Viper Hunt was a transcendental-grade combat technique created by mixing deadly moves of various martial arts and boxing styles. That's why Vincent was able to use taekwondo spinning back kick. Moreover, Viper Hunt's most nefarious and famous trick was to expose a fake blind spot to bait an opponent into coming closer and then killing them off swiftly.

That's the trick he just utilized.

After killing the third creeper, Vincent once again received the notification of obtaining experience points. Now, he was only 80 points away from leveling up. But he didn't have time to notice such things as the other beasts were almost upon him from the back.

Thus, he ran forward, luring the fastest ones among them to his next trap. Vincent ran from outcropping that jutted out from the ground to a tree whose canopy shaded a wide portion of the ground as he killed two more by carefully aiming for their hearts and lungs after baiting them to the back of the tree.

‹ You've slain two low-level beasts, Phantom Creeper ×2 ›

‹ 60 exp points gained ›

‹ Lv 2: 180/200 ›

After killing the fifth one, the dagger in his right hand was brandished at the creeper leaping at him from the back. He believed that the creeper would surely die. However, contrary to his expectations, its reactions were swift, and it dodged at the same time his dagger struck out

"What the…" Vincent uttered as he was surprised to his core.

This creeper was the first one to dodge his attack successfully. It might have been due to its packmate's sudden death that caused this creeper to become more alert. However, it could also be because its intelligence was better than the other creepers.

Instantly, it pounced at Vincent and caught him off guard. Despite having taken it by surprise, just when the knife-like teeth were about to plunge into his head and eye sockets, he managed to thrust his dagger into the mouth of the beast. However, its two big buck teeth suddenly clomped down onto his arm, and the phantom creeper had also managed to embed its right claw into his chest, which penetrated deeply into his flesh, almost nearing the heart, and he heard a creaking noise of bones cracking.

-7 HP

‹You are badly injured, and you are losing blood increasingly. The blood evolution system detects that the owner will pass out in 5 minutes due to the loss of blood, and without treatment within less than half an hour or so, you will undoubtedly die.› Blood evolution system notified.

He was losing a lot of blood from the wounds rapidly.

"It hurt like hell! Damn this little crap!" Vincent shouted as anger got the best of him, and he charged his dagger with magic power before stabbing it on its head.

"Go to hell!"

With a single deadly blow, Vincent punctured the head of the beast stuck to his arm too deeply, and crimson blood steamed out of the crack of its head. Strength left its claw and teeth as its grips loosened before it collapsed to the ground.

"Who else wanna die? Come forward!" Vincent shouted as he forcefully gulped a mouthful of his own warm and metallic scented blood down his throat and stared at the rest of the creepers with a cold murderous stare that pierces and plunges into the heart.

However, he didn't have the strength to back up his words. The only reason why he could shout so boisterously was because of the sudden adrenaline rush. However, it wasn't going to last more than a minute. So he remained in his spot waiting, waiting for the creepers to be intimidated by his cold gaze.

He was at a huge disadvantage in numbers, but worse than that was his mangled off-hand and garish wounds on the chest. He was in terrible pain, and the pain was assaulting his senses. He could barely hold up for a few minutes, but Vincent acted as if he was okay, as if he could kill as many as they can send and still not die.

He was bluffing through and through!

Of course, he was the only one who knew.

Every single one among the remaining creepers was intimidated by his murderous gaze. But as they gazed at the carcasses of the strongest creepers lying below his feet, their fears intensified, and they gave out low moaning sounds as they slowly retreated a step at a time.

'It's working! This is the moment where I can't show a single sign of weakness.'

Seeing that his bluff was working on the beasts, Vincent used willpower to suppress the soul-wrenching pain spreading throughout his body, and stepped forward to carry on with the momentum and increase the level of intimidation that has encompassed the remaining beasts.

The beasts – intimidated by his frightening murderous intent, an insatiable bloodthirsty devilish smile that terrified them to the core and overbearing presence – howled out in panic and quickly retreated.

Seeing their silhouettes vanishing from his sight, Vincent truly realized what Old Miller meant by his words. After he could no longer see them, he bit his lips and weakly collapsed to the ground.

"I don't think I can move a single muscle," Vincent thought as the adrenaline rush died down and he coughed up blood while leaning on a tree, his back and the trunk of the tree slightly pressing the backpack holding precious herbs in between. Blood profusely leaked out of his wounds.

'Even if I try to get to the nearest fortress, I'll still fail as I am about to lose consciousness in a few minutes. Father, I think I am going to die here. Sorry, I no longer can fulfill our dreams," He thought as tears streamed down the corner of his eyes, and as his vision slowly blurred and as he felt warmth leaving his body. It seemed like he would die the moment he closes his eyes, and so he kept them open, hoping for a miracle to arrive.

And he saw that miracle floating at the corner of his vision!

‹ 210/200 XP ›

‹ You can now level up›

‹ Do you want to level up?

[ Yes ] [ No ]

‹Reminder: You'll enter the evolution period once you level up. After evolution, there's a way for the owner to save his life.›

‹Time left before the owner loses his consciousness due to blood loss: 3 minutes 30 seconds.›

‹Time needed for evolution: 1 minutes› Blood notified him, as Vincent's vision dimmed even further.

"Since there is a way to save my life, why even bother asking," Vincent thought as he gazed at the notification before internally exclaiming,

"Yes!"

‹ You've now reached level 3 ›

‹ Gained five attribute points ›

‹ Evolution process has started. The blood of the vampire progenitor, Kermis Idiouni De Sangue has been injected into the owner's bloodstream.›