555 Chapter 555: Vampire Prince

I winced as Fan Le Lao's spear left a cut on my skin again and staggered back. Fortunately, the wound wasn't too deep or sevre, but that didn't stop the blood from trickling down my arm. As I said, I was suffering a death by a thousand paper cuts. That was Fan Le Lao's strategy. He was taking his sweet time, attacking me in an unharried manner, knowing there was nothing I could do to completely block his attacks now. He knew it wouldn't be long before my consciousness faded from the massive blood loss and I would eventually fall to his attacks.

He was delusional if he thought I was going to let that happen.

"Green Dragon!"

My Celestial Guardian materialized behind me and lashed out with a claw. Fan Le Lao parried the blow, scything down the vines and plants that coiled around him. While he was distracted, Green Dragon struck him with his tail, sending the vampire prince flying.

Blood qi surged out and Fan Le Lao burst out of the outgrowth, his spear surging forward to stab me in the chest. By now, I was ready for him. Green Dragon stepped in to counter, but Fan Le Lao swerved about, making use of his smaller size and greater speed to evade my Celestial Guardian and curved about to strike me.

Once again, I had expected that.

"Black Tortoise!"

My third Celestial Guardian materialized in his chibi form, mounted atop my shoulder. My azure mana coalesced into a fog that enveloped both of my blades just as I crossed them to parry Fan Le Lao's spear. My mana then froze my surroundings and entombed Fan Le Lao's spear and his arms in ice. His eyes widened for just the briefest of moments, but he then coolly responded by increasing his crimson, demonic mana and shattering the ice before slamming me away with a swing of his spear. Even though I succeeded in blocking his strike, I was still sent hurtling across the chamber.

"Gah!"

I lay on the ground, winded from the ferocious blow. Huffing, I tried to crawl to my feet while Fan Le Lao leisurely strolled forward.

Was he an idiot?

Green Dragon's claw crushed him onto the ground. Any normal foe would have been pulverized, but the vampire prince managed to withstand the blow. Bellowing, he used his spear to shove Green Dragon's paw back and slashed, but his blood blades merely dissipated harmlessly against the wall of wood that Green Dragon conjured

Fan Le Lao held his left hand up and closed his fingers. Behind me, several dozen blood spears lurched from the ground and streaked toward me. There were a hundred or so that also hurtled toward Green Dragon, who was busily engaging the vampire prince in combat, forcing the immense Celestial Guardian to retreat. Gritting my teeth, I reached out to Green Dragon mentally.

A slash from above forced me to raise Hei Yue and Bai Ri to parry it when the spear easily cleaved through my icy sphere, but Fan Le Lao's foot came flying from another direction and connected with my body. I coughed as the vampire prince's kick sent me flying again.

"Ugh…"

I spat out some blood and heaved on the ground, leaning on my two swords as I tried to get to my knees. Damn it…what a blow. That kick must have cracked a rib or two at least.

"Richard!" Rossetti cried out from the side, but she was forced to block a pair of blood claws with her chakrams.

"I'm all right," I assured her. As if to prov my point, I summoned Snow Aegis to shield myself from Fan Le Lao's relentless barrage. Similarly, Green Dragon conjured thick walls of wood to counter the rain of blood spears falling from above.

Despite erecting an impenetrable defense, Fan Le Lao's next move completely caught me by surprise.

"…!"

Blackthorn vines whipped out from Fan Le Lao and curled around me. I tried to hack and slash, but the more I struggled, the fiercer they wrapped around my limbs.

Then I stopped struggling.

I had recalled this scene from earlier. Yeah, this was what happened when Zhao Yan was captured. The more she resisted, the tighter the blackthorn branches restrained her. It was futile to escape. Defeated, I slumped as the blackthorn vines hauled me up.

While I was hanging suspended in the air, Fan Le Lao strolled toward me with a smirk. Raising a spear, he aimed it at my chest. Behind him, Green Dragon bellowed in futile rage, but Fan Le Lao kept my Celestial Guardian at bay with his hail of unceasing blood spears. Ignoring my Green Dragon, the vampire prince sneered at me.

"You fought well…I didn't think you would have lasted this long. But it's time to die."

"You really have to spout that cheesy line before you kill me, don't you?" I sighed. Fan Le Lao's brow twitched and he responded by plunging his spear into my heart.

Or would have, if I didn't choose that moment to unleash my ice spell from my chibi Black Tortoise. One that I had learned from Teacher Einsberg.

"…!"

The mana that I had been accumulating was released in a single spell, freezing the blackthorn vines that were holding me captive and shattering them. Despite his formidable constitution, even Fan Le Lao was forced to jump back or suffer grievous injuries. Even so, his arms and part of his body were caught by the freezing blast, turning into ice.

Not only that, Green Dragon selected that instance to smash through the rain of blood spears with his wood spells and smashed a gigantic log onto Fan Le Lao, crushing him onto the ground.

"You…!"

Scowling as blood frothed from his mouth, Fan Le Lao shattered the ice with a surge of his demonic mana. He forcibly swung his spear upward to cleave the colossal wooden log into pieces to free himself, but the splinters embedded themselves deeply into his rapidly regenerating body. Mist rose from his body and he panted, realizing that he had expended a significant amount of mana to liberate himself and heal his wounds.

"What the hell was that spell?!"

I didn't reply. Instead, I was charging forward with both of my swords, focusing all my remaining mana into the point of the blades. I thrust Hei Yue at him, yelling determinedly.

However, Fan Le Lao managed to parry my last-ditch attack with the shaft of his spear, holding it up with both hands to prevent the sharp tip of my black sword from burying itself in his chest. Gritting his teeth, his demonic mana flared up and he sent several volleys of blood spears at me.

…only for me to swing Bai Ri to block and cut through them.

"Uwoooooo!"

With a furious yell, I unleashed my mana at pointblank range. Even the venerable vampire prince wasn't able to endure the blast, his body freezing from the sheer volume of azure frost energy. Stumbling back, he slashed at me with his frozen spear, forcing me to deflect it with Hei Yue.

Unfortunately, I had also spent all of my mana in that last attack and was pretty winded. I staggered away, trying to catch my breath and recover. Behind, Green Dragon lumbered toward us to support me.

Not being able to deliver the killing blow proved to be a near fatal mistake.

"AAAAH!"

With a roar, Fan Le Lao's body exploded with blood-red mana. All the ice I had conjured was shattered in an instant, vaporizing into a thick fog.

"Not bad. I didn't think you would be able to push me this far."

I didn't reply. Instead, I made use of the thick fog to conceal my movements. Relying on the sensors in my glasses, I waited for an opportunity to coordinate with Green Dragon, lashing out and swinging my sword toward Fan Le Lao's neck. At the same time, Green Dragon swung his paw down to pulverize the vampire prince.

To my utmost surprise, he effortlessly caught Hei Yue. Behind him, a wall of blood spears burst out of the ground, forcing Green Dragon back at the danger of being impaled. Blood dripped from Fan Le Lao's fingers despite my black blade sinking deeply into his flesh, but he didn't even flinch. I stabbed him with Bai Ri, but he caught the white blade with his other hand. Once again, blood trickled from his fingers but he showed no sign of pain.

Instead, Fan Le Lao turned toward me with a sinister smile.

I gulped.

"Did you think you would be safe in this mist?"

"Yeah. I thought I would be able to, uh, fog your vision."

"Funny." Fan Le Lao's lips curled. "Then try hiding in this fog."

I watched, horrified, when his blood mixed with the mist, turning it a dark red. Within seconds, the properties of my icy mist transformed and lashed out like a living, hungry entity. I fumbled away, but Fan Le Lao held onto my swords firmly, refusing to let go.

I should have abandoned my swords to save myself. Unfortunately, my possessiveness proved to be my undoing.

"Gaaaah!"

The unfolding miasma that Fan Le Lao created with his mana hit me full on the face, knocking my glasses askew and blinding me.

This time, Fan Le Lao released my swords, either because he had reached his limits or because he didn't want to lose too much blood. Suddenly finding myself free, I toppled over from my momentum and rolled on the ground, clutching my eyes.

The acid…! The damned thing felt like acid!

My eyes were glued shut, refusing to open. No, I didn't want to open them. They were burning and I knew my blindness was temporary. Unfortunately, that blindness would turn permanent if I forcibly opened them (until someone cast a healing spell on me), so I left them closed as I unsteadily rose to my feet.

Good thing I had my glasses on. My glasses had taken the full brunt of Fan Le Lao's acidic blood spell and absorbed most of the blow. If I hadn't been wearing glasses, I would have been blinded. No, worse. I would have not only lost my eyes, the acidic blood melting my face and sockets, but my life. Judging from how my glasses sizzled and melted into nothingness, there was enough of it to melt my whole head.

Imagine if I had listened to all those readers complaining about me wearing glasses and demanding that I undergo lasik or using healing magic to cure my myopia and get rid of my glasses. I would have died. Some readers always thought they were so clever, but they really were narrow-minded.

"!"

I was barely able to dodge a slash from Fan Le Lao's spear, ducking and rolling on the floor.

"Oh? You could still sense that attack?"

Fan Le Lao's voice came from somewhere left of me. Well…yeah, I could see, thanks to me sharing my senses with my Constellation spirits and Celestial Guardians. With my real eyes blinded momentarily, I was watching the whole scene play out from Green Dragon's and Black Tortoise's eyes. It was the same technique I used to connect my senses with Corvus every time I summoned them for reconnaissance.

Of course I wasn't going to tell him that. What idiot gave away his secrets and advantages? So I remained silent, dodging Fan Le Lao's next strike.

"…!"

Fan Le Lao was baffled when I managed to twist my body out of the way, but he pressed on with his attack. Picking up both Hei Yue and Bai Ri, I deflected his next blow before spinning away from a thrust. I countered with a riposte that he knocked away before ducking under his retaliation. He kicked at me, but having seen his movements from Green Dragon's eyes, I blocked his foot with my leg and shoved him back with a strike from Bai Ri. Fan Le Lao countered with his spear and knocked my white blade away, and I retracted Bai Ri before slashing at him with Hei Yue. The vampire prince met my attack with a swing of his spear, sparks flying as the two metals kissed.

Then Green Dragon launched a bunch of vines and wood spikes at him, forcing him to weave a network of blood spears to shred them.

"You can see…?"

Fan Le Lao threw me off with a forceful strike from his spear, shaking his head in disbelief. I stumbled back, but managed to right myself in time to block another slash from the furious vampire prince. He straightened himself before glaring at me.

"So what?" he sneered and slammed his spear down onto the ground. "No matter what tricks you have, you will never be able to best me!"