“Who’s ‘we’?! It was this woman who took on half of us alone, and that shield guy who blocked all our attacks!”

Brekster, who was in the midst of fighting Lapis—or more appropriately, surviving Lapis’ assault—rebuked in frustration.

Initially, he thought their captain was the biggest threat, but then Lapis charged in, killed their charmer and two others before they could even react, and ruined their plan before it could begin. On top of that, every time they tried to mount an attack, Duncan would create small silver barriers which blocked any meaningful strike, assisting everyone in their fights. Brekster had only survived till now because, compared to the other vampires, he was a peak B-Ranker, but even so, he was constantly on the backfoot against Lapis.

As he fumed over the absurdity of the situation, his last ally died under Rex’s blade while being held down by thick vines.

'Shit, I need to at least get the blood out of here.'

Brekster never could've expected they would send such a strong team so soon but he knew the fight was lost. There was little he could do to change the situation but the blood they had been collecting for weeks could still be saved. With that in mind he commanded the enthralled victims. “Thralls! Kill them!”

The adventurers and civilians who had been stacking jars of blood stopped what they were doing and charged at the squad. Some wielded weapons, while others, like the average citizens, were ready to fight with their fists if necessary.

The strongest of the thralls were C-Rank adventurers, and while the civilians barely ranked as E-Rank, Brekster knew they wouldn’t pose much threat to the squad. Still, they could serve as effective meat shields.

The first group of thralls attacked Lapis, swinging their weapons at her.

Although none of the attacks seemed threatening, Lapis would still be wounded if their attacks landed and was forced to turn her spear to block their strikes, giving Brekster the opportunity to retreat into the crowd of thralls.

Not wanting him to escape, Lapis was about to thrust her spear straight through the thralls, but a silver barrier appeared, blocking her attack.

Duncan, who had stopped her, reminded her, “Lapis, don’t kill them. They’re innocent, just under his control. Incapacitate them so we can cure them.”

Lapis nodded and though she didn't thank him, she knew they couldn't just kill the thralls just because they were under the vampires control. Once Duncan removed the barrier, her spear blurred as she used [Viper Bite], her high agility allowing her to lightly stab all the thralls around her.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Though it seemed harmless at first, the thralls suddenly froze in place mid attack and collapsed. Through her skill, Lapis had injected a paralyzing venom potent enough to incapacitate large beasts, ensuring the thralls wouldn’t be moving anytime soon.

Lapis stepped over them, continuing her pursuit of Brekster, but more thralls stood in her way.

“[Entangling Growths]!”

“[Stun Spores]!”

Nataly and Lazuli cast spells to support her. Roots sprouted from the ground, tying up the thralls, while a wave of yellow dust fell over them, paralyzing those who inhaled it.

The unaffected thralls on the edge of the spells' effect were tackled by Rex and Aron, who knocked each one out with a single strike.

Rex slammed a thrall with the flat side of his sword and shouted to Lapis, “We’ve got this under control. Stop him!”

Lapis nodded and ran through the lingering cloud of spores from Lazuli’s spell, relying on her [Poison Resistance] to ignore the paralyzing toxins. She leaped through the other side, just in time to see Brekster storing the jars of blood in his spatial ring.

“Already?!” Brekster was startled as Lapis rapidly closed the distance. He moved as fast as he could but he had only managed to store a third of the blood jars, nowhere near enough for what they needed.

'The blood tide plan won’t work with this amount, but luckily Mistress Nisha, in her boundless wisdom, has backup plans. I just need to escape...'

Brekster pulled out a displacement charm from his spatial ring. It was a small charm capable of teleporting the holder to a random location within a ten mile radius. These charms were incredibly useful for getting out of sticky situations, though the downside was that the destination was random.

Lapis, seeing him pull out the charm, didn’t know what it was for but instinctively launched magical spearheads at him to stop whatever he was planning. The spearheads went straight for his head, but the nearby jars of blood burst open, forming multiple blood tentacles that blocked her attacks. If he couldn’t escape with all the blood, he had no qualms about using it to cover his retreat.

'I just hope I don’t end up above ground...' he thought. Being teleported into direct sunlight would be catastrophic, but it was a risk worth taking.

The charm in Brekster’s hand shattered, and spatial fluctuations enveloped him, preparing to warp him away. Just as he was vanishing, Lapis threw her spear with [Sky Toss], breaking through the blood tentacles and piercing straight through his stomach.

“Gah!” Brekster spat blood, but despite the spear lodged in his chest, he grinned mockingly.

"Ha! You're too slow!" As he finished his sentence the charm teleported him away to safety.

When Lapis landed where Brekster had stood moments ago, she frowned, watching him vanish along with her spear. By now, the rest of the thralls had been subdued, and the squad gathered around her.

“Did he teleport away?” Aron asked Lapis.

She didn’t answer, but it was clear from her expression that she was unhappy. She knew if she had been just a bit faster, she could have stopped him in time.

Duncan tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry. We’ll find him. It’s impressive enough that you wounded him in the short time it took for the charm to activate.”

“Yeah, you did your best, sis!” Lazuli added, giving her sister a thumbs up.

Sol, who had been quiet throughout the fight, suddenly spoke up. “Umm, guys, he’s right over there.”

They all turned to see Brekster lying on the ground near one of the sewer passages, the spear still embedded in his chest. The displacement charm had, very unfortunately for him, teleported him only a few feet away.

Brekster, just now realizing where he had been sent, looked at the Royal Knight squad who were silently preparing their weapons and cursed his bad luck.

“Goddammit.”