Vampire's Blood Ascension-Chapter 35: Too weak

Rudy pushed himself to the top of the spine and fell on his back.

He breathed heavily, staring at the moonlit sky for a few seconds before he mumbled dryly, "Water..."

He retrieved a water bottle from his spatial ring, and as the water trickled down his throat, he felt his insides cool and whispered, "Much better."

After pouring some water over his head, he stored the bottle in the spatial ring as he stood up and examined the spine’s surface.

The surface was uneven and full of cracks, though the spine itself was big enough for him to stay without any problem, but there was no gain in doing so.

Once the night passed, he would have to go through the same torment once again, so he needed to move at night so he wouldn’t have to worry about his essence or fatigue.

"But it’s too dangerous..."

He walked to the spine’s edge and looked at the ground.

Dozen insect-like dreadborns roamed near the spine, and Rudy noted,

"Those who look like antlions are between a latent beast and a demon. Mantis are a latent horror. Scorpions are between a deviant beast and a demon. Beetles are deviant horror... and the spiders are deviant overlord..."

For a few moments, he just stared at a spider dreadborn and thought, ’Can I kill it?’

Of course, he knew he couldn’t, at least not yet, but Rudy was thinking of it after he killed enough dreadborns and collected enough shards.

He shook his head. "It won’t be possible no matter what I do."

He moved his gaze away from the dreadborns and looked farther. The desert was full of skeletal remains still half-buried in the ground. ’I should move from one giant bone to another.’

After scanning the desert as much as he could, he didn’t find anyone or any ruins he could move to.

The area he was in was lower than the other dunes, so his vision was limited.

"I should move to the one on the left as it’s on the edge of the dune and has way fewer dreadborns in between," Rudy concluded as he stepped back.

"It would’ve been better if I had an armour... unfortunately, within the old realm, human armour can’t defend against attacks of dreadborns," he mumbled as he planned his route.

Five minutes later, he lowered himself to the edge of the bone and slowly descended it.

"Fuck! It’s cold." Wind slammed into him, causing his grip to loosen, but Rudy didn’t panic, and inch by inch, he stepped down the giant spine.

Just as his feet touched the ground, essence entered his core, and he mumbled, "Now, I have to make sure not to attract attention."

He stepped towards the east, and the growls of the nearby dreadborns reached him, though they were still far enough not to be a surprise.

As he walked, step by step, his core was replenished entirely, and his fatigue had vanished as if it had never been there.

’I feel much lighter,’ he noticed as he retrieved his sword and looked in front.

About a dozen steps away from him, a dreadborn that looked similar to an antlion but much bigger and had a hard chitin covering its body like dark armour.

Upon seeing it, a disgusted look appeared on Rudy’s face, and he checked if there were any other dreadborns near them.

This antlion was just a latent beast, so he could easily kill it, but he couldn’t risk gaining attention, so he had to make sure that he only fought when it was unavoidable.

"There are two mantis and four antlions around us, but all of them are far," he mumbled as his eyes grew sharp.

Blood essence coursed through his towering body, and he moved.

The dark sand beneath him scattered into the air as he dashed towards the antlion, the blade of his long sword gleaming red.

The antlion heard the noise and turned its monotonous body towards it, its mandibles clicking together.

As it turned to him, Rudy reached it, and his gleaming red sword fell onto it with all of his might.

Dark blood streamed as he split its head into two; the antlion stumbled back, its mandibles snapping as it fell to the ground, and its purple eyes lost their sheen.

A melodious voice reached his ears.

[You have slain a Latent Beast: Dawn Antlion.]

Rudy stared at the dawn antlion’s body and mumbled, "Should I give it a try?"

He raised his hand towards its body and mumbled, "Blood Usurpation."

He felt a churn in his core as the blood essence moved out of his body and touched its blood, and as it did, runes appeared before him.

[The blood is too weak for usurpation.]

"Too weak, huh..." Rudy whispered, disappointed.

He shook his head and said, "I have to focus."

His feet moved once again as he walked towards the giant bone, at least two kilometers away from him.

Treading the dark desert was much easier on the body, but the pale desert didn’t need him to be vigilant all the time.

As he walked, a latent horror mantis appeared in his path. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The mantis was also big, with its chitin amber-tinted, and it had long, slender, blade-like limbs.

His grip tightened around his long sword, and he mumbled, "It won’t be as easy as before."

He dashed towards the mantis, his blade gleaming red. The mantis instantly turned towards him and swung its limbs.

Rudy stepped away from the attack and plunged his blade into its side.

It let out a low cry and snapped its mandibles towards him. Rudy jumped to the back, and his gaze moved to the blood pouring out of the wound he had just made.

Without wasting a single moment, he lunged forward with his free hand raised towards the wound.

The mantis lifted its limbs, and all of a sudden, its own blood wrapped around its limbs and held them in place as the gleaming red fell and severed its head from its body.

[You have slain a Latent horror: Morning Mantis.]