Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle Chapter 1280: The Vampires of Anima

The warning from Shane immediately confused everyone.

"Vampires?"

Tundra’s expression changed as he looked toward the darkness ahead.

"Inside this place?"

Nobody immediately understood what Shane meant. The First Citadel had supposedly been sealed for an unknown period of time. If this facility truly belonged to the Anima Civilization, then it should have been completely isolated from the outside world.

There shouldn’t have been any Survivors inside.

There certainly shouldn’t have been Vampires.

"How could Vampires have survived in here?" Natalie asked. "They would have needed blood."

Travis pushed his glasses up as he carefully examined the dark corridor.

"Unless there is another entrance we haven’t discovered."

"That doesn’t make sense either," Tieria replied. "Cloud hasn’t detected any other opening large enough for living creatures to enter or leave the facility."

The discussion was interrupted when Minerva suddenly raised her hand.

Her expression had become much more serious.

"They’re coming."

Everyone immediately turned toward the darkness.

Several figures slowly emerged from the shadows, and at first glance, they really did look like Vampires.

Their bodies were humanoid, their skin was pale, and their eyes glowed with red light. Their mouths opened slightly, revealing sharp fangs, while a faint aura that felt distinctly similar to the presence of Vampires surrounded their bodies.

They had seen a lot of vampires, and they had the aura of those creatures, so there was no doubt about it.

However, the longer Shane looked at them, the more certain he became that something was wrong.

Their movements were slightly stiff. Furthermore, their bodies didn’t move with the smoothness of living creatures. Every step produced a faint mechanical sound, and beneath their pale skin, several metallic components could be seen.

One of the creatures suddenly turned its head.

A mechanical click came from its neck.

Shane realized something...

"Those aren’t Vampires."

"What?" Max asked.

Shane immediately activated his observation abilities.

The information he received made his expression change.

"They’re modified..."

The creatures suddenly accelerated and Shane finally understood what they were seeing.

"They have the aura of Vampires because their bodies were modified with Vampiric traits, but they’re also machines."

Cloud immediately began analyzing them through Shane’s wristwatch.

[ Confirmed. Their biological components contain characteristics similar to Vampires. However, more than seventy percent of their bodies have been replaced or integrated with mechanical components. ]

Tieria’s mechanical eye immediately focused on the approaching creatures.

"So they’re another type of hybrid."

[ Correct. Their construction appears to be considerably different from the War Automata and Specter Automata. ]

One of the creatures suddenly disappeared.

Shane immediately reacted.

"Behind us!"

The creature emerged from the wall directly behind Jillian.

However, Jillian had already prepared herself, and she immediately played a sharp sequence of notes with her flute... Soon, a powerful wave of spiritual energy spread through the corridor.

The Vampiric creature’s movement slowed for a moment and that brief hesitation was enough.

Sandara released her arrow.

Thud!

The projectile struck the creature’s shoulder and forced it backward.

Before it could recover, Lyra threw a talisman toward it.

"Seal!"

The talisman exploded with spiritual energy, binding the creature’s arms against its body.

Max immediately appeared in front of it.

"Got another one!"

His mechanical arm slammed into its chest.

The Voidpiercer Gauntlet activated at the moment of impact, piercing through the creature’s outer armor and penetrating deep into its body.

Instead of blood, however, dark fluid and sparks spilled from the wound...

Max stared at his fist. "Yeah... definitely not a normal Vampire."

The creature suddenly opened its mouth.

A pair of metallic fangs extended from its jaw, and it attempted to bite Max’s arm.

Max immediately grabbed its head in response...

"You’re not eating me."

He turned violently, and the creature’s neck snapped with a metallic crack, and its body collapsed.

Then, seeing that it was still alive, Max crushed its body...

[ You have eliminated a Bloodforged Automaton. ]

"That’s tough. Anyway, it’s called a Bloodforged Automaton, Cloud."

[ It is an appropriate designation based on their biological and mechanical composition. Their Vampiric traits appear to have been integrated into an artificial body. ]

Shane nodded. "Bloodforged Automata. That’s good enough."

More of them emerged from the darkness.

This time, there were at least ten...

Unlike the Specter Automata, these creatures didn’t immediately attack from concealment.

Instead, they moved together... Several rushed toward the front while two others suddenly climbed onto the ceiling.

Their movements were disturbingly similar to Vampires.

One of them suddenly leaped from the ceiling, but Shane raised his hand and powerful burst of energy struck the creature in midair and sent it crashing into the floor.

Before it could stand, Tundra calmly walked forward.

"Stay down."

He placed his hand against the floor.

Several invisible bombs had already been created beneath the creature.

Tundra snapped his fingers.

BOOM!

The explosion lifted the Bloodforged Automaton several meters into the air.

Its body crashed against the ceiling before falling back down...

"They’re difficult... I barely killed it." Tundra muttered.

Tieria then pointed toward the creature.

"There’s a mechanical core beneath its sternum. The biological tissue is protecting it. If it’s not destroyed, it could still slowly recover."

"So the Vampire characteristics are being used as a biological layer."

"They’re repairing themselves using some kind of biological regeneration?"

Well, that explained why the creature had recovered so quickly from Max’s attack.

However, it also revealed a weakness.

Tieria immediately shouted... "Destroy the chest!"

Sandara’s arrow flew directly toward the exposed section of the creature’s chest and the projectile struck its sternum.

Just like that, the outer armor cracked.

Lyra immediately followed by throwing another talisman.

"Break!"

The talisman struck the damaged armor and released a concentrated burst of energy...

With this move, a glowing mechanical core became visible beneath the remaining biological tissue and it was already damaged. However, it wasn’t destroyed yet.

"Now that’s more like it." Max muttered as he dashed forward with the Tempest Cloak.

BOOM!

Max’s fist struck the exposed core.

The mechanical core shattered and the creature’s entire body immediately went limp.

[ You have eliminated a Bloodforged Automaton. ]

The battle continued...

The Bloodforged Automatons were considerably more troublesome than the Specter Automatons because of their regenerative abilities and strange movement patterns, but the difference in strength between them and Shane’s group was simply too great!