Chapter 264 A Lizard And A Bat, Part 2/2
POV Vesuvius:
A massive dragon flew through the sky, his body accelerating faster and faster as he kept ascending upwards like a rocket, piercing through the layers of clouds.
Lightning was crackling around him, and the air in his path split and flowed around him without any resistance.
The streaks of red light flashed behind him, slowly closing the distance towards him. The massive bats flapped their leathery wings in pursuit.
\'I hate this absurd regeneration.\' Vesuvius\'s eyes glinted in excitement as the mass of smoke, magma, and lighting kept gathering in his mouth, the purple light leaking through the gaps between his teeth.
Loud bangs shook with the sky, spikes of hardened blood shooting from under him and stabbing into his already cracked and crumbling armour, piercing all the way towards his scales where they stopped.
Finally, the dragon released his breath, concentrated in his mouth, and a huge volcanic explosion of purple, gold, black, and blue descended down, compressed into a thick beam that illuminated the whole sky in the bright purple light.
At the same time, the lightning intensified the wide arcs of lightning smashing from all sides, filling the sky like micro-cracks in ice as the dragon tapped into his substantial mana reserves, feeding them into his attacks.
The beam descended at a shocking speed, instantly passing through multiple bats that disintegrated, not even ash remaining after them.
The rest of the bats quickly split, moving to the sides in steaks of red light, their bodies constantly blasted by the lightning only to regenerate over and over.
Vesuvius grinned internally, knowing that his preparations weren\'t for nothing.
His horns brightly glowed, his domain grabbing the beam emitted out of his mouth before it could reach the ground, bending it as if it was a rope and redirecting it back upwards.
He felt no resistance from his own attack as it responded to his will with the eagerness of a child begging for candy.
The eyes of the huge bats flashed in surprise, but they couldn\'t move in time as the explosive breath blasted through more of them, their bodies disintegrating into oblivion under the flood of light and energy.
Vesuvius moved his head, the beam moving together with him. He stopped accelerating, bracing his wings and focusing on attacking, his huge body freely levitating in the air.
The beam and bats kept moving through the sky, the red and purple lights flashing everywhere, the ground underneath shaking.
The beams kept burning and passing through the ground, creating massive crevices filled with magma.
\'You learn fast, but I have even more tricks up my sleeve.\' Vesuvius\'s eyes glinted as he watched the bats twist and fly around the beam that was pursuing them.
The dragon\'s horns started to glow even brighter, mana flowing through them, the triple-layered circles and twisted cursed shapes igniting around each other.
The glowing spheres of white magma grew above the dragon\'s head like shiny jewels in a crown.
They slowly changed their colour into neon red, like white cotton submerged in blood as the curses seeped into them.
They deformed into javelins, and lightning crackled around them.
They immediately shot downwards towards the bats, turning into red streaks of light, loudly whistling and howling as they descended.
They moved so fast that the bats were already occupied by flying and avoiding the massive beam they couldn\'t dodge, the dragon\'s mind slightly pushing and correcting their trajectories.
The bats couldn\'t dodge the lances of magma smashing against their bodies, the bright fiery explosion flashing on the sky like fireworks, their bodies turning into cinders.
The dragon suddenly blinked, his domain and sharp senses catching an immense amount of energy striking across the sky, heading straight towards his head.
He could only close his eyes and redirect his mana into the scales around his head.
He closed his mouth, the purple beams stopping, submerging the night into the red luminance of the burning clouds.
The next moment a wide, brightly glowing beam of energised blood-like substance smashed against his head, smashing through his black helmet and shattering the already cracked armour around his head.
A searing pain hit him from his side, each blood cell unleashing immense energy, burning and searing against his scales.
The scales rippled under the energy, their surface constantly searing and burning, the energy slowly leaking through the first layer, causing immense pain.
Vesuvius gritted his teeth, and finally, the beam lost its power, flickering out.
The dragon opened his eyes which were dilated from pain.
A tall humanoid figure levitated in the distance, flapping its massive bat-like wings.
That was the power of a true vampire.
Everything from their destructive attacks, regeneration, transformations and even splitting originated from their one single ability.
\'They have absolute control over their cells. They can do whatever they want with them, from creating clones to transforming their blood into explosive weapons.\'
A powerful nobility of true vampires were terrifying foes, with legends circulating that they could regenerate from a single surviving cell.
They were nothing like lesser or transformed vampires that were riddled with weaknesses; they were apex predators.
The pain quickly subsided, replaced by the clarity, \'Maybe I should find some vampire to feed my blood and expand my collection. What would even be born in such a way? Dracovampire?\'
The dragon turned towards the vampire on the horizon, and more magical circles formed around his head.
\'Huh, he is drained.\' Vesuvius immediately noticed that the vampire felt weakened, with its previously powerful aura weak and dissipated.
A strong smell and aura of curse reeked out of him, slowly devouring his mana and lifeforce.
The vampire dematerialised, turning into mist and dissipating into nothingness as he ran away.
The silence returned to the battlefield except for the flapping of the dragon\'s wings and the rumbling of the lightning.
\'It looks like he ran out of juice. No wonder so much regeneration needs lots of power.\'
Vesuvius wanted to chase, but he knew it was useless with the vampire\'s abilities.
\'I need to corner him and prevent him from running, either with silver or his weakness against sunlight or holy energy.\'
The vampires are not unkillable, as they need to fuel their explosive regeneration.
They needed lots of magic power and lifeforce, which they could get from blood or by transforming between the two.
\'It is similar to the power that I want to gain.\'
The dragon rose higher into the sky, his eyes slightly glowing as he looked around himself.
The whole ground was like a sea of magma, with smoke and dust filling the sky.
Ding!
//
Quest accomplished!
Rating: A
Reward: 3 X instant level up; 1500 gold coins; Magic item [Vampiric Great Sword]
//
Ding!
//
You are now level 64
You are now level 65
You are now level 66
3 X All stats increased!
+15 stat points
+3 ability point
//
(AN: I added the missing quest to the previous chapter.)
He felt conflicted. On the one hand, wanted to enjoy his victory, but on the other hand, he knew that it was not an absolute victory but only a victory from attrition.
\'I will need to think something out about how to end the fight permanently. Curses seem like they work, so maybe I need a much more powerful and deadly one.\'
\'On the other hand, the lightning was weak. He probably just redirected it through his body in such a way that it couldn\'t cause fatal damage.\'
Vesuvius looked at the plain-looking ring on his finger, \'At least now I have a good candidate on who to use you.\'
The dragon already found two perfect candidates that would give him power, \'Either some space attributed mages of monster to gain space magic or maybe the vampire power of their cell control. For the second, I am sure that it will end like an inferior version as it is a racial ability, but for the first one, it should definitely work.\'
POV The ambassador whose name have I forget:
The old man sat frozen in his chair, looking through a silver monocular, his mind in tatters.
He always knew how deadly the monsters were, but this was the first time he had witnessed a fight between two such high-tier monsters.
"Hahaha, so this how unfair the world is. We humans have to work hard to get stronger and survive, but these monsters have strength guaranteed. They don\'t have to work hard. "
He looked around, only to notice all of the guards just looking into the distance, ignoring their duty.
The old man didn\'t blame them, for he, too, understood their shock.
\'We should stay out of this. Angering on either side would cause us too much damage. \'
POV Brown:
The whole forum was in chaos again. Posts with the titles such as conspiracy and what the fuck were posted everywhere.
Brown was lying on the ground with hands under his head as he read through them all.
DigoSauros: "Wtf? Why was there a true vampire, a dragon, and an Astalian heavy warship in a single place? This is sus."
RealIluminatyGrandMaster: "Haha, our schemes are working!"
PrincessTobasco: "I am telling you this will end badly, two powerful raid bosses and a top regional power. If we don\'t stop it now, I guarantee you that it will turn into a massive world threat in the next version!"
RealIluminatyGrandMaster to PrincessTobasco: "And they call me paranoid..."
Brown immediately stood up and fixed his brown hat, his eyes shining as he got an insane and absurd idea, \'Haha, I am going to speak with the dragon. At worst, I will end up instakilled, and at best, I will end up famous.\'