Scout Technique

At the center of the battlefield, bats gathered, and the vampire appeared.

Only fewer than half of the caravan members who had been fighting the vampire from the start remained on the field. Those still standing were among the stronger guards, mostly second- or third-tier professionals.

The weaker professionals in the caravan had been unable to withstand the vampire's repeated transformations into bats and had been killed first.

The remaining professionals still hoped to use their advantage in numbers to slowly deal with the vampire before them.

Apart from the caravan's core members, the other guards had gathered together for profit. After seeing how powerful the vampire was, they were clearly unwilling to charge in and fight it head-on.

Though the vampire had been surrounded, it had only sustained a few shallow wounds. The only deeper injuries had all been caused by the mage's spells. These wounds affected the vampire to some extent, but were not fatal; instead, they only heightened its bloodlust.

Only the few warriors holding the front line were still fighting the vampire. They repeatedly struck it with their shields, hoping to create openings for the others to attack. Even after being injured by the vampire, they continued to hold their ground.

At that moment, Rhode came down from the watchtower and saw the blue-robed mage riding away. He realized what had happened and hurried toward Yusuf's body, which lay nearby.

When he reached Yusuf's body, Rhode looked it over and found that the Space Ring Yusuf had worn was gone.

Rhode knew the blue-robed mage must have discovered Yusuf's body, taken the Space Ring, and then fled in a hurry.

Rhode didn't understand why the blue-robed mage had done this. Through the Mental Mark, he could sense that the vampire had already been wounded. Even without their leader, Yusuf, the blue-robed mage and the veteran professionals around him might still have been able to defeat Rhode, provided they coordinated well.

Rhode could only guess that the blue-robed mage wanted to keep all the Soul Crystals for himself.

Looking over the battlefield, Rhode saw that the caravan's guards were fighting the vampire. For the moment, no one noticed him leaving the watchtower.

His past-life experience had taught Rhode the value of Soul Crystals. If he obtained this batch, the Death Energy they provided would undergo a qualitative change as their numbers accumulated.

With these Soul Crystals, Rhode would be able to create a large number of Undead Creatures once the coming war began.

Rather than help the vampire kill the caravan members, Rhode went to a carriage, forcefully cut the reins binding its horse, then swung himself into the saddle and chased after the blue-robed mage.

The blue-robed mage had already been riding away for quite some time, and Rhode had also spent a while examining Yusuf's body. By now, he couldn't even see the mage ahead.

Although Rhode had Novice Scout Technique and could identify the direction the blue-robed mage had fled by examining faint traces, he couldn't quickly determine the mage's route. He could only find the exact path by carefully observing the surroundings and spending some time on it.

Rhode opened his status panel. After killing Yusuf, he had gained a large amount of experience. Combined with the experience from the caravan guards killed by the vampire, it was enough to raise his level.

"Expended 300 experience points. Remaining experience: 365. Class Level increased to Tier 2 Swordsman, Level 4..."

"Received 1 Free Attribute Point. Received 1 Skill Point..."

To make sure he could follow the blue-robed mage and obtain the Soul Crystals, Rhode didn't hesitate to spend his Skill Point. He chose to learn Intermediate Scout Technique.

(Intermediate Scout Technique: Through extensive training, your scouting ability has improved further. Nothing can hide from your investigations. You can detect an enemy's movements from the faintest traces, and sense hidden dangers from the slightest stir of the wind. Detection range +4. Perception +2.)

After learning Intermediate Scout Technique, the subtle traces around him—the dirt kicked up on the grass and even the faintly indented dead branches on the ground—seemed to point out the blue-robed mage's movements to Rhode. Traces that would previously have taken him some time to identify now stood out clearly.

Rhode immediately followed the trail, riding off in the direction it indicated.

From the traces the blue-robed mage had left behind, Rhode could even tell how long ago the mage had passed through.

Rhode knew that without any mana, he might not be able to defeat the blue-robed mage in a direct fight. So he didn't plan to catch up and fight him. Instead, he followed from behind, tracking him by the traces he had left.

As Rhode rode deeper into the woods, the people still fighting the vampire noticed something was wrong.

A few people had spotted the blue-robed mage riding away. Though they realized something was amiss, they continued fighting the vampire, keeping their suspicions to themselves.

Only when these caravan members saw another enemy dressed in black chasing after the blue-robed mage did they realize that something had happened.

Though they had no idea what was going on, the guards began to fight more cautiously. They circled the vampire, trying to avoid getting hurt instead of looking for a way to kill it.

The vampire's attacks were being held back by the warriors at the front. A thief on the side tried to seize the opportunity to attack, but the vampire spotted him and chose to take the blow.

As the thief's dagger pierced the vampire, its claws raked across the thief's abdomen. The vampire could quickly pull the dagger free, but the thief could only collapse to the ground.

Behind them, a warrior saw his chance and moved to bring his sword down. The vampire neither dodged nor retreated. When the warrior left himself open, it thrust a claw at his throat and killed him on the spot. The warrior's sword struck the vampire, but it had already lost all its force.

With the blue-robed mage gone, the guards still managed to keep the vampire in check. But as the weakening magic wore off and the vampire regained its former strength, it began to unleash its power. The guards still didn't dare risk their lives to press the attack.

Nearby, several more guards tried to seize the opportunity to strike. Before their weapons could hit the vampire, it turned into a cloud of Black Mist at the center of their encirclement.

Taking advantage of how close the guards were and how little room they had to dodge, the bats swooped onto them and began tearing at them.

As long as the vampire still had uses of Bat Form left, killing it without the mage's powerful skills was clearly a formidable challenge.

For ordinary second-tier professionals, the bats produced by the vampire's transformation were difficult to handle when their attributes and special skills were unimpressive. Everyone except the few veteran professionals was having a hard time.

The vampire displayed the full strength of a third-tier creature at the peak of its rank. If these people didn't first exhaust its uses of Bat Form, as Rhode had done, and then attack its weak points to deal it a crippling blow, they couldn't simply wear it down through sheer numbers. Their coordination clearly wasn't good enough for that.

As the number of dead guards grew, the morale of the caravan's remaining guards sank lower and lower. Without the mage's magic to suppress it, they were now facing the vampire directly and beginning to understand just how terrifying this creature was.