This caught the creature off guard. It took a step back as each bullet left some bruises on its skin.
Alex followed up with his attack. His hammer grew in size and then ignited with flame.
The creature raised its hand, blocking it with one hand. He was pushed down but still had a grin on his face.
Seeing this made Alex feel annoyed. He raised the heat level to a whole new level until it started creating a sizzling sound on the creature's arm.
At the same time, blood started coming out from Alex's back. It looked like a fox tail with a very sharp edge at the end.
The edge turned into something like drill bits, which then spun at high speed and pierced through the air toward the other Vesa.
At the same time, Alex gave more power to his hand to push the hammer even further. He then created another similar tail to attack from another angle.
Both tails hit its body, a screeching sound reverberating in the air as they began piercing through the creature's flesh.
The grin on the other Vesa disappeared. He raised his foot, and a dark light started to appear on it then with a stomp, BAM!
A strange rune appeared on the ground.
Many earth spikes appeared on the ground to attack the blood-like tentacles targeting Alex.
The blood tails that Alex made changed shape, meeting the attack head-on in a way that created enough force for Alex to put some distance between them.
While this happened midair, Alex took out a few grenades from his storage ring and threw them down. He knew this wouldn't do any damage, but the explosion should be more than enough to deal with the earth spikes.
A barrage of explosions followed as the blood tails changed into something that looked similar to wings, allowing Alex to glide.
The smoke dispersed, showing the other Vesa with superficial wounds all over its body, but it had already started to regenerate.
The rune carved on the ground also disappeared.
Seeing how he fought, Alex concluded that he used brute force combined with rune attacks. Attacking from a distance would be more dangerous for him since who knows what kind of rune he could use.
Alex then dashed forward, appearing right in his face, launching a barrage of attacks in quick succession.
At first, the other Vesa easily dodged the attacks while sending counterattacks, but as time passed, Alex gained more and more of the upper hand.
His way of fighting became crazier as he didn't care about the attacks coming to his face.
The other Vesa threw a punch to the gut, but Alex didn't care, letting it hit him straight in the stomach.
He then threw a counter, his muscles tensing as he threw a straight punch to Vesa's face. This caught him off guard since, normally, no one would act like Alex after getting a hole in their stomach.
As Alex's fist came closer to his face, blood seeped out, creating two sharp needles pointing at his eyes.
The needles pierced through Vesa's eyeball, making him scream in pain. Alex then proceeded to attack him in a combo: a knee to the stomach and another punch to the chest. The reason Alex didn't flinch despite having his stomach punched with a hole was because he had learned some tricks.
He put a special drug that completely shut down his pain nerves, making him unable to feel anything, no matter how heavy the wound was.
This did lower his reaction in that part, but it was an exchange Alex was willing to make.
He became a killing machine that could keep regenerating and didn't feel any pain.
Physically, the other Vesa was stronger, but even this gap was easily closed by what he did.
Despite seeing the other Vesa's current miserable state, Alex didn't dare to drop his guard. He didn't believe this was all the other Vesa could do.
If not, Thalia wouldn't fear him like that. Alex also felt worried every time he looked at the symbol on the other Vesa's head. It gave him a dreadful feeling.
Meanwhile, MingYue and Thalia were now in the throne room. Thalia's hand started moving, activating the rune mechanism. The room started vibrating as a hole appeared in the floor.
Usually, a new pedestal would rise up, bringing a goblet filled with Alucard essence.
Seeing nothing happening, Thalia made a few more motions, making the gap in the floor wider.
"Where does this hole lead to?"
"The vault is the most secure place in this castle. I put Master's essence there and only took it out when I needed it."
MingYue replied with a nod. She still couldn't feel Alex's presence even this close.
On the way, MingYue also realized that at the same moment, Alex disappeared, the presence of Alucard's essence also disappeared.
"Let's go," Thalia said, then jumped inside the hole. MingYue followed.
It only took a few seconds for them to almost reach the bottom. When they got close, both of them stopped in the air as they could see a murky, purplish barrier blocking their path.
"Dammit! I am so stupid," Thalia exclaimed as she turned into a panic.
"What do you mean, Thalia? Tell me?" MingYue asked in a tone filled with anxiousness. She started to worry about what happened to Alex and Alucard's essence.
"You remember I said gluttony first attached to me, and I used Master's essence to survive?"
MingYue replied with a nod.
"Part of Gluttony's aspect probably started contaminating the essence."
"Is that possible? We are talking about progenitor essence here."
"Not the essence itself, more on the Vesa part that was implanted there. No wonder this Vesa is so ominous all this time."
"What should we do then? We couldn't just let Alex fight by himself; it's too dangerous."
"Of course, I will try to pierce through it. Thankfully, I already stockpiled a lot of life force in this castle," Thalia said as she pointed her finger forward.