Vampire (3)
"Kreuk···."
From the pitch-black darkness of the cellar, a stifled groan seeped out, as if being suppressed by the abyss-like darkness.
Thud!
"Ugh!"
Then, accompanied by the sound of something being struck, the echoing wail gradually subsided into silence.
"Darn it, another one bites the dust? I thought I was being frugal. These weak human scum, I tell you."
Tiafoll, a pureblood vampire, lashed his whip in frustration.
As the whip writhed on the ground, the blood that had pooled around it scattered in all directions.
"I thought this life would end soon. What has Vyrrak been doing until things came to this point? Useless fool. When I return, I'll be sure to report this situation to Clan Lord."
He fumed for a moment before clapping his hands in frustration.
"You called?"
A servant who had approached unnoticed bowed with a lowered head.
"Take care of that mess and bring a fresh one tonight. Make it sturdier this time."
"Yes, understood."
The servant disappeared into the darkness to dispose of the body, as was the routine for the servants and slaves stationed in this hideout to feed on the leftovers.
Tiafoll ventured deeper into the underground.
"I should have gone outside the city instead of playing guardian for Pyrita."
He grumbled momentarily, aware that it wasn't an option.
He needed to stay to maintain the blood magic that enveloped this hideout.
While it might have been feasible if they took turns guarding, leaving for an extended period like this required his presence to uphold the enchantments.
"Darn it! It's been days since I went out. What a rat's life this has become."
As Tiafoll moved, he opened the door to the deepest chamber and stepped inside.
"Ugh, sigh···."
As soon as he opened the door, he took a deep breath, sensing the thick scent of blood.
The floor of the chamber, as well as the walls and ceiling, were covered with glowing red runes, pulsating like veins connected to a heart.
And in the center of it all, a black box was placed at the heart of the runic pattern.
"...Seems fine. No need to replenish the blood. Maybe I should rest my eyes for a while."
After confirming the condition of the sealed fragment, he ascended back upstairs.
It had been the same routine every day since he arrived in this city.
"Truly tiresome. I wish I could leave this city soon."
Entering his bedroom, Tiafoll lay on the bed and closed his eyes.
As a pureblood, he could go for days without sleep, but he still took a few hours of rest to maintain his condition.
With nothing to do in this hideout, what was the use of staying awake?
'The toy to pass the time just broke,'
he thought, hoping the next one would last longer.
As he drifted into sleep, he suddenly blinked and rose from the bed.
"Dark magic?! Where did that come from all of a sudden?"
Creak!
With the arrival of dark magic, the blood magic enveloping the hideout shattered instantly.
Realizing an intruder had breached, Tiafoll swiftly made his way underground.
[Kyeeek!]
Clang, clang!
Along with the dark magic, the presence of undead could be felt, and they began to invade the mansion.
"A necromancer? How did they find this place? No, with vampires spread throughout the city, how did they get in here?"
It was absurd that no one noticed the enemy's approach to the heart of the city and the hideout.
Quaaang!
In response to the sudden onslaught of the undead, the servants and slaves guarding the hideout began to engage in combat.
"How dare you filthy corpse bastards intrude here!" exclaimed the servants, a vampiric version of fervor.
With blood-red eyes, sharpened fangs, and claws, they lurked in the darkness, targeting the intruders.
"Kyaah!"
Meanwhile, the slaves, having forsaken all reason and accepted every weakness for enhanced combat prowess, screamed and charged, tearing the undead apart.
As the forces clashed and battles broke out all over, Tiafoll paid no attention to the skirmishes.
Who had time for that when he was busy fending off the black rays flying toward him?
"Gah, who are you?! How did you find this place?"
Zzap!
The black thorns seemed to pierce through him, while simultaneously, black flames blocked his path.
"Ugh!"
With a flick, strands of blood spewed from Tiafoll's fingertips, enveloping his body in a crimson aura.
He maneuvered his body in that state, continuously evading the ongoing attacks.
"Reveal yourself!"
Swish!
Blood threads spewed from his swinging fingertips, coalescing into a blade of blood.
It flew toward the source of the attack, slicing through a group of undead and vanishing.
Thud!
"You scoundrel! I won't yield!"
Once again, the black flames soared towards him.
Struggling to keep up with the relentless onslaught, Tiafoll endeavored to discern the identity of his adversary.
After several exchanges, he couldn't help but be astonished when he finally identified the entity attacking him.
"A Demilich?! How did it get here!"
Even if it was a human warlock adept at concealing its power, it would have been somewhat understandable.
Of course, it wouldn't escape criticism for being incompetent.
However, the problem wasn't as simple as a mere ineptitude, considering that a being akin to a demon, a Demilich, had infiltrated the heart of the city without being noticed.
How could one not be aware of the palpable aura of death pulsating through the city?
"Were all the vampires in this city just fools? What on earth has Vyrrak been doing!"
It was taxing to merely withstand the opponent's dark magic, let alone respond to it.
The level of magic was one thing, but the overwhelming quantity of dark energy bearing down on him was staggering.
Thorn formations made of shadows that seemed to cover everything.
The dark claws that suddenly seized one's ankle.
Sudden bursts of black flashes, and so on, every kind of dark magic poured incessantly.
Quaang!
"What kind of dark magic is this! But there's no way they wouldn't notice this level of commotion. I have to hold out until reinforcements arrive!"
While the Demilich had indeed activated the concealment barrier upon entry, it couldn't conceal the anomaly in the heart of the city for long.
"No, looking at the situation so far is unsettling, but for now, I have no choice but to hold on and trust."
Specializing in blood magic, he was not well-equipped to deal with the undead.
Even if he had more blood at his disposal, he wouldn't have dared to challenge the Demilich, but it would have been a better situation than now.
Fortunately, due to the narrow space, the servants were holding their own against the undead, and Tiafoll felt he wouldn't succumb immediately.
He clung to that hope desperately as he fought on.
"Tiafoll!"
Thud!
Breaking through the mob of undead, a vampire approached.
It was a vampire of the half blood, not previously present in the hideout.
In other words, it was an external ally.
"Oh! Have you come to help? Did you relay the situation outside?"
"Yes! Of course. I detected the anomaly from outside and immediately spread the word. I entered to assist you, Tiafoll!"
"Well done! We just need to hold on a little longer now!"
While it seemed like they had been enduring the situation for a considerable time, not much time had actually passed.
Tiafoll, experiencing a situation he found agreeable for the first time in a while, relaxed a bit and gazed at the Demilich ahead.
It seemed to pause its attacks and observe them, taken aback by the sudden arrival of reinforcements.
"That Demilich is a monstrosity. The amount of dark magic is abnormal. Don't think about winning, just buy time until reinforcements arrive and support me!"
"Yes, understood!"
The situation had significantly improved.
The undead were held back by the servants, and with the help of the half blood, Tiafoll was able to withstand the situation more comfortably.
"If reinforcements come now, you're finished!"
Zzap!
While blocking the bone spear thrown by the opponent using the blood of the surrounding servants, Tiafoll suddenly realized that the nearby half blood had disappeared.
"Is it an attempt to ambush that guy? It might not work, but if it can give me a momentary respite, that would be enough..."
Woosh!
A sudden impact halted his train of thought.
Gazing down where he felt the pain, he saw blood-soaked fingers with sharp claws bursting through his chest.
"Ugh... Ugh!"
"An attack? From the half blood? Why? How...? It must have been from the same kin... Disregarding the truce?"
Before fully grasping the situation, a sinister hand seized his hair and jerked his head to the side.
He could sense something piercing his exposed neck.
'Eating your own kin...! Is this madman suggesting we die together in this situation!'
It wasn't a situation where he could afford to have an enemy right in front of him.
Flustered, Tiafoll attempted to gather his flowing blood to use blood magic to escape the situation.
Thud!
The vigilant Demilich, however, pierced through his entire body with a spear of bones using dark magic.
While he held on with the vitality of a pure-blooded vampire, it was as good as over.
'Damn it... meeting my end because of one lunatic...'
In his fading consciousness, he cursed the half blood, who was now dying alongside him.
"Squelch... Squelch!"
He still felt his blood being drained through the fangs embedded in his neck.
'Is this guy still going at it even in this situation...? No, wait. Something's off.'
Using all his senses, he soon discerned the true nature of the anomaly.
'The attack only narrowly missed that guy... Coincidence? Or did he dodge on purpose?'
The one clinging to his back was gleefully sucking his blood with an unscathed body.
Yet the Demilich had ceased its attack, merely watching them.
It was almost as if it had no interest in the half blood hanging off its back, sucking blood.
'No, the opposite. He's using them to feed on me!'
Upon realizing it, he felt like the bone spears restraining him were fixed in a way to make it easier for the creature to feed.
No, that was certain.
Even now, it seemed like the creature was sending dark magic through the pierced area, hindering him from using blood magic.
'Why? What's the connection between this half blood and the Demilich... Could it be that the creature brought them here?'
Amidst his dissipating thoughts, Tiafoll couldn't come to any conclusion and soon lowered his head.
Even in his death, the vampire clinging to his back was simply sucking his blood with all its might.
***
[The entity has inherited the blood and gained enlightenment. You have acquired the skill 'Blood Magic.']
Heinz slowly detached from Tiafoll's neck.
His emaciated body began to crumble and eventually turned to dust.
'I don't even need to worry about mental contamination from cannibalism. Efficient.'
The thirst that had been restrained as much as possible until now had vanished completely, and the increase in strength was unparalleled.
The greatest issue with cannibalism was the contamination of the mind the more one fed.
Since the origin of a vampire's power is blood, the lingering consciousness of the host is also formidable.
Carelessly consuming that could result in something as severe as a split personality.
Even if it was a lower rank than himself, it was dangerous enough to restrain him, let alone the blood of a superior rank that had accumulated strength and years.
'Phew... the situation was quite favorable.'
As soon as Hans was summoned right in front of their hideout, he immediately cast a concealment barrier and infiltrated the interior.
Tiafoll, a pure-blooded vampire, was weaker than expected. At least he was twice as powerful as the dark wizard Malcolm.
But in my urgent situation, it was enough to be a hindrance.
With already more servants and slaves inside than anticipated, and the undead unable to enter, they continued to hinder and delay, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
As soon as the fight seemed to drag on, Heinz, who had been waiting nearby, was deployed.
Approaching Tiafoll, he pretended to fight the undead and then ambushed him.
It was a simple tactic, but its effectiveness was better than expected.
'It's thanks to properly letting his guard down against a vampire of the same clan. He might have even felt relieved at the news of reinforcements coming soon.'
Of course, it was a lie.
Until Heinz intervened, the vampires hadn't noticed a thing.
'But it's only a matter of time before they catch on. I need to hurry as much as possible.'
From the moment Tiafoll's breath ceased, Hans assisted in dealing with all the vampires' underlings with the help of the undead and headed towards the inner sanctum.
Heinz quickly followed him into a room with debris.
"Wow... impressive, isn't it?"
A barrier using blood magic was spread throughout the entire room.
It seemed like it could be deactivated using the knowledge of the newly acquired "Blood Magic," but...
'There's no time, so I'll have to handle it roughly.'
Heinz identified the weakness of the barrier with his knowledge.
And immediately, Hans attacked the area with his overwhelming dark magic.
Creak...
In the moment the barrier trembled from the impact, Heinz used blood magic to take partial control and punched a small hole.
'Simple enough.'
Hans leisurely entered the interior of the barrier and unabashedly opened the black box in the center.
Inside, the black gem he had seen before was sealed.
'Ah... it seems like they were targeting the fragment of the dark wizards for a reason.'
If the fragments held by the dark wizards, the 'Oath of the Reversal,' had a problem due to a weak binding, these fragments were excessively cohesive and firmly solidified.
'If I combine the matured fragment with this one, it should become more complete.'
I didn't have a matured fragment, but my body was no different from being integrated with the fragment.
Hans unhesitatingly grasped the fragment inside the box and began the synchronization.
'It's too clustered, so it might take longer than I thought... Oh no, did they notice?'
A group of vampires, led by the pure-blooded vampire Vyrrak, was sensed entering the barrier that enveloped the surroundings of the hideout.
But before the vampires could enter the building, the undead, including Malcolm, rushed out and began fighting them under the sun.
'With Malcolm and the superior undead present, we can certainly hold our own against Vyrrak.'
Although Malcolm had weakened compared to his lifetime, under the sun, he wouldn't be significantly inferior to Vyrrak.
'I' closed my eyes and focused all my energy on synchronizing with the fragment.
Not only with Hans, who was in direct contact, and Heinz II beside him, but also with the main body on Earth.
I gathered all the resources allocated to each entity and poured all my mental strength into Hans.
It was the first attempt at applying the "Avatar" skill, but the results were very satisfying.
[The entity has met the conditions for growth. Acquires the special skill 'Forbidden Knowledge'.]
[The entity's recovery ability becomes meaningless. The skill 'Regeneration' evolves into the special skill 'Immortality'.]
Hans succeeded in absorbing the fragment of the Immortal King and evolving into an 'Arch-Lich'.