I Awakened The Ancient Vampire System

Chapter 160: Chapter 160: Clash With The Traitor, Hoffman

Lucian’s mind raced.

He activated Telepathic Link.

The connection snapped into place between all six of them — Lucian, Clara, Rose, Ryan, Iris, and Wei Chen. A thread of thought linking their minds instantly.

"Iris, Wei Chen — take the scientists and get out of here. Now."

Wei Chen’s response came immediately through the link. "No. I’m not leaving you to fight a Grand Core master alone."

Lucian’s jaw tightened. "Wei Chen, you’re still injured from the Black Forest. Hoffman is a Mid Grand Core Realm cultivator. You won’t be able to keep up, and you’ll only become a liability — someone I have to protect while fighting him."

The blunt words silenced Wei Chen for a heartbeat.

Iris did not argue. She reached into the dimensional storage at her hip and pulled out a compact device — a sleek, white metallic apparatus that folded open. She tossed it to Ryan, who caught it.

The suit unfolded in his grasp. It was beautiful — a full-body exosuit of layered white alloy plates, interlocked with mana-conductive filaments that pulsed faintly blue. The design was angular and aerodynamic, each plate overlapping seamlessly to allow full mobility. The helmet was a streamlined visor with a faint mana-glow interface. Mana thrusters were embedded in the boots and gauntlets, and the chest plate housed a central mana core that glowed a soft, icy blue. It functioned like a high-tech battle armor, but instead of technology, it ran entirely on mana — and it was specifically calibrated to channel Ryan’s ice abilities, amplifying them through the suit’s circulatory system.

"Wei Chen," Lucian pushed through the link one final time, "I need you to protect the scientists. If Hoffman is here, there could be other Dark Order members lurking. You’re one of the strongest among us right now."

Wei Chen exhaled slowly and turned to Iris and the scientists.

"Move. Now."

They ran. Wei Chen grabbed two stumbling researchers by their collars, hauling them forward as Iris guided the rest. The group disappeared over the rubble, heading toward the eastern evacuation point.

Hoffman watched them go. His eyes narrowed. Then his hand snapped up.

Fwiiiish! Fwiiiish! Fwiiiish!

Multiple light arrows condensed from his fingertips, streaking toward the fleeing group like falling stars.

Clara moved. Her SS-Rank Gravity Manipulation surged to its maximum output. She extended both hands, palms open, and a pulse of distorted gravity rippled outward. The light arrows hit the gravity field and bent — their trajectories warping, curving upward and away from the retreating group. The arrows slammed into a distant building instead, detonating on impact

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.

Clara dropped to one knee, breathing slightly hard. Redirecting light-based attacks at that speed cost her dearly.

"Why did you tell Wei Chen to leave?" Rose asked through the telepathic link, her voice fillws with confusion.

Lucian’s response was flat. "Because if this fight gets ugly, I might need to use abilities that would reveal what Clara and I really are. The fewer witnesses, the better."

Rose understood immediately. The vampire secret.

Ryan fumbled with the suit, pressing the activation sequence. The suit detected his mana signature and responded.

Clak-clak-clak-clak!

The plates expanded and wrapped around his body in a fluid sequence, each piece locking into place with precision. The helmet closed over his head, the visor glowing faint blue as the mana interface connected to his core. The thrusters hummed to life on his boots and gauntlets, circulating cold mana through the suit’s channels. Ryan flexed his fingers, watching ice crystals form along the knuckle plates.

Lucian glanced at him. "Cool suit."

Ryan’s voice came through the suit’s external speakers, steadier than before. "Iris and I spent three months designing it. Might as well field-test it now."

Lucian drew a slow breath. He reached into his core and activated the Blood Eclipse Art.

The technique ignited like a furnace in his veins. Blood Energy surged through his meridians, mixing with his mana in a violent crimson current. His spell power jumped by 70%. His mana circulation accelerated by 40%. The air around him shimmered with a faint reddish haze as the Blood Eclipse Art stabilized.

Hoffman rushed forward.

BOOM!

The ground cratered beneath Hoffman’s launch, and he closed the distance in a blur of light. His light blade was already swinging — a horizontal arc aimed at taking Lucian’s head off.

Lucian coated Aethon in Sword Intent.

"HEAVEN’S SEVERANCE!"

A single, devastating slash tore through the air. Spatial distortion rippled outward from the blade in visible waves, distorting the rubble and dust in its path. The slash screamed toward Hoffman with enough force to slice through a building.

Hoffman’s eyes widened. He saw his escaping targets and the incoming attack simultaneously. He twisted his body, and light mana erupted around his legs.

BOOSH!

Light Burst accelerated him sideways in a flash, narrowly dodging Heaven’s Severance. The slash continued past him and carved into a building nearby. The structure split cleanly, the upper half sliding off with a grinding screech before crashing to the ground in a cascade of dust and concrete.

Hoffman landed, his expression darkening. He turned back to face Lucian, who was already following up.

"First Form — Crescent Moon Slash!"

Lucian swung Aethon in a wide horizontal arc, the Eclipse Sword Art’s opening technique channeling sword intent and light mana into a crescent wave that howled through the air.

Hoffman raised his light blade and met it head-on.

CLAAANG!

The collision sent sparks of light and dark energy spraying in all directions. Hoffman’s light blade held firm, and he redirected the crescent slash into the ground, where it detonated harmlessly.

Hoffman countered immediately. His free hand shot forward — a palm strike infused with dense light mana. The air compressed in front of his palm, and a concussive blast of light energy roared toward Lucian.

Rose reacted. She threw up a barrier between Lucian and the strike.

KRRRAK!

The barrier shattered on impact like glass. The palm strike punched through and slammed into Lucian’s chest.

"Urgh—!"

Lucian skidded backward, his boots carving trenches through the rubble. His ribs cracked under the impact. Despite the Transcendent and vampire body, the raw power of a Grand Core cultivator’s strike infused with light mana still fractured two of his ribs. Pain flared through his torso.

Clara struck from behind Lucian. Her SS-Rank Lunar Authority channeled through her outstretched hands as she fired a volley of ice spears — crystalline shafts of lunar frost that screamed through the air with piercing force.

Hoffman deflected them with a casual wave of light, the spears shattering into glittering fragments. But his eyes narrowed as they tracked the dissipating energy.

"Ice manipulation with that kind of energy signature... no." His cold gaze settled on Clara. "That’s not ice. That’s something else entirely. SS-Rank energy output. And you —" he studied her silver hair, her slit-pupil eyes and her crimson eyes, "— you’re not human, are you?"

Clara didn’t answer. She simply raised her hands again, more ice spears forming.

Hoffman tilted his head with cold curiosity. "A new subspecies? Interesting. The Dark Order will want to know about you."

A shadow fell over him from above.

Ryan descended in his white suit, both gauntlets aimed downward. Ice mana surged through the suit’s amplification channels, and the gauntlet cannons roared to life.

FWOOOOSH!

A powerful cannon blast of ice erupted from both hands — a continuous stream of compressed ice energy that hammered downward like a frozen waterfall. The suit’s thrusters kept Ryan stabilized in the air as the twin streams converged on Hoffman’s position.

Hoffman raised a hand. A light shield materialized above his head, intercepting the ice cannon blast. The impact created a screeching sound — ice against light — as the two energies ground against each other.

Clara seized the opening. She compressed gravity into a single point — a gravity orb, a sphere of distorted space that warped the light around it. She hurled it at Hoffman from the side.

Hoffman raised his hand to block, but Lucian was already chanting.

"Blood Chain. Light Chain."

Crimson chains erupted from the ground beneath Hoffman, wrapping around his legs and torso. Simultaneously, chains of condensed light materialized from the air itself, coiling around his arms and neck.

CLANG.

The dual chains tightened, binding Hoffman in place.

Hoffman’s expression shifted to mild annoyance. He flexed his mana — and the chains shattered like brittle iron.

CRACK! CRACK! SNAP!

The power gap was simply too vast. Binding a Mid Grand Core cultivator with Core Realm spells was nearly impossible.

Hoffman, now free, fired a light blast at Ryan. The blast struck the stream of ice from the cannons and shattered the flow, breaking Ryan’s attack. Ryan quickly dodged sideways, his suit’s thrusters firing to reposition him behind a standing wall.

Hoffman then coated his entire body in a dense layer of light mana — Light Armor. The golden glow hardened around him like a second skin, dense and reinforced.

Clara’s gravity orb hit him a fraction of a second later.

BOOM!

The compressed gravity detonated against Hoffman’s Light Armor. The impact cratered the ground beneath his feet and sent a shockwave rippling outward. When the dust cleared, cracks could be seen across the surface of his light armor.

Hoffman glanced down at the cracks. His expression hardened.

He stopped playing.

His light mana surged like a flood. The air around him turned blindingly bright as he channeled a massive concentration of light energy above his head.

"Radiant Guillotine."

A vertical blade of compressed light materialized above them — enormous, blazing, humming with enough concentrated energy to split a city block in half. It dropped toward Lucian like the blade of a divine executioner.

Rose screamed through gritted teeth as she raised every barrier she could. Her Bastion bloodline flared — her skin glowed faintly green as she pushed her shields to their absolute limit. Five barriers stacked above Lucian.

KRRRAK! KRRRAK! KRRRAK! KRRRAK! KRRSH!

All five shattered in rapid succession, each one barely slowing the Radiant Guillotine as it descended.

Clara used gravity to push the blade back. Ryan fired ice blasts at Hoffman from behind, trying to disrupt his concentration.

Hoffman didn’t flinch. He didn’t even look as he simply raised a light barrier with his other hand.

Lucian stored Aethon into his Shadow Storage in a flash. His hands came together as he channeled Light Manipulation to its absolute peak.

"Dawnbreaker."

Light condensed above his right palm — a sphere of pure, concentrated radiance. The sphere compressed, folding in on itself, shrinking until it formed a sword — a blade of solidified dawn light that hummed with devastating energy.

The Radiant Guillotine broke through Rose’s final barrier and descended.

Lucian met it.

CLAAAAAAANG!

Dawnbreaker collided with the Radiant Guillotine. The impact was catastrophic. The energies screamed against each other, and for a single heartbeat, they held.

Then the ground beneath Lucian gave way.

CRAAAAACK!

The earth cratered beneath his feet as the force drove him downward. He sank into the ground, a crater forming around him — fifteen meters deep. The shockwave of the collision erupted outward.

BOOOOOM!

The explosion of light energy blasted Clara and Rose off their feet. They tumbled across the rubble, shielding themselves as best they could. Ryan’s suit took the brunt of the shockwave, his thrusters firing wildly to keep him from crashing.

Dust and debris filled the air. Silence fell over the battlefield.

Hoffman lowered his hand. The light around him dimmed. He peered into the crater with a satisfied expression.

"Finally. One pest exterminated."

Clara’s blood ran cold.

Rose’s barriers flickered out. Her legs gave way.

"No... no, no, no —" Rose whispered.

Clara’s silver eyes burned. Her Lunar Authority flared to life again, ice crystallizing around her hands. She screamed through the telepathic link — Lucian! LUCIAN!

No response.

Ryan landed beside them, his suit battered and cracked. "We have to keep fighting. If he comes for us now —"

Hoffman turned toward them slowly, a cold smile spreading across his face. "Now then. Shall we continue?"

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