In preparation for defending against the vampire bats, all the Magi had pooled their mana, cast a joint spell, and erected a multi-layered dome surrounding them.
The first layer was made of earth, the next made of ice, the one after made of earth again, and the final and outermost layer was made of a dense number of thick, thorny, and poisonous vines.
It had been a few minutes since the dome was erected, and it continued to withstand the constant attacks of the vampire bats.
As the bats were slowly chipping away at the dome little by little, Magus Karl who seemed to be nearly running out of mana, spoke impatiently, "How long do we have to endure this?!"
Everyone knew that this old Magus had the least amount of mana left out of all. After all, he had expended quite a lot of it while finding the trail left behind by Adam. It had been more than a couple of hours since then, and he hadn't gotten any chance to replenish mana.
In this world, no potion could replenish a Magus' mana. Only practicing mindfulness could do that.
Lisa looked at Magus Karl and replied, "To be honest, I'm not sure how long it'll take. But we have no other option than to—"
BOOOM!!
Suddenly, a loud and deep sound came from outside the dome, almost as if tens of Potions of Explosion had simultaneously gone off. Following that, the ground underneath the Magi trembled violently, causing cracks to appear on the dome.
"W-What is happening outside?!"
"Is the cavern falling apart?!"
The Magi panicked, not knowing what to do. Edward looked in the general direction of the ritual formation and thought worriedly, Adam…
…
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Adam succeeded in landing a direct blow to the vampire. The entire right side of the vampire's torso was obliterated by his technique.
The youth had aimed to completely destroy the vampire's upper body, but at the last moment, the vampire had managed to shift his body slightly to the left.
But regardless of the outcome, Adam had succeeded in finally bringing down the vampire.
Seeing the vampire lifelessly fall to the ground with his right hand, right side of the chest, and half of his stomach missing, Adam breathed a sigh of relief.
As he took large mouthfuls of air, he turned his head toward the large dome created by the Magi and saw that the vampire bats still hadn't stopped attacking.
Seeing this, his eyes narrowed.
A few moments later, he got back to his feet and walked toward the vampire spawn who had been watching their battle all this while.
Seeing his master die such a gruesome death, the vampire spawn was frozen in terror. Even when he saw Adam approach him, he couldn't even move a finger.
He wanted to beg for mercy but found that he was not able to utter a sound. He stood there motionlessly like a sculpture.
Adam walked toward him step by step as he first sacrificed a few grams of the Horned Black Sheep's fleece, then weaved a series of hand motions at a leisurely speed. He stood right in front of the vampire spawn and maliciously grinned.
"Any last words?"
But right at that moment…
STAB!
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Adam looked down and saw a pale hand protruding out from inside his chest. He coughed a mouthful of blood and when he raised his gaze, he saw the pale hand holding onto his heart.
"HAHAHAHA!" The vampire Magus laughed maniacally as he stood behind Adam, half of his upper body missing. But it was being regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Did you really think you killed me?" The vampire grinned as he clenched his fist, destroying Adam's heart. "Fool! To truly kill a vampire one must either destroy their heart or brain! Hahaha!"
With great difficulty, Adam turned around and glanced at the vampire with tearful eyes. On his last breath, he muttered, "M-Master… why…"
The vampire's laugh abruptly stopped and his eyebrows creased into a tight knot. "What did you just—"
STAB!
The vampire looked down in confusion and saw a black gauntlet protruding out from his chest and holding onto his heart. Not believing his eyes, he looked up and saw that the one in front of him was actually his spawn!!!
The real Adam who was behind him, revealed a devilish grin. "Thanks for telling me."
The next moment, Adam tightly clenched his fist and destroyed the vampire's heart. The light in the vampire's eyes instantly dimmed as he limply fell to the floor and died.
This time, for good.
Adam fell to his knees and breathed heavily. He had truly gone well over his limits to come out victorious in this battle. He weakly turned his head toward the dome and saw that the vampire bats had stopped attacking.
With no one to command them, they flew around aimlessly until finally, they all flew back toward the dark ceiling.
Seeing this, Adam sighed in relief. He confirmed that the vampire Magus had truly died. But still, he couldn't help but frown.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})He's dead… so why do I still feel so anxious? My intuition continues to warn me. Are the ones that have been spying on me all this while finally going to make a move? If so, then this would be the perfect time!
Adam was in a very precarious situation right now. His mana reserves had fallen to an all-time low. He didn't even have enough mana to execute a technique of the Hand of Doom, let alone any spells.
Thus, without wasting another moment he activated his Sphere of Resonance. Then, he began to remove the people placed in the ritual formation as fast as he could. The ritual formation gave him a very ominous feeling to him for some reason.
Just as Adam was continuing to hurl the unconscious people away from the formation, the magically-created dome in the distance broke down and everyone inside came out.
Initially, they were all vigilant but when they saw the vampire Magus lying motionlessly with half of his body missing, they were filled with exhilaration.
"Hahaha! Adam, you did it! You did it!" Edward animatedly ran toward his friend. Lisa followed after him, her face flushed with excitement. But when they came closer, they saw that Adam was actually in a state of panic.
The youth looked at them and spoke hurriedly, "Quick, carry these people away from the formation!"
"What's gotten into you? The vampire's dead—" Edward thought that Adam was overreacting. But he was instantly cut off.
"NOW!" Adam roared.
Sensing the gravity in his tone, everyone did as he told and began removing the people one by one.
Beads of sweat dropped down Adam's forehead and he involuntarily began to tremble. The foreboding feeling in his heart worsened and his intuition was sending warning signals like crazy. His heart was beating so fast that he thought it would explode.
Suddenly…
A deep sigh that seemed to have originated from an ancient time reverberated in the cavern, bringing with it so much pressure that it caused everyone to instantly get down on their knees.
Everyone's body shuddered as absolute terror gripped their hearts.
"Not good!" Adam gritted his teeth and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, get away from the formation!"
But much to his horror, he saw that everyone was completely frozen in fear. He grabbed Edward and Lisa, who were the closest to him, and threw them outside the formation with all his strength.
Then, he rushed toward Count Hannes and Magus Emory and grabbed their collars. But as soon as he did, the ritual formation began to light up with a sinister red glow.
"Damn it!" Adam cursed with bloodshot eyes as he ran outside of the formation. He turned around and saw that apart from the vampire Magus and his three spawns, Magus Karl and two other people were still left behind in the formation.
He gritted his teeth and ran back in. He grabbed the old Magus and the last two people and started rushing out of the formation. He was only a few meters away from stepping out when suddenly the ritual formation glowed with a blinding light.
"NO!!" Adam roared, his heart gripped by terror. He hurled the three people he had been holding onto outside the formation.
Right at that moment, the ritual formation was activated and Adam was drowned in its blood-red color.
But!
A few moments later, the red light parted and the youth forcefully made his way out. He fell to the ground, having no energy to even stand. His whole body had shriveled as if the life had been sucked out of him!
As he gasped for air, the ritual formation lit up even more brightly, drowning the entire cavern in a blinding light.
Inside the formation, the vitality was slowly being sucked out of the Vampire Magus and his three spawns. And within a few moments, they were reduced to nothing but empty husks.
The red lines of the formation stretched out and streaked across the cavern floor, all the way beyond the throne made of bones. The lines enveloped the adamantine coffin and bathed it in a crimson glow.
A few moments later, the bright crimson light receded and everything seemingly returned to normal. But suddenly, the sound of metal rubbing against metal filled the whole cavern.
And then…
The lid of the coffin slid open and a pale, withered hand reached out!
