Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Duel (VII)

While gritting his teeth in pain, he smirked as he raised the sword to the sky.

"Nigh Sun! Illuminate the darkness!" he exclaimed.

The blade then shone with an inconceivable strength, as if it were a small sun. In fact, its brightness was precisely the equivalent of the sun's, which made it the natural enemy of vampires.

Krovledi had taken possession of it after seducing and backstabbing a vampire hunter, who was precisely after her. Her performance as a helpless maiden threatened by a vampire had been convincing, even if it had meant sacrificing an expendable underling.

After that, she had been seduced by her hero, who had been too busy with her charms to doubt her. While sleeping, he had been killed by his supposed conquest.

It was of no use to her, so she had given it to Black Wolf as a life insurance against the vampiress. It was a trump card in case something went wrong. She didn't care if it resulted in the death of the vampires that accompanied her protégé and lover.

He was reluctant to use it. He had only accepted it thanks to Krovledi's coaxing, in case "that Gjaki was a coward and sent an army of vampires against him." Under the current circumstances, he had been forced to rely on the weapon.

After barely regaining his sight, the demihuman approached her. He was arrogant despite his injuries, despite having been humiliated during the fight.

"That's what you get for being so stupid to become a vamp. The light kills you. Ha, ha! I'm going to enjoy your suffering, seeing you die little by little," he gloated.

"Noooo! Turn off that light! Coward!" she yelled.

"Ha, ha! Scream more! I want to hear you suffer," he stood a meter from her, limping.

"Idiot... You fell for it," she muttered.

Without warning, she charged with extreme speed at her unsuspecting enemy. Gjaki attacked directly at his throat with both daggers, and pierced his jugular with one of them. Without him noticing her, she had been preparing her attack, watching him, calculating the precise moment, the speed, the exact Weak Point she had to hit.

He had his guard down, and many of his defenses had been eroded during the fight. Confident and low on energy, he hadn't bothered to restore them.

With Blood to the Feet, Blood Overload and Blood Pressure, she had reached her maximum speed. Sanguine Disruption had made it difficult for him to react after the stab.

"How..." was all he managed to say as he collapsed.

It was evident that he was a player who hadn't bothered too much with studying his opponents. Had he done so, the demihuman would have known that all vampires got Sun Protection upon reaching 100.

Perhaps luckily for Gjaki, there weren't many vampire players who had made it to that level, so it wasn't common to see them fighting during the day. Besides, if there were spotted, it was unlikely to identify them as vampires unless they bit someone.

Suddenly, ridiculously large illuminated letters appeared in the sky. "WINNER, GJAKI!" Soon, everything became blurry.

She opened her eyes to find herself where she had been before, facing her mansion's shield. The only difference was that she was pretty tired. Unlike in the game, her mana, energy, and blood pools had all been reduced as if it had been real, though blood wasn't an issue. She had access to her inventory again.

The strangest thing was that they didn't have any wounds, their clothes weren't torn, and her daggers hadn't been dulled by the collisions against an armor of the same quality. Worried, she looked at her enemy.

"Has all this been for nothing? Was it just an illusion?" she wondered.

Like her, he was wrapped in a kind of powerful shield which protected him, although he hadn't yet opened his eyes. Said shield had begun to dissipate as soon as they had returned.

When it was completely gone, Black Wolf fell to the ground, limp. He wasn't breathing. He was dead. She breathed in relief.

"Gjaki! What happened!? Are you fine!?" A voice was heard from behind her.

"Chorni? What're you doing here? Didn't I tell you to stay inside?" she stopped drinking the blood to recover her pool, and turned.

She then saw that her lover wasn't alone. Along with him, Diknsa, Coinin and other inhabitants of the mansion had come. She looked at them, surprised.

"Gosh! Don't look at us like that, we were worried. How're you? What happened?" Her friend asked.

Gjaki sighed. She couldn't blame them, quite the opposite. She was moved.

"I'm fine, just a little tired. I'll explain everything later. There're still some rats to hunt," she informed them.

"Won't it be dangerous?" Diknsa worried.

"Not anymore," she assured, looked at the corpse, and turned to her lover. "But, first, I must punish you for disobeying me, and remove the bad taste from my mouth. This blood is bitter."

"Wait, today already... Not in front of everyone... Aaaah!" he moaned involuntarily when she bit him.

Some looked away. Others just smiled. Others even chuckled. He blushed. She would later, when she remembered it. Now, she still hadn't let go of her tension, and had let her instincts go wild.

"It doesn't seem like I can access his inventory. Too bad," she regretted, while keeping the corpse of her enemy.

She merged into the Darkness and passed through the shield, heading for the forest.

There, some vampires watched in bewilderment. They didn't understand what had happened, why he had collapsed, or how the body had disappeared. However, one of them was explaining everything he had seen. It was being transmitted a few kilometers away, and would eventually reach Krovledi. He was the first to lose consciousness. The rest didn't take much longer.

When they woke up, they found themselves in a closed room, inside the mansion. There, under the pressure of her vampire's aura, of her Bloodline, the prisoners confessed everything they knew.

"I'll have to pay a visit to Goltrak," the vampiress said to herself.

If that visitor had become the king of Goltrenak, she wanted to know what was happening there. Especially, when knowing that Krovledi was behind him. Whatever her plans, it was better not to let her accomplish them. If she was lucky, she might even find her.

Gjaki was now even more convinced that she was a dangerous enemy. Somehow, she had sent that visitor against her.

"I'll have to return the favor..." she threatened.