Chapter 597: How Do Vampires Dress?

This chapter is a bonus update sponsored by “No Need for Names.”

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“Tubote is very cautious; he never casually reveals his whereabouts. But tonight, my mission is to extract your blood. As long as I contact him, he will definitely appear.”

"Pureblood Vampires have almost no weaknesses other than their fear of light. His bat transformation is an advanced form—unlike mine, where only one bat is the true body, every one of his bats is his true form. If you can't quickly eliminate all those bats, Lord Liszt, he will escape."

"But I do have a plan. By killing him and absorbing his heart and blood, I can ascend to a Pureblood Vampire... This is the *Bloodlight Net*, a magic equipment woven for me by a great magician. It can trap transformed bats. As long as your hand speed is fast enough, Tubote will have no chance to escape."

Elizabeth spoke while rummaging through the chest area of her leather outfit, pulling out a neatly folded red net and handing it to Liszt.

When it came to hand speed, Liszt’s was certainly not slow. But he was curious: "You hide everything on your person? How come I never noticed?"

Elizabeth slowly ran her hand over her chest and smiled faintly. "Please don’t question my *assets*, my lord."

His lip twitched, ignoring the female vampire’s teasing. "When you transform into a bat, where do your clothes and these things go?"

"The power of blood magic allows specially crafted items to transform along with me through blood magic power, though only a small number can be accommodated. The *Bloodlight Net* took me a long time to refine with blood magic before it became my personal item."

"Interesting. What other items do you have?"

"A lowly hybrid vampire like me doesn’t have many personal items. I only have this *Bloodlight Net*, secretly crafted to deal with other vampires. The blood extraction needle was given to me by Tubote." Elizabeth spoke in a whiny tone.

Liszt didn’t press further. "In that case, step outside first. I’ll change clothes, then we’ll go kill Tubote together... The sooner we leave, the sooner we return. I’m itching for a bath."

He shooed Elizabeth out the door, partly to change clothes and partly to see if she would flee. Trust was out of the question. Until he confirmed whether the blood could truly restrain her, it was all just a battle of acting.

Elizabeth transformed into a bat and clung to the door outside. Through his *Magic Eye*, Liszt could see her faint *magic aura*. By the time he finished changing into his mithril armor, she still hadn’t fled.

Looking at the glob of coagulated blood on the table, he suddenly had a split-second idea and quietly stored it in his gem storage—the space couldn’t hold living things, as it would extinguish souls, but it had no issue preserving flesh. Since this blood clearly had no soul, there shouldn’t be a problem.

As for what to do if there was a problem... he hadn’t thought that far. It was just a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Fortunately, the result was good. Elizabeth remained unaffected. When she saw him emerge, she let out a sharp chirp, signaling for Liszt to follow her.

Liszt remained unmoved. Instead, he had a squire knight bring him paper and a pen, quickly writing a letter: "Give this to Captain Marcus and have him deliver it to my father."

After dismissing the squire knight and mounting his chocobo named Loki, he finally signaled Elizabeth to proceed.

Elizabeth paused, unsure why Liszt had written the letter, but she didn’t press further. With a flap of her wings, she flew into the night. Liszt rode Loki, following the bat’s trail as they ventured deeper into the darkness. After about half an hour of flight, the bat finally landed.

Transforming back into her vampire form, she panted. "Without my blood-infused magic power, I’m running on fumes. I hope you’ll protect me during the fight, sir."

"No problem."

"By the way, was that letter you wrote earlier addressed to your father, the *Wave Sword Saint*?"

Liszt looked at Elizabeth calmly. "Just informing my father that if I fall into an ambush and don’t return by midnight, he should immediately report the presence of vampires lurking on Ironhoof Island to the Crown Prince. I’m sure the Crown Prince would be very interested in your kind."

Elizabeth opened her mouth slightly, sighing. "My lord, you truly are cautious."

"With a *Dragon Knight* backing you and ties to the dragon-slaying affair, one can never be too careful. Quit stalling and lure Tubote out. After killing him, I still need to go back and bathe."

...

This was a different patch of forest.

The moon hung high in the sky, its hazy light casting an eerie gloom over the woods. Shadows blended into the darkness around them, and the rustling of leaves in the wind made it even more terrifying.

Hidden nearby, Liszt maintained his Magic Eye, keenly observing his surroundings.

He didn’t trust Elizabeth. After she had chosen a meeting spot, he insisted on moving to a different part of the forest. Since this was a secret meeting anyway, he wanted a location where an ambush was impossible—only then could he feel at ease.

At this moment, Elizabeth cast some unknown blood magic and then stood quietly, waiting.

Twenty minutes later.

Liszt spotted a trail of red flickers at the horizon. As they grew clearer, he realized it was a swarm of crimson bats. The bats swiftly flew toward Elizabeth, circled her once, then coalesced into a tall man dressed in a black-trimmed, red-lined cloak.

"Mary, you called me in such a hurry—has the task been completed?" The male vampire was unmistakably the Black Knight Tubote, his voice raspy and rough.

"I’m sorry, Lord Tubote. The mission failed—Liszt nearly killed me. I barely escaped," Elizabeth replied weakly.

All part of the plan—the surprise of failure to distract Tubote, creating an opening for Liszt to strike.

Yet, at this moment, Liszt did not emerge. Because he heard Tubote address Elizabeth as Mary—was her real name Elizabeth or Mary? It seemed this female vampire had been deceiving him all along. Or perhaps Mary was the "Bloody Mary" mentioned in the smoke mission’s rewards.

The next instant.

Tubote slapped Elizabeth hard, sending her sprawling to the ground. "Worthless! You botched a simple job!"

"Ah!" Elizabeth cried out in pain.

This was clearly a signal for Liszt to act. His mind raced—but he settled on killing Tubote first.

Whatever schemes or tricks were at play, they would be nothing but laughable in the face of his unmatched power as a near-Dragon Knight. No one knew just how powerful he truly was. Even if there was a conspiracy, it was aimed at the Liszt with the strength of an ordinary Sky Knight—not the Dragon Knight Liszt.

Whoosh!

With a sudden burst of speed, Liszt charged out from the bushes, heading straight for Tubote. His Skyrend Greatsword, infused with a torrent of Dragon Aura, unleashed the move Scorching Sun Thrust.

The Dragon Aura transformed into flames, hitting Tubote before he could blink—against a Dragon Knight’s close-range assault, even a vampire’s reflexes were sluggish.

"Ah!"

A scream tore through the night.