550 Chapter 550: Pursui

"I'll kill you! Infinite Blood Hydras!"

Blood-red mana erupted from Xu Wu Cheng's body like an active volcano, billowing outward before solidifying into terrifying shapes.

This had to be his ultimate skill. Abruptly stopping the regeneration, Xu Wu Cheng diverted his mana back into a single, devastating spell. Instead of nine serpents, hundreds of blood serpents materialized and hissed before they darted at me. My whole front view was suddenly obscured by the writhing mass of striking serpents, their red scales glinting in the moonlight that leaked through the holes in the warehouse.

"Richard!"

Rossetti panicked and swung her chakrams, sending four fireballs barreling into the approaching mass of serpents, but for all of her efforts, she might as well be vaporizing drops in an ocean. Even though four serpents were incinerated, twelve more took their places, hissing more angrily than ever as they lunged forward with bared fangs.

Rossetti cast a glance at Vermillion Phoenix, but because she wasn't his summoner (that was me), she couldn't give him any commands. Even so, she continued to bombard the swarm of blood-red serpents relentlessly, her purifying flames dispelling many of them. However, it wasn't going to be enough.

"Rossetti, stand back."

I placed my hand on my partner's shoulder and gentle guided her back. Standing in front of her, I watched as the blood serpents lunge at me.

"Oi, Richard!" Kufa shouted from his corner. I understood his panic. The serpents were almost upon me, and then they would be on Rossetti soon enough.

"Snow Aegis."

Having sheathed both of my swords, I raised my right hand and conjured my strongest protection. The gigantic snowflake shield manifested in front of me, its six crystalline petals unfurling elegantly. The serpents slammed mercilessly against the defensive layers of mana, only to freeze and shatter upon impact, but more of them kept coming.

It didn't matter. It was a battle of attrition now. With most of his mana spent on regenerating, surely Xu Wu Cheng wouldn't be able to keep up his devastating assault. And I didn't need to wait for him to expend all of his mana.

While Xu Wu Cheng was crazily yelling and throwing everything he had at me, his chest still sporting a crater from the injury I dealt him earlier, Vermillion Phoenix launched several fiery feathers from above. They streaked through the rain of Blood Hydras, burning only a couple of them.

But that was fine. My intention was never to destroy Xu Wu Cheng's spell.

Leaving a scorching trail through the dense swarm of blood serpents, the fiery feathers slammed into Xu Wu Cheng, punching cauterized holes through his body and sending him crashing away. There was an inhuman shriek before he disappeared.

"Finally."

"You think you can get away from us?!"

While Xu Wu Cheng was desperately sprinting away, Rossetti was already on his tail, bringing her blazing chakrams up to incinerate him. But I held up a hand to stop her.

"There's no need to kill him now. Let him run."

"Eh?"

"We're going to follow him." I glanced at Kufa. "I believe this is more your area of expertise. We're going to track him down and follow him all the way to the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan's main base. Since he's a high-ranking vampire there, he will surely retreat to where his prince is, to lick his wounds and recover."

"Good idea." Kufa was grinning. He nodded as he brought out his smartphone. "I will also be sending the coordinates to the Midnight Order and Federation military. We'll be able to launch an attack on their main base and finish them off once and for all!"

"Exactly. Now let's go! We are going to end this farce once and for all!"

From what I knew the Federation military and the Midnight Order – the mercenary guild who had assumed responsibility for eliminating the vampire clan behind the attacks on the schools in Flandor City – still hadn't uncovered the location of the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan's secret base despite their best attempts. And now we were presented with a great opportunity to find thee headquarters of such an elusive clan.

Why wouldn't we take it?

Dismissing Green Dragon, Vermillion Phoenix and Leo, I then exited the burning warehouse with my friends. The three of us began running, plunging into the forest after Xu Wu Cheng. Kufa took point, and he regulated his pace to maintain a good distance between us and our quarry, ensuring that he didn't lose sight of the target while making sure he didn't notice that we were following him. Xu Wu Cheng was badly hurt, though, so he wouldn't be paying any attention to anyone who would be pursuing him. Right now, he was totally focusing on escaping and returning to headquarters, so as to recover and prolong his life for as long as possible.

While we ran, I checked my wounds. They were light, and even though we had expended a bit of mana, my friends and I would be able to recover if we rested for a while. For now, we planned to just follow Xu Wu Cheng back to his home base, recuperate outside for a few moments while waiting for the Midnight Order and Federation military to arrive. By the time the adults came to launch their operation, we would have fully recovered our mana.

Even if Xu Wu Cheng told Fan Le Lao about how he and his subordinates got their asses kicked by me and my friends – probably using my schemes to lure them into a trap as an excuse to escape punishment – they wouldn't be expecting the three of us to assault their base so soon. Hell, I doubted they would expect us to follow the stupid redhead back to their headquarters in the first place. We could use that to our advantage.

Smirking, I kept my eyes on the fleet-footed vampire and followed Kufa. We could easily catch and overtake the badly hurt Xu Wu Cheng, but where was the fun in that? Besides, as I mentioned earlier, we needed him to lead us to his clan's secret base.

Unaware of our presence, Xu Wu Cheng continued to run to what he thought was safety.

Eventually, he reached his clan's hideout, stopping to pant and catch his breath. He clutched his wounded chest and grimaced, channeling more of his mana to regenerate his cauterized wounds. Straightening himself, Xu Wu Cheng warily glanced back to make sure there were no enemies following him.

How wrong he was.

We stayed hidden, concealing our presence both visually and spiritually. Kufa directed Rossetti and me to a particularly tree and shoving us down behind its thick roots. We also suppressed our mana as much as possible, so that we wouldn't be detected by his sixth sense. Satisfied that he wasn't pursued, Xu Wu Cheng then jumped through the entrance. The sentries posted there stepped aside and opened the gates, and he practically dove right through.

"Uh…"

The sentries stared at his retreating figure before exchanging bewildered glances. They didn't dare to question Xu Wu Cheng, however, given how his status was so high. This was the guy who was second-in-command to their prince, Fan Le Lao. To question him would be to ask for death, so as much as their curiosity was piqued, they were forced to restrain it and maintain their vigil. Not only that, Xu Wu Cheng was clearly in a foul mood, and neither of them wanted to risk incurring his wrath.

We stayed out of sight and range, withdrawing to the depths of the forest.

"Does your smartphone have any signal?" I asked grumpily, glancing round the trees. This far out from civilization, there was no reception. At least for my phone.

"I use specialized equipment," Kufa explained with a grin. "Since my missions often involve covert operations and infiltrations. Don't worry, I can contact them."

He focused on typing away on his phone, his fingers flying across the holographic screen projected by his device.

"In fact, I'm sending the coordinates over right now." He paused for a moment, and then beamed. "Message received. They are telling us to standby and wait."

"Will they be attacking immediately?" Rossetti asked incredulously. I nodded.

"They have to. We don't know if the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan will move their base. You know how elusive they are – part of it is because they are always on the move. We need to catch them before they move again."

"Yeah, and I'm sure Fan Le Lao will order a move soon, after Xu Wu Cheng's defeat. He is as cautious as his father. He probably will not risk staying here for too long."

Kufa nodded. He sighed as he glanced at his phone.

"Two hours. They will be here in two hours. So we keep any eye on them from out here, report any signs of movement, and rest."

"Yeah, rest." I nodded at my friends. "We spent quite a bit of mana back there, fighting those vampires. We had best recover as much mana as we can before we join in."

"Would they even allow us to join, though?" Rossetti seemed unhappy. "They might just order us to leave and take care of everything themselves."

"Don't forget that we are volunteers," Kufa reminded her. "And they need every help they can get. Two hours…how much forces can they prepare in that time?"

"We can always just sneak in," I added with a shrug. "With all the chaos that is bound to ensue from the battle, they probably will not notice a few extra kids joining the fight."

"You guys are really determined to destroy the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan, huh?" Rossetti sighed and nodded. "Not that I blame you. We have to pay them back for what they did to our school!"

Actually, I wasn't interested in taking revenge. My only goal was saving Zhao Yan. Speaking of which…

"The hostages…the missing students. They might all be in there." I took a deep breath. "If possible, we should find them and help them escape. That's more important tha exterminating the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan."

"That's true!" Rossetti seemed embarrassed for not having thought of that. She nodded determinedly. She must be thinking of the horrors that the poor abducted stdents suffered at the hands of the vampires. "I'm with you all the way!"

"I hope there are still survivors." When Rossetti and I looked at Kufa, he shrugged and offered an explanation. "Remember what Xu Wu Cheng said? He drained ten students of their blood before the battle with us."

"That's…despicable." Rossetti was clenching her fists and trembling in fury. "Unforgivable! We really can't let these monsters off! What do they take human lives for?"

"Fuel for power," I replied with a sigh. "But you also heard what Xu Wu Cheng said…at the very least, the Nan Gong sisters are still alive. Something about special blood, and Fan Le Lao ordering that they be kept alive."

"Yeah…what special blood do they have?" Kufa wondered out loud. "Why is Fan Le Lao so interested in them?"

"Sounds like Xu Wu Cheng made Ji Yan into his plaything," Rossetti remarked in disgust. "And this Fan Le Lao seems like he's trying to emotionally blackmail Zhao Yan into becoming his woman."

Both Kufa and I stared at her.

"What?" she asked defensively. "That's pretty much the plotline of all shoujo manhua that revolve around vampires."

"Never mind…" I exhaled wearly and flopped on the ground. "I'm going to take a nap. Let me know when the assault begins."