Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 540: Don’t worry, My Lord

Caius’s plan worked. He was able to trick the enemy and land yet another hit, but now, before he could pull away, the Emissary’s hand wrapped around his wrist in an iron grip he couldn’t break, try as he might.

“Is that it?” The Emissary asked.

“Well, why not let me go and find out?” Caius said with a shrug and a smile.

“No,” the Emissary said with the flashing of every one of his fangs, “Your antics annoy me.”

“Ha!” Caius laughed and then twisted his body so he was turning his back on the enemy, after which he struck his wings together to create a powerful gust of wind.

As the Emissary was forced to slide away, the propelling force of that wing beat should have allowed Caius to dash and put ample distance between himself and the enemy. Still, the Emissary didn’t release his wrist and instead pulled him with him as he slid away.

Caius didn’t let himself be too frustrated. Instead, while the Emissary was bowed over, taken by surprise at yet another one of his antics, Caius swung his hand and tore his claws across the enemy’s chest.

He didn’t use his talons of the Wyvern currently superimposed over his body but his actual vampire claws hidden beneath the superimposed limb of the Wyvern.

Vampire claws can rip through any flesh, no matter the difference between Circles. Every Vampire worth its salt is aware of this advantage, but they are also, in reverse, aware of their vulnerability to claw attacks when facing off against fellow vampires.

For this reason, most Vampires develop a reinforcement over their body during combat with an enemy vampire— a lot like a thin barrier between the enemy’s claws/fangs and their skin. It’s usually thin because that enables them to keep it up while leaving them free to still focus on their other spellcasting.

Very often, a vampire who is employing this defensive maneuver will only attack with magic, because they are assuming their enemy is using the same reinforcement, so they might as well break it down from a distance with their magical attacks. When the enemy is weak and vulnerable, they may close in to end it with a claw strike.

Whatever physical reinforcement the Emissary was using to protect his flesh from the possibility of an attack with fangs/claws could not have been thoroughly fortified. In fact, it seemed the kind that could be stripped off after an attack and then needs to be reapplied.

The full blast of a Wyvern’s wing beat—even just the superimposing shadow of the real beast—at such a close range that the wings themselves even struck the Emissary in a kind of bonus attack to the wind blast proved enough to shred the layer of reinforcement around the Emissary’s body.

Caius realized this for sure when his claws met no resistance and ripped through the enemy’s flesh, going from the middle of his chest to his neck in a flash.

“Argh!” The Emissary cried out in pain, releasing Caius to grab the gash now on his neck.

Before Caius even hit the ground, the Emissary already had a vial in hand and doused his neck with whatever was inside it, creating a thick smoky haze that obscured him for a second. When the haze cleared, the Emissary’s neck was healed, and a trickle of the liquid in the vial trailed down his chest, healing the rest of the damage that had been done while he glared down at Caius with eyes wild with hate. Even more hate than he had shown to Hugo when he got struck up through three floors. Because Caius had done what Hugo hadn’t been able to: he had made the Emissary bleed.

Caius stood up, ignoring the Emissary’s hateful glare to focus instead on the drops of blood he had caused him to shed. Then he looked up at the Emissary and was not at all surprised to see the injury he caused had already healed.

“You were only lucky,” the Emissary snarled as he tossed aside the now empty vial, which shattered.

“I know,” Caius answered easily with a shrug.

Of course, he knew he was lucky. He hadn’t even been hopeful that his claws would not be repelled by the Emissary’s defenses. He was really just making a wide attack. Doing whatever he could to continue to keep the enemy occupied.

“I was foolish,” the Emissary said.

“If you say so,” Caius mumbled, but he wasn’t paying too much attention because he raised his hands and saw the superimposed limbs of the Wyvern were starting to flicker in and out of existence. He was almost out of time.

“I won’t be so foolish again,” the Emissary was saying, “You won’t get so close to me again.”

“Huh uh,” Caius said in the middle of retrieving another Trait Acquisition Potion, “Good idea— Ack!”

In the midst of Caius’s retrieval of the potion and before he could finish speaking, the Emissary had cast a Spell circle that summoned a tentacle of water to wrap around Caius’s neck, clenching harder by the second and lifting him two feet above the ground.

Caius clawed at the tentacle. He used his vampire claws because the superimposed Wyvern talons had a habit of flickering out of existence whenever they touched the tentacle.

‘Oh come on, I know I’ve still got a minute left!’ Caius yelled in his head.

His vampire claws, while super effective against powerful and tough flesh, were useless against spells that surpassed Caius’s Fifth Magic Circle strength by so much.

“I’ll ask again: where is Athenodora?!” The Emissary growled.

“I— ack— I told you I don’t know what you’re—” Caius started, struggling to say each word.

“DON’T YOU DARE LIE!!!” The Emissary roared.

‘Finally!’ Caius exclaimed in his head as the Wyvern Talons stayed solid long enough for him to rip the tentacle and drop to the ground.

Instantly, while still gulping for air and with his throat sore, Caius flapped the Wyvern Wings to get as far away from the Emissary as he could and regroup.

The tentacle Caius ripped reformed instantly, growing longer to follow him as his unreliable wings flickered in and out of existence, affecting his quick getaway.

But right when the tentacle was about to make contact, Meline slid in front of it with her daggers crossed, and from where the daggers met, a spell circle emerged, deflecting the tentacles toward the ceiling. Before the tentacle hit the ceiling, it turned sharply down, going right at Caius, but it never reached its destination as Meline sliced it in four places with lightning-quick flashes of her daggers.

“Meline, thank you, but—” Caius started in a low voice.

“I was done with my Task, My Lord,” Meline cut in to say.

Caius looked around and confirmed she was telling the truth. The rest of the minions all lay on the ground, either with holes in their necks or backs, or had lost their heads entirely. It was a brutal sight and made Caius all the more impressed with Meline than he already was.

“Don’t worry, My Lord,” Meline said, twirling her daggers, “I won’t let him get to you.”

The Emissary looked too annoyed for words. He took a deep breath to speak, but before he could, there was a tremor in the ground and Arcane symbols began to glow, forming multiple connecting circles.

Roxanne’s part of the plan was complete.