Vampire Brides (Part 1)

As the three vampire brides made their appearance, the atmosphere in the small town instantly tensed up.

"Everyone, get back to your houses now!" Anna yelled out.

She had become accustomed to this kind of shouting over the years.

However, in the next moment, a massive roar thundered:

"No! We will not back down!"

It was the tavern assistant, Gasken.

The passion that had been ignited was now facing a significant test. The young man, who had long harbored unspoken affection for Anna, finally stepped forward.

He shouted to the townspeople: "Women, elderly, and children, get inside the houses, guard squad assemble!"

The townspeople sprang into action.

They picked up their rudimentary bows and arrows, shooting into the sky, while some of the guards urged the townspeople to hurry back into their homes. Then they formed a formation, armed with sickles and axes, ready for battle.

Van Helsing grabbed the pneumatic repeating crossbow made for him by Carl, firing bolts continuously at the three vampire brides. This crossbow, with its design borrowing from firearms, was equipped with a quiver that could hold numerous bolts for rapid firing.

At the same time, Shen Yi launched a mental probe at one of the vampire brides.

"Vampire Bride Marika, Attack 14-28, Defense 5, Health 650. Undead, susceptible to extra damage from holy attacks, agile type."

Seeing this attribute data, Shen Yi was visibly taken aback.

He immediately released a mental probe on the other two vampire brides.

"Vampire Bride Elina, Attack 13-27, Defense 6, Health 700. Undead, agile type."

"Vampire Bride Verona, Attack 12-26, Defense 7, Health 750."

The three vampire brides, each with different attributes, but all of them had lower stats than Shen Yi had anticipated.

The vampire brides, worth a thousand bloody points each, had attributes only slightly higher than the silver wolves.

What was going on?

Meanwhile, Van Helsing was desperately firing bolts. The town square was filled with the whistling of these deadly spikes. More than ten bolts had struck Vampire Bride Marika, and Shen Yi could clearly see her health dropping by several points. However, Marika seemed unfazed, even letting out a loud, triumphant cackle.

With a fierce shriek, she dove from the sky towards the ground, aiming straight for Anna.

Anna spun around quickly, leaping away from her spot. Marika missed her strike and glided smoothly on the ground, casually lunging at a guard. The guard struck Marika with a sword, but she fearlessly continued her assault, grabbing the guard and soaring into the sky.

Amidst the townspeople's screams, Marika's mouth suddenly revealed four sharp fangs, viciously piercing into the villager's veins.

As blood entered Marika's mouth, Shen Yi saw the vampire bride's health rapidly recovering, quickly returning to full.

"Vampire innate ability: Bloodsucking. Regains health by consuming the target's blood, restoring 20 health points per second, continuing until the target dies. Effective only on living beings."

Shen Yi finally understood why these three vampire brides were so confident. Their attributes might not be high, but they possessed quite powerful abilities. This bloodsucking effect could both attack the target and replenish themselves, making their recovery capability much stronger than Shen Yi's healing arts.

To kill the enemy in such a situation, the best method would be an instant kill.

But achieving this was not easy, as the three agile vampire brides were incredibly fast in the air.

At this moment, the three vampire brides were flying recklessly in the sky, slaughtering the townspeople and occasionally letting out triumphant and arrogant laughter.

In their eyes, the guard squad formed by the town of Transylvania posed no threat to them. In fact, the only self-defense Shen Yi expected from the townspeople were against lower-level dwarves and werewolves. As for dealing with vampire brides, the guard squad was indeed not up to the task.

At this moment, countless thoughts flashed through Shen Yi's mind.

With the strength of the three vampire brides, he could not handle even one on his own. To complete the task of killing at least one vampire bride, it seemed that the key would have to fall on Van Helsing.

According to the information provided by the Bloody Emblem, Van Helsing's profession was a gunman. In other words, this guy hadn't shown his real strength yet.

He was probably observing the weaknesses of the three vampire brides just like Shen Yi, but without the mental probe skill, he could only analyze based on their behavior.

Thinking this, Shen Yi first called out to Gasken: "You and your men are responsible for holding off Verona and Elina. Can you do it?"

Gasken looked back and shouted,

 "They're flying in the sky and are fast, it's difficult."

"Then lure them down."

"How?"

"It might be hard to make a woman fall in love with you quickly, but making a woman hate you quickly is not that difficult," Shen Yi said meaningfully.

This made Gasken pause, but he quickly grasped Shen Yi's intention.

Throwing his large axe to the ground, Gasken rushed to an open area, then pulled down his trousers, yelling furiously at the sky:

"You son-of-a-bitch bitches! This is a gift from Mr. Gascon!!"

To everyone's shock, he actually started urinating towards the sky.

Anna turned around in anger, glaring at Shen Yi: "Was this your idea?"

Shen Yi spread his hands innocently: "I'm just a guide."

Gasken's act indeed succeeded in infuriating the three vampire brides in the sky, who screeched and dove towards him.

However, being a warrior, Gasken had his own skills. Seeing the three vampire brides approaching, he quickly pulled up his trousers, picked up his large axe, and slashed at the sky.

"Wind Splitter Cut: Axe Skill Level 6. Attacks all hostile targets within range, inflicting 160 damage to the primary target and 120 damage to others, with a 10% chance of causing a shock effect. Shock damage is 60 points, ignoring defense effects."

As he swung his axe, a fierce wind arose, carrying with it a vicious killing intent. The three vampire brides screamed in unison.

Simultaneously, Shen Yi shouted to Van Helsing: "Focus fire, kill Marika first!"

Van Helsing was puzzled: "Why?"

"She's the easiest to kill!" Shen Yi responded loudly.

Among the three vampire brides, Verona was the most composed and was considered to have the demeanor of a true Dracula lady, strongest in defense and vitality. Marika, on the other hand, was the youngest, most enchanting, and variable of the trio. Her desire to attack was the strongest, but her defense and vitality were the weakest. Therefore, the best target to strike first was Marika.

Hearing Shen Yi's explanation, Van Helsing gave him a skeptical look but eventually nodded.

He tossed aside his pneumatic repeating crossbow and drew the demon-hunting pistols from his waist.

With these guns in hand, Van Helsing's demeanor changed drastically.

If previously Van Helsing was like a world-weary wanderer, akin to a rusted blade, now he transformed into a fearsome assassin, sharp and ready like a drawn sword.

With a lift of his left hand, a bullet whistled through the air, hitting Marika squarely in the chest.

The shot seemed not to cause much damage, and Marika paid it little heed. But the next moment, three bullets flew in succession, entering her body through the same hole.

Four shots to the same spot created a small internal explosion in Marika, blasting a bowl-sized wound in her chest.

Her health bar dropped by a fifth.

This was Monster Hunter Van Helsing's skill, Precision Strike. It allows three bullets to be targeted at any part of the body, with the first bullet causing 10 damage, the second 20, the third 30, and creating a tearing effect that drops 4 health points per second for 10 seconds.

Shen Yi clearly saw that Van Helsing used ordinary bullets, yet they caused damage comparable to special ammunition.

Wounded, Marika screamed in anger and spiraled down towards Van Helsing.

At this moment, the other two vampire brides were already entangled by Gasken and the guard squad.

Gasken's strength was indeed remarkable, but the vampire brides' blood-sucking ability was quite troublesome.

Whenever they were injured, they quickly attacked one of the townspeople and flew up to feed. In just ten seconds, they could recover 200 health points, and during this time, the arrows and bolts fired at them could hardly cause significant damage.

However, Gasken successfully fulfilled the mission assigned to him by Shen Yi, holding off the two brides. The townspeople, fueled by centuries of hatred, knew that their attacks were not very effective against the vampire brides, but they continued to charge relentlessly.

Verona and Elina, meanwhile, didn't realize that Van Helsing had concentrated all his firepower on Marika.

Perhaps in their view, even this wouldn't be enough to harm Marika.

After all, every vampire possesses a powerful blood-sucking innate ability. Innate abilities don't require energy consumption and have a very short cooldown, almost allowing for continuous use. The vampire's blood-sucking skill is their assurance of immortality, while their other abilities showcase their strength.

At this moment, Marika dived towards Van Helsing, her eyes flickering with angry flames, and her sharp nails suddenly elongated, aiming straight for Van Helsing's heart.

"Vampire racial skill: Blood Claw, damage 50, ignores 20% of defense, temporarily eliminates 1 point of the opponent's defense with each attack, and converts 10% of attack damage into self-health."

This claw strike was fast and fierce, hitting Van Helsing square in the chest. The five sharp nails instantly penetrated his chest, leaving a blood plum blossom mark, with five thin streams of blood spurting out, sending him flying backwards.

In mid-air, Van Helsing raised both guns, firing several shots at Marika, seemingly unfazed by his own injury.

The bullets hit Marika, making small holes in her as if hitting rotten flesh. Marika shrieked, flapping her wings and lunging at Van Helsing again, her fangs already protruding once more.

She aimed to use her blood-sucking ability on Van Helsing.

The one who inflicts the damage becomes the source of healing for vampires – a simple and direct thought process.

However, as she approached Van Helsing, he made a sudden move.

He discarded his gun.

His left gun.

His left hand formed a fist, with the middle knuckle protruding. Simultaneously, he took a step back with his left foot, making a sidestepping evasive maneuver, bending his entire body like a bow. While avoiding Marika's assault, he suddenly sprung up, his left fist ferociously striking Marika's abdomen.

This punch hit Marika hard, making her scream in pain.

"Sidestep Slide: A powerful strike gathering the body's full strength, dealing 40 damage, with a 20% evasion effect. A counter-attack technique, a secondary hand skill, can be linked with other moves. Skill requirement: 30 points in strength and agility."

Before Shen Yi could fully grasp the details of the Sidestep Slide, Van Helsing had already leaped high, retracting his left fist and smashing his elbow hard into Marika's neck. She didn't even have a chance to react before her neck was broken by the impact.

She collapsed to the ground.

"Elbow Strike: An above-down attack using the elbow, which can be combined with other skills for combo attacks, ending technique. Single skill damage 50 points, combo damage 150 points. Completing a double strike, causing a cumulative damage of 190 points."

This double strike severely injured Marika, halving her health bar. She never expected that this bearded man could be so terrifying, possessing not only excellent gun skills but also strong close-combat abilities.

Despite Marika inflicting some damage on Van Helsing, his high vitality of 500 points, due to his 50 points in constitution, meant that 50 points of damage was only a tenth of his health.

With a howl, Marika quickly jumped up, her head hanging limply on her shoulder due to her broken neck. Twisting her head back into place, her originally beautiful face was now distorted into a terrifying shape due to extreme anger.

Van Helsing's guns never stopped firing, hitting Marika repeatedly, making her scramble in mid-air. Even with ordinary bullets, the 25% power boost, combined with the kinetic energy of the demon-hunting guns, meant each shot removed more than ten points of Marika's health. Seeing her health drop below half, Marika howled and flew into the air, then suddenly charged towards a rooftop in the town. Crashing through the wooden roof, she emerged with a male villager in her grasp.

Landing back on the ground, Marika extended her fangs and viciously bit into the villager, aiming to first restore her health before dealing with Van Helsing.

At this point, Marika only saw Van Helsing as a strong and fearsome opponent.

She didn't notice Shen Yi, who had been observing the battle and hadn't made a move yet.

But just as she was about to use her blood-sucking ability to restore her health, Shen Yi finally raised his gun.

Marika had no idea what consequences this shot would bring, completely disregarding Shen Yi.

A mysterious smile appeared on Shen Yi's lips.

He fired the gun!

But this shot was not aimed at Marika.

He shot the villager held captive by Marika in the head.

Instant death.