Blood Assimilation

At this point, Randy was standing about a few meters away from the man who had sneak attacked him. However, upon discovering something strange about the other party's appearance, Randy decisively held his sword tightly with his right hand and then opened his mouth and wanted to speak. 

But then, all of sudden, the sounds of multiple projectiles cutting through air resounded as they aimed in his direction. These projectiles sounded like the buzzing of mosquitoes, so low and almost silent but still audible to the ears of those with a sharp sense of hearing.

When Randy noticed the change in the atmosphere, he immediately reacted by retreating a few more meters using his wind sailing skill as he made a considerable distance between him and the man in front of him.

However, even though he had managed to retreat in time, he was still not able to evade the incoming attack. 

And when he saw that there was no way to evade this attack, he took a stance was prepared his sacred sword skill, and then readied himself to negate the opposition's attack.

"Hm? This is…" 

When the attack was almost about a meter away from him, Randy abruptly stopped in his movement to unleash his attack, almost like had been enlightened of something unexpected even in this dire situation.

The man, on the other end, had an unusually wide grin on his face when he noticed that the other party had stopped in their attack upon recognizing his attack at this instant. The man displayed an anticipation expression, indicating that he could not wait to watch the other party being impaled by his attacks. 

However, when the projectiles were only a few inches away from the young man in the distance, they unnaturally stopped in mid-air as if they had been compelled by some mysterious force or power. 

"Impossible! Why did my attacks stop in mid-air?! Right in front of him, no less! And just now, I also seem to have lost control of attacks. Is this the result of some sort of ability that he's using, or maybe a spell?!" The man questionably shouted in disbelief.

The man had a bewildered expression on his face at this moment when he realized that his all-out attack just now was stopped at the very last moment by some mysterious force, and despite all the projectiles being completely under control, this mysterious force seemed to have stripped him of his control over them. 

This unnatural phenomenon caused him to be confused and doubted the identity of the young man in the distance, who seemed to be observing the projectiles in mid-air with a curious expression.

Meanwhile, on the other end, in the distance, away from the man, Randy suddenly let a sound after a while of observing multiple red projectiles in mid-air, that seemed to be now under his control. 

"Ohhh… This is quite interesting. This is a fundamentally different principle compared to my ability. It seemed to be capable of being powered by mana unlike my ability, which most likely relied on blood energy. At least, that's what I think it relies on. But I wonder if I can use blood spells too if I learn it." Randy muttered with an intrigued tone of voice.

While he was busy admiring this spell attack, which had been thwarted by his skill, the man, on the other hand, displayed a very cautious expression as he carefully observed the action of this strange young man. 

But eventually, he was left with a dumbfounded expression when he noticed that the young man was ignoring him and focusing on the red solid projectiles that were frozen in mid-air.

Those were his very own attacks.

A short while later, Randy suddenly turned to the dumbfounded man in the distance and curiously asked: "You… You're one of those vampires, am I right? Why did you attack me just now? Also, can you teach me how to use that spell of yours if I beat you?"

"…"

The supposed vampire man did not react much when he heard the seemingly threatening question from the young man and instead was taken aback by this sudden unexpected interrogation regarding his identity.

'Who is that brat?! How can he take control of my blood spikes! Is he one my kin in disguise? No, that can't be it. Judging from his scent and appearance, he's undoubtedly human. Not to mention, he even asked whether I am 'one of those vampires' or not. If he is not one of my kin, then who is he and how can he take control of my spell, which was enhanced with my blood manipulation innate skill?' 

The supposed vampire man deeply thought to himself, and a short while later, he displayed a frown on his face, seemingly unable to figure out the identity of this young man even after pondering about it.

But before the supposed vampire man could even respond to Randy's casual questions, Randy suddenly thought of something and then nonchalantly added: "But before you answer my question regarding your sneak attack, answer me this first, how strong are you? I mean, as a vampire, how strong are you exactly? I need to know this information before defeating you."

When the supposed vampire man heard these words, he snapped out of his thoughts and glared at the young man with veins bulging on his forehead before saying: "You dare!" 

The supposed vampire man abruptly stopped, and a moment later, he found his words ludicrous and suddenly broke into peals of laughter.

"Hahaha, a mere human like you dare to say something like that to a vampire such as I?! I can't believe this! The audacity! However, fret not! I will show you! When I brutally kill you and drain your blood, you will know by then just how strong I am when compared to a mere human like you. Although I have no idea how you could take control of my blood spikes, I can feel it! I can feel your pitiful existence, your minuscule amount of mana… Wait! I can't feel anything…? What's going on?" 

The vampire man deeply frowned when he noticed something strange about this human and then questioned in a cold but cautious tone: "You… What are you?"

Hearing this response, Randy sighed and then responded: "That's what I want to know too… Now then, since you don't want to answer my questions, then you leave me no choice. Besides, I don't have the time to waste casually exchanging words with someone, who was aiming for my life just now. So die!"

At this moment, Randy indifferently waved his hand.

"You impertinent human—"

SWOOSH!!!!

Before the vampire man could even retort against his words, the multiple red projectiles that were immobile in mid-air since a while ago, suddenly changed their trajectory away from Randy at a fast speed that even the vampire man could barely keep track of their movements. 

'Too fast!' The vampire man inwardly screamed.

And at this moment, those projectiles were aiming toward his directions at a breakneck speed, and soon, they were only a few inches away from his body. 

Because he did not anticipate something like that to happen ahead of time, he was unable to guard against or dodge the incoming attacks in time and thus had no choice but to wait to be impaled by the ten to fifteen spikes made out of his very own blood. 

"Fuck!" He cursed out loud and immediately blocked in front of himself.

The next second, the multiple blood spikes had reached him and rained down on him, making his body resemble that of a hornet's nest.

Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk…!

The vampire man tried to resist these projectile attacks with his innate regeneration skill, but he soon realized that the blood spikes that were aimed at him at this moment were slightly different from the ones that he had sent toward the young man just now. 

The more the relentless blood spikes pierced through his skin, he noticed that large chunks of his flesh were being torn away in the process, and it was hard to quickly regenerate the missing body parts, as it would normally take a very long time for him to recover fully. 

The worst part about this situation was that he thought he could take back his control over blood spikes when they entered his body. But shortly after, the vampire man quickly realized that he could not take back control of these blood spikes even though they were originally made out of his blood, making him feel very annoyed and frustrated. 

Therefore, he could only grit his teeth and face the brunt of the ten to fifteen attacks that seemed to be directly under the control of the young human multiple times.

Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk…!

Eventually, being left with no other choice, the vampire man immediately decided on a course of action, and then he forcefully took on the attacks for a while as he looked for a chance. 

A few moments later, when he found a chance in the middle of the onslaught of the projectiles, he sidestepped to dodge one of attacks, then quickly turned around and ran away as fast as he could while neglecting the various injuries on his body. 

The vampire man fled with all his speed without looking back, afraid that the other party would continue to unleash more of these kinds of attacks against him and eventually end up killing him in the process.

Seeing this turn of events, Randy was left speechless as he watched as the man with the bright crimson red eyes and pale white skin suddenly ran away in the direction of the nearby forest, disappearing into the forest shortly after. 

'Did he just run away…?' Randy inwardly questioned himself in doubt.