545 Chapter 545: Late Night Meeting (2/2)

And then the rest poured in, swarming over her. However, Ling Xue Xiao fought on, undaunted, as she cut a bloody swathe through the vampires, felling at least three in a deadly slash.

As if realizing that I was here as well, a trio of vampires splintered off from the main group and charged at me. The vampire in the middle kicked me just when I drew my Hei Yue and Bai Ri, his immense strength causing me to skid back despite having blocked his attacked with my crossed swords. Before I could counterattack, the other two blasted me with blood spears that lanced out of the ground and sought to impale me.

”…!”

I ducked and dodged, relying on the footwork and martial arts that Dad taught me whenever we sparred in his dojo. Reading their movements, I anticipated where they would attack and evaded accordingly. However, the sheer volume of the blood spears they launched at me overwhelmed my attempts at evasion and I suffered a few cuts and scrapes when a few of them grazed my skin. Despite parrying some of them with both Hei Yue and Bai Ri, I was unable to prevent a good number of my enemies' attacks from going through. Twisting my body aside, I tried to dodge, but even though the blood lances missed my vital spots, they still managed to cut my arms, legs and non-vital parts.

”Ouch!”

I hissed in pain and staggered back. Despite doing my best with both of my swords, the speed of my foes were forcing me onto the defensive. I wasn't able to retaliate, not when the trio of them bombarded me with perfectly synchronized attacks from all directions. The moment I parried a blood claw spell from the one on my left, the middle one kicked my solar plexus with a mana-infused foot. When I turned my attention to him, the one on my right sent a barrage of blood spears that lanced out and forced me to abort my attack.

Even if it was a one-on-one battle, I would still find it difficult to defeat them. Challenging, but somehow still possible. However, in a three-against one match, I was being completely overwhelmed. My every movement was being suppressed, and I couldn't even fight back. This couldn't even be called a duel. It was a one-sided pummeling.

Maybe I should just change tactics and summon a quicker Constellation spirit instead of waiting to summon one of my big guns. But in this situation, I would rather summon a Celestial Guardian than a Constellation spirit, and I was confident that I could hold out long enough against these bastards anyway.

Besides, I had already begun casting ever since before they showed up, so I didn't need to wait too long. I was just waiting for an opportunity, so that I could catch them off guard and subdue them in one fell swoop rather than reveal my hand too soon and put them on high alert.

”Huff…”

As the center vampire's kick sent me flying and inadvertently widened the distance between us, I stabbed both swords into the ground to halt my momentum and used the chance to breathe. Rising to my feet, I assumed a defensive stance again.

Drip. Drip.

Cuts and lacerations ran across my exposed skin and beneath my torn clothes, leaking blood at an alarming rate. Death by a thousand paper cuts. Still, I was determined to withstand the pain. I just needed that single opportunity, and then all this suffering would be totally worth it.

However, my opponents also knew that there was the chance that I would bleed to death before I could turn the tables on them, so they refused to give me any time to relax.

The trio of vampires launched themselves at me again, spearheaded by a barrage of blood spears. I immediately summon Scutum Sobiescianum and used the huge Constellation shield to protect me from the lances. The vampires momentarily paused when they saw their blood spears halt in their tracks as they smacked right into the surface of my Constellation shield, failing to pierce it.

”…!”

Exchanging glances with each other almost imperceptibly, the two vampires at the sides ran down my flanks, hoping to expose an opening, while the central vampire continued to hurl a barrage of blood spears from the front to keep my attention on him.

How naïve.

Leaving the front to Scutum Sobiescianium, I turned to face the vampire on the right, just barely striking his hand and deflecting his blood claws from my face. Ducking under his kick, I managed to fall back and dodge under his compatriot's assault when he tried to slash at me from behind. Twisting around, I swung Hei Yue at him, but he caught my sword before it reached his face, and countered with a slash. Before his claws could reach me, I brought my knee up and cracked it against his elbow, sending his claws upward and merely cutting a few strands of my hair. As he staggered back, I tried to attack with Bai Ri, only to instinctively drop to a crouch when the vampire behind me slashed with dual blood claws.

”Whoa!”

If I hadn't dodged that, I would have been eviscerated by that deadly pincer attack. Striking out from the bottom, I aimed a kick at his chin, but he jerked his head back and retreated. Spinning on the floor, I swept his legs out from under him, tripping him up, and then rolled away when his comrade swung his heel down on me.

Meanwhile, my Scutum Sobiescanium continued to jerk and shudder as more blood lances slammed into it from the front, but the central vampire still hadn't managed to penetrate the Constellation shield at all. There was no way it would give under a normal onslaught of blood spears. Unless his blood spears were on par with Craig Carlson's cursed demonic spear, which I doubted. Craig was a prodigy and his weapon was almost one of a kind.

Unfortunately, these vampires possessed advantages that Craig didn't.

As if noticing that the trio was having trouble defeating me instantly (because apparently they were on a tight schedule and thus couldn't afford to spend a few more minutes to wear me down and wait for me to bleed to death eventually), a few more vampires broke off from the main group and charged in my direction.

I was already at my limit dealing with the current trio of vampires. There was no way I could take on four times that number.

”Ugh!”

Just as I thought that, the two vampires cleverly caught me in a pincer attack and slashed me across the chest and back, despite me raising both of my swords to parry the attack. Even as I stumbled back, blood dripping profusely from my wounds, the vampires closed in and had me completely surrounded.

However…this also provided me the opportunity I was seeking for, of course. Even as the reinforcements closed in on me, I wasn't able to conceal a grin.