At this point, those bats were only thirty meters from Roland.
It would take the bats no more than one second to fly across thirty meters, but as bats, they had no ability to attack, so they had to turn back into human shape first, which would take another half a second.
Therefore, they had to stop and transform.
As a result, Roland had an additional second for preparation.
Actually, those bats were already scared when they stopped.
The intense magic power inside the enormous blue fireball was frightening even though the bats were still thirty meters away.
Should they run?
The bats hesitated. They were supposed to run, but they outnumbered the enemy, and more importantly, none of the seven vampires were weaklings. It would be too embarrassing if they fled when a human Mage cast nothing more than a fireball.
This fireball couldn’t be very fast, and they could just dodge it when it came.
While they thought, Roland took action.
“Let’s get going!”
Roland roared and stomped, pushing out the gigantic fireball in his hand.
The fireball was indeed not very fast; it only moved about thirty meters per second.
After only two blinks of the eyes, it reached the bats.
Having predicted the trajectory of the fireball, all of the bats evaded its path.
They were quite responsive.
If everything went as expected, the fireball would pass through the gap between them until it disappeared into the sky as fundamental magic elements.
However, the fireball brightened like a sun and exploded when it was in the middle of the swarm of bats.
It sounded as if thunder rumbled right next to them, or a hundred cannonballs were detonated simultaneously.
The bats a dozen meters away were immediately turned into pulps of blood by the explosion.
Those further away fell from the sky, almost like a rain of bats.
Ripples spread quickly on Roland’s Magic Shield. It seemed it would fall apart at any point.
Roland peeped at his mana bar, only to swallow.
As the red flames burst out and were pushed away by the blast of the explosion, the bats that fortunately survived the explosion were burnt into ashes in the airwaves, which had a temperature of hundreds of degrees.
Roland was only forty meters from the center of the explosion. The red airwaves raged like a tsunami, and all the trees near him were crumbled and set ablaze.
Roland had no time to run at all. He was flung away by the explosion, crashed into numerous trees on his way, and did not stop until his momentum ran out and he hit a huge boulder.
He struggled back to his feet, only to see that he was surrounded by fire.
The trees were on fire, and so were the grasses.
His Magic Shield was dim and even cracked.
He hurried to take out the Mind-Calming Necklace and put it on his neck.
The magic halo appeared, and Roland’s mana was restored. He was able to maintain his shield.
At this point, not a single bat remained in the sky.
The wood here was burning, and Roland suddenly remembered something. Under the protection of the Magic Shield, he went to the vampires’ nest through the fire and smoke and blocked the cave with a few rocks. After all, there were still a dozen unconscious girls in the cave, and if the smoke spread into the cave, they would probably be suffocated.
After he sealed the cave with the rocks, Roland was relieved and left the field of fire.
He couldn’t go on anymore despite the support of the Mind-Calming Necklace.
On the other hand, Yelia’s clothes were covered in grass, mud, and ash.
He didn’t stop until he rolled a long time under the blast.
At this point, Yelia’s ears were still ringing. He wasn’t deafened because he was luckily a hundred meters away from the center of the explosion. Staring at the wildfire in shock, he heaved a long sigh and said, “What the hell is this?”
Hundreds of meters away from the explosion, a dozen plump and even somewhat cute bats landed on the grasses and turned into a beautiful girl with pale skin.
If Roland had seen her, he would’ve recognized her to be a younger version of the female vampire in the black dress he saw earlier.
This vampire girl was looking at the fire far away, not fully recovered from her fright.
To this moment, her ears hadn’t recovered yet, and she couldn’t hear anything.
But she was lucky enough to still be able to assume human shape. The scattered bats above her head could not transform into humans anymore.
What was that human being? How could a fireball be so powerful?
Was he a Legend?
No… The girl shook her head and vetoed the thought.
She stopped thinking and turned into a group of bats again, flying behind her people.
About three hours later, Christina returned to Bruce’s camp, which was located near a lake far from human cities.
There was an enormous castle here, built right next to a steep mountain. The bats flew through the ancient castle and into a cavern in the mountain.
Bruce was still ensconced on the crude stone chair, accompanied by the sunny male vampire. He was stunned to see the scattered bats that just flew in.
Eventually, Christina flew in and turned into a little girl.
Bruce couldn’t help but point his pale finger at the bats on the wall and ask, “Christina, what exactly happened?”
With a bitter smile, Christina said, “We ran into a human Mage, and he launched a big fireball at us.”
“How’s that possible?” Bruce was stunned. “He couldn’t have wounded you like this even if it was a big fireball. There were several of you, and you must’ve had plenty of bats.”
“That fireball is the most terrifying fireball of my memory.” There was still fear on Christina’s face. “Its effective damage covered at least a hundred square meters. The sound of the explosion alone destroyed half of my bats.”
Bruce took a deep breath. “Is he a Legend?”
“No, he’s just a young human male.”
“That’s unlikely. As far as I know, every Legend is an old man except those elves. Did you mistake an elf for a human male?”
Christina shook her head and said affirmatively, “I couldn’t be wrong. I know the odor of a human when I smell it.”
“That’s odd…” Bruce frowned.
The sunny vampire nearby, however, suddenly asked, “Christina, how did the human Mage look?”
“Golden hair, blue eyes, plain face. But he did have a unique vibe. He’s different from most people but somewhat similar to you, except that he’s much more daunting.”
The sunny vampire smiled bitterly. “I think I know who he is now.”
