Vampire Brides (Part 2)

"Vampire Innate Skill: Vampire Bite, recover HP by sucking target's blood, recover 20 HP per second until the target dies. Only effective on live bodies." The phrase 'until the target dies' meant that vampires could only heal by consuming the blood of living things.

It was not the blood they craved, but the vitality it held. The deceased held no vitality. Thus, by shooting the villager, Keanu was able to neutralize Marika's blood-drinking ability, since she can't gain vitality from a corpse.

The villager, previously rallied to fend off the overwhelming vampire brides, unexpectedly turned into a lifesaving tool for them - something Keanu never speculated. However, he found a way around it swiftly. Regardless of the characteristics and demeanor of his victims, Keanu treated them as NPCs.

His combat strength might not be superior, but his ability to grasp the timing accurately and identify the opponent's fatal weaknesses excelled any others. Be it unintentional or deliberate Keanu, and Marika didn't have the time to ponder.

Van Helsing wielded his demon-hunting guns once again, the whistling bullets piercing through Marika. Seeing her predicament, Verona and Elena rushed at Van Helsing, ensuring he wouldn't have another chance to attack Marika.

But Gasken interfered, leading the villagers to march up, unperturbed. Marika hastily headed for another townsperson, but again, a fatal bullet from Keanu took the villager's life. Keanu, with an expressionless face, was looking straight at Marika.

Gazing at the corpse, flames of rage ignited in her eyes. At last, she realized that the passive youth was capable of being relentlessly cruel, even if it meant annihilating the entire town, he wouldn't give her the slimmest chance of restoring her HP.

Marika could dodge Keanu's attack with her speed, but there was no way to make the villager dodge his bullets. Furthermore, she couldn't evade Van Helsing's blows either. This chain combination formed a lethal trap and if it persisted, she would eventually be killed by Van Helsing.

With an audacious roar, Marika lunged at Keanu. She was determined to kill Keanu, a seemingly harmless yet utterly remorseless scoundrel, to escape this sticky situation. Van Helsing, who always claimed to be on the side of the righteous, would certainly not resort to killing the villager.

However, she soon realized a crucial mistake. While Keanu fell short against Van Helsing's gun skills, attributes, and abilities, he possessed special bullets, capable of inflicting lethal damage to the undead.

With her HP reduced to barely one-third, just over 200, she had the chance to flee but rushing towards Keanu was falling right into his trap. During the previous fight, Keanu kept observing their speed, habitual actions, and expected trajectories. He calculated that he would only get the chance to fire two shots as Marika lunged at him.

The two bullets wouldn't kill Marika, but three hits from Marika would send him to his demise. But that wasn't a concern.

Ironically, nobody noticed Keanu's current position. He stood in a narrow alley between two houses. Marika with her piercing speed was uncontrollably lunging straight at Keanu, making it impossible for her to dodge his bullets.

With two shots hitting her, her HP plummeted to just over 100, she was horrified by his staggering offensive power. At that moment, she also quickly calculated that Keanu couldn't get his third shot in time. All she had to do was clutch onto him and suck his blood to restore her HP, and she'd be safe.

However, as she neared Keanu, she found herself unable to move. Looking down, she realized she was entangled in vines that held her feet in place.

"Inferior entangling trap: These traps snare the affected, making them incapable of moving. The higher the level of the organism, the shorter the time it holds. The trap needs to be set up in advance and only holds when stepped on."

This was one of the rewards Keanu received after killing the goblin chieftain. Like the light trap, it had considerable usage restrictions requiring prior installation and only worked when the target stepped on it, thus diminishing its practical value. However, when placed in a restricted straight-line space, it could efficiently predict the enemy's trajectory.

Vampire brides, even with their ability to fly, had to land to attack, and this allowed Keanu the chance to set up his trap. The emblem relayed that due to the high level of the entrapped target, the entangling trap would hold for only 5 seconds.

Keanu flashed a smile, "All I need is three seconds." With slightly over a hundred HP left, Marika could tear Keanu to shreds in a second if only given the chance. Unfortunately, she found herself incapacitated, standing like a target as she watched the barrel of Keanu's gun fixated on her.

All of a sudden, Marika opened her mouth but without any sound. Keanu found his head buzzing and nausea overcoming him, making him vomit blood. The townsfolk in the neighboring wooden houses simultaneously screamed, clutching their heads in agony.

"Vampire Marika's Skill: Supersonic Attack, emit a supersonic attack, causing sound wave damage of 30 per second, lasting 5 seconds, effective within a 15-meter radius."

Sensing danger, Keanu acted despite his severe headache, firing three shots consecutively...

The supersonic attack abruptly ceased. Marika, disbelief etched on her face, met Keanu's cold and ruthless look, reflecting her impending doom. The next moment, like decrepit mummies of the yore, her body disintegrated into dust, scattering as the winds swept them away.

"No!" Verona and Elena let out simultaneous agonized cries.

Verona spiraled in the sky towards Keanu. Keanu stood still, a mysterious smile gracing his features. Looking at Keanu's smirk reminded Verona of Marika's poignant demise.

"Trap!"

With a sudden realization, Verona recoiled in mid-lunge despite her proximity to Keanu. At this point, Van Helsing turned his attention to Elena. The villagers fought valiantly, and turning one of them came at a significant price. Elena struggled to find a suitable victim.

Marika's death dealt a severe blow to their morale. "You'll pay for this!" The two vampire brides concurrently snarled before retreating into the sky. They didn't dare linger.

Van Helsing's demon-hunting guns couldn't stop them either; he could only watch as the vampire brides vanished into thin air. Keanu coldly watched the two shrinking figures in the sky, exhaling a sigh of relief.

The tense situation finally slackened. Marika's supersonic attack before her death was indeed horrific, dealing 30 damage per second while ignoring defense. It left Keanu with a mere 10 HP.

One second later, the one to face death wouldn't have been Marika, but Keanu himself. What was more problematic was when he used his healing technique to restore his HP, he received a notification that the depraved healing was ineffective against unique attacks.

Hence, if Verona knew that Keanu, although seemingly calm and collected, was just putting up a brave face and could be easily knocked out by a couple of blows, she would regret her move.

Keanu's significant vulnerability as a regular human being, despite doubled attributes, was his low HP. At that moment, he retrieved a small blue box from Marika's ashes without scrutinizing his reward. He walked out from the alley between the wooden houses, his face set in a cold mask.

The townsfolk watched from their homes in fear. Gasken charged furiously at Keanu, snarling, "You dare to shoot our people!"

Keanu coolly retorted, "Those grabbed by the vampire brides have only one fate — death. By killing them, I at least offer them the dignity, decency, and worth of their deaths."

Gasken's grip loosened.

Keanu surveyed the villagers and roared," This is war! Since you've made the choice to fight for freedom, you must be prepared for sacrifices! Treat me the same if I'm captured by the vampire brides!"

"But before that, let's ponder over what just happened."

Keanu looks at the townsfolk and brazenly announces, "We killed a vampire bride!"

A roar of elation resounded as the villagers all cheered simultaneously. They realized that they'd indeed slain a formidable vampire, which until recently, seemed invincible.

The previously thought insurmountable task was accomplished, challenging their predetermined notions. However, the victory earned through Keanu's method of killing their people sat uncomfortably with the townsfolk. This emotion, a mix of joy and acceptance, was complex, leaving them uncertain about how to react.

Keanu didn't concern himself with their thoughts and walked back to the castle of the Villares. He only exhaled a sigh of relief when he was alone.

It was fortunate that these villagers were accustomed to oppression. Their blood was habituated to accepting the actions of the dominant ones. Whether Keanu's reasoning for murdering the villagers was justifiable didn't matter; what mattered was his assertiveness during his speech.

If Keanu had shown even a slight falter or tried to explain, the enraged villagers would tear him apart. This battle, from the moment he laid hands on it, he was treading on the brink of death.

Sat on the couch, waiting for his auto HP recovery, he casually opened the box.

The emblem displayed: "You've killed the vampire bride, Marika. Mainline Task Three is completed, rewarding 1000 CP. Important help from plot characters during your killing process resulted in the final reward depending on your contributions.

Overall, your contribution in the battle against Marika was 42%, hence, you're only entitled to the basic reward with no additional novice reward. Accomplishing all the mainline tasks will reward an additional novice reward." "Vampire Bride Basic Reward: Gain one vampire fang capable of converting 3% melee attack damage to self HP. This can be used to enhance weapons. Before embedding, weapons require special preparation. Priority and CP effect is uncertain."

"Vampire Bride Basic Reward: Marika's Resentment: Tear Crystal Necklace. Vampire Bride Marika was an innocent girl before being turned by Count Dracula and bore profound hatred towards life. Her last tear before turning into a vampire crystallized and can be used to record enemy information.

Once information is recorded, it remains permanently etched in the Tear Crystal until the enemy is dead. If your enemy appears within a 10-meter radius, the Tear Crystal will instantly notify you of their presence and location. This equipment's priority is 15. CP: Uncertain."

"Novice Additional Reward: A bottle of Holy Water, can be used to coat your weapon, adding 20 supplementary damage to the undead for an hour, and can be applied ten times. Or, it can be used to directly inflict 600 points of ignore-defense damage on the undead. Each use of this coating reduces the direct damage by 60."

Those were the three items Keanu acquired.

The vampire fang appeared attractive, but with a life steal effect of only 3%, it wasn't much of a game-changer. What piqued Keanu's interest was the Tear Crystal, deemed as Marika's Resentment. The concept of recording the names of one's foes was intriguing. However, the effective range of just 10 meters and a limit of three enemies were highly restrictive.

Due to the low evaluation, despite the special rewards received for defeating the Vampire Bride, they lacked practicality compared to the goblin chefchin's reward. It seemed like plot characters were a double-edged sword that reduced the risks and difficulty of completing the tasks at the expense of the rewards received.

Recognizing the escalation in the difficulty of tasks, with the emergence of three vampire brides at once, Keanu couldn't help but contemplate whether the subsequent challenge would involve Count Dracula himself leading a remaining pair of Vampire Brides.

Despite this daunting thought, a cold smile crept upon his face. He murmured under his breath, "I was hoping you'd show up."

He solemnly carved Count Dracula's name on the Tear Crystal. After a moment's thought, he etched another name onto the Tear Crystal.