Chapter 139: Ascension Rite (Six)
Duke Brad once again hovered in midair, Blood Mist coalescing into a Crimson Cloak that cast a long, creeping Shadow across the Stone Platform.
“Struggle! Tremble!”
“You cannot escape your fated end.”
Under Duke’s command, Alje launched a relentless barrage against Meizhuolashi—frenzied, unrelenting attacks that came in waves. Countless rats and bats surged forth from the Darkness without pause. Shadowy tendrils erupted from the earth, while the air above was thick with chaotic Blood Mist.
“Damned vampire,” Meizhuolashi muttered, snatching up a long sword from the ground. With a flash of crimson blade-light, he repelled the oncoming swarm of bats and rats. His Guardian Aura flared around him, deflecting the grasping tendrils and the suffocating mist.
But under Duke Brad’s control, Meizhuolashi couldn’t close in on the Offshoot Bodies. He was forced back toward the passage, watching helplessly as the vampire prepared for the next stage of Ascension—another absorption, another surge of power.
And then, unnoticed amidst the chaos, a figure crept through the battlefield’s edge—stealthy, cautious, barely breathing.
—It was Stuffed Bun.
Crouched behind a Stone Pillar, coated head to toe in Breath-Nullifying Elixir, he peered through the shadows at the violent clash unfolding on the Stone Platform.
“This boss is insane. Even Hardcore Players and Battle Maniacs got wiped in seconds.”
“Now… it’s just me left.”
He glanced at the Vampire Offspring chained to the pillars, his gaze flicking away awkwardly when he saw the bare-chested female Baron. Then, his eyes locked onto Langli BaiTiao, equally stripped and bound—his face twisted in grim determination.
“Alright… let’s bring out the Wandering Beast.”
With a quiet breath, Stuffed Bun slipped forward in stealth, eyes fixed on the blood-slicked Iron Chains. He clenched his jaw, raised his axe, and swung.
Clang!
The chain snapped clean.
Langli BaiTiao tumbled from the pillar. Bound too tightly for too long, his body was a shattered ruin—limbs twisted, flesh torn, barely alive.
But then, with a sickening crack-pop of bones, his body began to rebuild. Blood and muscle surged back into place at a terrifying speed. Within moments, he stood whole again—no longer broken, no longer dying.
Stuffed Bun stared, wide-eyed. “Holy—what are you?!”
“How the hell do you regenerate like that?!”
Langli BaiTiao smirked, stretching his limbs with a satisfied groan. “Undying Essence from the Vampire Template. As long as you don’t hit my weak point, I heal automatically. Even if you chop off my head, it’ll grow back!”
Stuffed Bun’s jaw dropped. “No way… that’s insane.”
Then, a sudden thought struck him. He placed a slow, knowing hand on Langli BaiTiao’s shoulder. “Take care, brother. Fate’s gifts always come with a price. You did sell your dignity for power, didn’t you?”
Langli BaiTiao froze. His smirk vanished. His voice trembled. “H-how… how do you know…?”
His face twisted into a snarl—his pride, his reputation, shattered in an instant.
Just as the two exchanged words, the air above crackled. Duke Brad sensed it—an anomaly. One of his Vampire Offspring—the embodiment of Envy—was gone.
The earth trembled. A wave of fury rippled through the Underworld, and distant Wails echoed from the depths.
“Mortal! You are walking straight into oblivion!”
“How dare you defy the Great Ascension!”
The ground split open. Thousands of Shadow tendrils erupted, clawing upward. Blood Mist boiled like a storm-tossed sea, and swarms of bats and rats poured forth—hundreds, then thousands—rushing toward them.
Stuffed Bun stared at the approaching tide of death, trembling. “Liang… I think we’re done.”
He turned.
But Langli BaiTiao was gone.
Vanished into a thin, wispy mist—his Mist Phase Stealth ability, a desperate escape. Unlike Duke Brad, who had spent centuries amassing Blood Mist, Langli BaiTiao’s power was weak. He could only flee like this—faint, fleeting, invisible.
“Wandering Beast! You son of a—”
Stuffed Bun was swallowed whole by the torrent of Blood Mist. His screen went black.
He had risked everything to pull Langli BaiTiao free—only for the man to abandon him the second danger came.
No wonder they call him a Game Beast.
High above, Duke Brad felt the surge of new Blood—the stolen life of his lost Offspring. Crimson-red eyes locked onto the faint, drifting mist in the distance.
“I will find you, rebel.”
“The game of cat and mouse… ends now.”
With a slow, deliberate motion, Duke raised his right hand. Blood surged across the Stone Platform, rising like a tide—swelling, churning, forming a seething Sea of Blood. The very air reeked of death. Anyone who touched it would die instantly.
The Sea of Blood surged toward Meizhuolashi. There was no escape this time. He had nowhere to run—only the narrow passage ahead, shrinking with every passing second.
“Rebel! Return!”
“You are part of the Ascension!”
Duke Brad summoned a Blood Mist Hurricane, riding it like a storm-wracked warlord. Behind him, legions of bats and rats poured forth, chasing the misty form of Langli BaiTiao.
Once, Duke had controlled him effortlessly. But now?
Langli BaiTiao had fully absorbed the Vampire Template. Freed from the magical chains. Unlinked from the Vampire Core. He was no longer a puppet—he was a ghost, a whisper, a shadow.
Though weak in power, his evasion was unmatched. Every ability of the Vampire Template was a perfect fit for his cunning, his stealth, his desire to survive in the dark.
The mist darted through the tunnels of the Underground Bastion—zigzagging, dodging, vanishing into corners. If Duke Brad had a beating heart, his blood pressure would have skyrocketed.
Boom—
Then, the air itself began to ripple.
The space within the Bastion warped—cracks spreading like spiderwebs across reality. And then, with a roar of flame, a Flame Portal tore open in midair.
From within stepped a Dragonblood Sorcerer—Black Hair, Golden Eyes.
This time, he didn’t hide his Status. Red scales flared across his cheeks. Bony Dragon Horns jutted from his scalp. His golden eyes burned with ancient authority.
The moment he stepped through, the air grew hot, charged—like a storm about to break.
“Seems I’m a little late?” Kai Xiusu’s gaze swept the battlefield, locking onto the Blood Mist-wreathed Duke far in the distance.
[Based on your current strength, you can observe the following:]
[Bloody Duke – Brad Lakanman]
Basic Abilities: ???
Challenge Rating: 15 (13,000 Experience Points)
Assessment: Brad Lakanman—his true name is lost to time. Perhaps Tririel. Perhaps Nax. The truth drowned in Darkness long ago. Two centuries ago, he returned from the Battlefield to find his wife dead. He saw the fragility of mortal life. And so he began his pursuit of Immortality. Now, two hundred years later, the awakened vampire hungers for the life he lost—quenching his thirst with the blood of the living.
“Challenge Rating fifteen…”
“This form… I can’t even beat him.”
Kai Xiusu frowned. His human form was roughly equivalent to an 11th-level Dragonblood Sorcerer—no match for this ancient vampire.
“Then… I’ll revert to my True Form.”
(End of Chapter)
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