Seeing that Ironclaw got taken down, the adventurers who were cursing him earlier suddenly fell silent.

Sure he abandoned them when he tried to run away earlier but no one blamed him since Ironclaw was not obligated to save their ass when he could barely save his own.

They also knew that even with his presence, with the overwhelming difference of power between the two sides, the outcome would never change even if he stayed behind, he was the adventurer among them that had the highest capability to escape.

If he managed to escape, Ironclaw would be able to warn the others and enact revenge on their behalf.

Despite being angry with him and losing their respect for him, deep down in their hearts, they wanted him to get away from this hellhole and retaliate with an even greater force to make the necromancer pay.

Though there were only some people that felt this way, the others were taking pleasure in his misfortune, narrow-minded people that didn't take the bigger picture into the equation.

However, they didn't have the luxury to be in a stupor for much longer as the expert rank summons of the necromancer continued to charge at them with vicious attacks.

"We are screwed"

"I can't believe I would die like this"

"Why? Why? Why is this happening to me? I haven't had my revenge on them yet!! I can't die until I make them pay!"

"Mommy, I should've listened to you, I'm sorry, I'm sorry"

"Martha, I'm so sorry, I should've stayed with you, please take care of our child, and goodbye"

Cries of despair reverberated in the area, different people had various reactions before their moment of death, some were unresigned and refused to die, some had already given up, some kept on fighting, and some had already said their farewells to their loved ones.

There was even one female adventurer who took out a locket with a photo of a 10-year-old boy inside it, with tears in her eye, she kissed the photo and continued to fight while holding the necklace in her hands, never letting it go no matter what.

"BASTARD!! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!?"

A deafening roar filled with undisguised rage boomed in everyone's ears.

The source of this roar, Ironclaw, still kneeling on the ground with his right hand clutching his chest as blood continuously flowed out like a waterfall.

 He glared at the necromancer with pure hatred.

Unfazed by his glare, the cloaked man continued to grin playfully as he witnessed everything unfold before his eyes.

Hearing Ironclaw's roar, the necromancer turned his head to look at the former directly in his eyes.

"Why am I doing this you ask?"

The necromancer tilted his head while tapping his index finger on his chin, it looked like he was pondering something.

He then scrutinized everyone's pale and sweaty faces one by one and grinned menacingly.

"Well, you are all going to die anyway, might as well tell you the reason why"

"There is not much of an agenda behind my actions, I have no grudges nor bared any sort of hatred with any of you"

The cloaked man said.

His calm voice in contrast to his usual playfulness sent shivers down their spines.

"Then why..."

Ironclaw's voice got weaker and weaker as time progressed, his life force was slowly leaving his body, he tried drinking some healing potions but the ninja that stood beside him prevented him from doing so.

"You bunch were just unlucky to encounter me since I need sacrifices to fix my damaged magic core"

The necromancer said as he pried open his midriff, guts and blood spewed out like a geyser but the necromancer looked like he wasn't in any sort of pain at all. 

One could see a cyan-colored magic core riddled with cracks all over, the core itself had lost all of its luster and shine but the adventurers present could still sense an overwhelming amount of magic power radiating from that same core.

The crowd was stunned by this piece of information.

"Wait, your magic core was damaged? H-how are still alive and still be this strong?"

Seeing their looks of disbelief, the necromancer smirked, arrogance and pride were present in his words.

"Rejoice! Your worthless lives finally had some use by becoming part of me, I will swallow every one of your magic cores and finally get my revenge on that bitch that caused me to be in this state"

He looked directly at Ironclaw in the eyes.

"For I, the vampire lord, Riaz Mundez, shall conquer this area and this shall signal the start of my first step of getting revenge and retake my place among the high-ranking vampires"

Riaz, the vampire necromancer, revealed his identity in a boisterous manner.

And with his declaration, he took off the cover on his head and revealed his face, he had pale skin with red eyes and a bald head, despite the vampire race being famed for their gorgeous appearance, Riaz did not look attractive at all.

His left eye was bigger than his right eye, his bald head had throbbing veins, they wriggled around like maggots, it was grotesque and even grossed out some of the adventurers who were used to seeing repulsive sights.

"V-v-vampire lord? Wasn't a title like that only used when someone from the vampire race reaches the saint rank?"

"We are dead, we are dead"

"It is hopeless, we didn't stand a chance, to begin with"

"Why? Why? A Vampire Lord of all things? Of all places, in a small town like this?"

"Hahaha, so this is how it ends, I never should've joined this stupid suicidal mission"

The adventurer who said the last dialogue had already succumbed to despair, his face was filled with madness.

While some had already lost their will to fight, the others...

"So what if you are a vampire lord? You got your ass handed to ya and ran all the way here to act all tough and shit"

"We will fight you to death, if we are going to die anyway, then let's die on our own terms"

"Rick, hey buddy, let's bet to see who can land a hit on that ugly dude's face first, loser has to buy a truckload of ale for the winner, what do you say?"

A beast person said to his companion by his side and smirked provocatively.

"Heh, you're on"

"Gwahahaha, see you on the other side I guess"

He said while raising his weapon and getting into a battle stance.

Seeing the polar opposite reactions that he got from the adventurers, Riaz blinked in surprise, he expected that these bunch of rabble will lose their will to fight and won't even put up any sort of resistance the moment he revealed his identity.

He never would've guessed that his plan only half-worked as only half of the adventurers present reacted the way he predicted.

The adventurers who denied despair earned some smiles from the others.

Their joking attitudes somehow spread like an infection to the ones who despaired earlier and eased their tensions a bit, even though death's door was only a step away.

"Fuck it, no use sulking and crying, if we are going to die anyway, then let us die with honor"

"Don't let this ugly bastard have it easy, vampire lord or not, let's fuck him up"

"Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill"

*Boom

Someone fired a magic attack which signal the battle to resume, with renewed spirits, the adventurers did much better than they were previously.

Their fighting spirit rose to a level higher than before, Ironclaw widened his eyes at this, just a couple of joking words had washed away their despairing expressions like they didn't exist.

'But the result isn't going to change'

Of course, Ironclaw knew that even with this, they still stood no chance, he could see that the adventurers were dying one by one, each one of their deaths took at least two or three of the necromancer's summons.

The number of adventurers who were still alive decreased, but the number of summons decreased even faster.

When the dust settled, 30 or 40 adventurers were still standing, corpses were lying everywhere and piled on top of each other but the expert rank and intermediate rank summons had all disappeared.

Despite experiencing a small victory, none of the adventurers cheered, sad expressions could be seen on some of their faces when they looked at their fellow adventurers lying on the ground.

While some wore indifferent expressions as they glared at the master rank summons who was just staying still like statues.

*Clap

*Clap

*Clap

The necromancer laughed while clapping his hands, he smiled with amusement, almost like he had just watched his favorite show.

"Hahaha, that's right, that's right, how could I forget that a prey that struggles the most is the most delicious one to devour, I got to admit, you bunch had exceeded my expectations a bit"

His amused words only earned scowls and angry looks from the surviving adventurers, they didn't like the fact that the man in front of them was making light of such a situation.

One brave adventurer pointed his sword at Riaz.

"Riaz the vampire lord, if you are as great as you say you are, then I request a one on one deathmatch"

The adventurer declared, he was Kent, the guy who held up Revlo when he waited in line when the latter wanted to sign up to become an adventurer.

His white hair was dyed red from all the blood that was splattered all over him and his brown eyes showed no ounce of fear as his pupils reflected the image of Riaz standing across him.

One of his wolf ears got bitten off from the battle earlier but he remained his composure and acted like it was no big deal.

He exuded a heroic and fierce aura, he knew that his declaration of a one-on-one deathmatch was a pretty foolish decision but he still said it anyway.

His declaration earned the admiration of the survivors present and sighed to themselves that such a promising adventurer would have to perish in this kind of place.

Ironclaw had a complicated expression on his face, he, a master rank and a gold-tier adventurer was running away from the enemy while an expert rank was confronting the enemy in his stead.

Riaz, however, showed a frown on his face.

He looked at the adventurer in front of him and scrutinized him up and down.

He sensed a familiar scent from his blood, as a vampire, he was sensitive when it comes to matters that involved blood.

Right now, the blood that he sensed from Kent was very familiar, he prodded his head to find out where this sense of familiarity came from.

Searching every inch of his memories, he finally found out something.

"A noble blood of the snowy wolf tribe of the western continent"

Riaz uttered while pointing his fingers at Kent.

"No wait, your blood is much purer than that of a noble... royalty? Why is the royalty of the snowy wolf tribe of the western continent doing here?"

As a former vampire lord, he had visited other continents on several occasions, by chance, he encountered one of the five great beastmen tribes of the western continent and it happened to be those of the wolf tribe.

The strong scent of their blood... he would never forget, right now, he was sensing the same blood as those of the great wolf tribe that he encountered in the past.

"Wolf tribe? Western continent? What the hell are you talking about? I had never been to the western continent"

Kent replied while sending a skeptical glare at the necromancer.

"My nose had never been wrong, why is someone like you doing here in the southern continent?"

Riaz said as he rushed towards Kent up close, his red eyes lit up while looking at Kent directly in the eyes.

A spiritual pressure suddenly descended upon Kent as the latter felt his head aching as a distinct bloody aura was holding him down in place.

"With this, I will know if you are lying or not, tell me, why is someone of the great wolf tribe doing in this place?"

Riaz's cold voice entered Kent's ears.

He gritted his teeth and glared back at Riaz without retreating one bit, even though the pain in his head grew more intense as he continued to stare at the necromancer, there was some sort of invisible drive that kept him going.

"I don't know what you are talking about"

Kent said, tears of blood flowed out of his eyes and dripped down on his cheeks but he still refused to yield.

Seeing that Kent was in trouble, the survivors wanted to rush up to help him but suddenly, an immense aura descended upon them, they turned their heads only to see that the master rank summons who were standing still earlier, now took their first steps forward.

Their faces were covered in sweat and clenched their fists tightly, they raised their weapons and stared at them warily, preparing themselves in case the summons was to attack them.

 

<Afterward>

Celine: They are all so going to die.

Meona: *shiver* P-pls don't say such a horrible thing.

Vorne: Unexpectedly, people from the western continent had already appeared this early on in the story. I did not expect that, I thought it would take hundreds of chapters before they are introduced.

Celine: Hmph, just a continent full of furries.