Chapter 174 Redemption! (For the Alliance Leader’s extra update in the pool!)
2015-01-04
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
“Foolish!”
The Enchantress twisted her body and elbowed Arianna, turning her into a shrimp. Before becoming a vampire, she was just an ordinary girl, with almost no combat training, now relying only on her instincts to fight. Compared to the experienced Enchantress in front of her, she seemed like a clumsy child. Vampires have long lives, resulting in many Elder Vampires possessing powerful combat specialties, with many being masters proficient in all weapons.
The Enchantress in front of her had undoubtedly undergone considerable combat training; with a slight flick of her wrist, she used her dagger to sever Arianna’s tendons.
Such an injury posed no threat to a vampire, but it could temporarily affect her movement.
Two vampires held Arianna’s arms tightly, then used brute force to bring her down, making her kneel directly in front of the Enchantress.
“Tsk tsk.”
The Enchantress let out a light laugh, extending her dagger to slash across Arianna’s face, leaving a blood mark on her beautiful features. She extended her crimson tongue to lick the blood from the dagger and slowly said, “What a pretty face! No wonder the master dotes on you! But after you’re captured, you won’t be so lucky anymore!…”
As if filled with a hint of hatred, she continued to make successive slashes across Arianna’s face.
Wounds appeared one after another.
Arianna’s face instantly turned bloody; however, the vampire’s powerful regeneration ability remained, and the wounds were gradually healing.
“I want to kill you!”
Arianna opened her mouth, exposing her sharp fangs, and glared angrily at the Enchantress in front of her, briefly scanning her surroundings. But she saw no trace of Soren, which plunged her heart into despair. The two vampires held her arms tightly, completely suppressing her in place. One of them stepped on her, slowly saying, “Take her back! The master will give her the punishment she deserves!”
The Enchantress glanced at him disdainfully and coldly replied, “I don’t need your instruction!”
“Break her limbs and then take her back.”
Vampires possess powerful regeneration abilities. It wouldn’t matter if their arms or legs were broken; after breaking her limbs, it would undoubtedly be much easier.
Arianna showed a hint of despair, struggling desperately, emitting a beast-like growl as her pupils gradually dilated, turning from deep green to blood red, and finally, her entire eyeballs became blood red. This bizarre change shocked everyone, and the Enchantress furrowed her brow, saying, “Berserk bloodline? Damn! It’s her father’s bloodline!…”
Her father was a Berserk Warrior.
Just as they prepared to break Arianna’s limbs, a dark figure suddenly appeared behind one of the vampires. Accompanied by a flash of cold light, a curved blade pierced through his heart, and frost appeared on the skin’s surface. The vampire’s skin reacted as though it had come into contact with sulfuric acid, emitting a sizzling sound; before he could scream, Soren twisted the blade, crushing the opponent’s heart. A corpse was left on the ground. The flesh rapidly aged; this was a low-level vampire that had lived for over a hundred years.
Enemies!?
The sudden attack caught them off guard, losing control of one of their own; Arianna roared and lunged forward, then opened her mouth to bite at the Enchantress. Soren instantly sheathed his knife and retreated, vanishing into darkness as he used his ability to hide his presence, re-entering stealth mode. The Enchantress was entangled by the berserk Arianna, and the other vampire wanted to help but was extremely wary of Soren, who was in stealth. He couldn’t find this opponent at all!
“Kill her!”
A cold light flashed in the Enchantress’s eyes. She struck without mercy, taking the opportunity to stab Arianna’s heart. Just recently an ordinary girl, Arianna was unable to dodge and was hit directly in the heart in an instant. She seemed to have already fallen into some sort of madness. Ignoring the wound on her chest, she bit down on the enemy’s neck.
Ah!
A scream echoed.
Blood covered the Enchantress’s neck. Her expression turned fierce, sharp fangs emerging as her demeanor became grotesque. She grabbed Arianna’s arm and snapped it, then audibly tore it off. Arianna still held on tightly, biting off a large chunk of flesh from her neck, blood gushing out. She clamped her legs around the opponent’s waist and swiftly bit into the nape of her neck.
Swoosh!
A cold light reappeared in the dark, and Soren’s figure instantly appeared, swinging his knife to pierce through the chest of another vampire, then splattering some liquid onto him. The sizzling sound followed, as if the vampire was being corroded by sulfuric acid, and in the blink of an eye, his visage was unrecognizable. Impassively, Soren sheathed his knife and disappeared; the next moment, the shadows around him twisted, and his figure appeared behind the enemy in darkness, swinging his knife toward the Enchantress. Her instincts for evasion were remarkable; she anticipated his attack, turning just in time to block with the entangled Arianna.
The strike was fully powered, and after Soren activated Shadow Travel, there was no way to retract it.
Pfft!
The curved blade pierced through Arianna’s back; even though Soren had shifted his position, the holy water coated on the blade still corroded her flesh with a sizzling sound. She let out a painful howl, but immediately afterward, Arianna did something no one expected—she charged into the Enchantress, causing the blade to pass through her back, through her abdomen, and then into the body of the Enchantress.
Another scream echoed!
Soren had no time to think further; another curved blade immediately appeared in his hand and swiftly struck toward the Enchantress’s head.
A beautiful head fell to the ground.
Soren’s curved blade narrowly avoided decapitating the head, stopping just in front of Arianna’s head.
Thud!
A headless corpse fell to the ground, blood gushing out in large quantities. Arianna weakly released her legs, her gaze appearing somewhat dazed. Her heart had been crushed; for unknown reasons, she had not died on the spot yet. For vampires below the advanced level, injuries to the head and heart are fatal; she could still fight despite being wounded in the heart. The Enchantress was not an advanced vampire; although she had drunk the blood of advanced vampires, she had yet to transform into a bat or assume an ethereal form.
“Why did you do this?”
Soren gazed at the increasingly weak Arianna, his expression somewhat inexplicable. Her heart had been crushed, a wound that was almost impossible to treat. He sighed and slowly said, “You only needed to hold them off for a moment; I could have killed them! Why go to such lengths?”
Soren hesitated for a moment, then sliced open his wrist and brought it to her mouth, saying solemnly, “Drink. It might heal your wounds.”
Blood began to flow.
Arianna’s expression became somewhat clearer, but she looked extremely weak. She struggled to move Soren’s wrist away from her mouth with her remaining arm, murmuring, “I saw my brother… saw so many dead people… I don’t want to kill… I really don’t want to kill…”
A drop of blood-red liquid appeared at her eye corner.
It is said that vampires sometimes cry blood; this was the first time Soren had seen such a thing.
“You will die.”
Soren knelt before her, his expression somewhat complex as he said, “If you drink my blood, there may be a chance you can survive.”
Arianna slowly shook her head, her pupils becoming increasingly dull. In a defeated tone, she said, “I… am finally free… Thank you… Thank you…”
“Soren… will my soul… be redeemed? … I don’t want to fall into the abyss of hell…”
Soren fell silent.
Vampires are doomed to fall into the abyss, unless a Legendary Priest or even a Saint performs a redemption ceremony for her; otherwise, her soul is likely to be reborn in the depths of hell.
This was a pure soul.
Such a soul would not be caught in the cycle of the River of Underworld; if no one from the Divine Kingdom of the heavens guided her, the abyss would be her final destination.
Vampires are cursed creatures!
Not to mention, she had also killed so many people. Even the deity she believed in would not intervene, nor would they have the energy to care about an inconspicuous, insignificant soul.
Soren slowly held her hand and whispered, “Yes. You are free. No one will enslave you again. As long as your heart remains pure, no one can desecrate your soul.”
“May you attain redemption!… May your soul rest in peace!…”
Arianna’s mouth struggled to show a faint smile, her pupils gradually dimming as she whispered with her last voice, “Sorry… Sorry…”
Her hand fell weakly, and no one knew what her last words represented.
Soren felt a strange tightness in his chest. He slowly released her arm and walked over to the Enchantress’s corpse, cutting open her spine and extracting the central portion of her vertebrae. He silently cleaned up the battlefield. Although he was completely unhurt, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable, as if repressing something.
He bent down and carried Arianna’s corpse, also bringing along the arm torn off by the enemy.
An intact corpse.
This was a sign of respect for the deceased. Soren carried the body into the darkness, moving off into the distance.
She was a good girl.
No matter what she had experienced or done, her soul remained pure. After death, she should have a quiet and beautiful resting place.
That place would bloom in the spring of the coming year!
………………
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(PS: Seeking annual votes.) (To be continued ~^~)
