Chương 16: (16) B1 C16: Executioner's Bite

ABILITIES LIST DEVOURS HEXES VAMPIRE'S BITE Consume the blood of living creatures to gain Blood Points (BP). The amount of blood you drink from your target depends on their Max Health and your Bite Capacity, which is determined by your Thirst attribute. SUBSKILL: EXECUTIONER'S BITE When using this skill on enemies that have less remaining HP than your current Bite Capacity, initiate a culling effect that kills them within moments.

Enemies who can be 'culled' will acquire a special glow which can be seen with Crimson Instinct. This skill will not be activated unless the user intends for it to be activated. - Proficiency: Practiced Cost: None Current Bite Capacity: 2, 500 CRIMSON INSTINCT Reveal the blood quality of every creature within sight by gazing directly at the potency within their veins.

Your targets' veins will glow in various shades of crimson according to their potency, but blood concealed behind thick solid objects, such as walls and floors, will remain hidden. - Proficiency: Rudimentary Cost: 25 CE/S Range: 5 Meters"Holy fuuuck," I smiled. It was almost impossible to believe, but the subskill for Executioner's Bite wasn't an illusion. I had no idea how I'd actually managed to obtain something so powerful, especially this early on, but I was sure glad I did.

I took a moment to close the window, then immediately turned to my overall status. Evelyn Moore Untitled Vampire Fledgling - Level 12 VP: 2. 3K / 2.

3K (+90 /Min) BP: 25 (+2, 500/Bite) BB: 200 / 200 (+20 /Min) CE: 550 / 550 (+40 /Min) 1215 Blood Points Required to Reach Level 13 Attributes Menu MALICE: 45 115 (+) Devour Damage 90 /Minute VP Regen HERESY: 10 25 Hex Damage 20 /Minute BB Regen UNDEATH: 230 2, 300 Vitae Points (VP) --440 BP Cost for Devour Abilities AUTHORITY: 20 200 Blood Barrier (BB) 40 /Minute MP Regen THIRST: 250 2, 500 Bite Capacity 1, 995 (+) Critical Devour Damage PROFANITY: 55 550 Curse Energy (CE) The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

413 Critical Hex Damage Equipment Slaver's Iron Shortsword - (Worthless Prototype) DMG: 3 CRIT DMG: 120 No Equipped Amulet No Equipped Left Ring No Equipped Right Ring No Equipped Armor Total Defense: 10% Fortitude, -10% Resilience My eyes turned up to Norman's figure in the distance. He was still searching the treeline, his eyes wary for any intruders, though he had slowly moved closer to the remains of Eddie's tent. I smiled, then began to move closer.

As I inched toward the paranoid mage, my feet carefully gliding over the forest floor, I kept an eye out for the distance between us. I moved in a circular pattern as I slowly circled the campsite, focusing on keeping low to the ground as I moved and to use the foliage as cover when possible. Yet my main focus was on moving when Norman's attention was focused elsewhere. Whenever he threw a stray firebolt into the forest in hopes of hitting something, I took a few steps forward.

When he turned his gaze away from me, I took another few steps forward. Only once I found myself within five meters of his location—and more specifically right behind him—I activated Crimson Instinct. Norman's blood was similar to Eddie's, in that his pulse was slow and his blood was filled with a foggy texture that reminded me of a stale puddle, only this time there was a strange glow that enveloped the network of arteries running through his flesh.

The glow was brilliant and shiny, like a ruby glowing in the dark, and shimmered with his every movement. Whoa. This was new. I thought back to my new skill and how it'd have a small effect on Crimson Instinct. It wasn't that my second skill had been upgraded, of course, but that my first skill had found a way to function by borrowing the power of the second. With the activation of Crimson Instinct, I turned my gaze to the glowing blood running through Norman's veins.

Was that what it looked like when somebody's health was low enough to be culled? Already? How? I hadn't even damaged him!

"Holy fuuuuck," I thought to myself. The culling effect specifically mentioned how it'd activate when somebody's remaining HP was lower than my Bite Capacity, but what would happen if their max HP was also lower? I had a feeling, upon looking at the undamaged yet vulnerable mage in front of me, that it would allow me to completely ignore an enemy's Arcane Barrier. So, if I were to face an enemy that had a max HP value less than my Bite Capacity, I was almost guaranteed to win the fight.

That was fucking overpowered. I didn't charge forward immediately, even though I wanted to. If the last two slavers were at all similar to Norman, then the mage was probably somewhere between the level ten to level twenty range. He looked like a mage, rather than a Warden, so his damage would be naturally high. Of course, his wand threw a wrench at that assumption and shouted 'Even higher!', so I felt that it would've been safe to assume that he could pack quite the punch.

I had no guarantee that he wasn't a Warden, however. He surely didn't dress like one—Wardens were often Clerics and Paladins, and thus dressed like they were constantly planning to go to church—but if I went into the fight assuming his health was low, I'd inevitably find myself in a dangerous position once I found out that his health was much higher than I expected. I needed to be careful—even if I felt like the fight was already won. I needed to assume that his damage was high and his health was high.

I might as well have considered this a solo boss fight, as anything less would lead me to making a mistake. Ultimately, I had to be responsive, careful, and most importantly: Incredibly fucking fast.

"Where are you?" Norman's voice called from within the campsite. His eyes dragged across the treeline, his wand held confidently in his hands, "I know you're still around, stupid beast!" Did he think I was some sort of wild animal? A boar of some kind, maybe? I nearly chuckled at the thought.

"You killed my friends, you fuck! I'll make you pay for that!" Norman shouted. He followed his threat with a few obscenities, none of which I had the patience to care for but all of the amusement to be impressed by. My attention was fully focused on his position, and after a bit of waiting, he finally focused firmly on the treeline in front of him. His back was fully open to an attack, but he was still standing too close to the campfire.

I waited for him to move and, after only a few moments of patience, the opportunity arose. Norman took a few steps away from the flames as he brought his attention away from the forest. Perhaps he assumed I'd left already, and I had no intention of calmly explaining why he was wrong. As Norman's attention drifted across the treeline around him, I inched closer to him. I didn't have any stealth skills and would only have a few seconds to approach the mage before he noticed me, so I moved quickly.

My feet softly pattered against the ground beneath me, but Norman was too concerned with the trees around him to notice. He wasn't focused on the fire at all, which was quickly turning into a growing problem. Perhaps he didn't have the capability to extinguish it? Doubtful—mages were the most versatile class in the game. He had to know a water spell of some kind, right? Regardless, my claws were upon him before he had the chance to turn around and face me.

As my fingers grasped around his shoulder, I bared my fangs and went in for the strike. His neck was in plain view, yet before my teeth could sink into his skin, I felt him buck me off of him like a bull bucks off its rider. I fell to the side, the wind itself pushing against me as a gust of power carried me away from Norman. I landed on the other side of the small campsite, far from my prey. My attack wasn't fruitless, however, as Norman was holding his hand against his lower neck.

His Arcane Barrier was flashing blue with panic as it worked to repair itself. I must've managed to drag my claws against his neck as he threw me off of him. Convenient. My attack had been somewhat successful, but now I'd found myself completely exposed. That was bad, as I was facing a long-ranged attacker. Shit. Norman turned away from the burning tent with a shudder, his wand already pointed in my direction while he looked at me with eyes widened in alarm.

He hadn't even gotten a good look at me, yet he was staring at me like a deer before a pair of headlights.

"Who's there?" he asked, his voice on the edge of collapse. As I adjusted my posture to meet his, my eyes glaring hungrily into his own, Norman had his first good look at me. I only had 13 Blood Points left, which left me with an obviously Monstrous Complexion. My body was withered, terrifying, and distressing. Norman's face paled in horror at what he saw, his mouth dropping open in bewilderment as his gaze wandered over my body. He looked at my eyes, then at my pale skin.

Finally, he settled on my teeth, which were fully exposed by the excited grin stretched across my face, "What… what the fuck is that?" I smiled and said nothing. Something about his reaction was tickling my brain in just the right way. It was… satisfying? Norman didn't seem to take my silence very well, as he raised his wand with a determined expression upon his face, then he swung his arm as he summoned an orb of flames just in front of him. I felt my eyes widen in alarm as I began to charge forward.

I needed to kill Norman before he had the chance to fire a spell at me. Unfortunately, I underestimated just how fast his cast speed was, as his spell had already launched toward me by the time I took my third step. The ball of fire was tiny—barely the size of a marble, yet it struck the center of my chest with the force of a moving train. I heard my barrier shatter as the impact carved its way into my flesh.

My ribs and skin were torn apart, each turning into red and black ashes as the flames consumed half of my torso. The pain from the flames flooded my mind, forcing me to scream in agony as the impact easily lifted me from my feet. I lost almost all of my health, though I was more concerned with the pain consuming my flesh. Not again! I hit the ground with a heavy thud, then immediately began to roll around in an attempt to extinguish the blaze.

I grimaced, the terror within me running rampant as the embers slowly withered away. I could not take another one of those attacks. I used what little BP I had to heal my wounds, though the insignificant amount hardly helped. Norman, meanwhile, was already preparing his second spell—another firebolt that was of a similar size to the first one. I pushed myself to my feet just in time for his attack to shoot from his wand. I turned away from the impending orb of heat, only just dodging it as I dove toward the ground.

I clumsily made my way back into the treeline with a roll, then ran into the shadows as I pushed myself further into the forest. As things were going, I had no choice but to admit that I was in incredible danger.