Chapter 272: You are Already Dead (1/2)

Although it hurts Edward’s dignity to have his blood held in such contempt by Vlad as if was there was dung flowing in his veins, he knew that a golden opportunity had also presented itself.

Hence, he quickly shot out a Fel Fireball—the pre-cast skill of Black Dragon Fire that could be released instantly without incantations.

As a foul-green ball of flame punched out of the tip of Happy Flames, Vlad’s body reacted by instinct and he attempted to crush the spell in his palm with his magical resistance.

However, Edward’s wasn’t aiming for him-he was aiming for the ground.

It burst apart with a rumble over the earth, kicking up dust everywhere within the eye of the hurricane.

Although the walls of gust were still surrounding them and the dust vanished rapidly, that split second was enough time for Edward to get his bearings and dash into the hurricane, allowing the wind to whisk him away while distancing himself from Vlad sufficiently.

And when Vlad eventually dispelled the hurricane, the Players who had escaped the wild gusts were already waiting around him.

‘Wait, there are more humans now…’

Being nonhumans, each Tigerman had heads of tigers and therefore judged aesthetics differently from humans in the first place. Tigermen were basically face-blind towards humans.

On the other hand, it was interesting that in spite of the Nightstalkers arrogant self-proclamations that they were a transcendent race, they bore a strong resemblance to humans-whether it was because of a convergence in derivation or the simple eccentricity of the deity who created the Nightstalkers. As such, the Nightstalkers were probably the race that looked almost identical humans amongst the First Eight, next to the elves of course.

As such, Vlad could more or less identify humans through appearance.

‘It’s not just numbers either. The new arrivals seemed to differ in aura as well… the aura of experienced warriors, just like that human commander who has dung flowing in his veins.’

Nonetheless, Vlad kept impassive, scanning the circle humans quietly even as doubt arose in his mind.

‘How many years have I actually slumbered? To think that humans could evolve from dull primates to a race of warriors…”

Right now, he could not afford to be arrogant.

Even a while ago, the humans displayed ability that kept him on his toes, let alone the other first-rate Players who all rushed to the scene after receiving their quest.

But what really wounded him naturally was the mouthful of blood he had just sucked.

Unlike the god sprout that melded with the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, Xi Wei was an actual god-even if he was unleashing his retribution through the blood of his believer, it was enough to knock Vlad silly.

After all, even supernatural races were no more than mortals to the gods. One couldn’t tell how many such races had been destroyed in the last few divine wars, and the only reason the First Eight had left an impression amongst the divine beings was that they had survived longer.

If Vlad wasn’t the Father of Nightstalkers and possessed power far beyond all other Nightstalkers, and if it wasn’t his very recent revival that kept him between the boundaries living and the dead, Xi Wei’s retribution would have been enough to blow him back to the underworld.

Even so, Xi Wei’s power was still harassing him. Even though Vlad’s mind wasn’t debuffed, all his basic stats were rapidly dropping.

‘Now’s not the time to fight these humans. I have to retreat.’