Nameless King

Petals were falling to the ground and exploding. Dozens of people were wounded, and Wain was about to continue the attack.

'Stop... Blood... Use their blood...' Barely said the Knight of the Bloody Rose.

'Blood? Okay, I hear you.' Wain replied and waved his hand.

From the blood spilled by the warriors because of the explosions, spiky vines began to grow on which many red buds bloomed.

'Strange... Isn't it too easy?'

Wain noticed that he wasted almost no energy on such a massive attack. Creating a single bud was many times harder than creating a hundred small ones. The reason was that Wain was using the blood of others as a catalyst for the vines to grow. Previously, the catalyst was a large amount of energy from Wain's reserves.

Such an attack could not go unnoticed, and many people turned their attention to Wain and attacked. They realized that they couldn't see his World of Darkness card, which increased their interest.

'Huh, looks like it's going to be fun.'

Wain swung his sword and thrust it into the Elf, who attacked him. The sword cut through the armor and left a wide cut on the Elf's chest that gushed blood. Then Wain turned and swung the sword horizontally.

The blade almost reached the Elf's neck, and then the Elf left the arena. Hundreds of souls remained in his place, heading toward Wain.

He absorbed the souls and immediately blocked an attack from behind from Axalt. Wain had to defend himself from multiple angles, and when he was nearly cornered, the petals on his sword glowed brightly, and hundreds of buds exploded.

Blood flew apart into massive streams. No one had expected that one man could possess such powerful abilities.

Immediately afterwards, several dozen people left the arena, and as Wain dealt serious damage to them, their souls headed toward him.

"Damn, I should have done this much sooner!" Wain uttered, smiling, and plunged into the middle of the mass battle.

Beside him, some other people also used mass skills, causing the waterfall's water to rage like a storm in the sea.

...

Down below, the situation was calmer but also more dangerous. One tall man with long red hair and eyes walked slowly among dozens of corpses. They could not leave the arena. The man killed them too quickly they did not even have time to react.

The man was dressed in a red and black aristocratic outfit. Blood dripped from the black gloves on his hands, and the air was saturated with that smell.

"Ah, what bliss, but it looks like it's time to visit the top floor." The man muttered and jumped high up.

His notable feature was his slightly protruding fangs.

...

Wain fought and never tired. He didn't know why, but the more the spiky vines absorbed blood, better he felt. He felt as if he had an endless energy supply and could do anything.

Within minutes Wain had killed several people, and more than ten decided to leave the arena, and he got their souls. Wain wasn't paying attention. The souls flew relentlessly towards him like streams.

Crackle.

Suddenly the bright sky darkened, and there was the sound of thunder. Everyone looked up and saw the clouds, among which the occasional red lightning bolt appeared.

Then it turned into a pillar of lightning, and something struck the center of the bridge.

The warriors used defensive spells to avoid being hit by lightning. Wain created a barrier of spiky vines in front of him that absorbed all the damage.

At the center of the blast was a vampire with long red hair.

He looked at the people on the bridge like a predator and stopped at Wain.

"Did you set this up?"

"Yes."

"Impressive." The vampire bowed with his hand behind his back and said, "My name is Vlad Tran. I hope you won't disappoint me."

Vlad raised his hand to the sky, and a red lightning bolt flew into his palm. He swung it like a spear and strolled toward Wain.

'Damn, it's a vampire, and by its looks, a very strong one. I doubt I could beat him. Wain pondered.

Only Vlad's appearance was comparable to a large-scale attack for which another warrior would need to expend an enormous amount of energy.

Wain did not want to fight Vlad as he had heard how dangerous Vampires were, especially during mass battles.

Every drop Wain spilled would be an amplification for Vlad, and that applied to absolutely everyone. The other warriors, realizing that Wain was Vlad's target, stepped aside to the edge of the bridge and did nothing. It was as if they were waiting to see what Wain would decide to do.

'Looks like he came from the lower level. He wasn't here a minute ago. Does that mean there are no more opponents down below for him?

Wain pondered. He had never fought a vampire before. He didn't want to risk his life, but he didn't want to lose any souls.

'Blood... It's our ally... Kill... and... Take their powers...' The voice of the Knight of the Bloody Rose could be heard.

'Huh, I agree. There's no point in retreating.' Wain replied and clenched his sword tightly.

His wings swayed, and he lunged toward Vlad. Wain used the skill of his cloak, and dozens of souls burst out of it. They came down on Vlad in a mighty torrent.

"Looks like I didn't make a mistake coming here." Vlad said with a slight smile and plunged his spear into the ground.

An electrical explosion and red lightning flashed in the directions, striking many warriors. Wain could dodge this attack, but the summoned spirits were destroyed.

Wain swung his sword aiming for Vlad's neck, but the vampire stopped his sword simply by grabbing it with his hand.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Vlad said, and the spear turned into a lightning gauntlet. Vlad delivered a powerful fist punch to Wain's stomach and threw him aside several dozen meters away.

Wain threw up a mouthful of blood, and while the drops were in the air, Vlad swallowed several of them.

His eyes widened, and he felt something strange as if he had just tasted the greatest treasure.

"What is it...? Why does your blood taste so good? Hahahahaha, who are you? I must find out!"

Vlad was a powerful vampire and repeatedly tasted the blood of all members of the Pillars and many other races. Vlad even experimented with mixing different blood types and attacked other vampires to drink their blood.

For vampires, the taste of blood was something sacred and important. For many vampires, blood was the meaning of life. They got satisfaction when they drank the blood of other creatures and, in some cases, even became stronger.

Wain's blood was unique because he was a human. Vlad did not know this, and the experience was special to him.

Wain was shocked. His whole body ached, and it was the result of a single blow from Vlad.

'Damn, I knew this wasn't going to be easy!

'Pain is part of the battle... You can't win without knowing the taste of your own blood...'