Our group quickly split apart upon entering the dark cave. There were numerous different paths and directions to move. The other regiments were engaging the vampires which were outside, allowing us to enter without too much issue. A few moments later, only Alicar was still with me, as per the plan.
My [Darkness Hatred] ability was going crazy due to all of the vampires nearby. It wouldn't be long until we got into a fight.
[Vampire Detected]
[Rank]: Marquess; [Remaining Blood]: 100%
Ah. There it was. A vampire with long black hair. ????????????????????a????. ????????????
"William, are you ready? I'm going to distract it while you try to cut away at it as much as you can. Make sure to keep looking around you as well, we don't know what else might be lurking nearby."
"Alright."
This would be the first time I'll see my legendary [Sword Saint] ability in action.
The Marquess charged at us.
"What are you doing in here?! How did you guys find this place?"
I swung at the vampire's neck. She quickly blocked the attack and took a step back. I didn't manage to land a hit on her. Alicar pressed toward her and continued to put pressure on her position. She was forced to focus most of her attention on him, meaning I'd have another opportunity.
She fought off both of our attacks. However, after a few moments, her ankle clipped against a rock, causing her to fall off balance. I exploited the opening, slicing her in the arm. It wasn't a very deep cut, but it was enough to draw some blood.
As she retreated further into the dark cave, she looked down at her arm. It was beginning to stain the clothing that she was wearing. She seemed to be incredibly confused.
"Why isn't this healing?!"
Without hesitation, Alicar charged at her once again. She quickly raised her weapon and began trading blows with him. The blood was slowly dribbling from her arm as she desperately fought against Alicar.
[Rank]: Marquess; [Remaining Blood]: 93%
With a powerful swing, she pushed Alicar back, giving her an opportunity to strengthen herself.
"Sword, drink my blood."
Feeding her sword with blood, a red aura flowed out of her body. Alicar planted his back foot into the ground preparing for her next attack. However, she completely ignored him.
Instead, she dashed straight at me.
Crap.
I blocked her first attack, but the force from the collision sent me crashing into the wall. I desperately gasped for air as my lungs smashed into the side of the cave. By a hair's breadth, I managed to deflect her next attack, stopping it from stabbing into my chest. Instead, it cut my thigh, causing some blood to seep into my pants.
Alicar struck her behind, slashing into her skin. However, the injuries that he dealt were quickly regenerated.
She looked at me.
"I see now, so you're the only one whose injuries I can't regenerate."
I guess I'm going to be targeted now.
Watching the Marquess' movements, I prepared to block her attacks. One at my side, one at my neck, I managed to stop her first two swings. Alicar took some pressure away by attacking her, but it seemed that she was still targeting me.
Our swords clashed as she tried to land a hit on my body. Alicar stopped her from making any significant progress as she was forced to constantly turn around and block his attacks. He managed to land quite a few on her body, slowly cutting away at her health, but her injuries didn't take very long to heal.
Suddenly, her blade swung past my face. It made such slight contact that I didn't even notice at first, but I could taste the metallic flavour of blood in my mouth. She turned and engaged Alicar as I ran towards her.
With attacks coming from all different directions, she was unable to stop [Mayuri-Luc-Ei], slashing straight into her back. I felt the sword slice into her clothing, into her skin and into her muscles. Blood gushed out of the wound as she fell to the ground.
"Gah! You... little livestock..."
[Rank]: Marquess; [Remaining Blood]: 53%
At this point, there wasn't much fighting back that she could do. Due to the fact that she couldn't regenerate the injuries I caused, she was constantly in pain. Swing after swing, Alicar stabbed at her, eventually cutting away more and more of her health.
With the last bit of energy that she had, she jumped up and raised her deep red blade.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Sword, drink the rest of my blood, all of it!"
It was her last ditch effort.
"William! Get out of the way!"
"Huh?"
Alicar kicked me in the side, causing me to crash into the side wall once again. Little bits of rubble fell on my head as I looked up at what was going on. A huge red shockwave travelled through the cave, lighting it up with a deep scarlet colour. I watched at the attack cleaved the roof of the cave, causing large pieces of stone to smash into the ground.
After that, the vampire fell to her knees.
[Rank]: Marquess; [Remaining Blood]: 0.01%
She slowly began evaporating into the air.
I quickly got up.
"Alicar, are you alright?"
There was a moment of silence. However, through the smoke, I heard a voice.
"Yeah... I just barely avoided that attack."
He made his way over to me.
"You have to watch out, when vampires feed all of their blood to their sword, it becomes incredibly powerful. You don't want to get caught in the attack, otherwise, it's guaranteed death. You almost got me killed."
"Sorry, I didn't realise how powerful it was going to be."
"Whatever, let's keep going deeper into this base."