"Welcome back, Hunter! How's the meeting with Ezesinachi?" Emilohi cheerfully greeted Dov and his group right after they finished discussing the turned vampire back at the Shrine Hall.
"He's fun… though a bit mysterious." Dov commented.
"Mysteri— hahaha!" Laughter quickly burst out of the Prioress' mouth. Even Leyna has a hard time holding out her own laughter in her owl form.
"Are you being serious right now?" Meanwhile Celene stared dagger at him, shocked by his statement. "Have you looked in the mirror recently?"
"No." The masked Hunter coldly responded.
"I'm sure you already realized this from all the mess in my son's room, but he used to be an adventurer." Proudly said Emilohi. "That mask he's wearing is a memento of his fallen party member. So he's always so sensitive when talking about it and never tells me the detail."
"I see…"
"But don't worry too much, Ezesinachi is a good kid. He's strong, reliable, and everyone in the Shrine loves him."
"He's my pride and joy."
***
**
*
"You won't do anything stupid here, Hunter."
The Commander stepped forward, with a tall shied the size of his full height, which he slammed above the ground, facing directly at his enemies. "Our race is blessed by the All-father himself! Now we will thrive, rise to our glory!" He shouted his battle cry and the other dark elves screamed along with him.
"Blessed?" Dov thought to himself. "Does that mean the Pretender gave them something? Or is it just a false promise?"
The Commander's shield started vibrating all of the sudden, shaking the earth out of balance. All the vampires braced themselves, but Dov… he kept his gun aimed at the target.
[Personal Skill]
[4th Act]
"Elven Barrier: Magic."
A sudden burst of mana came out of his shield and a wall of energy shield went emitted from that glorious ardorum weapon. It was purple and transparent, covering the entirety of the dark elves' army behind him. With that lead, they swiftly moved into formations, pulled out their crossbows, and aimed them at the vampires.
"Oh Goddess…" the vampires saw the bolts on those weapons, they were shiny and sharp, and strictly made out of silver. "This might be bad."
The vampires immediately lifted their blood-coated hands, readying themselves to hold against the menace that's about to befall them.
"Shoot it!" The commander cried, and rains of bolts came flying toward the unfortunate bloodsuckers.
Unfortunately of course, it won't be that easy.
The elves were beyond shocked seeing all of their attacks were completely blocked, falling to the ashen ground before they could reach any cloth or flesh.
Magic shields lined before the vampires, burning in purple flames. They saw Dov had his left hand lifted, in the aftermath of a snapping motion. The [Shield of Corvus] was raised to defend its side.
*Bang!*
Then amid the silence, Dov shot his gun, with a loud noise that could challenge the thunder. His bullet was so quick, leaving no one any time to react.
"Wha—" Ikemba found that bullet pierced through his shield, through his armor, and into his flesh. "But the patrol said… your bullet was magic." He was in pain, but his confusion take the best out of him. His barrier should've held against magical attacks. Yet the on Dov gave him was completely physical.
"Only a fool would use a trick that could easily be countered." Dov shot a couple more bullets into the Commander's body, while the elves just stared at him in fear, unable to react to his attack. "Though I'm impressed seeing winterstone bullets can only penetrate you that much."
"Be careful, Dov. Ikemba is an old and powerful level 83 Palladium ranked adventurer." Leyna whispered as she perched on the Hunter's shoulder. "He only placed second among the strongest people in the Shrine because his symbols are cross and shield."
"A support tank I see…" Dov glared at the Commander whose wound went quickly healed with all the bullets getting thrown out of his body. "This might take time."
*Roar!*
Ikemba shouted out his rage, and all of the sudden charged with his shield raised toward Dov's direction. He was running like a bull and the stomping of his feet could be heard echoing through the entire Shrine.
All the other dark elves' soldiers screamed and followed him behind the protection of his [Elven Barrier]. It might not save them against Dov's bullets, but it will protect them from vampires' magic.
[Personal Skill]
[6th Act]
"Blessing of Ardorum!"
Ikemba banged the back of his shield with an ardorum elven sword in his hand and a shockwave exploded which hit every single elf behind him. That skill coated them with purplish energy that significantly increased their defense against all incoming attacks.
That was a great strategy, even if Dov decided to shoot him with bullets, Ikemba can just ignore the pain and continue to charge. However…
[Personal Skill]
[1st Act]
"Lightning Charge."
He's not the only one that can rush their enemies.
*Buzz!*
Celene blasted herself, with a charge times stronger and significantly more impactful. Her body size and her role as a damage dealer made her attack completely devastating which threw the Commander high into the air.
Now with their protection shield disabled, the entire dark elves' army got their front unprotected. Fear quickly shrouded them whole as they saw all the vampires rose their hands with blood fuming around their palms.
Seconds later, the air went crowded with blood magic, coursing as bolts and missiles, crashing onto the unfortunate soldiers of the dark elves. Some of them might carry a shield, but most of them were not adventurers. They were having a rough time holding against the sheer amount of power possessed by the noble and royal vampires.
"Do not fret, children! Send the enemies out of our land!" The Commander stood once more and inspired his troops to stay on the offensive. His blessing kept his soldiers intact, even with how crushing those blood magic were.
Hearing his voice and realizing they were still in one piece due to the blessing, boosted the elves' morale back. And this time, more and more dark elves came to join the fray, they started pouring from every side surrounding the vampires.
Not to mention, some of the dark elves are cross-bearer adventurers, the sparkle of light and mist coming from their magic could be seen covering the army, buffing them with power.
"Heidi, deal with the soldiers along with your coven. Their defense might be boosted by a strong adventurer, but their attack… well, it can't be that bad with none of the support having a profession."
Dov cocked his gun once more and walked away from the vampire group.
"Don't be too afraid of their silver, none of them is even close to those challenging your nest. Celene and I will deal with the leaders."
"On it." Heidi calmly replied. She then stared at the rest of the vampires as they also heard the conversation loud and clear.
But as soon as Dov left for the hunt, her smile went wide. "LET'S GOOO!" This might be the best day of that girl's life.
The vampires immediately scattered, ruining the dark elves' formation, and attacking them from the inside of their lines. They're nest monsters after all, they won't group up in the same spot when fighting their enemies.
Meanwhile, Celene was chasing the crap out of Ikemba. Leyna hasn't told her about his level so she only thought of him as a normal adventurer, probably around the same level as her since he used a 6th act.
"Oh Lady of all Spirits… I'm too old for this nonsense." Ikemba quickly repositioned all his dislocated bones from being crashed so high into the air. "I've seen a lot of 2 meters lycan in my life, but never your size."
"Then you haven't traveled far enough, Commander. Everyone in my family was my size. Some even taller." Celene slowly walked towards Ikemba with her massive ax hauled on the ashen ground. Even though there are lots of dark elves around her, no one dared to come close due to how tall she was and a passive skill she possessed.
"Dear Goddess… you're a fucking monster…" Even the Commander could feel his fear crawling the closer she gets to him.
"I can turn to one if you ever so desired." She suddenly swung her ax from the top at him, but Ikemba quickly blocked and held it with his shield.
"No thanks. Uargh!" Then with sheer power, he pushed his shield and threw the lycan away off balance. "I rather stare at a massive woman than a giant wolf."
". . ." Celene's sun-like eyes were struck with shock. throughout her life as an adventurer, Dov was the only one who managed to overpower her in terms of pure strength. "It seems I underestimated you, Commander."
As an adventurer who bears the ax symbol, Celene infested most of the points she gained from leveling up and doing adventurer's missions to her strength, which is one of the 8 attributes a person has on their numerical statistic.
Meanwhile, for someone who bears the shield symbol, they usually infest most of their points into vitality which increases the amount of hit they could take.
And by that, the realization suddenly hit her. If Ikemba had more strength than her, then he was clearly not on the same level as her.
Although Ikemba was also hundreds of years of age. People will gain about 100 points to spend on attributes for each century they live while leveling up gives only 10 per level. Sadly for Celene, she didn't have the information about his age.
"Oh really? That's flattering to hear from a Hunter." The Commander smiled awkwardly. The focus and seriousness painted on Celene's face spooked him out a bit.
But then, amid their exchange, a cloud of cold mists began to fume throughout the battlefield. They're so dense and spread, that the battle went stopping for a while due to everyone's confusion from not being able to see.
[Personal Skill]
[2nd Act]
"Comfort of the Winter Breeze."
An eerie whisper could be heard echoing around the mists. It was Leyna blessing her allies with her magic. Then as her words faded, the mists concentrated themselves and gathered on top of her allies' bodies.
They hugged the Hunters and Vampires with a cool gentle touch while protecting them as cold hard armor. All of a sudden, everyone on Dov's side turned their color into white and cyan, as they were transformed into heavy full plated knights.
Terrified by the sight of Celene who was now looking times more menacing with ice covering her, Ikemba shifted his gaze towards the center of where this mist came from.
His eyes were never been so wide open.
"Look at what I've told you, Chief…" There he saw Leyna with her cold white outfit, floating as she was bursting with magic. Her cyan eyes glowed profusely, staring at him with her ever-cold heart.
"Challenging humans… will be your biggest mistake."