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"Here."
Iris heard Noah's voice she glanced up, the young man offered her a sphere of floating blood, which he had extracted from the Goblin Warrior and saved.
"Haahhh…!"
Iris quickly moved towards the sphere, engulfing it with her mouth and drinking the sweet and warm liquid.
She slowly felt more at ease, as her Mana recovered.
Mana was a part of the Mind stat, as it divided into three pseudo stats, Mana, the energy used to activate Skills, Magic Attack, the amount of damage increased based on the Mind stat number, and Magic Defense, the amount of damage reduced based in the Mind stat number.
By being a Dhampir and having some of Noah's capabilities from the Blood Progenitor Skill, she was able to recover her energy through drinking blood, the pain she had suffered in her head was the overuse of Mana over her own limits, which should have made her braindead if it was not because she had superhuman capabilities as a Dhampir.
There were many cases of F-Rank Hunters suffering from head illness and other things when they overused Mana above their very limits.
"Thanks, Noah-sama… Phew… Did I overdid it?" asked Iris.
"Not at all, that's the strength I want of you. You did good, but you have to learn to extract the blood of your enemies better… Albeit you drank some from its brain, it was not enough," said Noah.
"Yeah… Anyways, it seems that the Goblins stopped coming?" asked Iris, cleaning her clothes from dirt as she stood up.
Noah glanced at the darkness ahead of him.
"Not at all, they're preparing… Let's charge at them and surprise their troops before they are ready to fight again," said Noah.
"Alright!" said Iris, following Noah through the vast darkness.
The pair of vampires charged in, as they quickly came into a small group of normal Goblins led by a larger Goblin who was dual-wielding axes.
"I will take the big one, you take the little ones, I don't think it will be much of a trouble. Make sure to extract their blood as I have taught you," said Noah. In these little minutes that they explored the caves, Noah taught Iris how to use Blood Gathering as well, and now this was the time for her to try it out.
"GRAA!"
The dual-wielding Goblin Warrior raised its axes and roared, rushing towards Noah straight away, while the smaller Goblins evaded him and laughed perversely, rushing towards Iris!
It seemed that the Goblin Warrior had the same idea as Noah, which made Noah's life easier.
Clash!
Noah used his crimson claws to intercept the Goblin's axes with great speed!
"GRRRAAA!"
The Goblin Warrior, however, was suddenly enveloped in a red aura, reinforcing its skin and muscles!
"Oh, a Skill?" thought Noah, as he evaded the Goblin Warrior's double slashing attack by jumping away!
Clash! Clash!
"Grrr…!"
The Goblin Warrior seemed to be enraged by Noah's flexibility and nimbleness, groaning, and then charging towards him like a red meteor!
"UUGRRAAA!"
CLASH!
The axes once more hit the ground, as Noah moved like a spider around the Goblin Warrior's log-like arms while using his crimson claws to slash away through the reinforced skin and muscles without much issue!
"GRROO…!"
The Goblin Warrior groaned in pain, as it suddenly extended its hand towards Noah, grabbing his clothes and throwing him away!
"Nnggh…!"
Clash!
Noah hit the walls directly, creating slight cracks behind him.
This Goblin Warrior was indeed stronger than the previous ones, and it seemed to have an enhancement-type Skill that strengthened all of its capabilities by a small amount.
Noah glanced at it with contempt, but then, revealed a sphere of floating blood on his hand.
"After Blood Gathering is activated, I can gather blood in a sphere… and by using other techniques, I can also weaponize it, right, Progenitor?" asked Noah.
"Oh? So you have figured out that much, indeed, Blood Gathering isn't simply so you can drink blood, that would be too dull! I remember using the blood of those hunters against them, crystallizing them as floating crimson blades, and impaling them to death!" laughed the Blood Progenitor.
"Crystallized… Like blood coagulation?" thought Noah.
"GRRAAA!"
The Goblin Warrior did not wait for Noah to think through things, as it quickly charged towards him, raising its axes and clashing against the wall with them, Noah barely evaded, although a slash reached his leg, making him lose blood.
However, instead of feeling annoyed, he smiled.
"I should use my blood as well, I suppose," he thought while in midair, gathering the blood that dripped from his wound before it slowly closed, and making his sphere of blood larger.
"Now…! Blood Blade!" said Noah, as the Goblin Warrior was still giving him his back, Noah willed it through Blood Manipulation, as the blood within the Blood Sphere started to coagulate, becoming harder and thicker until it began to crystalize!
Then, he shaped it as a large blade, and fired it without thinking it twice towards the Goblin Warrior!
FLASH!
"Nngraah!"
The Goblin Warrior, however, realized the crimson blade flying his way, as he quickly raised his axes once more, unleashing a barrage of slicing attacks towards it!
Slash! Slash!
The crimson blade was crushed into bits!
"Well, that's good enough," said Noah, as he used the opportunity where the Goblin Warrior had to destroy the blade to rush near it again, his crimson claws seeping into the Goblin's muscular knees, slicing them, and making it fall immediately!
"GRRAAAAKKH…!"
Boom!
Struggling to stand up but realizing that its knees were completely sliced off, the Goblin Warrior glanced back at Noah with scorn, as it moved its arms fiercely, using them to aim punches at him or slicing attacks with one of his axes, as the other one was sent flying when it fell into the ground.
"GRAAAKH! GRAA!"
Noah smiled, as he used his own legs to kick away the Goblin Warrior's fist, and his claws to grab the axe and apply pressure on it, splitting it into pieces!
Crash!
"GRRUH?!"
Noah's eyes gleamed eerily with crimson light, as he jumped over the Goblin Warrior's back, seeping his claws into its back as blood began to flow like a river!
For some reason, Noah could not get enough of this… of bathing in the warmth of blood!
"Blood Gathering!" he said, as an enormous sphere of blood began to form over his right hand, the Goblin Warrior struggled, but it felt as if its entire energy was being drained away at a fast speed!
"GRAAAAAAA…!"
As a last stand, the Goblin Warrior's body was shrouded in this crimson energy, gaining a last bit of strength which is used to twist its body and extend its hands towards Noah!
"Blood Spear,"
However, before that could ever happen, Noah shaped a part of the blood into a sharp spear made of crystallized blood, impaling the Goblin Warrior's heart, and immediately draining all of its blood away!
"Nngggruuoooh…!"
The Goblin Warrior vomited blood, as it became motionless, not long after, exploding into black smoke, as a few Cores fell to the ground.
Noah glanced at the large sphere of blood, his new weapon, and nourishment.
"You're getting better at this than I imagined…!" muttered the Blood Progenitor in contempt, realizing that because Noah was putting himself in these challenges is that he was adapting and discovering his new capabilities incredibly fast.
Noah glanced back at Iris, as she was done with the smaller Goblins, which now presented no problem to her, she even had gathered a Blood Sphere of her own, amusing Noah.
"Noah-sama… I'm done… Phew, that one you killed was very big!" said Iris.
"Indeed… And there is a bigger one waiting for us past that corridor," said Noah, pointing to his front, as Iris could feel the overwhelming presence of something dwelling within the darkness!
"That's…!" muttered Iris in surprise.
"Yeah, it seems that a Mid-Boss spawned…" said Noah with a smirk.
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