Chapter 54: Confrontation
Rain fell down. It wasn't a nice time to be outside.
"First Europe and now America. I am far from home."
Raid I was in was in France and now I was in America to hunt down a ghoul. After spending most of life at same town it felt weird moving this much.
"Not like I have a choice."
I traced the ruins. This place used to be a huge city. But according to what I read a huge red gate opened out of nowhere one day. Most of the civilians were killed in blink of an eye. Even after hunters managed to subjugate the boss and other monsters, it remained abandoned. It wasn't rare for something like this to happen. The place where my Grandfather lived also was abandoned. People didn't wanted to live places where dungeons happened. After all, who wanted to live in place where most of people you known died horrible deaths?
"It almost like a stain that doesn't go away."
Even now I could feel the death in this place.
"There is something else I could feel."
I pulled my sword. A fist made out of rubble flew towards me.
"Golems."
I said as I dodged. Several of them rose from rubble.
"Watchdogs?"
I asked to myself. Golems didn't "occur" naturally. They were created by a magician.
"I am close."
Since they were here that meant that magician created them was also here.
"But first I need to get rid of them."
Golems were troublesome enemies for me. They didn't had any blood and seeing their inner structure didn't helped me to predict their attacks. I also couldn't order them with Domination. But that didn't meant that I had no way of dealing with them. I could see where their core was and also…
(Sword Aura D)
Finally a skill to use mana as I liked. My blade shone bright red. It was a skill that lower than Mana Blade but I was still glad I got it. I was able to get it while reinforcing my weapons. According to Elizabeth, it was because I finally able grasp concept of mana. Took me long enough! They were slow. Even without Hawkeye helping me, my experience was enough to predict their attacks.
"Around ten."
All of them were formed from the rubble around us. That vampire didn't had any other material to create golems.
"She must be desperate."
So I was. It already been 5 days. I had 2 days left. I moved towards the magical barrier I detected before. If it was before I wouldn't even notice it. But my time experiences with Lazarus and Elizabeth helped me detect magical barriers.
(Hawkeye(Darkness) ranked up to B++)
What? I used Hawkeye nearly all time so it wasn' a suprise it ranked up. But not B but B++? Without me not having time to register what happened the details and range of what I saw increased so much that my head felt like it was going to explode! I was doubled over due pain. Holding my head between my hands, I tried to decrease what I was seeing. Good thing I had no enemies close to me. It took me almost 10 minutes to control my vision.
"Shit, it was bad timing."
Most magical barriers were set up to alarm magicians when someone entered it. That vampire probably booked it when I entered here! Shit! While I was panicking I noticed something new.
"Footprint?"
No, it was different. Heavy rain would already erased all of the traces. Yet, I could see them. Because Hawkeye ranked up?
"How convenient!"
It was traces of two people. One woman and one man? Woman should be the vampire and man should be the ghoul. But they are together? Shouldn't ghoul be feral? Does she control him with hypnosis? I could also see the formation of the magic barrier I was in. It looked like bunch of words and strings were jumbled together. I tried to touch and cut them but I couldn't touch them. Maybe if I had a deeper understanding of mana and magic I could have destroyed this barrier.
"I should look more into it."
But now I had to focus on the mission I was given. I was able to see where they were in. They were on top of one of the skyscrapers. I wondered how this building still stood. My visison showed me a lot damage. I was able to climb safely thanks to being able to avoid those parts.
"Come on Noah! They are here! We must go!"
"Grhh!"
As I closed on them I could hear them. I kicked the door to roof. Wind and rain were even more intense here.
"No!"
Vampire had red hair. Both of them were soaked with rain. She looked roughed up probably due being on run for some time. And man… If I could call him that, was hunched down. His nails were long. Visible veins all around his body wiggled, similar to countless worms. His skin was black in most areas as if he was decomposing. His face told me that he was in full agony. Vampire got front of him.
"You don't have to do this! Please!"
I remembered the time when Nur protected me from Calamity. My will wavered just for a second. But looking at ghoul's condition, I quickly willed myself.
"I was ordered to bring you alive. Step aside."
It was better to die than live like that. I pointed my sword towards them.
"I am going to put him out of his misery."
As I walked towards them I could see mana forming around vampire clearly. She was going to attack.
"Blood Gale!"
An attack I was familiar with. It didn't had the same punch as Lazarus but it was surely same attack. I dodged it. Wind made out of red mana hit the entrance I came from. While she was weaker than Lazarus, her attack was destructive. If I allowed her keep attacking like that in a damaged building like this, it wouldn't end well for all of us. Using the Sword Aura I covered my blade with my mana. Resonating with my blood, it grew taller and thicker.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone