Vlad glared at the lizardmen before him while also briefly appraising them to see their levels.
[Lizardman – Level 5]
[Lizardman – Level 5]
[Lizardman – Level 7]
[Lizardman – Level 5]
[Lizardman – Level 7]
[Lizardman – Level 5]
There were around six of them and all of them but two were level five, while the remaining ones were level seven. Although they were of a higher level than Vlad, the vampire didn’t see much of an issue. Then again, he also had to account for their intelligence. If he was fighting against goblins, then he didn’t have to worry about much, since their intellect wasn’t that impressive.
But these lizardmen were different. Vlad was then reminded of his first encounter with one. The bastard was playing dead, waiting for some unfortunate soul to come across it so that the beast could attack and kill its prey. Vlad was lucky that his instincts warned him of a potential threat, and he acted on it in time. If he hadn’t, then things would’ve turned out differently.
With his first encounter as experience, Vlad knew better than to underestimate these lizards. That was why he had to be careful when dealing with them. Especially since they are a group. If it was one or two lizards, then Vlad had a better chance. But six of them were pushing it quite a bit. With that in mind, the vampire’s best bet was taking them out one at a time, diminishing their numbers and weakening them that way.
Vlad gripped his spear tightly, his eyes not leaving the lizards for a moment. The lizardmen did the same, all of them keeping their piss color eyes trained on the vampire. A couple of the monsters moved closer, probably attempting to attack first. When Vlad appraised them, they were both level five. This meant that the two level seven lizardmen were likely leading the group. This also meant that they were testing the waters with Vlad, seeing how strong he was and if he was a threat to them.
Vlad smiled, revealing his fangs at the lizards. Instead of feeling intimidated, they were more infuriated than anything, hissing and snarling like a pack of wild, rabid dogs, and furious that someone like Vlad could grin in such a situation. Little did these bastards know, Vlad was hoping for a situation like this to happen. The more enemies there were, the more XP he’d get out of it.
“Alright then,” Vlad declared. “Let’s get started. Come at me!”
At his declaration, the two lizardmen that moved forward hastily rushed at the vampire. One had a spear while the other wielded an axe. The closest one to Vlad was the one with the spear, closing the distance between them in an instant while thrusting its weapon at his face. Vlad instantly moved his head to the side while using his spear and pushed it against the lizard’s weapon, forcing it down on the floor.
The other lizard flanked Vlad, attempting to attack him from the side. Thankfully, with the lizard’s own spear, he pushed it toward its brethren, guiding it right toward its torso. The Axe lizard’s eyes widened while bringing its weapon up to block the attack. The two weapons collided with one another, putting them at a standstill for a moment. And that moment was all that Vlad needed.
He quickly pulled his spear back, without interfering with their clash, and propelled it toward the axe lizard’s head. He knew that the scales were durable enough to deflect his spear if he didn’t use enough force, so he poured a lot of power into his attack and aimed for its neck. His weapon managed to pierce the scales, instantly digging into the monster’s throat. Blood spurted out instantly, spraying both the other lizard and Vlad in blood. Instead of pulling his spear out, the vampire pushed even deeper, to the point where the spearhead poked out the back.
Lizard choked on its own blood, gasping and croaking in pain. Before it could even reach for his spear to pull it out of its neck, the creature instantly went limp while collapsing to its knees with a heavy thud.
[Lizardman has been defeated! 225 XP has been obtained!]
[You have leveled up! You are now level 4!]
[You have obtained 5 SP!]
“Another level up. How nice~” A grin manifested on Vlad’s face at the sudden level-up.
Because of this, he was distracted as the other lizardman finally got its weapon free from its weapon clash with its brethren. The monster lifted its spear, prepared to thrust it at Vlad, only for it to miss as the vampire shifted to the left, easily avoiding the attack. Then, with his own spear, he poured more strength into it before driving it through its neck. There wasn’t much resistance like before, probably because he poured more power into it.
[Lizardman has been defeated! 225 XP has been obtained!]
Once the lizardman died, Vlad pulled his weapon out and let the monster fall to the floor. Without batting an eye, he turned his attention back to the remaining lizardmen while pointing his spear at them.
“Next…” The vampire goaded, giving the monsters a toothy grin to add salt to their wounds.
The remaining lizardmen snarled, revealing their sharp teeth as their yellow eyes bulged in rage. However, before one of them could fall for Vlad’s trap, the two Level seven lizards stepped in front of their brethren and held them off. Seeing this, the vampire’s smile disappeared while he stood there disappointed.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Tch…well, that didn’t work.”
One of Vlad’s strategies that he learned from Chloe’s father regarding fighting a group of enemies was to try and make them as disorganized as possible. And one of the best methods of doing that was…pissing them off. While enraged, they act first and think later, pretty much setting themselves up for failure. It was the most effective move when wanting to diminish a group of enemies without fighting them as a unit.
Sadly, Vlad forgot to account for the two higher-level monsters. They had more brains than their brethren, making them the most dangerous out of the bunch, especially when it came to Vlad trying to incite the others into making a mistake. He thought about just going after those two and killing them. If he did, the rest would likely go into a frenzy since their leaders were gone. But, he knew better than to do that. Plus, those bastards likely wanted him to do it.
He could tell from their eyes. How they were meticulously watching Vlad’s actions like a snake stalking its prey. They knew the vampire was a threat. And they also knew that they couldn’t take any risks with him. After seeing how Vlad easily took down the two lizardmen, the level seven pair were certain that he needed to be taken care of.
Vlad took a few deep breaths, staying focused on the monsters. Now that they knew he wasn’t some weakling, the monsters were prepared to go all out to kill him. Which meant he had to go all out to win.
The lizardmen didn’t move a muscle as they continued to glare at Vlad. Despite that, it didn’t stop them from seething with rage. Their hands wielding their weapons trembled and their yellow eyes narrowed at the vampire with a murderous glare. If looks could kill, then Vlad would’ve been dead ten times over.
Since the lizardmen weren’t going to attack first, Vlad did the others and bolted toward them. The four remaining monsters readied their weapons and prepared for anything that came their way. Unfortunately, they weren’t prepared for what Vlad had in store for them.
The vampire approached one of the level five lizards, clashing his spear against its sword. The two fought for domination, pushing all their weight against one another. Busy with one monster, the other one rushed behind Vlad while raising its sword to cut him down. He quickly pushed the other monster over and leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding it. When Vlad rolled across the floor, he watched as the other two level seven lizardmen finally made their move. They got behind Vlad after he finally readjusted himself, both of them with their weapons high in the air, set to be swung down on him.
That was when Vlad made his move first.
[Five points has been distributed to Magic!]
With a single slash, Vlad activated [Blood Strike] and launched the condensed blade of blood toward the lizardmen. Because the pair were so close when they were about to attack, the blood blade cut through both of their torsos. They stood there for a few moments, their faces filled with bewilderment and shock. Then, their upper bodies slid off their hips and fell to the floor, spilling blood all over the tiles.
[Lizardman has been defeated! 420 XP has been obtained!]
[Lizardman has been defeated! 420 XP has been obtained!]
[You have leveled up! You are now level 5!]
[You have obtained 5 SP!]
“Heh. Looks like that worked well…”
To win against the two level seven lizardmen, Vlad had to rely on [Blood Strike]. During the fight, he never used the skill in order to kill the previous lizardmen. He simply used his spear and physical abilities to win the battle, and that was what those lizards were focused on. Because of that, they weren’t expecting him to bring out a new skill out of the blue. Especially when they believed they had the upper hand against him.
With the two leaders dead, Vlad whirled around to look at the last two lizards. They stared in disbelief with gaping mouths after what they just witnessed. Vlad took pleasure in seeing their despairing expressions. However, their pained faces shifted into anger as they prepared to charge at Vlad and avenge their fallen brothers.
However, Vlad didn’t give them the chance as he quickly swiped his hands and launched another Blood blade at them. They couldn’t react in time before their heads were severed from their bodies, rolling across the floor as their bodies collapsed on the spot.
[Lizardman has been defeated! 225 XP has been obtained!]
[Lizardman has been defeated! 225 XP has been obtained!]
With the lizards defeated, Vlad sighed with relief, pleased with the outcome. He managed to gain two levels from this fight. That in itself was a reward already. However, he did waste twenty blood points, but he should be fine as long as he drank some blood. Maybe he could feed on the lizard corpses. They were just recently killed, so their blood should be edible for Vlad to consume.
Aside from his hunger, Vlad also had to tell Flint that the fight was over…after he fed himself first. He didn’t want the mage to know about his vampirism. Who knows how the kid would react if he did? But, he also felt that Flint needed to know sooner rather than later. If the vampire kept the secret from him, only to find out after he went into a frenzy, their relationship could get strained in the process.
Vlad stood there for a moment with his arms crossed while wearing a thoughtful expression, contemplating whether he should tell the truth. It only took him a few seconds to come to a conclusion. He uncrossed his arms and strolled over to the closest Flint was still hiding in.
“Hey, Flint, the fights ov-?!” Vlad stopped mid-sentence, a chill running down his body while his muscles tensed.
There it was again. His instincts warned him of a threat. Vlad whirled around to catch the enemy, but only saw a metal cabinet flying in his direction like a speeding bullet. It was so fast that Vlad couldn’t react in time as it crashed into him, taking him along for the ride. While flying backward, both the metal cabinet and Vlad smashed into the wall, creating a human-sized hole in it.
As Vlad fell to the floor with the cabinet, he groggily looked up to try and see who it was that threw it at him. The moment he did find the culprit, his eyes widened as his blood turned cold at the sight.
Slowing walking toward him was another lizardman, but this one was different from the others. It was taller, bulkier, bore red scales, and wore more tribal accessories from bead wristbands to feather necklaces. There was another distinct feature it had compared to the other lizardmen. Painted all over its body were dark green tribal markings, like something tribe members would paint on themselves to display their different rankings. That and to also intimidate their enemies.
And Vlad was very intimidated at the moment. But what really frightened him was the lizardman’s level.
[Lizardman – Level 15]
Level fifteen. Eleven levels higher than Vlad.
The high-ranking lizardman let out a raspy roar while flicking its tongue. Its roar echoed throughout the entire corridor. Vlad’s entire body trembled in response, clearly affected by the monster’s bellow. However, the vampire aggressively gritted his teeth while pulling himself off the ground.
As he stood up, he took one more look at the lizard, painfully inspecting its entire appearance. Its bulging muscles, its large swaying tail, and even its weapon, which was a large, curved sword, like a scimitar. After witnessing the lizardman in its entirety, Vlad could only utter one word in response.
“Fuck…”