NOVEL NEXT Chapter 268: The War’s Final Battle Begins Part 2
Whatever gift the Vampire God had bestowed upon her had transformed her Sanguine Thorn into something monstrous, so powerful, in fact, that the natural balance between predator and prey had reversed. Each time a vine lashed out from her arm to pierce Thalion, and he countered with his own Crimson Virethorn, his thorn was effortlessly shredded. The disparity between them grew more apparent with every clash.
There remained one advantage, one frail hope: her plant and the vampiress herself were not fireproof. Thalion summoned every ounce of mana he could muster, stoking the crimson flames surrounding his body and thickening the heat in the air until it shimmered. She tried to douse the fire with a surge of blood, but it only fed the inferno, making it burn brighter and wilder, if only for a moment. Still, it wasn't enough. Her regeneration surpassed the fire's bite. The damage it dealt healed before it could matter.
She charged again, her speed blinding. Thalion threw up a mana barrier, deflecting a projectile that had arced toward him from above. She didn't even flinch—rushing through the barrier like it was smoke. Her jaw unhinged as her gaping maw lunged for his head. Thalion ducked low, stabbing toward her foot while activating Telekinetic Dash. He veered right, momentum slinging him wide. It was an ideal dueling skill, allowing movement opposite of one's leaning direction, often fooling enemies into misjudging the angle of attack.
The vampiress fell for it. A vine shot out from her flank, missing by inches. Thalion heard her jaw snap shut above him, sharp enough to end him instantly. He twisted mid-slide, planted a boot on her shoulder, and launched himself backward just as she began slashing wildly with her claws.
Thalion reached for his fireball technique, aiming to unleash it in its flamethrower variant, but was interrupted—he had to dash away again as the red orc barreled into the fray. The brute's axe crashed into the stone floor with a resounding thud, sending shockwaves through the chamber. Thalion countered with a sharp kick to the orc's knee, and the joint crumpled under the pressure. He aimed a finishing blow, a thorn to the skull, but a vine intercepted it, lashing from the vampiress like a whip.
He barely raised his blade in time to deflect her next attack, spinning with the force of her claws to absorb the impact. The hit shoved him back, but he managed to stay on his feet, until a red wyvern dove at him from above, its taloned foot outstretched to crush him like an insect.
Where were the others? They should've finished funneling fighters into the chamber by now. But there was no time to look. Thalion dove beneath the beast and unleashed a burning mana slash that sliced up through its chest. A sickening crack echoed as bone split and flesh tore. The wyvern howled, half its ribcage severed, but it wasn't dead. Not yet.
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The vampiress gave him no reprieve. Five blood thorns fired in quick succession from her outstretched arm, deadly, precise. They were creations of her empowered plant, and unlike his own, they couldn't be fully redirected. Thalion dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding four, and summoned a vine to absorb the fifth. But the moment it connected, the enemy thorn burrowed into his vine and began feeding off his mana, trying to grow within him.
He could feel it: her will and the plant's combined force pressing into his own. It enraged him how much stronger their bond was. Though in truth, most of the effort came from the Thorn. Still, he had no time to wrestle control. With a growl, Thalion severed the infected vine with a clean swipe of his blade.
A pulse of mana erupted from his core as he released a shockwave in all directions, hoping to break the wyvern for good. It lifted the beast briefly from the ground and knocked the vampiress back a step, but it wasn't enough. The wyvern was simply too massive, and had already begun healing.
Still, the brief push gave Thalion room to move. He darted away, no longer pinned beneath the wyvern's shadow. The vampiress, noting the effectiveness of the blood thorns, didn't pursue immediately. Instead, she fired several more at him. These were more refined, more lethal, their power vastly eclipsed his own. It wasn't just the plant's strength. Its rarity must be on an entirely different level.
This complicated things. Most of Thalion's tools in his human form were now ineffective. He wasn't sure the Crippled Eclipsari form could withstand her onslaught either. Despite that, his human form still offered the best balance, for now. It granted near-total immunity to standard blood attacks, which none of the other vampires dared to try on him. That was his edge. And he needed to press it.
His flames still mattered, if only slightly. They increased his speed and strength and caused minor injuries that, while quickly healed, still disrupted her regeneration rhythm. Not enough to harm her severely, but enough to irritate. Hidden within the fire, he became harder to track, though she likely sensed blood the way he could with his vampiric vision.
Thalion had yet to use the Crimson Gaze, a skill he was saving for the right moment. A perfect opening. One that could maim, maybe even kill. Though he doubted it would end her, a well-timed strike might shift the battle's momentum. His chance would come. It had to.
Even now, facing a foe far beyond him, Thalion didn't waver. His regeneration was unparalleled, and time was on his side. His allies would win their battles. He simply had to hold the line, stall the vampiress long enough for them to tip the scales.