Born in Blood-Chapter 551: Offense

Although shadows were extremely difficult to manipulate under the ocean, it was a different story when the waters were still, and one was close to the ground.

And in Gorock’s home, there was no life besides him and his own.

Liam kept his eye on the Meathead as it made its way over a large hill, the ruins of a shipwreck, and the dense bones of what seemed like a whale.

Finally, it arrived at Gorock’s front door... then emerged from the shadows.

The piranhas seemed to ignore it completely... yet, when the puppet knocked on the gate’s door, the swarms of demonic creatures shuddered with sudden movement.

WRSH!

A moment later, the puppet was surrounded from all angles by fish who would love to tear him to bits.

But they didn’t... seemingly practicing restraint. Obviously not of their own volition.

Seconds which felt awfully slow passed...

There was a loud, slow creaking noise that echoed across the waters, originating from the brooding fortress.

...The gate was being lowered.

Like a slow opening maw, the stone palace had unlocked, showing nothing but its dark, unknown depths.

From that darkness, emerged a figure.

Liam’s eyes widened.

’Is he...?’

The handsome, crisp, well-dressed individual who walked out seemed deceptively young, barely past twenty.

He wore a somewhat casual, tight layered tunic, the sleeves of which were rolled up to the elbow, revealing pale, alabaster, nearly translucent skin.

His raven-black hair parted in the middle, styled to a gentlemen’s cut and reaching his ears in length.

Gorock’s hooded eyes were a sharp scarlet hue, and gave whoever met his gaze a chillingly cold impression.

Liam put two and two together, and came to a simple conclusion.

’This guy’s a vampire!’

The red eyes, the classic-ish look, the deathly pale skin...

The obsession with blood.

It all made sense now.

Vampires were native to the Korsan Lands, that part was true. However, there were times where factions would defect or simply migrate to other locations, even if it was to the dismay of their vampire king.

Niveh was a prime example of that. Liam had the wicked idea to extract her from her lands, then handed her over to the Royals.

To think he would find one at the bottom of the ocean, though... what a strange world.

Still, he couldn’t tell what rank he was... but if he still had to estimate it, he’d put him towards the upper or peak parts of Rank 4.

Gorock’s eyes fell on the words carved on the Meathead’s chest — where the mass of Chaos had been puffed out a moment prior — and his face twisted with annoyance:

’I come in peace. I have an interest in blood, and you seem quite knowledgeable. Let’s talk.’

His eye twitched.

Gorock spoke to the Meathead, his cold words contrasting with his soft spoken demeanor:

"The arrogance," he said with disgust. "You come uninvited, and feel entitled to a share of my time."

Gorock’s gaze sharpened dangerously.

"Just die."

With no warning, the Prince of Cruelty flicked his hand forward, and the Meathead puppet was ripped to shreds in seconds.

BRLSH!

Utter obliteration. All that remained of it were morsels of meat so small, even the piranhas didn’t bother touching it.

Liam’s eyes widened slightly with surprise.

’That’s... well... hmm...’

He saw it first hand. When the vampire flicked his hand forward, thousands of droplets of blood – each the breadth of a human hair – formed on his command, then shot forward, tearing through the puppet before mixing with the waters.

’His blood forms... outside of his body?’

No wonder the vampire had developed such a fearsome reputation.

Even when he had visited the Korsan continent itself, and fought against countless blood suckers, none possessed such an ability... not counting Alucard and his many Ministers, of course.

Following the puppet’s death, the bits of White Matter slurped back into Liam’s Pearl, and the Prince of Cruelty immediately took notice of where the strange material ended up.

Gorock scowled, feeling just a tad bit annoyed. He said softly:

"Show yourself."

Silence.

Seconds passed.

From behind a broken ship’s hull, a mass of shadows slowly crept up and combined to form a humanoid figure.

Liam perched over the ship’s hull, then met Gorock’s eyes unflinchingly.

"I just wanted to talk, mate. Why’d you kill my little friend?"

Gorock’s sharp gaze scanned Liam from top to bottom, then bottom to top. He was apprehensive and cautious... but confident and fearless.

KLAK! QLAK! KLAQ! KLAK! KLAK! KLAK!

Hundreds of bloodthirsty piranhas were snapping their jaws, eyeing Liam as though he was a juicy piece of meat.

The staredown lasted several seconds.

"Leave," Gorock said. "I am not interested in your talk."

"Rude," Liam said, then paused. "I was treated better by Alucard himself, you pompous little mosquito."

Gorock’s eyes widened with as much shock as they could fit.

"Lies!" he screamed, flashing a pair of sharp canines that confirmed his vampiric lineage, while his hand blurred as he sent a barrage of blood drops forward.

Although anyone else would undeniably have trouble with seeing the droplets – underwater, no less – Liam was not just anyone.

With the Breaker materializing in his hand, Liam swiftly evaded with a quick side movement, using the flat of the colossal blade to cover himself.

TING! TING! TING! TING!

A series of sharp noises echoed rapidly across the waters.

The blood struck his weapon with the force of a thousand hammers, but left not a scratch. Instead, he was pushed back several meters, before coming to a stop.

Liam removed the heavy blade from covering his view, just to see Gorock with a seething look on his face.

The waters around the Quadrant grew nervous, and pungent killing intent permeated from all sides.

"I can’t tell," Liam furrowed his brows sarcastically. "Is that because I offended you? Or because I mentioned Alucard’s name?"

"I will wear your flesh and use your bones to pick my teeth," Gorock growled, uncaring of the topic of conversation. "I will use your innards as room fresheners."

"How nice."