"I must say, you're one of the strongest humans I've seen."
The red-haired Vampire grinned as he stared at Arin.
"It makes me wonder if you're even a human."
Arin didn't reply, but the tension between them was obvious.
The fourteen residents of the village were still watching the battle from a corner.
One of the men looked at the lady standing in front of him.
"Leader, s-should we also join the fight?"
Though he asked this, he was hoping that the Leader would say no.
The lady, who was the leader, furrowed her brows, thinking about what decision to make.
From the look on the faces of the others, it was obvious that they were all waiting for her response.
After a few seconds, she finally made a decision.
"I think we should... just watch for now," she said.
The others behind her couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"If we join, most of us will end up injured," she added, "But don't even think about dropping your guard. We know only one person among this group of strange people who are helping us. So we still have to remain cautious."
"Understood, Leader," they all said in unison.
The leader stared at a certain girl as she squinted her eyes.
'What is she doing here...?'
Meanwhile, Riya was fighting two Vampires.
Though, she wasn't even moving from the spot she stood.
The two Vampires grinned as they dashed towards her from the left and right sides.
They leaped up, ready to strike at the same time.
Riya instantly raised her hands, and two Water Bubbles formed. One enveloped the Vampire at the right, and the other one enveloped the Vampire at the left.
Riya grinned as she brought her hands down, and then...
She smashed the Water Bubbles on the ground, causing cracks to appear.
The Water Bubbles were not destroyed and the Vampires were unharmed because of the Water Bubbles, but that wasn't what Riya was aiming for.
As soon as the Water Bubbles hit the ground, she controlled them again, moving them towards each other with great force.
The Vampires were struggling to break the Water Bubbles, but Riya added more Mana to them, increasing their durability.
The Water Bubbles got closer to each other with force, but before they could hit each other, Riya deactivated the Water Bubble Spell.
And because of this...
The two Vampires collided with each other.
Without wasting time, Riya shot out two jets of high-pressure water towards the two Vampires.
Before they could dodge, the Water Jets connected with their heads.
Their heads blasted off as blood sprayed.
Arin and the red-haired Vampire were still facing each other, and the Vampire had been talking ever since.
"Tell me, what is your name?" The Vampire asked with a smile as he licked his fangs with his tongue.
"You sure are a talkative," Arin said.
The Vampire raised a brow.
"Oh, is that so? Then I'll show you some action!"
Numerous swords made of Blood Energy appeared behind the Vampire.
With a single motion, the Blood Swords rushed towards Arin with speed.
He gripped his sword in his left hand, and in that same moment, the Dark Energy sword he got from Valtor appeared in his right hand.
By this time, the Blood Energy Swords had already almost reached him.
Swiftly, Arin dashed forward, his swords ready.
All the Blood Energy Swords instantly shattered as Arin arrived in front of the Vampire.
The Vampire's eyes widened, shocked by Arin's speed, but he quickly reacted.
His expression turned fierce as he swung his claws with force towards Arin.
Seeing the incoming claws, Arin instantly flipped.
He landed behind the Vampire.
But before the Vampire could turn back, Arin delivered a chop to his neck, rendering him unconscious.
The Vampire fell with a thud as Arin stood over him with both swords in his hands.
The fourteen residents gasped as they stared at the battlefield.
The Vampires were really dead.
"The battle has ended...?" one of them muttered.
"Battle?" another one asked. "I think you mean massacre... That was clearly a one-sided fight."
"I don't know if it's just me, but the Vampires we just killed seemed weak," Ethan said to Riya as they walked towards Arin.
Riya smiled behind her mask.
"They're not weak, Ethan. We're just strong."
Tessa rushed towards Arin.
"Hey, we've killed all the vampires. There's no one left."
Arin nodded as he turned to face Tessa.
"Yeah, this one is just unconscious. I decided not to kill him."
Tessa stared at the red-haired Vampire's unconscious body before nodding.
Leon, Riya, and Ethan had already reached Arin.
With that, it was time to address the Villagers.
Though Arin didn't know he would run into Vampires here, he was glad he did because it made his original plan easier.
"About fourteen of them are standing there. They seem really cautious," Riya said, looking towards a certain direction.
"Their cautiousness is understandable, though," Leon said.
Arin squinted his eyes as he muttered, "I guess one of them has decided to approach us."
The Leader of the Villagers steeled her resolve as she began walking towards them.
"Leader... I don't think it's safe," one of them tried to stop her.
The lady looked back.
"Stay here. As the Leader of this village, it is my duty to make sure everyone here is safe."
They could only watch as their Leader began walking towards the five individuals.
Arin, seeing the approaching figure, glanced at Tessa.
Tessa nodded in understanding.
She walked forward, standing in front of Arin.
Finally, the lady reached them, though she stood a good distance away as she gripped her sword, her eyes full of cautiousness.
Her short green bob-shaped hair bounced as she slowly came to a halt.
She seemed to be in her mid-twenties, and she was also wearing slightly worn-out armour.
"Fang..." Tessa whispered.
Yes, this lady was Fang, the leader of Brownleaf Village... The same village where Arin and Tessa came for a mission to handle the bandits.
"I knew it... My eyes weren't deceiving me," Fang whispered.
She now had a thoughtful expression on her face as she opened her mouth to speak.
It was as if she was trying to remember something.
"Uhm... Te... Tessa, right?"
"Yes, you're right," Tessa said as she smiled sweetly.
Due to the way Tessa was talking to her and the calm expression of the others behind her, Fang relaxed a bit.
"What about the boy you came with that day?"
"He's not here," Tessa said.
Before Fang could ask any other question, Tessa instantly spoke again.
"I know you have a lot of questions, especially regarding the others behind me. But trust me, he'll answer everything."
Tessa gestured towards Arin who was standing just behind her.
Arin stepped forward.
"Greetings, Fang. There are a lot of things I'd like to speak to you about," he said.
Fang furrowed her brows.
He walked forward again before answering.
"You can call me Chaos."
Fang wanted to ask what kind of name was that, but then, she remembered that her own name sounded kinda... Weird?
"You have every right to be cautious, but it's important."
Fang still looked very cautious, and Tessa could see it.
It was obvious to her that Arin wanted to speak with her privately, and she didn't know what to think about that.
"I'll come with him," Tessa instantly said.
Fang looked at Tessa.
She couldn't deny the fact that she was curious about who these people were and what this masked dude wanted to tell her.
Now, with Tessa saying she would come with them, she was already considering it.
Because of what Tessa and that boy named Arin did for them by helping them take care of the bandits, she trusted Tessa to some extent.
Fang was quiet for some seconds.
She gripped her sword before her expression suddenly became sharp.
She raised the sword as she stared at Arin.
She turned to look at Tessa.
"She'll come with me, and you'll stand a few distances away from us."
Fang turned to look at the thirteen residents of her Village.
Some of them had already left to tell the other residents of the village that were hidden in their homes that the Vampires had been killed.
They had to make sure the about 250 residents of the village were now calm.
'If I tell them about this discussion I'm about to have with this Chaos guy, they'll protest and probably won't let me,' Fang thought.
She looked at Arin again.
"Alright, I'm ready."
"We'll wait here," Riya said as she folded her arms.
Arin nodded in response.
With that, Tessa walked towards Fang and stood beside her.
'I hope Chaos's plan works...' Tessa thought as she stared at Arin.