Amidst the crimson fog, the solitary silhouette of a woman came to view, her body was littered with scars and her metal armor was caved in and fractured at various places.
Since her sword had shattered earlier for some mysterious reasons, she clutched an ebony dagger in her hand which seemed to have been carved out of a slab of stone rather than some precious metal.
Intricate runes adorned the dagger, emanating a brilliant violet glow, hinting at its extraordinary nature.
And extraordinary it was. It possessed the ability to inflict soul damage, a weapon perfectly attuned to Liz.
Surrounded by towering figures of eerie creatures of the dreaded night, Liz remained unfazed.
The vampires' eyes gleamed with fierce red hue and their jaws hung open, as if eager to sink their fangs into her flesh.
Seeing this, Liz couldn't help but scoff derisively. Despite the evident poisoning and flesh corrosion caused by the crimson mist, Liz defiantly confronted the horde of bloodsuckers.
"Come, you oversized leeches. Hunger has plagued me for so long—feed me your souls," Liz exclaimed with a demented laugh, her tone more menacing than the monsters around her.
Indeed, Liz was the Witch of Soul Harvest, after all.
She possessed the power to absorb the souls of her fallen foes, using them for various purposes, including enhancing herself and healing her injuries.
However, even the vampires knew of her troublesome powers. Thus, they hesitated to engage her immediately.
Even when she attempted to pounce on them, the vampires cowardly withdrew, maintaining a substantial distance from her.
They even thwarted her attempts at casting high-level spells, threatening to lunge at her to break her focus as soon as she would try to chant.
Only when the pain from the poison seemed to have slowed her down did they resume their assault.
Kach—!!
With a swift motion, one of the vampires dashed forward and slashed at the back of Liz's left knee with his claws, causing her to stumble.
Before she could regain her composure, another vampire lunged and struck her chest, delivering a powerful kick with an inhuman amount of force backing it up.
Her chest plate caved in once again and the force of the impact propelled Liz back a few steps as her body skidded on the ground a few times like a flat stone on the water's surface.
After a series of rolls, she managed to come to a halt and pulled herself onto her knees as she struggled to stand back up.
Capitalizing on this opportunity, another vampire rushed in, attempting to gouge Liz's throat with his claw.
However, Liz reacted with lightning speed, slithering beneath the vampire's arm and emerging behind him.
From this position, she drove her dagger into the vampire's back, piercing his heart in one decisive blow.
Before his companions could retaliate or try to stop her, Liz consumed the vampire's soul and without delay, used it to heal herself.
The black patches of corrosion on her skin vanished, and her lungs, which had been aflame due to the toxic air before, suddenly began to cool down, returning to normal.
She could breathe freely once more.
– "Don't let her isolate you, fools! Fight in pairs!"
One of the vampires instructed his soldiers, but it was already too late. Liz had already moved, appearing behind another vampire with her dagger poised near his skull.
However, before she could drive her dagger into the vampire's head, a forceful blow struck the sides of Liz's torso, hurtling her several meters away.
Gracefully landing on the ground after somersaulting through the air, the witch attempted to swiftly regain her footing.
It felt as though she had been struck by a moving train.
Somewhat disoriented, Liz pulled herself together and cast her gaze toward her previous position.
Her eyes widened, and her face paled slightly upon discovering a high-ranking vampire gazing back at her nonchalantly, a smirk adorning his almost human-like beastly face.
Another high-vampire?! But she had been so vigilant! She kept an eye on everyone present around her!
Even within this crimson mist, no one should be able to come near her unnoticed!
The mist might conceal their bodies, but not their souls, after all! So how?! How did a high-vampire manage to approach her undetected!
'And not to mention...'
Liz shifted her gaze to the other high-vampire present.
One more of them ought to be fighting against Damian. One was here. The last one died to make a sacrifice to activate the Bloodpolis.
That was all three of them!
'So why is there a fourth one?'
Had there been more than three high-vampires who attacked the Arena?! If that were the case, just how many were there?!
Liz clenched her teeth in frustration. She could handle one high-vampire inside this blood mist, but two would undoubtedly pose a challenge.
"Oh, commander? You're here, sir? I recall you vowing to eliminate the target," the other high-vampire remarked, eyeing the one who had just appeared.
Ahh, so the high-vampire who had managed to sneak up on her unnoticed was their commander. Liz took a mental note of this detail and raised her dagger.
"Settle down, Dias. I'll dispatch the Witch first and then the target. Achieving two goals with a single surprise attack," the high-vampire commander gestured casually and advanced toward Liz.
Dias, the other high-vampire, wanted to retort at first but eventually decided against it.
Even though his commander was young and slightly inexperienced in actual border wars, he knew the commander was right in this particular instance.
Their target, a human named Nero Dekrauf, should already be on his last legs after enduring the corrosive and poisonous effects of Bloodpolis for so long.
Killing him wouldn't prove to be much of a challenge. However, killing the Witch of Soul Harvest was a different story.
One of their soldiers had already fallen victim to her. Who knew how many more of their kind she would take down before being defeated… If she even gets defeated.
It would be wiser for their commander to kill her first. Keeping this in mind, Dias nodded and spoke, "Do you wish for our assistance, Commander Kl'Drog?"
Kl'Drog, the high-vampire commander, simply shook his head and summoned a silver crossguard sword into his hand.
Suddenly, several spikes erupted from the hilt of the sword, impaling Kl'Drog's grip.
The once-shiny silver blade of the sword started turning scarlet, as though the sword was feeding on the vampire's blood.
Soon, Kl'Drog was holding a dark scarlet crossguard sword in his hand instead of silver.
Liz wasn't standing idly either. She was already done chanting a high-level spell.
Abruptly, a dark violet haze enveloped her, and an ominous whirlpool began to swirl around her.
In the next moment, the violet haze shifted and took form.
The haze grew darker and darker, until it transformed into black, giving shape to several flying skeletons with ghastly trails instead of legs, scattered around Liz.
These were the trapped souls of many enemies Liz had defeated in battle. She didn't prefer using this spell, but now wasn't the time to hold back.
Some of the ghastly, black-haze skeletons attacked the high-vampire, while others entwined themselves around Liz.
It appeared as though she wore a black cape woven from several ghastly skeletons, their hands clutching her from behind in a deathly cold grip.
Kl'Drog swung his dimly glowing scarlet sword effortlessly, dispersing the attacking ghosts with consecutive slashes.
Once done, Kl'Drog gazed at Liz and saw her hovering a few inches above the ground, her ghastly skeleton cape swaying in the air.
A hazy crown made of black bones materialized above Liz's head as she spoke, "I'll tell you one thing, bloodsucker. None of you will live to see another night."
As soon as she uttered those words, Liz dismissed her dagger and extended her open palm toward the high-vampire commander within her sight.
The eldritch skeletons composed of ghastly black mist that enveloped her also shifted, aiming their open palms at Kl'Drog.
Suddenly, numerous orbs of violet energy materialized before their open palms and hurtled toward the high-vampire commander like bullets.
Feeling a sense of urgent dread, Kl'Drog swiftly blurred and vanished into thin air, his speed allowing him to dodge the incoming violet orbs.
Out of the corner of his eye, from his peripheral vision, the high-vampire commander saw one of his comrades struck by one of the violet orbs.
The vampire— who was hit by the violet orb— shuddered as his eyes rolled back before his body went limp and he fell lifeless to the ground.
It was clear to Kl'Drog that he had to avoid those orbs at all costs.
Gritting his canines, Kl'Drog sliced his claw through the air, causing the scarlet aura around it to surge outward in three crescent arcs aimed at the levitating witch.
Liz commanded a few ghastly skeletons to intercept the incoming attack, but before she could do anything else, a crimson spike shot toward her and pierced her chest.
"Khuuak!?!" Liz's eyes widened as the skeletons and the bone crown around her dissipated into the ghastly black haze.
With her spell undone, she plummeted down to the ground and landed on her knees, blood trickling from her lips.
She shifted her gaze downward, spotting a crimson spike crafted from some crystal-like material jutting from her chest.
Gritting her teeth, Liz grabbed the spike and yanked it out. The crystal spike softened and turned to liquid.
Then it struck her: Kl'Drog must have used some form of blood manipulation.
Since the whole crimson mist was made of blood, Kl'Drog would have attacked her from any direction. The scarlet crescent arcs were merely a distraction.
Muttering curses under her breath, Liz struggled to rise as the gaping hole in her chest began to heal on its own.
But before she could regain her footing, another spike shot upward from the ground beneath her, this time skewering her like a spear.
Liz could only cough up a mouthful of blood as her spine was shattered and her abdomen was pierced.
Two additional spikes erupted from the sides of the main body of the spike, looking like a crimson cross.
It looked like a witch was impaled on a bloodstained cross.
Approaching the crimson cross, Kl'Drog grinned at Liz, who struggled to turn her gaze toward him.
"Not even this can end you, huh?" Kl'Drog sneered. "Then let's test whether you can survive being torn to shreds, witch."
With that, Kl'Drog raised his arm, preparing to launch more blood spikes at the woman impaled on top of the crimson cross.
However, before he could unleash the attack, the ground quaked violently, an isolated earthquake shaking the entire vicinity of the King's Arena.
"What the...?"
Then, in the next instant, the crimson mist slowly began to thin and dissipate until it vanished entirely.
