[Skill:
The old man saw his powers leaving his body at a rapid speed.
He couldn't understand why this was happening.
"You! What did you do to my body??"
The old man gripped Arman by his collar.
"This venerable self shall smash your head right now."
Strange light started coming out of the vampire's fist.
Then, the light started revolving around the fist.
The vampire punched Arman very hard.
And Arman was sent flying.
Through the corner of his eye, Arman saw the old vampire getting hit by something.
It was Himputra.
"Dragos, how did you forget me? I am still with you, haunting your nightmares."
Dragos spat out many mouthfuls of blood.
Himputra's punches rained down on Dragos.
It was good for Himputra, as his battle had become easy now.
But, for the Fire Bot, it was hell now.
He was left alone between this many enemies.
Even though he won't die, but he still had to experience the hellish pain.
And Arman crashed into the walls of the Duncan temple.
************
'Cough cough.'
Arman coughed out blood and tried to stabilize his condition.
He was now embedded in the walls of the Duncan temple.
He punched the walls and somehow got to the other side.
[You are left with less than 10% of your HP]
His body was in a very tormenting pain.
Every inch of his body ached.
He summoned the Fire vines and made it tie his entire body.
Vines had completely covered his body.
He was now looking like a peritrichous bacterium.
(A peritrichous bacteria is a bacteria which has flagella all over its body)
He had to now rely on these vines for locomotion.
Arman somehow trudged through the place.
And soon enough, a massive shrine stood before him.
Arman elongated the vines and ropes and made them lift him.
And when he reached at an altitude high enough, he used the vines to propell him forward.
And inside the temple, he could see countless number of human skeletons.
Spots left behind by blood.
Rotten human meat was fallen on the ground.
It whole was a dirty mess.
Arman turned towards the Flame king.
His facial expression clearly said that he wanted to know what had happened here.
"These vampires abduct and kill humans and gather their souls.
They then extract the strength of the souls and give it to Duncan. Thus, increasing his strength."
Arman was horrified just by listening to the Flame king's words.
Just how cruel were these vampires?
The area clearly described how painful were the deaths of all those who were killed here.
It was a feeling far worse than death.
But, there was no time to think about such things.
The vines moved and carried Arman with them.
[The Fire Bot has been destroyed.]
[Skill:
[Skill activation successful.]
[The Fire Bot has been restored.]
Arman was thinking about why the Fire Bot wasn't destroyed yet.
And just while he was thinking, the notifications came.
[The Fire Bot has been destroyed.]
[Skill:
[Skill activation successful.]
[The Fire Bot has been restored.]
Arman ignored the notifications and went in, to explore the Duncan temple.
***************
"Himputra! Is this the chivalry you humans talk about?
Is this a fair fight? You made one of your men come behind me and slash me, and then you yourself hit me when I was engaged!"
Dragos tried to talk his way out.
"Firstly, I never declared that I am chivalrous or something like that.
Chivalry is nothing but shit!
And people like you shouldn't talk about chivalry, because the vampire you sent in our village wasn't doing a chivalrous act.
Chivalry indeed!"
Himputra, without wasting any time, rushed towards Dragos.
He approached him in a manner in which lightning travels.
But Dragos easily blocked the attack by holding Himputra's fist.
But, another punch came prepared.
Himputra's hard and forceful punch was just like a pinchful of pepper spread on one's injuries.
Immediately, a wave of mana came surging out from within the body of the ferocious Himputra.
The wave of mana striked Dragos with its full force.
Pah!
Himputra now started to reveal his true strength.
And, on the other hand, Dragos also decided to stop hiding his strength.
He brought out all of his strength.
Dragos's jade like hand abruptly thrust forth, and formed some strange light. One could see that the light that was surging out fluctuated a little before it exploded.
Kabooooooooom!
Himputra tried his very best to avoid the attack. But in vain.
He tried to reduce the damage by extending his elbow infront of his head.
Dust had arisen, due to the explosion.
It was impossible to see through the dust.
When the vision cleared, one could see Himputra standing firmly.
Dragos lowered his head and moved his mouth slightly while facing Himputra , revealing his razor-sharp and long and dense canines.
And a sharp, angry roar immediately carried an incomparable amount of killing intent as it erupted from within Himputra's mouth.
Under this clear sonic wave, the latter's body appeared to drift with the wind as it turned into an extremely vague blood figure that approached Dragos in a tsunami-like manner.
Himputra hid himself in his roar and had now appeared right infront of Dragos.
"Here, have my punch."
But, Dragos was way too fast compared to Himputra.
Himputra was able to barely leave behind an afterimage.
However, that afterimage was clearly incomparable to the one that Dragos had created.
Of course, speed wasn't Himputra's key.
His true strength was brute force, accuracy, and technique.
Dragos moved rapidly to attack Himputra.
But Himputra distanced himself from Dragos.
Dragos admired this idea of hitting and running of Himputra.
His dark-black eyes reflected a streak of mana that was swiftly expanding.
The next instant, the streak of mana turned red.
And the red streak of mana shot towards the direction of Himputra.
That extremely sharp mana passed through the air as it shot over while carrying a thick and cold wind.
Slam!!
An enormous sound reverberated like the sound of thunder. It was a shield that Himputra took out to protect himself.
Himputra's feet doubled, as he stepped behind a few steps.
Dragos's gaze turned darker, emitting a strong killing intent towards Himputra.
"Little bastard. I want to feed your blood to my fellow vampires!"
Dragos laughed creepily.
As his head moved, the green light being emanated from his eyes formed an arc.
"I am afraid that even if you took birth a hundred times, you won't be able to do so."
A spark of silver glow suddenly flashed and appeared in a lightning-like manner. Himputra's body moved and it immediately sprang towards from the back of Dragos in a ghost-like manner.
A mysterious glow appeared in Himputra's clenched fist, before it was smashed onto the ugly face of Dragos.
Dragos was surprised by this sudden and unprecedent attack.
He was now growing anxious in his fight against Himputra.
Dragos was extremely furious too.
When faced with Himputra in the earlier clashes between the two factions, Himputra stood to be nowhere near Dragos.
But now, this little boy was fighting
toe-to-toe with him.
How did his strength increase by this much in such a short period of time?
Dargos finally realised the situation.
Perhaps, Himputra's strength hadn't increased greatly, but the former's strength had been reduced due to some trick used by that little insect from back then.
(He is referring to Arman)
When Dragos looked at the place where that little insect was supposed to be, he found nothing but a large, deep and massive hole.
"That bastard entered the temple?"
Dragos gasped.
He was scared just at the thought of it, what if Arman provoked Duncan?
If that happened, Dragos would be deemed useless for not being able to stop a single child.
*******************
Arman travelled towards the inside of the temple, because he was guided to do so by the Flame king.
Till now, about eight minutes since he trespassed the temple through the walls, Arman has been trying his best to not lose his calm.
There were way too many notifications stacked up.
[The Fire Bot has been destroyed.]
[Skill:
[Skill activation successful.]
[The Fire Bot has been restored.]
[The Fire Bot has been destroyed.]
[Skill:
[Skill activation successful.]
[The Fire Bot has been restored.]
[The Fire Bot has been destroyed.]
[Skill:
[Skill activation successful.]
[The Fire Bot has been restored.]
[The Fire Bot has been destroyed.]
[Skill:
[Skill activation successful.]
[The Fire Bot has been restored.]
It had appeared over a thirty times.
Arman was now completely annoyed.
This was going crazy now.
He tried and focused on the path infront of him.
And after a few minutes, Arman could see a giant structure.
It was about 80 foot tall.
But Arman wasn't moved by its size.
As his own house was a palace.
Arman entered it.
Unlike the structures from previous times, this one wasn't creepy.
Instead, it was a majestic place.
Every single corner of it was decorated nicely and neatly.
And especially the figures drawn with mosaic were very magnificent.
Arman was surprised that such a place could have such a beautiful place.
"Go Inside, this is the shrine."
Said the Flame king.
And Arman did so.
As Arman entered the shrine, its beauty penetrated deeper into his soul.
But under the constant orders of the Flame king to stop wasting time, Arman focused on the work.
The more Arman went inside the shrine, the more he could feel his soul getting enriched.
The Flame king said.
"Those freaks store the energy they obtain from hunting people's souls in this place.
And once in a decade, they deliver it to Duncan."
Arman thought over this.
"So, what if I might have come here right at the time when they were about to take it to Duncan?"
"Then the benefits you will get will be great.
As you will be absorbing the energy which was constantly being gathered by so many vampires for an entire decade!
Just imagine how much they might have gathered in a decade!"
This was very tempting.
Arman couldn't withstand the instincts inside of him telling him to 'Hurry'.
His body was rapidly moved by the Fire Vines and he travelled with greater speeds.
And in no time, he arrived by the door of the main hall of the shrine.
That room gave off a strange kind of aura, which seemed to strengthen Arman's soul.
Arman couldn't control the curiosity and quickly entered the hall.
It was just like any other hall, except for an orb in the center.
The strange kind of aura was oozing out of this orb.
A strange glow randomly appeared on the surface of the orb frequently.
The Flame king guided Arman to place his hand on the orb.
And Arman did so.
And the moment Arman did so, a channel of mana got established between Arman and the orb.
Mana was swiftly channeling to Arman's body.
Arman was scared.
But the Flame king consoled him
"Don't worry, it's my doing."
"Yeah."
[Your assimilation is progressing]
[Current progress: 61%]
[Current progress: 63%]
[Current progress: 64%]
And the notifications continued.
"How long will it take?"
Asked Arman in relief as he was having the same feeling as he had with the Divine Herb.
But, this time, this feeling was followed by a tiny bit of uneasiness.
"I doubt whether it will take even a minute!"
"Nice!"
With this, Arman could defeat those waiting outside.
******************
Dragos received multiple punches.
He was gravely injured now.
Even though injured, he still didn't lose his self-esteem.
"This venerable-self will cut off all your limbs..."
But before he could finish his words, he was punched on the face.
"Relax! The moment your strength diminished after being hit by Arman, your were destined to lose.
So, now that your defeat is inevitable, why force it?"
Dragos asked himself.
"Arman, is it?"
Dragos was already winning, and that with an overwhelming gap.
But, thanks to a kid named 'Arman' he was going to die now.
He has his full resentment towards Arman piled up even to his very bones
Even after death, he wouldn't allow Arman to lead a peaceful life.
He took hold of a device given to him by Duncan himself.
If the Duncan temple would ever fall in danger, he could report it directly to Duncan.
He used that device.
But before he could say anything, Himputra's fingers were thrust into his solar plexus.
He said his final words into the device.
"O.. One man... named.. Arman..."
His words, though unclear, but could be understood fairly.
And Dragos fell to his death.