The vampire screamed from rage, immediately throwing himself at Rob. The latter had to duck down to avoid being hit, effectively pulling him from his stupor. The hast apologies from Robert were completely ignored. Stopping on the visible wall, the creature repeated its diving attack. However, this time, it turned mid-air, changing the direction. Unfortunately, Rob was already in the process of steeping to the side and summoning his shield for protection. His sight was obstructed for a mere second, so this delay in the attack was complexly missed.
The strike got him right in the moment when he had lowered a shield. The claws on the feet of the creature pierced the skin, almost tearing a part of his shoulder. Luckily Robert’s weight was too big for a vampire to pull him up. Therefore, the monster released him and pushed off from his head, leaving a few more bloody marks. The wave of pain and the red liquid’s spatter blinded Rob. He tried to hit the creature with a wide swing over his head, but it appeared to be too nimble.
Avoiding the conjured blade, it dropped vertically down only to grab onto him behind with unnatural agility. Feeling the movement towards his exposed neck, Rob threw himself backward while simultaneously creating a steel collar. The sound of grinding teeth over the metal together painful screech confirmed his good timing. The moment later he crashed into the visible wall, almost crushing the vampire like a bug. Gripping its limp body, Robert threw it to the ground over his head, before dropping down himself.
His knee broke the last intact fang in the monster’s mouth, leaving a deep cut in return. Adding a few more hits with a fist, Rob turned and sat on the chest of the creature, pressing it to the ground. Summoning a long knife, he pushed it directly to the vampire’s red eye, stopping at the fingernail distance.
“Look, man, I am sorry for my words, but you need to calm down. Or else…”
“You will pay with your life for such dishonor, you, filthy blood bag! I will rip your heart! I will eat your kidney! I will piss on your brain!”
“That is quite… specific.”
Muttered Robert, while trying not to laugh because of the squealing voice of the vampire that additionally suffered from lisp because of gaps in its teeth. However, before he managed to find the correct words, the vampire grabbed his palm with the knife. Despite the small frame, the bloodsucker unsurprisingly showed a huge level of strength. It wasn’t overwhelming as Rob managed to slow the movement by quite a bit. Still, the pressure didn’t increase in the slightest, steadily rotating the blade until it was facing his own neck.
“Hold on, man. I just wanted to talk…”
“You can talk to me from the afterlife, peasant! I am not a man, you moron, but Baron of Blood!”
Splattering saliva all over Robert’s face, the vampire shouted with pure hatred in his eyes. Not even bothering with listening to his words, it stubbornly tried to move the end of the blade towards Rob’s skin.
“Please, be reasonable, Your Highness!”
“You will die, worm!”
Smiling with mad green, which showed broken teeth, the vampire tried to make a final push. However, Robert only sighed. He didn’t feel he had done everything possible to calm down this insane envoy, but his patience was already running out. The stress from a long and lonely stay on the island, furious battle with a giant lizard, another prison cell in the middle of nowhere, minutes of ignoring from the vampire – all that might easily explain why he didn’t react properly, leading to offensive comments.
Small comment about small… Stop it, Rob, you already ruined everything. But let’s try once again.
“If I didn’t say anything inappropriate, would you still attack me?”
“Your animal kind is meant for feeding us, noble class. I will…”
“Okay.”
Interrupting another speech from the insane vampire, Robert finally clarified to himself the unavoidability of such an outcome. The tip of the blade was already touching his neck when he focused on his steel conjuring. The knife disappeared immediately only to be created from the opposite side, returning to its previous position to threaten the vampire. The latter reacted without delay, stopping the weapon. Unfortunately for him, the blade just increased its length, piercing the red eye and going even further.
Feeling the weakness of the enemy, Rob followed with a hit with his head. Covering his forehead with a steel plate, he literally hammered the knife as some kind of nail. The force had pushed it deep inside, cutting through the skull until it was stopped by a stony ground. Adding a few more hits to destroy the brain, Robert stopped. Looking at his bloodied hands and the motionless body, he felt like a psychopath and a murderer.
Of course, Rob had killed, but it mainly was on the battlefield and not in such a cold way, when his own plea for help had escalated to such an extent. He knew that it was a problem for seasoned soldiers with war experience when they had lost all self-restrictions on killing. However, he would never think he would become one. The problem was that the road ahead might push him even further in this deepness.
Sighing, Rob tried to stand up, glancing one more time at the corpse underneath him. And that appeared to be a good idea as the body was actively regenerating. The splattered blood was quickly returning to its owner, not leaving a single trace. The pieces of the skull were retracted a moment later before pale skin started to cover the places of wounds. The last to restore was a red eye. From the moment it had appeared, it was looking at Robert without blinking.
“You will pay for…”
Before the resurrected vampire had finished his sentence, the strong punch had broken his jaw. Conjuring steel brass knuckles, Rob started to hit without a single pause. The enemy attempted to cover his head, but a sheer number of strikes made him drop any defense in a mere minute. It took another few to turn its head in meat paste, spreading the insides of it with a thin layer over the ground. Still, he continued with an axe, separating the limbs from the torso just in case.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
This time the regeneration took almost ten minutes. The vampire still stubbornly tried to threaten Rob with unimaginable torture. The metal boot made him swallow all words together with his teeth. The sledgehammer had finished the business, alas only for a while. The same situation had repeated for dozen times with a non-changing result – the vampire always regenerated back. All of Robert’s thoughts about him being a murderer were thrown in a trash bin as it was hard to feel such a way when his victim refused to die. Even the pierced heart didn’t help.
“You can’t kill me, you worm! I am truly immortal!”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t be so happy about that,” Robert smiled back before beheading this undying freak. Lifting the head, he tried to throw it away, but the invisible wall stopped in mid-flight. Leaving a bloody mark right in the air, it slowly moved down before ending on the ground.
Maybe there is a restriction to live the teleportation place in the link. Mine is damaged, so nothing stops me. Hm.
Sitting near the corpse of the vampire and waiting for its resurrection, Rob was thinking what to do. His demand to choose the soul for the sake of summoning a whirlwind to travel in another realm was completely ignored by the stubborn bloodsucker. The latter refused to help Robert in any form, laughing at any threat and bearing any pain with ease. Moreover, remembering Rob’s problem with the connection to God, the vampire savored the possible future of a broken envoy. And seeing an absolutely insane level of regeneration, it was hard not to wonder who would last longer in such a case.
It is so stupidly overpowered. He just reassembles again and again. Maybe the full destruction may help, but not just cutting him into pieces… Wait. I have an idea.
Walking to the restored body of this unkillable creature, Robert mechanically interrupted its speech with a strong swing of the axe. Not stopping on it, he created a huge knife before turning into some kind of butcher. The result of this bloody work was a heart, which was lying on his palm. Looking at this organ that he previously pierced multiple times, he nodded to himself before creating a box around it. After that Robert simply sat on the ground, patiently waiting.
The body parts of the vampire were reattached again as always, but the hole in the chest wasn’t closing as waiting for the last piece. Rob had spent around an hour in this odd situation before finally deciding to check. Keeping the box in his hand, he gripped the leg of the vampire before pulling its body. Attempt to throw it outside had failed. The invisible was still there. Therefore, Robert calmly sat back. Thinking over his past, his dreams, and his fallen friends, he repeated such check-ups from time to time. The hope was slowly fading together with his patience, but he refused to give up. Rob wasn’t sure when he would be so lucky to meet another envoy.
This whole thing is so messed up… Fucking tragicomedy with horror elements. And don’t know if I am a psychopath or the victim of it… Okay, one more time.
The throw wasn’t strong enough this time. The motionless body just rolled a few times before stopping, not even covering the needed distance. Cursing, Rob just kicked in an attempt to get rid of the frustration. This time he had put in some effort – the sheer force had lifted the lean corpse into the air. Splattering the blood from the open hole, it dropped like a sag with potatoes.
Huh? Blood?
Looking at the red liquid on the ground, Robert’s eyes shined with understanding. The moment he couldn’t resist shouting. The overwhelming feeling of success clouded his mind for a short time. However, the following question “What next?” soon returned him back to harsh reality. Not willing to risk, Rob grabbed the leg of the finally dead creature and pulled it to the edge of the plateau before dropping it down. The landing on the invisible wall was barely heard. Still, the body somehow turned around so the wound on the chest had met this force shield. Sliding off it, it left a huge blood mark on the surface, painting the starry sky in red.
Oops. I hope nobody will see it. Breaks the immersion.
Returning, Robert finally dispersed the box and started to observe the heart attentively. Not seeing any movements, he finally managed to exhale with relief. Then he was hit with the thought that he was still holding an organ of the vampire. Grimacing from disgust, he immediately threw it away without even thinking properly. The projectile cut through the air at an insane speed only to meet the wall. An even bigger mark had appeared on the sky, crossing out any chances not to be seen.
Crap! Dumbass!
Hitting his own forehead a few times, Robert tried to calm down but failed. It was too obvious sigh and was hard to miss. His impulsive action might lead to even more problems.
Stop. On the other hand, it can be proof that can be used to convince other envoys in fakery of this place. Yeah, focus on positive moments, Rob. Also…
The sudden pressure fell onto him, threatening to crash his whole entity into dust. Then the fear came. Irrational, it tried to push him into despair, simultaneously telling him that something horrible was coming. It almost paralyzed him, using something deep inside him. Almost, as if despite the horrendous effect, Rob somehow managed to pull himself together, resisting it with all his will. Surprisingly, it worked. Robert still felt both pressure and fear, but they were somewhere in the background, barely able to impact his mind.
Here comes the boss… And I think he uses the connection to increase the influence on his envoys. Yep, no doubts. Not even close to the previous powerful image of all-mighty God.
Looking at the black-smoked figure, Rob for the first time could see it without the addition of imposed emotions. The humanoid profile of something with a huge maw indeed radiated with power and danger, but that’s it. The lizard also wasn’t a puppy, not losing in the slightest in a visual comparison.
“Good work, my envoy. You managed not only to achieve the goal of the number of souls brought but also to readjust your appearance to be more human-like. Commendable. Now, as I promised before, I will send you to the world where you can get enough blood to create an ocean. But if you will continue your attempts to break our connection to return to your Blood God, I will devour you… right after reaping your self-proclaimed ancestor apart. Remember who has granted you real power! Now go!”
Can’t he see my status screen? Did he mistake me with a dead vampire? I don’t know if I need to be happy or mad about this fucking pretender… You idiot, I can see the work of a machine – you are spouting nonsense just to stall a time.
Standing in a different spot from where the vampire had appeared earlier, Rob could easily see the charging of the dark-light beam but had to pretend to be unaware. Luckily, Wepwakor wasn’t interested in any form of dialogue, being content with his own speech. His machine was still aimed at Robert, creating a whirlwind right at his location. It immediately consumed Rob, sending him to yet another realm.
Maybe because he was sent directly using proper means, there were no problems during his journey. Calm, safe, and uneventful, it had put Robert into sleep mode in no time. Once again, the mental exhaustion took its payment with interest. Therefore, completely missing the final stop, he face-planted on the ground after being thrown out of the portal. The remnants of Rob’s dream were only in the process of dispersing when he heard a strange whistling sound and a loud hysteric shout. He tried to raise his head to look around, but it was too late.
“Incoming!”
The barrage of explosions covered the surroundings, sending Robert into the darkness.