Chapter 155: Lance Begins to Cause Trouble Again

At the center of the sanctuary, Count Palokas's figure was distorted amid the sunlight refracting off the stained glass. The light was growing increasingly intense, so his power was draining away like sand in an hourglass.

"Aaaargh! I'm going to kill you all!"

His lungs felt as though they were being torn apart, and his soul was being seared by the sun. Every breath felt like he was inhaling flames. Tortured by the trio of ruffians, he suffered pain that felt like needles piercing not just his eyes, but every nerve in his body. Disoriented, he had become a plaything for the executioner, the paladin, and the male bodyguard.

Despite that, Palokas refused to give up. He lashed out with every ounce of his strength. After all, he possessed an immortal body! This momentary agony meant nothing. It would only fuel his vengeance to even more frenzied heights.

Even as his mind reeled in confusion, he knew one thing for certain. That black-haired, green-eyed fellow couldn't possibly maintain that solar radiance forever! There were still five to six hours until dawn. Once that damned light in the sanctuary vanished, it would be time for these people to suffer his boundless wrath and torment!

Palokas trembled with rage in the blinding sunlight, his fury driving him to madness. Like a cornered beast hounded relentlessly, he left deep, bloody gouges etched into the floor tiles. Every time he lashed out with his claw-like hands, he unleashed a violent, destructive gale.

However, the paladin, the executioner, and the male bodyguard fought in perfect tandem. Their tactics knew no bounds. It was a relentless, inescapable storm of attacks that constantly shattered Palokas's understanding of what humans were capable of!

Meanwhile, in the distance, Frey sat at the banquet table, casually continuing his late-night snack while raising a heavy hand-crossbow to fire a bolt at Palokas. Although everyone assumed he was a front-line fighter, he insisted that he was actually a ranged marksman who belonged in the back line.

Hyperion could only shake her head at the sight. A tank dealing damage from the back line, a mage protecting the healer in the middle, and a healer drawing aggro on the front line. Their team's current approach was all about everyone sticking to their specific roles.

Lance remarked with a smile, "Once Professor Boralo finishes developing that enchanted heavy sniper rifle, I'm confident you'll reach a whole new level as a sniper, Frey."

Ever since he had met the dean of the College of Magical Engineering, he had discovered that the professor was capable of crafting all sorts of bizarre and ingenious devices. Fueled by the design concepts Lance provided and the promised funding, Professor Boralo had enthusiastically set to work developing the various practical gadgets Lance had described.

Frey grinned in anticipation. "I'm really looking forward to it. A weapon that lets me strike from beyond the enemy's line of sight suits me perfectly."

As they chatted casually, the priest nearby continued to administer Flawed Healing to Palokas. Since the three frontline melee fighters hadn't sustained much damage from the weakened vampire count this time, the priest didn't need to heal with full intensity as he had against the Saintess of Destruction. Instead, he borrowed Lance's Flawed Healing series of cards, reconfigured his own spell repertoire, and gained a new insight into the true essence of healing.

Every beam of healing light that touched Palokas caused his mind to grow increasingly muddled and his body to tremble violently in agony, as if the world itself were spinning wildly around him.

The priest said to Lance, "Mr. Lance, please focus on using your mana to maintain the sun. Leave the task of redeeming the vampire count to me."

Lance's strategy was equally effective for the clergy of the Church of the Goddess of Fate, who possessed high Spirit but low Mana power. The priest was certain that upon returning to the real world, he would need to prepare a set of Flawed Healing cards, and he would certainly share this tip with his fellow clerics.

Lance nodded. "Mm, I'll leave it to you."

Although his vast mana reserves were his greatest asset, the activation of Glorious Virtue was causing his mana to deplete rapidly. This was also due to the fact that he was only a Rank 3 caster. They needed to finish off this undying vampire count before his mana ran dry. Otherwise, if the vampire managed to fully recover to his Rank 7 state, certain death awaited them all.

Meanwhile, at the center of the battlefield within the sanctuary, Palokas kept his eyes tightly shut. His breathing was ragged and trembling, and his heart hammered against his ribs like a deer driven by terror.

Finally, the duration of his Blood Frenzy expired. Under the intensifying sunlight, his combat power plummeted instantly, dropping to less than half of what it had been at the start.

A truly agonizing ordeal began. Palokas's remaining shreds of reason told him that if he could just hold on a little longer, it would all be over soon. He would use his immortality to show these foolish humans the unbridgeable chasm separating lowly worms from superior beings!

Even though he was covered in wounds, a single moment to catch his breath would allow him to recover quickly. Up to this point, the attacks launched by this group had been utterly meaningless!

The executioner and the paladin were two humans he had once dismissed as insignificant, but now they had become his greatest threats. Their weapons struck him repeatedly, slicing through his skin and leaving deep gashes, all while they occasionally mocked him with raucous, grating laughter.

In the distance, the priest chanted spells that inflicted excruciating pain upon him, while cold arrows pierced him at regular intervals. However, the ones he loathed most of all were that high-and-mighty being who wielded the power of the sun and the gray haired succubus who ceaselessly mocked him with her bewitching voice. They were like an angel and a demon in cahoots.

Every passing second brought Palokas excruciating physical and mental torment, yet his rage continued to mount, driving him to the brink of madness.

"Hahahaha! You're even easier to beat than your thrall!"

Once the effects of Blood Frenzy wore off, Palokas couldn't even parry the executioner's punches. The executioner simply grabbed him by the throat with one hand, hoisted him up, and slammed him heavily onto the ground, leaving him unable to rise. Then he pinned him down and beat him within an inch of his life.

"You vampire scum!"

The paladin, finding his sword too much of a hassle, simply used his armored boot to deliver brutal kicks to the vampire's lower half, occasionally leaning down to hurl a few taunts his way.

Even the priest stopped healing. Shouldering his staff, he ran over and began smashing it against the vampire's head as if it were a baseball bat, grinning viciously as he reveled in the violence.

Over by the banquet table in the distance, only Lance, the Poet of Boundless Love, and the others in the backline had refrained from joining the fray.

Looking on in a daze, Hyperion asked, "...Huh? How did the fight turn into this?"

She remembered that earlier that afternoon, when they fought the Saintess of Destruction, those three members of the clergy were nothing like this, nor were they anywhere near this volatile! It was hard to say exactly what kind of "professionals" they resembled now.

No, wait. If you rewound time by eighteen hours, these three were literally completely different people!

With a smile, Lance explained, "I had Instructor Frey go over the battle against the Saintess with them. I imagine the three of them learned quite a few practical combat lessons from Frey, who soloed the Saintess without taking a single hit."

He looked every bit the noble figure concerned for the world, constantly striving to make the righteous clergy stronger.

Hyperion covered her face with both hands. It was past midnight. If the faculty of the Sages' College were still working overtime, holding meetings to track the situation in the Shadow Realm challenge, she didn't even want to imagine the state of Dean Lawrence's sanity.

Lance finally stood up and walked toward Count Palokas, who was being completely pinned down. "Alright, I'm running low on mana. It's time to move on to the next stage of treatment."

Severely wounded, the vampire was held fast against the sanctuary's gleaming floor, looking disheveled and defeated. Yet, he hadn't lost consciousness entirely. The bulging, twitching veins in his neck betrayed his extreme rage and his anticipation of the moment he could exact revenge. The long night was far from over. Once the sun vanished, his turn would come!

Palokas endured the brutal beating dealt by the executioner, the paladin, and the priest. Every surge of pain and humiliation left a deep, searing mark on his soul. Gradually, a sinister grin spread across his lips, and a laugh of utter madness escaped. It sounded truly terrifying in the quiet sanctuary.

He could barely wait to regain his strength, seize them all, and subject them to the most cruel, ceaseless torture, day and night! To him, these mere Rank 4 to 5 humans were no different from corpses in the face of his immortality. To seal a vampire count like him would require a Rank 8 Great Demon, a master of sealing arts, to even stand a chance of success. Among this group of weaklings, there wasn't a single Great Demon Mage capable of posing a threat to him!

Lance's gentle voice rang out from behind the executioner. "Alright, go easy on him."

The clergy immediately paused their assault, though they kept a firm grip on Palokas, waiting to see what Lance would do next. They had no idea how Lance intended to further subdue the vampire. After all, he was only Rank 3. Even with specialized expertise in sealing arts, it was impossible to seal a Rank 7 vampire. There was a gap of four full ranks.

Yet, following Lance's instructions, simply rendering the count immobile was enough. He had his own methods for calming down a vampire.

And so...

Amid everyone's gaze and the sound of Palokas's manic laughter, Lance produced an enchanted card.

[Blood Pressure Emergency Device]

Category: Equipment Card

Grade: Blue (Uncommon)

Attribute: Mechanical

Tier: 1

Grants a minor Life Steal effect. Attacking an immobilized enemy inflicts continuous blood loss.

It's important to protect your cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health.

A massive medical syringe with a needle suddenly appeared. Everyone in the sanctuary was stunned. It looked as though, with enough brute force, someone could draw two liters of blood from a patient in a single, full-plunger stroke.

Palokas was still laughing. Since he was still blinded, he couldn't see what Lance was holding, nor did he realize what was about to happen to him. Even Hyperion, who was always by Lance's side, was dumbfounded upon seeing the item. A chill immediately went down her spine and goosebumps rose all over her.

This was a giant syringe with a hypodermic needle. It wasn't just the vampires who would find it terrifying. Humans would find it equally scary!

As an enchanted card, the item it housed was actually quite ordinary. It was simply much larger than a standard medical syringe and needle and possessed exceptional durability. But in reality, this thing wasn't just a piece of equipment; it was a torture device!

Lance walked over to Palokas. Hearing the vampire still laughing put him at ease. Since the count was in such high spirits, he would likely remain in a good state of mind when the procedure took place.

To prevent Palokas from becoming overly agitated after the "sun" was withdrawn, Lance decided to lower his blood pressure first. Ever since he had accidentally caused Viscount Ferrat to suffer from a cerebral hemorrhage, he had been making specialized medical tools for emergency interventions.

Before setting out to challenge the vampire-themed Shadow Realm dungeon, he had crafted this simple equipment card specifically for use against them.

A vampire's power was largely derived from the blood within their body. Although draining a vampire completely dry wouldn't kill them, it would render them unable to move and require a significant amount of time for recovery.

Lance said with a hint of embarrassment as he looked down at Palokas, who was grinning up at him from the ground, "I'm sorry about this. I haven't quite mastered Sealing magic yet, so this is the only option."

Since a magical seal was out of the question, physical methods were the only alternative.