Chapter 2218: Enemies Continually Appearing

Chapter 2218: Chapter 2218: Enemies Continually Appearing

But Shard did not relax his guard, for hundreds of bats immediately flew out from the collapsed heap of flesh, densely swarming in all directions.

"Because it’s not a pure Vampire Kind, did it survive the poison thanks to the resistance of the Dragon Bloodline? If so... Corrupt Blood Fog!"

He bit his tongue and widened his eyes, taking a deep breath, and then a mouthful of blood fog with a crimson glow sprayed from his mouth. The effect of this Arcane Technique was remarkably good; bats touched by the fog melted into blood within seconds, dissolving in the mist, with only five bats escaping the range of the crimson blood fog.

"Which one is the original?"

[All of them.]

"What?"

The dazzling moonlight was fired by Shard, but eventually, two bats escaped his attack range. Disregarding the amazement at the creature’s powerful split and life force, Shard blinked in the alley:

"Echo of Blood!"

The black blood itself also contained blood, and although the two escaping bats no longer had the toxicity of the black blood, they still bore traces of it. Thus, the phantom of red bats glowing with light appeared in Shard’s vision. He jumped on the spot, in the silver light cluster, a silver-white cat nimbly jumped onto the rooftop. The cat head looked around and then stepped on the rooftop, pursuing the tracks of the two bats under the thin starlight, running toward the distance.

The smell of "black blood" is more obvious to Vampire Kind than any stench; the bottle Shard smashed was tightly sealed to prevent the smell from leaking prematurely. Once the smell spreads, as Mr. Benhart said, it’s more nauseating than the dirtiest toilet in the countryside.

So while Shard transformed into a cat to pursue, he believed that Mr. Benhart must also be chasing the enemy from afar. Indeed, Mr. Benhart proved to be quite reliable. While Shard tracked the bats across the connected rooftops in the Lower District, leaping over feral cats fighting on the rooftops, startling bats hanging beneath high-rise eaves, disturbing a couple "fighting" in an unknowable apartment, and ultimately jumping down from a three-story roadside building landing precisely on the decorative support rod of the street lamp, Mr. Benhart had already cornered the creature drenched in black blood and dissolved in the Corrupt Blood Fog.

This is the edge of the slums in the southwestern part of Moon Bay City. Moving further southwest would enter the range of Moon Bay Dock. Nearby are mostly office buildings and warehouses of international trade companies, and the streets are almost deserted at night.

And the keen-eyed silver cat saw Mr. Benhart, but he was facing more than one person.

Shard first looked at the figure lying on the ground cloaked in black robes, resembling a melted mass of horrific flesh, constantly trembling on the ground, with black spots and crimson sores exposed on the blood and flesh outside the black robes. The former is the effect of black blood, and the latter is Shard’s Arcane Technique, "Corrupt Blood Fog." The escaping bats eventually stained with some fog.

On the other side of the terrifying creature lying on the ground were two men standing together. Shard didn’t recognize either man, but both were currently surrounded by blood-red fog. Closer inspection revealed bat marks hovering over their heads, indicating they were also Vampire Kind.

"What’s going on? Have we found the culprit?"

Seeing no immediate signs of a fight, Shard, crouching on the street lamp pole, also did not immediately reveal himself, instead using the transformation spell’s size advantage to continue hiding in this most conspicuous yet safe spot.

"The same clan from the New World?"

Although facing two adversaries, Mr. Benhart did not flinch a bit. He leisurely took his hat in hand, speaking with extra flair:

"Is the [Blood Spirit School] also getting involved in this matter?"

"Them again?"

Shard was surprised and continued watching. The two men surrounded by blood fog exchanged glances, then voluntarily bowed to Mr. Benhart, their eyes still fixed on him:

"Good evening, Viscount."

Here, the title likely refers not to nobility but status within the clan:

"You may be mistaken. We have not cooperated with [Dragon Feast Cult]. We collaborated with the Thirteen-Ring Diviner from the Green Lake Region, investing and contributing information, hoping to find methods for Vampire Kind to better adapt to Dragon Strength. Now, the diviner has died by the ’God Summoner’s’ hand, but the research data still resides with the [Dragon Feast Cult]. Since the [Dragon Feast Cult] already has a successful experiment..."

One of them pointed to the writhing creature on the ground:

"Let Weeper take it back to the New World."

They spoke extremely politely to Mr. Benhart:

"Viscount, we know the current situation in the Moon Bay Region, and we know more than you do. The [Dragon Feast Cult] has gone mad under the guidance of their deity. How about this, if you give us this thing, we can share some intelligence with you."

Mr. Benhart shook his head:

"If you know the situation of Moon Bay, you should understand that I need this to vindicate our local clan in Moon Bay. And you who joined the [Blood Spirit School] and contributed blood to that organization have already been seen as traitors of the Vampire Kind, yet you still want to negotiate with me?"

The two vampires standing opposite him exchanged a glance, then both said to Mr. Benhart:

"Then, Viscount, please forgive our offense. We apologize sincerely!"

The three of them almost simultaneously turned into blood mist, and the three mists soared into the sky, entangled and collided above the street. Hundreds of crimson bats kept exploding out from the blood mist, colliding and then exploding like bombs. The bats that originally hung upside down under the eaves flew off into the distance with a flutter, and the sharp cries that ordinary human ears couldn’t catch finally disturbed the peace of the night.

The monster that had been crouching on the ground took the opportunity to transform into a mass of blood mist and left through a side alley. Mr. Benhart, who was able to suppress his opponents even one against two, originally intended to pursue, but upon seeing a silver cat chase after it, he patiently stayed behind to fight the two clan members.

He was indeed curious about what intelligence these vampire traitors had about the [Dragon Feast Cult].

On the other side, the silver cat continued tracking the fleeing monster. It could have acted immediately, but chose to follow a bit longer to see where the other party was heading. This monster had been hiding in the city for a long time, even Miss Belindel couldn’t immediately divine its hiding place. Shard felt there might be something suspicious about the hiding place.

Thus, the cat and the monster soon entered the warehouse area of the dock along the eerie alleys. Even during the day, few people passed through this warehouse district, and at night it was eerily quiet.

The severely injured monster, while fleeing, used its powerful self-healing power from its "Vampire Kind" and "Dragon" traits to barely return to human form. But as it appeared from yet another alleyway and attempted to cross the street into another alley, with a buzzing sound, an invisible Wind Blade left a deep mark on the ground in front of it.

Two men emerged from the alley entrance, one of whom Shard recognized as the holder of the [Sword of the Wind King], who interfered with their team mission this spring and was recently on the ship looking for a dragon egg fossil. If Shard remembered correctly, he called himself "John Flynn" and belonged to the [New World Mutual Aid Society].

Since Mr. Edmund had mentioned that the Sage-Level Relic [Sword of the Wind King] might be one of the Holy Swords capable of summoning the "Sword of Light," Shard took another look at the Invisible Sword in his hand. As for the young woman accompanying him, she was probably also a member of the [New World Mutual Aid Society].

"How is it that all this time no one found this monster, but tonight as soon as Mr. Benhart and I acted, everyone came looking?"

Shard thought with some surprise, while "she" gently asked:

[Is it possible that the earlier vampire battle attracted these people?]

"Her" guess made a lot of sense, because as the two from the [New World Mutual Aid Society] appeared, three more individuals emerged from the dark street on the right.

Shard recognized one of them immediately, the patch of black dragon scales on his face proved he was the [Dragon Feast Cult] cultist Shard encountered on the riverbank when asking Miss Lisa for clues. Yet compared to a few weeks ago when Shard had punched him away, the area of dragon scales on his face had grown significantly.

And his two companions also had distinct non-human traits. The slightly shorter blond man had two not easily noticeable horn-like organs on either side of his forehead, but they could be hidden with a hat. The fatter, greasy-haired man leaning on a cane had an entire right hand that had mutated into a claw-like structure.

"Dragon Feast Cult?"

The young man holding the Invisible Sword asked, while the middle-aged man with the pitch-black dragon scales on his face instructed his two companions:

"Take them out quickly and efficiently."

The short blond man and the fat black-haired man walked out silently, and "John Flynn" and his female companion both stopped speaking. The rings of fate behind the four simultaneously appeared, and as two Silence Charms were thrown to the ground, the Circle Sorcerers began this battle.

The severely injured monster dove into the alley to continue its escape, and the cultist with the pitch-black dragon scales followed blatantly behind, with the silver cat tailing behind them.

The scene shifted once more and they finally arrived at the sea coast at the dock’s end. As the monster stopped facing the ocean, the cultist finally spoke:

"Take me to what you discovered underground, and I can promise you will become a formal member among us."