Chapter 454: A Master!
Sounds of meat being chewed.
"..." A group of eight shocked women was staring at a man.
gulp.
The man swallowed the meat and then took another low level monster leg and started eating as if it were natural.
"Hmm...?" He looks at the girls.
"What? I know I'm beautiful, but you don't need to stare at me so much. I thought you guys were used to the way I look."
"....." The brows of all the girls visibly trembled at this shameless man!
They couldn't deny that he was handsome, the most handsome man they'd ever seen, but that wasn't the problem!
"How are you eating those monsters...?" Anrietha asked in an anxious tone.
"Don't you feel... Hmm... I don't know, like you're going to die or something?" Alexa commented.
"Hmm, the first time, I felt it, but now, I feel just a little bit of poison, but my regeneration is taking care of it."
"As I thought! This is toxic for you! Spit it out!" Eleanor snapped.
"NOO! Mine!"
"Victor!"
"..." Ignoring the two who started bickering again, the Valkyries gathered.
"How is that possible?" Dorothy asked. She was full of doubts now about this abnormal situation, so she continued:
"To my knowledge, only our bloodline can eat these monsters without dying."
"Due to the mutation of monsters in our bloodline, their venom is not toxic to us, but that shouldn't be the case for normal noble vampires." Judy explained.
"...I think that's the answer to that question." Rose spoke to the girls.
"What?" Judy asked.
"Vampire Noble ... When you look at this man, do you see a normal vampire?"
"...." The girls were silent.
"Don't forget, too, that he's younger than Eleanor."
A sense of disbelief hovered around.
"Powers of the three most famous vampire counts: water, ice, thunder, and fire..." Juliet muttered.
"Blood power..." Alexa muttered.
"And a very high level in close combat martial arts." Dorothy commented.
"Don't forget he's still hiding his power, you've seen it, right? … That 'thing' he showed when he was with the vampire king's ex-wives." Rose continued.
"......" The girls couldn't help but think about that scene and visibly shudder a little.
"...And I thought Eleanor was abnormal for having a vampire count title at such a young age...Originally, Rose was supposed to assume the vampire count title." Martha commented.
"She earned it, she has the power to hold that title, the power that comes from her lineage, and with effort, she has mastered that power completely." Rose flashed a small, proud smile.
"…just what is this man?" Judy asked the question of the year.
"...." The girls looked at the older vampire present.
Rose was silent for a few seconds and said:
"A progenitor, the same as our king, the second of our race."
"..."
Looking at the women's shocked expressions, Rose continued:
"He displays all the traits described in the legends, an absurd talent for learning and progression, unnatural powers, an innate 'pride', and that form he showed us only cemented my perspective that I am correct."
"He is the second progenitor of vampires."
A few minutes of pure silence, with only the sound of the fire and Victor and Eleanor arguing.
"...Does that mean he is the father of a completely different lineage from Vlad's?" Judy broke the silence by asking.
"Yes." Rose confirmed.
"...." She looked at the man who was arguing with Eleanor.
'If he is a progenitor, then it makes sense that he can eat these monsters. A progenitor vampire in the past has been described as a being capable of rivaling the gods with his sheer talent and soul-related racial abilities, and more importantly, they were described as beings who could manipulate all the blood of any race.'
Remembering that blood sword Victor made during combat, Rose's doubts vanished, and in her mind, Victor was indeed a progenitor.
'...Now, this opens the discussion to another problem... Two Alphas, two Apex Predators, cannot coexist in the same ecosystem... Why did Vlad give this man the title of Vampire Count if he knew about it? Did he underestimate the man because he was too young?' Rose thought this explanation made sense.
Like it or not, Victor had a 5000 year barrier he couldn't cross, the second progenitor was just too young to threaten Vlad.
...Oh, if she only knew...
...
On top of a mountain, a group of nine people was looking at an endless forest.
"Judy, how many KM away from the city?"
Judy looked at her wrist and saw a type of equipment capable of measuring her current location with a predetermined location:
"30,000 KM."
"...." Victor's smile widened.
And the girls didn't like it at all.
"Things are going to get serious from now on."
"...Are we really going to continue? This limit has never been crossed before since we thought it was too dangerous..." Anrietha asked as she looked away from the cliff.
The reason they didn't go beyond this limit was because the monsters from here became much more dangerous and coordinated. From this area, it's quite common to find tribes where an 'Alpha' leads everything.
How do they know this? Although they didn't make a full charge, they sent a group of scouts to spy, and even though they couldn't go very far, they got this information by spending days spying in silence.
The 30,000 KM barrier means that from here, they could run into the 'native' people of this planet, and that was a bad, very bad thing.
After all, it was common sense for all the natives that vampires were invaders.
"Don't worry, even if you die, I will go down to hell and bring you back."
"..."
That wasn't comforting!
And why did he think they were going to hell!? They weren't bad girls!
"We will not go to hell Victor." Eleanor spoke.
"Then I will invade heaven and bring you back." Victor spoke matter-of-factly, and turned his head from side to side as if exercising, while popping sounds could be heard.
"..."
"Are you going to cause a holy war just to bring us back?" Julieta didn't know how to feel.
"Wasn't that clear?"
Once again, they all gaped at his confidence, and they couldn't help but feel a little…happy.
Just imagining that someone would cause a war over them made the girls' hearts beat faster.
...Yes, they were maniacs for battles and wars...
Judy looked at Rose, "If Eleanor doesn't make a move, I'll really take the initiative."
"Judy!?" Rose was speechless.
"Don't be prudish. Even you are holding back, he's just too good to let go."
"...." Rose couldn't deny that.
Victor started to walk, and this caught the girls' attention:
"As promised before, I'll be careful, and I won't go too far..." His black hair started to grow back to its original length, he started to walk on air, and when he was a few steps away from the mountain, he looked back.
And the girls felt their bodies shake when they saw his blood red eyes, it was so intense! His bloodlust and battle were affecting them even if they didn't know it.
"Don't fall behind, or you'll miss out on the fun." Soon Victor lets gravity take effect and falls.
"Wait!" Eleanor was the first to react, and she quickly jumped off the cliff across the 30,000 km barrier.
Not wanting to leave their leader behind, the girls quickly jumped in after her.
When they fell to the cliff floor, all they saw was Victor slowly unsheathing his long Odachi, an Odachi that had a blade so big it couldn't even be called a normal Odachi anymore.
"5 KM ahead, a tribe of monsters and... An Alpha!" Victor's smile grew.
FUSHHHHHHH!
A dark red sensation shot out of Victor's body. It was the pressure of his bloodlust, his desire to fight.
"How many monsters?"
"Hundreds! Thousands! Who cares?"
"Victor!"
"Trust me."
"...." Eleanor was stunned by his serious voice.
"Tsk, fine, just don't forget about us, remember you're not fighting alone."
"I will never forget it, I promise."
"...." She felt more relaxed when he promised her. After all, she knew that man could be insane, but he never broke his promises.
"Now. Get ready for confrontation." Victor removed the blade from its sheath, pointed the blade backwards, and assumed a running stance.
"!!!" All the Valkyries got ready, including Rose, who from the beginning didn't fight, but even though she was facing a confrontation with an Alpha, she didn't remove her sword from its sheath.
"Don't move away from me."
"Yes!"
Victor took a step forward, and...
BOOOOOOOOM.
He started to run, sounds of air breaking were heard, and in less than a few seconds, they would clash with the tribe.
ROAAAAAAAAAR!
Monster roars were heard by the group. They had been noticed.
"Judy and Julieta, take care of hostiles in the air and support long-distance."
"In the air...?" They looked confused at Victor, but soon they saw what he meant, several monsters approaching the group.
"Wyvern Class!"
Slowly the air around Victor began to change, and in the blink of an eye.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE.
His entire body was covered in lightning, even his Odachi.
"I will open the way."
Victor disappeared, leaving only a golden trail. He reappeared in front of the village in the blink of an eye and was not intimidated by the 10 ogres in front of him, while his smile only grew.
All he did was sheath his Odachi, and use the technique he was training.
Assuming the IaiJutsu position.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE.
The lightning around him began to grow stronger, and with an impulse, he pulled the Odachi out of its sheath.
'One Cut, one million hits.' He mentalizes the technique that was inspired by his wife's attack.
Cut, cut, cut!
Horizontally and vertically, several golden slashes were seen in the air. It was as if time stood still when Victor sheathed his Odachi again.
The damage was done.
Ogres, gate, earth, everything in front of him was cut into thousands of pieces.
The whole action lasted less than 1 second, but for Victor, it felt like a long time had passed. Victor had long noticed the passage of time in an abnormal way.
Victor smirked in satisfaction. Watching two vampire counts fight was very beneficial since he could take many inspirations for his techniques, most of his lightning techniques being inspired by his wife Natashia.
Bang, Bang.
Victor looked up and saw the beams of light and arrows of power piercing the flying monsters.
A few seconds later, the girls arrived to meet him.
"The village is open, the Behemoth Classes and Ogre are approaching, and we have to clean everything before the Leader arrives."
"Where is the leader?"
"There." He pointed towards the air.
"...." The girls look where he pointed but see nothing.
"He's on top of a gigantic flying monster."
"...What is this monster like?" Martha asked.
"Long wings, a big tail, two heads with sharp teeth." He gave a basic description.
"Dragon Class!" Dorothy spoke.
"It's a monster above the Wyvern Class, if Wyverns are minions, Dragon Class are equal to a Behemoth." Rose explained to Victor.
"Okay... Anything else I should know?"
"Watch your breath."
"...They're nicknamed like that for a reason, huh."
"Indeed."
"In that case, Eleanor, Anrietha, and Dorothy will stay together."
"Judy, and Juliet stay on top of the houses!"
"Yes!" The two women appear on top of the large houses near the group and continue to clear the skies.
"Don't go near Eleanor's group."
"Yes, Yes, Sir."
"Martha and Alexa are going with me."
"Rose, you have free will, do what you think is necessary."
"Oh..." Rose flashed a small smile when she understood why he said that.
'As expected of someone trained by Scathach, he's not stupid...' She was very appreciative of the girls' combination.
Eleanor, and Anrietha, were two heavyweight women, and they dealt with most monsters head-on. Because of this, their armor was quite robust, and although this didn't hurt their speed, they were still slower than Dorothy, Judy, and Juliet, who were wearing less robust armor.
Because of this, he let the two women attract all the monsters while Judy, Juliet, and Dorothy helped them.
Meanwhile, Victor's group was responsible for invading and acting alone. Martha and Alexa were perfect for this because of their specialization.
And Rose?
Well, the woman was like Scathach. She was her own army, and because of that, he gave her free will, so the woman could help all groups stay alive.
"How did you notice?" She asked curiously, "I don't remember showing my powers on this trip."
"...Intuition... You have that same aura and confidence that only women like Scathach have." Victor replied in a neutral tone.
"You are a Master, right?"
"Heh~." Rose's smile grew, feeling quite excited now.
"Shit... He really attracts crazy women." Eleanor muttered when she saw Rose's state. She had already seen a pattern here.
"You really have good instincts..." She put her hand on the hilt of her sword, and with just that act, the whole atmosphere of the woman changed.
A sharp, dangerous aura exploded around...
'I knew it!' Victor's smile grew a little, his instincts weren't wrong.
"As expected of Scathach's favorite disciple, I think?" The moment she pulled her sword out of its sheath, she moved towards the flying monsters, and...
Everyone was cut horizontally, not just the monsters, even the clouds in the sky that were KM away.
'... With just a swing of the sword... And she did it casually as if it didn't take much effort!'
Victor's smile was so big now that it sent little shivers down Rose's spine. It was a smile she knew all too well.
'...Hahaha~, this man, he's seeing me as an opponent to face!' She chuckled inwardly in amusement.
...
