Draining my opponent was a tricky ordeal. First of all, I had to ensure that the young Vampire couldn’t strike me, or that when he sucked my Lesser Wisp form, his attacks wouldn’t be of a magical nature. As long as I managed that, I could suck the Vampire dry rather than getting torn to shreds, which was the most important thing in this situation.

The Lesser Wisp form was neither fast nor very durable. However, by catching the Vampire by surprise and floating into his nostrils to avoid said magical attacks, I quickly drained him.

Rotheart Vampire has been defeated. Shift has been updated.

New Race has been recognized. System updated due to Shift’s influence.

Again? That was odd, but it didn’t change the situation all that much. I wouldn’t be able to figure out what was going on with Shift until after we made it out alive.

Still, after leaving the Rotheart Vampire’s body through his nostrils, I transformed once more and turned into a Silverback Elephant. There was no way to stay silent in that massive monster form, so I didn’t even try. Several Rotheart Vampires turned away from me when I disappeared before their eyes—to float into their brethren’s nostrils. They turned back to attack me now that I had returned. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

But their options were limited. Clearly, they were not as proficient with whatever abilities they had as the older Vampires. They were not as strong either, even though they seemed to be pumped full of Essence. The sensation was odd, yet I couldn’t pay much attention to it as I impaled one of the Vampires.

His chest caved in as the Silverback Elephant’s tusks pierced through, which I followed up with a violent shake of my head. I hurled the Vampire around, hoping to kill him swiftly, yet neither impaling him nor hurling him through the air seemed to kill him.

Several bones in his chest cavity broke, the sound of shattering bones ringing in my head, but it wasn’t enough. The Vampire scrambled to his feet, looking as if nothing had happened merely seconds after he crashed back onto the ground.

His comrade hadn’t been as lucky. She was stomped to death, with massive elephant feet squashing her heart, breaking her spine, and flattening her other internal organs with gusto.

I was trying to be as brutal as possible, yet the female Rotheart Vampire still wasn’t dead. I was sure she was, yet the System didn’t provide a kill notification. That could only mean the Vampire was still alive, which was unacceptable. Turning back to the Vampire, I saw that she was squirming. It was faint and wouldn’t have caught my attention, but I knew what I had to do.

I crushed her skull and kicked her upper body with the force of a several-ton elephant, all while one of my feet stayed rooted on her head—or what was left of it.

The sound of skin and flesh ripping rang in my ears. It was disgusting, and so was the gory sight as a squashed, headless body flung through the air. But the situation didn’t allow me to calm down. I barely got the time to check the System notification to confirm my foe’s death when the first demons reached me.

Rotheart Vampire has been defeated. Shift has been updated.

Not wanting to offer the Lesser Demons too much space to attack and injure me, my time as a Silverback Elephant came to an end. I considered what to do for a moment and transformed into an Armorous Ankylosaur to block the rumbling four-legged Demon as it closed in. Heavy, steel-like plates covered my rhino-sized body from head to tail. Even as the Lesser Demon’s grotesque maw chomped down around my neck, nothing happened to me.

One of the Lesser Demon’s fangs chipped as it applied more strength to kill me at once, but it was nowhere near strong enough. It required a demon or monster at the 2nd Tier to bite through the heavy plates.

Alas, the Lesser Demon was not stupid. It quickly realized that it was doing something wrong and backed off in search of weak, unprotected spots. That would be the Ankylosaur’s stomach and most of its bottom side—something the Lesser Demon would never find out. What it learned instead was what the crushing force of an Ankylosaur tail felt like. It was half a ton of pure death striking the Lesser Demon right at the side of its head.

The cacophony of cracks echoing in my ears brought a smile to my lips. So did the System notification.

Lesser Demon (Nyther) has been defeated. Shift has been updated.

I shifted back to the Chimera form and conjured the Blade of Astor. Then, looking to the side, I found Clove charging and crushing Vampires and Demons alike with practiced ease. He was a killing machine, the hair covering his body growing rapidly as he transformed more and more into the beast from his Bloodline.

His claws dug deep into a Lesser Demon’s neck, carving through scales and flesh like it didn’t mean anything. Then he turned to the next opponent, never looking my way. Never searching for a way to back away.

I tried calling out to him, but he was too caught up in the moment to react. Or his Bloodline had him in its grasp. Regardless, he wouldn’t be able to help me find a way to Fern.

Surviving against the charging masses should be my main priority, but when I thought back to Fern, I couldn’t help but grow restless. She’d been exhausted. Dead tired.

Leaving her to fend for herself didn’t sit right with me. She was stronger than most of the invaders, but... Shaking my head, I used Burst. The pathways rippled as Essence flushed through them, triggering the weakened effect of Burst’s replica. I kicked the ground and reached full speed in an instant before accelerating further.

Once past top speed, my legs wanted to cramp up, but with the pathways of the Silverback Elephants grafted onto my body, I prevailed. The next Demon couldn’t do anything against me. The Demon struck at the spot I’d been a moment before when I entered the range of attack, and collapsed as the Blade of Astor carved through the air, beheading the demon.

Lesser Demon(Tera) has been defeated. Shift has been updated.