Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire Chapter 593: Formation key

The Squad Leader’s order inspired a prompt resumption of barrages and of course, Hugo sought to take advantage and whizzed a metal ball at another target. Or at least, he made to do so when he heard a crack.

Fissures began to appear all over the turtle formation and through those fissures, some of the power of the spell barrage managed to get through, rocking the carriage even worse than ever.

Despite Hugo’s best attempts to remain unshaken, his stance shifted and his eyes widened as he observed the fissures begin to get wider. The defensive integrity was totally compromised.

"How much more can it take?" Nadine asked inside the Carriage.

"Not much," Roxanne admitted through gritted teeth.

"Nadine, Kyre. Come. We’ll block the next barrage," Meline said and she was already exiting the Carriage to stand on the roof.

Nadine and Kyre followed her and together, the three of them began to cast their strongest defensive spells. Hugo was hardly a spellcaster so he just kept tossing metal balls. The only thing was, his targets were so confident and so attuned to his movements, that they were prompt in defending themselves once they even caught a whiff of a chance that they’d be attacked next. And right after, they’ll return to preparing to join the next barrage.

Meline, Nadine, and Kyre layered their defensive spells over one another, creating a triple defense well past the boundary of the turtle shell which meant they were essentially protecting the shield that should have been protecting them.

But, while none of them understood Formations like Roxanne did, they at least understood that Roxanne’s plan wouldn’t work if there was no more Formation for her to tinker with.

The next barrage struck the triple defense and the sound was ear-splitting. It sent shockwaves rocking the very ground. The trio of Meline, Nadine, and Kyre were at the Eighth Circle so they were very powerful. But even they could not endure the barrage and their defensive spells shattered.

Still, at least they managed to keep the attack away from the shell so the turtle Formation, even with the fissures, remained.

"So far so good," Kyre said.

"How many more of those can we block?" Nadine asked.

"As many as we have to," Meline said seriously.

The three began casting their spells when Roxanne cried out.

"Done! Get back in!"

"Thank Nyx!" Kyre let out in relief and returned into the Carriage first. Followed by Nadine and Meline with Hugo bringing up the rear after tossing another ball and not waiting to see if it hit or not.

Just as Hugo sat down, Roxanne slammed her fist into one of the symbols and the entire Formation changed color into an electric blue that began to glow as it guzzled Mana from the atmosphere so powerfully that the suction sound was audible.

"Shut your eyes!" Roxanne warned.

The Leopolds and Caius instantly obeyed.

Even through his eyelids, Caius could still tell the glow was getting even brighter. It got brighter than the sun on a blistering summer day and the light was such that not even the most powerful Mage on the scene could dare look at it.

Then came a priming sound that began and continued to rise in pitch until it hurt the ears of any who heard it. They all winced and then, the priming sound suddenly stopped.

There was a second of silence where the bright glow held its unstable peak.

"Get back!" The squad leader yelled as he realized the danger.

But it was too late.

The sound of the detonation was silent at first and then instantly rose to the pitch of an earth-shaking blast. Unleashing a blast radius that slammed into the carriages that had pressed up against the Leopold Carriage, turning them into smithereens and sending them asunder.

Not all the Border Patrol Carriages had pressed up against the turtle shell. Those ones had stayed some distance away but even they were slammed tens of feet away and some turned upside down.

While none of those on foot—the ones most responsible for the barrage on the turtle shell—had been able to get away in time, some did manage to erect defenses against the blast but even they were sent flying.

At the epicenter of it all was the Leopolds’ Carriage. It wasn’t completely exempt from the blast but was only jostled and not blasted apart.

Roxanne looked relieved that they survived. The blast had been even worse than she expected it to be. What she did was something Formation Masters are supposed to learn not to do, which is writing incompatible symbols into a Formation.

Sometimes the result can be the nullification of the Formation’s function, rendering it useless and other times, such as this, it can result in the Formation drawing more power than it can properly distribute or make use of, causing a devastating and explosive chain reaction.

"I think we should drive now," she said in Caius’s ear.

Roxanne probably didn’t mean for it but her voice sounded so breathy and arousing which, after the brilliant display of her Formation work, really made her so alluring to Caius right now. Pull her close-and-kiss-her-hard kind of alluring.

But he resisted that distracting urge, floored the carriage with his Mana, and peeled out with the way now clear.

"Ahnghh!" The squad leader groaned where he had fallen on the ground, "Don’t let them get away!"

Caius had driven close to the border when the very few carriages that had not been upended began to give chase. There was a sluggishness to them though, as the blast had rocked them quite hard.

"We’ll handle this," Kyre scoffed at the Carriages still coming after them but just as he was about to move, Roxanne spoke.

"There’s a Formation up ahead," she said, "Past the border. It’ll keep us out."

"How do you know? I can’t see a thing," Meline said with her eyes narrowed.

"Formations always leave a trace. I can tell," Roxanne answered and then she realized Caius was still driving right for the Formation, "My Lord... Caius!"

"We’ll get through," Caius assured her.

"How—?" Roxanne started.

"I was given a key," Caius said.

He now understood the circle Athenodora had put in his head.

’You’ll need this,’ she had said.

Caius was sure this was what she meant.

And sure enough, once he got within range of the Formation, the circle rose to the forefront of his mind. Through it, Athenodora’s Formation mastery flowed through, and without slowing down, Caius drove the Leopold Carriage right through the Formation.

What had been invisible until then became slightly visible as the transparent Formation wall shimmered and wobbled to allow them through.

"Did you see that?" The bounty hunter driving the Carriage that led the chase asked his fellow who was nursing a terrible injury from the explosive blast with eyes burning with hate.

"Floor it!" The injured bounty hunter said through gritted teeth. Hungry for revenge.

And so, they did. Followed by their comrades—Bounty Hunters and Border Guards alike—they kept going. Over the border, close to where they had observed the shimmer and then—

*CRASH!*

They slammed into the invisible wall, the front of their Carriages crashed so hard that it broke the legs of some of the occupants. Others flew out of the front and went headfirst into the invisible wall, breaking their necks.

Only a select few remained in their carriages with their legs uncrushed and as they exited their totaled Carriages, they wobbled and fell to the ground.

The Squad Leader and the Bounty Hunters who had been thrown out of their Carriages, and had not been in the carriages that slammed into an invisible wall just stood and watched as the Vampire Carriage went further and further into Foreign land until it vanished into thickets and was gone from their sight.

"Fuck!"

Just then, a carriage came speeding over and stopped at the sight of the explosive devastation. The door opened and Van Kroon stepped out.

The Vampires and the bounty Hunters had a many-hour head start on Van Kroon but as his Carriage didn’t have to be limited to driving slowly just to keep pace and maintain distance from the vampires, he made up for those hours soon enough.

And now, here he stood, not just disappointed but completely astonished.

"What happened here?"

"They got away," one of the Bounty Hunters said. By his voice, he was the one Van had spoken with through the Loqui-Link. A de facto representative of the Bounty Hunters.

"How?!" Van demanded angrily.

"Tricks!" Said the Squad Leader, "Those fuckers had so many tricks up their sleeve."

"Tricks?!" Van’s voice rose, "There were six of them. IN ONE CARRIAGE!"

The squad leader just hung his head and then his eyes fell on the border guards who had been broken by the metal balls. And it seemed to dawn on him how many men he had lost for something that hadn’t been officially sanctioned.

Van looked around and then past the border to where the vampires had escaped. His eyes narrowed like he was trying to enhance his sight to see them still through the thickets.

And then, he raised his head to the sky and roared out his frustrations.