Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Surrounded

She didn't know very well what to do. If she tried to meddle in their affairs, she could be in serious danger, as her level was still very low. No doubt the counts and the guard would be above 50. Perhaps, quite higher. Despite that, she was curious about the presence of other vampires.

What she could do was warn them. Her nightwalker identity was mysterious enough that they wouldn't suspect her knowledge. At worse, they would think she was hunting vampires.

"I can't say for sure, but they could be vampires," she finally announced.

A cold sweat ran down their bodies. They looked at her without wanting to believe what they had heard, but they had to admit that it made sense. No one had considered it until then, because they had trusted their relatives. Now, it seemed almost obvious.

However, they had no time to think about it. There wasn't much left for nighttime, and those lizards weren't nocturnal animals. Therefore, if they were going to attack, they would do it soon. Given that they had spent long hours chasing them, that they hadn't given up their harassment, everything seemed to indicate that they would.

After having slayed so many thanks to her traps, most only partially, the vampiress had reached level 31.

With that, she had unlocked Clone, a spell similar to Mirror Clone. These clones are also illusory, and more expensive to create and maintain, but they can be manipulated individually, rather than simply copying the actions. Therefore, they are also more difficult to control.

She had also obtained Spearhead, a skill as effective as it was bloody. With it, she could pierce enemies with her hands, like a sharp spearhead. Despite being bloody, or perhaps because of it, it was a skill the vampiress had some predilection for, even in unnecessary situations.

"There!" Kruloz pointed out.

The saurians were closing in from the sides and from behind, which meant an attack was imminent. The group then turned to the direction pointed by the archer, while a powerful electrical spell delayed the enemies on that side, and opened a path for them.

They went through a huge rock split in two, whose parts formed a narrow gorge. It was barely enough for two of them to pass shoulder to shoulder.

Gjaki was a bit slower. She delayed to set up four Tentacle traps that couldn't be avoided there. It made her consume a considerable amount of her mana pool.

The saurians followed them without hesitation. They were smaller, so up to four could fit in at once if squeezed. What they couldn't do was avoid the traps.

Krinia, the mage, was perhaps the most surprised to see these anomalous traps for the first time. Until then, the distance had prevented her from watching them, but now they were in front of her.

Big Tentacles of corrosive magic caught and damaged the relentless pursuers, which didn't hesitate to climb over each other.

The vampiress stepped behind the mage and the archer, and drew her own bow. She was carrying a small bag that was supposed to be a scaled-down version of the spatial backpack. While they weren't cheap, they weren't as exorbitantly expensive as the backpack either, so it only indicated that the nightwalker was financially solvent.

Her shots were accurate, more than her teammates had expected, but she wasn't applying any skills. If she had done, her resources would have been too extraordinary to be believed.

The main reason she didn't apply them was because she practically didn't have any. Maybe a Dark or Blood Touch could be applied, but it was a waste to use them on arrows. However, it must be said that her resources were actually much more numerous than they could imagine. The amount of skills and spells was far above other beings of her level.

It wasn't difficult to maintain their position in that bottleneck, which they could defend with some reliability. If that had been a mountain pass, they could have held out perfectly until nightfall. Unfortunately, it wasn't, they were just huge stones.

Soon, the saurians began to circle and climb the 5-meters-high rocks. At that time, one option was to get inside the passage and try to defend it. The advantage was that they wouldn't be easy to attack them. The disadvantage was that they would be trapped. The other options were to try to flee, which was clearly infeasible, or defend from outside the passage.

In the end, they decided to stay inside. If they didn't have to protect the badly wounded healer, they might have chosen another option. Now, they could put him on the ground, between them, in a small slit in the rock. Thus, they had their hands free to fight.

Gjaki wasn't an expert, but she could tell that his condition wasn't good. He was pale, and his breathing was shallow, which indicated that he couldn't hold out much longer.

Kroquia stood in one side, to block their path, with Krongo right behind her. The function of the warrior was to attack those which tried to pass over her.

Krinia and Kruloz took care of the other side, by decimating enemies from a distance. Gjaki was at their side, shooting her bow in the same direction. Nonetheless, her priority was to support Krongo if one of them overpassed the count's daughter. She had already wounded a pair like that, thus making the warrior's job easier.

Even more important was defending the archer and mage if any enemy approached them. Although, for now, they weren't close to achieving it.

The biggest problem was those which jumped from the top of the rock, thus avoiding their barricade. Every time one dared to do so, the archer and Gjaki tried to take it out before it got there. If not, it was Krongo's or the vampire's job. Not only were they dangerous, but they distracted their attention.

When three saurians fell over them, Krinia was unable to hold her side on her own as the others were dealing with them. Two enemies lunged at the mage. She was stepping back in shock and fear when the last trap activated. Several Tentacles held them off long enough for Gjaki to deal with them.

Seeing the trap act so close was as impressive as it was terrifying, but it didn't take long for her to regain her composure. With the help of the archer, they soon managed to gain space again, and Gjaki took the opportunity to set up a new trap. It was very useful in an emergency.

Until now, they had managed to finish off several dozen of them, but their strength was also running out. Gjaki, for example, barely had mana left for four more traps. Krongo had quite a few scratches and was breathing heavily, as he was trying to catch his breath. Krinia couldn't continue at that pace for more than half an hour, and Kruloz wasn't much better.

Perhaps Kroquia was the one with the best endurance, but she could only hold back the enemies, she could barely do any damage. The surprising Dark Touch on her shield had some effect and weakened them, but little else. They could only hope that the night would arrive soon, but there were still a couple of hours left.