Chapter 700: Laughing like a Maniac
Two months have passed since the game started and there is only one month left before the game is considered an end.
In the past few days, Sam felt that situation turned a bit weird.
He couldn't find the smaller teams like before and every team that he could find are extremely large in numbers.
Even though he can escape it is not a good idea to lure such a large team with so many transcendent stage cultivators. In fact, he could manage if it was just one team, but he would be in trouble if he encountered a second-team while luring the first one.
That is why he is using some long-distance hit and run tactics to lure some of the players out of the group by pissing them off. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.
But his surge of points didn't reduce, in fact, it increased rapidly and he could have sworn that he even saw the point increase of 2000 which indicates the death of a Peak stage Transcendent creatures.
He is extremely ecstatic with the growth of the points.
So, he is not worried about the reducing points within the forest and he is even second-guessing whether he should move towards the undying volcanic region since what he wanted to do has already been happening.
After some discussion with his friends, they still decided to go. They felt like if they moved to the undying volcano the traffic of the people will surely increase as the volcano should have relatively lesser vines compared to the Forest of dying.
So before they started their journey, Sam decided to act as a scout to look at the path they would be taking. He didn't want any surprises and it turned out to be the best that he did that.
There is a large ambush waiting for him in the way.
The ambush is designed in a way that it could be fatal to the group and they could take hostage of them. But it is not as dangerous for the single person as the surprise element is completely gone when the first batch of attacks came out.
Sam didn't bother to fight it out with them, he doesn't care if they really predicted or somehow got the news that he is coming this way, but for now, escaping was his priority.
From the energy signatures, he could feel at least twenty of them, but as soon as he saw the people that are ambushing, he couldn't help but frown. This is a bit fishy than he thought. There are only Pre-transcendent stage cultivators in the ambush.
No transcendent stage cultivator, nor the Consummate realm cultivators. This made Sam hesitate a bit. Pre-transcendent stage cultivators are easy to take care of, even if they are more and their cultivation is a bit higher, he can still deal with it.
But he has a faint hunch that something is wrong. And his hunch was right because in the time he hesitated a bit, he is already bound in a formation along with these twenty people.
Sam scanned the formation with the energy vision and noticed that even if it is not so complicated, it is a bit time-consuming if he normally opened it.
He just hovered at the maximum height the formation allowed him to and held two handguns in his hands and aimed one at the formation while the second one aimed at the cultivators that are jumping on him.
He continuously shot as he kept all of them busy with a single hand, the cultivators in ambush noticed that the formation is being shot by something that can create the energy explosions and got anxious.
They paid a price to set an ambush like this, they don't want to waste this.
So, they risked everything and attacked Sam with suicidal attacks.
Sam is a bit surprised by this kamikaze attitude. He couldn't take it anymore and dropped an energy cell from the hoverboard.
The group that is nearest to him was blasted away and Sam started shooting them rapidly without even bothering about the formation.
His hunch might be right and they might even be trying to lure someone else to deal with him, but if he is fast enough there is nothing the batch can do.
He shot rapidly and soon all the cultivators are sprawling on the ground in either pain or without any movement indicating their demise. Sam caught hold of the leader who is rolling in pain and asked what the plan is all about while injecting the light elemental energy into him.
The leader already lost hope of the ambush, but now that Sam is questioning him, he just answered directly.
"We don't know you are coming this way, we set ambushes in all the routes leading out of the forest of dying."
Sam was bewildered by this answer, but at this exact moment, the leader made a sudden move that caught him by surprise. But he still managed to escape with just a small scar on his wrist and some blood dripping on the soil.
He just killed the leader and went back into the forest. He just roamed over the forest to make sure that he got rid of any possible tails and went to the cave before explaining the situation.
They decided to wait while scouting the situation around the forest and figure out the plans of their enemies.
While he is discussing what he should do with his friends, something else is happening on the battlefield from which he just came from.
A transcendent stage Vampire came on a flying beast and landed in the middle of the battlefield. He didn't care about the corpses of the vampires and the humans that are lying around him, he just looked around with his eyes glowing red as he searched around.
And soon he stopped at a spot before making some hand-signs. A faint wisp of soul that belonged to the leader of the ambush resurfaced and the soul didn't even speak anything and just pointed at a spot near his corpse before disappearing.
The vampire walked towards it and looked at the blood that fell on the ground, even though it was mixed with soil, he squatted down and took a sniff. He closed his eyes as if he was sniffing at the greatest delicacy.
He was surprised by his own actions. He just collected the blood-stained soil and left the place. He didn't even bother to clean up the corpses of his fellow members and went back to the Vampire King's mansion.
By night he returned and reported to the Vampire king as he handed the container with the bloody soil.
"Your Highness, I think something is different about this man, I almost lost control and consumed the blood from that soil on my way. The blood is too tasty."
The Vampire king was surprised a bit and said.
"No problem, you finished the job, I will look into it and find out what is so special about him."
After the transcendent stage cultivator left, the vampire king finally opened the container and took a sniff. He closed his eyes as he felt the sensation this smell caused him.
It is almost like the smell of the most addictive drug.
He could feel that the blood is far purer and too high of a quality for a normal human to have. Since the first plan which is the ambush and holding Sam down is gone, they can only proceed with the second plan. He was still having second thoughts, but now he has some hope.
He went to the deepest part of the mansion and entered an underground room.
There is a large well in the middle of the room.
He walked to the edge of the pit and gulped in anxiousness as he took out an extremely small sample of the soil and dropped it in.
There is a large grumbling sound from the pit and soon a blood-red light was shone.
This made the Vampire-King's eyes lit up with excitement.
He couldn't help but smile and the smile turned into a grin and soon he is laughing like a madman.
"Hahahahahahahaa.."
The whole mansion was startled by the sudden laughter from their king and the fact that they knew what kind of crisis they are in and this sudden laughter is something they couldn't fathom considering their plight.
Some of the close aides of the king even ran to the underground room but stopped at the door as they don't have access inside.
But soon they are relieved as the laughter has stopped and the King came back.
"Inform the two Kings, we are proceeding to the second step of the plan. I want the resources as soon as possible."
The news of the Vampire king laughing like a madman spread all over the Vampire territory and even the Wight king and the Ghoul King learned about this.
They couldn't help but call for the second meeting after hearing the news about his ecstatic invitation for the resources to start the second step of the plan.
After all, the main problem from the second step of the plan is not even Sam escaping and living after that, there is something else altogether and the vampire king should be pissing his pants off right now. But he is laughing and feeling happy which didn't sit well with them.