546 Chapter 546: The Spy (1/2)

Gasping, I tried to right myself despite being on the verge of blacking out from the pain. But the vampire on my right kicked me, sending me tumbling over.

The other vampire tried to slash me, but Scutum Sobiescianum rose to block his attack while I rolled on the floor. Fortunately, I had my two swords to parry his other blood claws, my black and white blades whirling around almost on automatic response to block and defend myself. I was moving more from conditioned reflexes than conscious thought now.

And then the other vampires descended upon me. Already, the ground beneath my back was starting to explode with blood spears. I could literally sense the mana bursting out from under my body and was forced to quickly roll away before I got impaled by them.

When I sprang to my feet, the new group of vampires landed, surrounding me in a ring. They raised their mana-infused claws and got ready to slash me to death.

I grinned, despite the blood trickling from my mouth.

At that moment, a bright flash of light illuminated the shadowy interior of the warehouse, taking my assailants back. The next thing they knew, my massive Celestial Guardian had appeared. The first vampire gaped up hollowly before he was incinerated by Vermillion Phoenix, his body cremated into ash as the inferno roared over him. Another vampire screamed when she was caught in the flames, her body immolated and charred. Despite her blood magic that allowed her to regenerate quickly, her shrieks abruptly stopped when she combusted into ashes.

”…!”

The surviving vampires retreated, slicing and cutting through the sea of flames with their blood claws and blades. Thankfully, their rapid regeneration and vicious blood spells allowed them to break out of the blockade of fire, but my Vermillion Phoenix left quite the heated impression on them.

”Huff…”

”What the hell is this?!”

”Was he hiding a trick all along?”

”Where did that monster come from?!”

”This guy…he's a summoner!”

What, you attacked me without knowing about that? I might be a mediocre combat mage, but I was an excellent summoner. Even if I couldn't win against the vampires in terms of combat skills, I had alternative methods of fighting.

Such as unleashing my Celestial Guardian on them.

I was waiting for this, you know?

I smirked inwardly as I pushed my glasses up. It had taken me incredible mental restraint to stop myself from summoning Vermillion Phoenix to come to my aid while I was being overwhelmed by the first trio of vampires. Sure, he would help turn the tide, but the other survivors would become wary of my summoning magic and retreat. I would rather lure them into a sense of false security before springing my trap. And now all of them were surrounded by an impenetrable ring of fire, with no avenue of escape.

Well, it wasn't as if I was having a contest with Ling Xue Xiao, and admittedly she was the superior mage. I didn't care if she killed more vampires than me.

”Where is Xuan Chi?! What did you do to him?!”

As if realizing that we were now at an advantage, Ling Xue Xiao shouted at the vampires after stabbing her eighth victim. He gurgled before slipping off his killer's blades, and the rest spread out warily, trying to avoid Ling Xue Xiao's flashing swords.

”We should leave at least one alive to question them,” I suggested. Ling Xue Xiao nodded and smiled ominously, sending chills down the vampires' spines.

”Good idea. But we don't need more than one. So let's kill the rest.”

Wow…she was brutal. But I had no objections.

With my Vermillion Phoenix swinging the tide of battle to my favor, I commanded him to incinerate the whole mob of vampires.

”!!!”

The vampires, despite their relative youth, were fairly skilled. After the surprise attack, the other vampires spread out and danced around my massive Vermillion Phoenix, forcing him to spread his attention across multiple targets. Even though he successfully incinerated three more vampires in quick succession, the blood mages were still very agile. They darted about and evaded the torrents of flames nimbly, slashing and cutting apart embers and smaller tongues of flames with their blood claws. They weren't able to hurt my great Celestial Guardian, their blood spears burning away or vaporized by the fiery halo that wreathed him.

No matter how many bloody projectiles they hurled at him, they weren't going to pierce his flaming defenses.

Trying not to be too impatient, Vermillion Phoenix soared higher into the space within the enclosed warehouse and unleashed a rain of fiery feathers.

”What the?!”

”Whoa!”

While they were busily trying to avoid the hellish inferno that now swept across the confines of the warehouse, a sea of fire that incinerated their comrades into ashes, they were almost taken by surprise when Vermillion Phoenix switched to smaller projectiles. The feathers pierced through the bodies of stunned vampires, speeding through the air faster than the larger torrents of purifying fire, and combusted spontaneously from the inside. Many a vampire died howling as their innards caught fire and their bodies were consumed by flames.

And then, I summoned Taurus.

”Taurus, Aldebaran attack!”

The gigantic bull trampled through a tightly knotted crowd of vampires, crushing them under his hooves. Those out of reach, he incinerated with a breath of fire. The beleaguered vampires tried to scatter, but it was too little, too late.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury of gloating. The center vampire of the trio that originally attacked me broke away from my Soul Beasts, leaving them to his comrades so that he could fight me. He knew the best strategy for defeating a summoner was to take out the person who summoned the soul beasts. As long as he killed me, my soul beasts would naturally disappear.

He was naïve.

”Whoa!”

Even so, I refused to underestimate my opponent. I ducked under his vicious kick and slashed with Hei Yue, but he blocked it with his left claws before stabbing my arm with his right claws. Or tried to, but I succeeded in parrying his right claws with Bai Ri. Gritting my teeth, I unleashed an ice spell at pointblank range, a cool blast of azure mana washing over the vampire. But my opponent merely sliced through it and emerged unscathed.

Then he renewed his attack.

”…!”

I backed off, trying to keep my eyes on his figure, but the vampire was disappearing into a blur, whirling around and delivering kicks and slashes in strokes too fast for my eyes to follow. This was even though the sensors in my glasses were doing their utmost to track his movements. Following the calculated trajectories that my glasses displayed in holographic lines and digital images, I did my best to anticipate his attacks and preemptive moved out of the way before they came, while parrying those strikes I couldn't evade with my black and white swords.

”Not bad.”

The vampire smirked as he kicked me again. I managed to withstand the blow, having blocked it with Bai Ri, but he slashed at me with his claws, which I managed to parry with Hei Yue. With a yell, I blasted him with an icy spell, coating his claws in frost, but he shattered them with a surge of demonic mana.

”I see. So your battling style is that of attrition, huh?”

The vampire looked amused as he slashed at me again. He was so wrong…my battling style was obviously summoning, but I decided not to tell him that. Instead, I dodged his kick before trying to counterattack, but he easily deflected my blades away with a claw before returning a riposte with the other one. If I hadn't twisted my torso out of the way, those claws would have plunged themselves deep inside my chest.

”If that's the case, I'll have to finish this match as quickly as possible!”