Vlad didn’t wait for the lizardman to act first and charged at the creature. In the heat of the moment, he didn’t use his spear and decided to use his fists instead. While charging, Vlad let out an animalistic roar and lunged at his opponent.
His hands were clenched tightly as he drove one of them into the lizard’s face. The monster brought up its sword to defend against the attack, but the vampire swiftly kicked it away as his fist made direct contact with the lizardman. Although he managed to hit it, his fist felt like he just punched a brick wall causing a wave of pain to course over his hand. The vampire wasn’t done yet, and quickly grabbed the lizardman by its head and propelled his knee toward it, hitting its jaw with all the energy he could muster.
Much like his fists from before, Vlad’s knee started to ache from the impact. This monster was so strong that fighting bare-handed was a lot more difficult than he imagined. However, thanks to his Strength stat being high enough, he managed to at least stun the beast, making it stagger backward from both attacks.
However, it wasn’t stunned for long as it shook its head irritably and directed its yellow eyes toward Vlad, practically boring a hole right into him. Vlad was unfazed by its glare, however, delivering his own scowl toward the creature. Then, a monstrous, bone-chilling screech escaped the lizardman’s mouth and it raised its sword in the air before viciously slashing at the vampire.
Vlad narrowly ducked and weaved its slashes, nearly losing a limb or head with each attack it made on him. To avoid another slash attack, he leaped across a desk and watched as it was destroyed in an instant. It was split in half by the large scimitar, sending debris and splinters everywhere, and all of the equipment placed on it fell off and crashed to the floor, nearly shattering to pieces from the fall.
The vampire continued to evade all of the lizardman’s attacks, all the while, the pair left a wave of destruction in the lab. He jumped on another desk and leaped forward, trying to put as much distance between himself and the lizardman as he could. However, the monster reacted fast enough to swing its sword while it was still close to him, slashing Vlad’s side and significantly wounding him. He didn’t let that slide and angrily launched a Blood blade toward the lizard.
The monster managed to deflect his attack with its scimitar, but there was enough force from his blood blade that staggered the lizardman, if only temporarily. While stunned, Vlad rolled across the floor after his leap, instantly adjusting himself into a kneeling position. He then grunted in pain and placed his hand on the wound inflicted on his side. It was a deep cut, causing his wound to bleed profusely as pain seared across the wound. When Vlad pulled his hand back to check, he saw that it was stained with his life essence.
“Bastard…” Vlad snarled with a clenched fist, turning his attention back to the lizardman.
The monster got out of its daze and once again swung its sword at Vlad, prompting him to avoid it once more. As he rolled across the floor while evading another sword slash attack, his wound painfully flared up, making him wince. However, he gritted his teeth and did his best to ignore it, forcing his body forward to continue dodging the monster’s attack.
He quickly shot up from the ground and rushed toward one of the intact desks that wasn’t destroyed by the lizardman’s sword. The desk he went to had a lot of test tubes and beakers filled with liquid, and other machines on it. Without hesitation, the vampire grabbed any test tubes and beakers he could get his hands on before tossing them at the monster. The glass tubes shattered on the lizardman’s scales, spilling the liquids all over it. It stopped moving for a moment, sniffing the contents spilled on it before making a bone-chilling screech that shook the entire lab.
Vlad didn’t stop and tried looking for one other item he could get his hands on, that being the Bunsen burner located on the same desk. Once he got it, he turned it on, allowing a hot blue flame to blaze to life. He then did the same thing he did with the test tubes and beakers, and tossed the burner at the lizardman, hoping for a specific result after tossing those chemicals.
As soon as the Bunsen burner made contact with the chemicals and the lizardman, the creature burst into flame as if it was experiencing spontaneous combustion. The monster screeched in pain as it flailed around, trying to get rid of the flames coated all over its scaley body. Vlad stood there for a moment, amazed at his quick thinking. He knew that the hospital had certain flammable chemicals in this lab since it was a requirement due to their uses. So, all he needed to was get the flammable chemicals on the monster and light it up like the fourth of July.
Vlad continued to smile at the lizardman’s painful burning experience, only for it to fade away as soon as it came as he witnessed the flames on the monster dissipate by the second. As the monster marched over to Vlad, the fire was soon gone completely, leaving a barely burned lizardman approaching him. Smoke still emanated off the scales, giving the monster an even more monstrous appearance, as if it had just pulled itself out of Hell or something. Vlad attempted to run away but got his arm grabbed in an instant, before getting flung in the air and immediately slammed on one of the intact desks.
His entire torso flared up in pain as his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness for a split second. His mind remained blank as he saw nothing but darkness, only for the scenery of the lab to flood his vision once more, only for it to be upside down. Vlad was now dangling in the air by his leg, as the lizardman held on to it before swinging him around like a ragdoll. He was slammed into more desks, his body getting severely damaged in the process. He could tell that his shoulder and a good majority of his ribs were broken, causing more flares of pain to course over his entire torso.
The pain was becoming so unimaginably bad that the vampire felt that he was about to pass out again, this time permanently. However as his vision became hazy and his eyes were going to close forever, the vampire was suddenly overcome with a wave of bloodlust and rage. His eyes shot open as they illuminated a crimson red color as Vlad glared at the lizardman holding him and launching another [Blood Strike], point blank at the lizardman’s neck.
The monster noticed his attack and moved its head to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack, only for the side of its neck to get gouged out by the blade. The lizardman howled in pain, its ear-piercing shriek giving Vlad a violent headache before it flung him around and tossed him to the other side of the lab. He crashed into a metal container of some kind, instantly breaking it as all the contents inside spilled out.
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He laid there on the floor as all of his energy left his body. He could barely move a muscle now. His attempt to lift one of his fingers took an extraneous amount of effort to accomplish. Out of curiosity, Vlad took a look at his BP count to see how low he had gotten.
[BP: 4/325]
Yeah, that wasn’t good. Despite how dire the situation was, Vlad couldn’t help but laugh but that also caused his ribs to ache with each chuckle. The vampire then groggily lifted his head, watching as the lizardman slowly approached him. The scimitar was in its hand as it was gripped tightly, its intentions clear to Vlad.
Even though he could barely breathe, he managed to wheeze out some words of retaliation. “You…better kill me quick, asshole. Cause once I’m out of blood…you can kiss you’re scaley ass…goodnight.”
At this point, if Vlad wanted to survive, he should just let his BP hit zero. He was still under the assumption that if he ran out of BP, then he would go into some kind of blood frenzy mode. If he did, he might be able to defeat the lizardman and end this fight once and for all. However, he still feared that he wouldn’t be able to regain control until he was fully satiated…which meant that Flint’s life was in danger.
Vlad didn’t want to kill Flint since he could be useful to him. However, between his current situation and his only chance at survival, Flint’s life might just be a small price to pay. He wasn’t going to let himself get killed before finding his family. If anything, Flint’s life meant nothing to him compared to the lives of his loved ones. So, the vampire was forced to make a small sacrifice.
He was about to activate [Blood Sense] to speed up his blood consumption so his BP could hit zero. Only when he did, he didn’t see one red silhouette before him but…two?!
“Haaah!” A new voice shouted at the lizardman before a ball of fire was hurled at the back of its head.
The moment the fireball exploded and stunned the lizardman for a second, it slowly turned around to face the culprit. Vlad managed to get a look as well, only for his eyes to widen with shock at who it was.
“F-Flint…?!” Vlad blurted out, coughing up a little bit of blood.
Standing before the monster that was giving Vlad such a hard time was none other than the mage himself, Flint Pierce. Blazing in his hand was another fireball like before, ready to be launched at a moment’s notice. So, the guy could use fire magic, huh?
“I-I’m sorry for not staying in the closet…I-I thought I could help!”
Vlad couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Help? How could someone like him help Vlad in this situation? He knew that Flint was most likely still level one, so he was even worse off than him. All he really did was stall for time so the vampire could enter his blood frenzy mode. He planned to kill the lizardman while in that state and try to regain his sanity before he could kill Flint, but now that plan had backfired with the bastard with them. Once he was done feeding on the lizardman, the blacksmith was sadly his next meal.
Flint continued to fire balls of flame at the monster, only for the creature to either deflect with its weapon or move to the side to avoid it. It was obvious that Flint just got a lucky shot before since none of his attacks were making contact now. The lizardman’s tongue flicked the air while making a chilling hissing sound.
Unable to do anything as Flint struggled against the lizardman, Vlad simply laid there, waiting for his BP to finally run out. That was until he felt something drip down on his face. He didn’t know what the liquid was, but it continued to trail down his forehead, down his cheek, until reaching his lips, to which the vampire instinctively licked it. And when he did, the vampire recognized the taste of metallic iron almost instantly.
The taste was different though. It was way sweeter and more delicious, like drinking straight chocolate. Better than monster blood, even. It was so good that Vlad wanted to continue drinking it until there was nothing left.
Then it happened…
[Contents of Blood are from non-player/human origins! 70 Blood Points has been obtained!]
All of a sudden, Vlad felt a rush of energy course through him as he continued to drink the blood dripping in his mouth.
[70 Blood Points has been obtained!]
[70 Blood Points has been obtained!]
[70 Blood Points has been obtained!]
The stream of messages continued to flood Vlad’s vision. As this occurred, his wounds from before slowly healed from the blood he was consuming, mending itself back together until they were no longer present. Until they were nothing but a vague dream he had.
[You are fully satiated. You no longer need to consume blood.]
As soon as Vlad saw this one message panel, a wide toothy grin appeared on his face as he shot up from the floor. He then let out a mighty roar that rivaled even the Lizardman’s from before. The noise caught the attention of both Flint and the monster, as they turned around and stared at Vlad with wide eyes.
The vampire stood there for a moment, panting and blood continued to stream down his face. His eyes soon locked on with the lizardman and he evilly sneered at it.
“Time for another round, asshole!”
He bent his knees before lunging at the lizardman, slashing two [Blood Strikes] at the monster simultaneously. The lizardman used its sword to block his attack, but the sheer force from the blades literally forced it backward, its feet slid against the floor as if it was on ice. Bolting at the lizardman, Vlad latched onto the creature as if his life depended on it, digging his vampiric claws into the monster’s body, bypassing its scales with ease. The monster roared in pain, but he ignored it, prepared to finish the fight while he still had all this energy left.
“Eat this, you piece of shit!” He declared while delivering multiple [Blood Strikes] point blank on the lizard’s body.
With each strike he made, the blade gouged deeply into the lizardman’s scales, inevitably digging into its skin and beyond. Blood and scales flew everywhere as the vampire continued assaulting the monster with [Blood Strikes]. The lizardman desperately clawed at Vlad just like he was doing to it, tearing pieces of his flesh off in retaliation. The vampire let out a vicious snarl and opened his mouth, digging his fangs into exposed flesh made from his blood blades
His wounds slowly healed up when he consumed its blood, and he continued launching more and more onto the beast. Each slash was precise and devastating as it was torn deeper into its body. The lizardman tried to pull Vlad off, but he swatted his hand away with another [Blood Strike], almost severing it completely from its wrist. Vlad continued his assault, tearing the lizardman apart piece by piece. He severed its arms, legs, and torso into smaller and smaller pieces. By the time Vlad was finished, he was then standing in a pile of lizard meat and blood pooling all over the floor.
He stood there for a moment, his breathing heavy and his entire body covered in blood and scales while the floor, walls, and remaining intact desks were splattered with the substance as well. It was only until Vlad got the message that he finally calmed down.
[Lizardman has been defeated! 1,800 XP has been obtained!]
[You have leveled up! You are now level 6!]
[You have obtained 5 SP!]
[Skill [Blood Strike] is experiencing a Rank Up! [Blood Strike] is now Rank E!]
Seeing the panels, Vlad took a deep breath, finally relaxing now that the fight was over. However, he wasn’t out of the woods yet. The vampire quickly turned around and saw Flint crouched down near a wall, cowering in fear. His eyes looked at Vlad with a newfound horror after everything that just happened.
All Vlad could do at the moment was sigh, realizing that his next task was going to be rather difficult to accomplish. He then locked eyes with Flint, trying to figure out how he was going to explain this.