Rescue

The Werewolf lifted his sharp claws and was about to give the woman the finishing strike when he was struck by an imperceptible mental wave that instantly gave him a splitting headache. The Werewolf howled with a voice so intense that Ye Ming could not help but cover his ears.

Seizing the chance, the Werewolf sniffed the air a few times, then charged straight towards the mound – he had already smelled Ye Ming.

Ye Ming was startled. He quickly dodged to the side. The Werewolf ended up pouncing on empty air, but Ye Ming had now shown himself. He drew the Vampiric Dagger and activated the {Blood Demon Body Technique} simultaneously. All this time, his mental attack on the Werewolf had never stopped.

But to his dismay, {Embrace of Pain} seemed to have very limited effect on the Werewolf. When Werewolves enter combat mode, they would go wild and become exceptionally excited, so their perception of pain would also decrease accordingly. That was why Ye Ming's {Embrace of Pain} was not that effective on the Werewolf. However, it was not as if the Werewolf was completely immune to it.

Ye Ming noticed that after the Werewolf was attacked by {Embrace of Pain}, he was visibly not as fast as when he fought the female Vampire. This was good news for Ye Ming.

Ye Ming was slightly faster than the Werewolf, but he did not dare take the Werewolf lightly because the Werewolf's strength was far greater than his, and the beast's sharp claws could even hold off the Vampiric Dagger.

Ye Ming had no choice but to keep dodging the Werewolf's claws while looking for a chance to counter attack. The Werewolf seemed annoyed by Ye Ming's nimble and flexible movements, but there was nothing he could do about it -- the {Embrace of Pain} greatly affected his agility.

After a few exchanges, Ye Ming managed to position himself behind the Werewolf. The Werewolf was a half beat slow to turn around, an opportunity which Ye Ming did not miss. The Vampiric Dagger pierced into the Werewolf's thigh.

The Werewolf felt blood involuntarily gushing out of his leg non-stop. He swung his fist at Ye Ming in panic. Ye Ming had no choice but to draw back his dagger as he retreated.

The Werewolf shook his head, trying to shake off the wave of dizziness that hit him, but it did not take long for him to pounce again. The loss of blood made his movements clumsier, and some of his combat moves were not as precise as before.

Ye Ming took the chance to carve another wound on the Werewolf's body, sucking out more of his blood in the process. At the same time, he kept processing the Vitae that the Vampiric Dagger had absorbed from the Werewolf, rapidly turning it into his own power.

The Werewolf could no longer put up a decent resistance. His moves became disorderly, nothing more than direct charges and direct attacks. He could only rely on his superb physical ability to put up a dying struggle.

The corners of Ye Ming's mouth curled up in a sinister smile. He knew the enemy was already at the end of the rope, so he used up more of his energy to secretly raise his {Blood Demon Body Technique} to another notch. A silhouette flashed in front of the Werewolf, and Ye Ming's dagger stabbed into the Werewolf's abdomen. Ye Ming then jumped back, leaving the dagger lodged in the Werewolf's body.

The Werewolf went berserk. With the dagger still implanted in him, he lunged at Ye Ming. But Ye Ming simply stood there without any intention of dodging. Less than two meters from Ye Ming, the Werewolf's hideous face lost its luster and, with a thud, his dried-up body dropped to the ground.

Ye Ming walked to the corpse and retrieved his dagger.

The female Vampire, who witnessed the whole process, was beyond shocked.

Ye Ming put his dagger away. He walked up to the female Vampire, smiled and asked, "Are you alright, my lady? How are you feeling?"

"You...you're a human?" the woman asked in surprise. Currently, Ye Ming's fangs and nails had not grown back out yet, so purely in terms of outer appearance, he looked no different from a human.

Ye Ming shook his head and replied, "No, I'm a Vampire. My name is Yelina."

"Yelina?!"

"I know, I know. It's a female name. But there's nothing I can do about it. My mom likes it," Ye Ming shrugged helplessly.

"Oh, I didn't mean to offend you. My name is Alice Tremere. Nice to meet you, and thank you for saving me just now," Alice extended her fair, slender hand.

Ye Ming also extended his hand and shook hers.

"We should leave as soon as possible. The smell of the dead Werewolf's blood will attract other Werewolves over," said Alice.

"Sure, but where do we go?" Ye Ming asked with a distressed expression.

"Come with me. I have a temporary base in the Dark Mountains. It should be quite safe there," answered Alice without hesitation.

"Great. Let's get out of here as quickly as possible. By the way, how's your stamina? Do you need me to carry you?"

Alice waved him off. "No, it's fine. I can deal with this level of injury. I just need to go back and get some rest, and I'll be fine."

"I'm glad to hear that."

The two delayed no more. Under Alice's lead, they headed towards her temporary base.

Ye Ming started a covnersation with Alice along the way. "By the way, what are you doing here in the Dark Mountains?"

"I'm gathering herbs. We from the Tremere clan need the herbs from here to practise magic and alchemy."

"But this place is the Werewolves' turf. Aren't you scared?"

Alice turned her head and flashed a smile at Ye Ming. "Are we supposed to do nothing just because we're scared?"

"Well, no. Your courage is admirable. But I mean, there's no need to take such a big risk. These herbs are available in the trading houses in the city. You can just buy them."

"The herbs in the trading houses are not fresh, and sometimes they even go out of stock, which gives me a real headache. I couldn't stand it, so I decided to come out here and gather the herbs myself."

"I see."

The two chatted as they walked. After traveling for a certain amount of time, Alice pointed to a cliff in the distance and said, "My resting place is at face of the cliff over there. Can you fly?"

"I can, but not very well. I can only glide at most. The cliff is pretty high, I'm afraid it'll be a bit difficult for me."

"That's okay. It's fine as long as you can fly. I'll help you with the rest."

"Thank you." Ye Ming activated his {Flight} skill, launching his body off the ground. Alice also took to the air and followed close behind. Ye Ming's flying proficiency really did leave a lot to be desired. He was still more than 50 meters away from the cliff face when he already started to fall. When Alice saw that, she immediately grabbed the clothes on his back and lifted him up.

"Hang on. Follow me."

"Okay."

Ye Ming adjusted his body posture and followed Alice into the cave.

When the two finally landed on solid ground, Alice heaved a sigh of relief. "You're so heavy."

"Thanks," Ye Ming smiled unabashedly.

Alice turned her head and declared, "Welcome to my beloved abode." She walked inside with Ye Ming following close behind her. A little further into the cave, Ye Ming could see lit torches on both sides providing illumination. The cave was deep but not disorderly. Everything inside was very well organized. The two sides of the passage had obviously been fixed up; they looked very neat.

*Ding* [Congratulations, you have discovered a treasure chest!]

Ye Ming was surprised to find a treasure chest here. Thanks to the lighting provided by the torches, he soon saw the treasure chest hidden within a rocky crevice. He walked over and opened the chest. It was a silver treasure chest, and it contained a book titled "Introductory-Level Alchemy".

Ye Ming was elated. Lack of knowledge in alchemy had been a problem that had been troubling him greatly.

"What are you doing over there?"

"Nothing. Just looking."

They soon reached Alice's temporary place of residence. She had a complete set of living supplies here. The two sat down, and Alice asked, "Why would a Vampire like you come here too? And you've even pulled your fangs out?"

Ye Ming tried to brush it off. He thought about it and said, "I did it to pretend to be a human so that I can come to the Dark Mountains. I'm actually here to gather herbs as well."