NOVEL WEB Vampire Bandits II
At a high altitude, somewhere in the Dragon Mountains.
A familiar hunchback was standing alongside a group of people, all of which were wearing full black body suits. They looked on with greedy eyes.
In front of them was a cage encapsulating a mighty beast, its size only outmatched by its prison.
“It’s a shame,” The Hunchback said.
“Agreed, no more plaque bugs. Watching the commoners fight like animals was mildly entertaining” A group leader joked.
“Not that, it’s the fact we’re wasting precious dragon’s blood, at least the bugs fulfilled their task” The hunchback responded.
“Catching the bastards is almost impossible, we had to dispatch a Dantain Saint just to apprehend it.”
“The crooked hoot’s gotta point,” A member in the back chimed in.
“Watch it!”
The dragon exhaled weakly, interrupting the group. It struggled and failed to flap one of its wings, sending a strong gust of wind.
The mighty beast looked as though it couldn’t even lift a pound.
“Hey!” Someone called out in the distance. It echoed just outside the encampment of tents.
“Intruders!” He called out again, this time sounding farther away.
The hunchback looked at the direction with concern, and so did the collection of members. They shared a gaze.
“We’d outta take care of that,” The group leader said a second later, unsheathing a red-tipped dagger. He darted off and his underlings followed loosely behind him, leaving the hunchback alone.
Near a river, which flowed down a mountain.
Nagai sat on a flat rock, tinkering with what appeared to be a cutout of Beast Armour.
“How’s it coming along?” Shin Buki asked, peeking out of the tent.
“Tsk, Tsk, so impatient. Quality only comes with time”
“You speak as though you are a philosopher” Shin responded.
Nagai quickly threw a small pebble squarely in the middle of his head.
“To be a Samurai is to be a Philosopher,” Jun Nagai said, continuing his work on the armor.
Shin held his forehead and shook a fist in the air comically. “Old man!”
“Being a mighty warrior means excelling at many skills, and armor crafting is one of mine. Be grateful for masterclass work for free” His master continued.
“…You must love the sound of your horn,”
“Huh?”
He finished a thread and took out a needle. He held his creation in the air for all to see.
Shin marveled at the work. The sunlight bounced off of it highlighting it against the sky. He grabbed at it hungrily.
Nagai snatched it back quickly, just out of his reach.
“Stop jesting!” he snarled more than yelled.
He tossed it towards Shin, chuckling heartily as he did. Shin grabbed it happily.
Putting the piece on, it was snug, and had great protection while not restricting too much mobility.
He moved his arms in a circle a few times then began slicing with his sword.
“This Armour is definitely quality protection, and more importantly sleek! my confidence has shot up both cosmetically and physically,” He said, all the while holding a pose.
“Oh? More powerful you say? Shin, how’s about we put that Armour to work with some hardcore sparring?”
“Go easy, it’s new” Shin said, quickly regretting his gloating.
In a heavily wooded area outside of an octagon-shaped encampment,
Ms. Moto ran with a serious look on her face. The usual sly smile was untraceable.
Her knight ran behind her, trying to run faster but failing.
“Why did you lead us over here!?” Ms. Moto whisper-yelled.
“It wasn’t my idea!” The knight retorted.
“Look, it’s not the time to argue, get your panties out of a twist!” Yu Moto responded. “You’ll get us killed, run don’t speak” She continued.
The knight’s lip began to twitch, but in the end he decided to ignore the hypocrisy and stay quiet.
They ran and ran, until the distant sound of “Intruders” began to combine with the wind.
Stopping to rest, they breathed heavily, covering at least two miles in under a minute.
This was a feat only Cultivators could accomplish.
“I think we lost ‘em” The knight whispered.
“Don’t jinx it” Ms. Moto said, in a similar tone.
“You guys should run competitively,” A third, unknown voice whispered.
“Who just said that?”
“…”
“…”
In a synchronized movement Yu Moto and The knight turned around, staring behind them
A Man stood menacingly only feet away in his black getup, matching the ones they had seen earlier. A strong purple outline of his figure contrasted against the serene surroundings.
The knight audibly gulped. There wasn’t a sound of him approaching, it was as if he appeared out of thin air.
Ms. Moto shot him a piercing gaze, as if to say fix his act. She receded a few steps out of the clearing where they all stood.
Regaining his composure he quickly unsheathed his sword, entering a battle stance.
“No seriously, you’d win trophies” he whispered, as though still in the act. He began to laugh uncontrollable, Qi bursting forth, unsettling the grass and leaves.
The Qi mixed with his killing intent, and his Qi began to fade into a light reddish-purple.
Ms Moto entered a battle stance, gathering Qi at her center.
“Listen, we don’t want to fight you” The knight called out.
“But I do! You have seen too much! It’s just orders, kill anyone who comes close,” He gave back.
The knight’s heart began to beat with feverish intent.
“Seen too much? Orders? So what you’re dragon hunters, make your profit as you wish”
“But it is not that simple, you’ve seen faces, we cannot risk a spy”
The knight clenched his teeth.
He tried to compare his Qi to the opponent that stood in front of him. He couldn’t perfectly gauge his strength against his opponent without time for trial and error, he wasn’t skilled enough. What he could gauge is that he was far above his own abilities.
He then noticed Ms. Moto running off, which caused him a little disdain but he understood.
Taking all the information from around him, he realized there was no reasoning with him. He would have to fight to ensure his client didn’t have to, which would likely end her life. A corpse couldn’t pay him, especially if he himself were dead!
‘I have a client to protect and money to be made!’ He thought resoluting himself. ‘I’ll catch up with her later.’
“So be it,” He proclaimed, clenching the handle of his sword.
Without a millisecond to spare after his last word, a red tipped dagger appeared mid air, shooting towards his forehead.
The Knight’s gaze widened, and he weaved with all his force tightly to the side, but the
bullet-like dagger was too fast and left a scrape wound across the banter of his forehead.
Blood spewed out, then the wound began leaking blood down his face.
“Cheap” He spoke, dashing forth.
He stepped then lunged at the Member, swinging.
Clang!
The member countered his lunge with his dagger, holding it from cutting down.
They struggled, the Knight exerting maximum force. The devilish man seemed unaffected.
“You should run” He said, earnesty behind his voice.
“No need, I will defeat you,” The knight bluffed, gnashing his teeth in a smile.
“Stupidity is not bravery” He responded, scoffing. He broke off from the struggle and leapt back some.
The Attacker bent his knees slightly, holding his hand out in a palm shape. He stood in a stance as though he held a thousand pounds in the forefront of his fingers.
‘He can externalize his Qi?’ The knight thought, followed by a moment of hesitation. The knight cautioned his stance and stopped his next attack.
‘It is beyond my abilities to deal with that…’ The Knight concluded. He looked around for an escape, but found none. He quickly noticed an almost inconceivable Qi.
“—You can sense Qi, no?” The Member said, cutting of his thoughts. He confidently meet the knights eyes, then tightened up his hand. “From the start, you should’ve felt my power, now you’ll be paid back in full by your own overconfidence” He continued, a toothy grin forming.
“And you are overconfident in first perceptions. You must’ve forgotten about the other one, huh?” The Knight responded, wittingly.
Before the Member could even fully raise an eyebrow, a piercing blow came from his neck.
Yu Moto flew through the air, two knuckles extended, striking a pressure point and sending the pursuer to the ground with a thud.