A blood-colored storm spun beneath the high sky, countless crimson bats weaving through dense layers of magic.
Like a rain of blood, the bats filled the sky as they fell, letting out sharp screeches while continuously stabbing toward Viktor.
Bang!
The ground around Viktor began to bulge, revealing complex patterns and intricate rune formations.
Multiple triangles overlapped together, and within the formation, a massive toad broke free from within.
Streams of dense water-element magic poured out from its mouth, pressing down onto the earth.
In the blink of an eye, the ground split open into several deep trenches.
Surging torrents burst out from the soil, quickly transforming into several twisting long serpents that spun rapidly around Viktor.
The white foam and splashing waves produced by the colliding currents dragged all the incoming blood-colored bats into chaos.
Under layers of crushing force, those crimson bats quickly shattered and burst apart.
At the instant all the bats in the sky were blocked, magic gathered in Viktor's eyes as he locked onto Laurien, who was inside the blood-red hurricane.
Stepping on waves formed from magic, he rushed straight forward.
Before Count Laurien could gather his blood again and release his power, several pale streaks had already appeared on Viktor's coat behind him.
An invisible whirlwind lifted his body, colliding directly with the blood-red storm.
Seeing Viktor break through the blood storm and rush straight toward him, Count Laurien's crimson eyes widened sharply. A blood-red blade formed in his hand, and he slashed horizontally forward.
Viktor tilted his body, dodging the cold red flash.
In the next instant, a purple-black lightning arm violently grew out from behind his coat.
At the center of its palm, purple lightning wrapped around its fingers as it stabbed toward Count Laurien.
Count Laurien pulled his body back, dodging the lightning claw, then suddenly spewed out a thick column of blood that shot toward Viktor.
Viktor's body turned into a wisp of wind, drifting past and avoiding Laurien's attack.
Right after that, he landed back on the ground.
After that exchange, some distance opened up between the two.
Viktor habitually glanced at his mana.
That whole sequence of rapid dodging and magic conversion just now...
Without Vega, he would have already run out of mana.
But now, it had almost no effect at all.
Vega's existence was always his best support when challenging bosses alone.
He didn't need to care about mana consumption anymore, didn't need to calculate how much he was spending, and could boldly unleash all kinds of skills.
That's right, in the game, Count Laurien was a story boss unit.
He had two forms.
The kingdom noble form... in this state, Count Laurien concealed his vampire traits.
As a warrior, he was only level forty-five.
And when the kingdom later updated with the vampire expansion content, Count Laurien would serve as the guide, introducing players to the concept of vampires.
He was the first vampire story boss players would challenge.
Vampire Prince... Laurien.
Among vampires, there was a strict hierarchy, with ranks like prince, elder, lord, and many others.
Because the vampire race was vast, even low-level vampires and ghouls were considered part of it.
But only princes stood at the very top, and only they could skip the vampire stage and directly grant others the power to transform into members of the vampire race.
A prince was, so far, the strongest and purest vampire.
At this moment, the magic circle behind Viktor rotated again, countless magic patterns gathering together.
Even the surrounding air became thick and heavy.
A flash of azure appeared in Viktor's eyes, his mana rapidly draining.
Along with the heavy cost of his mana, powerful magic quickly gathered between him and Laurien.
[Fourth-Tier Magic: Comet Stream]
In the next second, from within the magic circle, a torrent of crystal-blue water burst out, violently piercing through the spinning storm.
It was as if everything had sunk into a silent sea. The dry, viscous waves shattered the raging blood-colored light and surged forward unstoppably toward Count Laurien.
Count Laurien's eyes glowed blood-red. The three pairs of wings behind him spread forward, blocking the massive incoming magic.
The comet-like blue impact washed over his body and shot toward the sky beyond the blood-red moon.
After leaving a brief trail in the air, it gradually dissipated.
Immediately after, Laurien's three pairs of blood-red wings flapped fiercely, turning into afterimages as he charged straight at Viktor.
Blood mist wrapped around his palm, and together with his speeding body, he launched a fierce attack toward Viktor.
Viktor's entire body was wrapped in various kinds of magic, erupting all at once. He stomped the ground to pieces and turned into an afterimage, charging toward Count Laurien.
The two figures collided at high speed within the blood-red storm, flashes of impact bursting out continuously.
One second they were on the left, the next, a burst of magic would explode on the right.
The people present stared at the glowing battle in the sky, completely stunned.
This kind of intense fight was far beyond their understanding. They couldn't even catch the afterimages of the two moving at such incredible speed.
The terrifying strength of the two of them was like creators of the apocalypse.
Although the earlier explosion had already turned this place into ruins, their violent clash now looked like it would flatten the area all over again.
However, only Aurelian, watching the battle, remained silent.
Although she could vaguely see that in the fierce battle, Teacher Viktor held a slight advantage, that advantage had not turned into a decisive Viktory.
As a vampire, Count Laurien's regeneration ability was terrifying to an unimaginable degree.
His body was like cast iron, even Viktor's magic couldn't easily pierce through it.
Even those angels from before above the canyon were not as strong as Count Laurien.
Even if his body was pierced by Viktor's magic, it would heal completely in just a second.
And Count Laurien was still growing stronger.
That's right, all of Shulben was supplying him with blood, making his body stronger and steadily increasing his power.
The moon in the sky was becoming deeper and deeper red, almost turning into a strange black.
This meant that time was approaching midnight.
And that was the most terrifying part.
Once the clock struck midnight, all the residents within the territory would be turned into dried corpses, becoming crazed vampires.
And Count Laurien would obtain the blood of everyone within the territory.
All of this was to allow Priscilla in the sky to completely finish her transformation.
Everyone realized this.
The kingdom's nobles looked at the crimson blood moon, clenching their fists, filled with regret and anger. Even the skeletal remains gritted their teeth, unwilling to accept it.
This was a moment of crisis. Laurien's actions had already seriously endangered the kingdom's safety.
But at this moment, the only two people who could protect the kingdom... one was the king.
Yet he was the culprit behind this incident.
The other was Duke Barlow.
But he had yet to appear.
If Duke Barlow showed up and faced the current situation, he could completely rely on his own power to turn everyone in the territory into undead.
That way, they could avoid being drained by Laurien and turned into dried corpses.
But sending someone to ask for his help now was already too late. Shulben was far from Barlow Territory.
By the time Duke Barlow arrived, everyone in Shulben would likely have already turned into vampires.
At that point, Duke Barlow could only helplessly collect the souls of those who had become vampires.
Then, the entire city of Shulben would become a city of the undead.
Of course, it wasn't that Aurelian hadn't thought about solving this herself.
Unfortunately, her strength was far too weak.
And she didn't control enough domains of the dead; she simply couldn't hold that many people from Shulben.
Could it be that they could only watch helplessly as Count Laurien devoured all the blood of Shulben's people?
Aurelian looked up, her gaze landing on the flashing battle between Viktor and Count Laurien.
Different-colored magic and blood energy clashed constantly, waves of force rising as the sky trembled.
The two were still fighting in midair, still colliding beneath the sky.
Priscilla above the sky remained just as calm, completely indifferent to the battle around her.
A faint crimson thread connected her to the blood moon the entire time.
Although the blood moon continued to grow more crimson, most of it did not flow into Count Laurien's body, but instead poured into Priscilla along that thread.
Suddenly, doubt rose in Aurelian's mind.
Why hadn't Teacher Viktor attacked Priscilla at all?
Once midnight arrived, Priscilla would complete her transformation.
At that time, with all of Shulben's blood, she would also become an extremely powerful vampire.
She would become Count Laurien's support.
Since Laurien's goal was to revive Priscilla,
then destroying the blood moon would secure the final Viktory.
Instead of continuing to fight Laurien in the sky with no progress.
As a vampire, Count Laurien's regeneration was terrifying. There was no way Teacher Viktor didn't know that.
Suddenly, a flash of insight appeared in Aurelian's mind, as if something clicked.
'Wait.'
'Isn't Priscilla undead?'
'If the Priscilla in the sky was her real body...'
'then who exactly was the Priscilla I saw before?'
But very quickly, a series of violent explosions from the sky interrupted Aurelian's thoughts.
Along with the explosions, the two pulled apart once again.
This time, behind Viktor, five massive magic circles of different colors rose instantly.
Five differently colored formations rapidly formed, and a vast formation gradually appeared in the sky.
Countless patterns intertwined and merged, dense runes weaving through each other, completely covering the edges of the formation.
Viktor floated in the air, five streams of different-colored light flowing behind him.
"Then, let's try this move."
A massive multicolored ring appeared around him, the center of the formation engraved with all kinds of runes.
[Fourth-Tier Magic: Blazing Fury Burn]
[Fourth-Tier Magic: Sea Reversal Heaven]
[Fourth-Tier Magic: Chaotic Wind Imprint]
[Fourth-Tier Magic: Repelling Wood Serpent Growth]
[Fourth-Tier Magic: Thunderous Myriad Roar]
In the blink of an eye, the five different magics fused together.
A towering magic wall, like a city wall, instantly appeared, extending hundreds of meters into the sky.
Vast and surging magic poured out like a collapsing flood, swallowing the blood-colored sky.
Even the crimson-glowing full moon in the sky was obscured by this overwhelming magic, nearly dimming.
Within the vast space, only the twisting, surging magic remained, crashing toward Count Laurien.
[War Magic: Radiant Barrier of Multicolored Phenomena]