"All living things are born to die. No one can defeat me, the Vampire!!"
—Vampire
The Vampire is a boss from the original Final Fantasy, fought on the third floor of the Cavern of Earth. When the Light Warriors arrive to Melmond, they find the earth rotting and the people suffering. As the Vampire had attacked the town earlier and destroyed the church, the townsfolk believed he was also responsible for the earth rotting. The Light Warriors travel to the Cavern of Earth to confront him.
After defeating him, however, they find out that the land in Melmond keeps rotting, and thus they go to the Sage's cave, where they find out that the Vampire was working for one of the Four Fiends, the Lich.
Other Vampires are also fought as normal random encounters in numerous areas of the game. They can be fought in the Mirage Tower in groups, and they can be fought alongside other enemies in parts of the Chaos Shrine. In the Dawn of Souls and future releases the Vampire of Melmond can be found and battled again in the room of spirits in the Whisperwind Cove.
At this point of the game, 280 HP is weak; it even has less HP than the Earth Elemental, which appears as a random encounter in the same cave. Vampire's regenerating and Gaze attack can be slightly tricky, and catch a player off-guard. Still, it is not a challenge. Using Fire-based attacks or casting Dia can help end the battle fairly quickly.
In the Whisperwind Cove, there is a room which contains restless souls of various monsters who had died. Inside, the player can find the Vampire of Melmond's soul, as well as that of Astos. The Vampire recognizes the Light Warriors and attacks them, but as he retains the same level of power as before, he is no match for the stronger Light Warriors and is defeated easily. After the second defeat, Vampire begs Lich for forgiveness before disappearing for good.
Before the battle with him, the Vampire says that "all living things are born to die." This is the same phrase that Minwu uses before the king dies in Final Fantasy II.
Edit
The battle from Dawn of Souls.
Vampire sprite (PSP and iOS).
Gaze in the Advance version.
