Hems' first instinct was to position the sword so he could easily stab it on the ground and keep himself safe. As he began to crash down the slope, he kept trying to stop his roll with his sword. 

Yet the floor was mysteriously giving way as more of the ground began to slide down that even his stabbed sword would slide down.

Hunter and Hemsey began to rush down. 

Martha had no choice but to prematurely deploy the plan she had been reserving to eliminate the dracanae threat.

Her Path of Foresight allowed her to discern that the dracanae would surround them, and Martha immediately used the uphill slope not only in her attempt to create a stampede and hinder them but because Fate allowed her to notice a particular environmental factor that could help her.

Martha launched several explosive shots in haste. And she was aiming for the cliff right above where the dracanae was moving through.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The explosions caused the cliff to crumble, and a landslide from the top occurred.

Martha planned to delay the dracanae until most of them would be buried in this attack. Then, she used her strategy to hold the line until many dracanae were staggering or pilling up. 

But Martha underestimated the skills of the dracanae and their terrifying instincts led by the Path of Combat. As a result, their strategies failed after pushing back only a few of them, and the next wave was already smart enough to counter their strategies.

Because of this, Martha abandoned her plans and sprung the trap as she was now concerned for the survival of her knights.

The landslide fell and crashed on the path. But as expected, only several were caught up, and many evaded the landslide. Some were even able to move to pass the falling debris and rushed for Hems.

Hems tried to regain his balance as he was rolling down and finally stood upright in time for three dracanae to reach him.

At that moment, Hems chose to move not according to what was logical but allowed his body to move ahead of him. 

Hems didn't fight or defend, but his first instinctive move was to roll to the right and pushed his body with great force to throw him all the more.

The dracanae leaped and made an arm hammer attack on the ground, barely missing Hems.

Hems were rolling to the side after landing and immediately crawled up with haste. The dracanae rushed, and one managed to pull Hems by the leg.

Hems began to kick the dracanae off, but the dracanae caught the other arm.

But Hems was expecting that and delivered a forward thrust with all the strength he had!

SMASH!

The strike struck the torso of the dracanae and left a shallow wound. The impact caused the dracanae to be thrown back. But as the dracanae was being pushed back, it clung to the Hems and dug its claws deep.

"AHH!" Hems shouted, but he knew he needed to move.

The dracanae pulled the leg to keep himself from being blown back. Hems used the pull of the dracanae to help him stand up as he stabbed again on the same spot.

This time the sword penetrated through. Whatever force that was resisting disappeared, and it didn't make the dracanae be pushed off.

The dracanae held the sword arm of hems and wouldn't let go. It was even trying to bite Hems in an attempt to keep Hems rooted on the ground. It was waiting for its allies to arrive and kill Hems.

Martha was focused on shooting on the other dracanae with explosive bows. But, unlike her former state, she lost her calm and kept shooting and expending Force energy to keep the other dracanae from getting near Hems.

"Hurry! Hems will die if he does not get out of there in the next three seconds!" Martha shouted and kept shooting. The dark warnings of Fate made her agitated and led her to shoot with reckless impatience.

Hems also heard it and made his decision. He let go of the sword, and with his other arm, he pulled it out of the torso of dracanae and stabbed his arm right above the location where the dracanae was pulling.

With a kick that contained all his strength, he lunged himself backward as his arm was ripped off.

Hunter and Hemsey arrived right on time and delivered their respective slash that threw the dracanae back.

The three began to run upwards.

Martha kept shooting, but she knew her plan had failed. The collapse buried only a few dracanae, and the path wasn't effectively barred due to her haste in shooting the wall. She kept shooting to delay the dracanae as the three H's scaled uphill.

"You alright?"

"I'm ok. Lord Kyros did the same, remember?"

Hunter grabbed the body of the slain dracanae, who tossed Hems backward. Hems immediately stabbed his sword in the opening of the head and used his blood blade to absorb the energy.

"Keep it in your blood blade, and don't absorb it all immediately. Slowly drink one. Be careful not to fall into that dark Maddening state. I need you guys to focus!" Martha called out from the top as she kept shooting.

Hems did so. Even without absorbing the blood of the dracanae, his wound had already stopped bleeding. The vampire's power shows its vitality as Hems continues to move forward without even slowing down because of the wound.

As the group approached, Martha began to jump backward while shooting until the three H's were right next to her, and then they continued to run.

"They can control the strength of their skin! Those bastards! They were strengthening their defenses and would abandon it all to entrap us!" Hems cursed as he clutched the bleeding hand.

"We lost the first clash. We can't afford to lose again." Hemsey also spoke.

"These creatures are intelligent! They figured out our tactic on the first time and switched their strategy on the second!" Hunter frowned.

"A little too intelligent if you ask me. It was my fault we got into this kind of mess. I underestimated them..." Martha kept looking around, observing the workings of Fate.

"We can't fight them head-on. There are just too many of them."

"Then we find whoever is controlling them. A dragon must be masterminding the movements and strategies of these creatures! Such intelligence isn't normal! The Path of Combat would have explained Evasion, timing, and technique. But combat is the preservation of one's self in fighting. Those creatures sacrificed themselves for the greater good. I believe that something down here is controlling all the dracanae. Otherwise, why wouldn't the dracanae fight and kill each other? Dragons devour, right? They walk on the path of the Dark Dependent. So why are they so organized?'

"Do you have a plan, Lady Martha?"

"Yes! Ghouls! We have to try to make Ghouls! We need to capture some and turn them!"

"Is that possible?"

"Yes. But we need time. I tried it earlier, but I realized that there was some resistance. I thought that it was because these things were already dead. And so I stopped doing so after we saw the first one. But now I realize that there was resistance because I was battling for control!"

"Can we steal them? I haven't heard of a vampire turning another dhampir ghoul into his own!"

"If we were normal vampires, then no. It's impossible. But I don't think our leader is a normal vampire. The more I think about it, the more strange we are! Dark Consumer? How is that normal? It's like saying a human can eat fire! Vampires do not feast on darkness but harness it through magical means. And yet, we can eat them and skip all common sense. It's just impossible! And I think our success lies in this. What if we consume the darkness that binds and controls these dracanae ghouls?"

"That's right... Our Blood Blade can send a blood rush inside and devour the darkness! It will take some time, but if we hold down a dracanae, it should be possible!"

"Yes. And since these are already undead, we can't do what we did to those living humans and orcs, which we turned into ghouls! You have to turn them after dealing minimal damage! Otherwise, these ghouls would be too weak to fight!"

"So our goal is to create a small team and rush in to find whatever is controlling this dracanae?" Hunter asked.

"But how do we do that?"

"There is a way. I'll stay behind and fight the enemy. Here." Martha suddenly stopped.

"This place looks unstable. I have to fight them here and block off the place by collapsing the roof of this tunnel. You three have to work together. My Path of Foresight is telling me that there should be some dracanae wandering around the top somewhere. Find them and turn them. I will delay the many dracanae as long as I can."

"Lady Martha, if it's to delay them, then I can do it!" Hems answered.

"No. You three can gang up on one. I think stealing a dracanae ghoul under the control of whatever beast is here will require more than one person! We need both times to delay these dracanae and overpower the dragon mastermind's control on this dracanae through numbers. So of all of us, I am most suited to stop them, and you three can turn them! Go now. Do not fail me!" Martha ordered as she drew her dagger and sword.

"Lady-"

"Go now! They're already here!" Martha ran the opposite direction, and the horde of dracanae was now visible in the dark-seeing sights of the Coven.

Hunter, Hems, and Hemsey had no choice but to obey as they ran in the opposite direction.

Martha ran and began to drink more and more of the dark blood she stored on her sword to recover her Force energy.

The darkness was invading her mind, and she was given in to more anger.

But as the darkness grew, a certain delightful and blissful thought came to memory, and it brought down the rising anger to the point that it disappeared.

"Aron Steele. If I die, I hope you'd be proud to call me your wife." She sighed as she rushed forward.