Vampire's Blood Ascension-Chapter 19: Rank 1 Terror Gate [2]

John’s gleaming white arrow streaked past Rudy’s neck and struck a howler hound in the head.

It let out a slow cry and clawed forward. Ray appeared beside it, his axe shone with a blue glint, and he whispered, "Blitz~!"

Within the next second, he swung his axes more than ten times and left the dreadborn full of deep wounds and guttural segments.

Blood poured out of its gaping wounds.

Trina stepped beside it and stabbed her short sword in the side of its head.

The madness within its eyes vanished, and with a heavy thud, its lifeless body fell on the ground.

Ray placed his axes against his shoulder and muttered with a wide grin, "What kind of physical attribute does that guy have?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Trina and John turned their heads towards Rudy, who was slashing through the dreadborns with ease.

As a vampire, his physical and agility prowess were much better than those of a human, and because he had trained daily, he was already in a somewhat good rhythm with his sword.

Blood marred the side of Rudy’s face, but he ignored it as if it didn’t matter. His uniform was also slick with the blood of the howler hounds, but he didn’t care; the only thing he wanted to feel right now was strength...

At that moment, He held choice over the lives of the dreadborns, and unlike back then, he had power over his identity, his self.

With a wide grin, he lifted his long sword high above his head, its bloodied blade shone crimson as the sunlight touched it, and it fell on the remaining dreadborn of the first wave.

The howler hound lunged at him, and while mid-air, it met his sword and was segmented into two.

Blood sprayed across the ground, and the two halves of its grotty body fell on his two sides.

He lowered his stance, raised his head, and looked at the sun above with a faint smile.

Ray and others walked over to him, and John muttered after placing a hand on his shoulder, "Are you the same guy who was scared about fighting dreadborns?"

Rudy looked at him with a friendly smile. "I am... it was just much easier than before," he mumbled while clenching the hilt of his long sword.

His haloband buzzed.

He turned his head towards Trina, and the lower half of her face was completely fine. Furthermore, with her plump lips, she looked beautiful, but even without the mask, she still chose to use messages.

[Trina: \(≧∇≦)/ You did much better than all of us!]

Seeing the emoticon, a chuckle escaped his lips, and he wondered, ’Can she not speak?’

Until now, he didn’t care about anything related to her or others because he was filling the space left by their injured member, but Trina’s care and kindness had managed to seep beyond Vlad Belmont and reach Rudric Ironwell.

"Thank—" Before he could finish his words, a wail much heavier and sharper than before reached their ears.

Rudy tore his gaze behind him and saw more hounds stepping out of it. These hounds were similar but a bit bigger, with much harder skin.

His eyes shone red for a moment, and he mumbled, "Latent demons..."

The hounds standing before him were of the same rank as the Clawing Brute of his trial, but they were still weaker.

Clawing Brute had raw destructive strength and wasn’t as fast as the usual demons, but these hounds were much more balanced, so even though they would be faster, it wouldn’t be a surprise factor like the brute’s strength.

Seeing the demons, everyone’s expression turned serious, and with a shuddering howl, the demons and the circle leapt at each other.

Rudy’s sword split through the air and left a deep gash across the front legs of the demon, but it wasn’t strong enough to cleave it in two.

With its maw wide open, it bit towards Rudy’s head, and just as it was about to, an arrow impaled its eye.

The hound let out a sharp cry, and Rudy thrust his sword through its neck. It let out a dying whimper, and Rudy pushed his long sword upwards, splitting its head in two.

[You have slain a Latent Demon: Wailer Hound!]

Rudy let out a sharp breath and dashed towards the next wailer hound that was clawing at Ray and Trina.

Trina’s short sword zipped across its body, leaving shallow scratches.

Ray plunged his axes into them and left deep wounds, but none of them were lethal enough to kill it.

Both of them had hopeless looks on their faces as their attacks did nothing but draw blood — unfortunately, dreadborns couldn’t die of blood loss.

However, before they could sink further inside the quagmire of despair, Rudy’s shout reached them.

"DUCK!"

Both of them instantly lowered themselves, Rudy’s sword zipped past where their heads should’ve been, and severed the wailer hound’s neck from its body.

[You have slain a Latent Demon: Wailer Hound!]

Blood burst out and fell on them like a warm rain, but Rudy didn’t stop and ran towards the next demon.

Ray and Trina shot to their feet, wiped the blood marring their faces, and followed behind him.

Far away, Angelo stood beside the ARO with Rudy’s profile open on his haloband; however, his was a bit different.

———

Name: [Vlad Belmont]

Status: [None] (CIC)

Rank: [Deviant]

Gender: [Male]

Access Level: [1]

Credits: [12]

Path: [Life]

AAG: [Rare]¹

Potential: [Unknown]

Affiliation: [Sanctuary City 07-C]

Assigned Circle: [Trina Unit]

Merit Score: [Pending Evaluation]

Surveillance Level: [Red]

———

He clicked on the hologram and made the required change.

Potential: [Unknown -> High]

After about half an hour, the circle dealt with all of the wailer hounds.

All four of them were on the ground.

Rudy sat while the others lay as if dead.

Rudy wiped the blood and sweat covering his face and mumbled under his breath, "It wasn’t bad, but it could be better."

He took a deep breath and shot to his feet, then offered his hand to Trina and said with a faint smile, "You are supposed to help me, you know?"

—

¹AAG: Assumed Attribute Grade.