Cyberserk & Vampiress

How the gnomes were eaten

"Lord, I beg you not to eat Koreima!" Dan managed to shout the request to the dragon.

The dragon turned its huge muzzle toward the man and frowned.

"I don't understand you. She is your enemy! You are foolish and have made her a manager. I understand that. Every manager thinks of his profit. She deceives you. I must punish that girl!" The Lord of Fear quickly swallowed the first gnome that came near.

Tom and Dan watched with incomprehensible delight as the dragon instantly grabbed the gnome and began to chew. The only things sticking out of the dragon's mouth were his booted feet. The gnome's heavy boots fell to the floor of the room. The dragon swallowed its victim and stuck out its long tongue. The ancient creature licked the boots off the floor and began crunching the metal on its teeth. Dan froze at the sight. Only Tom found the strength to object to the amazing creature during his breakfast.

" Lord, I completely agree with you. The cunning vampiress is deceiving our friend. She gives him little gold. I am not sure she is stealing gold for her benefit. Koreima is a good girl and not a thief. You don't have to eat her. Dan has fallen in love with Koreima. Love is such a strange feeling in which hatred and sympathy are intertwined. Very complicatedly intertwined, like the bodies of two lovers in a secluded place," Tom made a vague gesture with his hand in the air.

"I know what love is," the dragon nodded his head. "Some females deserve to be hated and strongly liked. Don't remind me of any nonsense. Okay, I hear you, and I won't eat that devious daughter of vampires," the dragon laughed and quickly devoured another gnome.

"What are you standing there like a tree? Call out the hobbits! Otherwise, we get nothing," shouted Tom.

Dan nodded his head and summoned the hobbits. He and his friend wanted to test one assumption. The clever clone was never oblivious to moments in the game that might benefit Dan Raven.

"Hey braves, I hear you have some special skills. Take what you can from that gnome over there!" Tom pointed his finger at the Grograb figure.

"Don't you dare touch my booty!" The lord roared so menacingly that the hobbits crouched in fear.

" Lord, we'll only take his armor! Only part of his armor. I do not believe these hobbits are the best. They are the best braggarts! They can't take things and gold from Grograb," the clone began to justify himself.

"You called me a greedy lizard! You're a greedy and uncaring creature yourself! Do you know how useful all sorts of metals are to me? I have to eat all kinds of useful elements to stay strong allies," the dragon roared.

"I've heard of trace elements," said Dan quietly. "There's a lot of iron in apples."

"There's a lot of iron in gnomes," roared the dragon and devoured another gnome. "And there's even more gold in gnomes!"

"I am the best, I can prove, my fingers can take hidden things from this gnome," shouted one hobbit.

"I am the best and I can take his gold too. I am no braggart," declared another hobbit.

"Just one gnome. You can have the metal from one gnome," the dragon allowed and devoured another gnome.

The hobbits bowed to the huge creature and rushed toward the figure of Grograb. They began brazenly touching him in various places and laughing with joy. Some pieces of armor began to disappear from the gnome's body.

"They have the skill to steal," whispered Dan.

"Stealing is a bad word," Tom reminded him. "They're not thieves! They're possession changers. Hobbits help things change temporary owners."

The hobbits ran up to the clone and the man and laid out several pieces of the gnome's equipment on the floor. One hobbit held out a large bag of gold. The dragon continued to devour the gnomes. He was not shy and chewed the meat of the unfortunate gnomes along with the armor. The dragon's muzzle looked terrible. Blood dripped onto the floor of the room from the monster's mouth.

"I wasn't kidding, and I like the taste of metal. But you can kill one gnome yourself, I'm not greedy," snorted the Lord of Fear.

"Thank you, you're a true friend," Tom exclaimed and quickly ran up to the Grograb figure.

The clone drew his new 19th-level sword and began beating the motionless gnome figure. A few seconds later, new pieces of the clan head's equipment fell to the floor.

"That's the way to do it! I don't wield all sorts of weird nimble finger skills. I wield a sword," Tom bragged to the hobbits and began picking up Grograb's things from the floor of the room.

The hobbits paid no attention to the rude warrior. They had long ago realized that Tom was a true warrior who was honest but rude. The braves were rewarded with a jug of beer and a piece of meat each. They liked the food of the man.

The Lord of Fear managed to eat eleven gnomes in a minute. The dragon looked at the vampiress with interest.

Koreima woke up and saw an eerie sight. There was an ancient monster in her room and not a single gnome. The b****y face made it clear where the gnomes had disappeared to. The vampiress quickly pointed the point of her dagger in the dragon's direction.

" Hold! No sorcery! The Lord of Fear is my ally," Dan shouted.

"She's either reckless and brave or stupid," the dragon's face took on a thoughtful expression. "Vampires aren't dumb, and I found them to be quite amusing creatures. You wouldn't put a dumb one in charge of a castle. Then she's reckless."

"She's young and hasn't yet got rid of the drawbacks of youth. Don't judge her harshly," Tom said and winked at the vampiress. "Put the weapon away. It's not nice to an ally. You are a disgusting ally and having a mission with you is a very ungrateful thing to do. But you must learn to choose your appropriate opponents. The head of the Grab clan is not your league."

Koreima looked at the insolent Tom with hatred. She put away her dagger and bowed to the dragon.

"Thank you for your help. It is a pleasure to meet the ancient keeper of Castle Zangar."

"It pleases me, too, to know that the castle has such a lure," the dragon smiled. "Don't listen to the cautious swordsman. You can tease any clan heads you want. They will come to the castle to punish you and then I'll have a delicious meal."

"Perhaps you will eat deliciously one more time today," grinned Tom. "Grograb is about to revive in his castle and rush out again to meet the reckless vampiress. What did you say to him? I hope you didn't insult Grograbe too much?"

"That's none of your business," Koreima hissed toward the nasty counselor. She looked at Dan and made an innocent girl's face. "He came and demanded that I break my treaty with you. I called you to discuss the matter together. I have no right to decide such a matter without your participation."

"You did the right thing, Koreima. I am grateful to you for handling my business. Never mind the demands of the various city folk. We can't be nice to everyone. Are the vampires pleased? Good! Are you pleased? Wonderful! I'm pleased with everything," Dan smiled at the girl and wagged his finger at Tom. "I'm happy with everything. Don't extort gold from her."

"Don't meddle in their affairs," advised the dragon. "They have a very strange and complicated relationship."

"We have a wonderful relationship. My delicious, you agree with me, don't you?" Koreima winked at Dan.

"I agree," the young man sighed. He still couldn't afford to get close to this beauty. Dan didn't know what was holding him back. But he was afraid of everything. Koreima was a vampire. She was old and lived 170 years. She was too beautiful and could act like a refined aristocrat. The young man did not want to get involved with such a gorgeous girl. Her signs of favor frightened him and alarmed him.

"What interesting guests at Zangar Castle," the vampiress smiled toward the hobbits. "I have not seen you before. Who are you?"

The hobbits quickly hid their hands with their jugs and pieces of meat behind their backs and ran off themselves to hide behind Dan's figure.

"They are my guests. We were discussing the intricacies of artifact ownership. I want to get to know the subject better," the swordsman said.

"These braves have a particular view of artifact ownership," Tom clarified. He winked at one hobbit.

"I will enjoy discussing the intricacies of this matter," Koreima smiled. "I welcome you to Castle Zangar and hope that on your next visit you will stop by my chamber."

"We had better find another place to welcome guests. Invited and uninvited guests," Dan clarified. "I'm sorry, but we stained your floor."

"Ugh! Gnome blood," Koreima sniffed the air and shook her head. "Nasty death blood. The head of the Grab clan has a duty to behave like a true lord and not die so often."

"Grograb can't learn the changes in the world quickly. Nasty gnome," Dan agreed.

"We'll wait for this Grograb and I'll eat him. I don't remember the taste of him. It's too long since I last ate this Grograb," the dragon began to remember what the gnome tasted like.

The vampiress realized with horror that the Lord of Fear is a terrible ally who is not constrained by the laws of the Grogroads. The dragon will devour anyone, anywhere, anytime he wants. For the first time in her life, a vampiress is faced with a monster that cannot be killed and must be feared.

"While we wait for the obnoxious gnomes to visit, I can give all of you some fruit." quietly the vampiress offered.

The dragon snorted with laughter. Even the hobbits chuckled at the pretty girl's suggestion. Tom took pity on her and looked at his friend.

"You can temporarily close off access to this part of the castle, can't you? It's not nice to insult Grograb twice in the same day with a courtesy lesson. Koreima is busy with business. We are being rude. Castle manager, I wish you well in your work. I'm going to the library. I have interesting matters to study."

Den Raven apologized again for the dragon staining the floor with the blood of the gnomes and quickly applied the dragon summoning spell again. It was a way for the dragon to return to its obscure habitat. The swordsman sacrificed the hobbits and was not at all worried about the unpleasant meaning of this skill. He had long ago come to terms with the fact that this skill does not harm the helpers. It's a very tricky and useful skill to send helpers away from the world and get the mage's benefit in the process.

Koreima looked at the dirty floor and shook her head. How rude and cruel. She cast a rudimentary spell of Blood magic. All extraneous blood instantly disappeared from the floor of her room.

The vampiress sat back in her chair and pondered the dreadful words of the Lord of Fear. The dragon ate the gnomes! This is not dead in a duel or death in a dungeon. This is something else. This is something creepy and ancient, something she had read about a hundred years ago in an ancient book.

The girl realized that she had to tell Great Grandma Korwin everything. The Countess would rejoice at the news and share her opinion about the strange way of killing enemies.  And perhaps Countess Korwin will teach her the ancient spell.