Chapter 157

"Yeah, but these are pretty small fries compared to the ones we smashed back in the nightclub last night," Elsa says with a grin, her rifle casually slung over her shoulder.

Well your guess is that the vampires at the nightclub must’ve been affected by the bloodbath, making them stronger and more feral than usual.

"Now I believe she really is a Monster Hunter," Sable comments with a nod. "By the way, you still haven’t told me what you two are doing here... Apex," she adds awkwardly.

BANG!

“We are here for a hunt!” Elsa shoots another vampire emerging from the main stone building in front. “you could say our goal is Hunting more of these bloodsucking monsters,” she declares, reloading her gun.

“And don't forget the rescue of Blade!” you interject, recalling his chocolaty mother once again!

"Oh, understood," Sable says with a shrug. You then hear Sable ask Elsa how Elsa's bullets are working on the vampires when hers aren't. Meanwhile, your Focus device, even in the darkness of the night, picks up the heat signatures of several humans scattered around the high walls surrounding you.

“Let’s go inside. I think they are trying to surround us—” Just as you were warning the girls, the men on the walls open fire!

DADDADADADA! BANG! BANG! BANG!

“It’s useless!” you declare with a grin as you create a semicircular forcefield around the three of you, causing the bullets to harmlessly bounce off the barrier. You can feel how much more powerful your Forcefield power has become compared to when you faced the Russian Mafia, who could easily destroy your shields with their barrage. Here, even if they keep firing all day, your shield remains unscathed.

Moreover, you could easily expand this barrier to encompass the entire open space, making this small shield trivial in terms of stamina.

“Huh, they really don't want us to go inside the building, huh?” Elsa remarks, noticing a crowd of vampires emerging from the main entrance.

“Apex … Old Man Silver is certain that there is another sword part on the upper floors of this building up ahead!” Elsa states, holding the sword hilt in one hand.

“Let me check!” you respond, activating your ability: Mana Sight once more. Your black eyes glow with an eerie blue, piercing even through your gadget’s disguise.

Before you can even glance up, your eyes are involuntarily drawn down. Below the ground, beneath the building in front of you, in its depths, you see it… A massive ball of deep red Mana. It feels sinister, dangerous—almost suffocating.

“Fuck!” you exclaim in alarm, questioning how you even missed this before. The red mana ball is deep underground, yet the mana—or magic—the concentrated gaseous substance visible to your eyes seems to be gathering, drawn towards it from every direction—even from the sky.

Then your gaze shifts upward, where dense clouds are amassing. It looks like there will be a thunderstorm!

BANG! BANG! DADADDADAADA! BANG!

The attackers are relentless. Through the Focus device, you observe that around fifty of them are taking turns firing at you like puppets, seemingly indifferent to why their bullets aren’t hitting their targets.

Additionally, a crowd of vampires pours out from inside the building, growing larger by the second until it reaches nearly a hundred.

But the image of that ominous red ball of mana lingers in your mind, refusing to fade. "Girls, I think there’s a ritual happening… and it might involve Deacon Frost and Blade," you say, your tone heavy with concern. "I just checked—there’s a sinister ball of mana in the basement of that building. It’s growing bigger and bigger. We need to stop whatever it is. I haove got a really bad feeling about this."

“Alright, let’s clear these mosquitoes and hurry down then,” Elsa agrees, already ready for action.

“… Old Man Silver is also saying that the rituals of vampires always cost innocent lives, so we should prioritize that. I will go after the sword part later and first stop these vampires' plans,” Sable concurs with your decision.

“Alright, leave this crowd to me then. You girls go straight to the basement ahead. I will finish these guys fast and follow behind you!” you instruct, looking upward. “When I start, you ladies should run straight to the building … don’t worry, no one will pay attention to you!” You say with a smirk as you activate your power: Storm’s Embrace.

Crackle Crackle

Electricity courses through your veins as your feet lift off the ground. You simultaneously use Electricity Manipulation to propel yourself higher and higher, gaining a vantage point over the humans and vampires still firing at you and the girls. However, their efforts are futile as you have already deployed two forcefields surrounding you and the them for defence.

You smirk, confident that the attackers won’t be able to press their advantage for long. Raising both hands above your head, you declare, “You small fries are really going to get extra crispy fried now!” You bring your hands down sharply, and with your motion, Lightning strikes first.

Then Thunder follows.

“Witness the force of an Apex Attack!” you yell with a grin, splitting the massive lightning bolt into smaller ones that emanate directly from the thundercloud.

CRACKLE! THUNDER! CRACK!

Lightning pours down from the clouds, straight into the dumb faced humans as before they can even yell out they get electrocuted and burnt to the crisp.

On the ground Sable was looking at your display of power with an open face shocked to the core. "Such a Show off" Elsa snorts and yells at Sable over the thundering sounds, "C'mon lets go" She says running ahead straight towards the vampire crowd in front of the building, who were looking at the lit up thundering sky in fear.

"Get out of the way, or get your skulls caved in!" Elsa yells as she smacks a vampires head off with the butt of her rifle.

"Yeah, I know, old man," Sable says, gripping the sword tightly as she hurries behind Elsa."He is just using the big thundercloud, still I am surprised seeing him bring out such a powerful attack."

In the sky, as you watch Elsa and Sable navigate through the vampire horde, you increase the lightning’s radius, attacking the horde below.

Lightning feels very different from electricity; while you can direct electricity as if pointing a water jet or a gun, this lightning from the storms acts more like an Area of Effect (AOE) attack, falling upon a wide area and following its own path downward.

CRACKLE! THUNDER!

Through the brightness of the lightning strikes, your eyes catch sight of a woman standing on the roof of the main building.

The lightning illuminates her shoulder-length white hair and her shining red eyes.

It is Racquel.

You can't help but notice her curvaceous, sexy figure, and the memories of the previous night come rushing back. As your gaze lifts from her breasts, your eyes meet hers, and even from this distance, you can tell she's thinking the same thing.

But the lightning has already fallen, plunging the area where she stood into darkness. With the next lightning strike, she is gone—vanished from the roof in the blink of an eye.

You decide to let her go for now and focus on thinning the vampire herd below.

Seconds tick by, and the lightning in the cloud becomes progressively harder to control. As you notice the lightning striking in completely unintended directions, you deactivate your powers, allowing the storm cloud to settle slightly.

Controlling the electricity, you descend to the ground amidst the charred remains of vampires and humans. The smell of it is even worse than it's looks.

You had hoped to handle this quietly and avoid turning it into a messy affair. Normally, you would rely on your Temporal Looping powers to deal with these vampires and take them down effortlessly. Yesterday, you held back, not wanting to link your Apex persona to Aeon. However, during the raid on the vampire bases this morning, you made a troubling discovery—your temporal powers don’t work on vampires!

Just like your Telepathy, the vampires seem immune to your Temporal Looping. You deduce that either it’s related to their brains and bodies being dead or some kind of magical immunity to time!

“Hiss!”

“Ugh,” you defend yourself hurriedly as your Clairvoyance warns you of an incoming attack. A vampire’s clawed hand strikes at your metal gloves. You retaliate by sending a Holy Flame Ball to his chest.

“ARGHHHHH!!” he yells in agony. Through the light of the white flames, you notice many more vampires gathering from the darkened corners.

"Are they fucking rats? Where are they crawling out from?" You mutter in annoyance, realizing that the cloud cover blocking the moon, combined with your Focus being unable to detect them, is allowing the vampires to hide more effectively and launch sneak attacks from the darkness.

As the vampire's body turns to ashes and the white embers fade, you are plunged into pitch-black darkness.

"Don't worry, I have just the thing to catch you hiding mice," you say with a grin as your eyes turn yellow, activating your powers: Black Cat Physiology.

“Let the hunt begin,” you declare with a toothy grin as you pounce on an approaching vampire. Your body feels as light as a feather, and the night appears as clear as day.

The vampire tries to attack, but you twist your body mid-air, causing his claws to harmlessly fly by your chest. Simultaneously, your white flame hand melts his face off.

“That was cool. Maybe I should try out this cat form more often,” you muse, feeling refreshed. However, the swishing sound of your moving tail behind you causes you to change your opinion instantly.