Chương 33: Kiki

"Oliver requests that you create a disturbance to allow him an opportunity to slip away from the castle grounds undetected." [Technomancer]'s drone lowered and hovered to her right.

"Since speed is paramount, I will fly you to a closer position. Then, while you distract the vampires, I will extract Oliver from the premises. Do you have any qualms with this plan?" Kiki stopped her pacing and grinned at the drone. Her fingers twitched ready to grasp her sword and run it through some foes. She was still pissed that Oliver had obtained so many levels on their journey here while she'd been left with scraps.

And then, to be left behind on a dirt road while he explored a haunted castle full of monsters. Both infuriating and insulting. [Technomancer] had been keeping her updated as Oliver explored and fought monsters in the keep. That news had only served to sour her spirit further. So many juicy battles that she was blocked out of. Well, now things were finally looking up. Her foul mood finally brightened.

"Fine by me." She grabbed the bottom of the drone and let [Technomancer] lift her a foot off the ground. Then they bolted down the dirt road at an exhilarating speed. The blur of scenery reminded her of the [Ninja] class she'd been offered once. It hadn't suited her fighting style, sneaking around backstabbing enemies, but speed like this had even still made it tempting. She recalled legends of ninjas from back in her time before the experiment. Cloaked in darkness. Uncanny aim.

Able to sprint for days without rest. Yes… it had been tempting. Still, Kiki felt no buyer's remorse at her decision. The noble path of a samurai was superior in nearly every way. A true warrior class like [Neon Samurai] allowed her to relish the battle. The dance of blades and witness the lives of her foes in their final minutes. Those minutes were where people truly displayed their personality and granted her an insight into humanity she believed few others had.

It was important to her to do the deed herself and make certain her foes knew they were acknowledged. [Technomancer] barely slowed as he dropped her in front of the castle gate. She did her best to keep up the speed in a full sprint as she let go and the drone veered off to the side. Her blade in hand, Kiki's heart beat rapidly as a mad grin spread across her face under her helmet. Oliver had told her a bit about her foe. All she needed to do was remove the heads from their shoulders. Simple enough.

Her mask's display analyzed her battlefield. The hud pointed out several blood splatters on the courtyard just inside the gate. Werewolf blood, she recalled [Technomacer] mentioning a dispute between the factions. They'd been in the middle of a battle when Oliver had arrived. Kiki hoped these bloodsuckers were ready for another one. Her hud pointed out a solitary figure standing at the center of the gate's opening. His biosignature displayed him as a human male. Not a vampire or werewolf.

Though Kiki wondered if her gear would adequately be able to differentiate between man and a werewolf in human form. [Technomancer] had upgraded it himself, but it still wasn't originally designed for this biome. Plus, Oliver had mentioned the vampires had a possession ability. Perhaps it was best to err on the side of caution. The man just stood in the gate, mouth slightly ajar as she charged at him, blade out and gleaming with a blaze of neon. Kiki noticed a bit of white foam at his lips.

Her hud wasn't designed for medical analysis and she'd never bothered studying the subject in detail, but even she knew this man must not be well. Normal healthy people didn't foam at the mouth. At least… not in Neon Nova City. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Rather than aim for the ill man in the center of the path, Kiki veered to the side. Her blade sliced through the gate's foundation with little resistance.

A curve to her slice, and the structure slid. She stepped past the entrance and into the open courtyard in the castle grounds. It took a few seconds, but Kiki smiled behind her mask as she heard the gate collapsing in her wake. The demolition sent a cloud of dust up that pelted her back. She barely felt it with her armor's protection. Outraged shouts, hisses of anger, confused yelling. It all mixed together into a delicious hotpot of sound. The first vampire darted around the corner, coming from the gardens.

Her hud accurately analyzed him as a 'powerful undead' which, while not a perfect analysis, was enough to give her a baseline of information to work with. The red and black cloak, slicked back hair, and fangs were enough context for her to surmise the undead was a vampire. It glided across the ground, clawed hands spread wide as if to embrace her in a hug. Kiki wasn't much of a hugger, so she declined the offer. Stepping to the side with a blur of speed, she positioned her blade.

She didn't even need to swing the katana, she let the vampire's own momentum carry it into the blade's edge. Unlike the ghosts she'd fought in the last biome, there was a satisfying tension as she sliced through a vampire's midriff. Both of the creature's legs fell to the side while everything north of the thighs flopped into the gate's rubble. The monster's claws still raked her as it passed by, but her armor kept her secure. The scratches to her forearm plating could be buffed out later.

Oliver had said they required more than dismemberment to put down. Garlic, holy water, stakes to the heart. All a bunch of contrived weaknesses. Beheading suited her much better. The creature, scarlet eyes wide, attempted to squirm out of the way as it saw its inevitable doom. It clawed at the ground, dragging its bisected body through the dirt and rubble. Her sword hummed as it removed the head right as it jerked to the side. Kiki frowned at the corpse.

The vampire's sudden movement resulted in her cleaving the head unevenly. The bottom half of the jaw remained attached to the creature's neck. She took a couple seconds to study the corpse, just to make certain that her killing blow counted. It remained motionless among the rubble. A kill notification appeared, confirming its death. Kiki shrugged. Might not be pretty, but good enough for her. She turned back to the castle. In those few seconds of distraction, a hoard of bloodsuckers had appeared.

The first vampire dead at her feet, the others clearly took that as a warning. Unlike their now decapitated friend, none of them made brash aggressive movements. Instead, they circled her, like cats ready to pounce on prey. The first of them lunged forward, testing her defenses without fully committing. It departed the exchange with two less fingers as a prize. Next, multiple attacked at once, all of them vying for her blood.

Her neon armor withstood several glancing hits while she danced in and around the vampires responding with counters of her own. The best part about her armor was that it allowed her to allocate her stat points in a less natural manner. Since acquiring it years ago, Kiki never once spent a point in Resilience, instead trusting the armor. Then, the skills granted by her class later on made Strength negligible, as her sword could slice through near everything with little resistance.

The combination allowed her to dump a stupid amount of points into the attribute she cared about. Dexterity. The vampires might be a higher level than her, she had no way of knowing for sure. If they'd managed to truly wrap their claws around her, they likely have the Strength attributes to crush her under their pressure, even despite her protective armor. But first they needed to catch her. Her Dexterity allowed her to dodge the majority of the hits and only take glancing blows when necessary.

Meanwhile, her katana dealt devastation. Bloodless limbs and chunks of bodies littered the dirt around her, none of them hers. Hissing, the vampires retreated. While they retreated to lick their wounds, they were replaced by new vampires in seconds.

"Surrender," a handsome voice said. The vampire had a masculine form with a sharp chin and even sharper scarlet eyes.

"You are a fine specimen. Exactly the sort my master craves. Submit yourself to us and I promise you will be granted power and riches beyond your imagination." A pale hand with immaculately manicured nails exited the vampire's flowing robes. An offering to her. With her back to the rubble of the ruined castle gate, Kiki had nowhere to run. Fine by her. She raised her blade and laughed.