The Witch Hunter System

"Fall back—!!!"

Fergus roared in horror as he overdrew his strength to cancel his attack and retreat at his quickest speed.

However, the forceful change in movements was more than his body could handle. As a result, his muscles were torn, and his bones creaked. Despite the self-inflicted injuries, he managed to keep his life at least.

Shadow Puppet Displacement!

Fergus traded places with one of his many shadow puppets and escaped to safety in the nick of time.

Nevertheless, he had never been so close to death that his body still felt the lingering fear. Such an unpleasant feeling was no different from getting kissed by Thanatos; it was a horrifying experience no one would ever forget.

Meanwhile, several frenzied vampires were not so lucky and collided with Vaan's surging power of nothingness head-on. Their bodies scattered into nothingness almost instantly, leaving nothing behind.

The more fortunate ones retreated with a missing arm or leg.

Undoubtedly, Vaan's Nihility Law was overpowered to the extreme. However, such reckless usage did not come without a price. The consumption of mental strength was not to Vaan's desired level of efficiency.

After all, the Nihility Law destroyed space itself before erasing Vaan's enemies, and such destruction consumed his mental strength to maintain the same level of nihilistic power.

Furthermore, with the complete destruction of the vampires' corpses, how could he collect any blood essence?

His only compensation was the pure primal energy created from the destruction of the ground, albeit only a small portion of its potential amount. The nihilistic power was too strong and erased much of the ground from existence, bypassing the energy conversion.

The sheer destruction from the nihilistic power outburst also caused the space to become unstable, hastening the spread of Gehenna's domain.

Vaan's eyes flashed with insight as he refrained from using the Nihility Law. He had, more or less, finished testing the Nihility Law and weighed its advantages and disadvantages.

It wasn't the sort of power he should abuse, at least not with the current situation.

'In Varuna's life, I reached the peak of Wind Law and Water Law. So, there's no point in focusing on these two laws. My comprehension of them will gradually return as I recover more memories of Varuna's life,' Vaan mused.

On the other hand, he felt the Spatial Law and Fire Law deserved his attention and focus.

Although he had reached a high level of understanding of the spatial law in Vanitas's life, he fell short before reaching the peak. Thus, there was still room to grow there.

Meanwhile, the Fire Law was the opportunity and destiny of his current life – Vaan's life. As such, he couldn't ignore it.

Vaan encountered countless destinies and inherited different talents in each reincarnation and past life. But of the millions of reincarnations, only Vanatis and his current life stood out, ignoring that he had only seen half of his reincarnations.

Even so, the Spatial Law and Fire Law were undoubtedly intertwined with his current destiny. They could also be the answers Varuna sought to break free from his supposed 'limited talent.'

'Varuna's death in the fourth-dimensional world was not a tragedy but an opportunity,' Vaan strongly believed.

If he could take the Spatial Law and Fire Law to the peak, he would have achieved peak comprehension of four laws in his cumulative lifetime.

Furthermore, once he reached that step, he might have a good chance of achieving a greater height – one that Varuna pursued but failed to achieve.

Of course, that was also the only clear and logical path Vaan could follow.

He was not so arrogant that he believed he could surpass Varuna's accomplishments in the Wind Law and Water Law before reaching the same height of power. Even with Fourth Dimensional Sense, it was a foolish thought.

After all, he was not even Divine yet.

…

"Duradel, what's going on with you? Did fear make you forget how to use [Bat Command]?" Seventeenth-rank Gregory chose to taunt Duradel to hide his own weakness.

"Nonsense! There's no problem with my control over [Bat Command]! If there were a problem, it would have to do with the bats or that strange human!" Duradel furiously replied before urging Gregory, "If you are so confident in your own [Bat Command], why don't you try using it against him? Hmph!"

"Hahaha, just watch me, Duradel! I will make you acknowledge your ability is inferior to mine!" Gregory said, seemingly trying to convince himself.

They already knew engaging the enemy in close combat was too dangerous. Despite that, many vampires still chose to do so after using [Blood Lust].

Now that some vampires died, how could he still have the guts to do so?

Gregory would rather resolve the bat issue and then use the army of bats to exhaust the enemy.

That was the safest approach!

The Blood Ancestor's will was important but never as important as his own life. He hasn't lived long enough yet.

"Hear me, Lesser Servants of Darkness, and answer my call! I, Lord Gregory, command you to attack that human!" Gregory demanded with grandeur, brimming with confidence.

Unfortunately, the army of Vampiric Demon Bats didn't listen to him. At most, they just spared him disdainful glances.

"…"

The shame made Gregory want to dig a hole and hide himself on the spot. It was killing him.

He finally understood how Duradel felt.

Nevertheless, he had already ridden the tiger and couldn't back down. He could only press forward stubbornly.

In a battle between two vampires with [Bat Command], the one with the stronger will would assume command of the bats. But when he used [Bat Command] on the bats, he did not feel the clash of another will.

Instead, it seemed to be the wills of the bats themselves who were resisting his command.

How could such lesser creatures of darkness refuse and embarrass him? Were they trying to rebel?!

"Did you not hear me?! I command you to attack!" Gregory roared, exerting [Bat Command] to the fullest extent.

In the sky, the army of bats started bleeding from their red eyes as they resisted the powerful will flooding into their minds. Insignificant as they were, they couldn't follow an impossible command despite their inability to resist the powerful will.

In the end, the bats all went mad.

Screech!

Following the bats' frenzied screams, the army of bats descended upon the surface, attacking every vampire with the ability to lord over them.

"Who do you think you are attacking?! Ah, these lesser creatures have gone mad! How dare you rebel against me! Go to hell!" Gregory retaliated, killing the bats in his fury.

"Argh! Gregory, you blood fool!" an enraged roar resounded as Fergus scolded furiously, "Not only are you not helping us, but you are also hindering us! Just what the hell did you do to the bats?! Why are they attacking us!?"

"You're asking me, but who do I ask, Fergus? I would also like to know!" Gregory cried, feeling wronged as the bats dived him without any regard for their lives. "Argh, you pests! Piss off for me!"

The group of high-ranking vampires was quickly drowned in rage and frustration.

Although the bats couldn't threaten them, they were certainly a nuisance with their numbers.

Meanwhile, Vaan didn't miss the opportunity.

Amidst the chaos plaguing the high-ranking vampires, Vaan slipped through the void, appearing behind the vampires and extinguishing their souls with his deathly grip.