Destroying The Lair (4)

Immediately after getting rid of the arrogant vampire another one attacked, it was like a swarm of ants. My punching speed left the offender horrified, wanting to avoid it but having used too much momentum coming on to me. The force of my fist tore his flesh apart and sent him hurtling away, hitting several of his mates before knocking over a heavy bookshelf.

Although my physical senses couldn't check the situation of the team through the swarm, my willpower could and I knew instantly that each of them was going through our foes like deadly machines. In fact, they were more efficient than me. It shouldn't surprise me, they were members of Chloe's elite team after all.

With Chloe's position in the community, they must have dealt with their fair share of vampires in the past.

Lorn was like a knight of old his blade dancing among his foe. His body moved as he pleased. Even if they were faster or stronger than him, the vampires he faced couldn't defend against his uncanny swordsmanship and accuracy. It was a bit jarring to 'see' how vampires simply threw themselves onto the trajectory of his sword slashes.

On the other hand, the twins were full of raw power and speed. They easily ripped through the throats of the enemies or simply slapped their heads away with their massive paws. The supernatural speed of vampires couldn't escape their senses. The only reason they were struggling before our arrival was the mages who were keeping them in check by harassing them with all sorts of restrictive and confusing spells.

It was the same for Arum, the usually silent giant was tearing through vampires. They were like dry twigs, breaking with every punishing blow he inflicted upon them. Arum's combat style was full of savagery and carried a dangerous beauty. He moved with a speed that seemed to ignore his heavy physique to the bafflement of his foes. His aura had shifted into almost tangible purple claws, the same as during our bout. He was gouging flesh and blood faster than the vampires could regenerate. Progressively, horror downed on their bloodied faces.

As for Kelia, she was no slouch. Before they could even get close, they were sucked dry by the writhing mass of gaseous blood above her head. Occasionally, tendrils would shoot from it, swatting or piercing through the wave of vampires surging toward her. They couldn't make a single wrinkle of worry appear between her slender brows.

Seeing that everyone was doing fine, I idly wondered where the exiled prince was. No one had seen his shadow since we stepped into this place.

Where did that guy run off?

I wasn't worried about him, my instincts told me that the guy was very powerful. In fact, I believed that Chloe not included, he was the most frightening among us. From Stella and Chloe, I had heard stories about Faerie inhabitants. They were as deadly as they were beautiful, full of tricks and innocent malice. They could stab you with a smile on their face as a joke.

The fist of the vampire made me snap out of my absent state. I barely dodged it by stepping backward. Unfortunately, I stepped right onto lengthened nails of a vampire. The cold hand pierced through my stomach coming on the other side. Before, I could regain my bearing, another one slid from the side and delivered a blow strengthened by blood energy onto my fragile cranium.

Crack.

The sickening sound was lost in the chaotic battle noises. My heart missed a bit before picking up. Without waiting for my wounds to heal fully, I exerted my will and blasted the vampires crowding on my figure. I felt a pain near my shoulder and they were sent flying. When my eyeballs regenerated, I saw teeth sunken in my skin, it was the origin of the pain. Apparently, a vampire had already started sucking on my blood.

Reckless.

My muscles twitched and the wicked teeth were expelled from my flesh. The dot-like holes disappeared quickly. In the past, it was a straining exercise to preserve my awareness after dying but now with my strengthened will it is very easy. I even found a direct correlation between my willpower and the speed with which I came back to life. Naturally, the extent of the damage needs to be added to the equation.

The pincer attack was a wake-up call, I should stop being distracted, although they weren't stronger than me, they had centuries of experience over me. Underestimating them was pure arrogance on my part. I put all my focus into the fight after adjusting my mentality.

The vampire with decent mastery over blood energy came back quickly after having been blasted away. We immediately engaged in close combat, we moved so fast that we became blurs. Occasionally my fist would connect and send him crashing through a random bookshelf, but it wasn't enough to kill him, his control over blood energy was truly exquisite. When he defended he was like an impenetrable wall, when he attacked he was akin to a lightning bolt.

This vampire made me realize that other than the base strength of a vampire which was dependent on their age and experience, there was another factor that could drastically affect their combat strength, blood energy control. Speaking of which, this energy was really neat and convenient. It could allow for attacks and defense.

Through our fight, although I hadn't been able to get rid of him, I had still managed to shake him off from time to time, creating enough space for me to reap the lives of a couple of vampires. Much to his fury as he would come back twice as fast, his blows full of vengeance.

Granted, it was not a one-sided fight, in fact, I was hurt more often than him over the course of our battle, mostly because I didn't use my will to protect my body and he had the cover of blood energy. Thankfully, I healed really quickly now, without needing a full cycle of life and death to recover. I didn't use it primarily because it was the first time I was going against a vampire using blood energy.

Still, I needed to end this, the others had near finished all the other vampires. They were slaughtering the last of them at the moment.

"Let's see whether my will or your blood energy is stronger," I spoke softly.

I pointed at him shaping my will into a drill that tried to burrow through his protective cover. The blood cover lasted less than one-tenth of a second. A hole had suddenly appeared without any warning on his chest. My drill-shaped willpower cleanly ran through destroying his heart in passing. The look of deep astonishment on the vampire's face told me he didn't understand how it happened. He hadn't sensed anything.

Not surprising considering it was my intention. I saw his blood energy cover the hole and try to knit his flesh back together. Another wonderful application of blood power I was discovering. I didn't let him, my will turned into a blade, and with a sweeping hand motion, he was relieved of his head.

In the past, I always ostentatiously used my will, I was admittedly a bit showy. But that was because I didn't understand how to use it appropriately. For example, for a quick attack, I could go for a direct blow instead of wasting my willpower in trying to manifest phenomena that strained my willpower. Not only was it faster that way, but it also left less time for the enemy to react or sense the blow. After all, it was an attack of pure will and the enemy was directly affected.

I looked up just as Lorn beheaded the last vampire. The library was a wreck, with fallen bookshelves, holes, and books turned into pieces of paper scattered upon the floor. The twins regained human form and went before the last bookshelf intact. It was embedded deep in a wall of the library. Liye frowned scenting the air before sliding the bookshelf to the side. Her brute force broke the mechanism and a hidden path was revealed.

We followed her footstep into the corridor. I could feel Chloe through the mark she left on my neck, she was near. It wouldn't take long for us to reach her position. After a moment the corridor turned into a flight of stone stairs leading upward. At the end of it, there was a door slightly ajar. Fresh air came through the opening.