Vampire's Blood Ascension-Chapter 54: Dark Crimstone Sword

The day passed, and the desert turned dark once again.

Rudy side-stepped the incoming stinger of the noon scorpion and swung his sword at it.

However, the continuous battles had chipped down his already broken sword, and just as it touched the stinger, the whole blade fell apart like glass.

Rudy’s eyes widened, and his face turned grave as the scorpion turned and slammed its stinger into his side.

Rudy rolled backwards from the impact, and blood slid down his lips.

He clawed at the ground and gripped the grass as he lifted his head and stared at the scorpion with gritted teeth.

More blood dripped down his face as he forced himself to stand and mumbled while holding his right side, "What would I do now?"

The scorpion had already forgotten him and was crawling towards the spring at the center.

Rudy did have a way to continue his fight; however, for some reason, whenever he thought about using it, something deep within him told him not to.

It told him not to trust anyone. To not show everything.

"I have to do it," he muttered and dashed towards the corpse of the deviant fiend that he had killed before this one.

He raised his hand towards it, and blood essence coursed through his body. Then, before his very eyes, the dreadborn’s dark blood seeped out of its body, and the corpse turned into a pale, dried husk.

The blood floated above the husk, and tendrils wiggled as it took the form of a crude long sword.

"It’s amazing..." Rudy mumbled as he gripped the blood sword, and more essence left him.

The blood began to harden, turning into a dark crystal that scattered the moonlight like a gemstone.

Feeling the power of the sword, his lips arched upwards, and he dashed towards the scorpion.

The scorpion was just a few steps away from the spring when Rudy appeared beside it and severed its left limbs in a single swing.

Blood splattered all over the bright grass, and he kicked it at the side, sending it stumbling to the right.

The scorpion let out short, painful hisses, and Rudy channelled his essence into the dark crimstone sword, and much to his delighted surprise, this sword took his essence much more easily than the previous one.

His lips stretched into a wide grin, and he swung down with all of his might.

A red arc appeared within the dark desert as his sword rendered the scorpion into two halves.

[You have slain a Deviant Fiend: Noon Scorpion.]

[Your blood has grown pure.]

The hex once again lost its grip on his mind, and a shiver ran down his spine.

Rudy turned around in horror. "W-What?! Where am I?"

Sera entered his vision, and he called out, "SERAPHEL!"

Sera, who was fighting a deviant beast, the Noon Scorpion, looked at him with a puzzled expression and shouted, hacking at it with her chakrams, "What?!"

Rudy’s lips parted, and his eyes turned dreamy once again. A smile split his face, and he said, "You are doing great."

With those words, he turned around and began to walk back to his spot.

Confused, Sera blinked a few times, and that slight slip allowed the scorpion to slam its claw at her with all of its might.

"AHH!" A short scream left her as she was thrown off the ground and slammed into the dark sand.

"Ugh!" she groaned. She looked up at the scorpion and watched it crawl towards the spring. She spat, "You wret..." She paused for a moment, "What am I doing here?"

Her eyes returned to normal, and confusion passed through them as she pushed herself off the ground. As her gaze landed on the oasis, her expression turned grim.

"When?" she asked herself and shifted her gaze towards Rudy and Kalien.

An ominous feeling filled her heart, and her back turned cold.

She stumbled backwards and mumbled darkly, "How long has it been?"

As those words left her lips, the memories of everything they’ve done at the oasis flooded her mind, and with each new memory, her expression turned graver.

"Why didn’t I remember this place?" She cried as she remembered seeing it in one of her prophetic dreams, but for some reason, she had forgotten about it.

She stared at Rudy and, seeing the dark sword in his hand, she mumbled, "That’s the sword I saw..." A strange light passed through her eyes, and she clenched her fists. "So it wasn’t a false dream."

"I have to get us out of here," she said as she shot to her feet and stepped towards Rudy.

However, just as she took the step, the still spring rippled, and as she was about to call out to him, water spilled out and two gelatinous tentacles shot towards her.

Seeing the tentacles coming towards her, Sera took out her chakrams, but they were too fast for her.

They coiled around her limbs, lifted her above the ground, and pulled her towards the oasis.

Sera desperately thrashed around to free herself, but her eyes turned heavy, and her body slowed down.

She slowly turned her gaze towards Rudy and screamed, "Ru—"

The tentacles wrapped around her mouth and stopped the words from leaving her lips.

’Run...’ She thought, and as she was about to fall asleep, golden light spilled out of her hands and turned into strings.

She held the strings and forced them towards her head.

Surprisingly, instead of hurting her, the strings entered her golden eyes, and she grabbed the space between her and Rudy.

Then she pulled something that couldn’t be seen, and a short silver string appeared in her hand, which she lifted closer to her head. At the same time, the tentacles let go of her, and she collapsed onto the bright grass.

As she rolled onto the ground, the silver string wrapped around her head.

Staring at the moonlit sky, she mumbled heavily, "Please... Work..."

The somniferous effect of the tentacles finally caught up to her, and she entered her respite.

Some distance away, Rudy felled a latent antlion and turned his head towards Sera.

Upon seeing her, he furrowed his brows and muttered, "Did she fall asleep?"