550 Chapter 550: Pursui (1/2)

”I'll kill you! Infinite Blood Hydras!”

Blood-red mana erupted from Xu Wu Cheng's body like an active volcano, billowing outward before solidifying into terrifying shapes.

This had to be his ultimate skill. Abruptly stopping the regeneration, Xu Wu Cheng diverted his mana back into a single, devastating spell. Instead of nine serpents, hundreds of blood serpents materialized and hissed before they darted at me. My whole front view was suddenly obscured by the writhing mass of striking serpents, their red scales glinting in the moonlight that leaked through the holes in the warehouse.

”Richard!”

Rossetti panicked and swung her chakrams, sending four fireballs barreling into the approaching mass of serpents, but for all of her efforts, she might as well be vaporizing drops in an ocean. Even though four serpents were incinerated, twelve more took their places, hissing more angrily than ever as they lunged forward with bared fangs.

Rossetti cast a glance at Vermillion Phoenix, but because she wasn't his summoner (that was me), she couldn't give him any commands. Even so, she continued to bombard the swarm of blood-red serpents relentlessly, her purifying flames dispelling many of them. However, it wasn't going to be enough.

”Rossetti, stand back.”

I placed my hand on my partner's shoulder and gentle guided her back. Standing in front of her, I watched as the blood serpents lunge at me.

”Oi, Richard!” Kufa shouted from his corner. I understood his panic. The serpents were almost upon me, and then they would be on Rossetti soon enough.

”Snow Aegis.”

Having sheathed both of my swords, I raised my right hand and conjured my strongest protection. The gigantic snowflake shield manifested in front of me, its six crystalline petals unfurling elegantly. The serpents slammed mercilessly against the defensive layers of mana, only to freeze and shatter upon impact, but more of them kept coming.

It didn't matter. It was a battle of attrition now. With most of his mana spent on regenerating, surely Xu Wu Cheng wouldn't be able to keep up his devastating assault. And I didn't need to wait for him to expend all of his mana.

While Xu Wu Cheng was crazily yelling and throwing everything he had at me, his chest still sporting a crater from the injury I dealt him earlier, Vermillion Phoenix launched several fiery feathers from above. They streaked through the rain of Blood Hydras, burning only a couple of them.

But that was fine. My intention was never to destroy Xu Wu Cheng's spell.

Leaving a scorching trail through the dense swarm of blood serpents, the fiery feathers slammed into Xu Wu Cheng, punching cauterized holes through his body and sending him crashing away. There was an inhuman shriek before he disappeared.

”Finally.”

”You think you can get away from us?!”

While Xu Wu Cheng was desperately sprinting away, Rossetti was already on his tail, bringing her blazing chakrams up to incinerate him. But I held up a hand to stop her.

”There's no need to kill him now. Let him run.”

”Eh?”

”We're going to follow him.” I glanced at Kufa. ”I believe this is more your area of expertise. We're going to track him down and follow him all the way to the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan's main base. Since he's a high-ranking vampire there, he will surely retreat to where his prince is, to lick his wounds and recover.”

”Good idea.” Kufa was grinning. He nodded as he brought out his smartphone. ”I will also be sending the coordinates to the Midnight Order and Federation military. We'll be able to launch an attack on their main base and finish them off once and for all!”

”Exactly. Now let's go! We are going to end this farce once and for all!”

From what I knew the Federation military and the Midnight Order – the mercenary guild who had assumed responsibility for eliminating the vampire clan behind the attacks on the schools in Flandor City – still hadn't uncovered the location of the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan's secret base despite their best attempts. And now we were presented with a great opportunity to find thee headquarters of such an elusive clan.

Why wouldn't we take it?

Dismissing Green Dragon, Vermillion Phoenix and Leo, I then exited the burning warehouse with my friends. The three of us began running, plunging into the forest after Xu Wu Cheng. Kufa took point, and he regulated his pace to maintain a good distance between us and our quarry, ensuring that he didn't lose sight of the target while making sure he didn't notice that we were following him. Xu Wu Cheng was badly hurt, though, so he wouldn't be paying any attention to anyone who would be pursuing him. Right now, he was totally focusing on escaping and returning to headquarters, so as to recover and prolong his life for as long as possible.

While we ran, I checked my wounds. They were light, and even though we had expended a bit of mana, my friends and I would be able to recover if we rested for a while. For now, we planned to just follow Xu Wu Cheng back to his home base, recuperate outside for a few moments while waiting for the Midnight Order and Federation military to arrive. By the time the adults came to launch their operation, we would have fully recovered our mana.

Even if Xu Wu Cheng told Fan Le Lao about how he and his subordinates got their asses kicked by me and my friends – probably using my schemes to lure them into a trap as an excuse to escape punishment – they wouldn't be expecting the three of us to assault their base so soon. Hell, I doubted they would expect us to follow the stupid redhead back to their headquarters in the first place. We could use that to our advantage.

Smirking, I kept my eyes on the fleet-footed vampire and followed Kufa. We could easily catch and overtake the badly hurt Xu Wu Cheng, but where was the fun in that? Besides, as I mentioned earlier, we needed him to lead us to his clan's secret base.

Unaware of our presence, Xu Wu Cheng continued to run to what he thought was safety.

Eventually, he reached his clan's hideout, stopping to pant and catch his breath. He clutched his wounded chest and grimaced, channeling more of his mana to regenerate his cauterized wounds. Straightening himself, Xu Wu Cheng warily glanced back to make sure there were no enemies following him.