Chapter 732: The True Power of an Ancestor
The moment Nikolai returned to the battle, a rush of adrenaline flushed his system, tearing through the enemy with his two black blades like a beast.
The first mutant swung its stone-covered arm down at him.
Nikolai stepped inside the blow.
Shhhk!
His left blade carved through the creature’s elbow, while the right one opened its stomach from hip to ribs. Cold blood and rotten organs scattered across the wet ground, but he didn’t stop moving. He twisted his wrist, drove the curved blade upward and split the mutant’s throat apart.
The second came from behind.
Its massive hand crashed down with enough force to crack the stone beneath his boots. Nikolai shifted his posture, dragging one blade across its fingers, then spun and sliced through both knees.
Crack!
The mutant collapsed with a heavy groan as Nikolai drove his foot into its chest and stabbed downward.
Pop!
The twisted lump of flesh inside its body burst beneath his blade. The moment it died, black smoke leaked from the wound, and it crumbled into ashes.
"That’s two."
His gaze shifted across the battlefield.
Ivan, Dimitri and Vladimir were still holding the centre. The Great Elders moved around them with unified movements, each using the other’s bodies to block killing blows, while the remaining Nosferatu soldiers spread out through the rain.
Nikolai clenched his fists, slowly controlling the black blades growing along his forearms, shortening them to half a metre (25 inches).
’If I break through from the right, I can reach Father’s side.’
However, rushing into that chaos wasn’t the only choice open to him. He could clear the back lines and support the troops, helping clear out the Nosferatu lines.
"Tsk..."
Without hesitating any further, he rushed towards the battle.
...
In the centre of the Nosferatu troops, Alucard stood calmly, watching as Dimitri, Ivan and Vlad fought the grand elders and revived ascended elders with all their might.
"How amusing, keep going, young ones." He spurred them on.
Alucard’s cane touched the ground.
Clack.
The sound was soft.
Yet it seemed to resonate in waves through the entire area.
Blood rose from the corpses scattered across the outpost, thick and dark, dragging itself from open wounds, broken mouths and severed limbs. It spread over the wet concrete in veins, circling the dead Nosferatu soldiers Nikolai had just cut down.
Nikolai’s eyes narrowed.
"What the hell...?"
The bodies twitched.
One corpse sat upright despite missing half its skull. Another dragged itself forward with its chest split open, fingers digging into the concrete as black-red blood filled the holes in its body. Their eyes opened one by one, empty and pale beneath the floodlights.
Then they screamed.
With an ear-piercing wail.
Berserk undead rose from the ground, their broken bodies jerking forward with no sense of pain or fear. They weren’t alive. They weren’t even proper vampires anymore. Just ruined meat wearing Nosferatu faces, forced to move by Alucard’s blood.
Dimitri crushed one beneath his foot.
The corpse kept crawling.
"Annoying bastard!"
Nikolai cut down three more as they rushed him, but each corpse moved without hesitation, throwing itself onto his blades, grabbing at his arms, trying to drag him down through weight alone.
’Fuck!’
The undead were troublesome; they didn’t pose a threat to him alone, but as they began to amass in number, Nikolai grit his teeth, tossing the last revived ghoul aside.
He tore his right blade free, kicked one corpse through the chest and turned toward Ivan again.
Then the ground split with a wet, heavy sound and a wall of blood erupted between them, stopping Nikolai inches away from it.
The barrier climbed higher than the outpost walls, thick as packed flesh, pulsing with veins that throbbed beneath its glossy surface.
"Father!"
His voice struck the wall and died.
On the other side, he heard Dimitri roar, then the crack of stone breaking beneath someone’s body.
Nikolai swung both blades.
Shhhk!
The Obsidian Tide cut deep into the wall, but the wound closed behind the blades, sealing itself with a disgusting slurp.
"Fuck."
Alucard appeared on top of the blood wall as if he had always been there. He glanced down with a smirk, his steps almost carrying no weight as he hovered across the massive walls of blood.
His coat hung clean despite the rain, and his cane rested lightly against one shoulder. The old vampire looked down at Nikolai with calm eyes, while the berserk undead clawed at the wall beneath him.
"Impatient as always," Alucard said. "You Volkovs never understood the value of timing."
Nikolai raised his blades. "Come down and teach me."
"How crude—there are more important things here than you, boy. Have fun while I speak with your father."
The old vampire smirked, tapping his cane on the ground a second time.
Clack.
Several more walls erupted from the ground, spreading through the outpost like bloody partitions. The battlefield split apart in an instant. Fenrir warriors were cut away from each other and forced against Nosferatu soldiers, sealed into narrow paths, and the undead corpses began crawling along the walls like insects.
Nikolai raised his arms, slashing at the incoming ghouls rapidly.
Shhhk!
His blades tore through the wall, but the flesh sealed almost instantly.
"That disgusting bastard..."
The moment he stepped back, three undead threw themselves at him from the side. Their broken mouths snapped open, jaws hanging loose as they clawed at his arms and shoulders. Nikolai twisted his body, cutting the first apart at the waist before kicking the second into the wall.
The third latched onto his blade, wrapping itself around it despite the black blade burning its body almost immediately.
’These things feel no pain... they don’t even hesitate to die!’
Nikolai drove his knee into its chest, then stabbed through the pulsing blood lump inside its ribs and with a sickening pop, the corpse collapsed into ash.
When he raised his head, dozens more appeared to replace it.
"Damn it..."
Beyond the wall, Ivan’s voice echoed through the rain.
"Alucard."
Nikolai turned his head sharply.
He couldn’t see them clearly through the thick barrier; only distorted shadows and movements flashed like a puppet show. He could only slay the undying ghouls while listening closely to the other side.
...
"What have you done to my son!?"
"My, how serious you sound," Alucard said. "I almost feel nostalgic."
"Drop the walls."
"Why? So your son can rush in and interrupt us?" Alucard chuckled. "No. Nikolai has his own lesson to learn."
A burst of movement flashed behind the blood wall.
Ivan watched the wall rise behind him without turning around.
Alucard had split the battlefield.
Nikolai was cut off.
Dimitri and Vladimir were trapped somewhere beyond the other walls, while the Fenrir warriors were forced into separate pockets, fighting whatever undead crawled toward them. It wasn’t random. The old bastard had sealed off every path that could let them regroup.
’So that’s your plan.’
Ivan shifted his weight, keeping Alucard in front of him.
The Nosferatu lord stood several metres away, cane resting in one hand while the revived corpses dragged themselves between them. His expression remained calm, but Ivan didn’t mistake that calm for carelessness.
Alucard wanted him isolated.
’Well, at least he wants to fight... the old bastard usually tried to escape.’
"You went through a lot of effort to speak with me," Ivan said.
Alucard smiled.
"Do you feel honoured?"
"No."
The first corpse lunged.
Ivan stepped in and smashed his fist through its face.
Crack!
Its skull folded inward, but the body didn’t stop. Rotten fingers grabbed his sleeve, pulling with enough strength to tear the fabric. Ivan’s eyes narrowed as he drove his other hand into its chest, felt the pulsing lump buried inside, and crushed it.
Pop!
The corpse collapsed into ash.
"Not bad, Ivan."
Another two rushed him from the side.
Ivan broke the first one’s neck with his forearm, then kicked the second into the blood wall hard enough to make the barrier ripple.
Alucard’s cane tapped the ground.
Three more corpses rose.
"Bastard, stop with the tricks!"
"Very well."
With those words, Alucard vanished from Ivan’s sight. His steps were inaudible until the sharp pain of a wooden cane slammed into his ribs.
"Argh!"
Ivan slid back several steps, his abdomen throbbing with a painful hiss from the cane’s point piercing his flesh.
The rain struck Ivan’s face as he planted his foot into the wet concrete, stopping himself before he crashed into the wall behind him.
’Fast...!’
His fingers brushed the wound across his abdomen. The cane hadn’t just struck him. It had pierced through skin and muscle with a perfect, narrow point, before pulling free without wasting any movement.
Alucard stood where Ivan had been a moment ago, cane resting against his shoulder.
"You asked me to stop with the tricks."
Ivan straightened his back, blood dripping from his torn shirt.
"Do try to keep up, dog."
Alucard disappeared again.
Ivan’s eyes sharpened as he focused everything on the subtle movements, scents and sounds surrounding him. This time, he caught the faint shift of rain, the slight bend in the air before the cane came for his throat and raised his arms to block.
Clack!
The impact numbed his forearm, but Ivan stepped in and drove his fist toward Alucard’s chest.
Alucard’s pupils dilated as his body twisted aside, but Ivan’s knuckles grazed his coat, and the old vampire landed several metres away. A tear appeared in the neat fabric of his elegant coat, bringing a frown to the vampire’s lips.
Alucard looked down at the torn coat.
Then his eyes slowly lifted.
"It seems I can look forward to this—please don’t let me down. Ivan Volkov."
With a sly smirk, the atmosphere shifted.
The blood wall behind Ivan began to pulse harder, and dozens of dead hands burst from the ground around his feet.
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