Chapter 516: Vampire vs Assassin

Charlie lay immobilized, being burned alive while the alchemists unleashed torrents of fire upon her, chanting prayers as they worked.

“To you we offer this sacrifice, Ardan!” they cried.

The pain was overwhelming. Acid, fire, boiling oil, all of it at once. She felt the flesh of her body being eaten away, felt what remained of her single arm dissolving under the assault. The spiked metal net wrapped around her heated until it glowed, biting into her skin, branding her with scorching iron.

Then she opened her eyes. Blind, she still stared straight at them.

They had killed Lulie!

[Blood Core: 86/100]

[Vampiric Regeneration activated]
[-50 Blood Energy]

[Blood Core: 36/100]

Power surged from deep within her.

[Vampiric Strength I activated]

[-10 Blood Energy]
[Blood Core: 26/100]

Charlie rose with a feral roar of pain and fury, hurling the metal net upward.

“What? She’s alive? How?” one of them shouted.

She leapt forward. A potion flew toward her. She caught it midair and hurled it back. Charlie activated [Spectral Chain], yanking her severed arm back to her side and reconnecting it through the force of [Vampiric Regeneration].

“Get the bitch, brothers!”

She grabbed one of them and used him as a shield, then slammed him into the ground, crushing his skull. She charged the next, who tried to throw more potions. She raised a spectral barrier, closed the distance, seized his head, and crushed it in her grip.

Two remained.

“Ardan, may your alchemical explosions—” the man began.

He never finished. Spectral Chain snapped tight, dragging him straight into his partner.

With a brutal surge forward, Charlie drove her sword through both of them. With her free hand, she plunged into one man’s chest, crushed his heart, and summoned Lulie back.

[You have slain a…]

[You have slain a…]

[You have slain a…]

[You have slain a…]

The corpses collapsed to the ground.

Charlie looked down at her arm as it continued to regenerate. The fingers that had still been bare bone sprouted muscle, then skin, until her arm was whole again, unmarked, flawless. Her body followed, every wound erased by vampiric regeneration.

It was not absolute. Along with consuming fifty Blood Energy, the regeneration had also burned through her HP to accelerate natural healing. Moments later, something descended from the dark sky. Angie.

“Charlie, are you alright?” she asked, her voice tight with concern.

“I’m fine, Angie,” Charlie replied as she moved forward. “These enemies are strong. You’ll need to be careful.”

“They invaded the temple. They’re not from Cassandra and Peter’s faction. They’re the baron’s,” Angie said.

“And there were alchemists too. I dealt with them.”

They moved through the village together, Charlie sprinting along the ground while Angie flew overhead. Archers fired from rooftops, but Angie dove like a hawk from the darkness, spearing them from behind with her lances.

Charlie encountered more alchemists along the way. She did not use her sword this time. She used her flaming fists, making them feel the same fire they worshiped. She punched through them one by one, clearing a path, purging the village.

“Let’s make a deal! I swear I’ll leave!” one of them begged, crawling across the ground.

Charlie clenched her fist.

“Here’s my deal.”

She drove her punches into his face until his skull sank into the earth.

**The [Black Ash Fighter] 2nd Class of Princess Charlie has reached Level 62!**

An alchemist crept across a rooftop.

“May the fire of Ardan burn your enemies,” he whispered to himself, just as he was about to throw a flask of flammable liquid. A spear tore through his neck from above, cutting the prayer short.

Angie hovered in the air above Charlie. “More of them got inside the temple.”

Charlie turned and ran. She caught glimpses of Angie streaking through the sky, striking soldiers with brutal precision. When they reached the top of the stairs, they found a barricade waiting for them. Stone walls had risen across the courtyard, conjured by magic.

Charlie raised her fist and activated [Steel Fist], charging straight in and punching through the stone. As one wall shattered, someone had been hiding behind it. The figure rolled aside and sprang away.

“You know, you’re very beautiful, princess,” a woman said, lifting two daggers. Her tone wasn’t flattering, nor was it angry. If anything, she sounded amused.

She glanced upward into the darkness of the night sky, staring straight toward where Angie hovered. “I see. Someone with wings. This is getting interesting.” Her gaze returned to Charlie. “I’ll admit, I thought this place would have more people. But there were only two of you. That leaves me with two possibilities. Either the others fled, or you were the only ones who made it past the oni army.”

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The woman smiled. “Tick, tock. You’re both awfully quiet. I suppose that means you’re more than enough. Luckily for you… so was I.”

“Lady Dolores, it would be wiser to wait for reinforcements,” someone called from inside the temple.

“Quiet. I’ll deal with the two of them myself,” Dolores replied.

Charlie studied her stance, the twin daggers, the light clothing, the cloak. Everything pointed to an assassin, or at least a stealth class like a rogue. High level too. That made her dangerous. Master Luke had warned her before. Assassins were unpredictable. Traps, feints, layered plans. They thought fast.

“I’ll handle her,” Charlie said to Angie above.

“What a coincidence. You were my first choice anyway. Unlike your helmeted friend, I get to see that pretty little face of yours,” Dolores said, then lunged.

The assassin rushed forward, drawing throwing knives and flinging them in a blur. Charlie knocked some aside with her sword, but the moment they were struck, the blades detonated in bursts of blinding white light.

She heard Dolores laughing.