Ashen Dragon-Chapter 141 - 70 Ascension Ritual (6)

Duke Brad once again hovered in midair, a blood mist condensed into a crimson cloak, casting a shadow on the stone platform.

"Struggle, tremble!"

"You can never escape your destined fate."

Under the Duke’s command, Alger launched a stormy assault on Mezulash.

Countless rats and bats surged from the darkness, tireless. Shadows with tentacle-like limbs emerged from the ground, the air filled with chaotic blood mist.

"Damn vampires..."

Mezulash casually picked up a longsword from the ground, repelling the attacking bats and rats with a blood-colored sword light. The Guardian Aurora around him flickered, blocking the tentacles and blood mist.

Under Duke Brad’s control, he couldn’t even get close to those Derivatives, being forced near the passage, watching helplessly as the vampires prepared for another ascension absorption.

Just when Mezulash was struggling to cope, there was someone sneaking around the edge of the battlefield.

—It was Mantou.

Mantou huddled in a corner behind a stone pillar, his whole body smeared with Potion to isolate his aura, peeking at the fierce battle on the stone platform.

"This boss is too tough, even Xin Dog and War Maniac were taken out in an instant."

"Now, it seems like it’s just me left."

"But from what Mezulash said, it looks like we need to take down those Derivatives, or else this monster will get even stronger?"

Mantou scanned the vampire Derivatives bound to the stone pillars. He awkwardly looked away upon seeing the naked Countess, finally fixing his gaze on Swashbuckler, who was also stripped.

"Let’s get Rogue Beast out of here."

Mantou stealthily approached, eyeing the blood-stained iron chains, grit his teeth, and swung an axe down.

"Clang."

The iron chain broke with a sound.

Swashbuckler fell from the stone pillar.

Due to being tightly bound by the chains, his body felt like a pile of mush, seemingly on the verge of death.

However, Swashbuckler, with his fully vampiric constitution, had his bones emitting creaking sounds, flesh regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye. He quickly recovered from a state of shattered bones and mangled flesh.

Watching the outrageous regenerative ability, Mantou exclaimed, "Wow, what the hell is this?"

"How can you auto-heal so fast?"

Swashbuckler proudly said, "The Vampire’s [Undying Essence], as long as my weak points aren’t hit, I can auto-heal. Even if my head gets chopped off, I can grow it back!"

Mantou exclaimed again, "That’s amazing?"

Remembering something, he patted Swashbuckler’s shoulder meaningfully, "Brother Lang, take care. The price of fate’s gifts has already been marked in the dark since you chose to sell yourself..."

"You, how did you know..."

Swashbuckler’s voice trembled, his expression contorted in rage and shame upon hearing Mantou’s words.

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His entire reputation... ruined.

As they conversed, Duke Brad in the air sensed something unusual. One of the vampire Derivatives, the symbol of "Envy," was missing!

With the Duke’s wrath, the entire underground world seemed to tremble, echoing with wails.

"Mortals, you seek your own doom!"

"How dare you hinder the grand Ascension!"

In an instant, countless shadowy tentacles rose from the ground, the blood mist boiled like tidewater, and thousands of bats and rats swarmed toward them.

Mantou, trembling at the overwhelming attack, said, "Brother Lang, I think we’re done for this time."

"Brother Lang?"

He turned, only to find that Swashbuckler had already turned into a thin mist and fled.

This was the Vampire’s [Mist Escape] ability, a means for the weak Swashbuckler to escape, unlike the vast blood mist Duke Brad had accumulated over centuries.

"Rogue Beast, you damn—" Mantou was swallowed by Duke’s furious attack, wanting to cry without tears, only able to watch himself black out.

Even though he risked his life to rescue Swashbuckler, the guy ran off at the first sign of danger, truly living up to the name of a virtual game scoundrel.

The Duke felt the new blood, his crimson eyes fixed on the distant thin mist.

"I will catch you, Rebellion."

"This game of cat and mouse ends here."

Duke Brad raised his right hand, blood continuously surged on the stone platform, eventually forming a tumultuous blood sea, spreading. This blood sea could take away the life of anyone who touched it.

The blood sea surged toward Mezulash. This time, he had no escape and had to flee to the entrance passage, with the space to stand growing increasingly smaller.

"Rebellion, come back to me!"

"You are part of the grand Ascension!"

Duke Brad, personally maneuvering the blood mist tornado, summoned countless bats and rats to chase the thin mist form of Swashbuckler.

The Duke could once easily control Swashbuckler, but now Swashbuckler had fully assimilated the Vampire template’s abilities. With no magical chains and no connection to the Vampire host Derivative, he was hard to capture again as a thin mist.

Though Swashbuckler’s vampiric strength was weak, his escape capability was more than sufficient, matching the shady creeping attributes of his Vampire template abilities.

The thin mist darted around the bunker, hiding and dodging, weaving back and forth. If the Duke had a beating heart, his blood pressure would likely be through the roof.

"Boom—"

At that moment, space within the bunker rippled, then gradually distorted and cracked. Finally, a flame portal appeared out of thin air.

A black-haired, golden-eyed dragon vein sorcerer emerged from the portal.

This time, he had no need to conceal his identity. Red scales appeared on his cheeks, bone dragon horns on his head, and his golden pupils radiated authority.

With his arrival, the entire underground air seemed to turn hot and restless.

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"It seems I’m a bit late?"

Cassius immediately noticed the blood-mist-enshrouded Vampire Duke in the distance.

[Based on your strength, you can observe the following information]

[Bloody Duke Brad Rackman]

Basic Ability: ???

Challenge Level: 15 (13000 xp)

Assessment: Brad Rackman, he was not always named this, possibly Triel or Nax; this secret long ago faded into darkness.

Two hundred years ago, he returned from the battlefield, witnessing his wife’s death, thus realizing the fragility of mortal life. He began pursuing immortality. Two hundred years later, the awakened vampire from endless nights craved the life he had lost, filling his hunger with the blood of the living.

"Challenge level fifteen..."

"In this form, I probably can’t beat him."

Cassius furrowed his brow. In his human form, he was roughly equivalent to a Level Eleven dragon vein sorcerer, a significant gap from the old vampire’s strength.

"Time to revert to my true form."