There was a sharp metal stake that pointed to his heart from below and the stinging garlic necklace which burned the surface of his skin. It felt like thousands of barbs slowly winding towards his heart.
How was he supposed to get out of this situation?
The more he swung his feet in the air, the more he could hear the sounds of the multiple strings that made up the thick rope brittly and uncontrollably snapping.
The colour drained out of Hazel's face with every passing minute like he was eventually going to be fading out of existence. His head started to pound while his vision blurred uncontrollably.
Isn't the system supposed to help him in these kinds of situations like giving him a holy dagger like last time? Maybe he had to ask for it since they upped the difficulty level again.
'Please give me a sturdy knife or weapon of some kind to get me out of the necklace,' Hazel asked inside his head.
[No support can be given]
[Please use your own abilities to escape]
His lower lip quivered with outrage as he tried to quickly conjure up a plan inside his mind. The first thing he had to get rid of was the garlic necklace that was draining his life force. The second step was to somehow snap the rope in a position that he would not fall down towards the stake. And these two had to be done simultaneously since the rope itself was covered in the smell of garlic as well.
He did not know of any ability he was supposed to possess in his child form. He was only aware that he owned a superior set of skills when he was in his vampire form. But, clearly, it wasn't possible to use unless somehow a few of the extra abilities he had as a vampire could still be used in his current form.
Hazel knew for sure that his eyesight remained the same, but could it be true that he kept his other abilities from his vampire form like a superior jump?
He couldn't wait until he was certain because time was running out for him.
'It's all or nothing,' Hazel gritted his teeth in frustration, pushing his weight forward to begin to snap the rope.
The rope wasn't supposed to break for hours, but his muscles were strong.
They were like little iron ropes in his arms that had replaced his former weak child physique.
In just a second, the ropes started to sound like they were snapping.
One snap, two snaps, three snaps..
Hazel ripped the rest of the brittle rope as he felt his hands burning and fizzling from the garlic while swinging into a 90 degree backflip to avoid falling onto the stake.
His heartbeat increased tenfold as he used the adrenaline pumping through his veins to safely land on the spiky, green grass.
'I did it,' Hazel huffed while his hands trembled from his near death experience.
Some of his vampire abilities were truly ingrained in his other form from the lightness of his powerful jumps to greater flexibility and strength. It was nice to know since he could use it without hesitation in other terrible missions that could be given out like free candy.
He observed his surroundings as he turned his head to get a wider view before running to find a good hiding spot.
There was no place safer than the dirtiest part of the orphanage where even the ghouls didn't dare to go except bringing the children there when they would 'misbehave - the basement'. The thugs would lock them inside the rotten basement where there was no sunlight from no windows.
The walls were all dark cement with a thick metal door that creaked open to shove in more victims. It was a world of solitude like no other as no one would return as the same as before the basement trip. The children would turn into nice, obedient puppets who would follow the thug's commands without hesitation.
From what Hazel knew from his past memories, there would no one in the room right now. Most of the staff were now distracted combing through the sewers for a vampire who wasn't there anymore.
He figured that much as he arrived by the basement.
Hazel pinched his nose while stepping down into the basement. He shuddered when he entered the horrific room which still traumatized him to this day.
'Transform,' Hazel concentrated on visualizing his grown up form.
His torso, arms and legs stretched like they were a piece of elastic dough as his face got longer and leaner and thinner. His hair darkened into shades of black as his eyes glowed crimson red which acted as the only light source inside the room.
He could truly witness how terrible the once darkened room was now with his clear night vision as he saw signs of self-harm from kids attempting to escape the room. His eyes fought back tears of pity as he sympathized with those who had to suffer through the same thing.
However, he was never going to return back to that room now. He gently closed the door like he was closing all his past memories from it together into the deepest parts of his heart.
It was now time to rescue Adelaidel from the devilous Lamia.
He marched up stairs, skulked through the hallway, finding it easy to dodge the few men like Jorge who were watching television or playing games.
He appeared in the nurses' office where Adelaide was resting.
It was such a contradictory sight to watch Adelaide peacefully sleeping on the hospital bed. The smooth breeze made the curtain dance from the wind as the Lamia sang a lovely song while stroking Adelaide's messy hair.
It was such a shame to shatter this peaceful scene which seemed to contain cruel loveliness. Adelaide occasionally frowned when the Lamia sucked too much of her energy at once, draining her vitality like an abusive mother. The soft yellow aura which represented her life force was being drained by every stroke from the nurse.
The Lamia's face glowed with beauty as she sucked more energy from the fresh and youthful, Adelaide. It might have seemed that the Lamia was focusing all her attention on her meal, but her eyes constantly darted around the room like she was searching for potential intruders.
'How do I kill the Lamia without getting the attention of the few remaining staff?' Hazel hid himself in one of the blindspots.
But Hazel knew that there was no way of not attracting the attention of the other supernaturals in the orphanage by instinct. It was either get this over with before the rest of the staff returned or risk having to face a large number of enemies.
He took a deep breath before dashing towards the nurse from her behind. He pushed the nurse onto the hard wooden floor as he clasped onto her shoulders.
The Lamia hissed as she immediately dropped her glamorous appearance to make her legs turn into a snake tail with tough scales. Her ears became long and pointed and her teeth grew into pointy sharp weapons. She winced as she struggled to get up from Hazel's brute force that pushed her down.
She fought for her life as she summoned out her deadly nails that dripped with poison to scratch Hazel. However, Hazel shiftly dodged every attack as he dug his bony fingers into her flesh to make her painfully crumble under him with his brutal strength.
She slapped the floor with frustration as she twisted and contorted her body in multiple ways to get out of Hazel's grasp. It was truly like a fish struggling to get out of a fisher's net.
Hazel studied her viciously beautiful face alongside her body that squirmed with her tail flapping in defeat.
She glowed with bouts of energy from her recent meal. But, Hazel strangely licked his lips as he soon found himself digging his head towards her slender neck.
'So tasty,' Hazel sniffed her neck.
He could smell the aroma of bountiful energy and mana running through her inhuman blood. It smelled way more appetizing than human blood to the point it was like a bountiful meal at a five-star hotel compared to a cheap snack stall.
When he couldn't resist the mouth-watering meal which looked up to him with frightened eyes, he opened his mouth and bit into her rubberly neck.
'How could this be possible?' Hazel absorbed her energy which coursed in her blood.
It was much better than human blood. Each blood cell gushed inside his mouth like fireworks with abundant flavours. His head was filled with spamming messages from the system that popped up in front of him which ruined part of the experience.
[Recovered: +3 Vitality]
[Obtained: +1 Strength]
[Obtained: +1 Agility]
[Obtained: +1 MP]
[Obtained: +1 Illusion]
.
.
.
By the time, Hazel gazed down at his opponent, the Lamia's eyes rolled back like she was dead. Her skin was colder and paler to touch and her body didn't give off a hint of lifeforce which came from all living creatures.
He found a dead corpse he sat on top of instead of a weak supernatural creature, her blood still leaking out of her neck as he began to return to a calm state..
'The Lamia was weaker than I thought,' Hazel wiped some of the blood off his mouth with his sleeve, feeling a rush of emotions from the battle..
He could hear footsteps coming down the hallway and suddenly realized the position he was in. Hazel jumped under the bed and thought 'vampire'. His body transforming into a little boy so he could hide much better under the dark bed.
"That sound was in here! Check it out!" A deep male's voice said.