The vampire suddenly jerked his whole body and covered his face. "Please don't kill me!"

"I'm not gonna kill you," h.e.l.l said as he turned to the other 5 vampires who also took a step back. It seemed his infamy had preceded himself. Leila burst into a laughter as Theperes flashed a smile at h.e.l.l. Leon, on the other hand, patted h.e.l.l's back and said: "Mate, you have successfully become the bogeyman to literal vampires. Congratulations."

"If anyone acts scared again, I'm killing him," h.e.l.l said as he continued descending the stairs along with everyone in silence. He wasn't sure yet, whether he liked or disliked the fear. Theperes especially enjoyed the constipated look on these vampires as once she was looked down upon by them. She walked by h.e.l.l's side, glancing at those vampires.

"My lord, I think these puny creatures heard about your duel with Virgil, or perhaps your vigilant vanquis.h.i.+ng of some of the evil vampires," Theperes said as she took h.e.l.l's arm between her mounds. She did enjoy h.e.l.l's reaction. She was yet to unveil the personality of this man. Suddenly going red, h.e.l.l missed a stair and lost his balance, only to be held by Theperes who brought him closer to her own face. h.e.l.l was never a greenhorn by any means, but such a succubus acting this way in front of other people embarra.s.sed him out his wits. Leila and Leon went silent, watching them. Vaun was still carrying some essentials as the tank and person of burden of the party and took a deep breath when he saw the two, he was about to exclaim to encourage him, but decided against it at the last second. h.e.l.l hadn't taken his burden off despite having the "Inventory" now, after all. If Vaun irritated him, it was likely he wouldn't mind letting him carry these things throughout their journey.

"What are you looking at?!" h.e.l.l yelled, his voice cracking. Even the vampires that were s.h.i.+tting bricks a moment ago seemed much more relaxed, even with h.e.l.l looking more aggressive now. He used Quickening as well as Warping to immediately descend the stairs before anyone else.

"Ah, my shy lord," Theperes said with a smile. The party sped up to follow right after.

"h.e.l.lo, my accomplice!" Virgil yelled and looked at h.e.l.l's red face. "Was there a problem?" Virgil inquired.

"Nope, everything was dandy. I just wanted to meet my comrade in arms a bit earlier than everyone!" h.e.l.l said and finally noticed his surroundings. This was an immense laboratory full of tubes and vials with all kinds of liquids in them as well as some chimeresque creatures. After taking a moment to compose himself, "What are these?" h.e.l.l asked.

"Well, my research on how to resist mind-altering magic and mental attacks," Virgil explained. "This creature, for example, is something I created using an owl, a squirrel and a greenskin. It's a failure as a creature overall, but it can resist low-level mind-altering magic."

"This thing can do that?" h.e.l.l asked in a curious tone. "How did you find this out?"

"Trial and error, mostly. But let me show you my latest potion against mental attacks." Virgil said as he brought h.e.l.l to a section of the lab ahead. Virgil used his speed to lead the way and h.e.l.l was able to follow right after. They arrived in front of a black potion seems to be alternating between gas and liquid.

"Is this the one I would need to drink?" h.e.l.l asked. "What is it?"

"Yes," Virgil said. "The consciousness of multiple people. I have dwindled them to a minuscule amount so it won't have any actual effect on anyone's psyche, not that you need it."

"An actual consciousness? How did you do that?"

"Ritual magic, obviously. Aurus here is great in ritual-type magic." Virgil said, pointing to the figure standing not too far ahead. Aurus had a slight frown on his face, obviously not very pleased with h.e.l.l. Realizing the situation, Virgil asked Aurus: "Why don't you welcome h.e.l.l's friends? They should have someone meeting them there." Virgil pointed at the entrance not too far away from themselves.

"Of course," Aurus said as he moved toward the foot of the stairs.

"Not bad," h.e.l.l said. "He is probably the second strongest vampire here after you, right?"

"That's debatable. I'll let you meet my elite unit in a few moments." Virgil said. "First, why don't you try this concentrated consciousness?"

"Why now?"

"We can test your theory to an extent with this, too."

"Fine." He said and gulped it down immediately.

"No, not all of it!" Virgil exclaimed and looked at h.e.l.l in wonder. They were both silents for around 15 seconds, h.e.l.l looked to be fine.

"Convinced?"

"Yes, that potion's effect was almost as strong as the spells the vampire you'll face can cast, I was going to have you take two small sips to test your theory of immunity." Virgil a.n.a.lysed h.e.l.l for a minute or so and added: "Really interesting, the consciousness had nowhere to hold onto, it feels like."

"The others have arrived, shall I show them their rooms?" Another vampire wearing a suit similar to Aurus' appeared.

"Yes, we'll show my friend here his room afterwards," Virgil said and dismissed the vampire. h.e.l.l was startled as he didn't even realize someone was right beside him until the vampire spoke, it seemed these creatures had certain characteristics he had to be aware of.

"He was one of our field operatives," Virgil explained. "Let's meet my elite unit, now. Aurus!"

"Yes, sir!" Aurus said after rus.h.i.+ng from the stairs as soon as he heard Virgil. This was one loyal vampire, h.e.l.l was thinking.

"Gather the rest of the team."

"I'll immediately do so," Aurus replied and rang a small bell that suddenly appeared in his hands. 30 seconds after the bell rang, 3 vampires were seen coming out of shadows around them as another 3 rushed from some distance.

"h.e.l.l, I want you to meet my 7 trusted subordinates. Please show them your strength." Virgil said, without missing a beat as soon as all 7 of his men were gathered. He wanted to see if h.e.l.l could be strong enough to handle all of them at once. Their teamwork was impeccable, Virgil was sure of that.

"Here?" h.e.l.l was saying as he received a direct strike from one of them that pushed him away from the tables, it seemed they still wouldn't wish to harm Virgil's work.

"Ah, please don't kill any of them!" Virgil yelled as he stood there with a warm smile contradictory to the events taking place.

"I am h.e.l.l." He introduced himself as he summoned Imp Needle. It seemed Imp Needle could be directly summoned from the inventory still with the code word, it was good to know, made h.e.l.l wonder if there was a distance or dimension limit to summoning these weapons. He remembered he could summon Imp Needle into the Safe Zone after leaving it back in his house, which also reminded h.e.l.l that Devlin probably found his bows and arrows if there was no change in the flow of time while he was here.

Seven vampires stopped pursuing the fight momentarily as they all lined up in order. Quickly introducing themselves one after another. Seemed they respected h.e.l.l enough to do so.

"I am Anton!" A man looking to be in his early 40s sternly declared, hitting his chest. His blond hair, yellow eyes coupled with his solemn face created quite an impact. He was wearing a black, sleeveless s.h.i.+rt and shorts, displaying his muscles freely.

"I am Aurus." He declared with his jet-black slicked hair and black suit. He was more like a slightly smaller copy of Virgil. He looked to be in his mid-20s.

"I am Slinora." A 15-year-old looking boy said with piercing eyes. He held two daggers in his hands. His red messy hair coupled with his white eyes created a distinguis.h.i.+ng impact as he introduced himself.

"I am Marco, it is nice to meet you!" A man not looking older from h.e.l.l yelled in pa.s.sion. He wore wraps in his hands and had dark brown hair coupled with dark brown eyes.

"I am Furcas!" Yelled a man in fervour, having blond hair and blue eyes. He was the only one in the group wearing armour, and wielded a rapier. He looked not like a vampire, but just like one of those heroes h.e.l.l would see online. You could tell this was an upright person at first glance. He looked to be in his early 30s.

"I am Jack," callously said another. He seemed to be in his late 20s as he cut his wrists with his claws, but no blood seemed to be leaking out. His white hair seemed messy and his green eyes looked straight into h.e.l.l's. He was wearing a red short-sleeve s.h.i.+rt and black jeans.

"I am Nero." A man also not looking older than h.e.l.l raised his hand slightly and said in a tired tone. h.e.l.l was unsure if it was bags under his eyes or some makeup. He reckoned it was the former. Nero didn't seem to have a strong presence, he seemed more like a college student after an all-nighter. He had brown hair and dark-brown eyes. Wore a tracksuit. h.e.l.l was amused by this man especially, it did not look like he was ready for a fight.

"Nice to meet you all," h.e.l.l said with a smile. His blood was boiling since as long as he didn't rip their hearts out, they wouldn't die. He was prepared to use Quickening immediately after the punch he received in the beginning, ready for a bout.

"I suggest you don't underestimate them!" Virgil yelled with a laugh. "You'll regret it!"

"I'll see if they can match up to me first," h.e.l.l mumbled and motioned toward the vampires standing about 15 metres from h.e.l.l. "Come."

The vampires got into attacking stances one after another, but the first one to act was Anton. He grew his claws and began running toward h.e.l.l. He looked to be moving incredibly slow to h.e.l.l, especially considering the speed he could reach with Quickening. He would simply leave him bleeding on the floor and handle the other ones after getting a few good hits in. After all, not even their leader was unable to touch him after he used Quickening. As long as he didn't completely underestimate them, there was no way he would lose.

He plunged ahead with Quickening and the tip of the Imp Needle began piercing the chest of Anton in the next moment, however, h.e.l.l immediately retreated with Warping after he saw the grin on Anton's face, giving him a bad feeling. His feeling was spot-on. Some conical shaped slim, red objects pierced into the ground in immense speed, sent from Jack's way. He received a punch to his right side by Marco who seemed to have his hands covered with some sort of crystal, which made the punches harder. The punch, although not destroying anything in himself, the pain was enough to make him want to use his healing right after.

"You guys are-" h.e.l.l was about to say they weren't bad as Jack seemed to be attacking using his blood again, five more conical shaped red objects flew his way in speed. Using Quickening, he dodged them and used Warping again to get away from Furcas' rapier which came from behind, only grazing him, instead of impaling. Nero, on the other hand, was waiting for an opening close by and attacked h.e.l.l with his claws. h.e.l.l knew he quite easily dodged the claw, however his chest was pierced by that same claw, nonetheless. The young kid who introduced himself as Slinora was rus.h.i.+ng toward him now while Aurus seemed to be chanting a spell. h.e.l.l was absolutely overwhelmed by their excellent teamwork. Even with all his speed, he had no time to recover or attack back even.

"No talking," Aurus said as a ray of fire was being released from him. The ray of fire missed its target, but created a large crater after connecting with the ground as the rest of his team were safely away from the proximity of the attack, which obviously, being faster than them all, h.e.l.l was also able to get away. Bleeding and hurt, h.e.l.l could only heal himself against this relentless barrage of attacks, he was unable to act against them albeit being much faster than them. This fight was showing the clear difference between seasoned fighters versus a rookie.

"Enough." h.e.l.l raised his voice in anger. It was audible enough for everyone here. h.e.l.l was still thinking, at first, he was letting them get a few punches in, but was overwhelmed just the same when he tried to return the attacks.

"That's the man who beat you?" Slinora laughingly said. "You are an old man, now, Virgil."

h.e.l.l used Quickening and Warping at the same time to appear in front of the kid again. As Quickening also helped his senses to be quicker, using Warp along with it proved even more useful, it seemed. h.e.l.l wanted to slap the kid to tell him he was being disrespectful. Almost seeming to be moving automatically, Slinora's dagger pierced h.e.l.l's hand but he still slapped him without stopping.

"Show some respect," h.e.l.l said with the dagger piercing his hand. He hated c.o.c.ky children the most. Slinora followed with an attack immediately after the slap as h.e.l.l could only manage to save his throat from being slashed open because of the consecutive use of Quickening and Warping. Although none of these vampires was a match for h.e.l.l individually, he found himself helpless against their excellent teamwork. He was feeling frustrated, pummelled by each one of them to such an extent.

"It's alright," Virgil said and took a step forward. Unfazed, he looked to be expecting this outcome from the beginning. "I have no doubt that you can eventually win against them all if you sparred every day," Virgil added. "None of us is as fast as you after all."

"Not to be a sore loser, but can we try one more time?" h.e.l.l asked. He didn't think of himself as a man who let pride dictate himself, but he had to get this frustration out.

"You think you'll win the second time?" Jack, the blood user, said in a sarcastic tone as he bled his wrists again. Virgil quickly left the area, watching them once more, wondering if h.e.l.l had any more tricks up his sleeves. Fighting against an enemy as strong as h.e.l.l was also great training for his team. These 7 were his treasured children he had carefully brought up over the years with a strong bond of camaraderie between them.

"We'll see," h.e.l.l said, throwing away Imp Needle and taking Sword of Blood out, and to their surprise suddenly bleeding himself on it with a large cut on his arm. The sword began transmitting a whirring sound as h.e.l.l seemed to have gotten highly affected by the item, suddenly wearing an insane look on his face. He was a sore loser, after all, it seemed. Focusing on using Quickening and Warping to its utmost extent, he lunged ahead at Anton, the muscle guy who was the slowest among the bunch.

His speed now increasing further even, none of them was able to react to it properly as Anton was almost chopped into two from the waist down with the sword, vomiting a large amount out of blood. Anton punched the sword away before h.e.l.l could succeed, which stopped the sword. h.e.l.l, in a crazed state was almost punctured in his heart by Slinora's daggers, Jack's blood arrows and Furcas' sword at the same time. Teleporting away and changing his target to the second slowest as Anton still healed at the corner, he was thinking about only attacking them, his mind was clouded by rage all of a sudden. Jack, the blood user was his goal as he was in front of him in but one moment and swung his large sword to chop his head off. Jack slashed his own neck at that very moment using his ability and constructed a rather st.u.r.dy wall of blood. The wall formed in the middle of h.e.l.l's swung, which stopped his sword for a moment, but it was then forcefully taken out by h.e.l.l.

"Interesting," Virgil said. He could tell h.e.l.l was much faster this time. It was already hard enough to predict his movements and attack before, but it had now become almost impossible. His team, Sons of Shadow, was only able to react to h.e.l.l's choice of possible targets, trying to create a perimeter before he could attack. Virgil didn't think any one of them would actually die unless h.e.l.l took the liberty of ripping their hearts out, in which case he would try to stop him, but until then, this was also a learning experience for everyone fighting. He was still worried about the change in him, but it was still alright.

h.e.l.l's berserk status had the vampires stupefied. They thought he was human previously, but this man would heal from any wound in moments, just as Virgil told them. They needed to cut his arm off to gain the upper hand again, separate him from that sword. Aurus cast a magic-arrow spell that pursued right after h.e.l.l, who was moving in incredible speeds. h.e.l.l dodged them both in ease and headed for Aurus, only to be stopped by Marco. Specializing in hand-to-hand combat, as long as he could get close enough, it would be almost impossible for him to fail in his attacks. These vampires had decades of training under their belt, brute strength and mindless speed couldn't easily overcome their hard-earned experience.

Marco swung a right hook as he allowed h.e.l.l to hit himself with his sword on the side of his right shoulder. Crystallizing that specific part of his body, the sword had only managed to get half-way in, not doing too much damage. The pain was still there but Marco tided over it and followed with his punch to h.e.l.l's chin. h.e.l.l seemed not only stronger and faster, but now also more durable, he realized after landing the punch on him.

He couldn't knock h.e.l.l out, but his two consecutive punches to his chin were enough to momentarily disorient him so Marco could at least get away. Just as he did, however, Nero stepped out from h.e.l.l's own shadow, attacked him once again. h.e.l.l, although mostly a creature of instinct at this point, blocked his attack again. The same thing happened, as if h.e.l.l had blocked nothing as the claws dug into his chest and slashed down. Nero tried to get back right after he got a hit in. He wasn't the type that could fight in extended periods. h.e.l.l's slash that followed without caring much about his wounds slashed Nero's chest with the tip of the sword that managed to make contact. Nero could feel his heart being damaged by the slash as he hid in the shadows again to recover.

"h.e.l.l!" Virgil yelled. "Don't you think that's enough?!"

"We can beat him again!" Aurus yelled and followed with the hundreds of magic arrows he cast, aiming for h.e.l.l as the target of those arrows only growled in answer, akin to an animal, not actually acknowledging Virgil nor Aurus in an intelligent way as he dodged the myriad of arrows. There were veins that could be seen on h.e.l.l's reddened face as he bled himself onto the sword once more before healing himself.

"h.e.l.l, are you alright?" Virgil asked again.

"Die!" h.e.l.l said with a laugh resembling a roar. "All of you will die!"

"I'm taking control," Virgil then said to his team with a quick decision. Virgil was hoping h.e.l.l was still in control of that transformation, but the situation proved otherwise.