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Chapter 329 What we're made of!

There were a total of four Vampire Clans, who were charging toward the Undying Group.

They were still 50 kilometers away from the first defensive line that was located right outside Shiron. Fighting inside the city was rather disadvantageous because it would allow the Vampires to use their racial advantages against the humans.

Vampires were basically superior humans, and their only issues before the Primordial Ascension had been their low numbers, the fact that they had to hide from society to prevent being hunted, their need to drink blood to survive, and the threat posed by sunlight.

After the Primordial Ascension, sunlight was of no concern anymore and they could walk out in broad daylight. The Vampires had been strong enough from the beginning to attack monsters, increase their strength, and start hunting humans for their blood.

Until now, the blood of humans had been the most potent in maintaining a Vampire's peak state. This was one of the big reasons, they usually turned humans into their mindless slaves and also why they would usually walk around with human slaves by their side.

However, right now, there were a total of 1500 Vampires, without a single human being by their side. Even Victoria was astonished by this.

"They didn't bring a single human slave or a Blood Servant with them? I guess, they really intended to go all-in. Their speed is much faster and without baggage…" Victoria mumbled while everyone else looked at her with a frown.

"It would be great if you wouldn't call humans 'baggage'…" Kathrine grumbled, poking Victoria's side. The female Vampire let out a squeal before she nodded her head.

"Tell us more about the Vampire clans once you can see and recognize them," Dilan instructed her before addressing the others.

"They seem to have quite a few beast tamers or one with a High-quality Beastmaster occupation, otherwise, they wouldn't have been capable of taming 300 mounts."

Apparently, every single Vampire and mount was said to have a higher combat prowess than the average strength of the Undying Group's Ascenders. That was, at least, what the Scouts had mentioned.

Dilan had already expected this but the Ascenders that were rowed up behind him showed signs of fright when they heard about this.

However, being afraid was only obvious in the given situation, and those who didn't feel even the slightest trace of fear before a large-scale battle were truly the crazy ones. Dilan, Victoria, and Yvonne were three such crazy people because they were either looking forward to the fight or they were already embracing death like a long-lost friend.

"I guess that the mounts belong to the Likar Clan. This clan was already able to control animals before the Primordial Ascension. It's the Vampire power of their nobility," Victoria answered calmly before she licked her lips.

Dilan had always wondered if Victoria would hesitate in slaughtering her own race but he might have been too worried. She looked excitedly in the direction where the four Vampire groups were supposed to enter her sight at any moment. No trace of hesitation or nervousness could be seen in her eyes.

'As a daughter of the Old Vampire Lord, she should know most noble families personally…but whatever…' Dilan thought before he chose to not dwell on this topic for long. It was not important for now.

"If the Vampires and Mounts are stronger than the average of our Ascenders, each of them should be comparable to a Gold Tier-1 monster at the bare minimum, or not?" Oliver asked meekly, glancing over to Dilan and the others warily.

However, instead of shaking their heads in denial, which was what Oliver had hoped to happen, they nodded their heads faintly, much to Oliver's disappointment.

"Exactly," Dilan answered straightaway.

At this moment, Victoria stiffened as she circulated mana through her eyes that had turned crimson. They glowed brightly and moved rapidly before a deep sigh escaped her lips.

"Likar family, Melza family, Bryte family, and Agilt family …that's a fucking weird combination…" Victoria swore under her breath and everyone turned their attention to her.

Dilan was not yet able to see the four groups of Vampires but apparently, Victoria could.

"The Likar family is the one riding on the biggest monster mounts, right in the center. The Melza family is on the left and they're extremely powerful. They can control the wind around them and use their Vampire power to turn the winds solid.

The Bryte family's advantage is their terrifying physical strength. I don't know how much of an effect the Primordial Ascension had on their powers but even the newly created Vampires were physically as strong as Adult Vampires! They're in the center next to the Likar family.

As for the Agilt family, they're just unbelievably fast…like really fast…" Victoria continued to explain as her eyes kept darting to Dilan every now and then.

"The Agilt family might even be faster than the Thunderbolt Eagle…and the Bryte family will definitely be physically stronger than the Thunderbolt Eagle…as, for the Melza family, their Wind Control is likely to be on par with the Thunderbolt Eagle's thunder affinity…Only the Likar family might be somewhat…easier to get killed…but they probably enhanced their tamed monster's strength by giving them their blood…" She mumbled in his direction, preventing the crowd of 1300 Ascenders to hear him.

"That means the mounts might have regeneration abilities that are similar to ordinary Vampires?" He asked, frowning deeply.

The situation seemed messed up, just like Dilan expected it to be when he had first heard about the Sanctum of the Blood Monarch.

He had expected things to get a bit awry and he could only smile at their predicament.

"In that case, we will have to give our best like always!" Dilan could only say when he noted that Victoria nodded her head in response to his earlier doubt.

An enormous black blade manifested in Dilan's hand and the ground cracked lightly when the heavy weight of Balzaki fell on it.

A faint smile appeared on Dilan's lips just smiled when he noticed this but he didn't say anything.

He placed Balzaki on his shoulder and turned in the direction of his people. They were well-informed about the strength of their opponents. Dilan saw the fear in their eyes and he turned back to take a look at the Vampires for a short moment.

His expression lit up when he thought about something and everyone, who saw him merely looked at each other, thinking that he was going insane.

They had seen this crazed look in his eyes before and knew that things were about to turn ugly. A premonition flashed through their minds which turned into reality just a moment later.

"Should we go all-in, from the beginning?" Dilan asked quietly and threw a questioning gaze in the direction of his people. His voice might have been low but it reached every single Ascender.

Some nodded reflexively, a few raised their fist in the air in an attempt to free their body of the shivers that went down their spine, while others felt brave enough to voice out their doubts to him.

"Can we do it, even if we go all in?"

The minority was unaffected by the news they received, and at the sight of the first Vampires dozens of kilometers away, they felt that their knees were growing wobbly.

Almost no one was truly able to feel the power of their opponents but the news and the sight of 1500 Vampires and 300 powerful monster mounts charging at them was definitely not something they could accept that easily.

"Then how about I go all-in before everyone else, and you guys take a look and follow me once you're ready? I want everyone to fight but I should create a prime example of what I expect from all of you, don't you think?" Dilan smiled at his people with indestructible confidence.

It looked like he was certain that all of them were powerful enough to fight against the noble Vampires, irrespective of whether they were Tier-1 or Tier-2 existences.

Dilan's overflowing confidence affected most Ascenders and they roared out their agreement.

"Let's show them that we, humans, are not that easy to defeat! We will exterminate them without losing a single life!!" Some roared out and others joined in as well.

"Alright, all the best. See you guys in a moment!" Dilan infused some confidence in his people before he dashed in the direction of the Vampires all alone.

"He will come back…and not lose himself in his crazy battle junkie excitement, right?" Kathrine suddenly asked when she saw the unnerving smile on Dilan's face as he rushed past her.

"Eh…I think?" Yvonne replied with a helpless expression, not sure of what to answer.

"Maybe?" Old Jeff mumbled.

"I don't think so," Victoria stated her opinion without putting much meaning in her words.

Chapter 330 Slash

Dilan dashed straight toward the huge crowd of Vampires. They could clearly sense that Dilan was the one carrying the five Sanctum keys with him, which was why all of them began to charge at him.

The huge crowd of approximately 1800 enemies was hurtling towards his direction, slowly closing the gap they had kept between each other to make sure that nobody would assume that they were working together.

Vampire Clans were strict about making clear who they had joined hands with and which Clans weren't in an Alliance with them. The four Vampire Clans in front of Dilan didn't hate each other but they wouldn't usually work together either.

It was merely good timing that the four Vampire Clans had arrived in front of the Sanctum of the Old Vampire Lord roughly at the same time and that their traveling speed was the same as well.

This was unexpected but none of the Vampire Clans wanted to lose out to the others, which was why they didn't even think about slowing down.

Only the Likar family maintained a certain speed they were comfortable with to make sure that they would arrive roughly at the same time as the other Vampire Clans. The Likar family was not as arrogant as others and they could tell that their opponent was anything but weak as he had managed to procure all five Sanctum Keys at once.

However, it astonished the Likar family and the others a lot that they seemed to be facing human opponents. They could only smell a single Vampire amidst them, but that Vampire was weaker than the human, who shot toward them.

Electric currents shrouded Dilan's feet, increasing his speed by 30% as he had activated [Thunder Step]. The Vampires looked at this in astonishment as they could hardly keep track of his movements.

With the Agility boost of 20 Units that came from the Boots of Yamil, Dilan's Agility was close to 150 times higher than the average human before the Primordial Ascension.

He was much faster than the Vampires, who had slowed down a bit with the expectation that the other families would make the first move.

Everyone was eager to get their hands on the five Sanctum Keys but none of the Vampire Clans wanted to make the first move because it was almost certain that the other families would simply let them fight and even sacrifice them for selfish gains. They would attack the moment the first Vampires were to get tired out and their opponents would have grown tired as well.

Being a bit strategic was important to overcome all the hurdles of life, especially after the Primordial Ascension happened.

At least, it was better to act carefully with three other noble Vampire families around them rather than storming toward the human, who charged at them without hesitation.

Dilan didn't care about acting strategically right now. His expression held a crazy smile and his sky blue eyes were overflowing with vigor. He flashed his white teeth and pulled Balzaki to the side. He twisted his upper body a bit to provide the necessary momentum when it was required before he inserted a total of 50 Units of Mana within the huge greatsword.

[Mana Slash]- Full Output!

The entire mana that Dilan had inserted in Balzaki was compressed at the tip of the lengthy two-meter-long blade. The pitch-black sword began to buzz and a white light manifested at the blade's edge.

A loud humming resounded through the area around Dilan, while his muscles began to bulge. Every single muscle in his arms could be seen and his blue veins were thrumming with restless energy.

Dilan leaned forward as he used his entire strength to blast ahead, further accelerating his speed. He hadn't used his full power before and it was now that he utilized it to cross a distance of several hundred meters in a second.

Even the Vampires with great eyesight and fast reflexes lost Dilan for a moment. They were baffled and could only react when they realized that Dilan appeared roughly a kilometer away from everyone.

His head bobbed in and out through the rows of opponents and his crazed expression was clear for everyone to see. However, nobody was able to pay any attention to this because the Vampires' danger senses started to blare warning signs the moment the muscles in Dilan's body began to move.

With a rapid slash that looked like a black and white blur had manifested in front of Dilan, Balzaki was swung in front of him.

A highly compressed Mana Slash, the length of several hundred meters and empowered with 50 Units of mana, was created right in front of Dilan.

Joy could be seen in Dilan's eyes when the huge Mana Slash was released, shooting straight at the hundreds of opponents it was supposed to exterminate.

'I want to continue!' Dilan felt the desire to follow to annihilate every single opponent on his own.

However, he quickly held back when he realized what he was going to do.

'Everyone has to grow…' He reminded himself sternly and forced his legs to turn around and shoot back to his group.

The last thing he saw as a result of his attack was that the huge Mana Slash impacted on the first Vampires, who weren't able to evade or block the attack whose velocity exceeded their Agility.

Their bodies were cut through, and blood, body parts, and intestines spurted through the surrounding, which was followed by the smell of blood and the pained screams of the Vampires that followed suit.

The corners of Dilan's lip curled as he threw a last look back. Seconds later he had returned to his people, who crowded around him.

Everyone was astonished that Dilan was able to overwhelm more than a hundred Vampires with a single attack but they could also hear Dilan's grumbling which caused them to feel stupefied.

"The longer I draw the Mana Slash, the less stable it is…and it loses too much power…what a shame…"

While some were stupefied about Dilan's grumbling, others smiled helplessly.

"You killed at least 100 Vampires, probably twice or thrice that!" Oliver shrieked hysterically when Dilan returned, however, Dilan just shook his head.

"Killed? Not really. None of them is dead," Dilan corrected him and pointed in the direction in which he had caused a massacre.

The separated and mangled bodies of the Vampires were moving. They squirmed and strands of their flesh, skin, and intestines were trying to find each other to sew their bodies back. The battlefield looked gruesome, especially because of the writhing bodies but it was easy to tell that the Vampires were not dead.

"What the hell…and you want us to kill them?" Oliver asked in dumbfounding, all his excitement dispersing like a deflating balloon.

"Of course, just behead them and you'll be fine. I just wanted to have some fun, and you are by my side, to decimate them all, aren't you?" Dilan chuckled lightly and he looked in the direction of the Vampires that weren't far from them anymore.

His expression turned serious and he swung Balzaki to the front, creating a small air fissure.

"It's time for you to taste the Souls of a few arrogant Vampires!" Dilan roared out, while the others tuned in.

The sound of hundreds of weapons being unsheathed, and more than a thousand Ascenders striding forward resounded through the surrounding area.

On this seemingly ordinary day, the Army of the Undying Warlord entered the battlefield for the first time, determined to overcome all hurdles that would be thrown in their way!

Chapter 331 Rage

[[Bearer of Pain] has been activated. Converting Lifeforce equivalent to 100 Units of Health to Mana.]

[50 Units of Mana have been restored!]

[[Bracing Pain] has been activated. The host's stats will be amplified by 32%!]

[[Regeneration] has been activated. The host's healing capabilities will be enhanced drastically for the next 45 Seconds.]

Dilan flinched when his Lifeforce was drained. It felt weird, just like always but after he activated his Origin ability, a soothing feeling swept through him.

He felt much better and could easily stride forward. The Army behind him spread out to create enough space for each group of five to battle. With a total of 208 groups of five people, the Undying were supposed to fight one opponent each.

As for the remaining Vampires and monsters without an opponent, Dilan and the others wanted to take care of this.

Dilan, Kathrine, Yvonne, Oliver, Ailee, Williams, Victoria, Xenia, Kuhn, Silas, and Kira would work together to injure the Vampires to an extent where they would have to focus on regenerating rather than joining the fight.

They were a total of 11 people in the group, with Kira being the only one, who couldn't fight at all. She was not strong enough whether it was physically or mentally, but she wanted to fight nonetheless. Thus, Kira's mission turned into becoming a supporter for everyone.

With the use of mana, Kira could activate different types of Auras that could heal, strengthen or support her allies passively. She was also able to manifest an Aura that was supposed to weaken her opponents. All of this was very helpful, which is why Sven put her on the frontline, despite her fear of fighting.

Meanwhile, Sven coordinated from the back. His combat prowess was also not high but that was not necessary because he was their strategist.

He had someone by his side, with a telepathy ability. Through this ability, it was not even necessary for Sven to bark out commands loudly.

Rather, it was easy to silently issue commands, using telepathy. From the back and a much higher position, Sven could observe everything neatly. His mind was rattling and the young man next to him had already begun to sweat buckets because Sven wanted everyone to be in the best position.

Even if the 208 groups of Ascenders wouldn't be able to fight two or more Vampires simultaneously, they could still severely injure one of their opponents before switching their focus to another opponent.

Fighting a total of 1800 enemies, whose strength was, at least, comparable to a high-leveled Gold Tier-1 monster was definitely not easy and Sven's presence was noticed almost instantly.

The Archers attacked the Vampires by focusing on the most crowded area. The Likar family was the smallest in number because they had only close to 200 Vampires with them but the nobles could control dozens of monsters, which was why they ended up with the biggest force with 300 Gold Tier-1 monsters by their side.

Attacking the large monsters that looked like a cross between a tiger and a horse was much easier than attempting to severely injure agile Vampires with their bows.

Thus, the Gold Tier-1 monsters were targeted and turned into porcupines due to the vast number of arrows that pierced into their thick hide with every volley of arrows shot at them.

<<Dilan, go over to the Agilt family on your right. You're fasted, cut off their limbs.>>

Dilan received a command and he did not need another push to act on it.

He activated [Thunder Step] and charged to his right. His speed was much higher than before as his stats had been amplified by his passive occupational ability, [Bracing Pain]. Dilan turned into a purple flash and the dry ground below him burst open as he passed through a group of Vampires that obstructed his path.

"Piss off!" Dilan merely shouted before he swung Balzaki around himself. With an Agility above 180 Units and a Strength that exceeded 120 Units, Balzaki felt like a lightweight feather to him.

It whizzed through the surrounding like a featherlight longsword as it cut through the skin and bones of the Vampires that obstructed his way.

The Vampires' bodies were sliced through at odd angles, some were halved and others were beheaded as Dilan simply swung it around, paying no attention to where he slashed.

Right now, the only thing on his mind was to ensure the safety of his people. Their survival was paramount and the easiest way to do so was to severely injure every single Vampire around him. It didn't matter, whether they would die, or require several minutes before their bodies would connect once again.

Nonetheless, killing a few Vampires on his way forward was pretty helpful as their Soul fragments empowered Balzaki and Dilan due to the greatsword's passive effect [Death toll].

Dilan noticed only a minuscule enhancement but that was more than enough for him to smile faintly. He could hardly control his facial expressions after the Vampires around him were cut open. Their blood splashed in his face and Dilan's equipment was quickly smeared in blood.

The smell of blood hit his nostrils almost making him giddy with euphoria. His posture began to change, and he leaned forward, almost touching the ground.

With one hand, he held Balzaki behind his back and prepared to slash at the next opponent.

He was about to attack but saw something that changed his expression at once. The Ascender group to the furthest right was being attacked by a total of 6 extremely fast Vampires. They had already unarmed the Ascenders and were sucking at their necks.

Dilan could clearly see their futile efforts to desperately escape the clutches of the bloodsuckers and the tears that trickled down the corners of their eyes.

Hot, bubbling anger surfaced from the depths of his conscience when he averted his gaze, just to see the excited expression on the six noble Vampires, all of whom belonged to the Agilt family.

There were only 6 noble Vampires that belonged to the Agilt family and all of them were right in front of them.

The power they released was more than enough to scare the other Ascenders from coming closer. Their bodies felt paralyzed at the sight of the six noble Vampires and they could hardly control themselves.

Killing intent leaked from Dilan's body and a faint crimson hue shrouded him as he unleashed his mana.

This attracted everyone's attention and the six nobles of the Agilt family gasped in shock as their target appeared right in front of them.

A Vampire with short brown hair turned into a gust of wind as he disappeared from his position when he saw Dilan.

He was annoyed that his feasting time had been interrupted by a human and decided to teach him a lesson. Grudgingly, he let go of the helpless female Ascender, who had been struggling for her life.

The remaining five Vampires continued to drink the blood of the Ascenders as if they were sipping on a particularly exotic drink while watching a blockbuster.

"You're dead!" Dilan uttered in an eerily cold voice when his head flicked in the direction of the Vampire, who had suddenly emerged behind him.

The Vampire's eyes widened but even before he could move, let alone activate his power or an ability, a black flash had emerged in front of him. His sight blurred in an instant and the last thing he saw clearly was Dilan's ice-cold sky-blue eyes.

Dilan had activated [Thunder Step] a second time once again. However, this time, everything had been different.

His Mana had been altered and so had his demeanor.

[Ability [Berserk Mana] has been activated. The host's Mana potency has doubled!]

Right after [Thunder Step] had been activated, Dilan activated [Second Acceleration] with 15 Units of Mana. Both abilities increased his Agility by 30% under normal circumstances. However, with the activation of [Berserk Mana], the potency of Dilan's mana increased drastically.

Both [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration] increased Dilan's Agility by 60% each!

Dilan's skin burst open because of the sudden increase in his Agility. His body was not able to handle an Agility crossing 320 Units.

Blood spurted out of his legs whenever he took a step but Dilan couldn't care less about this as his eyes were fully focused on the five Vampires of the Agilt family.

By the time they noticed that one of their family members had been beheaded when Dilan disappeared from their sight.

A moment later, the sound of bones breaking echoed in the air. Their hands were broken in an instant and they were flung backward a moment later as Dilan appeared in the midst of his people.

His presence was even scarier than that of the Vampires as his bloody-red mana spread out, shrouding the five Ascenders, who had nearly died.

Dilan had barely saved them in the nick of time and he thought that he would be able to control his emotions after they were rescued.

After all, he couldn't go on in his current condition. With both [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration] activated while his Mana's potency was twice the usual, it was not something his body could endure for longer than five seconds.

Yet, instead of feeling reassured that he could save his people, he felt anger toward himself and the Agilt family.

"You're so dead…" Dilan mumbled quietly but his voice was transported through the entire battlefield, making not just the Vampires but even his own Ascenders shiver in fear.

Chapter 332 Forced Calm

Dilan's eyes scanned through the surroundings instantaneously. He analyzed the situation, including the condition of the five Ascenders around him.

They've been drained of a lot of blood but they were still alive. One of them had fallen unconscious, while the others were shivering in fright. The expressions on their faces were filled with fright and desperation.

Dilan's anger increased at this sight, which was why he turned into a blur as he shot forward.

The noble Vampires of the Agilt family retreated with the use of their Vampire power, or so they tried.

Dilan was much faster than any of them. His Mana's potency was twice as high as usual, and he had activated both [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration].

He knew that his body couldn't handle the pressure that weighed on him due to the highly amplified stats but Dilan couldn't care about that right now.

His mind was swept through by his anger and he thrust Balzaki out, piercing one of the Vampires' chests with it.

The huge blade that was nearly 30 centimeters sunk into a middle-aged Vampire's chest, crushing his ribs and heart before the tip of Balzaki emerged from the Vampire's back.

The noble Vampire had attempted to flee just a moment earlier, but he had been a second too late. This second had been enough for Balzaki to tear him apart, and destroy his heart.

His eyes widened and he began to struggle for his life, giving his utmost to remove the blade from his chest to flee.

He was trying to activate his Vampire Power and the other abilities he had bound to himself, yet, instead of achieving anything grand, the Adult Vampire could merely see Dilan's sky blue eyes that emerged right in front of him.

Dilan had driven Balzaki deeper into his opponent while lunging out with his free hand.

He grabbed the Adult Vampire's head with an iron grip before he used his entire strength to tear apart the Vampire's body.

Dilan used brute force to tear the Vampire's head apart from the rest of his body, just to use his strength that was close to 120 Units to crush the skull that rested in his head.

The cracking of the Vampire's skull could be heard through the surroundings and many Vampires and humans near Dilan turned instinctively in his direction to figure out what was going on.

Yet, upon seeing the headless noble Vampire impaled by the huge greatsword Dilan wielded with a single hand, everybody took a step back. Bits of flesh and blood from the Vampire's head were stuck on his other hand, causing the other Vampires to swallow their saliva.

Even the other noble Vampires of the Agilt family widened their eyes in terror as they stared in horror as their relative's brain mass stuck onto Dilan's hand like glue while the skull fragments crumbled.

Dilan's skin burst open and blood spurted out of him when he turned his head in the direction of the other noble vampires of the Agilt family.

It was obvious that Dilan was subjecting himself to cruelty as well but he didn't seem to even notice this. He killed the first noble Vampire in this battle by crushing both his heart and brain, that was everything Dilan deemed important right now.

However, just when Dilan turned in the direction of his next target, a purple flash impacted on Dilan's back.

"Get back to your senses, Idiot!" Kathrine shouted at the tops of her lungs after she had thrown a bolt of lightning straight in Dilan's direction.

The bold of lightning spread over his body before it entered inside him through the burst-open skin. Dilan's entire body was electrified by the bolt of lightning and for a second or two his mind was cleared up.

The crimson mana that shrouded him was retracted instinctively and one could hear a deep sigh from Dilan's direction as the bolt of lightning dispersed.

He turned his head in Kathrine's direction and lifted his thumb, while the corners of his lips tilted upward. Dilan regained his senses, which allowed him to understand clearly that the ability [Berserk Mana] had nearly destroyed his body.

If he had only activated his Agility-boosting ability, along with his Berserk Mana, there wouldn't have been a single problem but that was not how Dilan thought. He had to overwhelm his opponents with all his might when his mind was flooded with anger. The thought that his enemies would die like hapless butterflies pinned to a board as he slowly ripped them off their wings excited Dilan. It gave him the necessary power to accept injuring his body, just to cause others infinite desperation that would last until death.

Now that his Berserk Mana had reverted back to its original form, Dilan's Agility was not above 300 Units anymore. Nonetheless, [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration] were still fully unleashed, whether their amplification was only 30% or doubled.

[Purified <Gold > Blood Essence of Tier-1 Level 25 Demonic Windwalker(Vampire) has been absorbed → +0.9 Strength, 2.7 Health, +1.5 Stamina, +6.1 Agility]

Dilan absorbed the Blood Essence of the noble Vampire he had just killed before he appeared in front of the other noble Vampires of the Agilt family.

His Agility might not be above 300 Units anymore but it was still high enough to be faster than the Vampires, whose Level had reached the limit of a Tier-1 existence. Some of them may even reach stats close to 75 Units, but even with their activated abilities, they wouldn't be able to reach Dilan's threshold.

He was naturally able to reach higher stats while being at Tier-1, and if his guess wasn't way off the mark, there weren't too many Vampires, who were stronger than the noble Vampire he had just killed.

When Dilan slashed out with Balzaki, the noble Vampires spread out. They knew that Dilan was not able to hit all of them at the same time and by using the heavy Greatsword, it would be difficult for him to kill one of them with a single Strike.

After all, it was quite difficult to use a single strike to destroy both brain and heart at the same time!

However, Dilan merely smiled when he saw what they were doing. He was still enraged that they had treated his people like livestock but his mind had calmed down after Kathrine had struck him with a compressed bolt of lightning.

Dilan was able to use this calm to his advantage, which was why he was more focused on severely injuring the noble Vampires of the Agilt family.

Using Balzaki with tremendous force, he hacked and slashed at the vampires whose body parts were flying through the surroundings. Not a single of the noble Vampires in front of him seemed to have advanced to Tier-2. This gave Dilan the opportunity to overwhelm them with his power and speed, which resulted in their body being cut into numerous pieces.

After they were halved, Dilan averted his gaze from them as if the noble Vampires were not worth his attention.

"Who….the hell are you?!" One of the female Vampires asked, looking at him in terror as her body was trying to regenerate from being split in half.

Dilan merely smiled at this as he shrugged his shoulders.

"You don't need to know who I am, but you definitely need to know our group…" Dilan said mysteriously as he lightly added,

"We are the Undying, and your doom!"

Chapter 333 Fused Origin ability

Dilan tried to finish off the noble Vampires using Balzaki but he quickly noticed that they weren't as dumb as he had expected them to be.

All of them had various Magic Scrolls which they used to return to a safe hideout. The Magic Scrolls included [Fog paralyzation], [Fog expansion], [Fog creation] and [Retreat].

The first three Magic scrolls were used to obstruct their enemies' sight while simultaneously preventing them from being able to catch them, while the last Magic Scroll was simply a means to flee.

Dilan couldn't hinder their retreat but that was not a problem because it allowed him to move to the next position Sven ordered him to go.

It was not necessary for him to fight the ordinary Vampires. Their strength might be high but his power was needed somewhere else.

His Ascenders were struggling to fight against the other noble Vampires, and the other Vampires, who seemed to have advanced to Tier-2 by now.

They were not necessarily stronger than the noble Vampires but that proved the theory Sven and the others had shown everyone even more.

"It's difficult to advance to Tier-2 with high-ranked Occupations. The missions are extremely difficult, even if one chose the easiest path to advance their occupation. There were usually multiple paths of advancement where one has to successfully pass certain traits or meet some conditions." Sven had said at that time.

Dilan was still quite far from reaching Level 25, but there were still quite a few Ascenders in his group, who had advanced to Level 25. Most of them had high-quality occupations, which was why their missions were rather difficult. However, someone like Williams, who had an Extraordinary Occupation, had it much more difficult to advance than Oliver, for example.

[There are a few Ordinary, or Bronze Tier-2 Vampires, who create most trouble. They work as a bodyguard for their masters, who are doing something weird. They're in the center of the battlefield, hurry please!]

The voice of the young man, who was standing next to Sven, reverberated through Dilan's head.

'In the center? Victoria is there as well…looks like it won't be that problematic!' Dilan thought as he began to smirk.

Almost no one in the Undying group knew what Victoria's occupation was, or how much strength she had. They also didn't realize that Victoria had already advanced to Tier-2!

Only a few Ascenders in his group knew that Victoria had already advanced to Tier-2 with an Extraordinary-quality Occupation at that!

Dilan thought that she was amongst the first beings to advance to Tier-2 with such a high-quality occupation and he wanted to know how Victoria had done it. However, she didn't say a word and would rather play around with Dilan than to tell him something about her advancement to Tier-2.

After she had been out with Dilan to enter the Spider Queen's nest, Victoria had found the last 'ingredient' she required to advance to Tier-2. She nearly died to get her hands on it but she knew that it was necessary to be as strong as possible to fight the Vampire Clans.

Victoria knew this more than anyone else, which was why she had forced herself to advance to Tier-2. Her occupation was called [Demonic Ice Princess], and it transformed Victoria's body tremendously.

She became even more beautiful, which was something everyone noticed without knowing how someone like her who was insanely gorgeous could become even more beautiful.

Victoria dashed through the surrounding area with her Vampire Claws fully extended. Blood-Ice enveloped her claws, increasing her lethality by leaps and bounds.

Within the first minutes of the battle, when three out of four Vampire families had been rather reluctant to enter the center of the battlefield, Victoria massacred everyone who dared to step in her way.

She didn't even try to differentiate between ordinary Vampires, monsters, or noble Vampires. Her goal was to exterminate everyone. Victoria knew the noble Vampires, and they recalled her as well. However, none of them could afford to hesitate as they ran toward her, creating a devastating battle in the center of the battlefield.

Less than ten minutes had passed before the battle of humans against Vampires started but the Vampires were clearly at a disadvantage.

The four families weren't working together, and their group dynamics seemed to have changed. Instead of safeguarding their brethren, they actually attacked each other, whenever they saw the opportunity. This was something that astonished the Undying group but it was certainly not something they disliked.

The Ascenders were overjoyed when they realized that the Vampires were now turning against each other and their chances of survival were higher than expected. They had a few casualties but they didn't even number in the two digits, while more than a hundred Vampires had been killed, or beheaded, to be precise.

All the Ascenders, who had been killed, faced an overwhelming attack of dozens of Gold Tier-1 monsters, or the attack from the noble Vampires.

They were still not working with others but that was actually not necessary as long as they would ignore each other.

Dilan saw a bunch of Vampires flanking his Ascenders. He could clearly sense their strength that exceeded the norms of an ordinary Gold Tier-1 existence. Dilan was not sure if it was an Ordinary Tier-2 Vampire group or something else but he pointed Balzaki in that direction before his gaze flicked to Sven.

Sven turned in the direction Dilan pointed at before he nodded his head. When Dilan saw this he dashed to his right to enter the most crowded area, where everyone was currently fighting. All kinds of Elemental attacks impacted in this area, hitting both friend and foe alike.

Dilan avoided all the elemental attacks before he appeared next to Victoria, who was sweating profusely. A confident smile had formed on her lips and she was ready to initiate a second attack when Dilan blasted past her.

"My prey!!" Dilan could only hear when Victoria squealed out her dissatisfaction. However, Dilan couldn't afford to console her because it didn't matter who someone picked as their prey. The only thing of importance was ensuring that every single of their opponents got killed, and they kept casualties of their own side as low as possible.

Dilan wanted the former to overweigh the latter, which was why he charged in the crowd of high-leveled Vampires.

Two Vampires in that group irked him the most and Dilan quickly noticed why that was the case.

"Their Vampire power is different. Victoria did you forget to tell us something?!" Dilan shouted out as a huge blazing wall of fire emerged in front of them.

It was created with both an ability and Vampire Powers. After Dilan had gotten accustomed to Victoria using her Blood-Ice Vampire Power, he began to sense what it felt like whenever she used her power.

Thus, he could easily tell that the huge blazing wall of fire was made of both a Vampire's noble power and an ability.

"Origin ability…and it merged with his power!" Victoria screamed at the top of her lungs in response as black horns that looked like ears grew out of her head. Her stats increased drastically all of a sudden and her eyes glowed brightly.

She emerged in front of the wall of fire, and used her Blood-Ice to freeze the wall of fire, while Dilan shattered it with a swing of Balzaki.

"How the hell do you know that?" Dilan asked, not sure what made Victoria believe that the noble Vampire had a 'Ancient Vampire Power'.

"It's impossible to change one's Vampire Powers…or so it should be. He has an Origin ability, I know that. It feels the same as your and Yvonne's Origin ability feels!" Victoria shouted out as she shot forward towards the Vampire, whose eyes had a tinge of blazing red and azure-green within them.

He smirked at Victoria and Dilan, who were blasting forward, and were ready to give their all to kill the Vampire, who radiated the most power.

"Kids, aren't you forgetting that I'm not the only one here?"

Chapter 334 Consider yourself unlucky!

"Kids, aren't you forgetting that I'm not the only one here?"

The voice of the adult Vampire they had charged at a while ago, reached Dilan's and Victoria's ears. Of course, they knew that the noble Vampire was not alone but that didn't mean either Dilan or Victoria would pay any attention to them.

Victoria moved instinctively to respond to the noble Vampire's threat. After advancing to Tier-2, her Vampire Power had grown exponentially.

This made it easier for her to release a huge wall of spike and unrefined Blood-Ice in all directions except the front.

The Blood-Ice walls were more than ten meters high and even broader than that. They covered the most crowded area of the battlefield in an instant, imprisoning several Vampires in the Blood-Ice.

Through the Blood-Ice walls, the Vampires all around the noble Vampire, who had attempted to attack both Victoria and Dilan, were severely restricted, even if they were not completely incapacitated.

The noble Vampire, whose Origin ability had fused with his Vampire Power could only smile at this. He controlled the winds around the battlefield with ease, and they gushed together. The moment the winds collided, a spark was created as if charged clouds would create lightning the noble Vampire activated his Origin ability.

The winds he controlled were set ablaze, and the blazing flames were released in an instant. A terrific, twenty-meter-tall Inferno was created and it pushed forward, melting Victoria's Blood-Ice walls rapidly.

Victoria's work would be destroyed in the next dozens of seconds, which formed a grim expression on her beautiful, fair and flawless face.

After advancing to Tier-2, not only were more impurities released from her body that elevated her beauty but she had changed a bit as well. When releasing certain occupational abilities as the Demonic Ice Princess, ear-like black horns would protrude out of her head.

Under normal circumstances, this would have looked cute and adorable, but right now it intensified the tension in the surrounding because Victoria's strength seemed to have increased drastically.

She was not as fast as Dilan, and her Health stat was also lower than his. However, that was of no concern to her because Dilan was her ally and not someone she would ever have to fight against and defeat.

While Victoria tried to hold back the Vampires from attacking herself and Dilan by using her Blood-Ice to achieve this, Dilan didn't hesitate a single second as he charged through the Inferno of blazing flames.

Usually, Dilan wouldn't have to fear getting injured by the Inferno because it was only slightly more powerful than the Thunderbolt Eagle's bolts of lightning. Unfortunately, his skin burst open and the open wounds were an easy target for the vampires to worsen his injuries.

But instead of being worried about the pain, or that he might get burned, Dilan accepted everything nonetheless. The pain would increase his strength, which would result in his Health stat is increased.

Dilan would heal the burns he sustained moments earlier before he would receive new burns. This would turn into a cycle of pain and recuperation, which was perfectly fine with Dilan as long as he was able to gain an advantage over his opponents.

Vampires naturally feared fire but the noble Vampire, who could control it, had gotten accustomed to it over a long period. His Mana stat was extremely high because his Origin ability had already advanced to Tier-1, and it amplified his Mana drastically.

Nonetheless, he was not immune to the fire he could control easily. His Vampire Power and his Origin affinity had merged with the Ancient Vampire Power [Blazing Winds of Evernight], further increasing his strength.

If he had only been one of the four noble Vampires of the Melza family before, the awakening of his Ancient Vampire Power elevated his status to the patriarch of the Melza family.

However, that was not enough to satisfy him anymore. He wanted more and the appearance of the Blood Monarch's Sanctum was more than enough to give him the push he needed to gather all the powerful Warriors of his family to move out and storm the Sanctum.

But because the five Sanctum keys were required to open the old sanctum, the annoying pest of a human being had to be defeated first.

With that thought in mind, the blazing flames flared up and they burned down the Blood-Ice much faster than before. Victoria had stopped fighting against the Inferno. She retreated, and pulled out a few potions, including the mana replenishment potion before she disappeared in the morning sun.

Her mission had changed and even if Victoria wanted to join Dilan's fight, she could tell that her presence slowed him.

After all, he would have to be careful of not accidentally burning her in the Inferno that spread out and burst open whenever Dilan issued a slash with Balzaki.

The huge greatsword created air fissures that were terrifying enough to blast the surrounding winds in a radius of ten meters in the direction Dilan slashes.

This would be quite useless if they were in a normal fight but Dilan made use of this to slash in the direction of the Patriarch of the Melza family.

The moment he swung Balzaki, the flames gushed forward. They blasted toward the Melza family's patriarch, who had to activate his Ancient Vampire Power to split the flames to thwart them from spreading further and regain control of his flames.

However, the moment he split open the flames that had gushed in his direction, Dilan's wide grimace emerged out of the flames.

His eyes shone bright and he appeared right in front of the patriarch a moment later.

Both [Thunder Step] and [Second Acceleration] were activated. And a moment later, Dilan activated [Switch] as well.

He reallocated close to 50 Units of Health, 30 Units of his Mana, and 20 Units of his Stamina to his Strength, that increased by 100 Units.

But that was not all!

Because Dilan's health decreased by 50 Units, and he had already sacrificed Lifeforce worth 100 Health units, Dilan's remaining health was only a shred of what it used to be.

[Bracing Pain] was triggered, it deemed Dilan's condition as severely injured and thus it increased Dilan's stats by 50%.

His joints began to creak because his Strength crossed 300 Units, while his Agility crossed 250 Units easily as well, but it was not as problematic as before.

Dilan could control his body precisely, moving carefully enough to restrain his body from bursting up like a squeezed tomato. He closed in to the Melza family's patriarch and smiled brightly.

"How about one for two?" Dilan asked with a cocky grin and there was maniacal greed on his face; the greed for death of his opponent.

It looked like his eyes turned red as the blazing flame of the inferno around him were reflected in his eyes. Yet, he only looked at the patriarch of the Melza family, while he ignored the presence of all the Vampires around him.

They tried to attack him but Dilan just smiled as he slashed Balzaki upward to the left.

He barely moved yet, just a quarter of a second after Dilan executed his attack, the patriarch's upper body slid down from the rest of his body. A red line passed through the patriarch's left side and across his heart, just to end up at the noble Vampire's neck.

The Vampire's head was pricked by the razor-sharp blade of Balzaki, and his heart was pierced through.

"One strike, two targets down, heart and head…" Dilan mumbled as the blood splattered in his face. The muscles in his arms and calves were begging for rest but Dilan just smiled like a maniac.

He had to stop using [Switch] for a moment but that was perfectly fine. This decreased the ability's cooldown time drastically and it allowed Dilan to use [Switch] again in less than two minutes.

His stats returned to their norm and Dilan was just about to turn around to finish off the other Vampires when he realized two things.

'The patriarch's Inferno is still there…and Victoria's Prison of ice is nothing more than decoration anymore. Everyone who was imprisoned escaped…' Dilan thought disgruntled and it was not even a second later that the lifeless body of the Melza family's patriarch dissolved in blazing flames.

The head that was stuck on Balzaki's edge also erupted into flames that spread out over more than a hundred meters away from Dilan.

"You are quite interesting. Lucky for me that I possess a few interesting abilities, don't you think so?" The patriarch asked with a wry smile on his face as he touched his body as if he wanted to make sure that he was unscathed.

"Do you think you're fortunate for being alive a bit longer?" Dilan countered without a change in his expression. He was still smiling in a crazed manner as he looked at the twitching body of the patriarch.

"Consider yourself unlucky because you will realize that being alive for a few more minutes will be worse than being thrown into the deepest pits of hell!"

Chapter 335 Tactic

"Consider yourself unlucky because you will realize that being alive for a few more minutes will be worse than being thrown into the deepest pits of hell!" Dilan said before he turned into a purple blur.

He disappeared from the sight of the Melza family's patriarch, just to hear the anguished cries of his opponent's subordinates around him.

The patriarch could feel their helplessness and the way they were being slowly tortured to death in the most painful way possible, which was transmitted straight to him. As the master of his Vampires, he could sense that they wanted to be relieved of the pain.

It may not be possible for him to actually feel their pain but he could clearly sense whenever one of them was being killed.

And that happened several times in a matter of seconds. He couldn't move for a few seconds because his body was being reassembled after he had been killed.

His occupational ability [A Phoenix's rebirth] was something that would activate itself the moment he died. It would resurrect him at a safe position near the location he had been killed.

[A Phoenix's rebirth] could only be used once a day which was why he was very careful while fighting enemies. The ability was very powerful, yet not enough to face Dilan. This was something the Melza family's patriarch noticed quite quickly.

He wanted to let the masses of his powerful subordinates take charge of Dilan, and decimate the human group with his Ancient Vampire Power. However, the patriarch quickly realized that this was also not that easy.

Two huge, Skeleton Minotaurs appeared in front of the Melza family's patriarch. They held huge, spiked maces in each of their hands, which they smashed down onto the body of the noble Vampires.

Yvonne had appeared high in the air above Dilan's battlefield. She had gotten her hands on two Gold Tier-1 Minotaur Leaders after she had upgraded her Origin ability.

By conquering the Pagoda of Time twice, she had collected numerous Essence crystals, which were all used to upgrade her Growth ability [Death Curse] as well. Thus, the moment she started to fight after undergoing all possible upgrades, her strength had increased and now easily rivaled an ordinary Tier-2 existence.

In fact, even the Thunderbolt Eagle may not be strong enough to defeat Yvonne anymore! The skeletons of the Minotaur Leaders were basically unaffected by the elements. Only the holy and light element would harm them severely which was a huge plus.

Shrouded by the [Death Curse] ability of Yvonne, the strength of the Undeads she controlled increased exponentially, which was something the patriarch of the Melza family realized quite quickly.

The maces smashed down on his shoulders, breaking them at once. He was only able to move after the maces impacted on him but that was barely in time to avoid getting killed.

With a swift stride, he disappeared from his position, evading the follow-up attack of the Minotaur Leaders. Yvonne pinpointed the patriarch's new position and the Minotaur Leaders charged in the said direction.

However, before they could reach the noble Vampire, a compressed lightning strike shot past them. A purple flash followed suit and a woman wielding a purplish longsword and wearing light but highly protective metal armor emerged in front of the patriarch.

Kathrine and Yvonne had been ordered to finish off the Melza family's patriarch after Dilan had tired him out. He was only a Tier-1 existence, and the strongest power he had was his Ancient Vampire Power, the [Blazing Wind of Evernight].

This power was entirely useless against Yvonne's Undeads, and Kathrine could evade the blazing winds quite easily. Kathrine was supposed to use her abilities to restrict the noble Vampire, while Yvonne's Undeads would enter close combat to kill him.

Both the girls fought together against the patriarch because he was one of the strongest opponents that had appeared in the army of 1500 Vampires and 300 Gold Tier-1 monsters.

With a single attack, it would be possible for the Melza family's patriarch to decimate the Undying group's Ascenders by dozens, if not hundreds.

That was something Sven had realized quite quickly. His eyes were moving rapidly and his mind was rattling like never before. He was seeing everything that could be seen with his strength, which included where everyone had to be at which point.

As he was aware of the strength of every single Ascender in the Undying group, Sven controlled everyone accurately. He shoved the most important figures in the areas they were needed, whether they liked it or not. It allowed the ordinary and relatively weaker Ascenders to have an easier time fighting against fewer opponents.

Unfortunately, this didn't mean that everything was perfect because the Vampires were much stronger than expected, especially a small number of evenly spread out Vampires that were wreaking havoc.

Other than the patriarch of the Melza family, there were two Vampires, who seemed to be as dangerous as him. However, that didn't mean they were 'the' most powerful, especially since there were close to 25 Tier-2 Vampires.

These Tier-2 Vampires were just the biggest threat for the Undying group because their abilities could affect all Ascenders the moment they would be unleashed in their direction.

Fortunately, the rest of the Vampires were still at Tier-1, which was quite obvious due to the high difficulties in advancing to Tier-2 with high-quality occupations.

Victoria faced one of the remaining two threatening opponents, while Williams, Oliver, Ailee, Kira, Kuhn, and Silas faced the last overly powerful Vampire, who was surrounded by a few Tier-2 Vampires.

Williams and his people had the biggest problem because their agility was much lower than the other Vampires. The Agilt family decided to jump in the battle to support the other vampires not too long ago.

They had realized as the first Clan that it wouldn't be as easy to get the five Sanctum Keys as expected. Thus, instead of allowing themselves and the other clans to get destroyed and meet their deaths, they had chosen to sacrifice their pride to support their brethren.

The last powerful Vampire belonged to the Bryte family, whose Vampire Power was infinite strength. They labeled their power 'Infinite strength' but their physical strength was merely higher than others…a lot higher. Yvonne's Minotaur Leaders would be crushed under the brute force of the Vampire, whose supernatural strength power had merged with his Origin ability.

It was a simple Origin ability but those were the most dangerous, especially since it allowed the Vampire to change the shape of his body. [Monstrous Shifting] was the name of the fused Ancient Vampire Power and it was powerful enough to kill everyone around him.

This noble Vampire of the Bryte Clan was considered to be the strongest foe in the entire army of 1500 Vampires and 300 Gold Tier-1 monsters. However, Dilan had yet to face this opponent because he was ordered to move around.

Several groups of Ascenders were ordered to keep the noble Vampire in check, including Williams and the others. They gave their utmost to survive and to subdue or tire out the Vampire but his strength was overwhelming.

After his brothers, sisters and subordinates were added to the fray, the Bryte clan's physical strength seemed to turn into a force to reckon with.

Victoria was forced to join them and to use her Blood-Ice to further restrict them.

However, this didn't make things easier, especially since she had already used lots of her power to help Dilan a moment ago.

"Fuck, we're losing grounds…" Williams cursed out as he was pushed backward. They had to retreat several steps and were about to be forced to go back into the city.

At that moment, a few traps had been activated, catching dozens of Vampires and injuring them. This decreased the pressure on the groups of Ascenders tremendously and they could start counter-attacking them with renewed vigor.

As long as each group of five Ascenders would fight a single, or at most two ordinary Vampires everything would be hopefully fine.

This couldn't be guaranteed but Dilan and everyone were doing their best to fight the Ordinary and Bronze Tier-2 Vampires and the strongest Tier-1 Vampires, who had either powerful abilities, occupations or noble Vampire powers!

[Retreat to the city. We will face them there!]

Chapter 336 Magic

Shiron was certainly not a large city, but the large industrial buildings made it quite interesting to fight there.

This was especially the case if someone knew the territory well.

The Undying Group spread out in the city as they retreated and Sven moved backward to take cover behind one of the few skyscrapers that were located near the entrance of the city.

He and the young man with the telepathy ability were brought to the city by Yvonne before she returned to the battlefield. Sven's eyes were glowing as he used one of his new active abilities [Bird's-eye View]. It increased his eyesight tremendously and it allowed him to see a large area and assess their current situation easily.

Thus, Sven looked at the entire battlefield from high above as if he was looking at a map. [Bird's-eye View] strained his mind a lot but Sven ignored this because he was the only one in their group, who could direct everyone to move and attack or hide to the best of their advantage.

The Vampires were stronger than the Undying group but with Sven's detailed orders, it was possible for them to fight against the Vampires.

Their casualties were low, while the number of Vampires, who succumbed to Sven's devilish strategies, died like flies.

From a total number of 300 Gold Tier-1 monsters, only 200 were left alive, while the number of Vampires dwindled to less than 1200. This was a tremendous achievement for the humans after the first clash that occurred between the four Vampire Clans and the Undying group.

Unfortunately, the Vampire Clans had chosen to throw aside their pride and work together. This was necessary for them to come out victorious, and they realized this, if only a bit late.

While everyone in the Undying group moved backward, the majority of them remained on the main street or nearby. The main battlefield was chosen by the Undying group and the Vampires only followed suit.

The Vampire families understood that Dilan and Victoria were their biggest threats. Yvonne and Kathrine had great teamwork, and they were the next biggest threat.

As for everyone else, they either survived barely by trusting their colleagues or by joining forces to attack the Vampires. This had been more than enough before but since the Undying group chose to split up, their death was the inevitable result of their actions.

Wanting to take revenge, the Vampire clans spread out their forces evenly, while focusing the vast majority on the main street in the city. Dilan stood in front of the Undying group's main army, like the commander he was. He didn't charge forward mindlessly and he allowed his body to recuperate rapidly.

He had already used his Origin ability's sub ability [Burst Regeneration] to prepare himself physically for the next clash.

"Is everyone ready? It will get a bit chaotic soon!" Dilan asked quietly, but his voice traveled through the rows of Ascenders nonetheless, charging them up with energy.

Everyone was afraid to die as some of their comrades had. However, they could also gauge that the Vampires would never leave them alive. Whether Dilan was in possession of the Sanctum keys or not, the four Vampire clans that the Ascenders were currently facing would have become their opponents sooner or later.

The scent of death lingered on their corpses, which Yvonne could sense with much more intensity than anyone else.

"If we don't kill all of them today, they will come back in the future, and they will kill us just like the hundreds of thousands of humans they've killed before!" She revealed the harrowing reality to everyone.

Nobody doubted her words and even those Ascenders, who had frowned upon Dilan for forcing everyone into a war they didn't want to fight, began to realize that it was better for them to be in war now rather than in a few months when the Vampires would have grown even stronger than they currently were.

Right now, they still had a chance against the Vampires but that may not be the case in the future. Some humans had already grown accustomed to getting a bit lazy and relaxed instead of giving their utmost efforts to become stronger, even if it would strain them just a bit.

Only when the news of the first Tier-2 monster and the attack of the Vampires reached them did all Ascenders return their focus on becoming stronger.

Life was not as simple as it had been in the past, and strength determined everything.

This was something everyone should have already understood by now. Unfortunately, there were more than enough dense humans in Dilan's group who had lived under the cushion of safety he had provided. They didn't want to accept reality even if everyone believed that they had already understood it.

However, they changed their opinion more often than some people could change their underwear in recent times. And this made things a lot more difficult.

"We will kill all of them today, don't worry. Just prepare yourself for the rumble," Dilan assured his people as he stepped forward, he swung Balzaki to his right with all his might and created an air fissure that dug deep in the concrete next to him.

This formed a small grin on his face and his expression turned ecstatic when he saw that all of the Tier-2 Vampires and the most powerful Tier-1 Vampires had appeared right in front of him.

There was no sight of any of the Gold Tier-1 monsters the Likar family controlled which further brightened Dilan's smile.

"Looks like the Likar Clans are trying to flank us after killing the groups of Ascenders, who spread out …just like you were hoping for, Sven!" He mumbled as a burst of adrenaline shot through his body.

Dilan was still angered that some of his Ascenders had been killed, while others had nearly been drained of their entire blood right in front of him. However, he also understood that it was necessary for him to keep a calm mind.

Activating [Berserk Mana] right now may allow him to kill everyone but it would be detrimental to himself as well. He could tell that for sure. His body was not able to endure the Berserk Mana in certain situations…not if he wanted to make use of all his abilities.

Rather than becoming a mindless, ferocious monster in human skin, Dilan had to be a Commander right now, a commander, who pulled his opponents into a trap they wouldn't be able to escape!

"Victoria, go for it," Dilan ordered and the beautiful Vampire didn't hesitate for a single moment. She shot forward, several hundred meters in an instant before she came to an abrupt halt.

"Freeze, bitches!" Victoria screamed at the top of her lungs as she manifested a ginormous wall of ice behind all the powerful Vampires that were leading the way through the main street.

Victoria separated the vast majority of Vampires from their masters, and their strongest subordinates. This drained her of the biggest portion of her power.

The arrogant Vampires looked at the wall of Blood-Ice with a frown. They didn't think much about it and simply shrugged at the inconvenience.

"Walk around the obstruction or break through it," One of the noble Vampires of the Bryte family instructed and the Vampires were about to obey the command they'd received, when Dilan appeared next to Victoria, issuing his own command with a bright smile on his face.

"Everyone, use your teleportation, and beat up these idiotic Vampires," Dilan roared as he raised Balzaki in the air.

As if on cue, every single member of the Undying group retrieved the exact same Magic Scroll from their body.

They activated it at once to manifest a magic circle below their feet.

And as if true magic was at work, all the Ascenders, except Dilan disappeared from the powerful Vampires' sight.

"Don't look at us like that. Did you think that you guys are the only ones with Magic Scrolls? Interesting thought…but quite dumb, no offense!" Dilan chuckled lightly as he reveled in the gobsmacked expressions of the Vampires. They were fuming in anger, because even the groups of Ascenders, which the Likar family had been hunting, disappeared all at once.

And all of them reappeared on top of the large industrial buildings that were located on the sides of the main street, faraway from the reach of the Vampires that were on the ground.

Close to 1200 Ascenders appeared above the Vampires. They were standing on top of the building and looked down at the Vampires, who had been separated from their leaders by the huge Blood-Ice wall that Victoria had created.

All of a sudden, a second Blood-Ice wall was manifested behind the last batch of Vampires, while the side alleys were blocked by Various elemental walls of other Ascenders.

Victoria sweated profusely but her expression was overflowing with excitement as she looked down at her own brethren. With a satisfied smirk, as she saw Dilan order the Ascenders,

"Release the daggers!"

Chapter 337 Rumbling

Standing on top of the buildings adjacent to the large main street in Shiron, all the Ascenders smiled brightly as Blazing Molotov Daggers appeared in their hands.

Williams' smile was probably the brightest as he controlled a total of 20 Blazing Molotov Daggers in the air before he shot them down to the masses of 1000 Vampires when the command was issued.

"Release the daggers!"

Every single Ascender was holding one or two Blazing Molotov Daggers in their hands, and all of them threw them out almost at the same time.

More than two thousand Blazing Molotov Daggers shot to the ground before they exploded one after another as they collided with the ground, Vampires, or other daggers.

Painful screams, thunderous explosions, and the smell of charred, sizzling flesh filled the air as flames flared up as if they were presented with a wide field of tinder to gorge.

They filled the entire enclosure that had been created on the main street of Shiron. Everything was set ablaze and not a single Vampire could escape the flames. They were caught by the fire and started to burn brightly.

The Ascenders looked at their own actions in terror. They had been fully aware of what would happen after they threw the Blazing Molotov Daggers at their opponents but seeing the final result was more devastating than they could have anticipated.

Their eyes were filled with terror and only when the buildings they were standing on began to shake did they regain their senses.

[Retreat. The buildings will collapse. We will initiate the rumbling in 20 seconds. Stay far enough, otherwise, you will be squashed in the debris!] The voice of the young man, who used telepathy resounded in everyone's head.

The young man had used his [Mass Telepathy] just now to warn his comrades, and everyone was grateful for this. The Ascenders retreated while oblivious to the exhaustion the young telepath felt. He was already exhausted after using telepathy a few dozen times but using the mass telepathy made things only worse.

Niko, the young telepath, had used his ability more than 200 times in the last 20 minutes. He could barely stand on his feet solely because he gulped down one mana replenishment potion after another so as not to let exhaustion cloud his mind and senses.

They didn't have many mana replenishment potions left but it was essential for Niko to use his telepathy.

The most important for Dilan, Sven, and the others was to make sure that the Ascenders of the Undying group would survive.

Thus, after the Ascenders released a second volley of Blazing Molotov Daggers, they retreated as quickly as possible.

While blazing flames shot in the sky, explosions and the horrid screams of pained Vampires filled the air. Fire weakened them considerably, and that was something everyone could clearly tell, now even more than ever before.

Some Ascenders had watery eyes but nobody could say for sure that this was a result of the flames' searing heat, the smoke, or the guilt they felt.

As they rushed back to safety the large industrial buildings collapsed, leaving nothing but rubble, dust, and destruction behind.

The commotion and the blood-curdling screams were more than enough to attract the attention of the powerful and arrogant Vampires, who had been separated from their people.

They looked backward, smelled their own brethren's burned flesh, and could clearly hear and sense everything that happened behind the Blood-Ice wall that had yet to break down completely.

"Guys, how about you don't look back when you're about to face the fight of your life…your last one?" Dilan asked mockingly as he took a few steps forward.

He smiled in ecstasy, licked his dry lips and he drove Balzaki to the ground to generate an ear-piercing sound that made everyone snap their attention back to him.

"H-how did you manage to get so many [Teleportation] Magic Scrolls?!?" One of the four patriarchs asked, looking aghast. It was the patriarch of the Bryte family, the one, who was in possession of the Ancient Vampire Power [Monstrous Shifting].

"I thought that you could only fight mindlessly. Are we suddenly in the 'talking' stage? Cute, but I decline to answer your question. You can die without being able to ever find out the truth," Dilan answered, shrugging his shoulders as he acted like it was not his problem.

The Bryte family's patriarch gritted his teeth, and his fangs grew longer as his face twisted. It turned even more hideous as if it was the face of a real Demon.

Dilan acted terrified and as if he was feeling shivers running down his spine before he laughed out loud, further angering the vampire.

"You're cute. How about we fight one on one so I can demonstrate to everyone that you're nothing but dirt sticking to my boots?" Dilan smiled provokingly and the patriarch of the Bryte family was just about to step forward when the other patriarch stopped him.

"Don't act foolish. We need to fight together against him…" The matriarch of the Agilt family tried to put sense in the enranged vampire. His words brought the patriarch of the Melza family to his senses and he couldn't agree more.

"I hate to acknowledge it but he can kill us…all of us the moment he lets loose of his human nature…"

The patriarch of the Melza family hated himself for his words but they were the bitter truth. Never had anyone been able to defeat him that easily, whether it was before or after the Primordial Ascension.

He knew how powerful someone had to be to cut through his entire body while making it look like it was something as easy as running a hot knife through butter.. and that fact scared him the most!

"That's flattering," Dilan acknowledged before he dashed out. In response, the Bryte family's patriarch shot forward as well.

"This idiot…" The other leaders mumbled as they realized what Dilan had done. He had lured the Bryte family's patriarch towards himself, to have a word with the patriarch on his own while the others had hesitated.

They shot forward as well, and the nobles of the Agilt clan caught up with Dilan.

However, it was at this moment when everyone realized something they had missed out on.

The main street had turned dark as something huge covered it. They had been focused on Dilan, and not on their surroundings. For the Vampires, day and night were no different because they could literally see the same scene in front of them.

Just the shades were a bit different, and this was not something they had paid much attention to in the last few seconds, which was exactly what Dilan had wanted.

He couldn't care less how many Vampires attacked him simultaneously as long as they wouldn't realize what he was up to.

A bright smile appeared on Dilan's face as he pointed with his empty hand into the air.

Simultaneously, he inserted Bilzaki with mere 10 Units of Mana to create a Mana Slash.

Everyone expected Dilan to create a terrifying Mana Slash as he did in the first encounter against the Vampires, however, that was not what he aimed to do right now.

His main priority was just to keep everyone distracted.

After all, the plan, which the Undying group had lovingly called 'Rumbling' depended on it!

Most Vampires Dilan faced were distracted by his words and were staring at his face. There were only a few, who actually looked upward when Dilan pointed in the air.

And it was only at this moment that they realized that the Undying group had made far more preparations to fight powerful Vampires than they could have anticipated.

Otherwise, two huge skyscrapers wouldn't be collapsing just now, falling right in the area of the main street where all the powerful Vampires were currently standing.

"This motherfucker…"

Chapter 338 Anomaly

Two huge skyscrapers were collapsing on the main street, precisely falling in the direction of the huge Blood-Ice wall.

Dilan didn't hesitate a single second to look up. He accepted his fate and the fact that the entire building would smash upon him, taking him down with the debris. Not bothered about this brutal fact, Dilan slashed Balzaki in front of him to release the [Mana Slash] he had generated before.

A rumbling reverberated through the entire city as the skyscrapers collided on the Blood-Ice wall, where they crumbled.

Rubble and debris were flung through the surroundings as the skyscrapers collapsed, wreaking havoc with the weak Vampires, who had already been burning to their death.

They were already in a weakened and exhausted state but the bricks and beams that smashed upon them finally thwarted them. Some lost consciousness, some were unlucky and their heads were smashed by rubble, and others were unfortunate enough to encounter iron pipes that pierced through their bodies.

The Ascenders fled early enough to escape the biggest threats of the collapsing skyscraper but they were still hit by the debris and rubble that was whirled up and flung around.

Some Ascenders were hit in the head, and they faced severe injuries, while everyone else survived without a problem.

Not a single human died in the collapsing skyscrapers, which was the most important fact, and the only endangered human life was Dilan's.

When the skyscraper had begun to collapse above them, he had utilized every ounce of strength within his body. His speed had accelerated and he rushed forward in the direction of the closest and the most dangerous Vampire.

The Bryte family's patriarch was the closest but he had halted in his tracks when he realized that something was odd. The collapsing skyscraper gave his men the necessary time to catch up to him.

The nobles of the Agilt family had brushed past the Bryte's patriarch but they didn't even think of attacking Dilan. Rather, they wanted to save their own skin, which was why they were fleeing the spot to get back into the more secure side alleys.

Ignoring Dilan was the biggest mistake they could have made because it allowed him to initiate an attack. He pushed his body to the right side, where three noble Vampires of the Agilt family were located.

They might be fast but Dilan was faster nonetheless. With an accurate and extremely fast slash, Balzaki cut through the closest Vampire the moment Dilan appeared next to the young-looking woman. A red line appeared on her body and she was split in half in an instant.

Meanwhile, Dilan had disappeared once again. The Bryte family's patriarch was more dangerous than some slightly faster noble Vampires. [Monstrous Shapeshifting] was a much bigger threat than anything Dilan had faced until now.

Thus, he needed to kill the Vampire as fast as possible. It didn't matter whether he had to do something suicidal because the death of the Bryte's patriarch was a necessity.

Dilan was fine sacrificing his safety for a sure-kill attack, which was why he ignored the body of the woman he had just cut in half as he emerged in front of the Bryte family's patriarch. The middle-aged Vampire looked down at him, one of his hands turned into a huge shield of flesh, bones, and skin, while the other arm had transformed into a huge greatsword.

"Bigger is not always better, you fucking idiot," Dilan cursed out as he leaned forward, narrowly missing the ground before he shot to the side as the greatsword arm of the patriarch slashed past him.

It missed him by a hair's breadth, causing Dilan's heart to skip a beat.

"But it helps a lot!" The patriarch replied with a devilish smile on his face.

"Oh yeah…that's true!" Dilan agreed, laughing out loud as the skyscraper finally smashed onto everyone including himself.

Dilan was the only one, who ignored the heavy weight of the skyscraper that created a tremendous shockwave upon meeting the ground.

Everyone was flung aside and a horrifyingly strong force weighed on everyone, preventing Dilan and the others from doing anything.

All the powerful Vampires and Dilan were buried under the skyscraper that took away their breaths. They felt like they were suffocating and their bones were being crushed but they were immobilized temporarily.

Not even Dilan could move for several seconds until his body jerked as a surge of energy passed through him.

[Regeneration]!

He had activated his Origin ability, Regeneration, at the perfect moment to recuperate from all the damage and wounds he had been inflicted with. Dilan was not even sure how he was feeling but he could tell that some parts of his body had been squashed.

[Bracing Pain] was fully unleashed, increasing all of his stats by 50% due to the severe injuries he faced. Dilan expected this to happen, and without hesitation, he utilized [Switch] as well to further improve his condition.

He had to heal faster than the noble Vampires, which was near-impossible. Their natural healing was tens of times stronger than that of ordinary humans which was a big advantage in such high-risk situations.

Fortunately, Dilan was not an ordinary human either, and he could force his body to do things nobody…literally nobody would ever be able to achieve at Tier-1!

[-Switch- has been activated. Please select how to reallocate your stats!]

[10 Stamina, 60 Mana, and 30 Agility Units have been deducted. Health increased by 100 Units!]

The moment [Switch] was activated, Dilan's body jerked once more. His entire body was overflowing with energy, and both [Bracing Pain] and [Regeneration] were reacting in accordance.

From his usual Health stat of 188.4 Units, [Switch] added 100 Units, [Bracing Pain] further increased his stats by 50%, just for his equipped title [Beyond the Stars] to increase his stats by an additional 10%.

And as if that was not enough, the equipment he wore added another 15 Units.

Dilan's body was overflowing with Health equal to a being that had long since advanced to Tier-3.

His Health was close to 500 Units, which was far more than any Vampire, let alone human Ascenders could possibly reach while being at Tier-1.

However, Dilan could do so, and he groaned out as he forced his entire body to move and to keep moving, despite the heavy weight that pressured him.

Now was not the time to give up, or to rest. Right now was the perfect opportunity to kill all the Tier-2 Vampires and the noble Vampires at once. Only five noble Vampires escaped, but they could be dealt with.

Right now, the Undying group was at an advantage, an advantage they should never give up.

The others were probably already on their way to kill the exhausted and weakened Vampires beyond the Blood-Ice wall and it was Dilan's task to kill everyone else.

Roaring out, the vigor that streamed through his body exploded like a volcano. The weights around him felt lighter and Dilan forced his boyd to pay heed to his brain's commands.

Dilan tightly grasped the handle of Balzaki, before he stored the weapon in his storage ring with a single thought.

Wielding the unique greatsword was the worst he could do in the current situation.

A Thunderbolt dagger manifested in his hand as he pushed aside some of the heavy rubble that had pushed him down.

"It's time to die!"

Chapter 339 Increase

Dilan's senses were razor sharp and he could clearly detect the Vampires all around him. Their power was leaking and so was their bloodlust.

They had to unleash everything to heal from the injuries they had just sustained.

This was exactly what he and Sven had planned when they created the 'Rumbling', to lure the Vampires into a trap and kill them when they were at their weakest.

None of them could have known how bad Dilan's injuries would be after a skyscraper collapsed on him but that was a risk they took as it seemed worth it.

Dilan was fine being the bait, and facing dangerous situations because he was confident of surviving the catastrophe. Who else would be capable of increasing their Health stat close to 500 times stronger than the average human before the Primordial Ascension?

Nobody! Not while they were Tier-1 existences and shackled by the restrictions of being one.

Even Dilan was astonished that the system didn't do anything against him, especially since his Health stat was something that strengthened his body, meaning that he wouldn't burst apart.

The only issue was the tremendous vigor that swept through his body. It regenerated everything at a rapid speed, decreasing the effectiveness of the passive occupational ability [Bracing Pain].

His injuries would heal within two minutes, and [Bracing Pain]'s passive effect would wear off completely the moment [Switch]'s duration would be over.

By then, he might face more serious problems, which was why Dilan had to move fast.

He fought through the piles of heavy rubble and debris, ignoring the fact that he could barely breathe. The first body he saw was not of the Bryte family's patriarch, which was a shame. Dilan had sincerely hoped that the Bryte family's patriarch would be his first encounter because he had to defeat him as quickly as possible.

However, he couldn't let go of the half-dead opponent either which is why Dilan pierced through the chest of the mangled body in front of him.

He made sure that the Vampire's heart was pierced before he moved over to the head, and pierced it as well.

Dilan killed the first unmoving opponent in an instant and he absorbed the body's Blood Essence the moment he grasped it.

[<Bronze > Blood Essence of Tier-2 Level 1 Blood Berserker(Vampire) has been absorbed→ +0.9 Strength, +3.1 Health, +1.4 Stamina, 0.1 Agility, +2.1 Mana]

Dilan ignored the notification and he averted his attention. His eyes glowed brightly as he looked through the darkness.

'Looks like only the frontside and parts of the side of the skyscrapers have been demolished. There is some open space!' Dilan wanted to move faster and the open space that was void of light seemed to be the best way to advance unhindered. He crawled below some rubble and found his way to the open space.

Through his [Nightvision] passive ability, Dilan was able to see in darkness but it was still quite problematic. His passive ability was ungraded and of a low star rating, which was still somewhat fine right now.

His head flicked in all directions and he tried to analyze the fastest way to eliminate as many threats as possible. When the dust had settled down, the Vampires decided to move as well. Some of them merely escaped with shallow injuries and others sacrificed their body and life to make sure that their masters were fine.

Dilan could see a bright light along with blazing lights in a particular direction. They blinded him and he had to look away as a strong gust of wind hit him hard, pushing him a few steps backward.

'So that's where the Melza family's patriarch is. He seems to be fine….lucky bastard,' Dilan grumbled before he turned his attention in the other direction.

More mangled bodies of Vampires seemed to be lying in that direction. Thus, Dilan made his way in the darkness, where he had to tear apart some rubble to find a small path that led through the collapsed remains of the once tall skyscraper.

Dilan felt lucky, especially when he found more than eight more Vampire corpses in the next two minutes.

He killed all of them without hesitation to get his hands on their Blood Essences, which he absorbed quickly as well.

[Eight Blood Essences have been absorbed→ +5.7 Strength, +9.4 Health, +6.3 Stamina, +4.9 Agility, +7.3 Mana]

Dilan's stats increased rapidly, simply because the ordinary Blood Essences were of Tier-2 Vampires, while the Purified Blood Essences were of powerful noble Vampires at Tier-1.

This was great but the increase in stats was something Dilan had expected. He was actually not surprised because the opportunity of fighting the Vampires was something Dilan chose to take, especially since the Blood Essences of Vampires refined one's blood and increased one's stats by a lot.

Dilan's stats were not restricted in the slightest, which he didn't quite understand. Fortunately, it was not necessary to understand something to know that one was lucky.

After two minutes had passed, Dilan's condition improved tremendously. He was basically unscathed, nine powerful Vampires had been killed and there were only 30ish troublesome Vampires left for him to finish off.

Dilan hoped that the others were doing fine with killing the ordinary Vampires behind the Blood-Ice wall as he believed in his group just as much as they believed in their leader.

With that in mind, Dilan emerged from the rubble, feeling fully energized.

The dazzling sun forced Dilan to shut his eyes for a moment. However, no sooner, he was forced to use all his strength to push himself back into the rubble.

He had not even completely stepped out of the debris when he was forced inside as something grasped his feet tightly. Dilan hadn't sensed it before but he immediately knew what, or rather, who had grasped him.

Thorny vines made out of flesh and bones coiled around his left leg. The thorns were made out of jagged bones that pierced into his leg and he was tossed away just a moment later.

Being flung around within the rubble was certainly not a pleasant feeling but Dilan was smiling nonetheless.

"I finally found you!"

Dilan was not scared of the form the Bryte's patriarch had taken. He smiled crazily as he bent his body to lunge out with his free hand.

His heart had already prepared itself for the injuries his body would sustain as he lunged out. Thus, it was no surprise for him when the vines he was reaching out for suddenly transformed into something even more vicious.

Razor-sharp knife-like needles tried to pierce into Dilan's hand that held the vines tightly. His expression turned odd when the needles collided with his skin. They wanted to pierce inside but barely managed to leave scratches.

With some force, the tiny scratches turned into small cuts but Dilan ignored them entirely. He could easily heal after the battle, which was what Dilan had planned from the beginning.

Dilan pulled the vines closer to himself. He didn't initiate a cut with the Thunderbolt Dagger but forced the remaining part of the Bryte family patriarch's body to be unveiled.

Based on his surveillance and Sven's comment, the Bryte family patriarch had only two disadvantages; he couldn't shapeshift his heart, and it was impossible for the Vampire to shapeshift his brain as well.

Both were Dilan's designated targets, and alive organs that could be pulled through the body of the shapeshifting Vampire as if they were individual entities.

Pulling the Bryte patriarch's body toward him, Dilan tried to find his way to the heart and the brain. Unfortunately, the thorny veins he had gotten his hands on didn't remain idle.

They wiggled around his body and dug into his skin from all sides.

'How cumbersome…'