"That's not all. It wasn't an owl bear that killed your villagers," I explained and counted the new black arrows, "twelve more. Fourteen along with the one I already have.

"What are you talking about?" A grimace of fear crept over the guide's face.

"Do you see two sarcophagi open here?" I started from afar. "Yes, and someone drank all the blood from those people."

Bourne had all the blood drained from his face now. I think he was starting to get the point of what I was saying. Now he was really frightened by the juxtaposition of the two facts. I cringed.

"Wolfhounds! Werewolves!" The redneck blurted out the name of the dangerous undead he knew. I covered my face with my hand and rubbed my eyes. "It's the same thing every time. All the villagers are obsessed with them. I thought I'd get something else in the middle of nowhere."

"It's definitely not wolfsbane. If it was, there would be numerous bites all over the victim's body, if the body had survived at all. But most likely there would be nothing left of the body," I explained to him.

"Sir, then who could it have been?" Borna asked. I was about to answer him, but the hair on the back of my neck stirred, and I turned to where my guide was already looking-right behind me. Without looking away, I started to get up. The villager behind my back ran to the crypt with a wild cry. "Right decision," because now it has the relic of the keeper, and she will not let the coolie into the crypt. With a swift movement I snatched the crossbow from my back.

Two red lights burned between the trees. The beast tilted its head to the side, a red line running down its spine to its razor-sharp claws. Its sternum glowed a bright scarlet light from within, illuminating its ribs and the prey it had devoured not so long ago. Another ghastly creature echoed his call. Flaring with infernal fire, it hung from one of the crypt's columns, under the very parapet of the colonnade.

I fired my crossbow vertically upward, and the dwarven mechanism clicked demandingly, waiting for another arrow. And it was not long in coming. The beast had already made three big jumps in my direction when another black arrow flew out of the crossbow. Usually I didn't miss, but this time the arrow went sideways, as if deflected by something. The chilled man squealed, and his womb flared brighter.

I had a strange feeling that these were no ordinary ghouls, but something older, something to do with this crypt. I hesitated and rolled to the side, because the monster covered the distance in a few sharp jumps, and only then its carcass swept past me. The floorboards of my cloak rang out, reflecting the impact of its claws. "Ugly bloodsucker of the underworld – he reached me after all!" I was angry. The enchanted cloak held the blow from the back.

I put a third arrow into my crossbow, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the second enemy was already on the ground and blocking Bourne's path, blocking my guide's passage into the crypt. In a flash, the creature began sucking the woodcutter's life energy out of him like a huge red funnel. Borna collapsed, and his legs gave out. "Looks like he passed out from fright. Found the time," my head rushed through my mind.

Turning around, the huge infernal bloodsucker came nose to nose with my crossbow. "Now pure casino, right or left?" I fired the arrow forward. The ghoul jumped to the right, much to my delight. Something fell from the sky, pinning the monster to the ground and piercing through his torso. The bloodsucker screamed and exploded. My first arrow found its target. "Fool, you're dead!" This time I covered my face with my free hand for some reason, despite all my training. Thinking back on that moment after the battle, I decided that I must have realized then that without my eyes scorched by the explosion, I would definitely not be able to continue fighting.