Chapter 202: Spill The Blood (1/2)
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You are facing a Viscount-Class Vampire! The Title, Nemesis of the Abyss has been triggered!
+5% applied to all Statistics!
Your opponent grows angrier…
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Rakna crossed his arms as Fang kicked him through meters of stone and scrapped concrete. He coughed a decent amount of blood and for the split of a second, he was sure his ribs had pierced his lungs before being repaired right away by his Star Reinforcement.
”{This is bad, bad, bad…}” Fray mumbled as Rakna barely parried the scythe with Sonata.
[Rakna, I recommend fleeing. The current risks are not worth the results,] Alexa also piped in.
”{Listen to us for once!}” The author continued. ”{This is a fully-awakened vampire; main forces of the Abyss. His speed probably reached the early 200s at this stage! And his magic is-!}”
'Quiet,' Rakna replied with an eerily calm tone as the vampire charged in again. With Fabled Sight flickering, even if he could not react physically to his opponent's movements, it was perfectly in his capability to calculate and predict trajectories.
With minimal actions, he mentally controlled Sonata to turn into a Guandao and manipulated the ribbon to wrap around Fang's blade, which immediately had the effect of corroding it. But Sonata fought it off with its self-reconstruction and Fang ultimately landed his blow off his original aim but it still opened a gash across the werewolf's chest.
Rakna grunted through the pain and exploited this opening to shift Sonata into a sword and drive it into the vampire's chest.
Fang howled in pain as a sizzling noise sounded from the injury he had just taken. ”What?! A holy weapon?!” He yelled and grabbed onto the blade penetrating his chest. He tried to pull it out but Rakna wasn't about to let him go so easily.
Ignoring the widening injury across his torso, he held the sword tightly and poured his mana into it to activate one of its newest perks. ”[Crescent of a Falling Star,]” he uttered, and a wave of holy and star energy was shot from the edge of Sonata.
Fang screamed in pain as a golden-reddish glow cloaked him before his body burst apart into a swarm of bats. Rakna immediately staggered forward and collapsed on the ground. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands as the gash under his fur was constantly being corroded and healed by his reinforcement and nano-machines.
But he could tell that it was a losing fight on his side. Soon enough, the corrosion would reach his internal organs, and transforming his body into star energy wouldn't do anything to save him.
'That might have been a bit too reckless…'
”{Oh, would you like me to support that statement?}” Fray said sardonically. ”{If Higure had been here, you sir would have been blasted already.}”
'Yeah… it honestly feels good to have her out of my head.'
”{…I will snitch on you, you know?}”
Rakna snickered, which was followed by a pained groan. He pressed on his wound and breathed in to focus on something else than the pain. He swallowed several healing pills at once and clicked his tongue when he noticed it wasn't enough. He grunted and decided to heat one of his high-level hearts. It gave him back some mana and stamina, but it didn't do much to get rid of the corrosion.
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❮◈❯ Pain Resistance has leveled up! ❮◈❯
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'I need to end this quickly so I can get healed,' he thought but then grimaced as the swarm of bats began to gather. He deployed his wings wide and shot hundreds of feathers at it whilst reinforcing them with his mana. He also doubled it up by throwing one of the Eion Knives he had personally forged and improved.
The knife touched the ground near the bats and exploded in a very condensed and scorching ball of energy. Unfortunately, the bats pulled through and reformed Fang's body, albeit slower. The vampire appeared with one knee on the ground as a glowing web of holy light was invading his chest.
Rakna snorted at the sight. ”Would you look at that? It seems I'm not the only one who better not get hit now.”
Fang snarled and stood up by using his scythe as a crutch. ”You… are a freak,” he uttered.
”Don't want to hear that from a bloodsucker.”
The vampire growled and rolled his shoulders. ”Regardless, you are not going to win. This self-harming strategy of yours won't get you far,” he said and a black mist enveloped him and the glow of the holy energy receded. ”You are outclassed, boy,” he declared and his aura burst out of his body.
”[Cioc Cioc… Vampirul este le ușă.]”
Rakna's eyes narrowed when he heard the chant and his senses, far above 1 000 in his werewolf form, instantly reacted. It only took a blink, and Fang had disappeared from his view. Instead, he sensed something from behind him. He urgently put hundreds of mana into his Reinforcement and his fur and hair began to literally glow.
He tilted his head to the side right in time to dodge a curved blade coming from behind.
”{Your instinct and reaction time are impressive…}” Fang's comment was directly put into his mind while his world perception slowed down. ”{But it's not enough to cross the gap.}”
Rakna could only watch in slow motion as the scythe's blade rotated and was placed horizontally right in front of his head. Fang pulled it back toward himself like a hook and if nothing was done, the move would lop off the werewolf's head.
'[Rift Shuttle!]' He shouted in his mind and dimensions began to wrap around him. However, the time frame he was allowed was far less than what he needed to fully activate it. The only thing he could do was hope that the dimensions would boost his movements and defense, even if just a bit.
When he saw that it wouldn't be enough, he gritted his teeth and used the only skill that could be activated in such a short time. '[Artzpul,]' he intoned internally, and right before the blade hit him, his wings released a burst of energy and his body moved to the right but the scythe continued to approach the left side of his face until it ultimately hit.
Pronos cried out as he saw blood gush out and Fang laughed loudly. He retrieved his weapon with a trail of blood following the tip and swung it again. His blade stabbed deep into the werewolf's sides and the latter was finally carried by the force of Artzpul and Rift Shuttle.
He crashed far away on the rubbles of the sewer and building. The dimensions on him became unstable due to a lack of control and a hole formed in his abdomen, which was promptly filled up again with cold energy, but at a slow pace; hindered by the corrosion.
Pronos jumped down from his master's mane, just a bit disoriented, and cried out worryingly as the werewolf remained unmoving on the ground with blood flowing on the left side of his face and dirtying his pure white fur.
”Hahaha! How does it feel?” Fang laughed whilst approaching the downed wolf. ”I'm pretty sure I felt it pop out, haha!” He stated and licked the blood on his scythe. He grinned and cleaned his lips. ”Delicious. I might just use you as a blood bank.”
Rakna didn't reply. His eyes were closed and the fur was hiding how bad exactly his injuries were and nothing could be discerned except his breath. Pronos almost whimpered as he tried to nudge him but he was irresponsive.
Fang arrived next to him and sneered. He casually waved his scythe and planted it on one of his shoulders. But, as if it was a corpse, there was no reaction.
”What? Did you give up?” The vampire scoffed and pulled the scythe out. ”I commend you for resisting my corrosion for so long. Hmm… your defense is higher than when the fight began, isn't it? In fact, it was increasing the more I injured you… Is it a passive skill?”
His question was met with further silence and he huffed.
”Whatever, meet your end,” he added and lifted his scythe one last time. The blade erupted with a layer of corrosive magic and a bloody hue before he hacked it down. When it was about to pierce through the werewolf's heart, a hand caught the weapon's shaft and stopped it on its track.
Fang widened his eyes and tried to pull back but it was stuck. ”How are you…? You were not that strong a moment ago,” he uttered in confusion as he failed to free his scythe from the werewolf's grip. ”Did you distribute your free points just now?”
”Free points?” Rakna's voice echoed doubled-toned but he still did not move. ”What are you even talking about? I haven't used any of those since the Initiation.”
”Wha-!”