"Hey, if everything you just said is true...why are you so chill?" Inquired Rai skeptically.
"It's not like panicking would help. And it's not like there's anything in particular that I could do right now that'd be helpful, so I might as well relax while I can," I responded with a shrug.
It was a few hours later, around night-time, and I was currently at my place with the rest of Group D. I'd just finished relaying to them everything I'd learnt today. After Erhtaph got that call, he asked his contact at the Guild to bring the group that returned from Silvland to his place. I stayed too, since I was curious to hear what they had seen.
There were four people in that group, though only three showed up, Les, Selesa and Vi. The fourth person, Prince Ocroed, was injured and had been taken to the castle to be healed. Vi and Les described everything they'd seen before narrowly making their escape thanks to Naro, who had probably been killed.
Les mentioned that they were probably the only ones who had managed to escape, though it wasn't impossible that someone from the castle had escaped too. After we learnt about the dinosaurs under Platinberg, the king of Silvland got the idea to create a hidden underground passage from the castle leading outside the walls. Only the royals, their close advisors and their top S-Ranks knew about it, Les had heard about it from Naro, who had accidentally let it slip one time they'd been out drinking together.
Once they had relayed all the information they had learnt to us, they left to get some rest, all three looking utterly exhausted, Selesa didn't crack so much as a single dirty joke or innuendo, which says a lot. Atticus chimed in, saying that the Vampires they saw were definitely in weakened states, they'd have to consume a fair amount of human life force to regain their full powers, considering that they hadn't consumed any for over two hundred years.
He mentioned that in his current state, Lazarus might actually be weaker than me, but that probably would be fixed by the time he shows up here...well, that explains why they chose to attack Silvland first instead of the Rustlands. Les also mentioned something else, that the Vampires they'd encountered were strong, but not that much stronger than they were, definitely a lot weaker than my Vampire Mode...according to him, they wouldn't have been too big of a threat if they had the same vital points as humans, it was the fact that they could recover from any injury so long at their cores remained intact that made them truly difficult opponents to defeat. And unlike our limited Mana capacity, Vampires don't run out of their magic, and also have much higher stamina reserves than humans.
And with that, I headed back home. I used Call spells to contact the others in Group D and told them to come over to my place, so that I could inform them of what was going on. I currently had ten Call Spell Cards in my possession, four to contact the members of Group D, and the other six were linked to Erhtaph, Headmaster Yiserir, Elina, Mika, Aurich Goldway and the Guild. I had left all my Call cards at home today, and had been in too much of a hurry to go back and get them when I felt my Vampiric element resonating...though in hindsight, that would have saved me the wasted trip to the Academy.
Oh, I should mention, when Vi and the Jeule siblings got back, in their panic they weren't exactly subtle when they made their report on the Vampire outbreak...and as a result, they set the population into a panicked frenzy. Fortunately, Erhtaph worked diligently to ensure that we were quick to take precautions, evacuating all civilians to the south end of the Rustlands while all Adventurers were asked to post themselves at or close to the north end, to help with fortification efforts and to be ready for an attack.
My place was in the west side of the Rustlands, so I can't stay here for a while. All the inns and motels around the north side would be where the Adventurers were to stay for the foreseeable future. This was technically war, so there was no sense in complaining.
"So, uh...do we actually stand a chance? Not to be pessimistic, but if the weakest Vampires are as strong as or even stronger than an S-Ranked Adventurer, that means we're up against more than six hundred and fifty monsters that are all stronger than the average S-Rank...," Surmised Persia with a grimace.
"Okay, yeah...its pretty fucking bleak, but we're not completely helpless. There's the ambush I suggested, so-," I began to respond.
"Sorry, but simply suggesting an ambush is a bit too vague, if you don't have a specific plan in mind, then it's no use," Pointed out Key objectively.
"What are you talking about, of course I didn't suggest it without giving details on how to do so. Sheesh, give me some credit."
"Ooh, so what's the plan?" Rai asked curiously.
"Simple...we use a ton of Store and Extract spells, and Store some super powerful attacks like Ekai's Flaming Tornado and my Lightning Nova, and then extract them all onto the Vampires if and when they approach the Rustlands...boom, ambush."
"That sounds like it could work...yeah, way to go, Kuro!" Grinned Rai, his darkened expression lighting up.
"We could also use Store on the Vampires themselves, but for that, we'll have to touch them with the Spell Card...I asked Elina to add the remote activation feature, but apparently not all spells are compatible with that feature. Let's see, I think she said that the prerequisite for a spell to be compatible with the remote activation feature was that the effect of the spell should be classifiable under 'infliction'. For example, in the case of a paralysis spell, you're 'inflicting' the target with paralysis...but in the case of Store, you're trapping them in a pocket space or something, you're not directly inflicting anything on them. At least, I think that's right, assuming I interpreted the loli's explanation correctly."
"Yeah, that's how it works," Confirmed Az with a slight nod.
"So, anyway, Elina is currently working on creating a ton of Store and Extract spells for us to use, once she's done, everyone who can contribute an attack that'd be effective for the ambush will head out to the rocky area to the west of the Rustlands and we'll stock up on as many of them as we can. Hopefully that'll be tomorrow, but it's most likely to be the day after. Right off the top of my head, there's myself, Ekai, and Az of course...we need people who are capable of large scale Elemental Magic attacks, at least one of each Element. We've got lightning, fire and water covered with the three I mentioned, so now we need earth and wind...," I considered, mulling it over.
"Um...I would call my Wind Magic large scale, but I think I can get close-," Persia began to volunteer.
"No way, absolutely not!" I interrupted immediately.
"...why not?" She inquired suspiciously, my reaction justifying that.
I could make something up, but I think telling the truth might be the best approach here...
"Well, it's just...it could be dangerous, you know, when using the Store spell, if you miss the right timing, you could get seriously hurt...I mean, okay, the margin of time to activate the Store spell isn't that narrow, but still-."
"Grr, stop coddling me, you're being overprotective...I'll step aside if you can think of someone with stronger Wind Magic than me, but if you can't, then I'm doing it, and that's that!" She huffed indignantly.
Crap, I gotta think of someone...who do I know with Wind Magic? There was Selesa, but I'd put her on par with, or maybe even slightly below Persia in terms of Elemental Magic scale. Who else...who else...? Oh, that's right!
"Instructor Tabbs! Her Wind Magic isn't as intense as yours, but in terms of scale..."
"Tch...yeah, I guess you're right about that. Fine, I guess I'll sit out," She relented reluctantly.
"Haha, you really are overprotective, huh, dude?" Laughed Rai with a grin.
"Yeah, yeah, leave me alone...what, am I not allowed to worry?" I grumbled, averting my gaze awkwardly.
Well, all I could do for now was wait for Elina to finish up on the Spell Cards, so in the meantime...
"Let's get high."
...
...
Two days later, I was out by the Goblin cave along with Ekai, Az and Instructor Tabbs. There wasn't anyone with Earth Magic that had enough scale to launch an attack that would be worth using Store on. Too bad, dropping a meteor on the Vamps would've been cool. Oh, well, it is what it is. Fuo was here too, I wanted her Vampire's opinion on how effective this ambush would be.
Since we were planning on stocking up on as much of these attacks as possible, we had all filled up Mana Orbs in preparation...well, except me, Mana Orbs had stopped working for me ever since I got this one stuck in my chest. I thought at first it was because maybe my Mana was infused with Karma, but that didn't make sense because I stored my Karma in the Mana Orb in my chest when I wasn't using it.
And I asked Fuo, apparently she can still use Mana Orbs without a problem, so Dark Magic definitely wasn't the problem. The only explanation was that me already being connected to a Mana Orb was preventing me from using any other ones. On the bright side, my Mana recovery rate had increased a lot since before I got Karma and Vampire powers, so there was that.
"Alright, so who wants to go first?" I inquired, looking around.
"I do not mind volunteering. Are you certain that this spell can capture wind?" Instructor Tabbs asked uncertainly.
"Huh...I don't know, actually. I know it works on fire and lightning, and it almost definitely will work on water too, but now that you mention it, I'm not sure if it'll work on wind...well, only one way to find out. Can you make a wind tornado?"
"Yes, that's not a problem."
"Cool, I'll be the one to use the Store spell. Since we're not sure if it'll work, I'm the least at risk if it doesn't work, what with my Healing Factor and all," I replied, picking up a Store card and walked a few dozen meters away, "Okay, whenever you're ready, instructor!"
She nodded in response and stretched out her arms, morphing them into bat wings and then folding them in front of herself, charging up wind.
"Here I go!" She signaled, before rapidly spreading her wings out, sending out a large, spiraling blast of wind towards me.
It wasn't quite as large in scale or as powerful as Ekai's tornado of flames, but it was still pretty damn intense. I waited till the violently twisting mass of wind neared me, before swiftly holding out the Spell Card in front of me and running my Mana through it, activating Store...
.
.
.
It worked! I had been afraid that the Store spell might not have been able to differentiate between the attack and the air around us, but it worked. I think. Might as well make sure.
"Okay, I'm gonna test it out, see if it worked properly," I called out, signaling to the others to get out of the way, as I activated the corresponding Extract spell.
As I did, the spiraling blast of wind reappeared, shooting forward and kicking up a large dust cloud, before slamming against the outside of the Goblin cave and loosening some of the rocky surface, the debris falling to the ground. If I had to guess, the spell could differentiate her attack from the air around because her attack was infused with Mana while the surrounding air wasn't.
"I was wondering...you explained that destroying the core of a Vampire was the way to kill it, but do you think a wind attack could do so?" Inquired Ekai, as I rejoined them.
"Not on its own, no. We'll Store a bunch more of these wind tornados and then use them to enhance your flame tornados. Oh, by the way...you using expand your tornado outwards with you in the center...can you create it with you outside of it, and instead of expanding it outwards, can you give it forward momentum in a single direction?"
If he couldn't make a tornado that spun forward instead of outwards from a fixed point like he usually does, it wouldn't be as effective in an ambush.
"Yes, I can do that. I prefer not to because if I form it without myself at the center, I am more at risk of burning myself."
Great, I was a bit worried there for a sec, but it looks like we can continue as planned.
"No worries, if you accidentally burn yourself or something, I'll just heal ya. Well, now that we know that the spell will work properly on all Elemental Magic types, let's get to stocking up."
And so, we began. Ekai and Instructor Tabbs let loose tornado after tornado in turn, while Az conjured up massive spheres of ice with spikes all over them. And I contributed as many of my Scarlet Lightning Novas as I could. Seven, to be precise, which practically wiped out my Mana. The others were able to produce ten each of their large scale attacks, well technically eleven for the instructor if we count the test run we did at the start.
I should recover most of my Mana after a couple of hours or so, the others were fine in terms of Mana since they had Mana Orbs to refill from, but they looked a bit worn out and tired. Well, with one exception, I don't think Az was that tired, and he hadn't used a Mana Orb even once yet. Meanwhile, the instructor had refilled her Mana twice and Ekai had refilled once.
"How many of each attack have we stored by now?" Inquired the instructor, as we rested in the shade of the cave entrance.
"Seven lightning, and ten each of fire, wind and ice. I think twenty of each should be enough. We could save up even more if we wanted to, but I don't think there's any point in that, once we launch the ambush, we'll have to work fast, I doubt the Vampires will just stay still after the first wave hits, don't forget that they can fly too. I suppose we could drop the Stored ice attacks down at them, but if we keep people up in the air, they'd have nowhere to hide and would be in plain sight if a Vampire looks up at them, so it wouldn't make for a very effective amb-...unless we use Stealth barriers. Yeah, that could definitely work...okay, let's not limit ourselves to twenty, after all! Those barriers make the users invisible, soundproof and intangible, so we can position ourselves as effectively as possible and then rain all hell down at the Vampires."
"That certainly is likely to be very effective...I cannot think of any obvious flaws in this plan," Nodded Instructor Tabbs with a look of approval.
"The only problem with the Stealth barrier is that we can't use any magic while it's active, due to the intangibility effect, so at the very least, to activate the Extract spell we'll have to partially stick our hands out of the barrier. I guess I could ask Elina to make a version with only the invisibility and soundproof effects, the intangibility is more of a hindrance in this situation," I concluded, as I considered how to better streamline and increase the effectiveness of the ambush plan.
"I am wary of being too optimistic, but this seems like it could be quite devastating, even against Vampires," Remarked Ekai thoughtfully.
"Well, let's find out...Fuo, mind switching out?" I requested, turning my attention to her.
"Fine, give me a second."
"Oh, I forgot that she was here," Ekai stated in surprise.
"Yeah, me too...that startled me a bit," Agreed Az, who'd been sitting a bit in front of her, jumping slightly when she spoke up.
"Tch, of course you two forgot about me...," She grumbled, before her expression changed as she gave control to Atticus.
Man, even with her power up, she still didn't seem to be over her inferiority complex. Granted, I don't actually know exactly how strong her Vampire Mode is, but she had to be fairly powerful. To avoid any confusion, I'd already explained to the other three that she had a Vampire stuck inside her, but they were still staring at her with curiosity and intrigue. Well, I could hardly blame them, I'd been caught off-guard when I found out too.
"Hey, you were watching all that, right, Atticus? Do you think this'll work?" I inquired expectantly.
"Hm, well it was quite an impressive showing, I can see why Fuo envies y-...shut up and stick to the point, you stupid Vampire! ...ahem, as I was saying...those attacks were quite impressive, and I would expect that most of the weaker Vampire Minions will get wiped out, however the king will likely be unaffected even if he is directly struck by the attacks, I suspect the Evil Numbers and the Vampire Knights will not be too badly affected either."
"Yeah, I figured as much, the stronger Vamps getting wiped out that easily would be too good to be true."
"Vamps? I'm not sure I like that shortened term. I suppose it doesn't really matter. You were right about one thing, the Vampires won't stand idly by once the ambush is launched, the instant the first attack is launched, all the Vampires will use their Blood Magic and Crosses to counter. In other words, make sure the first wave of Extracted attacks takes out as many of them as possible. Because after that, they will start countering relentlessly."
"So, how should we expect them to counter? Blood Magic gives them long ranged options right, we can brace for that if we know it's coming, but I'm worried about the Crosses...each Vampire's Cross is a unique ability, right?"
"Yes, Vampiric Blood Magic is quite straightforward, the stronger Vampires can form their Blood Magic with a degree of complexity, such as streamlining the shape and speed of the output, and fire it with greater intensity, but the basic effect is the same, a sharp burning sensation that inflicts a deteriorating effect on the victim if left untreated, a simple healing spell should be enough to counter damage from Blood Magic. The stronger Vampires certainly have the speed to avoid the ambush once the element of surprise is used up. Therefore, I would recommend that those who launch the ambush be made up of Adventurers capable of holding their own against Vampires. Onto the main problem, their Crosses..."
"Mhm, any particularly troublesome Crosses to worry about?"
"You do not need to worry too much about the ones that have Crosses that require eye contact like mine or the king. None of them have ranges beyond twenty meters, including the king, and they cannot activate their Cross without direct eye contact. There is one Vampire in the Evil Numbers who has a barrier ability, she can form either defensive or reflective barriers. Her name is Eighty-Seven, be wary of her. I shall give you the list of the Vampire names and their abilities of the ones that are the greatest threats tonight, I have not fully finished it yet."
Eighty-Seven, huh...I'm pretty sure the number eighty-seven was considered unlucky in my old world since it was thirteen less than a hundred. I was never superstitious, but I did find some of that occult stuff kinda interesting. Six-Six-Six and Eighty-Seven were the two that he'd mentioned before...
"Hey, before you go, let me see if I can guess the remaining three numbers...I'm guessing thirteen, one-one-one, sixty-nine, four-two-zero, twenty-three, eighty-nine or twenty-one?"
Those were the most notable numbers I could think of, though a couple of them had nothing to do with the occult.
"Well, you got Thirteen right...but the remaining two are Zero and Five."
Oh...well, never mind then.
"Never mind, forget I said anything. Anyway, let's get back to work, everyone. Thanks for the consultation, Atticus."
"Hm, I can appreciate your graciousness, Kuro...you are most welcome. Unlike Fuo, who just takes me for granted-," He remarked with a sigh, before Fuo quickly took back control, "...that's enough out of you, stop complaining."
As we stood up and began to leave the cave entrance, I stiffened and motioned for the others to stop as a heard something...it sounded like footsteps, coming in the direction of the path leading towards Goldway-...or rather, The Valaque Empire now. I count four sets of footsteps, about thirty meters away, I'd say. Thanks to the tall rocks and cliffs throughout this area, noise echoed pretty resoundingly. An attack by The Empire? Can't be, not with just four people. Maybe spies? We had caught a few that had attempted to sneak in, but couldn't make it past the protective barrier.
Well, it doesn't matter, if whoever was heading this way really was from The Empire, they had some pretty bad luck to cross this place while we were here. Between myself, Az, Ekai, Fuo and Instructor Tabbs, we had some of the strongest people in the Rustlands here. They should come into view within seconds...
By now, the others could clearly hear the footsteps too, and were remaining silent and alert. Now, then...let's see who's approaching-...no way...
What is he doing here, why now of all times? Tch, it doesn't matter, I'm going to kill him.
"Hey, what are you doin-?" Began Ekai, but I ignored him, as I entered Vampire Mode.
I began charging up lightning in my hands and dashed towards them, as the one I was focused on sensed my bloodlust and turned to look at me with an alarmed expression.
"Lagusa! I'm going to kill you!" I yelled, as I shot towards him with my claws extended...
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