Lord of Cinder in American Comics

“As Ash said that anyone who can withstand a casual blow is no ordinary person, right? We can kill enemies like that.”

Hearing Ego's mutterings, the vampire couldn't take it anymore; it was obvious he had messed with someone important.

Struggling to put his twisted arm back in place, one of the vampires, who understood the situation, pleaded, "We are subordinates of Dickon Frost, the Vampire King of New York. We are sorry to have offended you. Please forgive us as one of the vampire leaders."

Ego recalled the knowledge Ash had imparted to them in her mind. It wasn't the Ancient One, nor the name of a Norse god, nor even the name of the Mare Fak Knight that Ash had mentioned before.

Ego coldly looked at the two vampires kneeling at his feet, thought for a moment, then kicked away two pieces of broken brick, directly severing their bodies.

"Come on, let's get out of here first."

Under Ego's escort, Irina prepared to meet up with the Fire Keeper and the others before informing Ash of what had happened.

As they left, the body on the ground, its upper body struggling to join its lower body together, pulled a cell phone from the back pocket of another crawling body and dialed a number.

Ego and the others met up with the Fire Keeper, and Alex recounted what had just happened, his voice filled with surprise and longing.

Martha frowned, sensing that something was amiss. The sun had already set, and nighttime was the vampires' time.

After explaining the situation, Martha prepared to lead everyone away from here, at least back to Firelink Shrine, or at the very least to Kingpin's territory.

As they hurriedly left the restaurant, Ego and his group were stopped on the beach walkway.

Hooded figures began to gather in the shadows, surrounding Igor and his group.

The two sides stopped there. From behind Ego and his group, a creature came running up – the one Ego had failed to kill earlier.

"It was them. I mentioned Boss Dickon Frost's name, but that man still interrupted me."

A stunning glimpse of spring was revealed through the tattered clothes, while an annoying fellow whistled nearby to liven up the atmosphere.

Ego was still wondering why he hadn't killed the guy earlier. There was nothing like this in the instruction manual Ash gave him. Shouldn't a threatening undead creature at night be a skeleton covered in flames?

Suddenly, Ego moved behind Martha and kicked away a vampire who had stealthily approached.

This impolite behavior directly angered the group of vampires who came looking for trouble. They roared, bared their fangs, and pounced on the group.

Adhering to Ash's constant emphasis on keeping a low profile, Ego simply used his fists and feet to knock these guys away in order to avoid attracting attention.

To avoid getting his hands dirty with blood in front of his saintess, Ego simply used his fist to send the attacking vampires flying, planting them one by one in the sand.

Having displayed their power, the vampires dared not approach rashly any further, but instead surrounded Ego and the others, preventing them from leaving.

"How dare you touch Kalim's saintess with your filthy hands!!!"

In Ego's perception, a vampire planted in the sand dunes dug a tunnel beneath them and reached out its hand from beneath the sand, about to grab Irina.

Such offensive behavior made the guardian knight feel insulted.

The Great Hammer of Morn appeared in Ego's hand, and he forcefully slammed it into the ground. The milky-white shockwave of Morn's Wrath swept past the protected group and rushed towards the surrounding vampires.

The battle was about to begin. The vampires charged forward, only to be promptly defeated and sent flying by Morn's hammer. Some of the weaker ones were even reduced to their lower bodies by Morn's hammer.

Although these vampires were no match for Ego, their sheer numbers were formidable; even the Ashes dared not face more than three enemies at once. Ego, too, was outnumbered, and in protecting those behind him, mistakes were inevitable.

To keep Ego from getting distracted, Irina raised the amulet, providing holy protection for everyone around her.

The simple-minded clergy of Kalim often fight alongside their guardian knights. To prevent their knights from being distracted while protecting them in battle, the Kalim clergy use defensive miracles to protect themselves. The rest depends on how quickly their guardian knights can end the battle.

Irina set up her defenses, and Ego, wielding the Moen hammer, felt relieved and charged directly at the annoying vampires.

During the exchange, Ego noticed that none of the guys whose upper bodies he had smashed were able to get back up like the first two.

So the ruthless Ego began smashing the upper bodies of these vampires.

Witnessing Ego's ferocity, some of the vampires seemed to realize something and shouted, "He only knows melee combat and uses ranged attacks."

Which Ami person doesn't carry two guns? With the first clever vampire's warning, bullets began flying toward Ego.

Moen's hammer danced in Ego's hands, creating afterimages as it deflected the bullets.

Seeing that the bullets were ineffective, the clever vampire resorted to another tactic: "Attack the women behind him; he's been protecting them!"

The vampire who shouted those words in the darkness was immediately targeted by Ego, who dared to attack his saintess!

Ego leaped into the air, raised Moen's hammer above his head, and slammed it down on the annoying guy.

Like an aerial bomb explosion, the shockwave and sand created by Morn's hammer left only a huge sand pit on the ground. The vampire who dared to speak was instantly vaporized.

The vampires now realize they've messed with the wrong person, but the sheer number of people present and their damned pride give them a strange confidence that they can deal with Ego.

So when Ash arrived, it was Irina who maintained the defense, while Ego was chasing after the group of vampires who wouldn't leave.

The light generated by the collision of Ash's lightning spear and Morn's hammer caused area damage to the vampires in the darkness, but because the time was short, the injured vampires recovered instantly.

Seeing that they had reinforcements, the vampires finally considered retreating, constantly backing away and trying to leave without attracting attention.

However, behind them came the arriving combat troops, and the infantry fighting vehicles formed an arc, surrounding the vampires on the beach.

Ash's earlier actions indicated that the people in front of him were not friendly forces. With the first vampire's rash move in trying to break through the defense line, all the soldiers and infantry fighting vehicles that had already aimed opened fire.

The firepower of the combat troops was far superior to the water guns wielded by those vampires. 5.56mm and 7.62mm guns worked together, with 25mm autocannons and 40mm grenades creating a symphony of fire.

Frank, who was temporarily in charge, saw the unfortunate guy trying to piece himself together in the night vision goggles.

"Vampires? The standard is that the head is crushed and disappears. Everyone, finish off the corpses on the ground with your guns. Prepare incendiary bombs. No one is allowed to leave a single corpse behind."

The Bradley tank, with its precise 25mm shotgun ammunition, decapitated the vampire trying to slip through.

Some soldiers with shotguns, who initially failed to get a kill, switched to dragon breath rounds and began sweeping the ground.

At the scene, one could occasionally see corpses hit by dragon breath shells jumping up, trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies, only to be blown to dust by grenades and then sprinkled with gasoline and set on fire.

After cleaning up, Ash arranged for Ego and the others to get into the car. Since they had already met, she might as well take them to the base and introduce them to the others.

Logan was holding the head of an unfortunate man, the clean cut clearly made with claw blades.

Holding the head in one hand, he swung it around on the unfortunate man's body, causing it to twitch. Once he moved the head away from the body, the twitching stopped.

After playing for a while, the bizarre scene caught the attention of the combat personnel, and Logan felt embarrassed to continue.

Ash casually tossed his head aside, and as the soldiers nearby prepared to burn it, he stopped them.

"Let me ask it first."

Chapter 173: The Living Vampire Muzan

Logan put the vampire's head back where it belonged, and the flesh at the neck began to fuse together, with granulation tissue intertwining.

Just before he was fully healed, Ash took a Dutch V40 grenade from the corner of his backpack, pulled the pin, and shoved it down the vampire's neck.

The Dutch V40 grenade is the world's smallest hand grenade, even smaller than a golf ball. It contains 36g of explosive, has a 4-second fuse delay, and a blast radius of 5 meters.

This grenade was a souvenir found on the battlefield a few years ago; I never expected it would come in handy now.

Once the vampire's wounds had fully healed, a barely noticeable swelling appeared on his neck.

Ash kicked the motionless vampire on the ground and said with some displeasure, "Get up, stop pretending to be dead!"

The vampire rolled over, got up from the ground, and pressed his hand against the bulge on his neck, not daring to make the slightest movement.

This group was clearly a military combat unit. They wiped out the entire vampire squad of dozens of vampires as soon as they met. Now, a bomb with the pin pulled was stuck in his neck, and there were soldiers on guard nearby. The guns of the infantry fighting vehicle were also pointed at him. His vampire body couldn't fake serious injury and he could only obey orders.

"Whose men are you working for? Didn't the big shots you've pledged allegiance to tell you whose territory NY is now?!"

The vampire wisely lowered its head and said sullenly, "Our leader is Dickon Frost. He has been making us pay tribute all this time, and we have no choice but to come out to find targets."

It was already night, and the lights from the chariot shone from behind Ash, making it impossible for the vampire to see Ash's face and expression clearly. He only caught a glimpse of the steel claws extending from the hand of the person next to him out of the corner of his eye, and the chilling glint made him lower his head even further.

Ash didn't ask any more questions, and waved for the soldiers to tie up the vampire and subdue him.

Frank's post-incident cleanup was almost complete. Although they didn't have silver to ignite the vampires, gasoline would do.

After Ash arrived and took control of the situation, Ego put away his weapon and returned to Irina's side.

Having experienced this before, Alex and Martha were already used to it. Martha simply lit a cigarette and began to puff away, seemingly lost in thought.

Alex, on the other hand, discovered Irina's abilities and was pestering her to ask how he could learn the Holy Scriptures.

The Fire Keeper was at the center of everyone's attention, but for some reason, she was unintentionally ignored by everyone, except for Ash who gave her a slight nod.

On the return journey, the Fire Keeper was also missing; no one knew when she had left. The rest of the group followed the convoy back to the Control Bureau base.

The captured vampire was tied to the hood of the lead car in the convoy like prey. This was the only way to prevent him from being attacked by vampires inside the car, and given the bomb around his neck, it was the only option.

On the roads at night, only the Bureau of Control's convoy traveled, accompanied by the sound of engines, with only the wails of vampires writhing in pain from the scorching heat of the engine hoods serving as embellishments.

Inside the base, Stark looked through the glass at the vampire bound in a spread-eagle position in the interrogation room, observing him with some confusion.

"Is this really a vampire? I've never seen anything like it before. Even though I've recently come across a lot of special information, this is the first time I've seen a living one."

As he was speaking, Stark seemed to remember something, turned and left the observation room, returning a while later with a military-grade ultraviolet generator.

After fiddling with the detector and adjusting the device's parameters, Stark pressed the probe against the glass and aimed it at the other side.

"If this is the only experimental parameter, then let's start testing from the lowest UV index."

Jarvis, record experiment number Vampire 1, UV index 25 milliwatts per square meter, UV index 1. Test begins.

Stark slowly turned the knob on the device, and the probe emitted ultraviolet microwaves invisible to the naked eye, shining on the vampire opposite him.

However, the vampire did not react at all, just like before.

"Increase intensity, UV index 2."

Stark turned the knob, increasing the intensity of the ultraviolet light. This time, the vampire on the other side seemed to sense something and began to twist its body, trying to break free of its restraints.

"Jarvis, record the experimental data. UV index 2. The experimental subject is beginning to show physiological reactions."

Although the vampire made a move, it didn't turn to ash under ultraviolet light as Ash had predicted, so Stark decided to continue testing.

"This time, the UV index is 4, which corresponds to the ultraviolet intensity of cloudy weather. Let's begin the test."

Skipping index 3, Stark began to shine his light on the vampire opposite him. Unexpectedly, right at the start, smoke began to rise from the vampire's body, and then the entire vampire burst into flames.

Seeing that something was wrong, Stark hurriedly turned off the ultraviolet generator, but he was too late. The vampire who was exposed to the ultraviolet light turned to ashes, leaving only the miniature grenade in his neck.

thump~

An explosion occurred in the interrogation room, shattering the bulletproof glass separating it from the observation room and creating a patch of white film with cracks.

Stark turned to look at Ash, somewhat puzzled, and asked, "Didn't you tell me that vampires explode when they die? Vampires are so dangerous, we really can't just eliminate them rashly."

Ash covered his face, watching as the only survivor was killed by Stark, and said helplessly, "I planted a bomb inside him, who would have thought you would just kill him like that."

A slightly embarrassed Stark said, "It's okay, we can just ask someone else. There were so many of you out there, you couldn't have only caught one, could you?"