Chapter 129 The Vampires Are The Real Enemies Right?

The vampire's crimson blade swung centimetres from my face.

I felt the breeze brush up against my nose.

Holy shit.

I just barely managed to dodge it, but it was way too close for comfort. I couldn't get negligent in this fight, even just a moment of hesitation and my face would have been ripped up. I brought [Mayuri-Luc-Ei] in front of me and braced for his next attack.

The vampires could continue to fight even if they receive injuries during the battle. Humans, on the other hand, are basically dead after receiving even a single serious injury.

"Sword, drink more blood."

Crap, I need more space.

As fast as I could, I stepped back and sent my Elite Minions forwards to buy time.

Damn, my Minions really aren't made for taking down strong enemies. The vampire easily deflected their attacks and struck them, sending them crashing to the ground. Suddenly, I made eye contact with it.

There was no time to watch its movements.

I need to get into a defensive position right now.

Trying to remember what I learnt, I positioned my sword the best I could.

In the blink of an eye, the vampire was right up against my body.

Cut him down, Mayuri.

I didn't have any time or space.

With all the strength I had, I launched another attack with Mayuri. The shockwave barrelled through the air, forcing the vampire to take a step back in order to avoid the explosion.

I was struggling to keep up with the immense speed and strength of the vampire.

[Rank]: Earl; [Remaining Blood]: 65%

The vampire seemed to still have quite a lot of blood remaining. I'd need to deal some more damage to it if I wanted to make it out of this battle alive. The vampire charged at me once again. Its speed was incomprehensible, all I could see was a blur as he dashed towards me.

I swung my sword in order to force him to make a move, however, he managed to evade my attack.

Oh no.

I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side.

I tried to recover my position as fast as possible, forcing the vampire away with a swing of my sword.

However, I was bleeding from underneath my clothes.

I quickly lifted up my shirt and wrapped my healing bandage around the wound. I had only seconds before the vampire's next attack at this rate. Luckily the wound wasn't very deep, but it was still somewhat painful. Although, with all of the adrenaline, it only had a small impact on my performance.

After wrapping the bandage around, I quickly raised my sword and blocked the vampire's next attack.

Again, I drew [Tengen-Ko-Rin] with my left hand.

Chain him down, Tengen.

Steel chains were again conjured, holding the vampire in place. I needed to capitalise on the opening so I charged in as fast as possible. Gripping [Mayuri-Luc-Ei] as hard as I could, I frantically swung the sword around, cutting away at the vampire's body. He shouted before breaking free from the chains again.

[Rank]: Earl; [Remaining Blood]: 39%

That seemed to have done a significant amount of damage to it.

The vampire came in with a wide-sweeping strike. I quickly ducked my head in order to avoid the attack. Immediately, I lunged forwards, trying to stab him in the stomach. He managed to see this coming and quickly turned to the side, forcing me off balance. I saw his arm move, implying another swing of the sword, in response, I prepared to block it with [Mayuri-Luc-Ei].

Ow.

Why did I feel pain in my side?

As I crashed to the ground, I saw the vampire had his leg raised.

He must have kicked me while I was too focussed on watching his sword.

Ah, I was struggling to breathe.

With all of my remaining strength, I pulled myself off of the ground and tried to get into a defensive posture. He rushed in toward me and our blades clashed as I tried to stop him from pushing into my space. His attacks were extremely heavy, like an ocean wave. I had no choice but to keep taking steps back in order to stop the momentum.

His attacks were strong, but I was beginning to see.

His movements, the slight biases in his swings.

I was beginning to see it all.

As we traded swings, I noticed that his attacks were gradually getting easier to defend. With a loud smash, I blocked one of his attacks. Then, I blocked another. Then, I blocked another. Slowly but surely, I was degrading his positioning, he was beginning to lose balance after having so many of his attacks get blocked by me.

I planted my right foot into the ground.

This is it.

Putting two hands on the grip of [Mayuri-Luc-Ei], I swung it directly at the vampire's neck. With only a split second to react, the vampire lowered his head, trying to avoid the swing.

That was what I expected to happen.

Now the vampire was only mere centimetres away from me.

With all of my strength, I raised my knee, hitting him directly in the face. I could feel a distinct crunch as my knee connected with the cartilage in his nose.

[Rank]: Earl; [Remaining Blood]: 33%

He fell backwards, holding his face in pain. Blood was gushing out of his nose as his body tried to heal the damage.

Leaving no time to spare, I charged in, launching several attacks at his head. He desperately tried to block all of my attacks but he wasn't able to get up off of the ground. I put a hand on the grip of [Tengen-Ko-Rin].

Chain him down, Tengen.

It was a weaker attack, with only a single chain being conjured on the vampire's ankle, however, that was all I needed.

Unable to get up, the vampire could only watch as my sword fell upon his head.

"No, wait!"

In one swift strike, his head came flying off of his body.

[Rank]: Earl; [Remaining Blood]: 0.1%

Finally, after a long perilous fight, I had won.

[You have defeated an [Earl]-ranked vampire]

[You may collect your rewards in the system].

Looks like I get rewarded for killing vampires.