*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!*
Countless sky-splitting sounds echoed violently through the empty alley as a barrage of arrows shot toward Riezel and the others like torrential rain, leaving no corner untouched.
Amid this, the surrounding buildings were the first to feel the impact of the arrows, with some embedding themselves in the walls.
Lakyus and the others quickly reacted, preparing to deal with the rain of arrows, but Riezel was one step ahead as he had already chanted magic.
"Wall of Protection From Arrows."
In an instant, the flow of air around them shifted.
What Riezel cast was a magic spell that could weaken shooting attacks.
As the air began to change, the arrows, which had been coming at them like a downpour, were immediately affected by the airflow—one by one, they started losing their aim.
*Clink!* *Clink!* *Clink!* *Clink!*
Only then did Lakyus and the others move, scattering and no longer staying close together to avoid concentrated enemy attacks.
Riezel, however, remained where he was, not moving an inch.
*Chirp!* *Chirp!* *Chirp!* *Chirp!*
Suddenly, several sharp cries rang out.
Everyone noticed that, after the barrage of arrows, a large swarm of shadows had flown out from the prison-like building.
"Be careful! Vampire Bats!"
Evileye's eyesight seemed to surpass everyone else's as she immediately recognized the source of the shadows and shouted a warning to the group.
Vampire Bats were small bat monsters, as their name suggested, that attacked humans and other creatures, feeding on their blood like vampires.
While they were not strong—at best, they would be considered Level 1 or 2 monsters in YGGDRASIL, easily dealt with by even the lowest-rank Copper Adventurers—the real danger of Vampire Bats was not their individual strength but their tendency to attack in large groups.
When a significant number of Vampire Bats appeared, even Mithril Adventurers would find it difficult to deal with them.
Vampire Bats were among the most commonly summoned servants of vampires, so if a swarm of them appeared, it usually meant that there was a vampire nearby, controlling them from afar.
More importantly, the larger the swarm, the stronger the vampire controlling them.
Now, the number of Vampire Bats flying out from the building in front of everyone was so great that it could be described as blocking out the sky.
Such a sight, with them swarming out so densely, left even Evileye shocked.
"Ho-How could there be so many Vampire Bats?!"
Not only Evileye, but even Lakyus and the others showed signs of shock.
"Gagaran! Tia! Tina! Fall back!" Lakyus quickly gave an order.
""Tch!""
Gagaran, Tia, and Tina clicked their tongues simultaneously but didn't disobey Lakyus's order, quickly retreating.
"You kidding me... this many..." Brain muttered while furrowing his brows and stepping back.
Facing such a large number of flying monsters, close combatants like Brain, Gagaran, Tia, and Tina were at a severe disadvantage.
No choice.
Close combat-oriented classes had very few abilities that could perform ranged attacks or, in some cases, none at all. If surrounded by a swarm of Vampire Bats, there would be no way to fight back, just like an elephant slowly being eaten by ants—bitten and drained of blood until eventually dying from blood loss.
For this reason, Lakyus ordered Gagaran, a warrior, to fall back and called for Tia and Tina to do the same, leaving only the magic casters, who could perform ranged attacks, to face the swarm of Vampire Bats.
"Fly!"
Evileye was the first to move, using Fly to soar into the sky, drawing the attention of several Vampire Bats.
"Maximize Magic - Shard Buck Shots!"
Immediately after, Evileye cast her enhanced magic, turning countless crystals into bullets that shot toward the swarm of Vampire Bats.
*Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!*
With piercing sounds, the crystal bullets hit the Vampire Bats charging toward Evileye, knocking them out of the air one by one, blood splattering as they were pierced.
"Go! Floating Swords!"
Lakyus then commanded, causing several pointed blades to rise behind her.
Floating Swords was a magic item Lakyus was skilled in using, consisting of a set of six golden swords.
As the name suggested, Floating Swords were swords that could float and fly freely, and under Lakyus's control, they became flying blades capable of striking enemies from a distance.
Now, Lakyus activated this magic item, making the six swords shoot out, weaving through the Vampire Bats and slashing them down one after another as if wielded by invisible hands.
Unfortunately, the Vampire Bats were just too many.
Even though Lakyus and Evileye had launched wide-ranging attacks, killing many Vampire Bats, many still managed to fly through and head toward the warriors in the back.
As expected, Riezel, Brain, Gagaran, Tia, and Tina became targets for the Vampire Bats.
In this dangerous situation, Riezel cast another magic.
"Anti-Life Cocoon."
It was a defensive magic that rejected life, preventing any creatures from passing through.
When Riezel chanted the magic, a barrier of light about ten meters in radius rose from the ground, enveloping him and the other four, protecting them.
*PENG!* *PENG!* *PENG!* *PENG!*
With loud sounds, the Vampire Bats crashed into the cocoon-like light barrier one after another, only to be bounced off, unable to break through and attack Riezel and the others inside.
Seeing this, Riezel immediately cast another magic.
"Shockwave."
A distorted, invisible shockwave immediately erupted from Riezel, as if an unseen explosion had centered around him, sweeping outward in all directions.
*BOOM!*
With a booming sound, a large number of Vampire Bats were blasted away by the shockwave, blood raining down in dark, mist-like splatters as they flew back through the air, falling to the ground.
"Nice!"
"Impressive!"
Seeing the scene, Lakyus and Evileye, who had been planning to come to the rescue, couldn't help but shout in surprise.
"Lord Brynhart's really a magic caster?!"
Brain, seeing Riezel use magic for the first time, exclaimed in astonishment.
It was truly his first time seeing Riezel use magic.
Even though Gazef had told him that Riezel was a skilled magic caster, he had been a bit skeptical.
Now, however, he couldn't help but believe it.
Regardless, the fact that a magic caster could deliver that impressive slash left him with mixed feelings.
Gagaran and the others, meanwhile, didn't think too much about it.
Seeing that Riezel had protected them, they couldn't help but glance at him more than once, until their sharp eyes caught a second unusual occurrence.
"Something's coming!"
Gagaran shouted, causing everyone to quickly look in the direction of the building.
In the next moment, everyone saw a group of creatures emerging from the prison-like building, moving toward them across the ground.
Among this group, there were two types of creatures approaching.
One type was people whose bodies had completely lost all moisture, looking like dried corpses as they staggered toward them, moving with jerky, stiff motions—their movements were rigid, with sharp claws growing at the ends of their dry, twig-like arms.
Meanwhile, their hollow eye sockets glowed red, and their slightly parted mouths revealed unusually sharp canine teeth, showing that they weren't humans but monsters.
""Lesser Vampires!""
Tia and Tina immediately informed everyone about what the monsters were.
Lesser Vampires were a lesser version of vampires—basically, a degenerated form of vampires.
Regular vampires typically had intelligence nearly equal to that of humans and sometimes looked completely human. Compared to humans, however, not only did they possess far greater physical strength and abilities, but they also had various special powers.
Except for silver, metal weapons with equivalent properties, or magic weapons with considerable strength, physical attacks on them would mostly be mitigated.
Lesser Vampires, on the other hand, were a degraded and shriveled, corpse-like version of vampires. Even though they still retained memories from their previous lives, their thinking abilities were pitifully low, and their combat skills were poor—nothing compared to regular vampires.
Lesser Vampires were usually born after being drained of blood by a vampire and were subject to the control and enslavement of the vampire who created them.
At this moment, countless Lesser Vampires were emerging from the prison-like building, growling and stiffly advancing toward them.
"Are they people from Eight Fingers?"
"I see, so they've all really been turned into vampires."
Tia and Tina spoke one after the other.
"Watch out, there are also Vampire Wolves nearby!"
Gagaran, already drawn her war pick, cast a sharp, hostile glare at another type of creature beside the Lesser Vampires.
Next to the Lesser Vampires, there was a group of monsters—completely black, as if shrouded in the night, with vicious, intelligent red eyes, resembling wolves.
Vampire Wolves were a type of monster with excellent tracking abilities, and like Vampire Bats, they usually served vampires, enslaved and controlled by them.
However, they were much stronger than Vampire Bats.
In YGGDRASIL, they were not only around Level 7 monsters but sometimes even stronger than Lesser Vampires—their movements were incredibly agile, not sluggish like those of Lesser Vampires.
After bursting out of the prison-like building, they immediately dashed toward Riezel and the others like a real wolf pack—some even leaped onto nearby buildings, stuck to the walls like geckos, and ran toward everyone, surrounding them.
Like the Vampire Bats, their numbers were also considerable, which meant they had also been summoned by a very high-tier vampire.
"Well shit, now I believe the monster secretly controlling Eight Fingers is definitely a vampire, and way stronger than our shorty."
Gagaran remarked in a low voice, causing Tia and Tina to fall silent.
Needless to say, the ability to summon and control so many vampire servants like Vampire Bats, Vampire Wolves, and Lesser Vampires was a clear indication of the immense strength of the vampire behind them.
It was right there in front of them, impossible to ignore.
"Dammit! How did such a strong vampire suddenly show up?!"
Even Evileye, who had flown into the air, seemed extremely unwilling to admit this, cursing as she did.
*PENG!* *PENG!* *PENG!* *PENG!*
At the same time, the agile Vampire Wolves had already pounced in front of everyone—some charged toward Lakyus, who was still on the ground and hadn't been protected by magic, while others collided with Riezel's Anti-Life Cocoon, producing countless loud crashing sounds.
"HAAA!"
Shouting, Lakyus finally started using magic, casting various support magic to enhance her abilities while manipulating Floating Swords and sending them out to kill Vampire Wolves and Vampire Bats left and right.
"Crystal Wall!"
Evileye cast defensive magic, forming a wall made of earth-element crystals around herself.
While it could defend against a certain degree of attacks, it weakened with each hit and could only block attacks that didn't exceed the wall's defense limit.
Nevertheless, as the crystal wall formed around Evileye, neither the biting attacks of the Vampire Bats nor the claw strikes of the Vampire Wolves managed to do more than scrape off a layer of powder when they struck it, unable to reach her.
"Fireball."
In this tense situation, Riezel cast another offensive magic, casting fire-attribute magic inside Anti-Life Cocoon.
Soon, a scorching flame gathered at his fingertips, swirling and expanding, and several seconds later, the fire had grown larger than anything around him, causing everyone who saw it to stare in shock.
"Is that really Fireball?!"
Evileye shouted loudly, her voice full of disbelief.
However, Riezel didn't pay attention to her, and with a calm expression, he shot the oversized fireball from his fingertip, sending it through Anti-Life Cocoon before crashing into the swarm of Vampire Wolves and Vampire Bats rushing toward him.
*BOOOOM—!*
In the next second, a tremendous explosion erupted.
As the massive fireball detonated, it sent a storm of fire that engulfed the Vampire Wolves and Vampire Bats without mercy.
In an instant, countless Vampire Wolves and Vampire Bats were scorched by the flames—their corpses instantly turned to charcoal and crumbled to ash.
Any monster lucky enough to avoid the firestorm was still sent flying by the explosion, crashing one by one into nearby buildings.
"..."
Such a massive explosion not only stunned Lakyus and the others but also stunned the monsters rushing at them.
For a moment, the monsters dared not approach Riezel's direction anymore—they stopped in their tracks, trembling, and, surprisingly, began retreating.
Lakyus, Evileye, Brain, Gagaran, Tia, and Tina all involuntarily halted their actions, their gazes fixed on the calm-faced Riezel, fear flashing in their eyes.