Undying Warlord

While most of his old friends had improved quite a lot, their combat style hadn't changed too much.

At least, Dilan was not surprised to see them using certain combat styles. They suited their personality very well. The only surprises were probably Rory and Victoria.

Instead of fighting with grandeur, or big attacks such as huge blood-ice walls, or by releasing a tremendous amount of bloodlust, it looked almost like Victoria had become mute and reserved.

She didn't use much mana to attack, but she always killed her targets. It was almost as if a shadow had been released to eliminate her opponents, just to be never seen on the battlefield.

Victoria was extremely fast and her attacks were subtle but deadly, ending one opponent after another. She had, by far, the most combat experience and it looked like she didn't really need to undergo basic training about how to fight properly. Her flaws were much subtler and it was quite hard for Dilan to perceive them in certain circumstances.

'Is that the perk of being older? I wonder what Victoria went through during the middle age…considering that she can fight that well, it shouldn't have been an easy time either…though easier than right now…or different at least!'

Dilan observed Victoria and he got to know quite a lot about the Vampiress. She had abandoned her noble nature and had accepted the pathway that her occupation had revealed to her.

Horns were growing out of the side of her forehead and she looked less like a Vampire and more like a Demon when making full use of her powers. However, that was what interested Dilan the most, her powers!

He watched silently with his Mystic Eyes fully activated. There were many things to witness, including that she had attained control of the Power of Shadows. She could wander in the shadows, just like Oliver. Yet, while Oliver would leave behind traces of his mana while stepping through the shadows, Victoria could wander through them through the power of her trait.

It didn't require her any mana, which was how she could easily infiltrate the armies of her opponents and eliminate dozens of enemies within seconds before disappearing without leaving behind a single piece of evidence.

The only thing that confused Dilan a little bit was that it looked almost like Victoria's Blood-ice power had grown weaker rather than stronger. Maybe it was just him imagining things, but he had expected her Power as a noble Vampire to grow much stronger as she progressed rather than stagnating in strength.

"Did you abandon your bloodline?" Dilan finally asked after watching Victoria for several hours. He didn't speak to Victoria as much as before but that was not something troublesome, at least, he didn't think of it as something problematic.

Victoria was still important to him, which was the most important point, in his opinion.

However, Victoria was rather startled by Dilan's sudden question. She noticed his gaze and that he had observed her fight for quite a while, but it was nothing special because Dilan had observed everyone for a while, presumably to find their weaknesses and to figure out how strong they were.

Victoria knew that Dilan felt responsible for everything and she could tell that he wanted to make up for all the trouble they had gone through. That was nice and all, but it didn't mean that everyone wanted to rely on Dilan to survive.

He always told them to fight and to be independent because he never knew if he would be with them all day around, and that had been the truth. Dilan had left, for 27 years, at that.

It was their decision to tell Dilan that he should pick the Divine difficulty advancement mission, and everyone accepted that responsibility. Maybe it was because of that responsibility that they became stronger, that they never succumbed to the desperation and the fear of the unknown…or maybe it was something else.

At the end of the day, it could have been fate that they survived, or their unbreakable willpower…it didn't really matter, really…as long as they were all alive and healthy it was fine…that was all that mattered!

But even if that was what Victoria felt, she couldn't help but crumble a little bit when she heard Dilan's questions.

"I…just did what was necessary to survive…" She said slowly, not really answering Dilan's question.

Dilan, however, felt like he understood what Victoria meant. Everyone did things they didn't really want to do, for the sake of survival.

Some made bigger sacrifices, while others made small sacrifices that may or may not have been necessary.

As for Victoria, she allowed her genetics to be affected by the bloodline of the Shadow Demon Dragon. The density of her bloodline was not strong, but it was enough to provide her with strength, powerful traits, and more chances to grow stronger…strong enough to survive and make sure that everyone around her would be able to overcome the hurdles that were thrown at them.

"I didn't see them earlier, and I haven't heard anything about them…but are your mutants…" Dilan asked quietly before he halted in his tracks.

He knew that something had been off, but there was something huge he had missed out on because life had been so busy.

'My Slaves and the Vampires I turned!!'

His eyes widened, realizing that neither his bond with his Slaves nor the Vampires were left. There were only two ways that something like this could have happened, maybe three if one were to think about the impossible.

First, Dilan could have freed his Vampires and Slaves, which didn't happen.

Second, his Slaves and Vampires died. That was the most likely to have happened and the realization struck Dilan deep in the gusts.

And last but not least, it was possible that his Slaves and Vampires were freed from their contract with him because he entered the City of Trials. But that was rather unlikely, though not necessarily as impossible as Dilan had first presumed.

"They're dead, all of my mutants died…to protect me…"