Long before the Iron Armor Walking Corpse in the burial chamber was torn at by bats, Rhode had already entered the hall beyond it. He began controlling the Walking Corpses stationed there, setting the second barrier alight.
This was the hall where Rhode had first awakened. Since it was so spacious, he couldn't set the entire floor ablaze. Instead, he focused on the rear, near the passage leading out of the tomb.
By now, the entire rear area was engulfed in flames. The burning barrier blocked the passage, and another Iron Armor Walking Corpse still stood before it, raising its shield toward the vampire charging through the sea of fire...
"Cough, cough..."
After waking in the tomb, Rhode had fought his way out, killing Undead Creatures along the way. Then he had lured the Wolf Pack back inside to fight. He knew the passages throughout the tomb extremely well.
As a result, Rhode had picked several spots best suited for creating fiery barriers: one at the entrance to the chamber containing the coffin, one where the hall displaying the corpses met the passage, one at the narrowest point in the passage, and one at the tomb's exit.
Rhode's original plan was to stay ahead of the vampire and have the Walking Corpses ignite each barrier in turn as the vampire passed the one before it.
However, burning wood had filled the entire tomb with thick smoke. It was hard for Rhode to see through it, and he was coughing violently, his whole body in agony.
Unlike Undead Creatures, Rhode had a human body. Smoke from the burning wood might not affect the undead, but to him, it was deadly.
Rhode had no choice but to change his plan. While the second barrier held the vampire back, he hurried toward the tomb's exit, ordering the Walking Corpses to ignite the barriers as he retreated.
Once he had cleared the passage, Rhode stood outside on the ground, with the Corpse Wolf pack waiting nearby. Watching smoke billow from the exit, he recalled what he had first seen in the burial chamber.
Rhode hadn't been surprised when the barrier was breached. He had known from the start that one barrier couldn't keep the vampire trapped in the chamber, which was why he had prepared several. What surprised him was how quickly the vampire broke through them.
When he first set up the barriers, Rhode hadn't known what kind of Undead Creature was inside the coffin. He had considered several possibilities.
His first guess had been a third-tier Wraith. Most tombs in Dya housed sleeping Wraiths. Necromancers could use their power to turn creatures into undead, while also helping the Wraiths advance—a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Aside from Wraiths, there were few other possibilities: Liches or vampires. Among these Undead Creatures, any above the third tier couldn't be controlled directly by a Mental Mark.
No matter which Undead Creature lay in the coffin, Rhode had believed that his barriers, combined with the Walking Corpses holding it back with their lives, would buy him some time—enough for the flames to injure it.
But the creature sleeping in the tomb was a vampire, and vampires excelled at survival. Its Bat Form skill greatly reduced the barriers' effectiveness. It only had to deal with the Iron Armor Walking Corpses in its way before quickly bypassing each barrier.
If the creature had been something like a Wraith, it could never have passed the barriers so easily.
The barriers Rhode had set up clearly hadn't hurt the vampire. The flames hadn't worked as he'd hoped; they had only forced the vampire to use Bat Form a few more times.
Still, even making the vampire use Bat Form a few extra times had achieved Rhode's goal. Each use improved his chances of defeating it.
From the beginning, Rhode hadn't planned to kill the Undead Creature sleeping in the burial chamber with his preparations. He had only wanted to weaken it as much as possible. Third-tier Undead Creatures weren't easy to kill.
Even a Wraith, though it lacked the vampire's formidable survival abilities, could force its way through using its physical strength and undead nature. For Rhode, the real fight would take place aboveground.
His preparations were meant only to give him a decisive advantage in the coming battle. Opening the coffin and fighting head-on would have been the stupidest thing he could do.
Everyone knew they should give themselves an advantage before a fight, whether by laying traps, poisoning their weapons, launching a sneak attack, or using some other method. Anything that tilted the scales even a little in their favor was better than charging straight into battle.
"How many more times can you... use Bat Form?"
Feeling the Mental Mark on the Walking Corpse before the third barrier fade away, Rhode murmured.
Rhode knew vampires fairly well, thanks to his combat experience in his previous life. A third-tier vampire's Bat Form skill consumed life force when used, and it also had a limited number of uses. That limitation only disappeared once the vampire reached the fourth tier.
In the game, the third and fourth tiers marked a dividing line. The fourth tier brought a fundamental change for both professionals and other creatures. Once they crossed into it, their combat ability immediately multiplied several times over. Spellcasters could only drop the word "apprentice" from their title and become full-fledged mages after reaching the fourth tier.
Likewise, when a vampire reached the fourth tier, its basic physical attributes increased dramatically, and all its skills improved. Bat Form no longer had a limit on the number of uses, and the vampire would awaken other skills as well.
That was why Rhode had always feared the Undead Creature deep inside the tomb might advance. From what he could tell, the vampire was still third-tier. It hadn't successfully advanced.
The vampire could have advanced safely, gathering energy while slumbering in the tomb and rising from a third-tier creature to a fourth-tier one.
That was why it had been so furious when its advancement was interrupted. When a creature advanced through a long sleep, being disturbed meant all its efforts were wasted.
For that very reason, after its advancement was interrupted, the vampire had been willing to cross a passage full of flames to hunt Rhode down.
Knowing this, Rhode had set what he considered his best barrier at the exit. He had put even more effort into it than he had into the preparations in the main burial chamber.
Rhode set the barrier at the passage entrance ablaze, and the nearby Walking Corpses gathered around. Once the vampire arrived, he would be able to deal it a heavy blow.
After the vampire broke through the third barrier, Rhode focused all his attention on the passage exit, watching intently and waiting for the enemy to appear.
Smoke continued drifting out of the tomb.
After waiting a while, Rhode grew puzzled. Given the vampire's speed, it should have reached him by now. The Walking Corpses stationed inside the passage hadn't sent him any warning. Rhode couldn't help but grow more alert.
Suddenly, a powerful warning flashed through Rhode's senses from directly ahead. Without thinking, he twisted aside and rolled away.
A shadow burst out of the ground some distance from the tomb's exit and shot toward Rhode at incredible speed, slashing at him with a claw.
Even though Rhode dodged at once, his arm was still injured. The sharp claws tore away a chunk of flesh. The shadow was the vampire.
For some reason, the vampire had anticipated Rhode's preparations. It had turned the tables, using the opportunity Rhode had given it by waiting here to launch a surprise attack!
Before you continue