149: The Vampire's Use of Burst Power
The white serpent slithered down from Nolan's wrist, its elegant form gliding silently across the ground.
The moment it touched the earth, it began to shift.
Its body stretched, bones reshaping, skin darkening—
In the blink of an eye, the snake transformed.
A woman now stood in its place.
She wore a flowing nun's habit, her pale skin gleaming like moonlight.
Her crimson eyes shone with eerie brilliance—
A vampire, exuding an aura of chilling grace.
Sheila had returned to her true form.
Nolan's voice was calm but firm.
"Sheila, hold off that knight for now.
"Be careful of his sword—it's the work of an ancient elf.
"Extremely dangerous."
Sheila inclined her head respectfully.
"As you command, Your Highness."
With that, she reached for the long blade at her waist, unsheathing it in one fluid motion.
Lancelot's expression twisted in displeasure.
"You're sending a woman to fight me?"
Nolan's red eyes glinted with amusement.
"The times have changed, descendant of ancient knights."
"In this era, women refuse to be mere shadows of men.
"Even among the vampire clans, things are no different."
He took a slow step forward, the silver embroidery of his boots catching the light.
"My mother's generation marked the beginning of a long line of matriarchs in the Von Draugr family.
"And let me tell you—
"They've always been far stronger than me."
Lancelot sneered but said nothing.
Nolan turned away from him, approaching Miss Nancy, whose colossal form loomed beside him.
Lifting his wand, he pointed it at the grotesque Lake Spirit.
"And this—"
He smirked.
"Is my Firstborn.
"Before she became a vampire, she was known as the Saint of England.
"A legendary slayer of magical creatures."
"I am no mere magical creature!"
Lancelot snarled in rage.
"I am a knight of the Round Table—!"
He charged forward, sword raised.
And in the same instant—
Sheila moved.
"…That speed—"
For a split second, Lancelot faltered.
His eyes widened.
He could barely comprehend what he was seeing.
Sheila wasn't running—
She was gliding across the battlefield, her movements so fast they blurred like shadows.
She was faster than sound—
Faster than thought itself.
"Expelliarmus!"
Lancelot's left hand flicked his wand, firing a Disarming Charm in sheer reflex.
A brilliant red beam shot toward Sheila—
But—
She was gone before the magic could even touch her.
"Speed beyond a certain limit renders spells nearly useless, knight of the Round Table."
Sheila's voice was cold as ice.
She was already too close.
Her blade slashed downward—
The elves watching from the sidelines couldn't even track her movements with their sharp eyes.
CLANG!
Lancelot barely managed to lift his sword in time.
Steel met steel—
The Elven Blade and the Vampire's Sword collided, ringing out like a bell of war.
A shockwave of force rippled outward, shaking the lake's surface.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield—
Nolan's voice remained eerily calm.
"Eat her," he murmured.
"Miss Nancy."
The giant demon obeyed.
A massive set of jaws snapped open, revealing a maw of endless darkness.
With a terrifying CRUNCH, Miss Nancy swallowed the Lake Spirit whole.
For a brief moment, silence fell.
The monstrous elf had been devoured.
Then—
A deafening explosion erupted from within Miss Nancy's stomach.
A wave of thick, black liquid splattered everywhere.
A moment later, an enormous hole had been blasted clean through Miss Nancy's body.
"Ah?"
Miss Nancy tilted her head, blinking lazily.
Her golden feline eyes narrowed in mild annoyance.
"How rude."
Her voice was almost…pouting.
"My body's been torn open, hmm?"
Nolan sighed.
"It certainly has."
He flicked his wand idly.
"You should probably trap her instead.
"This thing lacks magic resistance, but her raw magic power is ridiculously high.
"A real nuisance to deal with—
"Reducto!"
A sharp shattering curse blasted forward—
But—
Just like the enchanted arrows before, the Lake Spirit's raw magic shattered the spell before it could even reach her.
Nolan clicked his tongue.
"Tch.
"An opponent with nothing but insane magic power and zero spell control—
"Like a Muggle child holding a loaded gun but not knowing how to aim."
He sighed again, rubbing his temple.
"Restrain her, Miss Nancy."
Meanwhile, the black slime that had been blasted apart began reforming.
It slithered back together, pulling itself into shape—
But the missing gap in her body remained.
Then—
The Lake Spirit suddenly threw a tantrum.
She began violently thrashing about inside Miss Nancy's stomach, slamming against her insides like a deranged lunatic.
She detonated more explosions from within, sending black sludge flying everywhere.
Each time Miss Nancy's body tried to regenerate, the Lake Spirit blew it apart again.
"How's it going? Can you digest her?"
Nolan asked, sounding almost amused.
"Hoh?"
Miss Nancy's voice was oddly strained.
"This… might be a bit of a problem—"
Her massive form shuddered, clearly struggling to maintain shape.
"She's annoying.
"Even for me, this is a—GRAH!"
Her words were cut off by a final, massive explosion.
A horrifying BOOM split the air—
And in the next moment—
Miss Nancy's gigantic demon form shattered.
The once-mighty shadow beast was blown into nothingness—
A torrential rain of thick, black liquid came crashing down.
Nolan stared up at the mess falling from the sky.
A single drop of black sludge landed on his cheek.
He wiped it away with a gloved finger, sighing deeply.
"Well."
His expression remained unreadable.
"That was dramatic."
A single black droplet wriggled weakly on the ground.
From within it, a grumbling voice emerged.
"Ugh... I hate this..."
It was Miss Nancy's unmistakable tone, filled with discontent.
She had been blown to bits, and now her remains were slowly crawling back together.
Meanwhile—
The Lake Spirit had completely freed herself.
With a sickening squelch, she lifted a filthy hand.
A tremendous surge of ancient magic radiated from her body.
Crackling power gathered at her fingertips, shaping itself into a colossal, warhammer-like weapon forged entirely of pure magical force.
With a thunderous roar, she swung it downward—
Straight toward the ranger squad.
"Scatter!"
Ligeitoli and her team barely dodged in time.
The hammer slammed into the ground, shattering it like glass, sending shockwaves rippling outward.
The rangers immediately switched to guerilla tactics, darting between cover, loosing enchanted arrows as they ran.
The Lake Spirit seemed to instinctively understand combat.
Without hesitation, she erected a crude magical barrier around herself—
A brutal, unrefined defense of raw power.
The enchanted arrows snapped apart the moment they touched it.
In response, she summoned more spectral warhammers, hurling them one after another, determined to crush the defiant elves like insects.
Nolan watched, his crimson eyes narrowing slightly.
"Not listening, are we..."
He muttered under his breath.
Without another word, he tossed his dagger into the air.
As it flipped midair, his fingers twisted, catching it in reverse grip.
His stance lowered.
Muscles tensed.
He froze—
For precisely two seconds.
And then—
He vanished.
This wasn't a normal sprint.
In a split second, Nolan transformed his own body structure over five times.
He reinforced his legs with layers of magic, enhancing his explosive strength.
This was the foundation of close-combat techniques taught to him by Felicia—
A technique that revolved around the principle of instantaneous burst and sudden stillness.
Through rigorous training, Nolan had mastered the ability to shift from complete stillness to maximum acceleration in an instant—
And just as quickly, he could stop without any recoil, completely negating inertia.
The result?
To the naked eye, it looked as though Nolan was moving at an impossible speed.
The Lake Spirit's unnatural black eyes snapped toward him.
She reacted immediately.
One spectral warhammer came hurtling toward him.
Nolan snapped his fingers.
A silver glow enveloped his body—
Protego Totalum.
The full-body shield charm settled over him just as the warhammer slammed into his chest.
BOOM!
A devastating explosion ripped through the air.
Nolan was blasted backward, his body sent flying five meters across the battlefield.
But—
Before his momentum could carry him further, his feet slammed down onto the earth.
The ground caved in beneath him—
The force of impact reduced the soil to dust.
And then—
He stopped dead.
As if he had never been moving at all.
He exhaled, brushing dust off his coat.
"Hah..."
His eyes gleamed.
"Powerful.
"Probably even stronger than old Dumbledore."
His lips curved slightly.
"Guess I'll have to use hand-to-hand combat."
With zero hesitation, he lunged forward once more.
This time, he didn't cast a shield.
This time, he didn't dodge.
This time—
He moved with lethal intent.
The Lake Spirit hurled another warhammer at him.
It streaked through the air like a meteorite, aimed directly for his skull.
But—
In the fraction of a second before impact—
Nolan's entire body froze mid-stride.
Then, he suddenly jerked sideways, shifting his trajectory into a sharp V-turn, sliding around the attack with inhuman precision.
The warhammer whizzed past his ear—
Missing him by a hair's breadth.
And then—
He was right in front of her.
His dagger slashed out.
And—
CRACK!
The blade shifted mid-strike, extending into a longer, deadlier shape.
What had been a mere dagger was now a blade the length of his arm.
Nolan twisted his body, generating immense rotational force, pouring it all into this one strike—
A brutal, unstoppable slash, aimed directly at the Lake Spirit's throat.
But then—
Her oily, matted hair shifted.
From beneath the tangled strands, her black eyes flashed.
A wave of pure, unfiltered magic exploded outward from her body.
A sphere of raw destruction radiated outward in a perfect circle.
Nolan reacted instantly.
His wand flicked up.
"Reducto!"
The Blasting Curse collided with the Lake Spirit's mana explosion.
The impact was catastrophic.
For a split second, reality itself seemed to fracture.
The very air was torn apart, shards of broken space flying like shattered glass.
But—
Despite everything—
Nolan's blade had already reached her magic field.
His steel met her raw magic energy.
Sparks ignited from the friction.
The battlefield shook.
Then—
The resistance overpowered him.
Nolan's body was blown backward once more.
He skidded across the ground, boots digging trenches into the dirt.
Nearby—
Ligeitoli hadn't been so lucky.
The blast had sent her flying like a ragdoll.
She crashed into the mud with a loud thud, rolling several times before finally coming to a stop.
Her golden hair, once pristine, was now caked with dirt.
Her face, normally proud and sharp, was bruised with purple and blue marks.
She groaned softly.
But there was no time to rest.
Because the Lake Spirit was still standing.
And she was angrier than ever.
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