Fight to the Death (Part 2)

The Bat Avatar is one of Dracula's most challenging attack capabilities. By turning his remaining HP into a swarm of bats to attack his enemies, as long as even a single bat survived, he lived on too. However, this strategy feared wide-ranging damage. If any mass damage or bombarded the swarm of bats, it would be a disaster for Dracula.

For now, Dracula was certain that his enemies no longer had any skills or items capable of producing a mass attack, so he confidently let his bat form loose.

Hundreds of bats descended upon everyone, frenziedly biting, leaving all scrambling to keep the bats away. Van Helsing, having returned to human form, drew his Demon Hunting guns and fired at two bats.

Keanu watched as the bullets bounced off from the bats at high speed, hitting another bat each time:

"Waveform Bounce Bullet: gives bullets the ability to bounce and attack, and can cause 2 to a maximum of 12 continuous bounces. Initial bullet damage 30, each bounce reduces attack damage by 1."

Van Helsing's two shots instantly culled dozens of bats from the swarm.

A swarm of bats rushed towards Van Helsing and exploded on impact, hurting him with the blast. However, he took the damage and retaliated by launching two special bullets, killing another oncoming swarm of bats - which ran out of his energy, ultimately collapsing into a bloody mess.

Another large swarm of bats swiftly moved towards Viken. Three swarms of bats exploded on him in succession, rendering him a bloody pulp on the spot.

"Viken!" Anna screamed in despair.

Seeing another group of bats heading towards Anna, Gasken suddenly let out a roar and lunged to shield her, taking the full blast of the bats, nearly destroying his entire back.

A screeching swarm of bats flew towards Keanu, who quickly pulled the chain binding the monster to him. The swarm of bats, upon reaching Keanu and seeing the monster charging towards them, refrained from exploding and instead knocked Keanu heavily against the stone wall, making him spit out a mouthful of blood.

Within moments, all four who had attacked Dracula were severely injured, with only Anna suffering a little impact.

A creepy, thriving laugh from Dracula filled the air. The countless bats converged back into Dracula's body. Even though he was left with only about 400 HP, Dracula remained the victor of the battle.

Looking at Keanu and Anna, he announced arrogantly, "No one can defeat the noble Count Dracula, no matter the plans laid against me! However, I won't kill you, Anna, you'll become my new bride. As for you... troublesome boy, you must pay for what you have done!"

Despite being the weakest of the four, Keanu had caused Dracula the most trouble, in turn, invoking the vampire's wrath.

Keanu, sitting on the cave floor, coughed up blood yet shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't think the battle is over yet."

"Do you have another trick up your sleeve?" Dracula asked.

A playful grin shows on Keanu's face as he produces a sharp hand axe — the returning axe from the Goblin Chieftain.

Taken aback, Dracula instinctively dodged as the axe was hurled ferociously at him. He had clear knowledge of the weapon and knew it wouldn't pose much threat.

But before he could recover, Frankenstein's monster suddenly charged towards him. At the same time, Keanu's gun was pointed at the monster.

"No!" cried Dracula in horror.

A gunshot echoed, the bullet hitting the monster's chest, followed by a strange broken sound from within the Monster's heart.

The strange noise made Dracula pause.

Suddenly, a peculiar liquid burst out from the monster, spraying Dracula's entire body and producing a cloud of white smoke.

Dracula shrieked in pain.

Holy Water – A single-use item, that cost 600 damage directly to undead creatures.

Unknown to all, Keanu had a bottle of holy water hidden inside the monster's chest. Only someone like the monster, half-machine, half-living, could bear such a trap.

The whole bottle of holy water was exploded by a gunshot and showered upon Dracula.

For an undead creature, holy water was like sulfuric acid to humans. Dracula let out eerie cries of pain. Under normal circumstances, he could recover from such injury, but now it served as the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

Dracula collapsed, howling in agony. 

Watching Dracula melt in the flood of holy water, Keanu stated, "I told you, the battle wasn't over."

Everyone stared at Keanu in awe, realizing his cunning and patience far surpassed their imagination.

"Is... is this your last resort?" Anna asked, astonished.

When plotting against Dracula, Keanu admitted that he had several traps prepared, and if the situation turned negative, he had one final trick. As Dracula was destroyed by the holy water, Anna was convinced that this was Keanu's final plan.

Keanu nodded with a hint of a smile, tucking the Invisibility Pill back in the emblem.

"You've killed the vampire bride Elena, earning an additional reward of 800 CP."

"You've killed the vampire bride Verona, earning an additional reward of 800 CP."

"You've killed Count Dracula, earning 4000 CP."

"You've completed all the plots in novice task Van Helsing, with a task difficulty of 100%. Rating: perfect. Task completion rate is 90%."

"Your rank promotion: Private, storage space upgraded to 5cubic."

"You may choose to return at any time; your remaining time in this world shall not exceed two hours."

Having verified all the information, Keanu did not return immediately.

First, he collected two blue boxes and a purple one from the ashes, putting them into the emblem. Then, he looked at Anna.

"Are you leaving?" Anna sensed a hint of farewell from Keanu's eyes, her intuition telling her of Keanu's intention to leave.

Keanu walked over, gently wrapping his arms around her waist, and gave her a soft kiss, "There are many inevitabilities in this world, and one of them is goodbye."

"Will you return?" She asked.

"Perhaps I will, and perhaps I won't. Fate is fickle, and no one can see the future. Maybe I'll return when you want me to...Gasken is a good fellow, and Van Helsing is a good choice too..."

Anna was transfixed by Keanu's words; she reached out, pulling him into a deep, passionate kiss.

After what seemed like an eternity, Keanu gently pushed Anna away and pressed the return button on his emblem.

※※※

The next moment, Keanu found himself on a plaza standing beside an old man with white hair, who was dressed in ancient priestly robes. Upon seeing Keanu, the old man didn't say a word. He merely waved his hand, and all of Keanu's injuries healed instantly. With his leaving the task world, Keanu's original attribute enhancements disappeared, with him reverting to his basic state – Attack 4 (6), Vitality 5, Dexterity 7 (9), SP 12, WP 10, HP 50.

As Keanu was about to address the elderly man, the latter's faint voice echoed, "The first time is free, but you'll need to pay in the future." With these words, the old man disappeared.

As the old man vanished, the world before Keanu shifted. He was under a red sky, just like who ignited the horizon. Below the sky was the Infinity City.

Keanu was standing on a stone platform on a small hill in an open area at the very edge of the city. A gate of light was his entrance.

People who looked like soldiers with weapons were surrounding the platform, observing him carefully.

"Kid, hand it over!" The leader of the group pointed his gun at Keanu's head.

A robbery?

Keanu was rather taken aback at the presence of robbers in Infinity City.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"What else could it be?" Mocked the leading man, "Just 300 CP, and we'll let you go."

300 CP? That didn't seem too much.

But on second thought, Keanu knew something was off.

In the Van Helsing task, the total reward from the three main tasks was a mere 1700 CP, and that was for 100% difficulty. Ignoring item rewards and additional gains, a 25% difficulty task would barely reward around 700-800 CP. In other words, this man dared to demand nearly half the possible rewards without knowing Keanu's capabilities.

However, having lost his attribute enhancements and several guns staring him down, compliance seemed to be the only option. Otherwise, he'd likely be riddled with bullets in the next moment. Yet, a sudden thought crossed Keanu's mind.

He swiftly retrieved his handgun from storage, pointing it at the man, and fired. The leader was taken aback. He hadn't expected Keanu to strike suddenly. A protective energy shield emerged around his body and the bullets bounced off harmlessly. Keanu quickly switched targets and fired a few more shots, but every single person had the same shield.

Sneering, Keanu took back his gun and said, "So that's how it is. No one is allowed to attack each other here, right? I thought it made no sense to have every newcomer mugged upon arrival. What's the point of the city attracting more people then?"

The startled man was amazed at how quickly Keanu caught on. "Damn, didn't think we'd run into a wise guy. You're right, Infinity City forbids adventurers from attacking each other. Guess you lucked out this time. Keep that 300 CP for your coffin."

The frustrated thugs took back their guns and spat on the ground in disdain. "It's really a bad day. We waited all day for a newcomer and gained nothing. How are we to live like this?"

Another added, "That guy is something. He dared to open fire on us while he didn't know the rule; looks like he tried to fight us head-on regardless."

"Well, at least he has some brains."

"But that doesn't mean he'll survive long."

"Let's see how long he can keep that up!"

The disappointed group, mumbled to each other as they made their way into the city.

Keanu called out to the leader, "Hey, I'd like to know more about this city. If you happen to know something, there is some CP for you."

The man paused and turned to look at Keanu.

"Good boy! 50 CP for any questions you have. If you're willing, I can even tell you the color of my mother's underwear. Deal?"

He asked, "First, tell me your name."

"I'm Wyatt, and these are my brothers. Would you be so kind as to treat us to a round of drinks? 1 CP for 50 beers, is mighty cheap. You seem pretty wise and generous, most likely reaped a good reward, and won't mind, right?"

"Deal."