81: Bloodlust

Seeing these four large characters appear, Locke Galahad's eyes lit up in the pitch-black tunnel.

He hadn't expected that using two ordinary combat skills would give him a chance to fuse them into an Extraordinary Ability; this was a win no matter how he looked at it.

"I didn't expect this. This skill fusion card looked so unremarkable, yet it brought me such a huge surprise. Not bad, truly not bad."

【Bloodthirsty Combat: In close-quarters combat, if you inflict damage on an enemy, you will plunder a portion of energy from them to restore yourself. This is an inheritance from an ancient entity in the Warp. When you upgrade this skill to the maximum level, you may gain the favor of that ancient entity.】

"It can be upgraded, and there are no side effects. This skill is truly perfect for me."

After reading the description, Locke Galahad's joy deepened.

Not only did two ordinary skills fuse into an Extraordinary Ability, but unlike most skills rewarded by the system, this one didn't have any strange side effects. That was simply fantastic.

It was like drawing a card; he hadn't expected to get anything good, but suddenly, a top-tier item popped out. It was a complete surprise.

Therefore, even with Locke Galahad's calm personality, his gaze couldn't help but flicker several times:

"Ha, with this skill, my chances of success in slaughtering Marcus and Victor will increase even further. Perhaps I won't even need Serena's help; I can do it myself."

...

On the other side, Serena and Erica had already brought Emilia from the safe house in New York to the Vampire Clan castle.

Upon returning to the castle, Emilia immediately convened an emergency meeting, following the orders Locke Galahad had given her earlier.

She summoned everyone from the upper echelons of the Vampire Clan who were still in the castle.

The meeting room was brightly lit, forming a stark contrast to the night outside the castle.

By this time, the underground meeting room was already full.

After all, it was a meeting called by Emilia, one of the three Elders, so no one dared not to come.

Except for Serena and Erica, who had already been shocked earlier, the other Vampires who arrived at the meeting room and saw Emilia—who had been declared dead but had suddenly reappeared—had different expressions.

But without exception, everyone's pupils dilated violently.

They were clearly impacted by the scene of her resurrection.

After all, anyone would be like this upon seeing someone who had already died suddenly appear before them; no one could remain calm.

Especially the Vampire nobles under Emilia's faction.

They had firmly believed the news of Emilia's death and had already begun planning how to deal with the suppression from other factions.

So, at this moment, seeing their own Elder, who was supposed to be dead, suddenly appear, the joy in their hearts was beyond words.

These old guys who had lived for hundreds of years, their originally cold and pale faces were now radiant, completely devoid of their previous composure.

Their joy was almost overflowing the meeting room; no one present could fail to feel it. Because for them, this was simply earth-shattering good news.

But in contrast, the people from the Marcus Faction and Victor's faction looked rather ugly, or perhaps uncomfortable.

Especially those under the Marcus Faction; they were all tense and somewhat nervous.

Because earlier, under Kraven's leadership, they had plotted this assassination attempt against Emilia, planning to push Kraven into the position of Elder.

Unexpectedly, the unexpected factor of Locke Galahad appeared, killing Kraven single-handedly and completely shattering their plans.

It also caused their conspiracy to rule the Vampire Clan to die in the cradle.

Originally, their idea was that once Kraven ascended to the position of Elder, their faction would become the sole dominant force among the Vampires.

They just didn't know that Kraven himself had his own selfish motives and wasn't truly loyal to Marcus, but was instead working for a high-ranking figure from the Secret Cult who had never appeared.

Originally, they could barely accept it if only Kraven had died.

But now that the supposedly dead Emilia had appeared in the castle, their position was instantly in jeopardy.

They were especially worried that if Emilia found out the truth about the assassination, she would likely purge them.

Now that their backer, Marcus, hadn't awakened yet, no one could protect them from Emilia.

"Damn it, how could Kraven handle things so unreliably? Didn't he say she was already dead? Why is she sitting here safe and sound now?"

"Fuck, is this how he does things? Can't he even confirm if she's dead or not? He was truly careless."

Sitting on Emilia's left, the few old Vampire men belonging to the Marcus Faction had gloomy faces, cursing Kraven in their hearts.

This was tantamount to roasting them over a fire.

Emilia scanned the room, her sharp gaze lingering on those few old men, and then she slammed her hand onto the table.

The scene went quiet instantly, and everyone focused their gaze on her.

"Where is Kraven? Bring that dog over here to see me immediately."

Serena and Erica looked puzzled, because they remembered clearly that they had told Emilia about Kraven's death on the way, so they didn't know the purpose of her doing this now.

However, out of respect for Elder Emilia's status, neither of them spoke, but sat quietly on the side, observing.

After all, they believed that Emilia must have her reasons for doing this.

As Emilia spoke, she stared fixedly at the few old men on her left.

Under her gaze, cold sweat couldn't help but break out on their foreheads.

Finally, one of them, a gray-bearded Vampire elder who appeared to have the highest status, bit the bullet and stood up tremblingly, answering the question and breaking the news of Kraven's death:

"Reporting to Elder Emilia, Kraven was... killed... by a newly joined Vampire earlier this evening..."

Emilia's expression didn't change at all after hearing this; there was even a hint of pride.

She muttered to herself in her heart:

"Hmph, a newcomer? My master is no ordinary Vampire. Isn't killing a guy like Kraven easy for him?"

"Speaking of which, why did Master kill Kraven? Could it be that he was avenging me? No way, right?"

Thinking of this, the smile on the corners of her mouth deepened.

In fact, Emilia had naturally known about this news long ago.

The reason she was deliberately asking when she already knew was because she had received instructions from Locke Galahad to delay the people of the Marcus Faction in the meeting room, not giving them a chance to send messages to Marcus.