"Shit!" Both Eldrin and Rey screamed at the same time as the entire group stood frozen because of the unexpected development. Not only had their platform somehow suddenly shifted to a new position but they were also right next to a group of five blood sucking lunatics.
Grrrrr… The five vampires looked equally shocked but they were quick to recover and snarled loudly at the sight of new prey. Almost instantly, their auras burst forth as tremendous power swirled around them.
It was not really a secret what they had been doing so far and from the looks of it they had no plans to hide it either. Within seconds, ten ominously swirling balls of blood materialized around them and hovered as they gathered momentum and palpable power.
The vampires were fast but Liam was faster. After all, this was not the first time he was fighting with them. Liam only needed one look to see that these vampires were feral bottom feeders just like the many he had fought back on earth in the beginning of the apocalypse. At the same time, there was something different about them so he did not want to underestimate them.
Before the blood balls could get anywhere near their group, Liam erected an ice-attuned dao field enclosing everyone inside it. "Move now!" Instead of fighting with the vampires like many other groups opted to do, he unexpectedly dashed forward to the next platform.
Yes, he was planning to minimize the amount of contact he had with the elites of the myriad realms in these so-called slaughter trials so as to not garner any more unnecessary enmity than what he already had but this was not the reason for his peaceful approach this time around.
As the blood balls hit the barrier and fizzled out, unable to break through, the group hurriedly blasted through the platform.
Everyone ran as fast as they could, and jumped from their current platform to the next platform. They couldn't help but immediately turn and see what happened to the vampires when they noticed that the group had actually lagged back.
The bunch of red-eyed humanoids stood frozen, staring daggers at them, completely unable to do anything else. They had even launched a few blood balls from the looks of bloody splotches on their previous platform, with more ready to go.
But Liam firmly shook his head. "Don't engage with them." He immediately spotted another accessible platform in front of them. "Let's go." He continued channeling the dao field as the group ran towards the next platform.
Only now the vampires were finally making their move. They too had dropped the idea of attacking them and instead focusing on creating their own dao field. However, the difference between the dao field Liam had erected and the one the vampires were conjuring was like night and day. While Liam's ice-attuned dao field shimmered with a frigid yet stable aura, protecting his group with an almost serene assurance, the vampires' field radiated a volatile, blood-red energy, pulsating feebly. It looked like it was about to give out at any moment.
Moreover, by the time the vampires had finished erecting the dao field, Liam's group was already en route to jumping onto the next platform.
"Those should be the weaker ones," Liam explained. "I think there are various ranks of vampires participating in this trial. Not all are elites. It will only be a waste of our time to fight with them. It is better to ignore them and keep going ahead."
Everyone nodded in acknowledgment. Liam's assessment was definitely not wrong as within a couple of minutes, they had easily managed to put a good distance between themselves and the vampire group.
However, not all problems were easily solved. They were still very far away from the main goal which was the pyramid floating in the distance.
Though Liam's speed of setting up the dao field was impressive and his ability to manipulate it and maintain it was also equally superior, there was still a glaring problem. The speed of the group on the whole was considerably lacking.
Liam already had his hands full with the dao field and deciphering which platform to jump next. Constantly maintaining a dao field was not a joke. It was tremendously draining. So he couldn't do anything to help others increase their speed. If anything he would have to literally carry them.
Rey quickly stepped in and tried to improve the situation. Though his control wasn't as good, seeing Liam constantly manipulate and stabilize a dao field firsthand gave him a pretty good idea and he tried to create his own weak field and increase everyone's speed.
Ultimately, this was not a huge deal and something Liam was already prepared to deal with when they first began climbing the Spire. This was perhaps why the vampire elites dropped all the heavyweights to do their own tasks so that they did not get dragged down.
However, Liam did not plan on doing that. This was probably the last segment the group was going to run and he was determined to bring everyone to the other side in one piece.
But this was easier said than done. Speed seemed to be the least of their problems as a bloody aura once again erupted not too far away from them. It was the same group of vampires as before. For some reason, they seemed to be intent on following the same path as Liam's group.
As Liam's group kept advancing, the group of vampires followed them right on their tail, lagging sometimes and quickly catching up when the distance became too big. The aura fluctuations were also extremely erratic.
And for some reason, the leader of the small group seemed extremely confident as he glared at Liam with animosity, even going as far as to taunt him. "You are not going to last long . I am going to get you soon, human."
Liam felt the power fluctuations once again spike up as the group's speed visibly increased.