Chapter 408: Accurate, Real

“You’ve got a big mouth,” Sera spat as the Vampire Count bore down on them with terrifying speed and pressure. While everyone else reacted with caution, she swung her sword and charged forward to meet him head-on. “Are you the Vampire who killed his own wife and daughter?”

“Silence, you fool!” the Vampire Count snarled, glaring at the barbarian. “Your wooden head is incapable of understanding my plan!”

“Oh, of course,” Sera curled her lip. “But it’s not like I was planning to understand anyway. I’ll just ask you one thing: a few months ago, when I wasn’t here, you were the bastard who bullied my friends, right?”

“Let me see what you’re made of!”

A frenzied red light burst from the Berserker’s skin, making her look as if she were engulfed in flames. She took huge strides, cleaving the air with the Grip of the Vast Wave as she brought it crashing down directly onto the Vampire Count!

Count Richthofen’s expression instantly turned grave. He switched to a two-handed grip on his weapon, but even so, after they clashed head-on, the more slender Count was sent flying backward!

“You… brute!”

His Two-Handed Heavy Sword plunged deep into the Fungal Mat, and the Count coughed up a spray of foul blood. He stared at the barbarian in disbelief. ‘I was actually beaten back in a head-on clash?!’

‘A mere savage… actually has the strength to contend with me?!’

‘Impossible. I must have underestimated her!’

The Vampire Count’s face darkened. His body instantly dissolved into a black mist—a swarm of hundreds of bats—that enveloped his true form and weapon as it swept directly toward the barbarian!

However, a split second before he thought his attack would land, he saw—through the eyes of countless bats—an arrow loosed by Ron’s shortbow flying toward him!

“BOOM!”

A Vampire’s Perception far surpasses that of ordinary creatures. Just before Ron’s Cloud Burst Arrow exploded, a single, distinct-looking bat broke away from the swarm. By the time the arrow bathed the world in a brilliant white light, he had already reverted to his human form, weapon back in hand.

“Trifling tricks,” Count Richthofen licked his fangs and charged forward again with a cold sneer. “I remember now. During our last encounter, you were the most annoying one of them all!”

“Today, I’ll kill you first!”

“In your dreams!”

Just as the Vampire Count was about to charge Ron, a barrier of Holy Power materialized, blocking his path. Although the Vampire had already prepared a counter, that brief moment of hesitation was all Ron’s companions needed to surround him from all sides.

“Still worried about that tower shield of yours?” When Aive blocked the Vampire’s path, the Count let out a shrill, mocking laugh. “You can’t protect anyone, you stupid girl!”

“Watch me scrap your shield for good!”

As Anastina and Sera teamed up to slash at Count Richthofen with their greatswords, the Vampire instantly turned into a formless mist, easily evading the decisive blow. This, however, left Aive vulnerable. With the defensive line weakened, the Half-Elf Warrior revealed a slight opening.

Aive realized her mistake and tried to correct it, but it was already too late.

The Vampire Count’s hand was already resting on the edge of her tower shield.

“Slow, clumsy, pathetic,” Count Richthofen commented mercilessly, his five slender fingers beginning to tense. “Let me help you find release—Shatter!”

The feel of the hard, unyielding shield in his grasp was intoxicating to the Vampire. He was obsessed with displaying his own strength and superiority, and a Warrior wielding a tower shield and clad in heavy armor was undoubtedly the perfect target.

‘Much better than that reckless barbarian.’

So the Vampire thought, but something puzzled him. He had clearly twisted the tower shield to an extreme angle—the wielder would either have to let go of the shield or risk having her hand, arm, and even shoulder dislocated! That’s exactly what he had done last time!

‘But why is this Half-Elf still…’

In an instant, the Vampire applied even more force, pressing down on the tower shield with nearly his full strength. If she showed the slightest intention of resisting, he could snap her tendons and break her bones!

However, an intensely thick aura of flame snapped him out of his fantasy. The moment he applied more force, the tower shield offered no resistance and simply fell flat to the ground. Instead, the Half-Elf before him used the falling shield as a foothold, pushing off with her toes as the Flame Longsword materialized from her Flaming Hand Armor and slashed straight for his scalp!

Richthofen’s eyes widened. He wondered if spending so much time with the Fungal Mat was making him hallucinate. ‘Just a moment ago, wasn’t this Half-Elf wearing Mithril Full Body Armor? Why is she suddenly in just a shirt?!’

He had no time to ponder the reason why. In the brief moment of the Count’s hesitation, a glint flashed in Aive’s eyes. Countless shards of armor seemed to come to life, swarming and latching onto the Vampire Count, threatening to pin him in place!

“I’ve been tricked!” The Count’s expression changed again, but he had a counter of his own. A great cloud of mist passed straight through the bindings of the Secret Silver Armor, and after tanking a blow from Aive’s sword, it flew directly toward Ron in the back line!

The Vampire Count’s face flickered within the mist. “Someone like you thinks they can master the power of the Delusional Land? You want to oppose the master? Delusional!”

“You’re already a dead man!”

Ron didn’t answer. But at the very moment the Vampire Count thought he had succeeded, a Longsword suddenly appeared, blocking the path between him and Ron!

The Vampire Count saw a word like “Accuracy” on the blade, but that was all he could make out before Sera and the others, having regrouped behind him, launched a pincer attack from multiple directions!

Flares of Arcane Radiance from Blood Magic and Dark Magic exploded against the Count’s body, protecting him from harm. Amidst the chaos, Richthofen summoned several lifelike Phantoms to keep the party busy, while his true self used a High-level Invisibility Technique to try and sneak back to Ron’s side!

In his mind, as long as he could kill this man, the crisis would resolve itself. His logic wasn’t necessarily wrong, but as he bypassed the besieging barbarian and her companions and lunged for Ron, he found a different person standing in his way!

It was a Moon Elf wearing a single pauldron, holding a seemingly unremarkable Longsword and blocking the Vampire Count’s path. The Count was certain this was the same Elf who had stopped him moments ago!

And this time, he could see that the word on the Moon Elf’s Longsword was no longer “Accuracy,” but “Truth”!

Forced back once more, the Count stared into those lake-blue eyes—eyes that looked at him as if he were already dead—and for some unknown reason, he felt a surge of panic.

‘That gaze… why does it look so familiar?’