Although it hurts Edward’s dignity to have his blood held in such contempt by Vlad as if was there was dung flowing in his veins, he knew that a golden opportunity had also presented itself.
Hence, he quickly shot out a Fel Fireball—the pre-cast skill of Black Dragon Fire that could be released instantly without incantations.
As a foul-green ball of flame punched out of the tip of Happy Flames, Vlad’s body reacted by instinct and he attempted to crush the spell in his palm with his magical resistance.
However, Edward’s wasn’t aiming for him-he was aiming for the ground.
It burst apart with a rumble over the earth, kicking up dust everywhere within the eye of the hurricane.
Although the walls of gust were still surrounding them and the dust vanished rapidly, that split second was enough time for Edward to get his bearings and dash into the hurricane, allowing the wind to whisk him away while distancing himself from Vlad sufficiently.
And when Vlad eventually dispelled the hurricane, the Players who had escaped the wild gusts were already waiting around him.
‘Wait, there are more humans now…’
Being nonhumans, each Tigerman had heads of tigers and therefore judged aesthetics differently from humans in the first place. Tigermen were basically face-blind towards humans.
On the other hand, it was interesting that in spite of the Nightstalkers arrogant self-proclamations that they were a transcendent race, they bore a strong resemblance to humans-whether it was because of a convergence in derivation or the simple eccentricity of the deity who created the Nightstalkers. As such, the Nightstalkers were probably the race that looked almost identical humans amongst the First Eight, next to the elves of course.
As such, Vlad could more or less identify humans through appearance.
‘It’s not just numbers either. The new arrivals seemed to differ in aura as well… the aura of experienced warriors, just like that human commander who has dung flowing in his veins.’
Nonetheless, Vlad kept impassive, scanning the circle humans quietly even as doubt arose in his mind.
‘How many years have I actually slumbered? To think that humans could evolve from dull primates to a race of warriors…”
Right now, he could not afford to be arrogant.
Even a while ago, the humans displayed ability that kept him on his toes, let alone the other first-rate Players who all rushed to the scene after receiving their quest.
But what really wounded him naturally was the mouthful of blood he had just sucked.
Unlike the god sprout that melded with the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, Xi Wei was an actual god-even if he was unleashing his retribution through the blood of his believer, it was enough to knock Vlad silly.
After all, even supernatural races were no more than mortals to the gods. One couldn’t tell how many such races had been destroyed in the last few divine wars, and the only reason the First Eight had left an impression amongst the divine beings was that they had survived longer.
If Vlad wasn’t the Father of Nightstalkers and possessed power far beyond all other Nightstalkers, and if it wasn’t his very recent revival that kept him between the boundaries living and the dead, Xi Wei’s retribution would have been enough to blow him back to the underworld.
Even so, Xi Wei’s power was still harassing him. Even though Vlad’s mind wasn’t debuffed, all his basic stats were rapidly dropping.
‘Now’s not the time to fight these humans. I have to retreat.’
Despite feeling humiliated, Vlad was different from the Dead Red Dragon whose brain had mostly rotted off. His revival was conducted through a relatively complete ritual which fully replicated his brain and other organs, which ensures that he retained some extent of rationality.
‘When my body recovers completely and I’ve created an army of blood slaves out of these humans, the world shall witness the glory of Nightstalkers once more…”
Hence, he spread his blood wings and started towards the blood clouds in the skies, intent on using it as cover to escape.
***
“The skies are the glory of our god; the earth is the Eden of our lord. The radiance of the God of Games shall wash over this place, his great might a cage that binds all profanity. We shall thus follow his will, present his grace and preach his compassion-for our god is ever kind, forgiving all blasphemy, we shall deliver all that is profane, vile and blasphemous to our lord’s presence with our iron fist, blades and our might.”
Meanwhile, Leah the Warrior Princess was excitedly waving her flagpole, chanting a long prayer before proclaiming the name of her skill.
“Divine Trap: Summoner’s Rift.”
She firmly stabbed the flagpole in the ground, took out her brass knuckles from a pocket and wore it and assume a pose as if she was ready to punch her foe to death.
The flag on the pole soared windlessly, revealing the crest of the Church of Games which radiated incredible brightness.
Vlad, who was still soaring through the air suddenly stiffened as if he had crashed into an invisible wall, his face flattening over it in a most laughable manner.
And a moment later, he crashed down from the skies, but Nightstalker’s body was strong enough that mere collision wouldn’t leave him brain dead.
However, the Warrior Princess class was basically no different from Saintess to a certain extent, and most class-exclusive skills relied upon Xi Wei’s power-one of which was the ultimate move Leah had used just now.
Therefore, Vlad, who was already left half-paralyzed by Xi Wei’s divine retribution, suffered resonating damage when he crashed into the invisible wall casted from Xi Wei’s divine power with the effect of one plus one equals to more than two!
Even so, the Father of Nightstalkers still managed to recover immediately and didn’t crash into the earth directly.
Driving his broken body on, he continued evading the concentrated assault unleashed by the Players below ground, but their assault was too tight that his HP continued to drop.
‘The Mountain Tigers’ secret tunnel… as long as I can reach it… as long as I can escape, I will rise again…!
Nevertheless, when Vlad finally reached the Mountain Tigers’ ancestral hall, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior who had somehow been freed of his curse was standing above his stone coffin—which covered the stone tunnel, and was simply waiting for him.
“No vacant spots here! Damned Nightstalker, your second life ends here!”
Flames ignited over the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior’s body once again. Disregarding if his heart could withstand the extreme heat, both the Tiger Warrior’s hands had already punched out countless times at a speed comparable to a firing Gatling Gun, raining hits down upon Vlad.
“Ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora!”
“Oof…” Even as an unintelligible utterance escape his throat, Vlad’s entire body was cracking with what resembled magma fissures.
“You—are already dead!” The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, said coldly, withdrawing his fist and turned his back to him.
In the very next moment, the Father of Nightstalkers exploded into blood then rained over the skies, evaporating from the world at the extreme heat of six thousand Celsius!
