"My name is Mansa," declared the leather-clad woman, drawing the sword from her hip with a flash of pale skin at her calf. With a sharp swish, a silvery arc of light cleaved the table before her into four pieces, her speed truly astonishing. "Both my parents were second-tier fiend hunters. I excel in close-quarters combat. My innate skill is Wind Blade, increasing my attack speed by half when wielding a sword."
"I am Shi Meng," the square-jawed man spoke next. "You may call me Uncle Shi. I was formerly a blacksmith and have only recently Awakened to the Law's power. My innate skill is 'Forge Law into Arms,' allowing me to temporarily coalesce mana into weapons. My specialty is... strength."
The sallow-faced man spoke with reluctance. "Lilag. Profession... wanderer. Best at bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Innate skill: Feign Death. Once activated, even those two tiers above me find detection difficult."
All eyes then turned to Li Ang. Apart from the self-appointed leader Ke Ang, he was the only one yet to introduce himself.
"My apologies," Li Ang said, folding the newspaper he had picked up from the table. "I, too, prefer to act alone."
"You?" The other four stared in astonishment.
"Young man," Uncle Shi said earnestly, his tone almost pleading, "Dongli dares act alone because he has the backing of Arizlan family intelligence and artifacts. Forgive my bluntness, but you would do better to stay with us. Surviving ten days alone will be exceedingly difficult." He stopped just short of saying, Know your limits; don't mimic others' bravado without the means.
"I appreciate your concern, Uncle," Li Ang replied, "but fate governs life and death. I choose to follow my own path." He had already confirmed this Abyssal World was indeed based on The Strain; the newspaper detailed information about the Strigoi. Armed with foreknowledge, he resolved to act alone, facilitating his plans without being hindered by these "companions," each likely harboring their own agendas.
The kind-hearted uncle couldn't help but urge further. "Please reconsider. Decide after daybreak tomorrow."
"Uncle, don't bother," Mansa said with a cold sneer, categorizing Li Ang as one of those with lofty ambitions but paper-thin destiny, arrogant and unaware of their own limits. "I've seen many like him. They won't turn back until driven to a dead end. Let him go."
Finding words futile, Li Ang simply shrugged and moved toward the door, intending to find a safe place to wait out the night. While Strigoi weren't traditional vampires, they shared most dark creatures' vulnerability to direct sunlight, making the night perilous and dawn a relief.
But his hand froze on the doorknob. His entire body stiffened. Up close, one could see goosebumps erupting across his neck—an instinctive reaction to extreme danger. His eyes, unblinking, stared through the glass door. Under the flickering streetlights, over a dozen grotesque figures shuffled toward the bakery. Hairless, with pallid skin, thick, pulsating arteries visible on their necks snaking beneath collarbones into their chests like throbbing roots. This was decidedly non-human. Their identity was unmistakable.
These Strigoi bore another distinct feature: flabby, pendulous dewlaps. Nauseatingly slack flesh hung from their necks like a turkey's wattle, pale and sack-like, swaying repulsively with every turn of their heads.
"Enemy attack! Fiends approaching!" Li Ang hissed a low warning, backing away.
The four behind him sprang from their seats, weapons instantly in hand.
BANG!
Seconds later, two Strigoi charging from outside shattered the bakery's glass door. A dozen more swarmed in like a tide of specters. In the chaos, their exact number was unclear, but even estimating fifteen meant each of them faced three Strigoi simultaneously!
Li Ang's gaze locked forward. As the nearest Strigoi closed within two meters, he decisively turned his head and pivoted—not retreating, but advancing! Simultaneously, he drew the sword gifted by the female knight Ye Qing in a sweeping slash!
The motion was fluid, as if tempered by countless repetitions—the sole close-combat technique he had drilled relentlessly during his thirty-day training: the draw-cut.
There was no hesitation, no mercy. The turn and pivot evaded the fleshy tongue lashing from the Strigoi's maw, while his forward advance and slash severed the creature's head, along with its flabby dewlap! Though it was a steel blade, not silver with potent corrosive effects on Strigoi, its keen edge easily parted the fragile neck. The Strigoi's unique, milky plasma spurted forth weakly—these creatures possessed little blood.
"Beware the white worms inside them! Contact leads to infection and transformation!" Li Ang shouted, still retreating to engage another Strigoi while issuing the vital warning. Though the Abyss-Cleaver squad had taken a frozen Strigoi corpse for study, he couldn't be sure these candidates were privy to such classified intelligence.
Thus began a desperate battle: five Awakened versus over a dozen Strigoi. Fortunately, these Strigoi were all below Level 3. Unlike human Awakened, Law Entities only gained their first Law Skill at Level 5. Therefore, as long as they were below Level 5, these Strigoi posed no overwhelming threat to the candidates. Unless, of course, the numerical disparity exceeded five-to-one.
All five had undergone rigorous training. Once the initial panic subsided, they steadied themselves, leveraging their innate skills. Just as they began to believe they could dispatch all attackers without major incident, several shadows, half the size of normal Strigoi, leapt onto the windowsill from outside.
Bending low, they effortlessly twisted their bodies through the window frame, less than a meter in width and height. They crouched on the sill on all fours, noses twitching like trained hounds.
Swish!
Suddenly, one propelled itself from the sill with hands and feet, becoming a blur that almost touched the ceiling before plummeting toward the burly Uncle Shi.
"Ah—!" A scream, cut short in less than a second.
Uncle Shi's entire left forearm, from the elbow down, was gone—severed cleanly by the diminutive Strigoi's razor-sharp claws! Moreover, the stump sizzled, muscle and bone gleaming with a sickly greenish hue as if doused in acid. Veins bulged on his neck like engorged earthworms, threatening to burst from agony.
"Disaster! Level 7 mutated fiends! Agility attribute over 15, plus a corrosive poison-based skill!" The provisional leader, Ke Ang, cried out in alarm. Unnoticed before, he now wore a single-lens monocle over his left eye. Peering through it at the small Strigoi now crouched on a table after its strike, he rapidly relayed the information.
"Strigoi spawn!" Li Ang inhaled sharply. Without hesitation, he activated his skill, summoning his Combat Guardian to stand protectively before him.
Most humans infected by the parasitic worm transformed into ordinary Strigoi of similar strength. Exceptions existed: certain special individuals, when infected, became stronger Bloodline, even possessing unique abilities. The Strigoi spawn were trackers, also called "Blind Sniffers," transformed from blind human children. Deprived of sight, they possessed enhanced hearing and smell, surpassing the finest hounds. Their sightless eyes could perceive light spectra, and they were exceedingly fast.
What chilled Li Ang more was that compared to their television depictions, these spawn were evidently several times more formidable. The flesh-and-metal corroding venom alone was something the TV spawn absolutely lacked.
Li Ang suddenly understood: while this Abyssal World's framework was The Strain, it was a realworld. Populated by living, breathing people and creatures! They possessed thought, intelligence, and even mastery over Law Power with bizarre Law Skills! He could derive some advantage from known plot points, but to view this world entirely through the lens of the television series would be suicidal folly!
"Ke Ang, you're the leader! What do we do now?" The frail, sallow-faced youth pressed close to Ke Ang. Within the heavy, faintly despairing scope of their vision were four Strigoi spawn and the remaining seven or eight lower-level Strigoi. Such a force was enough to wipe them all out!