I Awakened The Ancient Vampire System

Chapter 90: Chapter 90: Hassan’s Plan

The sand in the corridor began moving on its own, drawn — swirling toward him in a growing vortex.

"Sand Ocean Wave!" the sand user shouted.

The vortex exploded.

A tidal wave of sand — tons of it — erupted from the floor and walls and engulfed Lucian from every direction. It was more than an attack. It was a burial. The sand filled his mouth, his nose, his eyes. It pressed against his body from every angle with crushing weight.

He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t move.

The sand piled higher and deeper. Tons of it compressing around him, burying him in the dark.

The sand guy slammed both hands into the ground.

Shockwaves rippled through the buried sand. The tons of sand compressing Lucian began to vibrate at a frequency that made his bones ache even through the pressure. The grains tightened. Shifted. Locked together like stone.

"Monumental Silt Coffin," the sand guy murmured.

The compression intensified.

The fire guy watched the mound of sand with narrowed eyes. "Is he dead?"

The sand guy straightened, breathing hard. Sweat dripped from his forehead. His mana was nearly empty.

"There’s no way he’s surviving that," the sand guy said. "That’s my strongest spell. I pooled every fucking drop of mana into it." He wiped his mouth. "The spell sends powerful shockwaves through the sand, compressing it with such immense force that whatever is trapped inside is instantly crushed to nothingness. Not even a Core Realm cultivator could—"

"We better go after the pretty girl and take back the kids," the fire guy interrupted, already moving toward the corridor.

The sand guy grinned, cracking his stiff neck. "And I would love to have fun with the pretty—"

He didn’t finish.

The sand mound exploded.

Lucian burst out of the compressed earth like a missile. His body was covered in fine white dust — the remnants of pulverized sand — but his skin was unbroken. Not a scratch. His crimson eyes blazed in the dim corridor.

He appeared in front of the sand guy before either cultivator could react. His right hand was already extended. Blood claws — five inches of hardened crimson — punched through the sand user’s abdomen and out the other side.

The man’s eyes bulged. His mouth opened but no sound came out.

Lucian pulled his hand free. The sand guy’s body staggered backward. Blood poured from the wound, dark against the concrete floor.

Lucian turned immediately. Moon Shattering Blade in his left hand. Light Blade activated. Crescent Moon Slash charged along the edge.

He swung at the fire guy.

The fire user reacted on instinct. A fire shield materialized in front of him — a wall of flame three inches thick. It should have stopped any Early Core Realm attack.

The crescent arc of light and mana hit the shield and sliced through it like paper. The remaining force caught the fire user in the chest and sent him flying. He crashed into the far wall with a sickening crack. Blood sprayed from his mouth. He slid to the floor, gasping.

Lucian turned back to the sand guy. The man had collapsed to his knees, both hands pressed against the hole in his stomach. His face was grey. His lips trembled.

"You think a B-Rank spell from an Early Core Realm can kill or even hold me?" Lucian said.

He raised the Moon Shattering Blade and in one clean stroke, the sand guy’s head separated from his shoulders and hit the floor with a wet thud.

╔════════════════════════╗

║ ✦ QUEST COMPLETE ✦ ║

╠════════════════════════╣

║ Rescue all children without harm ║

║ Result: 7/7 — COMPLETE ║

║ Reward: 5,000 SC — DEPOSITED ║

║ SPELL EVOLUTION: ║

║ Scarlet Threads (B-Rank) → Blood Chains (A-Rank) ║

║ Blood Chains can actively constrict Core Realm targets without breaking. ║

║ Range increased to 30 meters. ║

║ NEW: Chains can drain target’s mana to fuel host’s mana pool. ║

║ NOTE: Drain rate scales with target’s mana capacity. ║

╚═════════════════════════╝

Amira must have safely escorted the children out of here. Now unto this bastard.

Lucian dismissed the notification and walked toward the fire guy.

Blood chains immediately wrapped around the man.

The man was trying to push himself up as he struggled with the chains. His legs kept sliding in his own blood. He looked up at Lucian approaching and his face went white.

"Wait— please— leave me alone—"

Lucian crouched in front of him. "I just want to know something. Where is Hassan?"

"I don’t—"

Lucian stabbed his thigh. The blood claw went clean through the muscle and pinned his leg to the concrete floor. The fire user screamed.

"I don’t want to waste time," Lucian said calmly. "I just want to get back to my training. So please. I don’t want to do this again. I will ask one last time. Where is Hassan?"

"I seriously don’t know!" The fire guy was sobbing now. Tears and blood mixed on his face. "He never tells us! Only his inner circle knows where he goes!"

Lucian listened. His heartbeat sense was active — he could feel the man’s pulse through the blood still flowing from his wounds. From his heatbeat, it seemed he wasn’t lying.

He doesn’t know.

"Then you are of no use to me."

Lucian raised his blood claw. The fire guy squeezed his eyes shut.

"Wait!" he screamed. "Even though I don’t know where Hassan is, I know their plan!"

Lucian paused.

"Hassan is working with a family called the Khamsin family," the fire guy blurted. "I don’t really know who they are — some powerful family, I think. They’ve been funding this entire operation. Weapons, supplies, bases, everything."

Lucian’s eyes narrowed. "What does Hassan want?"

"War. That’s what he’s always talked about. If war happens — real war, not these small skirmishes — with the blood and sacrifice from the battle, they can absorb something. Awaken something. I don’t know the specifics." The fire guy’s voice cracked. "I swear, this is all I know. Please. Spare me."

Lucian stared at him for a long moment.

The Khamsin family.

He ran through every family name he knew. The top five human clans — Vanguard, Ryu, Schwarz, Amara, Silva. The notable European families — Duval, Chevalier, Fontaine, Lefèvre, Beaumont.

Khamsin. Nothing. He’d never heard of them.

Lucian stood. Wiped his blood claw on the fire guy’s shirt. Turned and walked toward the corridor.

The fire guy sighed in relief. The blood chains that had been wrapping around his legs loosened and fell away. His mana was drained and empty. He’d never felt so weak in his life.

At least I’m alive, he thought. I can rebuild. I will fucking kill this bastard. I can—

Blood needles pierced through his skull from behind. Entering through the back of his head and exiting through his forehead.

His eyes went blank. His body slumped forward.

Lucian didn’t look back.

Lucian didn’t tolerate loose ends.

He pulled both storage rings from the corpses — the sand guy’s and the fire guy’s. Checked the contents as he walked back through the fortress.

9,000 credits total. A few D-Rank weapons — a sword, a dagger, a pair of gauntlets. Some ration bars and water bottles.

"They are so poor. Well, I was once like them." Lucian muttered.

His communicator buzzed. Amira’s voice came through.

"Children are secure. I’ve escorted them to the extraction point. Miss Solstice is calling us back to headquarters."

Miss Solstice. The pink-haired woman.

"Take Declan," Lucian said. "I’m not going back yet."

A pause. "What? Why?"

"I’m staying behind to continue investigating Hassan. The Khamsin family. There’s more to this than a simple rebellion."

"Lucian, we just completed a mission. We’re supposed to report back, debrief, and get our next assignment. You can’t just—"

"I can. Beside, the mission was also to take Hassan and also stop the rebellion. Take Declan and go. I will see you guys later."

Amira was quiet for three seconds. "Solstice isn’t going to like this."

"Then she can take it up with the old man who sent me here."

The line went dead.

Lucian found a hotel in the nearest settlement — a small desert town forty kilometers from the beast territory. He paid a thousand credits for a week’s stay to the clerk before been handed the keys to his room on the top floor.

He sat on the bed. The desert sunset painted the window orange and red.

He pulled out his personal communicator and called Clara.

She answered on the second ring. "Lucian? Where are you?"

"Egypt."

"You sound tired."

"Long night."

Clara was quiet for a moment. "I won’t be back anytime soon either. Rose and I got deployed to a dungeon sweep in Germany. Instructor Lira’s orders."

"Be careful."

"You too." A pause. "Don’t do anything stupid."

"No promises."

Clara laughed softly. "That’s what I was afraid of."

They talked for ten more minutes.

Then Clara had to go. The line disconnected.

Lucian set down the communicator and lay back on the bed. The ceiling was plain white. Unremarkable.

The Khamsin family. War. Awakening something through blood and sacrifice.

What the hell was this Hassan dude planning and who the fuck is this Khamsin family?