Vampire Brides (Part 1)
The three vampire brides immediately shifted the atmosphere of the town from calm to tense. "All of you, get inside!" shouted Anna, her voice echoing in the years she's been training to assert herself in times of chaos.
Suddenly, a booming voice riposted with "No! We shall not fare!" It was Gusken, a barkeep of the village. Untapped passions were blazing as the young man, long in unspoken affection for Anna, rose to the occasion. He bellowed, "Women, elderly, and kids! Go home! Guards, rally!" Those people, armed with modest bows and arrows took heed to his cry and organized themselves.
They fired arrows towards the sky while the guards urged everyone to take shelter in their homes. They then formulated their defensive positions, clutching their sickles and axes, ready to fight. Van Helsing, wielding an air firearm crossbow created by Carl, fired multiple bolts in succession toward the three vampire brides. His crossbow, heavily influenced by firearms, had a bolt cylinder full of arrows that could rapidly fire hundreds of bolts.
Simultaneously, Keanu was launching his spiritual exploration of one vampire bride.
Vampire Bride Marika
Attack 14-28
Defense 5
HP 650
Undead creature.
Holy attacks may inflict extra damage, Dexterity Type.
Special skills:
1:unknown
2:unknown
3:unknown
Seeing this information, Keanu stiffened.
He quickly turned his spiritual exploration onto the other two vampire brides.
Vampire Bride Elena
Attack 13-27
Defense 6
HP 700
Undead creature, Dexterity Type
Special skills:
1:unknown
2:unknown
3:unknown
Vampire Bride Verona
Attack 12-26
Defense 7
HP 750
Undead creature, Dexterity Type
Special skills:
1:unknown
2:unknown
3:unknown
Each of the vampire brides has distinct attributes, yet all are not as strong as Keanu initially anticipated. Each vampire bride costs 1000 CP and is only a tad stronger than a regular silver wolf in any aspect. What's the problem here?
Meanwhile, Van Helsing was struggling to dish out bolt after bolt from his crossbow, filling the entire town square with the whistle of these deadly spines. Marika, one of the vampire brides, HP was rapidly decreasing as more than a dozen bolts nailed her. She, nonetheless, seemed unafraid as she hollered victoriously. She swooped down from her flight path, fixing her eyes on Anna.
Anna quickly spun around dodging her attack while Marika got up from the floor, shifting her attack towards a member of the guard. Even when she got injured, she didn't flinch and pounced on him soaring up into the sky. Jaws dropped when four of Marika's sharp fangs plunged into his veins amidst horrified gasps from the crowd.
As his blood entered her body, Keanu noticed that Marika's HP began refilling at a rapid pace, in just a blink, she was back at full HP. He then understood the vampire bride's audacious confidence. Their attributes may not be the highest, but they owned a formidable skill, their vampiric trait. Consuming the blood of their foes strengthens them, clear as day how their regenerative skill surpasses that of Keanu's healing powers. Defeating them would mean an instant kill.
However, the speed of these Dexterity-type vampires in the air made that a hard job. As the three vampire brides unleashed havoc on the townsfolk, their laughter echoed ominously through the square. From their posture, the defense squads were obviously no match for them. While they could handle goblins and werewolves, the vampire brides were beyond their reach.
Throughout this, Keanu was deep in thought. With three vampire brides at their full capacity, his hands were tied. He knew Van Helsing was a gunner based on the information provided by the emblem - implying he hadn't nearly peak strength yet. Likely, he was studying the vampires for any weakness, unable to use spiritual exploration like Keanu, he had to deduce from their behavior and patterns.
Turning to Gasken, Keanu called out, "You and your men need to hold off Verona and Elena. Can you do that?" Gusken shouted back, "They're fast flying!" "Then lure them to come down."
"How?" asked Gasken. "Luring a woman to fall in love with you might be difficult, but making her despise you is far more achievable," remarked Keanu meaningfully. This struck a chord with Gasken, who got the gist of it. Abruptly, he discarded his hefty axe, rushed to an open field, then pulled his pants down and yelled at the sky: "You sons of bitches! This is a gift from Master Gasken to you all!" He pissed into the sky in public!
What did Gasken was enough to incite the wrath of the three vampire brides.
Anna turned to Keanu furiously, "Is this what you want?" Keanu shrugged innocently, "I'm just a guider here."
Meanwhile, Gasken, a savvy warrior, hoisted his trousers quickly, grabbed his axe, and took a powerful swing at the swooping vampire brides.
"Gale Chop: Axe Skill level 6. Strike all enemies within reach. The primary target takes 160 Damage while the others take 120 Damage, 10% chance of causing a shockwave effect. Shockwave Damage 60, ignores Defense."
His swing summoned a roaring wind, causing fearsome damage and forcing the three vampire brides to shriek in pain.
At the same time, Keanu shouted to Van Helsing, "Focus fire, take down Marika first!" Van Helsing, taken aback, asked, "Why?" to which Keanu responded sharply, "She's the easiest target!"
Of the three brides, Verona was the most calculated one, embodying the countenance of Madame Dracula and boasting the highest defense and HP. Marika, however, was the youngest, most bewitching and unpredictable of the three. She was amped with attacking desire, with the lowest defense and HP. It was only logical that Marika would be the best target.
Upon hearing this, Van Helsing scrutinized Keanu and finally nodded his head in agreement. Helsing then discarded his crossbow and drew two demon-hunting pistols from his side. This change seemed to alter Van Helsing entirely. Just as a rustic knife can transform into a lethal blade, he evolved from a weatherbeaten wanderer to a frightening assassin.
With a pull of the trigger, Helsing's bullet whistled through the air, firmly hitting Marika's chest. The shot appeared light, barely catching Marika off guard, but the subsequent three bullets hit the same hole in her body resulting in a small internal explosion.
The shot burst into a fist-sized wound on her chest, causing her HP bar to nosedive by a fifth. This was Van Helsing's skill playing out - precision strike. It enables him to direct three bullets to attack any specific point, each one amping up the damage. Though it appeared to be ordinary bullets, they managed to create a substantial blow.
Enraged, Marika laced her attack on Van Helsing while the other two brides were held off by Gasken and the guards. Gasken is not to be undermined as he capably coped with the vampire brides and their vexing vampire traits. Whenever they received damage, they would promptly attack a villager and then fly up to heal themselves. It only took 10 seconds for them to recover 200 HP, and the arrows fired by the villagers were far from inflicting any severe damage.
Regardless, Gasken fulfilled his role successfully - to distract Verona and Elena while hundreds of years' worth of pent-up hatred kept the villagers from attacking, knowing full well it was futile. Meanwhile, Verona and Elena failed to notice Van Helsing focusing all his attacks on Marika.
From their perspective, it seemed unachievable to kill Marika solely because every vampire possessed a powerful vampire innate skill. These innate skills, not requiring SP, have negligible cooldown time, almost making them readily available. The vampire bite ability promised them immortality, while their other skills demonstrated their power.
All of a sudden, Marika lunged towards Van Helsing, her nails lengthening, targeting his heart. Her attack was swift and brutal and her sharp nails pierced through Van Helsing's chest. It left a mark resembling a bloody plum blossom with five fine strands of blood spurting out, knocking him back.
In the air, Van Helsing managed to fire several shots at Marika, entirely disregarding his wound. His bullets punctured her body, appearing as if they had struck rotting flesh. Marika screeched as she recoiled, flapping her wings as she lunged at Van Helsing again, her fangs distending, ready for another bite.
The vampires' mentality was one of an eye for an eye - whoever inflicted damage would provide the blood to heal. But in the instant she neared Van Helsing, he chucked away his gun. His left hand formed a fist, its middle finger joint protruding.
At the same time, he sidestepped backward, his body forming a bow-like posture. As he dodged Marika's lunge, he sprang back up, his left fist aimed fiercely at Marika's abdomen. Van Helsing's punch left Marika howling in pain instantaneously. The move was known as "Sidestep Slide": a strong attack on the target by concentrating the entire body's attack, causing 40 Damage with a 20% chance of evasion.
Even before Keanu could scan the information about the skill, Van Helsing had already bounced up high, pulling back his left fist to land another intense blow toward Marika's abdomen. This attack left her without any chance to react and in no time, her neck was snapped by Van Helsing. She fell to the ground motionless.
"Elbow Strike: An attack on the enemy from above with your elbow, used directly after another skill to create a combo, finishing move. 150 Damage caused after the combo, causing cumulative damage of 190 with two consecutive strikes."
This double strike gave Marika quite a beating, immediately knocking down half of her HP bar. It was beyond her wildest imagination that this bearded bloke could be so menacing. Not only did he carry exceptional gun skills, but he also held a robust close combat fighting ability.
The 50 Damage inflicted on Van Helsing was of no major concern to him as he had a high HP of 500 considering his 50 points of Vitality.
Marika quickly rebounded with a monstrous roar. She fixed her snapped neck back into place with a twist, but her once alluring face was now frightfully distorted due to intense rage.
Van Helsing, relentless, fired shots towards her uninterruptedly, making her scamper in the air. Each shot, although blunt, was amplified by a 25% increase in force due to the kinetic energy derived from Van Helsing's demon-hunting pistol. His normal bullets were thus equally powerful, draining around a dozen points of HP from Marika each time, driving her HP to half.
Seeing her HP decrease drastically, Marika swooped onto a house in the town, breaking through the wooden roof and reemerging with a male villager. Landing back on the ground, Marika extended her large thick elongated canines into the villager. Her priority was to restore her HP and then deal with Van Helsing.
In her eyes, Van Helsing was a formidable and terrifying adversary while Keanu had been continuously observing the battle without intervening. However, when she was about to restore her HP with her blood-drinking ability, Keanu finally raised his gun.
A sinister grin spread over Keanu's face as he targeted the villager in Marika's clutch, shooting him right in the head. One shot, one kill.