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“Master, should we…”

“It’s okay, as long as both of them aren’t in danger, we can just watch from the sidelines. Still, some preparations have to be made…”

“You mean… I got it…”

Zurnalin immediately realised what I had in mind. She promptly signalled to the Assassins in secret, after which several of them disappeared into the shadows.

Up till now, the Vampire hadn’t shown any high-level minions yet. But there was no guarantee he only had lower-starred minions, so I decided to play it conservative for the moment. At the very least, there was no need for me to show my hand while Nicole and Neneth were showing off their heroic side.

“Curses… just you wait!” Yelled the distraught Vampire; perhaps he wasn’t too proficient at close-quarter combat? The Lycans he had brought over were all dead thanks to Nicole and Neneth. Other than using some Blood Magic, Umbra did not seem to have much else to show. After all, he wasn’t a Vampire Overlord, who were known to have the power to control the blood within their opponents. Soon after, Umbra finally relented to the two girls’ relentless attacks and tried to flee in a cloud of bats.

However, that was exactly what I was waiting for. My lips curled into a smile. “Now!”

With the command given, ten or so Assassins suddenly emerged from the shadows, every one of them so happened to be stationed around Nicole’s battlefield. Umbra’s bats were completely surrounded. From every one of their fingers, a thread of white, translucent webbing shot out into the air, forming a gigantic spider web across the horizon…

“Bring it in.” On my signal, the spider web made entirely of mana descended from the skies, easily snagging all the fleeing bats.

As the mass of bats slowly congregated into a struggling mass, Umbra emerged once more, looking a lot more haggard than before.

“Blasted Dark Elves… why are you interfering in my business with the Humans…”

As of right now, his body was entangled within the half-translucent web. It was conjured with the aid of ten Dark Elves who were all at least Seven-star; based on his strength alone, there was no way he could escape.

“Interfering? If you had just let us go from the start, would all this have happened? Bet you never thought you would get caught, did you?” I sneered at him. “Why would I not have a backup plan after knowing that you can transform into bats to escape?”

Umbra’s actions till now had been very contradictory in my eyes. What was he even up to? The only thing I managed to discern was that he wanted a rift to form between Nicole and those villagers, and if possible, have her murder them. But so what if she killed them? Based on his words, this wasn’t the first time they had tried this tactic on a Demon Hunter. Why then?

Hmm… creatures of darkness… creatures of darkness… Wait. Lucifer’s upcoming Apocalypse? Don’t tell me they are laying the foundations for that?!

At this point, I was quite sure I had hit the mark in some way. But I still needed someone to definitively prove this conjecture. I glared at the immobile Vampire writhing before me. “Speak. What are your real goals? Who is the evil Witch hiding amongst the villagers?”

“…” Umbra remained silent.

Seeing him so uncharacteristically silent for once, I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Something was up, and it made me uneasy. “Not just your goals, I’m curious about that barrier that allows you to walk in sunlight. Since you’ve recognised the Dark Elves under me, I’m sure you are familiar with their reputation as well. They have many ways to make a person talk, even in death. It’s fine if you do not wish to answer, I just thought I should spare you the unnecessary struggling.”

“Goals? Hah. You think I would tell you? Since I’ve been caught, that means I’m no longer of use…” As he said that, his voice couldn’t be any firmer. In all likelihood, he was already prepared to die, or perhaps he was afraid of what the Dark Elves would do to him. A second later, he did something which surprised even me.

He reached into the pockets in his shirt and seemed to be grabbing onto something. “I’ll admit that I was careless. But don’t think you’ve won just yet. This ordeal will soon engulf the entire Western Human Realms. All those lowly Humans are done for, though it seems we need to add in the Dark Elves as well. I’m just the beginning… doom is sure to come to your world. The Devil gods will rain fire upon you all… Cry, scream, struggle, all that awaits you is death and despair. When that time comes… I’ll be waiting for you all in hell… hahahaha…”

He gripped down on that mystery object in his shirt. A few seconds later, I felt the sunlight return to normal, or rather, the barrier blocking the sunlight had disappeared…

The Vampire immediately burst into flames, his body no longer shielded from the scorching caress of day. Smoke began spewing from his body as the flames grew stronger by the minute. Even so, he continued laughing as if numb to the flames. Finally, after ten seconds of maniacal laughing, he was silenced forever in a pile of ashes…

He’s dead? Just like that? And here I thought he was supposed to be some kind of scary boss monster. What a cheap death!

It wasn’t just me who found this abrupt ending unacceptable as well. Everyone present had on a what the heck expression right now…

Umbra probably thought that he stood no chance against the Dark Elves’ interrogation, so he decided that killing himself would be the best way to guard his secrets. Even so, his conviction surprised me. I had wanted to find out more about the barrier, but he had chosen death, even destroying his soul in the process…

What a bother…

While Umbra’s death meant that we couldn’t get anymore information, he had at least confirmed that this series of actions was linked to the upcoming Apocalypse.

Should I tell Nicole about that? After all, she might just end up in the frontlines of that battle. I should at least let the Humans have some time to prepare.