Chapter 193 Bloodbath (8)
"This is not good... leave the hearts and look for her first! Four of you guard the vampire boy." Ashton spat out orders for the wolves crazily.
He had activated the [Lure] ability in hopes of ending the battle swiftly. But now that the skill duration was up, things had taken a turn for the worst. Ashton knew it very well, if Camilla was to come for him back in full power, he would have a tough time dealing with her.
As much as he hated himself for doing what he was about to, there was nothing else he could do. He needed to depend on Sven to take care of Camilla. However, as he was thinking that, a razor-sharp gust of wind grazed his cheek, making him bleed out.
If it wasn't for the passive skill [Battle Tactics], the wind-blade could have possibly sliced his head off as well.
"What the hell was that?" Ashton tried his best to remain calm in the situation, but it did last for long.
The following moment, he could feel the air around him getting heavier. So much so, even breathing was turning out to be a gargantuan task.
Thankfully, Ashton was in his Zompirewolf form, thus he wasn't dependent on breathing all that much. As neither the undead nor the vampire genes required him to breathe in order to stay alive.
'It might be fine for now, but soon my life would be in danger. As long as the werewolf genes are active, I am exposed to the dangers of suffocating.'
Not being able to see a way out of the mess, Ashton decided it was in his best interest to deactivate the werewolf genes.
[Genes in use: Undead & Vampire.]
[Unique Gene Combination activated!]
[Type: Undead Rhapsody: Automatically activates when genes of only undead creatures are present inside a host's body. Provides bonus boosts to the host and increases their performance during battle.]
[Drawback: This state should not be maintained for long durations of time. If done so, the body of the host might suffer and enter the state of . If the state is forcefully maintained after a certain period of time, then the body might end up receiving irreversible damage as well.]
Ashton felt a familiar coldness envelop his body. The warmth of his body had disappeared along with the werewolf genes. His appearance altered once again. His ashen hair developed a weird blackness along the edges, while his eyes completely turned crimson... whiteness of his eyes was gone, the only thing someone could see was... just blood.
[Your stats have been boosted as an effect of activating a unique gene combination. All stats +10%]
[You are recommended to assume this form for 5 minutes only. Any more than that and your body will enter the state of .]
"Five minutes is more than sufficient." Ashton snarled.
"You are a bizarre creature..." Camilla's voice echoed throughout the barrier, "I wanted to restrain you and take you alive. But given how menacing your powers are, there's no choice for me but to kill you."
"You sure talk too much for a bitch who's too scared to even show her face." Ashton scoffed while looking around, trying to figure out where the hell was Camilla hiding.
"No need to look for me..." She mumbled and the following moment, a sudden gust of wind encased Ashton within itself, "For I am right here!"
People used to say no one can see the wind, but at that moment, Ashton could not only feel the winds encasing him, but he could also see it.
Camilla was using the same technique to propel herself in the air while looking down on Ashton and his summons.
He tried to touch the walls of wind, but as he did the tip of his finger was ripped off. Ashton didn't feel any pain, but he knew rushing out of the prison wasn't a wise choice. Thankfully, he didn't have to.
His summons took it upon themselves to make way for him. Since they had become one with death, they weren't afraid of anything. They rushed inside the prison one of another, interrupting the winds for long enough to let Ashton jump out of the trap with minor scratches.
Sven had a hand missing, and as for the wolves... they had been turned into dust. While Sven's injury would get healed as soon as Ashton cancelled [Valhalla] skill, the wolves were gone for good.
one would have thought seeing his summons die right in front of his eyes would fill Ashton's head with rage. But Ashton was as calm as a frozen lake. Without wasting any time, he immediately turned his attention towards Camilla and charged at her, with Sven on his toes.
"What a fool..."
Camilla shook her head and summoned the power of the winds by her side. By compressing the wind, she had made some sort of a pressure cannon that discharged cannonballs made of wind at a target upon her will.
She immediately fired a shot at Ashton. But to her surprise, something jumped in front of Ashton to protect him. She took another shot, but the same thing happened again.
"By Dracula... what kind of monster is this kid!?"
Even though Camilla realised what was going on, her brain was not ready to comprehend it as true. As Ashton raced toward her, the corpses around him were bursting open with a skeleton soldier coming out of them to take her attacks and protect their master.
"Sven NOW!"
While Camilla was still processing what was happening, Ashton jumped in the air while the gargantuan knight behind him curled up his one good arm into a fist and punched Ashton's leg with all his might.
"Shit!"
Camilla impatiently raised a wall of wind trying to protect herself as she saw Ashton heading straight towards her. However, this time her little magic trick couldn't protect her.
"I knew you would do that. Especially since I got 'injured' the last time you used the skill." Ashton smirked before ripping the wind wall in half using his twin blades, "These blades aren't called the Blades of Soaring Winds for nothing!"
Back when Camilla trapped him in the prison formed by wind, Ashton realised the same skill could also be used defensively. That's why, even though he could have broken through the prison with the help of his blades, he decided to sacrifice the skeletons to make it seem like he was helpless against her elemental attacks.
He did the same thing when she shot cannonballs at him and activated the [Corpse Parade] skill, to use the skeleton of the corpses around him to help act like shields for him, rather than using the blades to deflect the windy attacks.
But... there was another reason why he intentionally got injured earlier... to make his undead blood cover his hand, and allow the blades to absorb it.
"Game over." Ashton mumbled before thrusting the blood-drenched blades deep within her chest.
"ARGHHH!"
Camilla screamed in pain as the protocol activated in her body. Soon thick black blood began pouring out of facial openings, her eyes, her mouth, her nose, everywhere. Until the moment she collapsed on the ground, lifeless.