Chapitre 28: Death to the vampire
The capital of Ancient Demon Empire was currently in a huge uproar. Nobody inside the palace noticed when the demon princess had gone missing. The princess was still there during dinner before she was gone the next morning. Even the guards in charge of patrolling the corridor in front of the princess's chamber were not aware of that fact.
"How could this happen?"
A loud shout followed by a loud slamming sound echoed inside the head minister's room. The head minister was beyond furious. His work table cracked after taking that furious slam. A burly, bald man in his late forty was fuming as he stared dagger at the other two person inside the room. He was Damian, the head minister of the Ancient Demon Empire.
"We were clueless about this sir. Even the people we sent to observe her didn't notice anything suspicious before it was too late."
The answer didn't change Damian's mood at all. His anger was far from subsiding. This was a crucial point in his plan after all. He couldn't be careless or everything would just go astray right away.
"We already sent our elites to track her down sir."
"Rest assured, she won't be able to escape from our grasp."
Both the knight facing Damian voiced out reassuring comment to quell their superior's anger. From what these people had been saying, they were absolutely sure that the missing princess was not kidnapped or killed. She ran away with her own free will.
"It better be so. If our plan was leaked, you guys won't be able to keep your head either."
"Yes sir."
"We swear on our life that we will get this matter dealt with."
Once again, both knight replied with confident. They were both knights of Second Knight Order which were under direct control of the head minister. They planned to personally join in the hunt to make sure that this matter would be dealt with once and for all.
The reason why Damian was angry earlier was not because the princess was in danger but the fact that the princess managed to escape from the castle before their assassination attempt. They had already planned for the princess to be assassinated two days later but apparently the princess caught up to their plan and escaped first.
After the two knight left the room, the head minister sighed heavily while looking at the big mirror inside his room. His room was quite plain. Beside his table and chair at the middle of the room, there were basically nothing else inside the room beside a huge rack full of books and a big mirror.
"Come out now. They already left."
If only there were anyone else inside the room right now, they might be thinking that the head minister had gone crazy, talking to himself inside a mirror. He did looked at his own reflection in the mirror when he talked though. Nobody knew that the mirror he talked to was actually a magic item, a spatial type magic item to be exact.
"You called?"
The mirror's surface rippled before a figure slowly emerged from inside the mirror into the real world. A handsome young man with a pale white skin, long silver hair, pointy ears and also tall skinny figure, a noble looking demon came out from the magic mirror.
"Yeah, Dominic. The princess already left the castle. Your plan might be affected at this rate. Only a few couple of step left and the last force maintaining the empire will be destroyed. Despite the unforeseen event such as the princess's escape, your plan really was flawless. You really are one hell of a schemer."
"Much obligated, Sir Damian. This upstart tactician didn't deserve such praise."
Elegantly walking toward the head minister, Dominic stopped just in front of the working desk in the middle of the room. His etiquette was obviously top tier. Even the head minister couldn't help but followed Dominic's movement with his eyes.
"Still, the success and failure of this plan highly depended on the survival of the princess. If by any chance she manage to escape alive, even Sir Damian couldn't escape this unscratched. She holds the key to thwart our plan after all."
"That problem has already been worked on. Even at the moment, those knights from the Second Knight Order were chasing after her as we speak."
"It's all good then."
"Back to business. Now explain to me every details of our next move. I don't want another blunder to pop out because of my shortcoming."
The head minister was all smile as he talked to Dominic. This Dominic was just a perfect tool for him. A good schemer which never once made a move nor showed hostility toward him. Best pawn ever. Little did he know that the seemingly docile tool actually had a scheme of his own.
"Gladly, Sir Damian. Gladly."
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Miur fell to the ground, devoid of life. The person who attacked Miur already retreated several step backward, evading Mays who rushed forward. Ria kneeled in front of Miur's body, checking her condition. Ria shook her head in disbelief. Miur was beyond saving. The dark energy infecting her spelt instant death. There was a small vampire bite's mark on her nape.
Only godkins or those above silver ranked fighter would survive when infected with this energy. Those strong people would only suffer a [Vampirication] debuff or in simpler term, a vampiric curse before turning into vampires if they were not treated. For weak people who didn't even reached silver rank, they would just turned into ashes in a few minutes. They didn't even qualified to be a lesser vampire.
"Whoa… I never expected godkins to be here. This turned out to be a hassle."
The attacker who killed Miur sighed in a regretful manner. Never was his intention to fight head on against godkins, not to mention multiple of them even. This person was none other than Arkenta, the master of those vampires Mays and his gang had just killed.
He was quite shocked when both his attendant were dead when he arrived. Once he saw Miur among the people present, he felt disgusted over the fact that he let her alive a few hours ago. Blinded by rage, he immediately used his long range teleport skill [Vampiric Warp] to appear behind Miur and used [Vampirication].
"Die, fucker! Sword Burst!"
From the side, Ria shoved her sword forward and unleashed a sword beam directly at Arkenta. Since the attack came from his blind spot, he couldn't evade the attack on time.
"Tch!"
Arkenta clicked his tongue as he wiped the blood on his lips.
Despite taking the attack head on, there were barely any visible injury on him. [Sword Burst] was just a low level knight's skill after all. But still, after receiving just one attack from Ria, he knew that these people in front of him were not ordinary godkin. His defense couldn't be penetrated by at least weapons of Epic tier or higher.
Before Arkenta could balance his footing, Mays with both his sword shone brightly from a skill effect attacked him without delay. [Enhanced Slash] was used. The normal sword swing dealt extra damage than usual. Arkenta barely managed to evade those attack with great effort.
"DUAL SLASH!"
"PURGATORY!"
"SWORD SPIRIT!"
One after another, Mays used his skill without reserve. Without the need to ask, everyone who saw Mays's current look would know how angry he was at the moment. Arkenta on the other hand was just defending with all his might, slowly accumulating damage without the chance to fight back.
He tried counterattacking once but his attack was interrupted by Ria who was also in the fight. Despite being there, she passively stood at the side without any intention on actually joining. With how mad Mays currently was, nobody would either.
Thinking that these two would overwhelm him soon if he didn't retreat, Arkenta started moving his hand making several hand seal hastily. He wanted to distance himself from these godkin as far as possible using his long range racial teleport. That was his only option if he wanted to leave this place alive.
"RIA, DOMAIN!"
"Mystic Domain!"
Mays shouted, ordering Ria without hesitation. There were clear trace of anger in his voice. Nobody would stay the same when someone they cared about was killed in front of their own eyes. Ria noticed the changes but decided not to point it out. At the very least, Mays didn't seem to lost his rationality yet. Even in HeavensTale, hand seals were one of the cue for bosses when they used racial skills.
Never would Arkenta had thought that these people would have powerful skill such as domain. Even at the Great War five years ago, he never met anyone who could use domain skill. Before he managed to use [Vampiric Warp], the surrounding area turned black as if it was enveloped by darkness.
Even the dark night couldn't compare to the current darkness inside the mystic domain. There were even countless wailing wretched soul inside the domain whose function was to reduce enemy's accuracy upon contact.
Even after his hand seal were done, he still couldn't activate his skill. The magic circle didn't even appear. Arkenta was trapped inside the warped space of mystical domain. Nothing could escape nor enter this mysterious space. Bead of cold sweat formed all over his forehead as his trump card, the teleportation racial skill was rendered useless.
"Damn. I got careless."
Arkenta cursed. He knew he fucked up when he saw his two opponent approached him from both side. If not because of the demonic blood inside his body, he probably couldn't even detect his opponent's whereabouts inside this domain.
[Mystic Domain] was Mystic Knight level hundred defensive skill. Domain skill was not exclusively powerful. Most of them only functioned as indestructible barrier for holding off opponents. It was surprisingly useful in PVP against kiter though. Only hidden class had these domain skills in HeavensTale.
Among all domain, Ria's domain could be labelled the most troublesome one. Beside the effect of reducing enemy's accuracy inside the domain, it also had the effect of disabling all skills and magic. The only downside of her domain skill was that it affected both enemies and allies.
In simpler term, everything turned into chaotic melee inside her domain. It was a great advantage for her though considering her main class was that of a knight. Magic caster class would be the first one to suffer under this domain considering their defense were just as good as a paper mache without their durable magic shield.
The only way to destroy a domain was to kill the caster. There was even domains that wouldn't disappear when the caster was killed. One could also alter a domain by casting another domain on top of it but it was only an option for another domain skill wielder, one of the eight hidden class players.
"How dare you… DIEEEE!!!"
Mays was unable to contain his anger any longer. His eyes were bloodshot. Ever since he entered this world, this was the first time he ever felt this angry. He almost snapped when Miur almost got killed back in the tournament but he managed to tone it down since Miur survived.
But now, Miur was dead. Despite how strong he was, he was still unable to prevent this from happening. His strength was only for display. These thought engulfed him as he rushed toward Arkenta without hesitation.
"Enemy attack!"
"Beware! There might be other enemy nearby!"
Mira and Syaitona who saw the domain skill casted by Ria immediately alerted their companions. Since Arkenta used long range teleportation skill, none of them could notice the enemy before it was too late. Since these spirits were quite a distance away from Ria, they were not inside the domain.
"Gah. What to do? I don't think I could fight those people alone. But Arkenta would surely die if I leave him be."
Several kilometres away from the battlefield, one winged monkey was flying atop the cloud in the middle of the night. He was observing the battlefield with a difficult face. He was Dimes, another gold ranked intermediate boss.
"Worst case scenario would be where both I and Arkenta killed in this skirmish. It's better for me to fall back and report this. Who asked him to use his racial warp skill to go alone anyways?"
As if he was reminding himself about the priority of his action, he didn't even waste another minute waiting. He immediately turned back and flew away from his current location, leaving the trapped Arkenta by himself.
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Inside the mystic domain, countless wretched soul flew aimlessly all over the area. It was totally impossible to evade those soul while fighting. Arkenta was panting heavily while keeping his battle stance. Mays also seemed haggard, spending more energy than normal when it should had been an easy fight inside the domain. Ria on the other hand was still calm, observing the battle from a distance.
"Huh… huh… huh… Die!"
With a loud shout, Arkenta sent out a deathly slash toward Mays but it was evaded. With how much his accuracy already decreased, even a concentrated attack from him would hardly connect. Without his magic, Arkenta was practically a wild beast without its fang and claw. His attack was not domineering at all.
Mays was not that different either. Blinded by rage, he was attacking Arkenta like a primitive human. At the very least, his battle instinct was still top tier. Despite facing off an opponent without a clear mind, he barely received any injuries after fifteen minutes of exchange.
Different to the game, injury in this world could not be taken lightly. True, regeneration from injury were faster than normal but missing limbs could not regenerate. If one's arm were cut off and destroyed, they would stay armless for life. There were even several players with amputated limbs living in the empire, regretting their lack of awareness before it was too late.
"Ria, sorry for my earlier outburst."
Mays apologized in the middle of the battle. He finally calmed down after letting out his anger on the boss for more than ten minutes.
"Hehehe no worries. I'm here for you anyways."
Ria replied cheerfully. The usual calm Mays was the best. It didn't suit him at all to lose his mind easily. Since Ria was never close to Miur, she didn't feel anything at all. But she knew Mays spent months with that girl previously so they might be quite close. That girl confessed to him even. That was the sole reason why Ria didn't say anything despite Mays not being his usual self.
"Anyways, let's do that."
"Hehe okay. I haven't done that for years."
The mood turned better once Mays changed back to normal. This time, he thinks ahead before attacking. He was back to his usual self after all.
As the three pair of eyes focused tightly on each other, an extremely tense atmosphere spread out from them. Arkenta knew that these two were up to something hence he couldn't let his guard down even for one second.
He could contend to Mays previously because he was fighting on instinct. It was also mostly a one on one battle with Ria watching from the side. Now that Mays had regained his sense, it would be harder for Arkenta to fight. The incoming attack would be a coordinated attack for sure.
Just one moment, in the blink of an eye, both Mays and Ria shot out simultaneously like an arrow. Their speed was extremely fast for normal human but since the three of them were about the same in overall abilities and stats, Arkenta could still follow their movement albeit hardly.
Mays was the first who launched a direct attack with his sword but it was parried by Arkenta's sharp claw. Mays whose attack failed grinned as he looked down upon Arkenta.
"Kuarh!"
Ria rammed her shield at Arkenta from behind. Arkenta was obviously unable to react on time. Not only that, Mays who was at his side followed up by slashing his vital area without delay.
"Urgh! Ouch! Uuuuugh! Kuuuh!"
One attack after another, Arkenta was showered with attacks nonstop. He couldn't even break free from the chain attack combo. It was not his fault though. Nobody in HeavensTale managed to break free against this combo. Not even the notorious Black Death Duo could. Too bad that domain skill was unusable in dungeon. If not, hidden class player would be way more overpowered for sure, killing bosses inside their cheat domain.
After a full ten minutes of nonstop beating, Arkenta finally fell on his knee, barely able to keep his consciousness. There were traces of injury all over his body. After regenerating over and over again, even his enormous magic power would be sucked dry. Without his magic power, his high speed regeneration was disabled.
"Well then, I think it is about time for you to start talking."
Mays grabbed Arkenta by his hair as he lifted the lifeless vampire with his right hand. His other hand was still holding onto his sword, ready to strike at moment notice.
"Kuhuk… You think I would just start talking like a good child? Dream on!"
Arkenta coughed up blood as he replied to Mays with a tone full of disdain.
"I tortured countless humans. I killed countless more. A mere youngling like you won't be able to force me to reveal anything hahahahhahahha!"
As if he was mocking Mays who planned on getting whatever information from him, he laughed heartily without holding back.
"It really is a wonder. Why do a godkin like you playing house with useless small fry on this faraway kingdom? Pretending to be a god? Hahahhaha. That girl sure had it hard, falling for a useless godkin like you HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!"
Since the only thing he could do right now was talking, Arkenta spare no effort in provoking Mays. The moment he started talking about the pitiful girl who got caught up in this and died, the anger which Mays barely manage to supress finally erupted.
"It's okay. I don't really care either way."
Mays replied indifferently to the provoking Arkenta. His tone was calm and even his fiery anger was nowhere to be seen in both his eyes. There were only distance nothingness, absolute pitch black of despair.
"Plop!"
Arkenta's right hand was dismembered.
"Nice. Not even a scream or shout. Keep it up."
"Plop!"
Another hand was dismembered. Arkenta who was defenseless could only stared dagger at Mays without flinching. He ain't planning to give in just from these level of torture.
"That's all? Heh amateur!"
Arkenta mouthed off Mays as if whatever happened to him wouldn't matter.
"Chill. There is more to come."
Stab.
Another stab.
And another stab.
Arkenta's body was riddled with hole all over. Mays stabbed him indifferently without saying anything anymore. He looks like he was devoid of feeling. Even Ria who stood beside Mays was restless seeing Mays like that.
She could accept the fact that Mays was angry when someone dear to him was killed. But the current Mays? His eyes were dead. Eyes that despised everything. Eyes that looked down on everything. Eyes that values nothing.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone