Chapter 98: The Blood Clan Sacred Artifact, the Bloodshadow Demon Mirror (Second Update)

By the time Eleven had become a mid-tier witch, her strength still had not reached its peak, and she had only learned three abilities: teleportation, mind control, and levitation. Those powers would hardly be enough against a mind flayer.

Mind flayers were experts in psychic domination. From the events of the third volume, it was clear that their greatest talent lay in seizing control of the human mind. If one could resist their control, that was already a blessing from heaven; controlling them was simply impossible.

Perhaps only when Eleven stepped into the ranks of advanced witches, with her full potential completely awakened and her psychic power strong enough, would she be able to subdue a mind flayer. For now, she could at best barely protect herself.

As for Lin Xiao himself, his strongest offensive method was the lightning summoning talisman. That thing had blasted and wounded a witch’s undead spirit and even destroyed a demon projection; its power was quite impressive.

Whether it could kill a mind flayer remained unknown. At this point, he could only treat a dead horse as though it were alive and force his way through.

The car passed through the villa district and merged onto the road outside. Hawkins Laboratory and the residential area were located at opposite ends of the town, and they parted ways there, each hurrying toward their own destination.

Lin Xiao floored the accelerator, driving so fast that Michael and the others were left far behind. Fortunately, they were all strong, muscular young men who chased after him with all their might, so none of them fell behind.

Lost in thoughts of his battle plan, Lin Xiao failed to notice a dark figure suddenly appearing ahead in the road. He had no time to slow down and yanked the steering wheel hard in an emergency turn. The car shot off the pavement and crashed with a boom into a roadside tree.

At the moment of impact, Eleven vanished from the car in a flash of teleportation. Lin Xiao tumbled out through the window, rolled across the ground, and slammed into the trunk, dazed and reeling.

Drive properly, and your loved ones shed two lines of tears.
Do not wear a seat belt, and death comes swiftly.

Lin Xiao did not die, however. With a physical defense as high as 165 points, combined with his level 10 extraordinary physique, his body was hardly inferior to Wolverine’s. Though he lacked such powerful regenerative ability, his defenses were absolutely solid.

Rubbing his head, he struggled to his feet and looked toward the center of the road. The dark figure from before was gone, as if it had only been his imagination.

Roar!

From behind him came the sudden howl of a werewolf, mixed with cries of agony. The group of muscular wolfmen seemed to have come under attack.

"What is it? Could it be the demonic dog horde?"

Lin Xiao quickened his pace and ran back. There he saw Michael and the other werewolves locked in battle with several dark shapes. Those shapes flickered between solid and insubstantial, seeming to lack any physical body at all. Every attack passed straight through them.

Each time this happened, the young werewolves let out anguished cries, as though they were suffering some kind of painful assault. Their momentum also weakened, and they flailed their claws in vain, trying to tear the shadows apart.

Calling them shadows might not have been accurate. In Lin Xiao’s eyes, they radiated a faint crimson glow all over, and bloodshadows would have been a more fitting name.

"What the hell are those things?"

He was astonished. Were these the mind flayer’s new troops? He had never seen anything like them before.

"Jonathan, up there."

Eleven pointed into the air. Lin Xiao looked up and saw that, several dozen feet above the ground, two black figures hovered in midair, each with a pair of huge black wings on their backs. They were...

Vampires!

Magic gathered in his eyes, and Lin Xiao immediately recognized the two of them. Unexpectedly, they were old acquaintances: the blood clan marquis Lestat, and his classmate, the handsome Stefan Cullen.

"It’s you? Stefan, are you really going to become my enemy in the end?"

Lin Xiao shouted loudly. Hovering above, Stefan’s face was extremely ugly as he answered from on high:

"Why? Why did you kill Damonte? Don’t you know he was my own brother?"

Stefan was in terrible pain. Though he and Damonte had never gotten along and their relationship had been atrocious, blood was still thicker than water. Even though they were no longer ordinary humans, family ties could not be severed.

When he heard the news that Damonte had been slain, and with Lestat’s incitement, he was blinded by hatred and followed him here on a revenge campaign, determined to avenge Damonte.

"I said long ago: if he dared come, he would have to bear the consequences of provoking me. No matter who it is, anyone who dares to cross me or threaten me with my family and friends will die.

"Are you certain you want to be my enemy? For the sake of our being classmates, leave now and I won’t make things hard for you. We can still be classmates afterward. Otherwise, today either you die or I do."

Lin Xiao spoke in a ringing voice. Stefan was no weakling; at the very least, he was a blood clan earl, his strength on par with Lin Xiao’s. And over there was the blood clan marquis Lestat, whose power should have been even greater than Eleven’s.

What was more, the seven bloodshadows below were likely also unleashed by them, leaving the young werewolves with no way to fight back. If they clashed, the outcome would be uncertain.

"Hmph, boy, stop boasting there. I know exactly what you’re worth, and what you’re worth is nothing. This time I went back specifically to borrow the Bloodshadow Magic Mirror, one of our clan’s thirteen sacred relics.

"Don’t rush. Once the seven bloodthirsty phantoms have drawn enough blood power, I’ll show you what it means to live a fate worse than death.

"I’ll drag you back, then drag back all your family and friends as well. Every day, I’ll drink their blood before your eyes, until in endless despair you feel the most agonizing regret of your life.

"I will tell the whole world: any extraordinary being who dares to slaughter our blood clan or stand against us will face our mad retaliation. We will fight to the death and never stop."

Lestat roared madly, holding a blood-red round mirror in his hand that emitted a faint crimson light. Clearly, it was the Bloodshadow Magic Mirror he had mentioned, one of the blood clan’s thirteen sacred relics.

Lin Xiao’s expression darkened. In order to deal with him, this fellow had truly gone to great expense, even bringing out a blood clan sacred relic. What kind of grudge and hatred was this?

"Eleven, can you fly up there and knock them down?"

Lin Xiao asked Eleven in a low voice. The vampires’ greatest advantage was their ability to fly in the sky, leaving him able to see but unable to strike, which was maddening.

Eleven fixed her gaze on the two of them and answered uncertainly:

"I’ll try my best, but I can’t be sure I can knock them down."

"All right, do what you can. I’ll deal with these bloodshadows first."

With that, Lin Xiao immediately drew out the Star Destroyer battle axe, ignited its magical flame, and leaped toward the road, planning to eliminate the bloodthirsty phantoms first.

Though he did not know what abilities these bloodshadows possessed, they were called blood clan sacred relics, so their power was surely not weak. Once they had absorbed enough blood energy, their situation would only grow worse.

"You want to deal with the bloodthirsty phantoms? Let’s see if you can get past us first. Stefan, go and stop him!"

Lestat issued his command. Stefan, in the air, drew a greatsword from behind his back, a blade over six feet long. He plunged downward toward Lin Xiao, the massive sword sweeping across in a strike aimed at his head.

Clang!

Lin Xiao swung his battle axe to block. Greatsword and battle axe collided, sparks flying as the deafening crash rang out.

A faint layer of bloodlight coiled around the greatsword, shielding it from the searing flames. When the battle axe struck, it was like cutting into rubber, making it difficult to split apart.

Stefan circled and dove, wielding the sword with both hands as he attacked repeatedly from every direction. Each time, Lin Xiao blocked with the battle axe. Though neither could gain the upper hand, his advance was hindered, and he could not move on to deal with the bloodshadows.

Michael and the other nine muscular werewolves were struck through by the bloodshadows time and again. Unable to win in battle and unable to flee, they kept roaring and screaming in agony, their bodies steadily drained of blood power and left in grave peril.