Vampire's Blood Ascension-Chapter 22: Vampire’s Stealthy Fingers

Sensing the little power coursing through his body, Rudy instantly called out to Final Will.

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Name: Rudric Ironwell

Moniker: Crimson Saint

Path: [Blood]

Rank: [Deviant]

Attribute: [Scarlet Scion]

○ Grade: [Apex]

○ Description: [You are the last child of the Blood God]

Traits: [Divine Blooded], [Cold Headed], [Lesser Vampire], [Blood Expert]

Skills: [Scarlet Sight], [Blood Manipulation], [Crimstone Construct], [Blood Usurpation]

Essence Shards: [2 / 1000]

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’Two essence from a deviant fiend...’ Rudy noted in his head, and his eyes drifted towards Ray, who had left deep gashes throughout a Salivor Maw’s appalling body.

His eyes shone with a newfound person, and without wasting a single moment, he dashed towards Ray.

Using his attribute, Ray struck the dreadborn multiple times, but its body was too thick for his attacks actually to kill it.

"Dammit!" Cursing his luck, he jumped back and dodged the incoming mace of the dreadborn.

The ground trembled, and cracks spread outwards as the mace crashed on it.

The next moment, the sound of splitting air reached Ray’s ears, and he turned to the left and saw Rudy, whose sword was halfway through the Salivor Maw’s neck.

Rudy gritted his teeth and muttered in his head, ’Only if I could use my essence!’

Salivor Maw let out a guttural cry and swung its arm towards Rudy, and Ray plunged the blade of his axe into the other side of its neck.

Rudy’s long sword slid out due to the impact. He firmed his legs and immediately swung with as much precision and strength as he could.

[You have slain a Deviant Fiend: Salivor Maw!]

[Your blood has grown pure.]

The long sword easily cut through its horrible flesh.

The dreadborn hit the ground with a heavy thud, and its head rolled to the side, blood pouring out in a gurgling motion.

Rudy and Ray nodded at each other and dashed towards Trina.

Trina easily dodged the attacks of the dreadborn and plunged her short swords into its stout abdomen, blood leaking out of it like water from a punctured balloon.

Like Rudy, Trina hadn’t used her essence or skills. But unlike Rudy, she had more experience with her body and had absorbed more essence shards than he had. Because of that, even though she had a human body, she performed somewhat better than Rudy.

The Salivor Maw pummeled its free fist at her, and she dodged it by rolling to the side, then it swung its crude mace at her.

Trina, who was mid-roll, pushed her feet against the ground and sprang away from the crashing mace.

She instantly stood up on her feet and climbed onto the mace, then onto the dreadborn, plunged her short swords into its eyes, and stored both of her swords in her spatial ring before jumping towards the figures running towards her.

Rudy caught her in his free arm.

She slipped down his arm and retrieved her short swords from her spatial ring.

The Salivor Maw roared in agony, blood streamed from its eyes, and Rudy impaled his long sword through its head.

[You have slain a Deviant Fiend: Salivor Maw!]

[Your blood has grown pure.]

His gaze shifted towards the remaining deviant fiends that were toying with the irregulars of the city and the mechas — the only reason why none had died was John Stinson, who was supporting them from far behind.

Trina took a peek at Rudy’s sweat-drenched body gleaming in the sunlight and messaged after shaking her head.

[Trina: Let’s go!]

Rudy and Ray nodded, and they dashed forward.

After about an hour, they killed all of the deviant fiends, and Rudy had obtained a total of eighteen essence by taking the final blow at all of them.

Rudy breathed heavily, sweat drenched him, and his whole body ached; the same was true for the others.

As they were walking towards the ARO, a sharp wet cry spun their heads, and Angelo stepped forward to take care of the gate guardian.

Unlike the dreadborns before, the gate guardian wasn’t humanoid; instead, it was a ghostly pale komodo dragon the size of a car. Its skin was bubbling, and thin purple veins were visible through the countless ancient wounds; it had ominous purple spikes at the end of its tail.

The pale komodo let out a low shriek and crept towards them.

Dark essence dripped out of Angelo’s body and solidified around him like an armour crafted from obsidian.

He sprinted forward, and a dark blade appeared in his hand.

He swung it, a dark crescent shot out of it, and crashed into the dreadborn’s front left leg.

Rudy turned towards them and activated his [Scarlet Sight].

As he did so, three corrupt cores fell in his vision, and he remarked in his head, ’A tainted demon...’

He looked at Angelo and thought, ’At least it’s not a horror.’

The dreadborns that had one to three cores could be dealt with by the irregulars of the same rank as them, but those with four or more cores required more than one irregular or an irregular of a higher rank.

He took a deep breath, leaned onto the ARO, and watched Angelo deal with the pale komodo.

About an hour passed as the two of them fought with one another, and they were already much closer to them.

’They are just three hundred meters away from us,’ Rudy remarked in his head.

Just as Angelo came near to ending it for good, a thought appeared in Rudy’s mind.

’Will it work?’ He thought for a moment as he stared at the blood covering the ground.

’Let’s give it a try.’ With a determined glint in his eyes, Rudy stealthily pointed his fingers at the blood beneath the pale komodo.

’Blood Manipulation.’

Blood essence coursed towards his fingers, and for a moment, he felt as if he was no longer in a fixed body, but instead, he was present in every drop of blood in his proximity.

Angelo was about to finish the pale komodo with his dark bullets, the blood under it rippled and rose as countless spikes impaled the dreadborn before the bullets could hit it.

[You have slain a Tainted Demon: Pale Komodo!]

[Your blood has grown pure.]

The corners of his lips twitched and threatened to lift into a smirk, but he kept it.