Ryzen scanned the battlefield but found no sign of his attacker. She literally disappeared before his very eyes. Yet, Ryzen knew she hadn’t fled. She was up to something and if Ryzen didn’t act soon he would very likely end up like Jarek.

Ryzen felt a slight touch of wind from behind him and he immediately disappeared into his shadow. An axe appeared right where his head was and once again disappeared.

“Oh?” the woman exclaimed, clearly surprised that Ryzen was still alive.

Not wasting time to chatter, Ryzen threw a shadow dagger at the source of the noise. The axe once again appeared and blocked the blade. Ryzen appeared behind the woman and swung his dagger. Unfortunately, her other axe came around and blocked his knife. He sent another shadow dagger at her but she simply used her other axe to block it again.

“Fuck!” Ryzen said as he realized he was at a loss. Her reflexes were on another level. Not only that but he had lost his one advantage which was that his skills were unknown.

The woman turned around and sent a barrage of attacks at Ryzen. He managed to block the first two strikes but the third broke through his block and slammed into his chest. Thankfully, his armor held up but he was still sent flying backward.

“Damn it!” Ryzen yelled out as he went into his shadow again.

“Heh, this is fucking fun!” the woman screamed out.

Ryzen flew towards the noise and sent a dagger there while he was doing so. As he expected, an axe appeared to swiftly block it and he swung down at where her hand should be.

The other axe appeared right before the dagger connected with her hand and she somehow managed to block Ryzen’s attack. She pushed him backward and swung at his neck. He brought up his dagger and blocked her attack with both of his hands on the grip.

The axe slammed his dagger and his hands barely managed to hold up. Another axe came pummeling towards Ryzen and he quickly dropped into his shadow. Not even a second later, he was behind where he assumed her to be and swung his dagger. Once again, his blade was met with her axe. Her other one came flying at Ryzen from his left and he swiftly dodged and sent a shadow dagger at her face.

She blocked it and Ryzen took advantage of that to swing at her arm. Finally, he hit her but her skin was much tougher than it looked. Still, it was enough to open up a large gash on her arm and more importantly, make her visible.

“You little shit!” she screamed.

A red aura came over her as she started madly swinging her axes at Ryzen. He knew he couldn’t take that so he quickly disappeared into his shadow and backed up.

“Get the fuck over here!” she screeched.

Ryzen tried sending strategic shadow daggers when she seemed to be distracted, but whatever she did made her skin tougher. They simply dug into her skin and popped out.

Ryzen came out of his shadow twenty feet away from her to reserve MP but she immediately started sprinting at him like a madman. The woman’s mouth was frothing and her eyes were glazed over. She had clearly used some sort of berserk shit.

The woman pulled her hand up and proceeded to chuck one of the axes at the speed of a supercar. Ryzen immediately dropped to the floor to dodge it and heard the massive crash from behind him.

He slowly got up only to roll to his side as the axe came flying back to the woman. By the time Ryzen got back up, the woman was already in attacking range. She swung her axes at his entire body and he did a backflip to dodge it. He then went into his shadow, sent a shadow dagger at her face, and appeared behind her.

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He stabbed his dagger at her neck but before it could connect, she grabbed his wrist from behind and slammed him into the ground. Too dazed to do anything, he failed to move when she jammed the pommel of her axe into his stomach.

She growled and raised her other axe to decapitate him but luckily Ryzen got it together and melted into the shadows. Her axe fell and slammed into the dirt with a roar.

He reappeared thirty feet away and nearly threw up. His status didn’t give an update on how much HP or MP he had but he knew it wasn’t a lot. He groaned as the crazed woman was already only ten feet away from him.

“Feel tired yet? I’ll fucking eat you alive!” the woman screamed with a wild grin.

Ryzen desperately sent another shadow dagger to slow her down but she simply blocked it just like every other time. The familiar feeling of a system notification appeared and Ryzen instinctively felt something was different.

Skill Shadow Daggers has leveled up!

He dragged himself off the floor and glared at the oncoming woman who had battered him so much. She swung both her axes at his face and he ducked to dodge. He then swung his dagger at her stomach as fast as he could. She used one of her axes to block. Ryzen then sent a shadow dagger at her face and she used her other axe to block that as well. What she wasn’t expecting was yet another shadow dagger that had been sent at her neck.

Suddenly, all the tension in her body collapsed and she fell to the floor with a shadow dagger sticking out of her neck. Vampires may not have been able to die from something such as a neck wound but their bodies still worked like any other. They needed their spinal cord to move. Still, Ryzen didn’t have long before it regenerated.

He gripped one of her axes and swung as hard as he could at where her heart was. Her hands started twitching as her spinal cord rapidly repaired itself. Ryzen did not have long.

He hacked away until he could see her beating heart. He sent a shadow dagger but it was too late. She moved her hand in front of her heart, shielding it from any damage.

She then slammed Ryzen into the ground and roared, “I, Lilian Nemorius, won’t be done in that easily!”

She spat blood from her mouth and picked up her axe off the ground. A strong pull forced Ryzen to let go of the one he was currently holding and that too slipped into her hand. Things were looking good but still, Ryzen could see her beating heart. The flesh was rapidly repairing itself but he had some time before it fully did so. This was his final chance, if he failed here then he would be as good as dead. He took a calm breath and stared Lilian down. This was it.

They both rushed at each other. Lilian started out by swinging her axes down on Ryzen who dodged. He swung at her heart but she used her arms to block it. She pulled back her axes and swung one towards his head and another at his stomach. Ryzen sidestepped the attack and sent a shadow dagger at her throat and another at her heart.

She used both her axes to block them and Ryzen struck at her heart from a different angle. Before he could get close she headbutted him in his chest, forcing him backwards. He scrambled back up but his attack had failed.

She screamed in his face as she swung bother her axes at him. Ryzen jumped backward and deployed both of his shadow daggers at her neck. One was aimed at the front while the other was coming from behind. She growled as she brought both her axes up to block the attacks.

Ryzen disappeared into his shadow, reappeared behind her, and immediately chucked his physical dagger at Lilian.

Right as she turned to be face to face with Ryzen again, the dagger struck true and impaled her heart. She slowly looked down at the dagger sticking out of her and then back up to Ryzen with shock.

“You… You… Not fair…” Lilian stuttered as she fell onto her knees. She held a look of astonishment, shock, and most of all, fear.

Ryzen slowly walked towards her. She tried to move away but she wasn’t strong enough to do so. He gripped the dagger in her heart and pulled it out. She looked up at him in horror as blood started pouring out of her chest. A few seconds later she slumped over, dead.

You have killed level 49 vampire!

You have leveled up!

Ryzen took a moment to rest and turned around to move away from the mansion. It wouldn’t be long until someone came to ensure that Lilian finished the job. He would make sure he wasn’t still here when that happened.

He had to get back to Marikon and see what the hell had happened. He thought back to Enancia and how she had mentioned she had wanted to go with him. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time encompassed him. Guilt. He felt guilty for leaving her there like that. She had asked to go with him. For him to protect her.

Ryzen scrunched up his fists and his eyes blazed with fury. He was tired of fighting himself. He admitted it. For some reason, he wanted to protect Enancia. He cared for her. He didn’t know why but what he did know was that he would make damn sure nobody got in his way.