"!!"
The figure of a 1.86-meter tall, burly northern warrior collided with him like a cannonball, giving the vampire mage very little time to react. His small body was flung meters away, blood trickling from his mouth as he stood up.
"Haha! You pathetic little vampire!" Udin, wielding a huge mace in both hands, grinned, showing all thirty-two of his teeth. "What made you think no one would attack you? Hahahaha!"
Before leaping at the short vampire, he reassured the dragon-blooded warriors, "Don't worry, they can't stay in their empowered state forever!"
His fifth-degree peak aura surged angrily as he infused his mace with energy. With the momentum of his downward strike, it was clear he was about to create a small crater.
"You caught me off guard once, it won't happen again!" murmured the vampire mage, tearing a page from his book and tossing it into the air.
Watching the red light shatter the torn page, Udin felt a deep sense of danger enveloping his entire body. Trusting his instincts, the northern warrior swung his mace at the blinding light.
"!!"
First came a monstrous roar from the source of the light, followed by a massive claw that clashed with the mace. The shockwaves from their impact sent both the claw's owner and Udin flying back. As Udin landed hard, he noticed his hands, still gripping the mace, were trembling. How strong was his enemy?
His gaze then fell upon the creature that had blocked him with its claw. It was humanoid but had long wings and massive claws. It had a pair of red eyes without pupils and gray skin. Its fangs were twice as long as a regular vampire's. Udin had no idea what this thing was!
"I never expected my first opponent in the city to force me to summon a vargheist!" the mage spoke with a tone of admiration, wiping the blood from his mouth. "After I destroy your building, if you're still alive, I might consider sealing you in my book, like this foolish kin of mine!"
The vargheist turned its head briefly towards the mage, as if understanding the insult, then disregarded it, flapping its wings and charging at Udin with enough force to shatter the ground.
Udin pushed his aura to the limit, bracing himself with his mace and waiting for the creature to come within range. As soon as the vargheist was close enough, he swung his mace with all his strength. The clash of the vargheist's claws and Udin's mace created a shockwave that scattered cobblestones in all directions.
Surprisingly, this time the one pushed back was the vargheist!
In that brief moment of their power struggle, Udin, showing agility unexpected for his muscular frame, dodged to the left, causing the vargheist to lose its balance. He then kicked the creature back with an aura-infused strike, spun his mace in the air, and slammed it into the right side of the vargheist's chest.
The pain spreading through its body fueled the vargheist's rage, and in retaliation, it swiped its claws at Udin. The northern warrior's reflexes saved his eyes, but four large claw marks now adorned his face. While the vargheist hadn't inflicted the damage it wanted, it had managed to push its enemy back several meters, buying itself time to recover.
After a brief separation, the two clashed again as Udin launched another attack.
The vampire mage couldn't help but be surprised seeing that Udin could not only resist the vargheist but also gain some advantage. "After destroying the city, I must take a few of these as samples to uncover the secrets behind this so-called blood blessing..." he thought as he advanced towards the chief's hall. This time, he prepared a detection spell to ensure no one else would surprise him. "Let's see if there are any more rats!"
As the blue waves of the detection spell scanned everything within a fifty-meter radius, the vampire mage's expression turned sour, and he used all his strength to push himself meters away with an instantaneous spell. From above, or rather from the top of the chief's hall, a figure had launched itself directly at him, and he hadn't sensed it until he cast the spell!
The gray-haired warrior created a small crater right where the vampire mage had been standing with his long and short swords. Gray, believing he had timed it perfectly, grumbled as he emerged from the crater, "Tch, damn mages and their cursed caution!"
"This time, it's a mid-stage opponent," the vampire mage assessed the new enemy. "I remember you. You were one of Tu'bask's raider captains." Raising his staff and book, he continued, "From a raider providing us with cattle regularly to a fifth-degree warrior! An admirable rise."
Mentioning Tu'bask's past made veins pop on Gray's forehead. "If you're trying to provoke me by mentioning my pitiful past," he said, taking a ready stance, "Lord Ülgen has completely erased the Gray of the past." And with that, he vanished.
The mage, immediately sensing the danger, struck his staff on the ground, creating a circular barrier around himself, and laughed. "So, you're an agility-focused warrior, or perhaps more accurately, an assassin!" He tore another page from his book and tossed it behind him.
Gray, who was about to launch an attack that could shatter the barrier from behind, was sent flying by blood spears emerging from the torn page. His quick reflexes allowed him to deflect most of the spears with his swords, but a few managed to injure him.
However, before his feet even touched the ground, he vanished with an aura burst and reappeared directly above the barrier. Stabbing his short sword into the barrier and slashing it with his long sword, he broke through the barrier and delivered a powerful kick to the mage.
Gray's swift kick slammed the mage's face into the pavement, but the vampire mage managed to cast an instantaneous spell with his staff before Gray's swords could impale him. Several explosive red energy orbs appeared between the mage and Gray, forcing him to retreat.
The explosions filled the area with dust and smoke. As soon as the vampire mage pulled his head out of the pavement, he swung his staff, creating more red orbs.
"Let's see you escape this time!" he shouted as the red energy orbs flew at Gray from multiple directions.
An interesting idea crossed Gray's mind as he saw the orbs coming at him. He dashed in his intended direction, ensuring all the orbs followed behind him, and then whistled, increasing his speed even more.
"What is he doing..?" the vampire mage wondered, but it was too late.
The vargheist, sent flying by Udin's mace blow, couldn't swipe its claws at Gray as he passed by because it was struck by dozens of red energy orbs!
As the vargheist's pained howl echoed through the area, the bewildered vampire mage, sensing danger, tore several pages from his book, summoning three consecutive barriers. This move successfully blocked the combined attack of Udin and Gray.
Sensing that the vargheist was not dead but on the brink of death and its combat power significantly reduced, the mage gritted his teeth in anger. "It's not as easy to kill me as you think!" he shouted, unleashing a red energy wave with his staff that sent the duo flying back.
However, Udin, with a burst of intense aura, split the red energy wave in two, creating an opening for Gray to attack. Similarly, Gray, using a significant portion of his aura, destroyed two barriers with all his strength and began slashing at the final barrier with his swords.
At the beginning of the fight, the vampire mage had thought it wouldn't be too difficult, but now he was in a state of mixed terror and fury. What kind of creature's blood had made these barbarians so powerful?
He froze as he was about to tear a few more pages. He had already torn nearly half the book, and tearing more would irreparably damage it!
"My life is more important!" Seeing that the last barrier was about to break, he tore the remaining pages, causing Gray to be blown back by the successive barriers.
His hands were trembling as he tore the final page. "You will pay for this with your lives!" he muttered through clenched teeth, clutching his staff tightly as the torn page adhered to his body. Intense pain stabbed into his brain like thorns, and he strained his will to avoid screaming. The overloading energy made his staff tremble and shake.
Meanwhile, Udin, who had caught the falling Gray, was looking at the mage with a serious expression as the sense of danger from him intensified. Without taking his eyes off the mage, he spoke, "Gray, how much aura do you have left?"
Regaining his balance, Gray replied while also watching the vampire mage. "If I attack with all my strength, I have one strike left."
"Good, so do I," Udin said, grinning as he turned to Gray. "We're either going to die and become heroes or kill this bloodsucker and become heroes. Are you ready to give it your all?" As Udin's aura surged, the veins in his muscles began to bulge.
Gray, whose veins similarly became prominent, let out a hearty laugh. "Either way works for me!"
Moments later, an explosion of such intensity that it could be felt from the city square erupted in front of the chief's hall.