Chapter 152: Overload (Part 1)

"Simon, bring that rat here."

"Yes, My Lord."

Simon’s body instantly turned into a puddle of shadow, and he disappeared, rapidly moving behind one of the cliffs.

William looked at the rapidly moving shadow, and a glint flashed in his eyes.

’His bloodline abilities are really interesting...’

Not all vampires possessed the ability to control blood like Vivian and William.

Only vampires with the purest bloodlines possessed such an ability.

Most vampires possessed different abilities based on their bloodlines, and Simon’s bloodline ability was related to shadows.

"He will be a good assassin once he grows stronger..." William muttered as he took out a piece of roasted meat from his storage ring and began to eat it.

Earlier, he had spent a lot of physical energy healing himself and was very tired, especially after Simon’s knife attack that had almost pierced his heart.

"Good thing I reacted quickly and the knife’s tip only touched my heart. If not, I would have definitely collapsed from exhaustion while trying to heal a wound on my heart."

William took out a few more pieces of meat and quickly ate them.

His Immortal Blood Heart beat rapidly, quickly turning all the food into energy and making him feel somewhat energetic again.

Just then, Simon ran toward him while carrying a man in his early thirties, who was bound by black, shadow-like ropes.

"My Lord, here is the rat..." Simon spoke while looking at William in anticipation.

William nodded and praised him.

"Good job."

Hearing William’s praise, Simon immediately looked intoxicated, as if he had taken some kind of drug.

William’s mouth twitched slightly, and he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of medicine those people from the Blood God Cult had fed this guy to make him so devoted to the Blood Ancestor.

Throwing the useless thoughts out of his mind, he shifted his attention to the man on the ground, whose hands, feet, and mouth were bound by shadow-like ropes.

"So, who was the one who sent you?"

As William asked the question, Simon immediately removed the ropes from the man’s mouth.

"I... I don’t know what you are talking about. I was just passing by when I heard the sounds of fighting and came here to check."

"Is that so..." William shook his head. "And here I thought you were sent by either that guy Edrin or that snotty brat Maya."

The man’s expression changed slightly when he heard William’s words, but it returned to normal in an instant.

William noticed the change in the man’s expression but did not say anything.

In fact, ever since he had gone to class and then left shortly afterward, he had anticipated Edrin or Maya doing something.

The resentment he had sensed from them toward him was simply too intense.

After seeing him not attending class, it wouldn’t have been difficult for them to guess that he was going somewhere.

And knowing that he was leaving the academy, it was highly likely that they would try to do something.

When he had come out of the City of Vance, William had sent a message to Vivian regarding this matter.

At that time, Vivian had told him that he didn’t need to worry about it since someone was always keeping an eye on those people.

But William also wanted to test his limits, so he had told her that if the person coming after him turned out to be an Early Stage Star Lord, she should let them pass.

Before coming to the bandit hideout, he had thought that the highest-level opponent he would face here would be at the Peak Star Commander level.

And honestly, with all of his stacked buffs, he didn’t think these bandits, who didn’t even possess proper battle arts, would be able to pose much of a challenge to him.

That was why he had asked Vivian to let an Early Stage Star Lord pass if one came after him.

As for why he felt that it would be a Star Lord coming after him, it was because even for the heirs of noble families, it was not easy to utilize a Star King-level powerhouse.

Moreover, it was very likely that whoever had sent this guy only wanted to beat William and seriously injure him, not kill him.

After all, the amount of attention William had recently attracted in the academy was very high, and if he were to be killed at this point, it would definitely make things difficult for the person who had targeted him.

Moreover, before letting this guy go, William had also asked Vivian to use Mind Suggestion on him so that whatever he saw during this time, he wouldn’t immediately turn around and go back to report it to his owner.

If it weren’t for this Mind Suggestion, this guy would have long since returned to his owner right after seeing William use his wings to fly and witnessing how he healed like a monster while fighting against the bandits.

’I wanted to test my ultimate move against a Star Lord to see if I could take one down, but in my current state...’

William looked at the man on the ground while rubbing his chin.

’Eternal Night also consumes my bloodline power, and it will take some time for me to recover it. In that case...’ William’s eyes narrowed, and a sharp glint flashed within them.

"Simon, let him go."

"Oh!" Simon didn’t ask any questions and immediately released the man.

The man was startled and immediately wanted to run away after being freed.

But William spoke in a cold voice.

"Try to run, and this guy will kill you immediately."

Hearing William’s words, the man’s body stiffened, and he looked at Simon in fear.

Although Simon was also only at the Early Stage Star Lord level like him, he had just experienced his strength and knew that he wouldn’t be able to escape if Simon tried to kill him.

"What do you want from me?" The man asked while gritting his teeth.

"Fight me..." William said with a faint smile on his face. "If you defeat me, you can go."

"Fight you..." The man was stunned and couldn’t help but recall the earlier scene, his mouth feeling dry.

But seeing the faint smile on William’s face, he knew it was the only way.

So, he suppressed the uneasiness in his heart and spoke seriously.

"Alright..." As he spoke, a saber appeared in his hand.

William glanced at Simon, who immediately understood and backed away.

"Don’t hold back..." Blood Moon appeared in William’s hand, and his eyes narrowed.

"I will only make one move. If you survive, then you can go."

The man did not say anything and the pressure of a Star Lord immediately erupted from his body, making the surrounding air somewhat distorted.

William also felt a mountain-like pressure bearing down on him and found it difficult to properly move his body.

The man didn’t wait even a second after releasing his aura to restrain William and his figure immediately appeared before him as he slashed toward William with his saber.

The man was so fast that even though William was using Time Acceleration and Time Perception, he only saw a blurry figure when the man moved.

But despite this, he did not panic and the instant the man appeared before him—

Soul Burst!

He activated the effect of his Epic Grade Trait.

Instantly, William felt all of his mental power recover and reach an extremely high level.

His mind cleared up, and even the man’s movements slowed down in his eyes.

At the same time—

BUZZZZZ!

A sword-like buzz echoed as William manifested the power of his Sword Dominator Trait.

A sharp aura spread across the surroundings, shredding the ground into pieces.

All the Aether Energy that he had recovered in this short time churned inside his body, and William slashed Blood Moon toward the incoming saber.

Rendering Moon Slash!

All of his Aether Energy disappeared once again, and the entire sword domain burst out with brilliant sword light, shredding everything in its path.

But William wasn’t done yet!

Just before his sword clashed against the man’s saber, the muscles in his arm bulged and—

"Overload!"

William’s low voice echoed across the surroundings, and a terrifying aura erupted from his body, blowing away the surrounding air from the sheer pressure.

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(A/N: It hasn’t even been seven days since William last used Soul Burst. So, how was he able to use it again? I’ll explain it in the next Chapter.)