Burning

“Thud! Thud!”

Two heavy impacts rang out almost simultaneously.

Balu the beastkin flew across half the room, slamming heavily into the stone wall on the side of the prayer room. His head cracked against the stone, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out cold.

Nikus crashed into the very same wall right after him.

His body slid down the stone, dropping into a half-kneeling position on the floor. His broadsword slipped from his grasp, clattering onto the ground beside his feet.

A few wisps of hot air laced with bloody foam puffed from the breathing vents of his helmet.

Standing in the center of the prayer room, the vampire elder spread her leathery wings slightly, holding the posture of her recent strike.

Her body bore faint traces of damage from the brief clash with the three of them, along with mottled scorch marks left behind by the Holy Light.

Leaping backward, Rosie cast a glance at the two fallen figures and cursed under her breath, Useless, the both of them.

Although Holy Light had weakened the vampire, her transformation made her hideously tough and monstrously strong.

The beastkin had roared the loudest, only to end up on the floor the fastest.

The other guy wasn't much better; despite wearing such heavy armor, he was half-dead after taking just two hits.

Furthermore, Rosie was entirely out of Holy Light spells. Restoring her energy required deep meditation—which essentially meant a long, good sleep.

In other words, she currently had no way to counter the vampire either.

She could only rely on the sword in her hands.

Rosie quietly assessed the creature's combat capability, searching for a strategy to break her opponent.

The vampire didn't rush in blindly either. This Holy Light user before her was as insidious as she was shameless; the creature suspected the girl was hiding even more despicable tricks.

“I'll deal with her. Look for an opening.”

Vera's slightly raspy voice came from the side.

Rosie shifted her gaze to Vera, who now looked like a demon incarnate. After a brief flicker of surprise, Rosie nodded.

A hunter who specialized in slaying vampires was bound to have a trump card.

“Alright, I'll back you up,” Rosie said, stepping aside without hesitation.

The vampire's eyes lingered on Vera for a moment.

“Power of the Abyss? How interesting.”

Vera offered no reply.

Taking several strides forward, her flaming rapier carved trailing fiery afterimages through the air.

The vampire lashed out with rapid palm strikes, her hands colliding with the blade in a flurry of sharp pops.

The searing heat clung to the metal, catching both of her hands on fire amidst the relentless exchanges.

“Again?!”

Clapping her hands together violently, the vampire smothered the fledgling flames between her palms with a sharp crack.

Then, opening her maw wide, she collapsed her chest inward before unleashing a violent burst.

A visible shockwave rippled outward from her mouth, sending a blast of force sweeping forward that upended everything in its path.

Vera's figure flickered and vanished, reappearing behind the vampire elder in the next instant as her rapier thrust from behind.

Rosie dodged to the side at the same time. The mimic gargoyle had used a similar shockwave attack before, and she wasn't about to fall for the same trick twice.

The shockwave surged forward, blasting the tightly shut wooden doors into splinters.

The armed handmaidens guarding outside were struck by flying debris and force, thrown backward down the corridor. They tumbled across the floor with brief cries of alarm.

The moment her shockwave missed, the vampire elder sensed the rush of air behind her.

Her reaction speed remained terrifyingly fast, spinning around to sweep her claws outward as the attack landed.

Vera didn't yield an inch, driving her rapier forward in a rapid sequence of thrusts.

Glints of steel flashed relentlessly through the prayer room, each strike leaving a tiny puncture mark on the vampire elder's body.

Simultaneously, the creature's claws tore through Vera's leather tunic, leaving several gashes, yet not a single drop of blood bled from the wounds.

Vera withdrew her sword and leaped back.

The vampire looked down at the punctures across her skin. Each hole glowed with a faint crimson light, as if a tiny piece of glowing ember had been embedded inside.

In the next second—

Flames erupted from every single puncture simultaneously.

It was as if dozens of miniature explosives buried inside her body had detonated all at once.

“Argh! It burns! It burns!”

Fire devoured the vampire's body with a continuous, furious hiss.

The carpet fibers ignited under the intense heat, flames spreading along the weave toward the hanging drapes that touched the floor. From the drapes, the fire rapidly climbed onto the wall hangings and wooden furniture.

“Going all out, huh?” Rosie muttered.

She didn't want to survive the vampire only to be burned to death by her ally's fire—that would be ridiculous.

“Rosie! Get them out of here! Leave this place to me!”

Vera kept her eyes locked onto the blazing figure, her expression showing not the slightest hint of relief.

Rosie didn't waste time on unnecessary words.

Turning on her heel, she dashed toward the corner. She grabbed Balu by his back collar with one hand and caught Nikus's arm with the other. Nikus could still stand; after being hauled up, he wobbled briefly before stumbling out behind Rosie.

Just as the three of them reached the doorway—

“Blood Veil!”

With a bellow from the vampire, blood surged from her body, smothering the flames instantly.

“Impressive trick. But how long can you maintain that form?”

She slashed open her own wrist.

Fresh blood gushed from the wound, and with a sweep of her arm, she flicked it toward Rosie and the others.

The flying blood burst into countless tiny droplets midair, shooting toward the trio like arrows loosed from a heavy bow.

A shadow darted in from the side, interposing itself between them and the crimson rain.

The rapier traced a lightning-fast pentagram in the air, erupting into a wall of fire that erupted outward from its center.

The blaze roared up in the narrow corridor. The incoming blood droplets hit the wall of fire with a series of loud hisses, evaporating into red steam that billowed upward.

“Get out of here, quick!”

The flames dancing in Vera's eyes burned even brighter than before, and the heat radiating from her skin visibly distorted the surrounding air.

Rosie didn't pause.

Dragging Balu and supporting Nikus, she made her way down the corridor.

The fire was spreading far faster than expected. Flickering flames cast orange light across both corridor walls as the inferno inside the prayer room spilled out through the doorway, catching everything flammable ablaze.

Around the corner of the corridor, several brave handmaidens and armed handmaidens stood near the exit to the courtyard, the outline of dancing flames reflected in their eyes.

Seeing Rosie emerge with the wounded, they rushed over immediately.

Rosie handed Balu and Nikus over to the handmaidens.

“Get outside! It's dangerous here!”

She cast a glance back toward the prayer room.

The far end of the hallway was a roaring sea of jumping orange and red, filled with the collapse of heavy furniture and the sharp popping of stone walls expanding under the heat.

The sound of fierce combat echoed from within the burning room, growing ever more intense.

The clashing of metal, heavy impacts against flesh, and the vampire elder's piercing shrieks and roars tore through the flames in a chaotic tumult.

Rosie wanted to turn back and help.

However, she lacked fire resistance, so she had no choice but to give up the idea.

She followed the temple handmaidens out into the open.

By the time Rosie's group crossed the threshold of the temple...

...wild, rampant flames had fully swallowed the entire temple.

The last rays of twilight had faded away.

Yet the roaring fire took the sun's place, painting the night sky above the temple in brilliant, searing light.