Re-Awakening: I Ascend with a Legendary class

Chapter 567: Intense Battle

The vampire’s last word was still hanging in the air when Lily acted.

Light detonated.

Not a flash. Not a flare.

A collapse.

One of her Dreadlings surged forward and shattered its own core, compressing every strand of radiance into a point smaller than a thought before tearing it outward in a violent bloom. The clearing vanished in an instant, swallowed by overwhelming brightness that erased shadow, depth, and orientation.

The vampires screamed.

Enhanced eyes became liabilities. Blood streamed from sockets. Wings spasmed mid-beat as bodies slammed into trees, into earth, into one another. Several dropped instantly, clutching their faces, shrieking in fury and panic.

"Move!" Lily shouted.

They did.

Almond sprinted sideways, Pulse roaring as Grimblade Creation triggered in rapid succession. Steel, bone, crystal, coral, shadow. Blades erupted around him in a storm, each one different, each one screaming with its own intent.

Grimblade Deeprend formed in his right hand, crimson sigils crawling along its edge like living scars.

Grimblade Coralvein solidified in his left, veins of living coral glowing softly.

The rest launched outward.

Grimblade Ashhowl spun ahead, vomiting waves of black fire that scorched bark and flesh alike.

Grimblade Fathomspike plunged into the soil and erupted upward in jagged water-laced spears, impaling two vampires mid-fall.

Grimblade Voidglass shattered in midair, fragments bending space as they carved through wings from impossible angles.

Almond felt the strain immediately.

He seized control of seven.

The rest he let go.

Grimblade Razorfen ricocheted between trunks, each impact sharpening its edge further.

Grimblade Dirgecoil lashed out like a living chain, crushing a vampire’s leg with a wet snap.

Grimblade Bloodhymn pierced a chest and began to hum, amplifying every heartbeat into a gush of blood.

Ainen’s voice cut through the chaos.

-> Right rear. Four Tier-2 closing. One Tier-3 above canopy. They’re adapting.

Almond twisted.

A vampire burst through the fading brightness, claws glowing crimson. Deeprend struck once.

Bleed.

Twice.

The vampire snarled and raked Almond’s shoulder, pain flaring.

Three.

Four.

The vampire tried to retreat.

Five.

"Deeprend."

The sigils detonated inward. Flesh ruptured as compressed force tore through the vampire’s torso. Warmth flooded back into Almond’s limbs, stolen vitality sealing torn muscle and steadying his breath.

No pause.

He pivoted and swung Coralvein.

The coral slash passed through Saffa as she collided with another vampire. Her torn flesh knitted shut instantly, ribs snapping back into place as resistance flooded her body.

She laughed, feral, and drove her claws through the vampire’s throat.

To Almond’s left, Lily was already moving again.

Another Dreadling surged out, its form collapsing and reforming around her arm in a shriek of grinding energy. The new weapon fired without warning, releasing pulse-disruption waves that slammed into the vampires like invisible hammers.

Bodies flew.

Inner ears ruptured. Balance vanished. Vampires crashed into trees and ground alike, snarling in confusion and rage.

A spider-like Dreadling phased forward, half-real, its limbs stabbing through armor gaps that shifted as it struck. Another Dreadling, prism-shaped, rotated and released inverted light, plunging a cluster of enemies into sensory nothingness.

"They’re switching senses," Lily shouted. "Pulse tracking."

Ainen responded instantly.

-> Tier-3 moving. Northwest. Fast.

Almond hurled Grimblade Stormvein upward.

Lightning exploded across the canopy, chaining violently between wings and bodies. The blade shattered on impact and reformed midair, heavier, louder, crackling with unstable power.

It struck again.

The Tier-3 vampire crashed through branches, rolled, and came up snarling, blood steaming from scorched flesh.

Almond closed the distance.

Grim Severam flared.

He drove Blackquartz forward, Sever sinking into the strike. The vampire’s natural toughness collapsed in an instant, and Ashhowl followed through, burning straight through its torso.

The body hit the ground in pieces.

Elsewhere, the fight fractured into dozens of violent skirmishes.

Saffa tore through disoriented enemies, ignoring wounds as Coralvein’s slashes stitched her back together mid-motion.

Clovelle layered freezing pressure and spatial distortion, slowing vampires until they shattered under their own momentum.

Fraisea’s arrows split mid-flight, detonating into frost-laced clusters that shredded wings and pinned bodies to trunks.

Gopu roared.

The dragon expanded, fire pouring from his scales as Pyrescale embedded into the earth nearby, amplifying the inferno. Two vampires were reduced to ash before they hit the ground.

The brightness had faded now.

The vampires could see again.

And they understood.

This was not prey.

They regrouped, Tier-2s forming loose packs, Tier-3s coordinating movements with sharp, wordless signals. Claws flashed. Blood magic ignited.

Almond felt a sharp impact as something slammed into his ribs. He rolled, barely avoiding a follow-up strike, and brought Deeprend up in a tight arc.

Bleed stacked instantly.

The vampire recoiled.

Coralvein followed, the healing slash closing Almond’s cracked ribs mid-breath.

A Dreadling detonated nearby, releasing psychic distortion that made three vampires drop screaming. Another surged forward and wrapped around a fleeing enemy, phasing in and out of reality as it crushed bone.

"They’re breaking!" Fraisea shouted.

"Not yet," Ainen said calmly. "Two Tier-3 still active."

One of them struck Clovelle, punching through her frost barrier and sending her skidding across the clearing. She rolled, blood spraying, and slammed a hand into the ground.

Ice erupted upward, forming a wall just as Almond sent a Coralvein slash through her, sealing the worst of the damage.

The last Tier-3 dove for Lily.

Almond reacted instantly, flinging Grimblade PaleEcho.

The blade passed through the vampire and detonated soundlessly. Organs ruptured without visible wounds. Lily finished it with a point-blank pulse shot that sent the body flying into the trees.

The final Tier-3 hesitated.

Then ran.

The remaining Tier-2s followed.

Some flew.

Some crawled.

Some vanished into shadows.

Almond did not chase.

His Pulse was burning low, arms trembling from exertion. If not for Ainen’s buffs, they would have died.

Silence returned slowly, broken only by crackling embers and ragged breathing.

Blades dissolved one by one as he dismissed them.

Lily leaned against a tree, bloodied but upright, Dreadlings orbiting her like a dark crown.

Ainen scanned the clearing, eyes unfocused for a moment.

"Twenty-three dead," he said. "Three escaped."

Almond wiped blood from his mouth and smiled faintly.

"Good."

Lily nodded, eyes cold. "Let them talk about us, so the other fools will think ten times before coming after us."

"You two did amazing." Saffa grinned. "So strong."

"Yeah, if not for Almond’s defense severam, your attacks weren’t going to harm the Tier-3 vampire." Ainen chuckled.

"I think we should stick together as a party." Clovelle blinked. "We will survive and thrive if we are together. What do you two say?"

Almond and Lily looked at each other and smiled.

"We were thinking the same, haha."

"Let’s enjoy the new life here together."