Chapter 97- Leech
Chapter 97- Leech
"HAHAHAHA..."
As the shadow dispersed, Geralt pulled his foot away and looked ahead. ’He can’t be that far away. This much control over his shadow and this much strength... He can’t be controlling it from a vast distance.
Geralt knew shadow and clone control quite well, and these runes are usually very strong but also come with a big downside. The clones will either be way weaker than the main user, or the user has to be extremely close to their clone to give it any practical strength is battle. Either way, these runes make things very hard to manage, so usually, the users will use some sort of invisibility rune to hide themselves while controlling their shadows.
’As long as you’re in this forest... You won’t escape.’ He thought to himself as he spread his senses far and wide. In an instant, hundreds of kilometers were covered in every direction. Within that range, Geralt could feel an ant moving on its feet or a small leaf falling from a tree.
It took him a second to locate a very odd thing within that range as he opened his eyes and glared in that direction. "I found you."
Then, he disappeared like a ghost, locked on his new target.
***
"Dammit, he’s already on me. This is annoying." Far away from there, tucked within a tree, was a dark shadow. It clicked its tongue before it jumped down from the tree. "Well, I guess the fun is over. I need to leave. He sadly won’t be able to get here in time."
Stretching his limbs, the vampire then dashed forward, creating a sonic boom from his ridiculous acceleration. Everything around him turned into a blur as he ran through the forest, moving hundreds of meters in a split second. "I cannot waste more time; he will catch up soon enough. I need to be far away by that point."
Increasing his speed to the limit, he became a complete shadow, moving in eerie silence through the thick greenery.
For several minutes, he ran and ran for dozens and dozens of kilometers. He could tell Geralt was tailing him even though he was still far away. But that man’s speed was higher than his, so he had to make sure.
Stopping for a second to figure out his current location, he realized he was almost out of the forest.
"Well, time to vanish." Smiling to himself, he started running again, this time a bit slower, knowing Geralt won’t chase for this long.
As he ran, he focused on the path behind him.
’That was so much fun. I know how strong that man is now. He is definitely a lot stronger than people say. What a beast. Humans shouldn’t have the ability to reach this level. We are underestimating them too greatly, and we don’t recognize our enemy well enou-’
Before he could even finish that sentence... The entire world around the vampire suddenly shifted in a second with a loud ringing sound. All the trees, the forest, the greenery, and the sky itself disappeared and were replaced with a blinding darkness.
"Huh?" He stopped, completely confused. He was standing in an endless void, and stretches of darkness went as far as the eye could see in every direction. His senses stopped working, and his Blood Energy refused to move anymore.
"What the..." He muttered as he instinctively tried to take a step forward. His foot planted into the ground for a split second before...
*Swish*
The ground beneath his feet disappeared, and he started falling into the endless void. His eyes widened as he twisted his body and tried to use his flying abilities. However, his Blood Energy refused to listen to him.
’What the hell is going on? Am I being attacked?’ He raised an eyebrow. Trying to adjust his balance and figure something out, he realized that in the far distance, a white dot appeared out of nowhere that wasn’t there before.
It looked like a twinkling star in the endless abyss. Before he could recognize what it was, the dot suddenly flashed before it disappeared. The next time he blinked, he felt something grab him tightly by the throat.
"AGH!" He groaned in immense pain, feeling as if someone was strangling him. He couldn’t move and couldn’t breathe. It was as if his entire body was paralyzed from head to toe. Never in his life did he feel something like that before.
He was immobilized, and even his eyes could barely move to stare down. Upon seeing the figure before him, his entire body shuddered in sheer terror as he recognized who it was. He felt a fear so deep, so carnal, he couldn’t even contain it for a second. A fear that would make nightmares seem like paradise.
Yet, that fear somehow gave him the urge to smile rather than cry.
"You...’re..." He muttered with great difficulty.
"You have overstepped your boundaries, leech." A voice spoke, immensely cold and divine. It echoed across the empty void as if it were the only thing allowed to make a noise within that domain. "I do not tolerate those who try to meddle too much with my plans."
"Ha... ha... so... it is you... indeed..." He muttered. "The... Queen..."
"Know your place, leech." She spoke, making his mouth close shut. "It’s ’Your divine highness’ for you. Who do you think you are? A mere noble like you, thinking he can control the world."
"..."
"How do you know about Elio’s presence? Who told you?"
"..."
"Speak."
The moment she said that, the vampire’s mouth finally opened. "I... I will never te-"
"Speak."
Her words completely paralyzed any thoughts of resistance within the vampire’s head. "It was..."
Then, he uttered a name. The name made Ashtareth’s face darken, and her grip increased, strangling the man’s name. "How did he know? How did he come across that?"
"I... don’t know..."
"What did he tell you to do, hm? Was attacking Elio and that Vaylor girl a part of his plan?"
"..."
"Speak!"
Her words loudened, reverberating across the void and through the vampire’s bones. "What do you want with my Elio?"
"..."
The vampire breathed for a moment, struggling to calm down before he finally... started laughing.
"Hahahaha... Hahahahaha..."
"..." Ashtareth’s eyes squinted.
"You... were there the entire time... weren’t you?" He asked.
"..."
"You... saw me... stab her... And yet you didn’t stop me..." He said.
The vampire remembered that, at that moment when his sword stabbed Fiona, he felt a chill run down his spine, which made him instinctively dodge Fiona’s attack even though he could easily ignore it. He thought he mistakenly felt Fiona’s aura, and it made him react.
However, that made no sense. Fiona was far weaker than he; she posed no threat. Only a handful of individuals could truly make him feel that way.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized how much sense it made.
"You... wanted that to happen... You knew what I was going to do... Yet, you watched."
"..."
"Why?"
Ashtareth looked down and then up at the strangled vampire. "There are things far above your comprehension, leech. Just do what I desire and stay in your lane. You were a good tool for a bit, as much as I didn’t expect your presence. Now you’re causing me too much trouble to keep you."
As she said those words, her grip started releasing. The vampire realized what she was trying to do.
"No... wait... I’m sorry... I won’t do... this again... I will leave..."
But, Ashtareth didn’t listen as her grip released.
"No! Please! NOOOOOOOOO!!!"
All he saw at that moment was his body starting to fall again as Asthareth’s silhouette grew farther and farther away.
The vampire... was cursed to fall... for eternity.