My OP Minion System in the Apocalypse

How on earth is this [Shadow Realiser] thing meant to work?

At the moment, I'm basically just whittling the vampire down with pure strength. He was like a ball of violence, attacking everything, without any hesitation. I wasn't sure if that was the nature of all vampires or if it was due to something else. He seemed to be craving blood, so it might have been due to that.

Whatever the case, I wasn't going to let him drink my blood.

As he continued to pursue me, I swung [Tengen-Ko-Rin], deflecting his weapon. However, it was pretty clear that he significantly outmatched me when it came to melee combat. His movements were incredibly fast and fluid, breaking my guard.

If it wasn't for Chloe's support and my Minions constantly pressuring him, I probably would be dead already. These vampires really weren't something to be scoffed at, not only that, they seemed to be the natural predator of humans. It constantly clashed with my Minions, trading blows and pushing them back.

Even though he appeared to be weakened, I still wasn't able to land a decisive blow on him. To be honest, I didn't even know how to kill him. I hoped that he would slowly weaken to the point where his regeneration slowed down so I could actually kill him. I had no idea how vampires worked.

I stuck [Tengen-Ko-Rin] back into the sheath attached to my back and drew [Mayuri-Luc-Ei] again. I was still more proficient with using the smaller blade, it offered me more defensive capability and mobility.

I ordered all of my Minions to charge the vampire at the same time. As he swung his sword, trying to defend himself from all of my Minions, I decided to quickly push in. He was distracted trying to block the several swords which were all aiming for his body. In the chaos, I managed to get a clean connection with his torso.

The blade of [Mayuri-Luc-Ei] ripped into his flesh, drawing out a huge amount of blood. The vampire tried to escape by running away. However, my endless number of Minions made it near impossible, constantly berating him with attacks. His body was cut all over, and even though he had a very strong regeneration, it wasn't capable of healing all of the injuries all at once.

He was very obviously struggling against my might. Arrows and swords constantly damaged him, leaving him on the ground, trying to scramble away. Despite all of this, his regeneration was still keeping him alive, attempting to heal all of his injuries. He swung his sword. It slashed the various Minions which were attacking him.

He swung his sword. Again and again, he fought back.

"Sword... take it all... my blood."

He was using his last-ditch effort now.

Blood began blowing out of his arm as freely as a stream of water flows down a river. The thin red liquid rippled down his arm, feeding his weapon. His sword grew an even deeper tone of red, it was almost black. His expression changed.

I backed up, this was going to be a violent outburst.

The vampire screamed in pain. I could feel the pressure building up around the area.

This was going to be dangerous.

Chain him down, Tengen.

I conjured chains, holding down all of his limbs. He was silent for a brief moment, however, a few seconds later, he jerked his arms away. The chains instantly snapped and he easily broke free from Tengen's grasp.

My Minions rushed to restrain him, but it was to no avail. He was incredibly powerful, his movements were swift, like lightning. The vampire was able to deflect the blows of all of my Minions; his blade dances through the air, blocking all of the attacks which were aimed at him.

I held out [Mayuri-Luc-Ei] in front of me and braced myself for what was about to come.

He rushed towards me with immense speed, my eyes could hardly follow his movements.

Give me more power, Mayuri.

'Okay~'

I felt a sudden surge of energy through my body. My arms felt light, my legs felt light, but most importantly, my mind was clear.

Focussing all of my attention, I tracked the vampire's movement as best as I could. He was swiftly closing the distance, until all of a sudden...

he was right up against my face.

The two of us both swung our weapons as fast as we could.

!

A few moments later, the vampire fell to the ground.

Ow, my arm hurts.

The surge of energy I had previously gotten had completely dissipated. My entire body was sore now, I was so tired that I could hardly stand up.

Ah, that was too close for comfort.

I looked down at the bleeding vampire. It seemed that his strength finally ran out. His wounds were no longer healing, instead, his body began degrading into the ground. The weapon he was holding fell out of his hand. It seemed that the weapon wasn't disappearing.

I made my way over and picked it up off of the ground.

However, the moment I held it in my hands, it instantly vanished into the air.

What on earth...?

A few moments later, the corpse of the vampire was completely gone, instead, all that was left was a little mark on the ground.

"Is it over?" asked Chloe.

"I think so."

I looked around at my Minions.

From what I could see, I had sustained quite a large number of casualties from the vampire.

I wonder, what was the vampire population? At this rate, I was going to be slowly destroyed by them, their physical strength greatly exceeded mine.

Most importantly, they wanted blood.

This meant that they were basically forced to attack us. We were its prey.

As I slowly caught my breath after that fight, I made my way back into the hut. I reclined onto my bed, resting my body.

These vampires... how was I going to deal with them? Were they of different levels? Did they live in groups? Did they have their own settlements?

If a single vampire was that powerful, I would stand no chance against a large group of them.

Life just got a whole lot more difficult.

[Volume 3 End]