Chapter 408: Chapter 408 - Miscalculated
Point-of-View: Dracula
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"Hm...I think it’s more than safe to say that this did not go according to plan," I remarked dryly, before letting out a strained sigh as I slumped back in my seat.
It was the following night, several hours had passed since we retreated from the Dark Continent. I had been prepared for a few unexpected occurrences, but not this...this went far more poorly than I ever could have anticipated.
"My apologies, Lord Dracula...it was my retreat that lit up the third bulb, I shall accept any punishment as you see fit," Responded Caera, as she bowed her head to me.
That was sincere, but she is still smiling...it seems she might genuinely be incapable of not smiling.
"No, with our numbers so reduced, I cannot afford to do so. Nor would it be fair, considering that, evidently, the three of us who aren’t present fared even more poorly."
"I have to say, I was pretty surprised myself when the Magic Item began ringing. And my surprise was only confounded when a fourth bulb lit up," Chimed in Lavinia.
"I’m still having trouble believing this...Jevera, I can understand, it’s easy to imagine that she got cocky and let her guard down. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’s done that. But Sirius, and especially Azriel, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that they’ve been defeated," Spoke up Jagger.
"Indeed, with Azriel’s Unique Ability, Future Sight, defeating him would be far from easy. And yet, someone did defeat him," I nodded with a frown.
"The most likely explanation is that he didn’t use either his Unique Ability or the moonlight barrier, and that gave the enemy an opening," Suggested Lavinia after mulling it over.
"No, we shouldn’t assume that...while I do agree that it is highly unlikely that he would be defeated if he was using both the moonlight barrier and Future Sight, we cannot entirely rule out the possibility. I myself was caught off-guard...that human, Larrk Stryker, he is dangerous.
He was able to inflict significant damage against me...while I did make a careless move and had not yet used the moonlight barrier, I cannot deny that he had me a vulnerable position, even if it was just briefly. I admit, I became a bit panicked in that moment...it has been quite a long time since I lost my composure in such a manner, I daresay he is an even greater threat than the Demon Lord himself," I remarked with a grimace.
"Wait, wouldn’t that make him the single greatest threat to us? After all, we had previously assumed that Satan was the biggest threat to us, so if this human is even more dangerous than he is, then...," Jagger trailed off warily.
"Yes, I miscalculated, and to quite a costly extent. Even with how thorough our investigations were, I still underestimated the threat posed by the humans...I focused too much of my attention on the Demons and Dragon Kings, and the the Demi-Humans after that, the humans were little more than an afterthought. And we paid dearly for that mistake," I replied as I clenched my fists in frustration.
"So, um...should we assume that the other three are dead?" Inquired Lavinia after a brief silence.
"Yes, I believe so...I highly doubt they were simply captured. There’s no doubt that the enemy views us Elder Vampires as serious threats, so if they were to defeat any of us, they would almost certainly kill them," I responded with a strained sigh.
"In which case, the four of us are all that’s left of the Elder Vampires. And the rest of our forces were rather thoroughly decimated as well...of the four hundred Vampires we had under our command before we launched our attack, only a little over forty survived and made it back. And with the other three Elder Vampires presumed dead, our upper limit on creating Vampires has been lowered to two-hundred and fifty. Furthermore, over half of the Lessers were also wiped out," Remarked Jagger as he scratched the back of his head with a troubled look on his face.
"We’re going to need to rebuild our forces as fast as possible. But we cannot deplete our livestock farms too much either...where are we supposed to find enough humans to restore any significant amount of our forces?" Pointed out Lavinia.
"On that note, what is our next move? Even if do manage to replenish our forces, there is no way to make up for the loss of three Elder Vampires. The tables have been turned...the Dark Continent holds the advantage over us now," Added Caera with a smile.
The disparity between her tone and her expression is rather unsettling...but we have much, much bigger concerns to worry about right now.
"Looking at this objectively, I’d say it’s likely that the Dark Continent will attack us before we have a chance to regroup and prepare our forces. And with only four of us Elder Vampires remaining, they certain to target each of us with at least three or four of their strongest individuals," Surmised Jagger warily.
"I suppose we have the option of fleeing and going into hiding...even suggesting that is a blow to my pride, but it may well be our only option," Mused Lavinia with a conflicted look on her face.
"No, that is not an option...if we retreat now, we will likely never get another chance. We will be forced to live on the run, constantly fleeing...I would rather die than have to live like that. And besides, while our odds of victory have been drastically reduced, our defeat is far from assured...while we have suffered great losses, the same goes for our enemy, it is almost impossible that they came out of this with their forces unscathed.
Alright, then...we shall prepare our forces as best we can, use up every human in our livestock farms if necessary. We must ready ourselves for the Dark Continent to attack us...and this time, no matter who we end up battling, be it a Demon or a human, we fight at full power from the very start. The fact remains that, if we manage to eliminate the Demons, Dragon Kings and any other notably powerful individuals, our victory will then be assured," I stated with a sense of determination...
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