340-351

Chapter 340 Fear

The bone knives that protruded out of the fleshly vine pierced into Dilan's skin from all directions.

The amplification of [Switch] and [Bracing Pain] had worn off, decreasing his Health stat gradually. Despite that, Nial's stats were still high enough for his Special trait [Stone Skin] to protect him from the most severe injuries.

He tore at the vines and tried to pull the Bryte family's patriarch out of the rubbles of the destroyed skyscraper but that didn't seem to work as he had expected.

'Just how long are these vines?! Did he turn his entire body into vines, or what??' Dilan cursed in his head before he swiftly changed his tactic.

If he couldn't find a way to the Bryte family's patriarch, he would force the patriarch to come to him!

Using the Thunderbolt dagger coated with bits of mana, Dilan cut through the vines that were aiming to tie him down. It was easy for him to destroy the fleshly vines but this hadn't been his plan earlier.

"If you don't come to me, witness how your entire clan ceases to exist right in front of your eyes!" Dilan growled as he executed every ounce of strength within his body to shoot out of the mountain of rubble.

His Strength was more than enough to allow him to break out of the humongous pile of rubble and to emerge in the dazzling sunlight.

Dilan retrieved a second Thunderbolt Dagger, which he moved into a defensive position in front of him instinctively. He sensed that several opponents had appeared around him the moment his body emerged from the rubble.

It was as if they had been waiting for him to show up and pounce on him at once!

A crazed smile appeared on Dilan's face as he pushed in the direction of the closest enemy, using all his strength. The ground below him was pushed aside as Dilan's body jerked forward. He slashed to his side with the Thunderbolt daggers, blocking off the attacks that would have reached him at any moment before he smashed into the noble Vampire of the Agilt family.

The noble Vampire wielded a set of daggers, which he thrust toward Dilan. His attacks missed the designated target narrowly as Dilan twisted his body while leaning backward.

Dilan's cheek was cut and so was his shoulder, but he ignored the pain as he initiated a counterattack. His Agility was slightly higher than that of the noble Vampire's Agility even after the noble Vampire activated his Vampire Power which increased his Agility further.

Dilan's stats were more advanced and with the activation of [Thunder Step], the final result allowed him to be faster than all of his opponents.

A smile, overflowing with arrogance and pride appeared on Dilan's face as he thrust one of his daggers into his opponent's heart and the other one cleanly through the Vampire's eye socket, piercing his brain in the process.

Both daggers were twisted smoothly when they dug deep into their designated target, ending the life of the noble Vampire, who had lived for centuries, if not millennia, for good.

His hair stood up at its ends when he noticed something behind him and Dilan moved instinctively. He had yet to pull the daggers out of the noble Vampire, whom he had killed.

Without wasting a second, Dilan lifted the Vampire's corpse over his head and aimed to fling it behind himself in order to block the incoming attacks.

But instead of achieving what he wanted, the corpse of the Vampire ended up slipping from Dilan's razor-sharp Thunderbolt daggers.

The corpse was flung in the direction he sensed the danger from, where it impacted hard on the Tier-2 Vampire who had attempted to take Dilan by surprise and assassinate him.

'Not exactly like I planned, but that is certainly a pretty decent result!' Dilan thought as he rushed forward to attack and kill the Vampire he had just thrown to the ground.

It took him two mere stabs to kill the Tier-2 Vampire. The Tier-2 Vampires of the four clans appeared to be weaker than the patriarch's or most noble Vampires.

Their occupation was not that strong either, which resulted in much lower improvements upon advancing to a higher Tier.

Nonetheless, he could ignore the Tier-2 Vampires, especially since it was still unknown as to what kind of unique advancements a race might receive for advancing in the Tiers.

When Dilan had ended the life of the Tier-2 Vampire, he leaned forward, almost touching the rubble that covered the ground.

Whether it was luck or his instincts, was hard to tell but he saw fleshly vines cutting their way through the rubble, while more than five Vampires attacked him from all directions.

Dilan's fight was not yet over. Too many opponents surrounded him and there were even more joining in.

Some were still holding back, waiting for their masters to order them to attack. The patriarchs were waiting for the right timing but they quickly noticed that even the worst timing didn't seem to be much helpful.

Dilan was currently being attacked from five sides and the ground. However, this did little to scare or confuse him.

After he had activated [Thunder Step], his Agilityalready reached a frightening level, yet, Dilan didn't think that this was enough. He enhanced his Agility further by activating [Second Acceleration] to make sure that he could obliterate his opponents!

His Mana was slowly being drained but Dilan ignored this for the time being. He shot forward with an Agility stat that crossed 200 Units.

Utilizing two Agility-boosting abilities, boots that increased his Agility by 20 Units, and the title [Beyond the Stars] that increased the wearer's stats by 10% were more than enough for him to achieve this shocking speed that left behind nothing but dust and destruction.

Dashing over the rubble lightly as if it was a mere obstacle race was certainly not easy but Dilan beheaded the closest opponent that was right in front of him before he brushed past the ordinary Vampire, whose life he had ended before the Vampire could even realize it.

Dilan felt excitement coursing through his body that got accustomed to running over the uneven ground of the skyscrapers' debris.

He moved briskly and ended up in front of the Agilt family's matriarch just a moment later.

Luckily, she didn't possess an Origin ability, which made things much easier for Dilan.

The matriarch was much weaker and slower than Dilan, and she could only prevent dying at his hand by retrieving and activating a Magic Scroll.

A huge blueish mana sphere manifested around the matriarch, protecting her from all kinds of physical attacks.

"You don't think that I will bother destroying this, right?" Dilan asked in a light voice. Instead of answering, the matriarch looked straight into Dilan's crazed eyes that seemed to reflect her crimson eyes.

Dilan's eyes were crystal clear and the matriarch could clearly see her furious expression mirrored within them.

She…was afraid…

Dila could obviously see this but he didn't really care. The matriarch would die, sooner or later, and in his opinion, the latter would be more painful.

After all, the matriarch would have to witness the destruction of her entire clan if she died later, rather than sooner!

Chapter 341 End of a Family

Dilan pointed in the direction of all the noble Vampires of the Agilt family, who were charging in his direction. Close to 10 Tier-2 Vampire subordinates were right behind them, trying their utmost to charge in Dilan's direction, to end his life and save their matriarch.

"I guess you guys were just a bit unfortunate to meet me. I don't think that anyone else would be strong, let alone fast enough to fight against your clan. Only the patriarchs of the Bryte and the Melza family are probably more annoying than your clan!" Dilan laughed devilishly as he lightly clinked his daggers against the mana sphere the matriarch of the Agilt family had created.

There was no need for any more words because his actions would clearly show what type of person he was; merciless to his opponents, and an unstoppable force!

Dilan shot forward with all his might, causing tiny spider web-like cracks to appear on the ground wherever he stepped. A huge black shadow flashed in front of everyone as one of the Thunderbolt Daggers was replaced by Balzaki.

His strength increased by 20 units upon holding Balzaki tightly and Dilan didn't hesitate to make use of his increased strength. He slashed at his opponents and cut them open before he shot past them without a second look.

Right now, Dilan was not even trying to attack precisely to finish off one opponent after another. He was attempting to turn all of the Vampires into cripples with one swing at a time.

This worked almost perfectly fine, especially since his overwhelming speed and strength worked together in perfect sync. Several attacks of the Agilt family's Vampires were about to hit him but Dilan created a total of three blueish shields by activating [Aegis' Shield] thrice.

This drained Dilan of the remaining mana he was left with. Instead of activating [Bearer of Pain] to replenish his mana, Dilan chose to do something different.

He used the remaining unallocated status points he possessed to increase his Mana stats by a total of 6.3 Units. His mana increased to 94.5 Units, which was further amplified by the title [Beyond the Star]'s 10% stat increase and the 11 Units he received from the pieces of equipment he was currently wearing.

The Agilt family's biggest treasure and strongest weapon had always been their high speed. Now, after the Primordial Ascension had happened, they continued to focus on their Agility, picking only a few abilities that were related to combat.

They believed that being the fastest would be enough to be the strongest. However, even if they would be faster than Dilan, their attacks wouldn't be strong enough to injure him.

After they activated their own Agility-boosting abilities and acceleration abilities, the Vampires' bodies were constantly being damaged and repaired.

Their body burst open just like that of Dilan when his stats reached a threshold where he was not supposed to be able to move anymore under normal circumstances.

However, while the Vampires reached stats close to 200 Units, at most, Dilan was currently in the same position, with the same Agility, while all his other stats were way higher than theirs.

Even if the Agilt family's Vampires were occasionally able to evade his attack, it was not as if the ordinary Vampire subordinates had any chance of sacrificing their masters to save their own life.

They were the first to be cut apart by Balzaki's huge razor-sharp blade, their masters offering them to Dilan like cannon fodder. As for the noble Vampires, they might reach a similar Agility stat to Dilan but they had to close in on him first in order to initiate an attack.

Their attacks might not work out in most situations but that didn't mean they would give up. Their immensely huge pride and ego prevented them from retreating and fleeing the battlefield.

It was their mission to protect their matriarch and kill Dilan in order to retrieve the five Sanctum Keys. In the last few centuries, nobody had ever been able to get their hands on all Sanctum keys.

Now that this had changed, the vast majority of Vampire Clans accepted sacrificing their subordinates if this would allow them to get the Sanctum keys!

However, this didn't mean that the matriarch wanted to see the death of her one and only family. She released the mana sphere that protected her body the moment her oldest child was cut in two parts.

Her oldest child's heart was destroyed in the process, which meant that a single attack would be more than enough to kill her lovely baby!

Dilan noticed that the matriarch had removed her one and only protection shield when he cut through the body of a gorgeous Vampire lady. A creepy smile appeared on his face as he forcefully changed his trajectory.

He appeared next to the upper body of the gorgeous Vampire he had just cut apart and he flashed a wide smile as he lifted her by grabbing a fistful of her hair.

"Let go of her!!!" The matriarch screamed at the top of her lungs. Dilan's smile would have widened if that was even possible.

Yet, while he was smiling, it felt like his eyes were glinting in cold fury.

"You probably never imagined that you or your family could die while trying to procure the Sanctum keys, am I right?" Dilan asked with a faint smile on his face.

He had deactivated both [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration] to save some Mana. However, he quickly noticed that this was entirely useless.

Rather than saving up on Mana and being easier to get attacked, feeling a bit of pain should be much better.

Thus, Dilan activated [Bearer of Pain] to turn half of his Life force into Mana. He coughed up blood because his body wanted to retaliate against his Lifeforce being drained, which the matriarch saw as a sign of weakness.

She didn't answer his question and blasted forward instead, activating all her agility-boosting abilities.

There were a total of three of them, which she had activated, in addition to her Vampire Power.

All of a sudden, the matriarch's Agility crossed 300 Units, which heavily injured her body which was incapable of regenerating fast enough.

Dilan was a bit baffled about the matriarch's speed but he could only smile at this sight and activated [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration].

[Bracing Pain] increased his stats by 25%, after his Lifeforce had been drained. Thus, his Agility crossed 250 units at once.

He was still slower than the Matriarch of the Agilt family but that was of no concern because he had a big advantage.

"Speed is not everything," Dilan stated as he used all the accumulated momentum he possessed to throw the matriarch's daughter straight at her.

The matriarch was baffled by this, and she tried catching her daughter to prevent anything from happening to her head.

In a desperate attempt to save her daughter,, the matriarch didn't even realize that she had already ended up in front of Dilan, who had shot forward with Balzaki pulled backward to attack.

Only when Balzaki was slashed out did realization struck her.

However, it was already too late for her to react!

A black flash cut through the neck of the gorgeous Vampire, whose upper body was tightly embraced by the matriarch.

Simultaneously, the matriarch's body was cut in half as well, causing blood, bone fragments, and intestines to spurt out of her body.

"Nooo!!! My baby!!!" The matriarch let out a shrill cry of despair when she saw that her daughter's head fell to the ground with a thud.

Sadness and unbending anger coursed through her body but the only thing she could see and perceive was the Thunderbolt Dagger in Dilan's other hand. It pierced through the side of her head, was twisted inside her brain when it had lodged deep inside her skull, and forcibly pulled out only moments later.

Dilan drove Balzaki into the ground to free his other hand, where a second Thunderbolt Dagger manifested.

What happened afterward was not something the Matriarch witnessed anymore, and she would never find it out either.

Her long and eternal life ended on this day, the day that was supposed to be a glorious one for her entire family, and for the entire Clan!

"It's time for you to sleep," Dilan mumbled quietly, and as if on cue, the matriarch's body slumped to the ground, never to stand up again.

Chapter 342 Monstrous Shapeshifting

Dilan didn't stop after he killed the matriarch of the Agilt family. All the Vampires belonging to the Agilt Clan, including the nobles felt an unbearable sting coursing through their bodies.

They were distracted by the pain that spread through their body, which gave Dilan the opportunity to kill all of the Vampires around him.

There was no time for him to collect their Blood essences but Dilan switched between slashing out with Balzaki to beheading everyone around him and thrusting out with the Thunderbolt daggers to pierce through the hearts and heads of everything moving in a 20-meter radius.

Dilan didn't hold back in the slightest bit and when he was done with the Agilt family, he didn't hesitate to shoot toward the other families as well. The Likar family was not present right now but it wouldn't take long before they would join their dead brethren in the afterworld.

He moved with the speed of a missile, and lashed out left and right, killing everyone and everything around him.

His expression was overflowing with excitement and he was slowly losing himself in the adrenaline rush that kicked in while killing his opponents.

Dilan gave his all to end everyone around him, which became much easier after the highest authorities of the Agilt family had been defeated.

The wind affinity of the Melza family was not actually of much use against Dilan, and the physical strength of the Bryte Clan was also rendered useless against Dilan's high Agility.

To make use of their terrifying power, they first had to hit him, which they didn't achieve even after they attacked him with various abilities.

"You guys like to focus on your Vampire Power, huh? Stupid if you create too many weaknesses in exchange," Dilan smirked as Balzaki cut through the head of a Bryte family's noble Vampire.

Unable to control his body he was twitching violently, the noble Vampire didn't even feel that his heart was pierced a moment later.

Dilan shook his head, not understanding the mindset of the Vampires.

They were narrow-minded and arrogant, which played straight into his hands.

Only the Melza clan's patriarch and the monstrously powerful Bryte clan's patriarch seemed to be different from the rest.

The patriarch of the Melza family was trying to restrain Dilan's movements with the use of his Ancient Vampire Power, igniting the winds all around Dilan.

Afterward, the patriarch would attack Dilan with his high speed and strength. Unfortunately, the raging flames did little to deter him. He accepted the burning on his skin and made use of it to have [Bracing Pain] activated.

The more severe his condition was the higher [Bracing Pain] would enhance his stats. Avoiding sustaining injuries that were not lethal but still severe enough to injure him was not something Dilan would do in a fight, where everyone's life was on the line.

He used every ounce of strength within his body to be as powerful as possible and Balzaki was exceptionally helpful as the weapon's blade became sharper the more time passed.

[Death toll]'s effect was showing, further increasing both Dilan's proficiency with the weapon, his strength by a small margin and the weapon's sharpness the more lives the blade reaped.

He slashed at the Melza family's patriarch to end his life but quickly noticed that numerous things happened at the same time.

At first, the fire was explosively released from the Melza family's patriarch when Balzaki's blade was just about to slice through the Vampire's body, and second, dozens of fleshly vines pierced through the ground.

They turned sticky and clung to Dilan's body before thorns made out of bones pierced into his flesh. His movements were restricted by the vines that straightened all of a sudden. The Bryte patriarch was pulling the vines toward him, dragging Dilan along with them.

His attack was blocked and Dilan's movements were restricted as the tremendous force of the Bryte family's patriarch pulled him down.

"Finally, it's over. You were annoying enough to force all of us to go all out. Feel honored to die at our hands!" The Melza family's patriarch snarled though he felt weird that Dilan was even smiling in the face of death.

Dilan was definitely insane and beyond saving.

However, Dilan just flashed a smile at the Melza family's patriarch, or precisely at something behind him.

"You guys finished everything? Took you long enough," Dilan chuckled and the Mezla family's patriarch turned around in shock.

"What do you mean by 'took you long enough?!'?? We cleaned up everything meticulously, just like you told us!" Yvonne complained meekly before her eyes turned pitch-black when she saw all the blood that trickled down Dilan's body. Her earlier disappointment vanished as she quietly mumbled,

"Maybe we did take a bit long…"

Victoria was standing next to Yvonne, whose undead minions looked battered.

The female Vampire stared at the situation ahead of her in the purest form of anger.

"How dare you!!!" She screamed out, releasing her Vampire Power, freezing the swirls of the wind all around them.

Victoria's ear-like horns grew in size and she shot forward to help Dilan, who smiled lightly as if his condition was not serious or tricky, at all.

"Freeze everything below me," Dilan suddenly ordered in a cold tone before he activated [Switch] to reallocate his Mana, Stamina, and Health stats which in turn increased his Strength.

His Strength elevated drastically and he gained enough vigor to work against the pulling force of the Bryte family's patriarch.

With a mighty pull, all the vines created out of the arms, legs, and shoulders of the Bryte patriarch were pulling upward. Simultaneously, Victoria acted as instructed, freezing everything below Dilan's feet.

She didn't hesitate to use all her mana reserves to freeze the ground, just to see that Dilan slashed at the fleshy frozen vines.

He didn't have the time or the need to pull them off his body, which was fortunately not required as they fell apart on their own. The surrounding temperature had dropped drastically from a searing heat, which affected the stickiness of the fleshy vines.

Dilan glanced at the Melza family's patriarch for a moment but he chose to allow Yvonne and Victoria to have their fun with him.

Meanwhile, Dilan used his entire strength to slash Balzaki and ram it into the ground, bursting open the frozen rubble.

"Your fucking ability should be useless now. Just die, and stop bothering me!" Dilan shouted as he carved a huge rift into the ground that soon led to cobweb-like cracks spread all over.

He easily destroyed Victoria's Blood-Ice, using the tremendous strength of more than 260 units he had.

Victoria stared at this with a deep frown, not understanding how someone could destroy her most powerful attack in the strongest form so easily.

However, it was Dilan they were talking about, so Victoria was perfectly fine with him being eerily powerful than herself.

It didn't bother her as much as the fact that Dilan's skin had been scorched.

Her head flicked in the direction of the Melza family's patriarch and the bones in her hand cracked as she moved.

"You have been annoying me for several centuries already. Time for you to die!!"

Chapter 343 The Patriarchs' deaths

Almost all the Vampire nobles, especially the patriarchs were a nuisance to Victoria.

She had known them for centuries, some even since she was born. However, instead of building cordial relations with all the noble Vampires that had been around her when her father had still been alive, she hated all of them to the core.

There was basically not a single noble Vampire, whom she liked. All of them were hypocrites, and self-centered and they wouldn't even hesitate to kill thousands if they could receive even a 0.01% increase in their strength.

She wanted all of them to freeze to death, which was what Victoria planned to let happen today.

Thus, while Dilan wreaked havoc with the ground not even 10 meters away from everyone else, Victoria shot in the direction of the Melza family's patriarch.

On the other hand, Yvonne sent her Minotaur Leaders at the patriarch as well before she ascended in the air to make sure that all the other Vampires had been taken care of.

"The ordinary Vampires are dead, and it looks like Dilan was quite meticulous as well…" Yvonne mumbled to herself, trying to wrap her head around the fact that somehow Dilan was still able to fight.

She knew that Dilan should have been severely injured by two skyscrapers collapsing above him and lost his limbs or at least dislocated a bone.

He was basically smashed into the ground with tremendous force but still fought like a desperate beast that was out for blood, and on a rampage to obliterate all the threats around him. Now, he had sustained several more injuries yet it felt like he was overflowing with vigor.

This was something Yvonne simply predicted with the terrific force and the way Dilan slashed at the ground, to get closer to the Bryte family patriarch's body that should be frozen solid.

A few powerful Vampires were still alive but they seemed to have been cut in half not too long ago. Yvonne shot downward with two daggers gleaming in her hands. She pierced them through the hearts and the heads of the severely injured Vampires that were currently healing, killing them for good.

While Yvonne finished off the Vampires all around, the Undead Minotaur Leaders smashed their maces at the Melza family's patriarch. Victoria used the undeads as decoys to slip unnoticed through the gap between the patriarch's feet. She was holding a Thunderbolt dagger in her hand and slashed out with it, cutting through the noble Vampire's tendons.

Victoria moved rapidly, without making any useless movements. She wanted to kill the noble Vampire in front of her but could clearly tell that it would be foolish. Her life would be in danger the moment she got too close to the Vampire, who could summon blazing flames and her attacks wouldn't be strong enough to end the patriarch either way.

She was at Tier-2 but her mana was drained completely, meaning that her strongest attack, her Vampire Power, had been rendered useless. Victoria couldn't use it, which was why she was forced to turn her focus on using her brute strength to rival the patriarch's blazing flames and his high strength.

Within seconds, the maces of the Minotaur Leaders hit their target several times in succession. Simultaneously, Victoria had cut the neck of the patriarch, nearly severing it completely.

She had attempted to behead the noble Vampire, but he had reacted at the last moment, saving his head as he twisted his body to prevent the worst-case scenario.

However, the life of the Melza family's patriarch was bound to end soon. It was impossible for him to flee and his one and only resurrection ability had already been used once, leaving him anxious and desperate.

He had wasted it because it had been entirely useless to die at Dilan's hand. The patriarch had underestimated Dilan at first, which was the whole reason for the death of most Vampires and their doom; they didn't think highly of Dilan's strength.

Now, their opinion had changed but that didn't really help because it was already too late.

He didn't have a Magic Scroll in his possession, not one that could be used instantaneously which further added salt to the patriarch's injuries. It was frustrating and the Melza family's patriarch released his entire mana at once, turning everything around him into blazing flames.

Victoria shot backward to save her life. Her clothes were burning and she extinguished the flames by tearing off her sleeves and all the other areas where her clothes had caught fire.

Meanwhile, as she was focused on preventing her body from turning into a Vampire torch, the Minotaur Leaders kept smashing their maces on the noble Vampire, who slowed down after a while. He was exhausted and all the attacks of the noble Vampire seemed to be useless against the Minotaur Leader Skeletons.

The black membrane created by the [Death Curse] had worn off and the Undead's bones began to show signs of melting but that was already it. They didn't stop moving and kept hitting the heavy maces on the Vampire, who was still trying hard to evade as many attacks as possible.

It was only a matter of time before he would die, which Dilan realized as well. He didn't even think of stealing the kill of the Melza family's patriarch for himself because both Yvonne and Victoria deserved it.

His intervention would make things much easier but he was currently digging a several-meter-deep pit into the ground to pave his way to the heart and the head of the semi-solid frozen Bryte patriarch.

Dilan looked over to Victoria in astonishment when he realized just how powerful her Blood Ice truly was.

"Even though I can strike through her Blood-Ice with various enhancements, I doubt that it would work out without the reallocated stats of [Switch]…" He mumbled, feeling a bit contemplated.

If Victoria were to fight more strategically instead of being overwhelmed by her own emotions, she would be much stronger and fiercer than she was right now.

"Finally, I got you, bastard!" Dilan cursed out, flashing a smile as he reached both the heart and the brain of the Bryte family's patriarch.

They had crammed themselves together in the smallest crevice they could find to hide, while the rest of their bodies had shapeshifted into fleshy vines.

[Monstrous Shapeshifting] was a powerful ability but it was also quite disgusting. Dilan would have loved to have this ability but he also guessed that it didn't really suit his fighting style. He would probably end up doing something stupid with that ability, especially since he was known for fighting in a rather stupid manner.

However, that was not his focus. He wanted to kill the Bryte family's patriarch as long as it was still possible. It was the first time Dilan received the opportunity to end the most annoying patriarch, and he didn't hesitate to thrust the dagger through both his heart and brain nearly at the same time.

The 30-centimeter-long blade of the Thunderbolt dagger pierced through the brain first, causing the entire body to shake violently despite being frozen in a semi-solid state. But that was all the patriarch could do before he spasmed and died a death that was way too nice for all the gruesome things he had done in the past.

The thunderbolt dagger pierced through the brain and dug into the heart, and the fleshly vines stopped moving altogether.

This was an indicator that the Melza family's patriarch had been killed, and the first big battle against the Vampire Clans seemed to be about to end.

Now, only the Vampires of the Likar family and their tiny pets were left alive!

Chapter 344 Aftermath

"One of the noble Vampires escaped…one with an Ancient Vampire Power!" Victoria shouted, her fierce crimson eyes burning with passion.

She was exhilarated that the strongest Vampires of four Vampire Clans had been eliminated. This included their nobles and all the leaders!

After the Melza, Agilt, and Bryte family's leaders had been killed, finishing off the Likar family was no problem at all. Beheading the Gold Tier-1 monsters was easy for Dilan and it was even easier for him to defeat the few ordinary Vampires that were left behind.

The battle ended with lots of destruction that had been caused by the Undying group but it had been worth it.

The cage of Blood-Ice created by Victoria, throwing Blazing Molotov Daggers at the masses of Vampires that had been forced to crowd together before the skyscrapers collapsed on top of the main street was a lethal combo and the Vampires' doom.

"The noble Vampire is probably from the Likar family, I guess…well there is nothing we can do," Dilan informed while shrugging his shoulders.

He didn't want any noble Vampires to survive the battle because they could become stronger, create new Vampires and build a powerful army in a short period.

However, it was not as if the four Vampire Clans would be the only Vampires, who would attack the Undying group.

In the following days, several more Vampire Clans were supposed to arrive in Shiron to start their killing spree. All of this was just to retrieve the Sanctum Keys that were in Dilan's possession.

The Vampire Clans that would attack the Undying group were bound to be more or less as strong as the other four Vampire Clans.

At least, their Vampire powers would be roughly as powerful as the other Clans' unique Vampire Powers.

"There is nothing we can do except becoming stronger. After everyone absorbs the Blood Essences of the Vampires they killed, we will receive a good boost in our strength!" Victoria said with a scheming smile on her face.

She spoke about Vampires as if they were of a completely different race and as if she was not one herself. This was confusing sometimes but everyone around her could understand Victoria somehow.

They had heard bits of her memories, which were all not really pleasant. After the Old Vampire Lord had died, her life had not been nice, and nearly everyone in the Undying group began to accept her truly, not for being a powerful ally but just for the person she was.

"Let's collect all the corpses. We should burn them," Sven suddenly suggested. He climbed down from the high-rising skyscraper he had been standing on for the whole battle, looking extremely tired.

Dilan saw faint traces of blood that had been wiped away below his nose, which caused him to smile weirdly.

'Obviously, he is completely exhausted as well. Who wouldn't be exhausted after controlling a large battlefield that spread through the entire city?

"You did great, Sven!" Dilan suddenly applauded, causing Sven and many others to turn their heads in his direction.

"Of course, everyone did great and I am glad to have all of you by my side, but I have to say that Sven and Niko were the most important members of today's battle. Good job!" Dilan felt that it was necessary to praise the two for their monumental efforts in eliminating major threats, which was why he did so.

Niko, the young telepath, smiled proudly, while Sven gave him a thumbs up.

After Dilan said what he felt necessary, he and everyone else started to collect all the Vampire Corpses. They retrieved their Blood Essences and absorbed them while storing those Blood Essences of the Vampire that had been killed by more than one Ascender inside a Penta-Item pouch to decide over the distribution later. While the corpses were simply thrown on top of an ever-increasing pile of dead bodies.

They were burned once all the Vampires' corpses had been collected, while the bodies of the dead Ascenders were rowed up.

From a total of 1300 participating Ascenders, less than 50 died. The true number was in the 30s, which was a laughable contrast to the annihilation of the four Vampire Clans.

Only one of 1800 enemies seemed to have survived in exchange for 30 or so casualties on their side. This ought to be celebrated but nobody felt happy.

If each battle would deprive their group of 30 lives, the number of powerful Ascenders would decrease drastically. Everyone had witnessed the horrifying strength of the Vampires, especially the Tier-2 Vampire subordinates, and the noble Vampires' power in today's battle.

Only Dilan and a few others were able to fight them, which was the major reason they won, in the end. However, the terror they had caused was deeply imprinted in the minds of the Ascenders, who had witnessed the death of their own comrades.

The reality was slowly sinking in, when their adrenaline had dispersed, leaving behind the somber facts!

Dilan felt a bit bad for the deaths in his group but he also knew that they hadn't been avoidable. The Vampires had been extremely powerful, and their average strength had been much higher than the presumed average combat prowess of the Undying group.

The more combat experience they would gather, the better it was for the Undying group, but it was also important to have enough Ascenders to fight a real battle. The Vampires, who had been killed by the Ascenders, would be extremely useful.

The reinforcement of the Ascenders' blood and the high amount of stats one received from the Blood Essences would elevate the strength of everyone, especially Dilan, Yvonne, Victoria, and so on.

Many Ascenders revealed their high combat prowess for the first time, killing several Vampires in the process. Talents that had hidden before had been unveiled and Dilan was pretty sure that if the Undying group would nourish them, there wouldn't be a problem eradicating the other groups of Vampires that ought to come for their blood in the future.

Looking over the masses of Ascenders, who were trying not to show how exhausted and devastated they were made Dilan smile.

The battle had been devastating for many of the Ascenders, who had once been ordinary office workers, but Dilan was pretty satisfied with how they handled the situation.

They were only required to see the bloody battlefield more often before many of them would become true Warriors.

Dilan patiently awaited this moment but he was similarly interested in seeing his own growth.

He had yet to absorb the Blood Essences of the Tier-2 Vampires and the powerful Tier-1 noble Vampires. A few of the latter had been in the possession of <Purified Platinum> Blood Essences, and he could tell that absorbing it would increase his stats a lot.

However, that was where the problem lay.

His Health stats was barely a few points away from reaching the limit of a Tier-1 existence, and some of his other stats were in a similar state.

Most of his stats were still in high demand of status points but they didn't miss much more than 20 Units. This was neither a big gap nor small, and Dilan could tell that he had to start changing the way he approached advancing in strength.

It was time to change his tactic, and Dilan had already found a great idea that would allow his strength to elevate even further!

"Why are you looking like that…Dilan?" Kathrine suddenly asked when she joined him and the others in the group.

Dilan didn't even realize that he looked exhilarated, which everyone noticed, but no one mentioned.

"Well, I'm excited about the future?"

Chapter 345 Maxed Out

"Well, I'm excited about the future?" He answered with a shrug, not going into detail.

Dilan tried not to look excited or as if he was anticipating something because they had just lost 30ish brave Ascenders. This was a great loss for the Undying group and he would seem inconsiderate and like a jerk if he, as the leader of the Undying group, wouldn't act even the slightest remorseful for the losses.

He knew that he had to become a good leader but that was much harder than one could think. It was truly difficult but Dilan gave his best.

He calmed his wildly beating heart and went to offer his condolences to the families of the brave Ascenders who had died valiantly today to protect Shiron and their dream.

There weren't many Ascenders, who had reunited with their families after the Primordial Ascension, which was why Dilan chose to give his condolences to their friends and lovers as well.

Everyone, who lost someone dear to them cried bitterly, but they felt oddly consoled by the simple words Dilan said to them.

Their leader had especially walked up to them to share their pain. This was not something many had expected because everyone knew that he had a lot to do.

Dilan's schedule was filled to the brim, especially since Dilan was one of the Ascenders, who was amongst the first batch of people to enter the new Gates. It was important to enter the Gates to procure more resources that would be used to replenish the goods they had used up.

Numerous disposable weapons, such as Arrows, Blazing Molotov Daggers, and so on had been used today.

In fact, the most used item had been the Blazing Molotov Daggers and the [Anchor Teleportation] Magic Scrolls.

They had been quickly bought from the shop <Taurus, the Mighty> in exchange for more than 5000 Dungeon Points. The expense had been worth it but it was also apparent that they had to make up for all kinds of losses.

With the use of the whetstones, many weapons that shouldn't have been sharp enough to cut through the Vampires had been sharpened sufficient to inflict serious wounds.

This was exceptional and Dilan took note of that knowledge to tweak his plans once again.

He was still at Level 14, even if his stats were much higher than most Tier-2 existences, and by absorbing all the Blood Essences and the Essence crystals of the Vampires and Monsters he killed in the battle of the Four Clans, they increased further.

[84 <Gold > Essences of Tier-1 Monsters(Vampirish Sabertooth tigers, Vampirish Nebula Tigresses,….) have been absorbed→ +0.3 Strength, +0.1(0.3) Health, +0.1 Stamina]

[The Host's Health stat reached the limited threshold of a Tier-1 existence! Congratulations!]

[9 <Bronze >, and 3 <Silver > Blood Essences have been absorbed→+1.4 Strength, +0.9 Stamina, +5.3 Agility, +4.1 Mana]

[14 <Purified > Blood Essences have been absorbed→ +3.1 Strength, +4.4 Stamina, +3(5.8) Agility, +4.9 Mana]

[The Host's Agility stat reached the limited threshold of a Tier-1 existence! Congratulations!]

It was not difficult to find out which Essence crystals and Blood Essences belonged to Dilan. In most cases, he was the only one, who had touched the existences he killed. Thus, nobody apart from him could claim the Essences and Blood Essences of the existences he had killed.

This made things a lot easier for him and it saved lots of time.

Meanwhile, the other Ascenders didn't have it as easy as him. There were occasionally five or more Ascenders, who had attacked a Vampire, which meant that each of them was eligible to claim their loot.

Blood Essences and Essence crystals couldn't be shared. This made things a bit more difficult, and why a few bodyguards were required.

Everyone was emotionally unstable right now, which was why many Ascenders were likely to get angry because of small things. This was something that was bound to happen after every battle, especially since the Ascenders of the Undying group were supposed to become stronger.

Dilan knew that handling emotions was a difficult thing since absorbing Essences made one more sensitive to emotions but he believed that everything would be fine as long as he had enough Ascenders, who paid attention to the entire situation.

He nodded his head in satisfaction at what he saw before he finally averted his focus to his Log of the Ancient to figure out what kind of plan would be the closest to perfection.

__________

Name: [Dilan Cier]

Rank[Tier-1 (Level 14)]

Race [Human]

Occupation [Kirak's Vassal(Divine)]

Title [Beyond the Stars <Bronze(Growth) >]

**

Strength= [91.2+9.1] (+20)

Health= [200+20](+15)

Stamina=[72.4+7.2] (+5)

Agility=[110+11](+20)

Mana=[103.5+10.3] (+11)

Status Points to allocate→0

**

-Origin ability-

[Regeneration] Tier-1 ★✭✭

-Special Trait-

[Stone Skin]

-Active abilities (3/4)-

[Thunder Step] Tier-1 ★✭✭

[Second Acceleration] Tier-1 ★✭✭

[Switch] Tier-0 ★★★★★✭✭

-Passive abilities (3/7)-

[Immunity] Tier-0 ★✭✭

[Nightvision] Ungraded ★✭✭

[Language comprehension] Tier-1 ★✭✭

-Blessed Curse-

[Will of the Primordial]

__________

After Dilan invested some time in his Log of the Ancient, he could tell that he had to invest more time in his Passive abilities.

Not only were there still 4 unused slots, but his passive abilities, other than [Language comprehension] were quite low.

[Language comprehension] was not of immediate importance right now as well, which meant that every single useful passive ability was not at its best.

However, Dilan could only change the grade and Tier of [Immunity] for the time being because its upgrade requirements were known.

As for [Nightvision], Dilan had a few ideas on how he could unveil the upgrade requirements but it was certainly not easy.

Dilan didn't think too much about his active abilities. The only active ability that created a powerful offensive attack was [Mana Slash]. Every other ability was either to increase his stats, make use of his high stats, and reallocate them or to defend him.

He knew that his focus was on assessing his stats, but that was fine because his stats had always been pretty high.

This made things a lot easier but also confusing, especially since he felt that his Health stats were higher than an ordinary Tier-2 existence could reach.

"My Stamina stat is still the lowest," Dilan figured, feeling slightly annoyed, but he discarded his annoyance because it was useless at the moment.

"With my high Health stat, my Stamina replenishes faster and it decreases at a much slower rate as well. That means I don't really have to focus on my Stamina. It will increase the more Essences I absorb, either way.

My Mana will soon reach the limit of a Tier-1 existence with the Cursed Blessing [Will of the Primordial] as well… that's pretty great!" Dilan mumbled to himself when he finished talking to the loved ones of the last dead ascender and offered his condolences.

He hoped that his group would grow stronger because of the losses they faced today. Everyone's stats were supposed to have increased by a few Units, which would elevate their progress quite a bit.

However, a few Units were not enough to make a big difference in future battles. Only Dilan and a few others were able to create a big difference with the stats they received from defeating dozens of powerful Vampires, which increased their stats much more than others received.

And that was where Dilan's plan began.

He had received many stats, and he wanted to make use of these stats as long as he was still at Level 14!

Chapter 346 100,000 Essence crystals

There was not much time for everyone to be in agony, not even those who wanted to grieve over the loss of their loved ones.

It was necessary to clean up the battlefield, install new traps and improve themselves to become stronger in order to make sure that they would have even fewer casualties when the new batch of Vampires attacked them after arriving in Shiron.

According to their calculations, it would take less than two days before other Vampire Clans would reach the base of the Undying group, which was barely enough time to do a few things.

As such, it was only fortunate that there were no signs of Vampires even after two days had passed.

No attack happened and it felt like the first four Vampire Clans had been the only Vampires interested in the Sanctum Keys.

Sven and the others believed that the other Vampire Clans took longer because they were marching at them with bigger armies, which included the weaker Vampires that were Tier-1 existences of a lower level.

The four Vampire Clans that the Undying group had fought had hastily come over, leaving behind their weaker forces to rush to Shiron as quickly as possible. That was why their numbers had been so low.

A huge army was expected to arrive in the following days, which was why everyone worked tirelessly, especially Dilan and the other high authorities.

They wanted to become as strong as possible in the shortest time and that worked somewhat fine. Many new Enhancement Potions such as -Swiftness- had been created by Sarah, and they were given to all the Ascenders, who contributed the most to the victory in the first large-scale battle against the Vampires.

Meanwhile, Dilan was mostly focused on conquering the Pagoda of Time. This had multiple reasons, including accumulating more Dungeon Points, collecting the treasures and whetstones the monsters dropped, and last but not the least, their Essence crystals.

Dilan didn't take a single break when conquering the Solo mode of the Pagoda of Time, which was how he conquered the instance dungeon more than 50 times within two full days.

He was worn out and dead-tired but the number of Essence crystals he found in his storage ring was even more astonishing than the number of <Bronze > and <Silver > Tier-1 treasures. There were even three <Gold > Tier-1 treasures Dilan had been able to collect.

They were certainly great treasures, but they were not of any use to Dilan, who was actually quite satisfied with the equipment he was currently wearing.

It was not overly powerful in terms of their reinforcement in stats but their abilities could be used quite well for various means to survive a variety of unexpected situations.

With all the accumulated Essence crystals, Dilan was able to get his hands on every single Infected Essence crystal in the trading hub.

Many Ascenders had begun to search the cities in the surroundings to find helpless Survivors, small groups of Ascenders that were willing to join the Undying group, and also larger groups that could either join them or become friendly affiliates.

They didn't come across many large groups in the surrounding cities but there were certainly many smaller groups of Survivors and Ascenders. Most of them chose to join the Undying group and they returned with the Scouts, whose secondary mission was to kill every single zombie and collect their Essence crystals.

The secondary mission was as successful as the first one. In only two days, they increased the number of infected Essence crystals drastically, and they brought back large numbers of Survivors, including powerful Ascenders.

The newcomers were warned that the Undying group was bound to face attacks from several large groups of Vampires, which made many groups hesitate to join them. However, when they witnessed the strength of the Undying group's ordinary Scouts, they quickly changed their opinion.

The Scouts could easily defeat Silver Tier-1 monsters, which was more than enough reason to trust the Undying group a little bit.

Dilan felt that it would be advantageous if more humans would join them because it felt like they needed more manpower to fight against the Vampires.

However, after the Vampires didn't bother to arrive a whole day after they had been expected, Dilan switched his focus on absorbing all the Essence crystals he had received.

[105,315 Essence crystals of varying qualities and Tiers have been absorbed. No stats attributed to the host!]

Dilan knew that he wouldn't get any stats from the Essences he had collected. The infected Essence crystals had been collected by others and they were of extremely bad quality. Most were, in fact, Tierless Essence crystals, but that was of no concern for Dilan.

As for the other Essence crystals, Dilan had already received status enhancements from all the monsters, which inhabited the Pagoda of Time. Thus, he didn't receive any additional status points, which was perfectly fine because Dilan's target had been something entirely different from the beginning.

[Essence pool has been filled. Host reached Level 15(Tier-1)! +1.0 Status points can be allocated!]

[Essence pool has been filled. Host reached Level 16(Tier-1)! +1.0 Status points can be allocated!]

[Essence pool has been filled. Host reached Level 17(Tier-1)! +1.0 Status points can be allocated!]

[The host absorbed various infected Essence crystals, meeting several requirements to upgrade passive ability [Immunity] Tier-0 ★ to Tier-0 ★★★★★]

Dilan received slightly more Essences from absorbing Essence crystals after two of his five stats had been maxed out. Nonetheless, absorbing more than 100,000 Essences merely resulted in three level-ups.

Adding the fact that his Essence pool had almost been full beforehand already, leveling up to Level 15 only required a slight nudge. Thus, one could say that 100,000 Essence crystals were only worth about two levels.

Dilan was not dissatisfied by this because he had expected such an outcome. In fact, he was quite happy about his passive ability [Immunity]. It advanced much more than he could have hoped for, which was satisfying to see.

[[Immunity (Passive)] Tier-0★★★★★✭✭

Gains immunity against poisons and infections below Tier-2 Level 10! Immunity includes scratches of zombies, restricted to 1000 scratches/bites a day (1000/1000)]

[[Immunity] Tier-0 ★★★★★-

Upgrade requirements

1) Essence of '100,000' infected monsters has to be absorbed [14,568/25,000]

2) Bronze Essence of '10,000' infected monsters has to be absorbed [7530/10,000]

3) Essences of '1,000' Tier-1 infected monsters have to be absorbed [261/1000]]

The Upgrade requirements of the Immunity ability were not that difficult. Dilan only had to keep requesting the Trading hub to collect Infected Essence crystals for him, and that was it.

It was only a matter of time before his Immunity ability would be upgraded again. Thus, Dilan averted his focus as he inspected a new batch of passive abilities to figure out whether there was something useful for him or if he had to keep searching for new passive abilities to bind.

"What are you looking for?" Kathrine appeared next to him all of a sudden. Dilan turned his head to her with a faint smile on his lips.

He hadn't seen anyone in the last two days, but that was only obvious because he had been inside the Pagoda of Time, spending his time efficiently.

Now that his level was too high, it was not possible for him to enter the Pagoda of Time ever again after he stepped out. This was quite sad but Dilan accepted this rather easily.

"I'm just looking for a new passive ability. I still have a few slots left to occupy," He answered her honestly, turning his head back to the large shelves that were filled with ability crystals.

"How about a semi-passive ability?" Kathrine suggested and Dilan raised an eyebrow at that.

"A semi-passive ability…? That might not be a bad idea…"

Chapter 347 Nemesis on the Battlefield

Semi-passive abilities were passive abilities that required only a tiny bit of mana to be activated. The passive abilities would always be activated but their effect would only be shown as long as they had some mana.

This was quite interesting, especially since there was a wide variety of semi-passive abilities that were quite useful.

Some would even increase one's stats with an additional effect, which was something Dilan looked forward to.

After Kathrine gave him the advice to pick up a semi-passive ability, Dilan ended up searching for a suitable one. Unfortunately, the passive abilities he found in the Trading hub were not to his liking.

That was why he ended up leaving the trading hub, followed by Kathrine, who started to chat with him about the events that had occurred in the last two days.

Dilan had to be updated and informed about the most recent events, which was not further difficult because everyone's diligent work could be seen clearly.

As always, there were a few exceptions but even the newcomers worked hard, which was pleasing to the eye. Sometimes, Dilan felt like a nanny when he was forced to take care of the people in his group but he gladly accepted the role when he saw the results.

The results were definitely worth the hard work he put in the group. When Dilan met up with the others, they talked a lot about their future plans.

There was still no news about the Vampires, which was why Dilan chose to take a look outside Shiron.

The Vampires might be traveling in an even bigger group than they expected and if that were to be the case, they would have to increase their preparations.

Thus, to make sure that everything was fine, Dilan ended up running in the direction of the Sanctum.

The Sanctum of the Old Vampire Lord was quite far from Shiron and was located in the center of the Shikan plains, but Dilan wouldn't even require a whole day if he were to sprint toward it.

Dilan was somehow hoping that he wouldn't meet any Vampires until he would reach the Sanctum. It would be more interesting to fight the Vampires in their own territory rather than being forced to pay attention not to destroy too much in and around Shiron.

The destruction Dilan could cause with a single attack was devastatingly high but it was not as if he could go all-out at the risk of endangering his people.

However, he wanted to go all out and fight masses of opponents, without the need to think about the safety of his people, questioning whether they would survive their fight, or if they were already dead after the first clash with their opponents.

That was why he couldn't help but feel like being alone every now and then, letting off some steam by fighting others with all his might. It was exciting and the best way to prevent his bad temper from flaring up.

"Well, it's not that I dislike being with others. It's definitely better than being alone. They work hard as well…" Dilan ended up mumbling to himself as he made a short stop in the middle of nowhere. He had been running for several hours but there were still no signs of Vampires.

There were hundreds, if not thousands of monsters around him. Dilan could tell that they might be afraid of him, but that they didn't have a trauma of any human-like race, which was why they didn't run for their lives even after seeing him.

They could tell that Dilan didn't harbor any ill intentions against them, and that calmed the monsters enough to mind their own business.

Fighting Dilan would be suicidal, and it was not worth dying without the slightest chance of gaining anything. This was something even semi-intelligent monsters could gauge.

Most Tierless monsters could be said to be mindless and to follow their wild instincts, while Tier-1 monsters had already gained bits of advanced intelligence. This allowed them to think rationally and to overwhelm their wild instincts every once in a while.

Dilan understood that most monsters around him were Tier-1 existences already. There were even some beasts that could be considered quite interesting.

"Now that I think about it, the Likar family's ability was certainly useful. With mounts, our combat prowess would increase and it would be much easier for us to go wherever we want…" Dilan thought out loud as he looked at the various monsters around him.

There were certainly a bunch of monsters that attracted his interest. However, instead of beating some monster into a pulp before forcing it to obey him, Dilan would rather let others research all types of monsters to pick the best ones to turn them into their personal mounts, whether it was for traveling, war, or other purposes, instead of doing something stupid.

While Dilan continued to think about getting his hands on some mounts, the monsters around him began to feel restless.

This was not due to Dilan's thoughts but rather because loud sounds echoed through the Shikan plains. Dilan's ears picked up the noise as well and he turned his head in the direction the Sanctum was supposed to be located at a distance of around 2000 kilometers or so.

Dilan turned into a flash as he shot in the direction of the noises. He thought that he understood what was going on but that was not the case. Thus, he ended up stopping to run and a confused expression formed on his face.

"What the hell?" He blurted out, utterly dumbfounded by what he saw.

"Looks like the Werewolves wanted to have some fun as well…" Dilan mumbled as he watched thousands of Vampires fighting hundreds of huge, human-like monsters that looked like furred humans with glowing eyes, and razor-sharp claws.

They were Werewolves, and extremely powerful as they fought together with near-perfect teamwork.

His hair stood up on its end and a bright smile full of excitement formed on his face as he saw the tirelessly fighting Werewolves trying to overwhelm the Vampires that were much higher in number.

Every injury the Werewolves inflicted to the Vampires took significantly longer to heal than all other injuries, providing the Werewolves with the ability to turn the Vampires' strongest trait insignificant.

Vampires, who were arrogant and aloof would require some time to understand that they would heal at a much slower rate and that their combat prowess was restricted due to the Werewolves' attacks. This allowed the Werewolves to get a huge advantage even if they were less in number.

Their strength seemed to be extremely high as well, which was probably based on the fact that they had turned into half-human, half-beast.

Dilan gulped nervously when he saw the Werewolves fighting the thousands of Vampires. He could tell that they were giving their best but it was even more obvious that they were not robots with infinite stamina.

Furthermore, it looked like the Vampires were throwing themselves at their opponents just to retreat the moment they got injured.

They used a unique and rather barbaric way to heal themselves. They were tearing apart their own body to remove the specific spot of their body that had been injured. Due to this, the effect of the Werewolves' claws would be removed and the Vampires would start healing rapidly once again.

This made things much easier for the Vampires, especially since they could use their numbers and high healing effects precisely.

"Should I just join in the fray? Attack the Vampires and Werewolves, who dared to attack me?" Dilan mumbled to himself as an excited smile formed on his face.

"Or I'll just leave them until one side is worn out before I help them to make sure that both sides have suffered tremendous losses…how funny!"

Chapter 348 Werewolves are funny!

"I wonder if Werewolves are as hostile as Vampires," Dilan mumbled as he went closer to the battlefield that spread over more than one kilometer on the vast lands

There were thousands of Vampires on the huge flourishing plain, and they were trying to take advantage of both their natural high healing ability and their numbers.

While some of the strongest Vampires teamed up to fight against the leaders of the Werewolf group, the weaker Vampires were slowly surrounding the Werewolves to attack them from all sides.

"The Werewolves seem stronger but their numbers are quite a big disadvantage," Dilan told himself, concluding that the Werewolf group would be annihilated if nothing were to change.

However, such a change didn't seem to happen easily as the battle continued for several minutes while Dilan just observed the fight while he studied the fighting style of both parties.

He knew that the Vampires were the bigger threat for him but that didn't mean Werewolves wouldn't become problems for his group in the long run either.

When the tension on the battlefield had reached a certain threshold, Dilan suddenly began to move. He strode forward with confident steps towards the battlefield with excitement in his heart. There were a bunch of powerful Vampires and Werewolves on the battlefield and Dilan felt the desire to fight them burning inside him.

Momentarily, he forgot about the Undying group and that he was only supposed to take a look at the fight ahead.

"I might as well max out my Mana, and increase my Strength and Stamina now that I'm here!" Dilan muttered to himself, while his eyes began to glisten brightly.

Adrenaline surged through his body and he licked his dry lips at the thought of absorbing hundreds of Blood Essences.

But even then, Dilan didn't attack immediately. Rather, he waited patiently until the first batch of Vampires took note of him.

They could sense that Dilan wasn't one of their subordinates, which was why they presumed him to be one of the few unawakened Werewolves.

Until Werewolves awoke the Wolf inside them, they couldn't turn. This was something Dilan had learned from Victoria, but he didn't think about it as he neared the battlefield.

He didn't wield a weapon and at first, one might question whether he was an astray human who had somehow wandered in the battlefield or a member belonging to one of the two fighting sides planning to attack.

This was not something a handful of Vampires questioned as they believed Dilan to be one of their many opponents, right from the beginning.

He had a weird stench on his body that could originate from many factors, whether it was the Vampire blood that had been smeared all over his clothes when fighting them or the fact that he once wore the Sanctum Keys.

Right now, Dilan's body was cleaned and he had gotten rid of his stinking clothes while the Sanctum Keys were with Williams, where they were safe and sound.

Dilan didn't want any Vampire to sense that the Sanctum Keys were around them and approaching them quickly when he was merely supposed to be a scout. Thus, he gave the five Sanctum Keys to someone else, rather than stubbornly holding them with himself.

A few Vampires were still able to sense the remnants of the Sanctum keys' sensation and smell, which was why they were involuntarily drawn to him. They attacked Dilan, who was further away from the closest Werewolf, whom they were supposed to attack.

Dilan saw this with a faint smile, feeling happy that the Vampires had taken the first step.

"Now that you come at me, don't even think about complaining about what follows suit!" Dilan grinned as he manifested Balzaki in his right hand.

The appearance of the huge unique greatsword, which looked more like a black cleaver with a thick and blunt backside, caused the Vampires in front of him to slow down instinctively.

They could clearly sense that the weapon was extremely dangerous, whether it was the deadly presence of the weapon or the fact that Dilan wielded it easily while his feet sunk into the soft mud of the Shikan plains.

Despite sensing the danger radiating from the weapon, Dilan didn't appear to be that dangerous. He was a mere human, who might have advanced to Tier-1 but that was already it.

The Vampires couldn't sense more about Dilan in the beginning. Only when he used every ounce of strength within his body to catapult forward did the few Vampires sense the strength Dilan's body harbored.

Dilan didn't hesitate to attack the baffled ordinary Vampires, whose strength was merely comparable to a high-leveled Silver Tier-1 monster.

He disappeared from the sight of the Vampires with his tremendous speed that reached more than 140 Units thanks to the boots he wore. He had turned into a racing blur that they were having a hard time keeping a track of. In the blink of an eye, they saw Dilan one more time before a black flash manifested right in front of their eyes.

Dilan slashed Balzaki horizontally, beheading the batch of four Vampires at once and without hesitation. The Vampires' blood spurted in his face but Dilan barely noticed this as he flashed a bright smile of excitement.

"That's fun…can more of you guys come at me?" Dilan taunted, his voice loud enough for the vast majority of fighting Vampires and Werewolves in his surroundings to hear him.

Neither side stopped fighting but they glanced over to the direction Dilan was standing before they took note of a bunch of headless Vampire corpses lying on the ground around a young man, wielding a huge weapon.

The black greatsword rested on the young man's shoulder as he was waiting for more enemies to attack him.

His presence was the most terrifying one many Werewolves had ever witnessed, and even the Vampires swallowed their saliva, feeling like they should keep their distance from Dilan.

The bloodthirst Dilan released was not something one could take lightly, after all, it was the result of the mindless killing of hundreds of thousands of massacred victims that succumbed to their ill fate when they encountered the young man.

It was quite easy to perceive that Dilan's bloodthirsty presence had changed not too long ago because it was still unstable but that didn't change the fact that the young man had killed more living beings than most Vampires and Werewolves present had killed together.

Dilan was not even aware of his presence because the only thing he could feel right now was the excitement to fight coursing through his veins.

There were thousands of opponents in front of him.

"Hello Brother, can you help us?" A young-looking Werewolf appeared in front of him. His expression, or what Dilan could perceive about his expression, looked quite foolish.

"Why should I? I don't know any of you. How am I supposed to know that I'm not helping the bad people by slaughtering all the Vampires?" Dilan asked calmly, grinning at the young Werewolf.

The Werewolf looked at him, slightly dumbfounded, not sure how to respond.

"But…you attacked and killed the Vampires before?" The young Werewolf tried again, and Dilan nodded his head in response.

"Of course I killed them. After all, they were after my blood and life. Was I supposed to stay still and let them suck my blood?" Dilan asked with an amused smile before he added,

"You Werewolves are really funny!"

Some Vampires and Werewolves looked over at Dilan when he spoke to the young Werewolf.

It confused some of them that Dilan didn't seem to belong to either group. He was just an ordinary human but he didn't seem to be fazed at the sight of Vampires and Werewolves, which was quite weird in their opinion.

'Did he encounter some of us before in the past?' was what both races thought for a moment before they averted their attention from Dilan once again.

They had more important things to take care of such as surviving on the battlefield!

Chapter 349 Interferences

"Will you really not join the battlefield? I mean you release so much bloodlust….that I thought…" the young Werewolf didn't even dare to finish his sentence.

He was suffocating because of the domineering effect of the bloodlust Dilan had started to release right from the moment he killed the first batch of Vampires, who attacked him.

There had yet to be a second round of Vampires daring to attack but the young Werewolf had been sure that Dilan would join the fight if he was asked nicely.

'What a naive young man! Looks like his bestial transformation is only partial as well. I wonder how old he is…' Dilan thought while looking at the young Werewolf.

It was definitely bravery and desperation that forced the young Werewolf to come and seek help from a human. Several Werewolves looked over to the young Werewolf with contempt, showing that the pride of the entire pack might have been tarnished by the young Werewolf's action.

"Well, I will join once I know which side is the truly bad one. Don't come with 'Of course, it's the Vampires', okay? I know that the Werewolves attacked the Vampires first, despite the numerical disadvantage. That was plain stupid if I were, to be honest enough to say so," Dilan said bluntly, ignoring the growls of the Werewolves that were more than three hundred meters away from him.

As Werewolves, their hearing was much stronger than ordinary humans, and this was further enhanced by absorbing Essences.

The more Essences they absorbed the stronger an Ascender's senses became, no matter what race they belonged to.

"H-how did you…?" The young Werewolf stammered. He was not even able to finish his question as a small group of Vampires appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

They were much faster than the first batch of Vampires who had attacked Dilan. Unfortunately, they still underestimated Dilan, who lifted Balzaki off his shoulder.

He made a motion that looked small, but tremendous air pressure instantly filled Dilan's frontside when he had slashed out Balzaki before returning to the exact same location it had been at just a moment before.

The air pressure blasted into the Vampires, distracting them for a quarter of a second. Dilan used this moment to shoot forward, pulling aside the young Werewolf and attacking the Vampires with Balzaki.

The Vampires activated a bunch of protection abilities, thereby creating numerous barriers, shields, and other means of protection around them.

Balzaki' tremendous force impacted the barriers and shield, destroying more than half of them with a single attack before the huge greatsword finally stopped hitting them.

Yet, the moment the greatsword's attack was stopped, Dilan seemed to have disappeared. He had let go of the greatsword and vanished with a thunderous noise that reverberated through the battlefield.

"You guys are really rude bastards. Can't you see that I'm having a chat here?" A slightly angered voice reached the Vampires' ears from behind causing goosebumps to spring up on their cold bodies.

Their eyes widened and they tried to turn around, only to realize that their head didn't move in snyc with their lower body. While the rest of their body turned in the direction Dilan had appeared, their head had already been cut off in one swift move.

Dilan was tightly holding onto the Thunderbolt Dagger with one hand as he returned to retrieve Balzaki in the blink of an eye, which he grasped with his other hand.

He returned to the young Werewolf's side, while the bodies of the Vampires who had attacked them slumped lifelessly to the ground, splattering blood all over.

The young Werewolf looked at Dilan with both fear and admiration, and he wished that the human would join them in the fight against the Vampires. This would be more than enough to change the tides of the battle. After all, Dilan was extremely powerful!

"You wanted to ask me how I know that you guys were stupid enough to attack an army of Vampires that has almost 10 times your numbers, right?" Dilan recalled and continued the conversation as if they hadn't been interrupted a moment before.

He looked deep into the young Werewolf's yellow glowing iris, fully aware that his words offended the prideful Vampires.

However, the young Werewolf didn't seem to be offended, which astonished Dilan a bit as he had expected a grander reaction than a slightly baffled expression.

"Exactly…how do you know?!" The young Werewolf asked, stupefied. Dilan could hardly hide a smile when he understood that the young Werewolf was much more foolish than he first presumed.

"Because I know that the Vampires were on their way to attack my group," Dilan answered nonchalantly. Hiding the truth wouldn't give him any benefits, and revealing the truth didn't really make a big difference for him either. Thus, he just stated the facts without sounding like he cared.

The ears of the Vampires perked up at that, while many Werewolves glanced over to Dilan with a curious expression.

"They were on the way to you…wouldn't that mean you are in possession of the five Sanctum Keys?" The young Werewolf asked in confusion, struggling to follow the course of events.

Dilan just smiled, without giving the young Werewolf a proper answer. He turned his head to his right, where he saw that another group of Vampires were on their way to him.

Simultaneously, a group consisting of four Vampires appeared behind him. They tried to hide using concealment abilities, or items that allowed the wielder to enter a stealth-like state.

To their misfortune, they failed to conceal the noises they made while rushing around Dilan to prepare their attack.

"The third time…" Dilan just mumbled before he shot around to blast in the direction of the Vampires in stealth. They hadn't expected Dilan to appear right in front of them and made the big mistake of hesitating for a moment until they realized that they had been discovered and their cover had blown away.

Their moment of hesitation was more than enough for Dilan to lash out with Balzaki, beheading the Vampires easily. The other Vampires hesitated to attack Dilan when they saw how easily he discovered the secret attack they had planned on a whim.

Instinctively, they backed off from Dilan, just to come across a batch of Werewolves that attacked them, tearing apart the helpless Vampires, who had been focused on steering clear of Dilan.

"That's the third time Vampires attacked me without proper reason. I think I am more than obliged to join the battlefield now, don't you think?" Dilan asked the young Werewolf as he walked back to him. He didn't actually care whether the Vampires had a reason to attack him or not.

Dilan had just wanted to see how the two races would react to his presence on the battlefield and it looked like only the Vampires could be bothered about him standing around, doing nothing else but speaking.

Their attacks weren't really a threat to him, but he was still bothered by them. Thus, he was ready to allow himself to release some of his stress.

Furthermore, if he could exploit the Werewolves to get rid of the vast majority of Vampires that would have attacked the Undying group, Dilan would certainly do so.

'The vast majority of my Ascenders would have already died fighting these hordes of Vampires…we have a long way to go, I guess…'

Chapter 350 Purple Devil

After he was attacked by the Vampires for the third time, he could tell that it was not possible for him to leave without massacring everyone and destroying everything.

They had ignited his anger which merged with the blood lust he felt. His anger and excitement merged together, creating a weird sensation that flooded his entire body.

'I can activate [Berserk Mana] right now…' He noticed before disregarding the thought of activating the powerful ability.

Dilan didn't want to lose his sense of reasoning in the excitement of fighting thousands of Vampires at once. It may be useful to be strong enough if his Mana's potency was doubled but Dilan was also aware of the dangers it would bring forth.

His Stamina was not yet high enough to allow him to run around all day, even less if he were to activate [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration] while his mana's potency became twice as strong as before.

Dilan was not angered enough to feel like slaughtering everyone by himself right away. Rather, he wanted to make use of the Werewolves around him to end up gaining as much as possible without entering a vulnerable state, where he could get backstabbed by the Werewolves.

He didn't trust them yet, which was also why he entered the hordes of Vampires from the side, hundreds of meters away from the closest Werewolf.

The young Werewolf wanted to follow Dilan, but he was held back by one of his brothers, who shot out from the defensive line to pull himself back.

"Don't be suicidal, Jet!" The Werewolf growled at his younger brother as he used all his might to prevent the idiot from killing himself.

It was too dangerous for the young Werewolf to copy Dilan and do whatever the human was trying to do. And it was as if Dilan wanted to make this clear as he created tremendous air pressure whenever he slashed Balzaki in a particular direction.

Bodies were cut in half without delay, and numerous ordinary Vampires died in an instant as their head was severed from their body.

Dilan wouldn't waste the opportunity to gain stats from any kind of Vampire so he cut their head whenever it was possible.

Balzaki was a blade he could wield precisely, especially since the control of the weapon increased the more beings he killed. [Death toll] was extremely helpful and it allowed him to become an even better swordsman than he already was.

The heavy weight of the greatsword didn't seem like it was worth noting in Dilan's hand as his movements kept getting faster.

His motions were more fluidic, he made fewer useless steps and Dilan started to make use of the momentum he had gained with every single slash he issued.

In a short period, Dilan ended up surrounded by all kinds of Vampires. They were trying to inflict injuries upon him but Dilan's skin was too tough to be pierced through.

Nobody was able to injure him with a Health stat above 200 Units. Even the Tier-2 Vampires he encountered were having difficulties in facing a totally unscathed and vigorous Dilan.

His skin was rock solid like tempered Iron, and the Vampires' attacks felt like wooden spoons that were clumsily trying to pierce through the tough metal.

Dilan could hardly contain a devilish laugh when he realized that his skin was nearly indestructible by now.

Only Vampires with Ancient Vampire Powers and Tier-2 noble Vampires with a powerful occupation were likely to be able to injure him.

Other than that, he was currently in a state of invulnerability. However, even the thought of Tier-2 noble Vampires with Ancient Vampire Powers didn't scare Dilan.

It was possible that he would encounter opponents like these in the future, but Dilan was not even the slightest bit worried. He smiled confidently as his attention darted in the direction of the main battlefield, where Werewolves were struggling against a large number of noble Vampires of various Clans that were fighting against the Werewolves' pack leader and their betas.

It was obvious who was losing the fight just by looking at it but that didn't affect Dilan in the slightest.

Rather, he felt more motivated to start fighting with all his might.

Dilan inserted mana in Balzaki which began to glow in bluish-white light. He had activated [Mana Slash] with 25 Units, which he released in the direction he looked at without hesitation.

The Mana Slash was released with Balzaki slashing in the direction of the main battlefield, and all the Vampires that were within Dilan's range were cut in half at once. The mana slash was a crescent-shaped blade manifested out of mana like always that severed their bodies.

However, this time Dilan changed something about his attack.

He didn't create only one Mana Slash or a second one as well. Instead, he used a total of 100 Units of Mana to create four Mana Slashes, which he blasted in the most crowded areas around him.

Guttural howls of pain followed by blood, internal organs, and body parts were flung through the sky after Dilan cut through close to a thousand Vampires with a lethal combination of four attacks.

A bright smile filled with excitement manifested on his face at the sight of all the blood and death before he continued to move on.

He was not yet done fighting.

In fact, Dilan's fight had just begun.

"You guys were on your way to exterminate my group…then how about you reap what you sow?" Dilan asked out loud as he activated [Bearer of Pain] to recuperate more than 50 Units of his Mana.

This deprived him of his Life force which was equivalent to 100 Units of his Health. [Bracing Pain] was activated, thereby increasing his stats by close to 20%.

This increased his means of attack and defense. However, Taylor was still not satisfied. He activated [Thunder Step] to increase his speed drastically before he truly started his attack on the Vampires.

The four Mana Slashes were merely a warning for both Vampires and Werewolves. While the Vampires would get to know what it meant to attract Dilan's wrath, the Werewolves would simultaneously realize that it would be the best for them to make friends with him and be in his good books.

It didn't matter to Dilan whether they would try to be on good terms with him because of his strength because they were bound to be afraid of his rather crude way of delivering justice or simply because they would start idolizing him. The only thing that mattered was that he could make use of the Werewolves right here and right now.

Dilan's interference changed the tides of the battlefield.

The sudden loss of more than a thousand Vampires could be sensed immediately, and it was even worse when a terrifying merciless monster such as Dilan appeared amongst them out of nowhere, slaughtering every single opponent in his way as if he was merely swatting flies.

He was a purple flash, killing more and more Vampires with every single second, the death toll rising with a steep incline.

And those who survived could only succumb to their fate as bodies that had been split in half and were trying to join back again. Until they had healed, their own brethren would have already walked all over them, ending their life in a way they would have never expected; their heads squashed by the heavy weight of their own people.

However, that was bound to happen because nobody wanted to be close to Dilan. He was too dangerous and it looked like there was no way to escape his blade or his wrath.

Facing him? That was only something the Vampires, who were forced by their masters, would helplessly do!

But on their own accord? Nobody dared to.

Thus, Dilan turned into the Purple Devil, the nightmare of all the Vampires in the Shikan plains.

Chapter 351 Metamorphed Essence crystal of a Bestial race of the Night

Dilan's Agility easily crossed 150 Units, which made him the fastest existence on the entire battlefield. Nobody was able to evade his attacks, and even the usage of defensive or attack abilities was of little use against him.

All the Vampires were trying their utmost efforts to defend against Dilan or to attack him using suicidal means but his Health Stat was too high.

Only the areas that were not covered by his skin could be injured, which restricted the Vampires tremendously.

Attacking his eyes would be the easiest out of the few options they had left but even that was not easy considering that a huge greatsword and his speed that was more than that of a tornado unleashing destruction obstructed the Vampires' attacks from working out.

With time, Dilan killed more and more opponents. His speed accelerated the more opponents he killed as the fragments of the killed Vampires nourished the passive [Death toll] ability of Balzaki. The blade became more endurable and sharper as if it relished the blood of the beings getting killed and the hidden potential in Dilan's body was fully unleashed.

He was like the grim reaper, reaping the lives and the souls of the Vampires on the battlefield, just that he was actively massacring everyone instead of waiting for their inevitable fate before their souls would be snatched away.

Nial didn't show any signs of hesitation as he killed more and more Vampires. Their numbers were dwindling rapidly and it looked like the Werewolves were gaining a huge advantage.

Thus, after nearly half an hour had passed, Dilan chose to abandon the battlefield.

His stamina had been drained rapidly and he would rather recuperate than bother about killing all of them.

This was different from his earlier thought but Dilan didn't really care about that.

He took a deep breath and sat down on the broken trunks of one of the few trees he had accidentally destroyed while wreaking havoc. The battlefield was filled with corpses, writhing and half-cut twitching bodies along with various Vampires that were fighting with the impossible aim of taking Dilan down.

Meanwhile, the Werewolves were now at an advantage. Their numbers were still less than that of the Vampires' but that was not of their concern because each of the Werewolves' attacks led to severe damage.

Dilan chose to watch the battle unfolding in front of him. It gave him many insights into the fighting style of both races. Until now, Dilan had never bothered learning how most Vampires fought because it only took him his high stats and abilities to defeat them.

Thus, he used the opportunity to watch everything from the outside. Neither the Vampires' nor the Werewolves' lives were much of his concern, giving him the chance to immerse himself in the analysis of the two races' combat style, their advantages, disadvantages, and unique habits.

This was quite interesting for the next half an hour, in which he learned a lot. Afterward, when he was satisfied with his investigation, Dilan began to collect the Blood Essences of the Vampires he had killed.

There were several corpses littered on the ground and collecting Blood Essences from all of them would take a while. Thus, it was only fortunate that he had more than enough time for himself as everyone else was occupied with fighting for their lives.

Roughly an hour later, Dilan noticed that the last few Vampires were about to be killed. Some noble Vampires had been able to flee but that was not something he had to be worried about.

His future plans had begun to change and he thought of ways to make use of the rivalry between the Vampires and Werewolves.

Dilan didn't trust either of the races but it was more difficult for the Werewolves to become troublesome to him, especially since they weren't able to create countless blood servants in the blink of an eye and have a big army of loyal servants at their disposal.

Vampires were certainly more problematic than Werewolves, which was also part of the reason why he decided to jump on the battlefield.

Each of the Blood essences had been absorbed and Dilan felt extremely invigorated by now. He wouldn't gain any additional benefits from the Blood Essences of most Vampires after today but that was fine.

His blood was overflowing with vigor and he could tell that he had been permanently strengthened. His body was undergoing a metamorphosis as well, releasing the impurities from his body.

This was the effect of his purified bloodline. Blood Essences expelled the impurities from his blood as they strengthened it.

In addition to Dilan's passive ability [Warrior's Unparalleled Physique], his body was truly approaching a state, where his physique could be considered unparalleled, and near-perfect.

Dilan was excited about this, but he was also intrigued by something else.

He walked over to one of the Werewolves' corpses before he pierced through the man's head, retrieving the Essence he possessed.

To his surprise, instead of an ordinary Essence crystal, or a Blood Essence, the crystal he was holding in his hand was almost pitch-black.

It looked interesting, so Dilan absorbed it without feeling that it was odd.

[<Gold > Night crystal of Tier-1 Level 25 Eclipse Knight(Werewolf) has been absorbed → The host receives no stats!]

Dilan hadn't expected to receive any stats because he wasn't the one to have killed the Werewolf. He was just interested in the name of the crystal and what kind of secondary passive effect absorbing the Night crystal would bring forward.

The result was quite satisfying because he could feel that his sight had improved. In fact, he sensed something that caused his eyes to widen as he received the corresponding notification just a moment later.

[Passive ability [Nightvision] Ungraded ★✭✭ reacts with the Metamorphosed Essence crystal of a Bestial race of the Night. Unique Upgrade requirement has been met → [Nightvision] Ungraded ★✭✭ will be upgraded to Ungraded ★★★★✭✭]

Dilan was astonished that his weakest passive ability suddenly received an upgrade.

The system's comment about the Night crystal was also quite interesting 'Metamorphosed Essence crystal of a Bestial race of the Night', sounded like a lot of bullshit in his opinion.

The notification sounded weird but Dilan accepted it nonetheless. He was happy that the Nightvision ability was finally upgraded.

He had yet to ascertain if it was possible to see the upgrade requirements for future upgrades but that didn't matter as much as before anymore.

Dilan could tell that Nightvision could be upgraded by absorbing more Night crystals but that seemed to be a little bit difficult because the Werewolves were just about to return from the battlefield. They saw that Dilan had approached them but didn't notice what he had done to one of their brother's corpses.

And that was for the better because Dilan would face lots of problems otherwise.

At that moment, Dilan finally received the notification he had been waiting for.

[The Blood Essences absorbed by the host have been fully digested → +28.1 Strength, +19.6 Stamina, +7.5 Mana]

[The Host's Mana stat reached the limited threshold of a Tier-1 existence! Congratulations!]

A bright smile filled with satisfaction emerged on his face upon reading through his stats. He was more than a bit satisfied with the final result of today's battle.

He had absorbed more than 2000 Blood Essences and gained lots of stats. In the end, they were not enough to max out all of his stats but that was not exactly a problem.

Both his Strength and Stamina were now close to 100 Units, which was decent enough in his opinion.

Another fight with some high-ranked noble Vampires should be enough to provide him with some juicy stats, which was also what Dilan was looking forward to.

Despite the favorable outcome, Dilan couldn't afford to relax. He had to deal with the aftermath of the battle, and the Werewolves, whether that would be easy or not.