My Horny Stepmom Turns Me into Her Vampire Slave

Chapter 188: Nothing ventured, nothing gained

BAM!

Lazarus slams his foot into Chris’s chest, sending him crashing into the ground and bouncing across it several times.

The moment the kick lands, Chris’s creaking bone armor automatically shoots out its defensive spikes, piercing straight through Lazarus’s foot.

The wounds heal in the blink of an eye.

"Nice little trick, kid. You even managed to wound me once. Your Innatus is pretty impressive. But in the hands of someone as weak as you, all it’ll do is delay the inevitable," Lazarus mocks.

"Well... that’s still one more time than you’ve managed to hurt me," Chris shoots back with a nervous smile.

As exhausted as he is, and despite taking a beating since the fight began, not a single one of Lazarus’s thrusts has managed to hit him directly thanks to his Innatus.

But keeping that power active burns through a huge amount of mana, and Chris is almost completely out.

"Oh, don’t worry. I’ll fix that right now."

Lazarus raises his spear, ready to charge again.

Chris barely has time to get back on his feet, more worried than ever.

Shit... I don’t think my armor can take another hit. I’m not fast enough to dodge it, let alone block it.

But I did exactly what Isabelle told me! He’s attacked me so many times that I’ve memorized every single move.

The problem is... what good is that if I can’t use it? Is he going for my head? Or my heart?

Fuck... if I just knew where he was about to strike, I could move first.

Wait...

Lazarus is just about to charge when Chris’s already battered helmet finally shatters and falls apart.

The second he sees it, Lazarus bursts into loud laughter.

"Haha! You’re killing me, kid. Seriously. But I have to admit, you’ve got talent. Not many people can last this long against someone like me. So... how about I make you an offer? Why don’t you join us? Having someone as durable as you to send in first would be useful for the Crimson Requiem. So, what do you say?"

Chris doesn’t say a word. He stays in his fighting stance, completely focused.

"So? Did all those hits mess up your hearing? You do realize you’re one step away from dying, right? And for no reason, too. I don’t know where you came from, but you’ve got nothing to do with this Mia Valakys business. Accept my offer, and you’ll have fame, authority, respect... and most of all, more money than you could ever spend."

Once again, Chris doesn’t move. His eyes stay locked on Lazarus, his focus unshaken.

"I’ll take that as a no, then. Your loss, kid. Guess I’ll just have to kill you!"

Lazarus gets into position.

Left foot planted forward. Right leg set to launch him ahead. His right arm pulled back, ready to thrust. His left arm guarding his chest.

Chris has seen that stance so many times that he’s memorized it himself.

But until now, he’d never known how Lazarus would finish the attack.

But now he does.

Chris knows exactly where his opponent is about to strike.

"Get ready to end up as a vampire skewer!"

With that, Lazarus launches forward so fast that Chris can barely keep up with his movements.

But now that he’s learned his opponent’s attack patterns, he doesn’t need to see him to know how to respond.

It all happens in a fraction of a second.

Just before Lazarus thrusts his spear, Chris drops low.

His right hand tightens around the long bone spike, while his left arm shoots forward, level with his opponent’s forehead.

A bone bullet fires.

Lazarus catches it out of the air with his left hand just as the tip of his spear drives through the spot where Chris’s head had been an instant ago.

And then...

...a tired, triumphant smile spreads across Chris’s face as the spear slips from Lazarus’s now-weak grip.

"I-Impossible..." Lazarus gasps, his voice choked by the blood pouring from his mouth like scarlet vomit.

A piercing scream of pain tears out of him as Chris drives the bone spike even deeper into his chest, until it bursts out through his back — his heart pierced straight through.

"H-How the hell did you do that...? Cough... cough... I’m... infinitely stronger and faster than you..."

But before Chris can answer, a flash of realization hits Lazarus.

"O-Of course... you got rid of your helmet on purpose... didn’t you, you damn brat...? Cough... cough... you did it... so you’d know where I was going to strike, even if you couldn’t keep up with my movements... cough... cough... t-that was damn clever... I was right when I said you had a bright future in the Crimson Requiem..."

At those words, a faint, satisfied smile spreads across Chris’s face.

Never before had he been praised by an enemy.

For the first time since becoming a vampire, he truly feels strong enough to protect Mia.

Defeating someone who was clearly stronger than him and far more experienced in battle was something he never would have imagined, not that long ago.

He drives the bone spike even deeper into Lazarus’s chest, then yanks it back out in one sharp pull.

The Crimson Requiem soldier’s body crashes heavily to the ground at his feet.

Despite being on the verge of bleeding out, Lazarus is still alive.

"Y-You’ll pay for this, brat... I swear you will... You may have beaten me... but Blake... cough... cough... he’s on a whole different level... you’ll regret ever crossing us..."

They’re the last words Lazarus manages to speak as he lies twisted on the ground in agony.

Chris spares him any more suffering by driving the bone spike through his skull.

The moment he lands the killing blow, Chris collapses to the ground in exhaustion. His bone armor crumbles away, as he no longer has enough mana left to maintain it.

He lets out a long, weary sigh, but there’s a hint of pride in it.

Even so, his body won’t stop trembling. Partly from the strain his muscles had endured, and partly from the fear he felt while putting such a risky plan into action.

Chris had deliberately given up his helmet to bait Lazarus into aiming for his head. That let him move before the attack came, making up for the gap in speed between them.

If Lazarus had aimed for his chest instead, or realized what Chris was planning in time, he would’ve been dead.

But luckily for him, the gamble paid off. It gave him the opening he needed to drive the bone spike straight through Lazarus’s heart while he was attacking.

The only problem was Lazarus’s left arm, which he always kept in front of his chest to protect it.

To get around that, Chris fired a bone bullet at the upper part of his head.

It forced Lazarus to raise his arm just enough to leave his heart exposed, creating the opening for that final upward thrust.

Even Chris is surprised by the sequence of moves and countermoves he pulled off.

Until now, he’d always fought by charging in headfirst or focusing on defense, without ever having a real counterattack strategy.

But that moment of self-satisfaction doesn’t last long.

He knows the battle isn’t over yet. If anything, it’s only just begun.

He gets back on his feet at once and looks around, trying to see how the others are doing.

His attention is immediately drawn to the deafening roar of the three-way battle between Isabelle, Constantine, and Zayn, which has already laid waste to more than half of the Tama hills.

They’re moving so fast that, instead of seeing the fight itself, all he can make out are the devastating effects of their clash.

Focusing harder, he manages to catch brief glimpses of them whenever their weapons collide.

Those fleeting moments, like split-second freeze frames, are enough for Chris to piece together a rough picture of what’s happening.

It isn’t a free-for-all. It’s two against one.

Just not in the way he expected.

He was certain Constantine and Zayn would join forces against Isabelle, yet he’s shocked to realize that Zayn is the one they’re both fighting.

On top of that, he’s stunned by the terrifying black aura surrounding Zayn. It’s made him so powerful that he’s able to fight both Isabelle and the Crimson Requiem commander at the same time.

It’s a power he’s never seen before, nor even heard of, yet for some reason, it fills him with terror.

Even so, he’s relieved to see that Isabelle is still alive and well. But she isn’t the one Chris is desperately searching for.

He pushes his gaze farther into the battlefield.

Then he finally sees Mia...

...and in that instant, Chris freezes.

An icy chill runs down his spine as his vision begins to blur.

His heart starts pounding wildly. His breathing turns heavy and ragged.

"Mia... Mia, no..." he whispers, barely able to get the words out as tears stream down his face.

Then, with everything he has left, he lets out a desperate scream.

"MIAAAAAAA!"