Three hundred years — that's already two lifetimes older than a certain blonde-haired, blue-eyed centenarian party girl. ( Might be Yue from Arifureta )
And that might not even be Nirrnir's actual age.
To be honest, Nirrnir's appearance didn't quite match the vampire image that Akimi and the others had in mind.
At the very least, Akimi believed vampires should have a strong physique, a wise mind, a confident posture, and a voice capable of shouting something like "Wryyyyyy!"
Of course, Kio had no idea what strange thoughts were running through Akimi's head.
Her eyes lowered slightly as she continued,
"The Lords of the Night are nearly ageless and immortal, but sunlight and silver are their natural enemies. If it's just brief exposure to sunlight or a simple cut from a silver object, those can be healed... but if silver venom from a Silver Serpent enters their body, even one night is enough…"
She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone present understood what she meant.
The cruel reality left them all silent.
"There are two days left."
Kio suddenly said something seemingly unrelated.
Four pairs of eyes turned to her, waiting for the rest.
Kio slowly unclenched her hand.
Resting quietly in her palm was a small glass vial, its inner surface stained with traces of a blue liquid.
"This is poison from the Halfshade Lotus," she said calmly.
"This poison can suppress the effects of the silver venom to a minimum. I used it to put Miss Nirrnir into a deathlike state—this way, she can last for two more days."
Kizmel stared at the vial in shock.
She stammered,
"Isn't that… that poison where even a single drop can kill? And you gave Miss Nirrnir an entire bottle… is that really okay?"
Kio nodded.
"The Lords of the Night have very high resistance to Halfshade Lotus poison. Even a larger dose won't harm her—it only puts her into a deep sleep."
"As for the way to save Miss Nirrnir…"
Kio gazed directly at Akimi and the others, then said word by word:
"It's dragon's blood."
"D-Dragon's blood?!"
In most games, dragons are the strongest monster species.
Not even counting eastern dragons, the western, winged lizard types are incredibly powerful.
To obtain dragon's blood, one would need to hunt a dragon—something only the strongest could hope to achieve.
"The Lords of the Night require human blood to survive," Kio continued, "But Miss Nirrnir refuses to drink human blood… at least, not once in the ten years I've served her."
"The only substitute for human blood is dragon's blood. However, to preserve dragon's blood for long-term use, it has to be diluted with alcohol and many medicinal ingredients… Even so, dragon's blood remains far more effective than human blood, so Miss Nirrnir only needs to drink one bottle of prepared dragon's blood every seven days."
As she spoke, Kio took out the same black bottle she had tried to hand Nirrnir back at the stable—presumably the prepared dragon's blood.
"Just a little undiluted dragon's blood is enough to suppress the silver poison in Miss Nirrnir's body."
Hearing this, Asuna frowned and asked, "Then... where is the dragon? We haven't seen any dragons up until now."
Before Kio could answer, both Akimi and Kirito said in unison, "The Labyrinth Area."
Akimi slowly explained, "The floor boss on the seventh level is a red dragon, with the unique name Aghyeller the Igneous Wyrm."
Kieo nodded and said, "That's right. In the western tower, there's a red fire dragon called 'Aghyeller'. If you can defeat it, you can obtain dragon's blood."
"Perfect. We need to defeat the boss anyway to proceed to the next floor," Asuna said with a bright smile.
"So it's basically a two-birds-one-stone situation."
But hearing Asuna's overly optimistic comment, Akimi and Kirito both gave a bitter smile.
Akimi rubbed his forehead and said helplessly, "Don't take this too lightly, Asuna. Dragons are top-tier monsters in games for a reason—they're not that easy to bring down."
"Exactly," Kirito added.
"Back during the beta test, it took the top fifty strongest players banding together to barely take down Aghyeller. If we try to do it with just a few people like we did on the fifth floor... we'll be wiped out."
"That's why we'll definitely need the strength of both ALS and DKB for this fight. Without them, we might just barely reach the labyrinth tower in two days."
Kirito wasn't exaggerating.
The difficulty of the Labyrinth Area in the latter half of the seventh floor was nothing like the Tailwind Path.
They managed to clear the Tailwind Path in a single morning, but passing through the Labyrinth Area would take at least three to four times longer.
Without the help of the two major guilds, it would be absolutely impossible to clear the entire Labyrinth Area and defeat the fire dragon Aghyeller within two days.
But right now, Kibaou and Lind were completely engrossed in the arena gambling.
If they couldn't get their hands on the Volupta Sword, there was no way they'd leave.
Upon realizing this, Kio closed her eyes and fell into a long silence.
Then she gave a bitter smile and said, "So we need help from the other adventurers... How ironic. The prize that was created to attract guests has now become Miss Nirrnir's death sentence..."
Argo chimed in to comfort her, "Don't worry, Kio. Those adventurers are just one step away from winning the Volupta Sword. With the secret guide they've got, all they need is to win one last match."
Kirito, completely lacking in tact, immediately shot the idea down.
"The so-called 'secret guide' didn't just help them win the earlier matches—it's also affecting their judgment in the final round... In the end, it's just a trap laid by the Korloy family, isn't it?"
Hearing this, Head Maid Kio unconsciously showed a surprised expression.
She coughed lightly twice and said, "It was our negligence not to notice any kind of secret guide… Thinking back now, there really is something suspicious. So what should we do next?"
Asuna thought for a moment, then said, "Miss Kio, do you have any item that can determine the outcome of the battle? If we can somehow control the result of the final match, we can inform the other adventurers in private, and that would be enough."
"We don't have anything like that." Kio shook her head helplessly.
"Once the monsters enter the arena, there's a ten-minute no-contact rule. Neither buffs nor harmful potions can be used effectively because we can't guarantee how long their effects will last... And knowing Bardun's personality, he's definitely got more tricks up his sleeve."
"…Why don't we just have Kibaou and Lind bet on different monsters?" Akimi suggested.
"Rather than trying to control the outcome, it's probably easier to just convince them."
Everyone agreed with this plan—except for Kirito, who seemed hesitant.
He looked uneasily toward Kizmel, clearly torn inside—after all, Kizmel's issue regarding her identity as a Dark Elf had to be resolved by tomorrow, or they might never get another chance.
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