”NOAH!” Alicia screamed as she went to her knees. She immediately flicked her wrist to take out a blue healing potion,
Following Alicia, Atian came running to Noah and tried to help him up. But unfortunately, Noah really seemed to be in bad shape. There were numerous claw marks, cuts, and bruises on his body.
Since Noah was just in the Core Strengthening stage, the cultivation gap between the vampires and Noah was not as big as that between Michael and the vampires. But, because Noah battled more than twenty vampires with no help, the vampires did a number on him.
After Alicia chugged the healing potion down Noah’s throat, the bruises on Noah’s face slowly disappeared as the rosiness returned to his face.
”We have to go…” Noah slurred due to internal injuries.
They could barely distinguish the words that escaped his mouth.
Boom!
Suddenly the door Michael blocked exploded into bits and pieces,
Through the Environmental map, Michael sensed the vampires rushing into the hall.
”Olivia, Eve” Michael raised his voice, drawing their attention to him,
”RUN NOW!”
”But-” Olivia tried to interject, but Michael’s face twitched, wordlessly telling her to shut up,
If push came to shove, Michael could always teleport away. However, teleporting Eve and Olivia would raise unwanted attention of Noah and Alicia. Besides, although fighting the vampires was risky, killing them offered him precious experience points. By utilizing the situation, Michael planned to have another breakthrough. Getting stronger was the only way he could fight his future enemies. But, to become strong, he knew he had to take risks.
”Jenni quick!”
Jennifer did not waste time arguing with Michael. Ghost might be a good friend to her, but her little sister’s safety was the most important thing to her. Hence, Eve grabbed Jennifer and Olivia’s hand to rush toward the door on the other side before the vampires could pour in through the blasted door.
”You three should go too” Noah finally picked himself to his feet,
Leilan gave a stare to Michael before running behind Eve, leaving Atian and Alicia behind,
”Where is Norvin?”
”I sent him away to call for backup,” Alicia said as Michael walked towards the door Even went through. Noah noticed a wooden bucket appear in Ghost’s hands.
”There is no time. Leave. I will hold them off as long as I can,”
Noah’s words reached Michael’s ears and surprised him. Michael wondered what the hell was going on in Noah’s head. He was planning to stay back to fight the vampires because he needed experience points and had an escape plan. However, Noah needed no experience points or seemed to have no escape plan.
”No. Come with us” Alicia’s eyes watered up as she frantically shook her head,
”Do not make me pull ranks on you, Alicia. Grandmaster, please take her with you,”
Meanwhile, Michael splashed the liquid in the bucket onto the door. Immediately, the air became thick with the smell of oil. The smell indicated what Ghost was planning to do. Noah pushed both Grandmaster Atian and Alicia towards the door.
”Why are you staying behind?” Noah asked Ghost. To Noah, Ghost staying behind was a surprise.
Alicia forgot to throw a death glare at Michael in her concern about leaving behind Noah.
”Where are you piggy piggy?” the bone-chilling voice of the elder vampire sounded in their ears.
”I can’t let you have all the fun,” Michael responded to Noah with a smile.
Then the moment Alicia and Atian stepped outside, Michael closed the door.
With a snap of his finger, Michael sent a tiny bolt of lightning to the door, causing the door to get on fire immediately.
As the door was burning behind them, Michael and Noah walked side by side for the first time as their long coats fluttered in the wind.
On the other side, the elder vampire shrouded in red mist hovered through the hole where the door was, followed by several dark-robed vampires.
”We cannot fight him in a closed space like this,” Michael whispered to Noah.
Looking at the elder vampire and the others behind him, Michael’s instincts told him they were not as weak as the vampires he killed. The last thing Michael wanted was another red hole in a closed space. So instead, the ideal place to battle them would be in the open.
”Just the two I want,” the elder vampire snarled. Unfortunately, because of the shroud of mist around him, Noah couldn’t see the elder vampire behind. However, Michael was able to because of his X-ray vision. Thus, Michael saw the elder vampire raise his hand.
And the moment Michael saw the vampire snap his fingers, the entire hall trembled.
Boom!
The hall exploded from within. Soon, the building crumbled down.
”Lightning Dash” Michael immediately cast the spell to escape the hall.
From outside, one could see the entire northern side of the arena collapse to the ground. The crumbling building hit the ground, producing a dust storm. Because of the dark blanket on the arena, the scene looked eerie.
Many alchemists lay on the open ground without moving a muscle. Their green robes were drenched in their own blood. Other than the green robes, the only commonality they had between them was the bite mark on their necks. Those who were lucky escaped the arena while Noah was fighting them. Still, almost sixty percent of the people died at the hands of the vampires. The smell of blood stench in the air was evident from this gruesome massacre. The casualty rate of the alchemists was much higher than the spectators. Only a handful of the alchemists who participated in the final round escaped the arena. The rest were on the ground, dead. Almost ninety percent of the most talented alchemists of Elon and Ozer died in the battle.
At that moment, among the bodies, two bodies moved.
”Shit,” Michael cursed as he picked himself up from the ground. He pushed himself to the limit by using Celestial energy. Otherwise, he would have been crushed by the building. He still couldn’t believe the elder vampire brought down the hall with a single snap of his finger.
Michael picked himself up as he growled and saw the arena in ruins. The VIP seating and the hall north side of the arena were gone.
”Argh,” Michael heard a growl as he turned aside to see Noah. Just like him, Noah also pushed himself to escape the collapsing building. However, considering Noah wasn’t a Soul Refining stage cultivator, he couldn’t use Celestial energy to power up his spells. That was why Noah had bruises and cuts, unlike Michael.
Noah flicked his wrist, retrieving a healing potion. Noah drank the potion in one gulp and prepared himself for the battle. Then, Noah looked around to see hundreds of dead bodies. All those lives…lost. His heart ached at the sight.
”These are blood-sucking vampires. So we have to kill them, you know that right?” Michael asked, looking at the elder vampire hovering towards them with the vampires following him behind.
”I only want one alive,” Noah said,
”No problem for me,”
Obviously, Noah wanted one vampire alive so he could interrogate him for more information. If Michael was right, Noah would also try to find a cure for vampirism. With the help of the system, it was not a big deal for Michael. He had already started to find the cure and required a blood sample from a more powerful vampire other than Victor.
”His blood might do the trick,” Michael said to himself staring at the elder vampire.
At the moment, only Michael, Noah, and the vampires remained in the arena. All the others were either dead or escaped the arena with their life intact.
”You possess Heaven’s flame,” the elder vampire said, landing on the ground.
”You massacred my freshlings” the elder vampire turned his gaze from Noah to Michael,
”I wonder what kind of vampires you two would become,” the elder vampire’s voice sounded colder,
”When I turn you both”
As soon as these words escaped the elder vampire’s mouth, the thirty vampires behind him dashed at Michael and Noah before they could even blink an eye.
”Lightning dash”
”Void step”
Michael dashed at the vampires leaving a golden trail, while Noah left blurry after images.
Clang!
Clang!
The sound of metals clashing emerged in the ground, but unlike one would expect, the sound produced by Michael and Noah’s sword hitting the vampires’ necks.
Michael was surprised as his sword didn’t cut through the vampire-like before. Instead, he felt like he had hit a stone. Only then did he realize the red mist covering the vampire’s neck.
”Die!” the vampire violently swung his fist at Michael, but he quickly leaped back. On the other hand, Noah was also surprised by the protective mist around their necks.
”Blood beam!” before Michael could bat an eye, the vampire fired a red beam at him.
Out of the blue, the translucent responsive shield popped up and absorbed the beam, protecting Michael. The vampire was surprised but kept firing beam after another without a break.
Suddenly Michael’s neck air stood up as another vampire leaped at him simultaneously from behind, left and right. Noah’s situation was no different than Michael’s. In fact, Noah was in worse condition as more vampires targeted him because of Heaven’s flame.
The responsive shield could protect him from attack spells but not physical attacks. Therefore, Michael immediately cast the ring of fire to burn the vampires flanking him.
”Motherfucker!”
”AHH!’
The scorching hot flame appeared around Michael in a perfect circle, instantly burning the four vampires within a three-meter radius. The flames continued to send waves of flames in all directions preventing the other vampires from getting close to Michael and burning the vampires inside the circle more and more.
Granted, the vampires had inhuman regeneration. Still, injuries and burn wounds hurt them like hell.
Luckily for the vampires, Michael still didn’t use the Dark Flames. Otherwise, the ring of fire would have turned the vampires into piles of ashes.
”ARGHH!” Suddenly a vampire roared as he smashed the stage Noah stood on during the competition.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
A couple of vampires joined the vampire in breaking the platform. Meanwhile, the others kept Michael and Noah busy. They swarmed the two of them from all directions.
They kept smashing the platform until the platform cracked open. Then, after cracking open the marble platform, the vampires ripped apart a huge ten-meter-long marble slab.
Boom!
”Shit,” Michael only saw a blue before he was sent flying by the marble pillar. In mid-air, he coughed up blood as the APD immediately sent a healing potion into his bloodstream to heal his body.
The vampires swung the marble pillar again as fast as they could and swatted Noah like a bug. The next moment, Noah’s body violently screeched through the ground, creating a clear trail.