Chapter 5: War of Thorns Part 3
After successfully avoiding the enemy reinforcements, Lance and his vampire allies make their way towards the enemy base, traversing through thick shrubbery, the likes of which no human could pass through without the risk of losing an eye or a moderate amount of blood.
The vampires however passed through the shrubbery with great ease, although the same can’t be said for Lance, who had cuts all over his body and couldn’t keep his eyes or ears intact for more than three seconds.
“Remind me again, why we are sneaking about and not taking the enemy by storm?” Lance asked, having already reached the limit of tolerating the continuous scratches on his body.
“We don’t like doing this either! We would rather let you cause a ruckus, while we silently infiltrate the base and take out the target.” The vampire was obviously telling half of the truth, as his face, that Lance couldn’t see, was enjoying every scratch and bruise he had on his body.
“And what’s stopping you from doing that, at least I get to smash some heads!” As he said that, he grabbed some vines pushing them down as hard as he could, but due to the elasticity they had, they ricocheted back into his face, causing even more lacerations.
“There are two factors that stop us from doing that. The first one is the fact that the “Count” hired you, a famous bounty, which means that he has bigger plans for you. Secondly we failed once already, the second time our target will be well guarded.” The vampire changed his voice to a darker tone, as he remembered how his comrades died.
“So basically, you are too weak to do your job, right!?” Without regards to the vampire’s saddened mood, Lance bluntly stated the obvious fact.
“YES.” Annoyed by his bluntness, the vampire confirmed what Lance said.
For the bigger part of the remaining trek through the thick shrubbery, Lance and the vampires stopped talking, as they focused on reaching their destination, without being found out.
Unfortunately for both Lance and the vampires, the enemies were already well aware of their presence.
The commander of the base having survived his first encounter with vampires, summoned one of the 1000 Red Coats.
They were covered, from head to toe, in a red silk that barely allowed any features to be seen, they carried no weapon, yet they were still able to use powers the apostles would need to band together to do.
Such as creating golems of earth towering 20 feet into the sky, or creating sharp pillars that would pierce anything around a five meter radius.
But they had other non-offensive abilities as well, such as Earth-Sense, with it; anything moving within a 2 kilometer radius would be detected by the red coat, allowing him to gather enough information to make out whether it is a friend or foe.
“Commander, I am detecting four individuals moving through some very thick shrubbery, around this area, have any of your troops been given orders to traverse that area?” The Red Coat smiled as he pointed towards a section of the map, knowing already the answer he was going to be given.
“No, there are no troops stationed in that area." The Commander was visibly shaken by the smile on the red coats face, which even the red silk covering his entire body couldn’t hide.
Thanks to this, Lance and his allies went straight into a trap as they emerged out of the thick shrubbery.
“Jump!” Lance said, with an urgent sounding voice.
And so they did and not a moment sooner, as huge pillars of earth and stone appear out of the ground trying to pierce Lance and his allies, but missing their target by a small distance.
However the trap was just beginning to unravel, as two golems who were hiding behind trees, managed to grab two of the vampires, crushing them into the ground where the spikes were at.
“ARGHH!” The vampires howl, as their bodies get pierced violently by the stone pillars, but fail to deliver a fatal blow.
“Hold On!” The remaining vampire, rushes towards the other two, trying to release them, forcing Lance to also back him up.
“Stop, you fool!” Lance knew that it was another trap, but he had no choice other than going straight into it, or risk losing every vampire.
Dodging, the golem’s cumbersome hands and the spikes that defiantly emerged from the ground to pierce the vampire, Lance finally catches the vampire from behind, but instead of pulling him back, he pushes him forward.
The vampire stared back, shocked, as Lance’s whole body gets riddled with bullets, as mercenaries emerge from the tall grass wielding guns.
Surrounding the vampire as they step over Lance’s dead body, the mercenaries form a circle allowing only the Red Coat to move inside it.
“Surprised?” The Red Coat asks with arrogance overflowing from his voice, as he steps on Lance’s hand, making sure to crush every bone in it.
“…” The vampire had nothing to say, as he prepared himself to be killed.
“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to kill you! After all, you will make magnificent sacrifices for them.” As the Red Coat moved closer to the vampire, the blood on his shoes seemed to gain a will of its own, as it starts returning back to Lance’s body.
The vampire noticed the blood moving stealthily back into Lance’s body and life in Lance’s eye returning, as he stared at the vampire intensely.
“You want me to give you more time? Fine!” The vampire knew what he had to do and prepared himself for a world of pain.
“What are you mumbling to yourself, wretch!?” Sensing a change in his attitude, the Red Coat gets angered.
“Whatever is backing your lust for power, it’s only a shell, an empty vessel made to catch fools such as yourself.”
“You are just pawns, made to be sacrificed at the right time, enjoy your power trip while you still can!”
The vampire continued to verbally assault the Red Coat, which was very effective as he could stand it no more, launching a stone javelin straight into the vampire’s neck.
“Listen here, we are not pawns like you who easily discard your life for a noble goal.”
“I, like my other brethren, intend on winning and gaining everything we wanted and nothing you say or do will stop us!” The anger and hatred in his voice was so sharp that even the mercenaries were intimidated by his demonic behavior.
“Fenrir’s Aurora!”
To everyone’s shock, Lance got up seemingly unharmed and before anyone could react, Lance unleashes his power upon his enemies.
Stay tuned for the next chapter.
