I used all the speed available to me and raced toward the scream, not watching where I was going.
I crossed snow-covered forests, dense forests where no human foot had ever tread. I crossed mountain ranges that no sane person would ever climb.
I was getting closer to the state of Syracuse.
And when I began approaching the border of this state,
Something started attacking me.
I didn't see who it was or what it was.
I could feel fluctuations of magic in certain places, from which blades burst out, meant to pierce my vital organs.
Well, if I were human, they would have been very important.
But the "caster" himself I didn't see. Hell, I couldn't even feel him.
"This dude might be one of the best assassins around. I can't even roughly track his location," I said importantly, blocking another strike.
As I got closer to the border, the attacks became more and more furious.
"Damn. Only a mad psychopath or a monster could dodge his attacks," I started grumbling.
An ordinary person would have been dead already, since the attacks didn't stop for a single second. Sometimes I felt the attacks begin to materialize right inside my body — fortunately, the density of my magic was so great compared to my opponent's that it immediately expelled the foreign magic.
Yes, even an extraordinary person would have been dead.
When I was already crossing the border of Syracuse, I saw a fully equipped group of people with wolf ears, numbering two hundred.
"Oh, they decided to welcome me with open arms right away? I don't recall ever crossing paths with the government of Syracuse in any way."
And immediately a barrage of "art" from the "casters" came flying at me.
"Oh, we're not even going to exchange pleasantries like 'you're not welcome here,' but go straight to action?"
A green shield appeared before me — "Bastion of the Damned" — into which all that chaos flew.
A moment, and six dozen skeletons began rising from the ground.
"You have quite a lot of 'casters,' but that won't give you an advantage against me."
And the wall of the dead crashed into the wall of living people.
I myself rushed toward the casters.
A moment, and I'm standing right in front of their formation, swinging my scythe.
But to my surprise, my strike was blocked — more precisely, stopped. Right before my attack, a huge shield appeared, which I pierced with my scythe and pinned the "defender" to the ground. Given that my weapon was now in the ground, I raise my left hand toward the "casters."
"Crimson Beam[1]".
After my words, a blood-red beam of raging energy burst from my palm and shot straight toward the "casters."
But to my surprise, the "casters" had started forming defensive "art" even before I spoke the words.
And the blood beam crashed right into the wall of "art" created by all the casters present here.
They even managed to stop it, but a third of the casters simply collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.
I tilted my head in question, while simultaneously blocking another strike from out of nowhere.
"You were ready for this, even for the dead. You just miscalculated your strength. How could you have known about this?"
But I was met with faces of silent resolve.
Faces of people who were ready to die.
My smirk, which had appeared back at the very beginning of our battle, vanished from my face.
"Something is wrong."
Behind me, Lupo appeared with a huge hammer, clearly intending to crush me. I, pulling my scythe from the ground, deflected his strike to the side and kicked this Lupo, sending him flying into the ranks of the "casters."
I turned toward the silhouette of a city visible in the distance. Even with binoculars, it was nearly impossible to make out, but I could see it.
Beside me, two green pentagrams appeared. From one emerged a "Death Knight," and from the other — a "Volatile Arachnid."
While I was peering at the city, the army of Lupo, which had already dealt with the dead, rushed toward me with tripled force.
These two stood in their path, while I myself was surrounded by a "Phantom Aegis."
And right there, right in front of me, a blood trail began to form. I looked at it in surprise, and then that repulsive, sickening smell hit my nose.
"No..." I said, not believing my own sense of smell.
"This can't be."
"How?"
"I killed them all."
"Every single one. Not a single one left. I devoured them all. Tore them to tiny pieces." — my voice turned into a scream.
"How did you survive, you bastard!? You of all people!?" I screamed furiously toward the silhouette of the city.
Because of my scream, my magic became unstable and began bursting out of me, throwing everyone who surrounded me back by dozens of meters. The ground beneath my feet began to crack, and small stones started rising into the air.
Veins began appearing on my face from rage.
Because this was the smell I wanted to forget like a terrible nightmare.
The smell of my kin.
A kin who had taken away the only friend I had in that world.
City of Syracuse.
In one of the buildings, where the city leaders and the mafia were discussing further opposition to Nomat, in the darkest corner, two red glows burned. Those present seemed not to notice him, but his word was the deciding one. Unconditional.
The man smiled, baring teeth sharpened like a shark's.
"I've finally found you. Little vampire."
[1] this is the ultimate ability of "Blood Magic," so I wasn't underestimating the casters of Syracuse — they got hit with a boss ultimate as the very first spell