Sudden Betrayal

Yang Mu slammed his staff heavily against the deck. The blood flowing across it rose into the air, swiftly forming threads that encircled the entire deck.

Count Rist was surrounded by dense crimson threads.

"Since this is our first meeting, shouldn't we have a chat first?"

"A fine spell. But this means that as long as I don't move, you won't be able to attack me either."

As he spoke, the elegant Vampire count extended a sharp nail and drew it across one of the crimson threads. A section of his nail fell away.

"Not necessarily, my dear Count."

The speaker was Felice, who had barely made her presence known until now. She moved to the side of the ship, and her normally sized mouth abruptly stretched wide into a massive rectangle as terrifying sound waves burst forth.

Count Rist was forced two steps back by the sound waves, his expression twitching. Several crimson threads had already cut into his back, even reaching his bones. The threads were unexpectedly sharp and tough.

Rist cut open his palm and flung out several drops of blood, which swiftly transformed into crimson arrows and shot toward Felice.

Felice hurriedly stopped screaming and tried to dodge aside, but a tall figure stepped in front of her. His knight's sword flashed, knocking away the blood arrows.

The two Wizards also began working together, raising flames across the deck to burn Count Rist.

There was no spell model and no incantation. Yang Mu did not need to chant because he was a Sixth Level Archmage. With his casting skill, Apprentice Rank spells did not require incantations.

But these two Wizards were clearly not powerful Mages, yet they did not need incantations either.

Yang Mu was very interested in this kind of spell, but for now, he had to deal with this Vampire count first. Though the man certainly did not possess the strength of an Official Mage, he was still stronger than a High-Level Apprentice.

Sure enough, faced with the blazing flames, Count Rist no longer maintained his elegant demeanor. His body rapidly enlarged and began transforming into a bat-like form, a pair of wings growing from his back.

His clawed hand seized the crimson threads. The threads that could previously slice through his body with ease could now only sink into his palm, unable to advance further once they met bone.

Ignoring the searing pain in his palm, a degree of pain he had long since grown accustomed to, he forcibly tore open the web of blood threads sealing him in and stepped out.

His wings shielded him as a cross formed from white light crashed into them, leaving a cross-shaped wound behind.

In the distance, Ina held a cross and a Bible. The white cross of light had been fired from the cross in her hand.

His wings spread apart, revealing a pair of bloodthirsty eyes. His figure flashed as he charged toward Felice.

Crack, crack... His sharp-nailed hand halted before Felice, barely five centimeters from her face. He was too fast—Count Rist was simply too fast.

Her head had nearly been pierced through by Count Rist's fingers. Felice's legs gave out, and she fell to her knees on the deck.

Yet Count Rist, standing before her, was bound by countless crimson threads. The unceasing cracking sounds came from the blood threads tightening around him.

"Hmph! Blood Flame."

Bound in place, Count Rist snorted coldly. Crimson flames ignited across his body and burned away the blood threads, freeing him once more.

He slashed at Owen, who was swinging his sword toward him. Claw and longsword collided, crimson flames clashing against the light clinging to the blade and erupting in a blinding white flash.

Count Rist grabbed the longsword, and his bat wing swept past, leaving a slash across Owen's chest.

Blood quickly soaked through Owen's thin clothing. He wore no armor, because the Hiliya Federation prohibited people from wearing armor freely.

Just as Count Rist seized Owen by the throat, his fingers digging into the man's skin and preparing to snap his neck the next instant, two impacts struck him and sent him flying, causing him to release Owen.

Count Rist's wings carved two trails across the deck before he stopped at the edge of the corpse pile.

"Holy Seal Descent!"

At that moment, Ina's shout rang out. A gap split open above the thick fog enveloping the ship, and a pure white seal descended from the sky onto Count Rist's head, imprisoning him.

"Quick! I can't hold him for long!"

Ina shouted again. She had called out Holy Seal Descent to warn the others, lest they fail to react after she restrained him and waste precious time.

The others did not disappoint her. Though a huge wound gaped in his chest, the instant Rist was trapped—

Owen rose to his feet. His palm swept across his knight's sword, causing it to emit an even more dazzling golden light, like burning golden fire.

The two Wizards also closed their eyes, gathering their strength in preparation for a lethal strike. Felice steadied herself as well, opened her mouth once more, and let out a piercing shriek.

Her sound waves arrived first. Blood flowed from Rist's ears, and Owen followed immediately after. Just as his longsword was about to pierce Rist's heart—

The seal above Rist's head shattered. It had not dissipated from insufficient power; it had been broken by an outside force.

Rist narrowly avoided Owen's fatal strike, but the sword still pierced his chest. Rist let out a pained roar.

He bit down on Owen's neck, draining more than half the blood from Owen's body in an instant.

The golden flames on the sword went out as well.

"Sabo, you..."

Vanessa, who had been about to attack, stared at Sabo beside her in disbelief. But the next instant, a dagger plunged into her throat. The attacker was Sabo.

Wizards needed to gather power to cast spells, especially powerful spells.

At close range, they were no different from ordinary people. Sabo had clearly trained in combat, so how could Vanessa, an ordinary person, possibly be his match?

With that, their side had lost its two strongest members. One had betrayed them, leaving only Ina, who had lost her ability to fight, and Felice, the weakest Hybrid Succubus.

As for Yang Mu, he had only acted twice from beginning to end: once to create the blood web, and once to save Felice.

"Corpse Explosion!"

Rather than panic at the sight of the two deaths, Yang Mu smiled faintly.

He had noticed long ago that something was wrong with Sabo, but he did not care, nor did he wish to know why Sabo was helping Count Rist.

Boom! At Yang Mu's murmur, Vanessa and Owen's corpses exploded violently. The bones within them turned into shrapnel, not only blasting a huge hole into the deck but also killing Sabo outright.

Many bone fragments embedded themselves in Rist's body, blasting him into the pile of corpses that had already been gathered there.

Before this, Count Rist would not have cared about these corpses at all. At most, he would have been angry that Yang Mu had killed all his food.

Now, however, this pile of corpses was a pile of explosives. His hearing had been damaged, so he had not heard Yang Mu's murmur, but that did not stop him from realizing it.