Well, it has been almost an hour since I ran away from the inn. I have been sneaking through the city, dodging the Bloodfire gang. (Turns out it was not as hard as I was expecting it to be.) Well, I will be followed by them soon enough, but I have some time to prepare now, at least.
Vampire grunts can sense blood mana in a fashion. It is not something that they can do easily, though. Maybe if they trained their mana sense, they might be able to track me quicker. Somebody as combat-oriented as the lady will be taking her time, though.
Right now, I am in an abandoned lodge quite far away from the enemy and the inn. The owner of this place was the very first victim of the gang. This way, even if I were to demolish the building when the enemy comes to fight me, there is nobody to care about it.
I am on the first floor of the building, in what I have to assume is the tavern of the lodge. The place is perfect. Anyone's entry into this place will be quite obvious to me, and there is plenty of space for me to fight here. (I just chucked all the tables to the side.)
The fight is inevitable. They should be coming anytime now. Well, that is why I have an ace in the hole for this fight. I sit down on the floor, feeling the orb of black metal I have stashed in my pockets.
Trevor has got his hand on a pretty rare formation this far north. It's called the void bomb. It is supposed to create a mist in which all the senses are blocked completely. The people stuck in it feel as if they are stuck in an endless void. It is a class nine formation, but it will easily have the cost of a class eight formation. This close to the hexmountain, it would cost even more.
I could have used it during the infiltration, but that would have been a pretty poor use of such a formation. The thing with this formation is that you should be able to pick the battlefield to use it. That was the enemy's home ground.
One problem is that this is a double-edged sword. I can just as easily get affected by the void bomb. Another problem is that it takes a few moments to activate. Vampires are sharp enough to dodge it if they realize what I am doing.
Still, if they get trapped in it, there will be little that I will need to do. Escaping the void is nearly impossible unless you are really lucky. Even if another of those possessed vampires were to come here, I would be able to hold them back enough to escape. The only way of escape is by accidentally walking away from its edges. Other than that, the only way is when the mana powering it is over. Regardless of which occurs, this will take me at least ten minutes. Granted, I don't get stuck in it myself.
That will be enough for me to disappear into the sewers. That is another benefit of this place. There is a relatively hidden entrance to the sewers. It is hidden in the back of the building. It is just a massive slab in the ground, which is indistinguishable from the floor. Even the vampires will not be able to find it.
It is a simple plan, if a bit risky. I am going to be the bait that will attract all the vampires. Right now, they simply cannot ignore my presence. Vampire clans are nearly legendary for their infighting. If a clan is doing something, you will find its opposing clan somewhere nearby trying to make it fail. I was transformed when I killed the lady.
Trevor and I assume that she thinks of me as a suicidal attacker of some clan. I have to assume that the same thought has been forwarded to the Bloodfire gang. They all do keep calling me a half-converted mutt.
Right now, I will transform using the sword, pushing out my mana like a beacon for the bloodfire gang. (They won't even be suspicious due to the injuries I sustained. I will be needing this healing.) Fully converted grunts can sense blood mana, in a fashion. It is much weaker than what their masters can achieve, though.
To complete the plan, I will be acting as bait to the enemy while Trevor will sneak into the place and free the people. They certainly won't be expecting me to have an ally. (Even if they did, I am starting to realize that Trevor has a bag of tricks.) Right now, I have fully stopped any restriction on my sword as it pumps blood mana into me. With each passing minute, I can feel the wounds in my body getting better.
If they knew of my role in the legion, it would be better. I don't know if I would have been able to survive their fury, though. Let's just say that my troop has garnered quite a reputation for hunting vampires. I am sure that one of the other possessed vampires would have come to attack if they knew.
(After about fifteen minutes.)
Well, here they are. The first thing that I can confirm is that there are two of them, and neither of them is possessed. One is coming down the only set of stairs to the roof (which is quite creaky, I must add.). The other just threw a rock through a window and is climbing in from below. At the very least, stealth does not seem to be a skill of theirs. That is good because it is the stealthy ones you should be careful of.
The lady is the first to find me. She comes at me the instant that she locates me. I force her into a defensive stance by attacking her.
In a few moments, I hold the upper hand. (The only reason my performance was so bad in the previous fight was due to my delayed transformation.) She does have training, but the court is more a place of intrigue than fighting. She might be physically stronger than me, but my skill with the sword is greater.
I don't get to keep it up, though, as the second vampire joins the attack soon. Thankfully, he is using his claws. If they had another artifact, I would be screwed. I am barely able to get in a strike into the bastard's side, as his claws aim for my heart. I block using my hand while stabbing one of his legs.
I can feel a string of vital mana flowing from the man to me. The amount of vital mana that I am getting now is way more than I was getting before. (I am speaking of when I achieved primary linkage, by the way.) It could also be because a vampire has more vital mana than normal people do.
I jump back, taking a defensive position. We stare at each other for a while, after which the lady finally strikes. I block her sword as the man tries to sneak behind me. He is aiming for my heart, which I dodge by ducking.
For a second, I had the hope that the man would end up hitting the lady, but even she jumped to the side, barely dodging it. At least the two people seem to be pretty unfamiliar with each other. That gives me some benefit.
(After a couple of minutes.)
I have been keeping the two of them busy for a while now.
I gave up on offense completely as I danced around the tavern, blocking and dodging. I exploit every bit of the unfamiliarity that the two people have with each other. They are just as oblivious to their surroundings. Honestly speaking, it is their inability to work together (rather than my skill.) that has let me hold my own against the two.
I will not be able to maintain this for long, though. My mana expenditure in the fight has been constant. These two can be more conservative with their mana, though. As if that was not enough, I took an injury. It is a pretty small nick, which I heal by just passing mana over it.
The lady's sword has taken on a greyish color by now. I know that something deadly would happen if I were to get hit by that sword. This would be an ideal time to attack her, but I am forced to dodge as the man appears to my side. I use the sword to block him.
I feel a sharp pang of pain. The lady managed to sneak in an attack, in that while. The new effect of the sword seems to be petrification, as my skin begins to take on a greyish tone. I have to push mana into my wounds. The petrification is stalled temporarily for now. It takes me a constant stream of mana to push the mana out. The fact that my vital mana is leaking into the enemy's sword is not helpful.
And thus I begin to lose. I believe I hold a pretty formidable defense, but that can only be confirmed by my enemy. I block both of them as much as possible, but my mana is already approaching the bottom of the tank.
In hindsight, maybe I did not need to fight for so long. I could have used the void bomb five minutes ago and escaped, but I kind of got lost in the fight. (It has been a while since I have fought like this.) I am sure that I bought enough time for Trevor. I really should think about escape now.
I jump back, feeling my back hit the wall. Fuck, I can feel both of them charging in to take a swing. I duck down, not to dodge the enemy's blow (I have reached a point where that might not be possible.) but to reach my shoes.
The lady redirects her blade right into my back. The Sword is lodged solidly in my back. I can feel my flesh beginning to petrify as I pour all of my remaining mana into the block of black metal in my hand. I can feel the thing activate in my hand.
I seriously hope that I have not calculated the range wrong. I throw the block at the two people, who, as I expected, bolt backwards. Well, I had accounted for that. The black metal suddenly expands, forming a sphere of pure blackness. It seems to be devouring the very light in the world. Turns out I did calculate the range wrong. The sphere has formed up right next to me, close enough that I can see the sphere eat up my nose.
Almost in fear, I take a step backward, hitting the wall behind me with a thud. My nose is still there, thankfully, but I still keep moving. Pulling out the lady's sword, I can feel her sword become dormant in my hands. I move away from the place. After all, knowing my luck, I am sure that the two people will make their way out of the void any second.
The injury in my back is pretty serious, even without the petrification. I can keep it from getting worse by channeling vital mana. The petrification has not stopped completely. So I cycle my vital mana to form an equilibrium (just enough to stop any further petrification). Anything beyond this will take meditation to remove. Just that takes a significant chunk of my remaining mana.
I hope that the organization does not make me deal with more headaches like this. Even if they do, at the very least, I got a magical tool from this endeavor. A vampire artifact at that. Thinking this, I begin to hobble, going to the sewer entrance that is hidden in this place.
I am telling you, if after all of this, if Trevor ends up failing at his task. I am going to personally strangle him.