The Primal Hunter

Miranda felt a moment of distress as the vampire rose and its aura spread out the gate and into the hallway. Sylphie didn’t seem to be that on edge, but the same couldn’t be said about the people behind Sven. Sven himself didn’t display anything but just drew his weapon and yelled for his party to get ready.

She also took this yell as her wake-up call and waved her hand as magic circles began being summoned around her. She doubted she could do much direct damage to the Count of Blood as the Viscounts already outmatched her, but she would do her best nevertheless.

Carmen threw a glance towards Sylphie, and without further ado, the two made their move. Sven followed, wielding a large two-handed sword, with his four party members also doing their own thing. One summoned runic lines that appeared on the armor of Sven and Carmen; another began summoning root spears, the third charged with Sven, wielding a sword and shield, while the last one was the most impressive, at least visually. He roared as his body slowly began morphing, and before long, a large armored bear had joined the battle.

The Count of Blood was a large male who summoned armor of bone upon seeing the charging humans, as a black spear also appeared in his hands. Red energy exploded out of his body. Miranda had to defend herself as she began doing what she thought was most valuable: creating a barrier between her and the two casters in Sven’s party. Not one that could hold back the vampire for long, just long enough for them to react.

Magic filled the air, and the two sides clashed, a powerful vampire on one side and a group of humans on the other. Oh, and a green bird that fast proved to be one of the most dangerous things in the room.

Sven could only chip off parts of the bone armor with his swings, making it crack and sometimes knock pieces off, but Sylphie? Sylphie did a fly-by and cut up the vampire’s back, sending blood flying as the armor failed to block her glowing green wing. How the hell the bird had such potent attack power Miranda truly didn’t understand.

The bear proved to be impressive-looking but unable to do much. All it did was try and pre-occupy the vampire by holding onto parts of it, or sometimes land mostly-ineffective blows with its large paws. On the other hand, the bear-man did prove to be very durable, but the vampire handled that by simply not attacking it.

Besides Sylphie, Carmen was the one who found the most success. Her glowing fists cracked the bone armor with every hit, and with her far higher rate of attack, she was by far the main danger of their entire group. Fortunately, the vampire seemed not to have much attacking power besides the spear – which he did wield skillfully, but even so, the human side did take quite a few injuries.

Miranda worked on her barrier while the wood mage fired off wooden spears, and after seeing they did nothing, switching to summoning roots to try and restrain the vampire and limit its movements. The rune caster was some kind of healer and used his magic to temporarily make Carmen or Sven stronger while also creating runes that summoned shields.

Overall their group was balanced, and it became a battle of attrition. The vampire kept yelling horrible dialogue about how it would drink their blood and feast on their flesh, but from what Miranda had learned, that was just par for the course.

She was beginning to feel confident, even if the vampire healed any wounds they inflicted, and the wounds accumulated on primarily the bear, Sven, and the woman with a sword and shield. On a side note, Sven had attempted to use the Stake but found that it failed to penetrate the bone armor and only made the vampire even madder. After that happened, she feared for a moment they would have to flee and hopefully find Jake to help them, but that didn’t seem neccesar-

“ENOUGH!”

The Count of Blood screamed as his entire body exploded in white light, sending all the melee fighters back and interrupted the spellcasting of everyone as Miranda felt her magic be disrupted. Then, she saw the vampire raise its spear as it stabbed it into the ground.

“Forest of Bones.”

Miranda barely had time to react before the ground erupted as thousands of spear-like bones shot up from below. The barrier she had made also protected downwards, but only barely. She dodged back but still ended up being speared through the thigh and an arm, making her yelp in pain and lose her concentration.

Those who had been close to the Count and were blasted back now faced angled spears of bone aimed towards their backs. Sven turned in mid-air blocking with the flat side of his large blade but still took a few minor stabs in his chest.

Carmen didn’t even bother with it all as she was speared from behind, and the bones barely penetrated a few centimeters, allowing her to quickly shoot back towards the vampire, her wounds visibly healing. The one who handled it the worst was the woman with a shield. She had already been wounded by a spear earlier and now failed to adapt as she was impaled through the chest.

Miranda turned and saw that the runic healer had also been stabbed by a spear and was trying to get to healing again. The wood mage had handled it well by shooting vines up from the ground himself, making him be shot up into the air.

had now reverted back to his human form, retreating

Miranda thought, gritting her teeth. The only one unaffected by the attack had been

to call Jake? Could Sylphie

again, but the vampire appeared stronger than before. The armor of bone began changing into a smaller version, and the

and quickly glanced around the room. Sven had also gotten up and looked

“Retreat!”

bear-man didn’t have to be told that twice as he began running out of the chamber, while the wood mage

them was

leave and exit the chamber, leaving the bird and woman behind. She frowned but didn’t resist as she knew

mark she had left on her magic circle, and all she saw was Carmen still

“I don’t follow?”

we do something? The Count proved

shaking their heads. “I am most certain Carmen is more than happy about the state of that room. The only one I am

glance. She seemed to understand and made a small “ree” as Carmen smiled and got to work. The Count was weakened and about to be out of resources, so it was time to finish the fight. As Carmen prepared, Sylphie flew towards the Count and began flying around it as a whirlwind was kicked up, keeping the Count locked

both her fists on the ground as she

“Sacred Battlefield.”

the ground as an odd

“Regalia of the Fallen.”

ghostly, armor covered her body in a

“Runes of the Valkyrie.”

arms as she felt an influx of power in them, and their resilience significantly

“Exaltation of Valhal.”

illusory hall full of feasting warriors appeared as they all seemed to lift a mug in her glory. Carmen felt

“Blessed Echo.”

woman wielding a large axe floated above for a fraction of a second before it slowly descended into her body, buffing up all her physical

“Ruinous Drive.”

her body began burning as her body became significantly more powerful. Her skin started flaking, and blood dripping out of cracks on her skin. For but a moment, she was

couldn’t fight for

out of the green whirlwind

“Fist of Ragnarok.”

before the Count of Blood as she

into the air as her fist penetrated through the chest of the vampire, blasting

left where her arm