Summoner Sovereign 540 Chapter 540: The Necessity Of Teamwork

Fortunately, I didn't need to.

"Argh!"

"What the h.e.l.l is this?!"

Before either of them reached me, a bunch of Canis Minor pounced on them, latching onto their bodies with fangs and claws, biting and slas.h.i.+ng them mercilessly. The duo desperately battled the offending hounds away, but they weren't able to do much before they were drowned under a sea of brown.

Several of my Canis Minor tried to attack the stronger vampire, but he kicked them away before slas.h.i.+ng them to shreds with his blood claws. I winced at the psychostigmatic feedback that hit me whenever one of my Constellation spirits was destroyed, but it had never been much of a detriment even until now, so I suppressed the sting in my mind and charged at him for vengeance. He turned around just in time to catch my swords with his claws.

"Heh," he sneered. "Relying on summoned Soul Beasts to make up for your lack of strength? How despicable."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who sucks other people's blood to make up for his lack of strength," I retorted.

Then I increased my icy mana and blasted him with a freezing attack that sent him staggering. However, he simply cleaved through the ice with his claws to stab me. I barely managed to deflect his claws away with both of my swords, but his kick caught me by the side of my head and sent me spnnning.

Whoa, this guy was strong. Even though he was just a few years older than I was, he was clearly on a different level. I needed to pull myself together and get my Constellation spirits to help myself. But my Canis Major was currently defending Yue Jian's mother while my Taurus was guarding Yue Jian. I wouldn't be able to call upon them unless I was willing to sacrifice the two women to the vampires who were relentlessly a.s.saulting them.

They really seemed desperate to bring Yue Jian back to the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan's headquarters.

Fortunately, I had a lot more Constellation spirits and Celestial Guardians that I could summon.

"…!"

The vampire suddenly sprang back when a fireball exploded against the ground where he was standing on. Snarling, he turned to glare at the source, readying his blood claws. Vermillion Phoenix was soaring high into the air, and with a flap of his wings, he incinerated a larg swathe of vampires on the ground before they could evade.

This was the reason why I had spent most of the time fighting with just swords and ice magic instead of summoning more Constellation spirits. I was saving up my mana and putting aside casting time for summoning one of my big guns. Even better, vampires were weak to fire spells, so no matter how strong my opponent was, he couldn't simply shrug off a fireball from Vermilion Phoenix. Realizing that, he retreated.

"Despicable b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" he snapped. "Where is your honor? Two against one?"

"b.l.o.o.d.y hypocrite!" I snapped, irritated. "I didn't complain when you and your friends ganged up on me earlier! So it's okay if you and your friends pick on me three versus one, but it's not okay if I summon a Celestial Guardian to fight you? What nonsense! Plus you brought such a huge group to take out four of us…in fact, three if I hadn't happened to be in the area. You're the last person who should be whining about honor and fairness."

The vampire spat and lunged at me, weaving and dodging the numerous fire spells that Vermilion Phoenix flung at him. But his movements were clearly hindered and I had more than enough time to react with the swordsmans.h.i.+p that Dad taught me. Parrying his strike, I responded with a riposte that would have pierced his gut if he hadn't twisted his body aside.

Cursing, he kicked me away. I managed to block his foot with my crossed swords, but I was still sent staggering from the sheer force. He spun around for another kick, only to abort his attack and pull away when Vermillion Phoenix hurled a volley of fiery feathers at his position. Frustrated, he widened the distance between us before charging again. Thanks to Vermillion Phoenix's intervention, I was able to fend off his next slash and kick.

But even with Vermillion Phoenix's aid, I found myself locked in a stalemate, unable to glean any sort of advantage over my opponent. Particularly because my Celestial Guardian was half-distracted with unleas.h.i.+ng the majority of his fiery feathers at the other vampires in the distance. d.a.m.n it. If I was having trouble with an enemy of such caliber, how was I going to fight Xu Wu Cheng and Fan Le Lao later?

"Huff…huff…"

I wiped the perspiration from my brow before exchanging a few blows with the vampire. His claws snaked out, creating sparks as they clashed against my Hei Yue and Bai Ri. Even though my frosty mana managed to freeze his hands, he would shatter the ice with a surge of his b.l.o.o.d.y mana. After a few minutes spent futilely railing against me, the vampire realized that he was uselessly expending excessive mana against an inferior opponent.

Feeling a bit tired, he withdrew and whistled. Fresh reinforcements who were tangling with my pack of Canis Minor abandoned their task and jumped to him. At his signal, they regrouped before launching a coordinated attack on my position.

"That can't be good."

Even with Vermillion Phoenix frantically bombarding the ma.s.sed ranks of vampires with torrents of superheated flames, and my pack of Canis Minor desperately hurling themselves at the incoming vampires, they weaved and evaded almost gracefully, using their blood magic and superhuman reflexes to speed toward their objective. I frowned, surprised by their sudden increase in speed. Honestly, this was supposed to be advantageous for me, yet they were skillfully dodging the area of effect spells that my Vermillion Phoenix was launching.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

I couldn't help but be impressed, but I had a solution. Standing my ground, I sheathed my swords and recalled my Constellation spirits, who complied without question. Summoning Sagittarius, I prepared to fire a flaming arrow at the vampires, not caring that it would be too close for comfort. I didn't care that I might accidentally blow myself up with them. As long as I could take them all out in one fell swoop, it was totally worth it.

I would be able to take out a few of those flunkies, but it was possible that I wouldn't be able to take out the strong guy in the center. He would survive, retreat and attack again. How could I deal with him?

Swallowing, I readied my mana while feeling frustrated. This guy's ability was lower than even Xu Wu Cheng. If I couldn't defeat him in direct combat, how was I going to face that guy and then even the ultimate final boss, Fan Le Lao? Right now I wouldn't be able to fight an opponent that even Nan Gong Zhao Yan couldn't defeat.

d.a.m.n it…was my only option to ask Rossetti and Kufa for help? The only reason I was able to overwhelm Xu Wu Cheng so easily last night was because I was cooperating with Rossetti, working in tandem with her to destroy our enemies. Surprisingly, when Rossetti and I fought together, we exceeded the sum of our combined power and were able to take down enemies several times our number, or enemies stronger and more skilled than either of us.

I almost laughed at myself. Of course. Didn't I learn this the hard way over the course of five hundred and forty chapters? Only a fool attempted to solo everything by himself. My magic worked best when I was fighting in a team. Whether it was with Dong Fang Yue Chu, Craig, Theodore and the rest, or with Troy King, or with Anastasia, or with the Silver Wolves, or even with Rossetti Picket, I worked better in a team.

Only stupid protagonists who thought themselves G.o.dlike (or deluded themselves into believing they were on G.o.d more) and had plot armor would engage in solo leveling. If I survived this, I was going to have to apologize to Rossetti and Kufa, and then grovel to them for help. Not that I needed to – they already agreed to help me. We all agreed to volunteer to help the Midnight Order hunt the vampires together.

How could I forget that?

Anyway, for now, my priority was to survive this. It was unfortunate, but neither Rossetti nor Kufa was here to help me. Fortunately, Nan Gong Jiao Shou was here to a.s.sist me. I could see him racing toward me, suddenly bereft of opponents when they all regrouped earlier to gang up on me. But he wasn't going to make it in time.

My fingers slowly loosened the arrow. But I never got to fire it.

Just before the vampires reached me, blinding white lights pierced through them, puncturing their bodies with holes. Several of my Canis Minor were perforated as collateral damage, their battered bodies dissipating and disappearing after they were hit. b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l! Who dared to attack my Constellation spirits?

I lowered my bow just a fraction and glanced around at the fallen vampire bodies. The strong guy had just managed to avoid a few stray shots to his vitals, but he was surprisingly still alive. He hissed and lunged at me in one final display of defiance. b.l.o.o.d.y mana circulated around him and dozens of blood spears congregated around him, forming a formidable barrage that sought to pierce me. With nothing to lose, the guy was casting his ultimate spell.

Only now did I release Alnasl.

The flaming arrow streaked toward the vampire, faster than any fiery feather or torrent of inferno that Vermillion Phoenix could unleash. The b.l.o.o.d.y spears were incinerated almost immediately, the red fluids vaporizing even before they came into contact with the flaming projectile – such was the intense heat emanating from my arrow, which possessed the power of a burning star. The vampire tried to dive to the side, but Alnasl slammed into his midriff and engulfed him in flames before sending a huge explosion across the clearing that rocked the car and elicited a scream of fright from Yue Jian's mother. Even Yue Jian flopped down, covered by Taurus, who steadfastly imposed his armored bulk between his charge and the shockwaves that buffeted the road. The surviving vampires were flung across the air, but alone Nan Gong Jiao Shou remained standing, completely unaffected by the blast. He had skidded to a stop when he saw me fire my arrow and instead chose to use the chance to chop the back of the neck of a vampire that sailed past him, bringing the poor fella back down to earth.

As the explosion cleared, the fallen vampires were pierced by more white lights. As much as I wanted to see the source, I found myself on my knees, heaving from the exertion. A few of the vampire's blood lances had survived the conflagration and grazed me, causing blood to drip down my temple and shoulder.

Swaying in front of me, the vampire growled, half his body incinerated by the attack. He glared at me defiantly through the remaining half of his face, the other half charred black by my spell. Then he flopped down. Despite clearly being dead, he was still targeted for some reason. One of the white lights swerved round and pierced through his immolated head, shuddering his half-blackened corpse. A pool of blood slowly expanded underneath his immobile body.

"Huh?"

Yue Jian, who was cowering under my Taurus earlier, raised her head to watch dumbly as the vampires around her were being razed. Not that there were many of them left, especially after my Vermillion Phoenix's rampage.

"All down."

As the last of the vampires were mowed down and slain, a couple of mages flipped themselves into the vicinity and surveyed the area. One was a blue-haired bishounen armed with a spear and the other was a tomboyish girl with short, golden hair who wielded twin swords similar to mine.

For a moment, I stared at them blankly. And then I opened my mouth to ask a single question.

"…who?"

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