Chapter 455: The Power to Shape Creation.
Rose looked at Victor, Martha, and Alexa in the distance while she was floating in the air.
'Usually, when I come on these expeditions, my job is just to make sure the girls come back alive.' Rose thought.
As an older Vampire, Rose treated all the girls on her squad as if they were her younger sisters or even daughters. After all, Rose was the one who recruited the girls, and she felt responsible for them.
Fighting monsters was not easy. Victor made it look easy, but this activity involved a lot of risks.
Risks that only the Adrastea bloodline could face.
But she also knew that she couldn't spoil the girls too much. Because of that, when the girls went on expeditions, she always accompanied them and shadowed them, only intervening when one of the girls was in danger of actually dying.
'Just this once, I will make a 'small effort', and listen to your orders... Second Progenitor.'
"As the expedition leader, it is your responsibility to make sure the expedition goes well." She muttered to herself as she looked at Victor.
'Although... He's done a good job of ordering the girls… so far.' Despite thinking about it earlier, she couldn't help but reaffirm her thoughts when she saw the girls dealing with the monsters easily.
'While spending such little time with the girls, was he able to understand them that well?' Rose judged that Victor's analytical ability rivaled the greatest strategists in history.
She thought this was because understanding a person could be relatively easy, but getting these people together, ordering them efficiently, and getting them to listen was another story.
Although the Valkyries had a good relationship from the start, and he didn't have to work it out, the simple act of getting these women and even Eleanor to listen to him was something to watch out for.
'I think that incident with Morgana and Jeanne is still fresh in their minds...' She didn't judge the girls, even though she hadn't completely forgotten that incident, that fear in all her soul, that willingness to submit.
Her entire body shook for various reasons when she remembered that incident.
A little fear, anticipation, and curiosity.
Taking her eyes off Victor, she turned her gaze to Eleanor.
'They seem more lively too, look at those smiles...' Rose could understand this feeling of Eleanor and the girls. That man had a strange way of bringing out the 'true' self in girls.
Even she, as an older Vampire, was influenced a little.
'...Now, I understand how he managed to get the attention of those older Vampires...' Rose thought of Agnes, Natashia, and Scathach.
'Scathach is not someone who is influenced by beauty. In the truest sense of the word, she is a battle maniac worse than all the Valkyries put together... She likes talent, potential, and she likes to battle. For her entire existence, she'd been looking for someone like her... And she found herself in him.'
Victor met all the requirements to have Scathach's interest. He had potential, he had talent, he liked to fight, and he liked to test his limits, and most importantly, he's caring.
She thought of the times Victor hung around WarFall with his daughter Nero. He wasn't a heartless bastard like most Noble Vampire men.
'He's not stupid either... Ugh, he really hits all the female Vampires' soft spots...' She sighed to herself when she realized that man was such a sinner.
ROAAAAAAAAAR.
A monster's roar ended the battle's rhythm. Everyone turned their gaze to the beast and saw a flying beast over 20 meters long.
"Valkyries, did your ego grow so much that you dared to cross the 30,000 km limit?"
"..." Rose narrowed her eyes as she looked at the monster that looked like a bipedal lizard with horns, two wings, and a long tail.
That sentence alone gave Rose a lot of information, information not very welcome for Rose.
Looking into the Alpha's reptilian eyes, Rose said:
"You seem knowledgeable about us, Monster."
"Monster… Huh?" He tapped his chin as if thinking about something:
"From my point of view, you are the monsters."
"..." Rose's face gets narrower.
"You invade our home, steal our land, and periodically hunt our kind."
"We have no choice but to retaliate, you know?"
Okay, it's official, Rose wasn't enjoying this at all. Those eyes shining with malicious intelligence were dangerous, and all her instincts were warning her of danger.
"These abominations are the result of not sending our kind to a battlefield with immortal monsters." He spoke while looking at the Behemoths, Ogres, and minions.
"…A rather ironic choice of words, isn't it?" Rose spoke in disdain when she heard the word 'immortal monsters'.
"Which is still true... You are immortal monsters, but unlike us, you have more weaknesses like this one."
He snapped his finger.
And in that moment, Rose's danger instinct exploded.
'No, I need to save the girls!' Her perception of time slowed down, and she quickly looked towards the girls in her squad.
But the moment she looked at the girls, someone appeared in front of her and hugged her body.
"Vic-..." Soon she disappeared.
And appeared far from the tribe.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"H-Huh? What happened?" Alexa, who was close to Victor, asked in shock, she was on Victor's side, and in the blink of an eye, she was on the other side of the tribe.
"Victor saved us..." Martha spoke as she looked ahead. In front of her was the man with his arms in front of him and several walls of ice.
"...." All the Valkyries looked at Victor in shock.
How is he so fast!? How is this possible!?
'That level of speed rivals Natashia herself...' Rose thought that if Victor declared himself the fastest man alive, no one could say it was a lie.
After all, the very fastest woman alive was his wife.
"What?" Victor turned to face the girls, and once again, they were shocked. His entire face was disfigured, everything was burned, and only the flesh was visible. The girls also noticed that some parts of the armor were also melted.
"I told you I was going to save you." He spoke neutrally.
"Victor!" The girls screamed in concern.
"Are you alright, Victor?!" Eleanor practically screamed and approached him.
"This is nothing, just a small wound."
"Bullshit!"
"Sigh... I'm not as fast as my wife… She could've gotten you out of there without taking any damage... Shame on me, I should train harder."
'If I had entered the Vampire Count form of Clan Fulger, I would have gotten faster, but there is a problem, I cannot change into that form as naturally and quickly as my wives Natashia and Scathach, and at that moment, time was precious. ...I need to train this transformation, huh...'
"Anrietha!" Eleanor snapped and called to her subordinate.
"Y-Y-Yes!" Anrietha woke up from her stupor and approached Victor.
"@#$%!" Speaking in a strange language, she pointed her hand at Victor, and a strange invigorating sensation began to penetrate his body.
"Thank you, Anrietha." Victor spoke.
"Regeneration is taking time!" Anrietha spoke anxiously.
"Did that bomb have monster venom in it?" She deduced.
Victor was developing immunity from eating the monsters, but it was only the lowest level poison. The higher level poison was still lethal to him.
He took no further damage because he had a low resistance to the poison and because Anrietha quickly began to heal his body.
'What should I do? Even if he has strong regeneration, this poison will consume him. I need to expend more energy to avoid that, and we're in the field of-.'
Victor raised his arm and touched Anrietha's head.
"…Huh?" She looked into Victor's red eyes.
"Calm down."
"Take a deep breath. I won't die from something as simple as this... Just keep healing me." He spoke in a gentle tone, one that caught Anrietha off guard.
"O-Okay..." She felt a little calmer and refocused on healing Victor.
"You too, Eleanor, and girls..." He turned his eyes to the girls.
Seeing his calm gaze, the girls, including Rose, started to calm down... But they were still worried.
Victor looked back at the ice wall.
"The explosion is over...Holy shit..." He opened his eyes in shock.
"What happened?" Eleanor asked.
"The place has evaporated."
Victor started to undo the ice wall to eye level so they could see the sight ahead of them.
And soon, they saw that the entire place where the tribe was, had evaporated from existence, and a large crater was in place.
"Shame, I thought I was capable of killing you with this, I underestimated the new Count's ability."
Looking up, the girls saw the same Alpha on top of the winged monster.
And as usual, he had a calm look on his face, as if everything was in his control.
He was looking calmly at Victor as if sizing up the man.
Rose took hold of the hilt of her sword, but at this moment, Victor said:
"Stop, Rose."
"...why?"
"It's a trap." Victor could see that the entire space around that man was surrounded by invisible monsters. These monsters, despite being small, seemed to be more dangerous than the other winged monsters.
"..." Rose stopped moving but still kept her guard up. She trusted Victor enough to follow his orders without question now.
He'd proven himself throughout the trip that he was capable of seeing something no one else could, and now was not the time to doubt her teammate.
"...Oh?"
"How did you notice?" the creature asked with genuine curiosity.
"I have good instincts." Victor lied easily,
"...You're more exceptional than I thought, Alucard... It seems it's not just your name that's similar to that man, huh."
A high-pitched sound is heard.
Victor ignored the pain in his body and pulled Anrietha into his embrace.
"E-Eh?"
Everyone saw the ground around them sinking.
At this moment, Victor approached the monster, and with his bare hands, he ripped the monster to pieces.
Seeing the creature that Victor had torn apart, Rose spoke:
"A predator..." She opened her eyes wide, and that was when she made a decision.
"How barbaric." The Alpha commented.
Cough.
Victor spat black blood on the ground, and his blood began to sink into the earth as the blood had become quite acidic.
"Victor!" Anrietha quickly approached the man and went back to healing him again.
"Eleanor, we need to get out of here, fast!" Rose spoke up.
"Leave it to me!" Eleanor dropped her greatsword on the floor and started gesturing as if she was controlling something.
The surrounding land began to act strange, as if it was being controlled by a supernatural force. The ground became prickly and flew towards the Alpha.
The Alpha remained in place, and the earth spikes were swallowed by something unseen, proving that there were more monsters around him.
"Tsk, the damn Adrastea bloodline, if it weren't for you... We would have already invaded your city."
"Even if my bloodline wasn't there, you wouldn't be able to break in, Kreacher." Eleanor hit the floor with both hands.
And the earth rose like giant hands of stones.
"I doubt it." The monster swung its hand, and the stone hands were cut vertically.
"I have no choice." Eleanor took a deep breath, and as her eyes glowed blood red, she clenched her fist and hit the floor.
Quake, quake, quake.
The ground began to shake as if an earthquake was on its way, and then...
Gigantic hands in the thousands began to be formed, and these hands ascended to the heavens.
"The Adrastea bloodline is truly invincible on solid ground." How can one fight an enemy that can change the entire landscape casually?
In a way, the Alpha had hatred and respect for Eleanor's Clan.
Eleanor clapped her hands together, and a bronze-colored power exploded from her body. Her eyes glowed blood red, and she whispered to herself.
"A Thousand Hands Of Creation."
It is said that the creator created the world in 7 days and 7 nights, and they also said that when he shaped the world, he used thousands of hands to make the world to his liking.
This technique represented that myth, an arrogant technique that had the ability to shape the world in its preferred image.
"Shit." The Alpha flew into the sky while dodging the hands with his mount.
But how could such a large mount escape from thousands of hands?
The monster was soon captured. It breathed fire into the stone's hands, but nothing happened, the stone was visibly stronger than the previous ones, and soon, it didn't have a chance. It was immobilized and shattered into several pieces.
"NOO!" The Alpha roared in rage when he saw his mate's death. Unlike those abominations, his mate was not immortal.
"Cursed be the Adrastea bloodline!" The monster's body began to be covered by a dark power, and when that power exploded around it, a sword appeared in its hand, and it attacked around, splitting all the stone hands in half.
He looked towards where Eleanor was and saw that she and the group were gone.
Veins started popping in the Alpha's head, and soon an angry roar was heard all around.
ROAAAAAAAAAAARRRR.
.....
