Vampire Infection

"Thud."

The old man's body crumpled to the ground after I let go of him, his eyes were still eerily open but replacing the light of life was a lifeless darkness as if he'd died an unjust death which in a way I had to admit he had.

If it wasn't for the carelessness of one of his subordinates I probably would've been finished off just moments before.

I looked up from his body and around at the crowd, there was an eerie silence as they all just stared at me dumbfounded. I could hear the one who'd ran over to 'assist' the old man swallow loudly as he quickly took several steps back as he tried retreat into the crowd.

"Tch, what a troublesome task." I couldn't help but mutter, this had only been one of the Elders of the society, it was more than likely there were people stronger than him including the 'Leader' of the mages.

"Th- The Grandmaster is dead!" A cry shattered the silence as everyone simultaneously took a step back in horror at the realisation that this wasn't an illusion but reality, one brave or should I call him foolish man stepped forward in that moment.

"He has to be weak! You saw how injured he was there's no way he could've recovered so quickly, kill him!" Before he started to create a fireball that was much smaller and could barely qualify as an 'attack' in my eyes compared to the old man's.

"You would think, wouldn't you?" I said loud enough for them all to hear, all they saw was an afterimage fade away. "Ugh!" I was holding the man by his neck in the next instant, "Don't take it personally, even if you hadn't spoken I need to kill all of you anyway." I said shortly before crushing his throat.

"Dammit! Attack, kill him!" Several fl.u.s.tered voices came from the crowd as they tried to organise themselves to defend against me but it was pointless. I was too fast for their magic or their eyes to catch up with me, the level-ups had pushed me right to the boundary of the next rank pushing my strength to an entirely new level than it was before.

I was now fast enough to leave an afterimage behind me and could do several things in an instant before they actually 'happened.' For example, I slashed the throat of eight mages before returning to the middle of the encirclement and watching them die much to the horror of the mages around them.

If I had to estimate there were around a hundred or so mages surrounding me and I had a feeling that I just needed the blood of a few more strong individuals to rank-up but draining all of them would be too time consuming.

"How about this," I said causing the mages to all look up from their despair and planning with some slight hope, "you send out your ten most powerful mages and whether they win or lose I'll let you go, how about it?"

The mages seemed to be conflicted before one took a step forward, "We'll happily oblige if you swear on your eyes that you'll honour the agreement." Before stepping back into the crowd and disappearing among them, there were a few mutters of agreement before most of them were nodding their heads and agreeing with the idea.

I assumed it was a tradition of their race or a tradition of mages but either way it wasn't like it mattered to me. "I swear on my eyes that I'll allow you all to go regardless of the outcome of the battle or let me be punished for it." I said casually, I could see the hope return to them as they started to argue about who was 'stronger' no one wanted to admit to their own strength because they already knew the results.

After what felt like an hour but in reality was probably no longer than ten minutes, their heated arguments had almost dissolved into actual fights before I intervened, I had ten of their 'best' mages standing on front of me, I wasn't sure of their actual power but they were all at least stronger than Velim who I'd killed before but none of them came close to the pressure that the old man had released before.

"How arrogant you are to say you can prevent us from leaving, let me be the first to teach you a lesson!" One said with disdain in his voice as he looked at me, I laughed slightly because his words were more of a reassurance for himself rather than a threat against me.

A few of them nodded in agreement although the fear in their eyes contradicted them, "Ready?" I asked nonchalantly. It was becoming tedious dealing with them and I was growing impatient to grow stronger.

So not waiting for them to reply, one of them had actually begun to shake his head, I dashed forward unexpectedly.

"Sc.u.mbag!" I heard one of them shout, I couldn't help but chuckle before I crushed the throat of the first of them, drinking his blood in the process.

I could feel his power assimilating with mine, 'Is mana stored in the blood?' I couldn't help but think of this possibility. If the source of their magic came from their blood it made sense why it would strengthen me to drain them.

With my increase in strength I could now vaguely make out the shapes of their invisible barriers, they were completely see-through at a glance but if you looked carefully you could faintly see the mana in the air forming the edges.

At first I thought this was just something I'd missed before but I was more certain now that it had something to do with draining the old man. His blood had made me more attuned to mana than I had been before.

Thinking back to my battle with the old man still sent shivers down my spine slightly as I leisurely crushed the throats of and drained the bodies of these 'strongest mages' if it hadn't been for what could only be described as a suicidal idea I probably would be dead.

'I'll have to find some time to practice and fully learn the effects of how to use these shadows.' I thought before bringing myself out of a daze and back to the 'fight' or a better would to describe it would be 'slaughter.'

Four of them were already dead; six remained standing looking at me as if I was a monster. I was doing everything at a 'leisurely' pace to the point that it terrified them more than it had me defeating their Grandmaster.

I could see the hope disappear from their eyes as they looked at me with dismay and terror knowing there was no way to escape, their reactions didn't give me as much entertainment as I'd hoped.

"How disappointing." I said loud enough for them to hear, a couple of them started to get angry only to realise it was useless and be crushed by that realisation. A few ignored my comment and tried to keep themselves optimistic to no avail and finally the last few had completely given up.

They had slumped to the ground muttering incoherently as they stared at me in disbelief, their reactions were bland to what I was expecting but it was better than nothing in the end. I sighed lightly looking at their bland reactions and decided to end it in an instant, all six of them dropped to the ground with two new marks on their necks, blood lightly dripping as they all dropped to the ground.

<<Level: 2.0>>

'Finally… I thought, it hadn't been long since I'd become a Young Vampire but it had felt like forever since the day I had first woken up as a Vampire for the first time.

<<Rank-Up in Progress>>

<<Rank: M.a.t.u.r.e Wolf Shadow Vampire>>

It was an unexpected name but somehow it felt fitting, it felt unique like it was something that belonged to only me. I felt the surge of power course through me as my body broke down and rebuilt itself reforming itself due to my rank-up.

"Aghh!" I held my hand to my head as I fell to the ground, my body was wracked by unimaginable pain as I felt my bones begin to break down before reforming themselves one by one, the pain was worse than when I'd assimilated with a bloodline and I was struggling to remain conscious.

"What's happening? I heard one of the mages around me mutter quietly only for his voice to be drowned out by shouts to attack and kill me while I was weak, I could barely keep my eyes open to know who had said it first but it gave me something to focus on to relieve myself of the pain, slaughter.

So like a mindless beast I let go and all I could hear was screams. I couldn't keep my eyes open to know what was happening but I could feel it with my body with every life I reaped and every life I stole from them, it was like I was experiencing everything as a third party as I had no control over my own body… then silence fell.

<<Rank-Up Evolution Complete>>

<<Mission Progress: Fang City Branch Destroyed. >>