself in a gentle spin.

“Woo-wah!”

The baby, pleased with herself, was delighted beyond measure.

She had no awareness of how extraordinary her existence was in this world.

As the final boss of the [Nightmare Castle (A-Rank Dungeon)] and the Grand Duke of the Blood Clan, it wasn’t just children who feared him. Even veteran high-level players who had fought through countless slaughterfields would go weak in the knees at the sight of him, their legs trembling uncontrollably.

It was a fear long buried deep in human genes, the instinctive terror that herbivores at the bottom of the food chain feel when facing a predator.

Grand Duke Dreist of the Blood Clan was a vampire beyond the progenitor, the most powerful the world had ever seen, and the Lord of Darkness who had conquered this realm.

What were players with just a few strange tools and skills? To him, they were insignificant.

Having shattered players’ confidence time and again, this space became one of the dreaded hell-level dungeons that no one dared to enter.

Every unlucky soul randomly drawn here would be plunged into utter despair. Their first thought upon entering was rarely to hunt monsters for points; it was to find any way out of the dungeon as quickly as possible.

Their fear was entirely justified. Survival in this place was not simply a matter of life and death. Those few players lucky enough to escape almost always returned to the Realm of Refining Space with severe post-traumatic stress. Over seventy percent of them chose to live as low-level vagrant ants rather than ever set foot in a dungeon again.

According to the surviving players, the Blood Clan Grand Duke of the [Nightmare Castle] was a Boss of temperamental cruelty.

When he first realized he was trapped within the castle by the dungeon’s power, he raged violently, and any player who dared trespass in his territory quickly became fertilizer for his garden.

Over time, Dreist began to pick up strange terms from the mouths of these incomprehensible foreigners. He even learned to wield their items.

When all attempts to break free of his confinement failed, the vampire’s fury faded. Recognizing that the dungeon treated his domain as a playground anyone could exploit, Dreist turned the tables. He began manipulating the players who entered his realm, bending them entirely to his will.

Though their survival rates increased, every player left mentally shattered, their trauma as thick and impenetrable as a fortress wall.

Felines have a habit of playing with their prey, and sometimes thoughtless humans would toss insects like dragonflies or grasshoppers for a cat to play with. However, when they themselves became the prey being toyed with, they realized how terrifying the experience was.

Since then, the Grand Duke’s domain had grown far quieter. Most players who were unlucky enough to match here now fled at once, no longer rushing about recklessly as they once had.

So when an infant—neither afraid of him nor obviously a player—suddenly appeared in his chamber, Dreist found himself unusually intrigued.

His gaze darkened as he directed his shadowed power toward Inia, probing her background.

Though faint, the baby’s own strength resisted the intrusion, struggling like a tiny kitten swatting at its owner’s approaching hand.

The Blood Clan Grand Duke felt it instinctively and raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You… are like me?”

Although this was the first time he had encountered another Boss, the aura of a kindred spirit clearly radiated from the infant before him, and he knew without doubt that he was not mistaken.

Meanwhile, the baby, busy kicking and spinning in his grasp, was thoroughly enjoying herself—until her little “mental paw” retracted, bringing with it a trace of the vampire’s lingering power.

Wait, what is this!

The baby froze, having inadvertently absorbed that wisp of power.

For Inia, who had only ever tasted plain vegetable and meat purees, even the occasional softened biscuit from Chu Wang was a supreme delicacy, its gentle sweetness making her lick her lips and savor every bite.

And now… the taste of the vampire’s power? How could it be so delicious?

Inia smacked her lips, staring blankly at the handsome young man before her.

Having accidentally absorbed that small taste, in the baby’s eyes, that vampire, Dreist, seemed to exude a sweet aroma.

If she had possessed even a hint of worldly knowledge, she might have realized that the Blood Clan Grand Duke tasted like chocolate cake.

Chu Wang could never have imagined that the sustenance Inia, the Dungeon Lord, required was not ordinary food, but potent, dark energy and negative emotions. The stronger the power and the more extreme the emotions, the greater the nourishment they provided her.

He himself carried dark emotions, yet over the past few months, he had remained close to Inia, who had unconsciously absorbed most of them.

The baby had long since grown accustomed to his scent. Aside from absorbing a large amount in the very beginning, the tiny bit she took in each day afterward was far too little to notice. So, she had never realized… her brother actually tasted good.

Chu Wang himself hadn’t realized anything was wrong. His emotional state had indeed stabilized a great deal. He no longer fell so easily into that recurring nightmare—of his birth parents taking him to the black market, attempting to sell a person, failing, and then calmly discussing killing him so they could sell his body parts piece by piece.

It was as if the lingering shadow of the resentment he had long carried had suddenly grown less significant. Chu Wang rarely thought of those two adults anymore, instead turning his mind toward the future—his and Inia’s.

He assumed he was simply growing up, maturing.

But after all, Chu Wang was only fourteen. How could his dark power possibly compare to that of a Dungeon Lord who had lived for hundreds of years and been confined within a dungeon for years?

The former Dark Lord now remained trapped in his small castle, and the resentment radiating from Dreist was heavier than any ghost’s… wait, he was a ghost, so never mind that.

For the first time, Inia tasted the proper sustenance she was meant to consume. The temptation was so overwhelming that her eyes froze in place.

On the other side, the vampire sensed something unusual about Inia from his earlier probe. She did not seem fully present in this world, but rather a partially realized mental entity—or perhaps a kind of clone.

Was this her ability? A child who hadn’t even been weaned yet, and already a Dungeon Lord—how was she supposed to fight players? Was she going to gnaw on their brains like the infant ghosts in his estate?

It was the vampire’s first encounter with another Dungeon Lord, especially one so small, and the endless questions it raised were fascinating. Before the Blood Clan Grand Duke could ponder further, the tiny thing in his hands began to struggle.

“Mmm-ah, waa-ah.”

The baby cooed in baby talk, kicking her little legs vigorously and reaching out with both hands, clearly demanding to be held.

The vampire, who had lived for eight centuries without ever being near a cub, was momentarily taken aback. Assuming her posture was uncomfortable, he gently gripped her under the armpits with both hands, carefully observing her condition.

Since he hadn’t drawn her closer, the scene looked remarkably like Rafiki holding up Simba in The Lion King.

The baby widened her eyes, staring at Dreist in disbelief.

Her—such a big, adorable baby—how could anyone be so heartless as not to hold her?

Inia didn’t even have time to let out a proper cry. The vampire before her smelled overwhelmingly of chocolate cake, and the baby—who had never truly felt full since birth—was so tempted that she was drooling. Instinctively, she inched closer.

“Mmm-woo, Hug, hug.” The frantic baby blurted out yet another word.

Though the language she spoke was foreign to Dreist’s world, an inexplicable connection allowed him to understand her perfectly.

The Grand Duke paused, momentarily taken aback. He was by no means kind-hearted; the players’ assessments of him were accurate. After being imprisoned by the dungeon, his temper had only grown more erratic.

Yet the baby before him was utterly unique.

The former Dark Lord, who had once conquered the entire world, now remained trapped within his castle, his inner rage festering for ages. He had raged, sought revenge, and tried countless ways to escape, all to no avail.

Now, that fury lay buried beneath a placid surface of ice. He had come to face the fact that he could not leave his domain—and he had no idea when this confinement would end.

In his monotonous, endless existence, the sudden arrival of a visitor from another realm—a kindred spirit—finally shattered the stagnation of his life.

Even if he was reluctant and impatient to stoop to comforting a child, and even if he had to tolerate the distaste he felt at being touched, Drast would only show tolerance to Inia.

Following a faint memory of how commoners handled infants, Dreist stiffly leaned closer and awkwardly cradled Inia.

The moment she was near, the sweet scent almost overwhelmed her. She wriggled in the vampire’s arms, pressing her tiny face against Dreist’s neck.

Perhaps because she was so utterly harmless, Dreist froze, unsure how much force to use, barely noticing her movements.

The next instant, the baby let out an “Ah-woo” and sank her tiny milk teeth into his neck.

Dreist: …

Anti-heavenly strike?