A tall muscular man is chopping wood with an axe in front of the cottage not minding the sudden arrival of David's convoy. He casually collected the chopped firewood and walked straight into the cottage doorway. An old man can be seen seated on a rocking chair and smoking a long pipe by the front porch.
The old man puffed and sighed while looking at the convoy that just arrived. "It looks like my time has finally come..." He looked at the distant sky which is covered by the branches of trees with a look of reluctance.
"Grandpa, were here." David was followed by his brothers and some of his men. He looked at his grandfather with scrutiny before walking closer.
"Yes I see. I thought I specifically told you in my letter not to come until you're ready. You should have followed my advice dear one." The old man set aside his pipe and stood from his chair before throwing the blanket to the ground. He stood almost as tall as David and has leaner muscles in his body that he looked like he's just come out of the gym.
"They are coming old man. We really should have left when we had the chance." The man who was chopping wood earlier came out of the cottage and grabbed the axe that is resting by the door. He took several quick drags of air like a hunting dog sniffing for its prey.
"Its the damned bloodsuckers this time," He spoke before turning to David's group. "You've wasted your trip. Now you will probably die if you can't protect yourselves." His gaze zeroed in on James annoyance is almost visible in his face before he tsked and shook his head.
"What was that about?" James whispered into David's ear with raised brows before looking at Victor who is also clueless.
"Well, what he probably meant to say there is that we have incoming 'visitors' who wants us dead like before... remember? I was getting worried that we won't be seeing any more of these groups after all that but I guess I'm wrong. Men! Battle formations!" David smiled before floating in the air with his rifle.
"These guys are approaching fast," Victor announced before frowning. "Really fast. I think they're not normal people!" He added with a maniacal grin.
James' claws began to unfold and he grimaced in what looked like pain. "Same rules?" He looked at his brothers.
"Yeah, yeah. Same rules. Try to win or at least score better this time will you. You are always last place." David teased before frowning. "These guys smell weird. Like blood." 'Wait... he called them bloodsuckers... Could it be?' He looked at John Jr. who seemed to be eagerly waiting for their guests.
Victor had a pondering look before his eyes lit up in realization as he looked at James who had the same expression. "They're vampires. We encountered quite a few in our 'travels'. Be very careful, they are fast and strong. Very difficult to kill. Remove the head or pierce the heart. That's how we did it before, otherwise they won't die." James warned David and his men.
David nodded and signaled his men who then formed a tight circle. 'It looks like I'll have to up my game a little bit this time.' He pondered as a yellow glow covered his temples and then his eyes.
'I underestimated those old jackals. So they still have this kind of trump card to rely on.' David took aim shot one, it was a direct hit to the body but it simply slowed down the figure for a bit before rushing forward with the same momentum once again.
David slung the gun on his shoulder after learning of its limited efficacy on his current enemies. He looked at his men and shook his head, many of them will probably not make it after this encounter. He could now relate to why many leaders are prone to baldness.
'I wonder if I can at least copy vampire abilities. This will be a bummer otherwise.' Phosphorescent green light covered his hands and his Omega level phytokinesis activated, the roots and branches came to life under his manipulation. He stretched his left hand and roots came out of the ground to entangle the charging vampires.
Vampires who got caught were soon wrapped up like a cocoon, as a man who always believed in the pursuit of truth David planned to study them later so he had the roots drag these precious samples to a safer area.
The melee has already begun and his brothers are having some difficulties dealing with the vampires mostly due to the speed of the vampires. Being basically immortals, they are not in any immediate danger at the moment so David just let them accumulate some fighting experience for now. His men on the other hand already incurred some losses as several fell, their bodies drained, leaving behind hollow and lifeless shells.
'It can't be helped' David maneuvered himself in the air expertly dodging a pair of vampires who are aiming for his head from behind. He grabbed their heads from behind as they passed and a torrent of energy converged in his hand an ignited into a brilliant blaze. The vampires disintegrated into ash in his hand.
[Undead]
[Life Drain]
[Charm]
[Undead]
[Life Drain]
[Hypnotize]
'So they can be copied? Ehhh? Its different for each individual?' David smirked directing his gaze behind the group of vampires where one covered in dark cloak observed with great interest. 'Gotta catch 'em all.'
David swam in the air and the vampires who blocked him became humanoid dumplings scattered on the ground.
"Interesting," The man covered in cloak muttered while looking at the commotion, only his glowing red eyes are visible in the darkness created by his hood.
'This is an unexpected surprise, just when I thought that this will be another boring side mission from the council, I encountered a shaman working with extraordinary humans. Your magical blood will save me centuries of accumulation.' The hooded vampire leader disappeared from his initial position and grabbed David's head from behind after he reemerged, he is aiming to slam this human's face on the ground. 'Huh?'
The vampire frowned before disappearing once again. This time, he retreated to a safe distance. He looked at the severed forearm near David's feet and then to the stub which is left after his arm was cut by a wind blade.
"Cat got your tongue?" David smiled and caught the falling forearm. It burst into flames as he burned the arm to the ground.
[Undead]
[Life Drain]
[Telepathy]
[Flash]
[Pyrokinesis]
[Endurance]
[Blood Regeneration]
"I don't blame you. I'd be scared of me too." David lifted his hand and roots emerged from the ground entangling nothing but air.
The vampire appeared near one of David's men and drained the poor man of blood until he became nothing but skin and bones. David attacked but the vampire leader retreated fast. "HAAAAAA!" The vampire leader roared loudly and the stump in his arm bubbled as if boiling before a new arm violently emerged.
He looked to be visibly drained from exertion but as vampires are undead creatures and thus have unlimited stamina, so he figured something else must have been spent from recovering his severed arm.
Not waiting for him to catch his breath, David flew over and attacked relentlessly. "That's some DBZ shi*! Let's see if you can regrow a head next." David moved with the elements, unaffected by the vampires attempts to probe and retard his thoughts.
'What is this shi*! How can he not be affected by my mind magic? I've never seen a shaman fight like this one. Is he still a shaman?' David's fighting style was derived from a show he used to watch as a child called Avatar. It is the combination of martial arts and elemental manipulation.
The yellow light on his eyes and hands are concentrated vital energies that help him protect, accelerate and improve his mental and body state during combat. It is something he came up with it by accident in one of his experiments, so he could not be certain how similar it is to the so-called 'chi' in eastern martial art systems but it works fine.
The vampire leader flew like a shrimp from a boulder punch to the midsection but he regenerated mid flight and disappeared before blazing flames descended from the sky engulfing David who did not have time to dodge. This made the vampire leader smile and celebrate for a moment. 'Huh?'
He dodged sideways by instinct, a wind blade passed by, a few centimeters from his face. It was so sharp that it easily cut a few trees behind him. It was then that David's figure slowly walked out of the flames unharmed. A thin layer protected him from the flames so well that not even a strand of his hair was harmed.
"If that's all that you can do then it's high time you contribute to the growth of mankind!" David gestured and vines from everywhere began attacking the vampire leader. After a short period of resistance, another humanoid dumpling is added to David's growing collection.