The second vampire eyes turned cold; he must kill this human girl, or else there will be no end to the number of troubles his side would face in the future.


    The vampire sprung into action; however, before he could even get close to where Sakuya was, Lilith had moved; she crouched down and jumped into the sky as if to intercept the vampire; thetter smirked. However, his expression soon changed to bewilderment because Lilith in front of him suddenly vanished, and when she reappeared, she was already behind him, her sword thrust at him.


    ''''Humans are still foolish.'''' The vampire snorted and caught the tip of the sword with his nails; he didn''t even turn around.


    The reaction he had expected toe didn''t happen; Lilith smiled, she only said a single word.


    ''''Idiot.''''


    The vampire didn''t get the chance to question what this meant before he was electrocuted by the ck lightning that came out of the tip of the sword.


    ''''Gigigi!''''


    The vampire temporarily lost the ability to fly; he also let go of the flute in his hand, he plummeted toward the ground.


    Lilith (acting as Elsa) didn''t pursue the vampire; she first destroyed the flute used to control the monster.


    There was someone already waiting for him, the acting leader. As if he and Lilith had talked beforehand, he appeared under the falling vampire, and thetter was doing his utmost to undo the binding around his blood vessels; Lilith ck lightning hadn''t only electrocuted him, tiny ck lightning snakes entered the vampire body through his pores to chain his blood vessels, making impossible for him to free himself quickly, nor use magic, it was curse especially tailored for him. So, he ended up in his current situation, and the acting leader would miss this opportunity.


    [Water Dragon sh]


    The acting leader shouted as he unleashed a devastating attack; from the tip of his sword, an eastern water dragon was shot.


    "Roar!"


    The water dragon roared and pierced through the chest of the frozen vampire; at thest moment, the vampire changed the emcement of his heart.


    Boom!


    The vampire was sted into the sky with arge hole where his heart used to be; usually, humans should have died having their chest pierced like that; unfortunately, this isn''t human but a demon, a vampire knew for their high vitality, high regenerative ability.


    The acting leader could have loved to continue and finish the vampire, but he froze in ce; a ck shadow appeared from his shadow, his nails dug into his back, going straight for his heart.


    ''''Cough!"


    The acting leader coughed blood; he didn''t want to die; he had been careless, to think he would have forgotten about vampire shadow; only royal vampires have this ability. The usage of this ability is simple, appear inside your opponent shadow in soul form, shadow form if you want. You can catch your opponent off guard; however, at the same time, it is a double-edged sword; you are more vulnerable. In this state, those who use do it through sneak attack and immediately retreat after attacking.


    However, the vampire had made a fatal; he thought Lilith was still busy clearing the monsters attacking the other adventurers, the moment the vampire used his shadow ability and was about to crush the leader''s heart, Lilith smirked.


    ck lightning chains appeared under the two feet and wrapped around the vampire body, causing him extreme pain, the leader had momentarily relieved.


    ''''Crouch down.'''' Lilith toward the leader, thetter immediately ducked, a horizontal lightning sh passed above his head, bisecting the vampire shadow in two.


    At the same, the real body of the vampire lying down on the other side burst into me and vanished.


    Lilith didn''t say anything; she focused on clearing the remaining monster; simultaneously, she nced at Celesta, wondering what was going over there.


    ?????


    Let''s rewind time a bit. Alex disguised as Sam left the Inn early in the morning to head to the City Lord mansion; there, the Duke was waiting for him.


    ''''Wee, Sam; I heard from the princess what should be done. Please follow me; everything has been prepared.'''' The Duke, a man in his early fifty, said the moment he saw Alex, his eyes were sharp, like the eyes of someone who has experienced many battles, Gray hair, brown eyes.


    Alex nodded and followed the Duke inside the mansion; en route, he remembered yesterday''s conversation. After getting confirmation from Lilith that it was possible to use rune magic to create an illusion, he contacted Artemia; the n was, use rune magic to create a powerful illusion to fool the enemy; it won''t be easy, the enemy might notice, it where his second ne out, there will use the real core inside this illusion, just before this gets destroyed it will swap ce with a fake. Alex and the girl had done few tests, and there was no problem; even Nyx found this n realistic. Alex''s n could be put like this: Lure, fool, and seal.


    Alex smiled at the prospect of catching big fish if his n seeded. His smile didn''t go unnoticed; the Duke stopped and asked.


    ''''Is there something funny?''''


    ''''No, I was thinking about something. Please don''t mind me.'''' Alex responded and immediately stopped smiling.


    Although the Duke was skeptical about this adventurer present here, there was nothing he could do about orderse from above; he must follow this man''s arrangements, he has full authority, and he mustn''t question him. The Duke didn''t dare to take the princess lightly when the emperor was backing her; she even had the emperor seal; it''s like facing the emperor himself, the person who has this could act on the emperor''s behalf and people must listen.


    ''''We have arrived.'''' The Duke announced and stopped in front medium size painting depicting a mother holding her newborn. Putting his hand on the painting, on the newborn to be exact, the painting shined, and Alex found himself underground, inside a bright room not different from what he experienced in Elesim, inside the hidden room.


    ''''Come out.'' Alex said, and two shadows came out, one woman and an old man.


    They didn''t bother with formalities; they immediately got to work, creating runes in the air; they are rune mages sent by Artemia. Using space magic (Spatial runes) to arrive at Celesta quickly.


    ''''Impressive.''''


    The Duke was surprised at first; however, his surprise vanished to be reced by awe; he watched the two rune masters perform illusion magic.


    Boom!


    The room shook, Alex and the Duke exchanged looks and saw the urgency in each other eyes.


    ''''I shall leave first.'''' The Duke said before transforming into the sand and vanished.


    Alex nced at the two runes masters, they could feel his gaze on their back, so they said, the old man said.


    ''''We are almost done here. Go assist them; we know the way.''''


    Alex nodded before disappearing in turn; there was a smile on his face.


    ''''Youngsters these days.'''' Commented, the old man, the young girl beside him, didn''t say anything as she knew he wouldn''t stop talking if she ever made the mistake of answering.


    The old man sighed; seeing theck of reaction from the young girl, he focused on finishing thest step of the n.


    ?????


    Outside, buildings were in rumble; two gigantic sandworms appeared above the ground destroying several buildings in the process; thankfully, these buildings didn''t have people inside them; they had been evacuated because of the risk of getting swept in trouble, all buildings surrounding the Duke mansion were evacuated.


    Alex stood atop a building watching the Tornado twins fight the two sandworms.


    One of the sandworms spurt acid at the slender of the twin, thetter didn''t even move, and the attack was canceled by the slight wind tornado surrounding him; the poisonnded on a building nearby, instantly melting it. Just after the monster spurt poison, there was a momentarily stop.


    Like a missile, that twinunched himself toward the sandworm that still had its mouth open after spitting poison. The twin that goes by way of Tim entered the monster''s mouth, and shortlyter, the monster burst into pieces, Tim after entering the monster belly, had used what he and his brother are good at, wind tornado. This destroyed the monster from the inside out.


    Swoosh! Swoosh!!! Puh! Puh!!!


    Alexunched knives at the monsters crawling from the holes left by the sandworms.


    The knives pierced through the brain of those monsters, sshing brain and blood on the ground; however, this didn''t stop more froming out. Just as Alex was wondering what to do, he saw a giant fireball fall from the sky and crash against the swarm of monsters.


    Boom!


    Those monsters were instantly reduced to ashes; simultaneously, Tim assisted his brother Tom to finish thest sandworm; this was stronger than the one Tim faced.


    Conrad appeared floating in the sky; he nced at Alex for a moment before flying toward the hole where monsters were crawling from; suddenly, his expression changed, he immediately erected a me shield around his body; even so, he was sent flying.


    This shocked Alex and the twins.


    ''''What just happened?" Tim asked confused.


    It happened at that moment, Tom pushed his brother away and took his ce, a ck sword pierced through his chest, making him vomit blood.


    ''''Tommmmm!" Tim shouted and tried to rush toward his brother.


    Somehow, a man with a white mask appeared behind Tom; he was not there a moment ago, even Alex could not notice him until it waste.


    ''''You fool,'''' Alex shouted and kicked against the rooftop to intercept Tim before he got killed.