Strength, ecstasy, knowledge, experience, power—all human emotions—overflowed within him along with the eagerly absorbed blood of his latest victim. A roar involuntarily burst from his throat as the vampire began to seek a new target.
His attention fell on a young man who had managed to rise after being knocked down by his first strike. Swiftly approaching him, Alexander impaled him on his sword hilt-deep and twisted. Without withdrawing his weapon, he inserted his hand into the wound, applying scraps of magic and sucking blood from the boy through his palm.
Then he simply pushed the lifeless body away, casting it aside while simultaneously pulling his sword out of the body that had so recently been full of life, hopes, fears, and expectations. Alexander claimed it all to make it a part of himself. Discarding unnecessary emotions in this situation, the triumvir surveyed the battlefield.
About three hundred warriors and ten mages belonged to the battalion that invaded Baron Savoyardi's domain, outnumbering the hundred vampires. Preparing to cross the river, they clustered near the bridge, awaiting orders.
At that moment, unknown warriors emerged from the forest and, aligning in three thin lines, prepared to attack. The enemy commander was so taken aback by this audacity that he could only point out the target to his subordinates, taking a comfortable position on a hill to watch how his soldiers dealt with the intruders.
The situation had drastically changed from just twenty seconds ago. Fifty vampires in the first line completely annihilated all who attacked them, leaving only crossbowmen facing the battalion leader with his mages and vampires.
Throughout this time, they sent their deadly tidbits towards the attackers, all in vain—the second line of vampires consisted of just two dozen fighters, but they effectively shielded the first line from projectile magic with their charms and sorcery.
Further back, the girls actively sent "fire arrows" and "lightning bolts" towards the mages, simple and not very powerful spells. But there were many of them and they were sent frequently.
Considering that there were almost thirty of them... The enemy mages were occupied solely with their defense and the defense of their leader, essentially taking a passive role in the battle—just trying not to die themselves.
"Forward!" Alexander yelled, and the vampires rushed towards the crossbowmen standing forty meters away from them. Protecting them from bolts, the vampires eagerly threw themselves at the corpses of the enemies they had just defeated—there was still plenty of blood in them. Within half a minute, there were no longer any live bodies among the ranks of the crossbowmen.
After tasting the blood of yet another person, Alexander darted towards the hill where the mages were stationed.
"Capture the mages alive!! Only alive!! You can maim them, but do not kill!" He shouted as he moved, stating well-known truths, but the energy overflowing within him demanded not only an outlet, but also new deaths and new blood.
All vampires were in such a state, and it was better to remind them of the obvious than to later reproach oneself for forgetfulness and laziness. Above their heads, "fire arrows" and "lightning bolts" ceased to fly. The girls stopped casting spells, fearing to hit their own who had come within a jump's distance of the enemy.
Here was the first mage, wild, simply insane fear in his eyes. He released an "air fist" towards Alexander and somersaulted backwards as his spell rebounded against a "mirror." Other vampires rushed forward...
Watching the entire battle from behind the magical battalion, Leonid could only shake his head. The crowd running across the field more resembled a children's soccer match, where all the players chase after one ball. Something needed to be done about this.
"Damn! We're not supposed to kill them!" He shouted angrily, seeing that the vampires who reached the mages seemed to have forgotten all the orders they received before the battle.
"We really got in each other's way, guys," Alexander began to analyze, "and honestly, I don't see how we can resolve this issue. We can't make our ranks even thinner—simply because we won't handle fighting five enemies per one. Fighting in a tight formation with our strength and power—it's both foolish and extremely inconvenient."
"We started well!"
"We started well, but when we attacked the crossbowmen and mages, we started getting in each other's way!"
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