Chapter 24 - Answers

"Bleia? Is that you, Bleia!" Leon shouted in shock.

The enormous humanoid bat smiled like a human, then descended and threw Leon to the ground. After rolling a few times, Leon finally stopped, then stood up, a pained expression on his face. Meanwhile, after circling in the air one last time, the enormous bat descended and landed beside Leon.

Miraculously, as the humanoid bat approached the ground, its form began to twist and change in a bizarre manner. The reddish fur on its body gradually disappeared, transforming into a smooth, shiny red dress. The thick, protruding cheeks tightened inward, revealing a beautiful and charming face.

Once the transformation was complete, she gracefully turned and walked towards Leon. Bleia was back to normal.

Bat transformation!

This... seems to be a unique vampire ability.

The innate abilities of a newborn vampire were gaining strength through blood consumption and regeneration. Because of these two factors, they were already an extremely frightening species. However, if a newborn vampire could take one step further, they would gain the ability to transform into a bat. Whether transforming into a single massive bat and flying through the sky, or splitting into thousands of small bats as a means of escape, this ability performed admirably in saving one's life.

And, if a vampire reached a mature stage, they would be able to begin mass-producing Blood Slaves.

So, to fight a mature vampire, one would first need to face a massive army of Blood Slaves.

As his mind went through all the knowledge it held related to vampires, Leon couldn't help but feel respect, and even a bit of admiration, for Bleia's rapid progress. Only a few days had passed since she became a Vampire, and she had already awakened her second innate ability.

"Who is that little girl? Why is she hunting you?" Bleia wasn't looking at Leon but at the chaotic battlefield in the distance.

Their current location was about five or six miles from the heart of the Ghost Nannies' Lake, so the thick swamp mist was blocking their vision. However, it wouldn't matter if they were sixteen miles away, as massive waves of Elementium were being released from where Lucy and Sinbad were.

The battle was getting intense!

"They're intruders! Three Advanced Apprentice Mages attacked. That little girl, Lucy, mainly uses the Space Principle, which she is highly suited for. She's terrifyingly strong…"

As Leon was explaining this in a soft voice, a shockwave of Elementium erupted from the direction where the battle was occurring, followed by the shrill howls of the Ghost Nannies.

"Oh no, let's run!" Leon's face changed dramatically. "That terrifying little girl has escaped Sinbad!"

He had felt this frightening shockwave before and knew that Lucy was using her powerful spatial attack that could cause mass destruction with space rifts. It's worth noting that using this ability came at a high price, but when Lucy used it, Leon was certain that Sinbad could never stop her from fleeing.

"If we work together, do you think we have any chance of killing her?" Bleia suddenly turned, her green eyes flickering red as she looked directly at Leon.

"This... Well... If we work together then... Maybe... Maybe..." Leon was surprised by Bleia's unexpected question. When faced with this powerful Advanced Apprentice, all that mattered was running for his life. The idea of turning back and attacking the enemy was simply absurd.

After all, with his current abilities, even if Lucy were severely injured and dying, she could still crush him easily.

If he could keep a 50-meter distance from Lucy, Leon was 80% confident he could avoid her spatial attacks with the Chip's help. If the distance were reduced to 30 meters, his confidence would drop to 40%, and if he were 20 meters from Lucy, he knew he would be killed instantly.

He needed time to respond to the Chip's warnings. Without the Chip, Leon was nothing more than a small, fragile glass figurine in front of Lucy.

He didn't have the strange insect body of a Worm Controller, which could still remain alive even if its heart was ripped out. Thus, once Lucy captured him with her spiritual energy, he would be dead! Therefore, Leon instinctively wanted to say no to Bleia's question.

But, when confronted with the unstoppable Bleia, it seemed he had no voice in the matter.

His body began to twist bizarrely again as Bleia transformed into a small bat, just the size of a human fist. She flew towards Leon's chest and squeezed into his shirt. She looked at him and spoke threateningly, "You'd better not reveal that I'm here! I'm determined to get the blood of that fool!"

Faced with Bleia's tiny furry face adorned with a 'threatening' expression, all Leon could do was nod expressionlessly.

"Don't worry, if she really tries to kill you, I'll find a way to protect you!" Although Bleia said this, Leon's mind barely calmed. He began to ponder how he would approach Lucy without alerting her.

However, when he turned around, his pupils contracted, and he was terrified by what he saw before him.

A dark figure was slowly condensing in the mist about ten meters away from him. Judging by the silhouette, it was that small, terrifying Lolita, Lucy.

"Lucy!" At that moment, Leon felt his mouth go dry and his breath shorten.

This Lucy was like a vengeful ghost. No matter where he ran, she kept finding him. After being forced by the Ghost Nannies to unleash a second spell of Space Rifts, which covered a vast area, not only did she have no time to find a place to recover, but she came right after him. Did she not know that resting was a necessary part of life?

Recovering from his shock, Leon realized he should be running now.

But, before he could lift his feet, a trembling, childish voice resonated in the air.

"If you dare to take a step, I promise I'll teleport your heart into your stomach… I dare you to force me…"

Leon raised his head and watched as the dark figure gradually became visible. In the end, he didn't have the courage to take that step.

Damn, she was too close!

After thinking that, he was stunned by Lucy's face.

In her previous battle with the Worm Controller, Lucy had lost one of her eyes and suffered many cuts and bruises, but this time, the little Lolita was in an absolutely terrible state.

The hollow socket where her right eye used to be was still empty, but now there were three gruesome scars stretching from the bottom of the right eye to the left corner of her lips. The skin around these scars was turning black, and the exposed flesh showed obvious signs of decay. Whenever Lucy spoke or did anything that moved her face, black blood oozed from those ugly wounds.

Moreover, the number of injuries on her body had multiplied, and there were many bite marks on her exposed skin. The small, cute Lolita had been replaced by a distorted, voodoo doll-like creature.

An indistinct vibration of spatial energy filled the area. After struggling for a moment, Lucy managed to finish her spatial energy construction, teleporting from one area to another. Normally, she could easily complete this simple spatial jump, but now she had to push every last drop of her strength just to manage it.

Shortly after she exited the spell matrix, Lucy's remaining eye was filled with a blazing flame of rage, glaring fiercely at Leon, who wore an empty expression. Although she barely reached Leon's chest, her brutal and dominating presence was crushing him.

Leon's heart began to race even faster when he saw a large head hanging from Lucy's waist.

Judging by the cruel and ugly face, it had to be Sinbad's head. It seemed that even the leader of the Ghost Nannies hadn't escaped from the brutal Lucy.

"You're good... You're really good..." Lucy murmured. Grinding her teeth, she looked at Leon. It was easy to see that she was unable to express all the anger and frustration she felt towards Leon right now.

When she first stepped into this Magical Swamp, she was in a good mood and filled with pride. In her mind, apart from those exalted and venerable Mages, everyone else was just a monotonous variety of trash, not even worthy of carrying her shoes. Relying on her indestructible protective barrier and her mysterious spatial cutting, she felt qualified to face a pseudo-Mage.

But who would have thought that, within this seemingly insignificant Magical Swamp, which was just a common resource location for a Third Grade Mage family, she would actually suffer such a heavy loss? At that moment, no one could understand how depressed and angry she was! She was like an ancient brutal beast devouring all the men before her.

All she wanted to do was peel the skin off that slippery rat and tear every tendon from his muscles, crushing all his bones one by one and smashing his flesh into a pile of meat paste.

Perhaps, by doing all this, she could alleviate the anger in her heart.

"Boy, tell me honestly, how did you find the gap in my protective barrier?" Lucy's fierce face smiled as both her hands began to grasp the air in front of her. A spatial rift, constantly elongating, appeared between her hands like a tamed snake. "As long as you tell me the truth, I promise, I won't do anything to you today. I, Lucy, always honor my words!"

'Only a dead man would trust you! Even if you don't attack me personally, you could just throw me into a swarm of demons, and that would kill me. Hmm, it's clear that I know more about dirty tricks and sinister plots than you…'

Leon began to complain in his mind, then he realized he was staring at a spatial rift behaving like a tamed snake in Lucy's small hands. He wasn't brave enough to say a single word in the face of such a display of power. Although he appeared calm on the outside, inside his mind was overheating.

'Damn, she really is a genius, she's playing with a spatial rift with her own hands! This is a spatial rift! A FUCKING SPATIAL RIFT! Even the sharpest weapons in the world can't compare to this! No matter if it's in front of a shield made of pure steel, or iron that has gone through thousands of temperings, as long as there is no magical protection, it will be cut like a sheet of paper!'

Despite being an extremely dangerous spatial spell, this little Lolita held it in her hands as if it were a cute puppy. This was proof of how crucial innate skills were for an Apprentice Mage.

"I can't see the Spatial Energy around you!" Leon hesitated for a brief moment, then decided to tell the truth.

"Nonsense!" Lucy shouted angrily, saying, "If you can't see them, then how did you find the exact location of my Wind Barrier?"

"You must know that Spatial Energy has no specific Elementium characteristics. It is part of a Principle. Those who do not have an innate talent for a principle can never see it with the naked eye. But don't forget this, there is a huge repulsive force between the opposite Elementium, and the Spatial Energy you're using is incredibly harsh and lonely… So…"

"So you determined the shape and position of my protective barrier by detecting the area where there is no Elementium and, as a result, you were able to see that they were repelled by the spatial energy? Then…" Lucy concluded from what Leon said and soon found the source of the gap, saying, "Damn, I shouldn't have used a Wind Elementium spell to cover that hole. Next time, I'll use a Force Field spell that doesn't contain Elementium."

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