This was the exact reason Darius would prefer to avoid fighting rich or sentient foes, for they too could equip various ornaments and special attires that could increase their attack or defense in various ways and even provide them special abilities on top of that.
Unfortunately, this decked-out Vampire Lord happened to have such things on him. Reaching a total of 100 Resistance was by far not an easy thing.
While Gunner had a total of 105, that was only due to the Elite Warrior's Vest combined with the upgraded Synthetic Polymer Suit Version 6.0. The former was a top-notch secret creation from Gravitas, whereas the latter was the result of Darius' Combine skill.
Darius himself had only 7 points more than Gunner. 60 came from his own piece of armor, while the other 52 came from his various equipment like the staff, gloves, and earrings.
Without an appraiser like him, the special characteristics of the equipment would have remained a mystery.
Let's not even talk about normal mages, their Resistance might not even reach double digits unless they really coughed out the funds for something good.
Of course, there was the natural magic defense mages created when leveling up to Journeyman, but Lord Darm was obviously a being of the Death element.
Darm was lucky that the Convert Vampire spell attacked from within, otherwise it would have shattered that defense and dealt an extra x2 damage modifier on top of it.
His intentions by attacking now were quite obvious. He had wanted to verify the effect of the spell against the vampire, with the best-case scenario being that his assassination attempt would have swiftly completed the Event.
However, that had clearly been wishful thinking.
He was happy that he wasn't alone in this fight and had his trusted Branded Servants by his side. The trio would have to fight this battle out properly and bring an end to the Vampire Lord.
Darm finally stopped screaming and glared at Darius' group with hatred. "You! You were the vile vermin that tortured me day after day!"
Darius smiled. "I deny such accusations. We just came around today to explore this cave and opened your coffin. Upon seeing you rise, I knew you were a dangerous foe, so I attacked pre-emptively."
Darm was left speechless by the explanation. The truth was, he couldn't tell if it was them as he had lacked any way to see or sense anything outside the coffin before he had been released.
On the one hand, given their timing, the probability was very high that they were the culprits or at least had something to do with them. On the other hand, for some reason the torture had stopped yesterday, which could have led to these fellows coming today.
Lord Darm shook his head and pushed away all unnecessary thoughts. "I don't care what you say, I have decided to label you as the culprits."
Darm raised his hand and pointed to the ceiling of the cave. He then closed his fist and punched out, creating a shockwave that blew the rocks away, creating a huge hole.
Darius' expression became serious, while Gunner stepped forward, his body glowing with two colors, green and blue-white. The former was his Earth's Guardian skill and the latter was his Mageward Barrier.
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Xela cast Bless on the trio, as well as Holy Ward to increase their survivability. Darius held the Dragonscale Staff and began getting ready for what would happen next.
Darm smiled and opened his arms. "Ah, the light of the sun! How beautiful, how exquisite, and how refreshing!"
Darm floated out of his coffin and hovered in mid-air with his hands folded behind his back. "Truly, I might love darkness, but being in a stuffy coffin for over 200 years would be enough to drive anyone mad!"
He then turned to Darius and co, his genial smile thinning greatly. "And just as I come out, I find some food and entertainment. Well, this should be fun."
Darm suddenly paused and looked thoughtful. "Well, I haven't seen my undead army in so long, I wonder how they're doing?"
He smiled and waved his hand, opening nearly 30 human-sized portals at once.
"I think the best way to find out would be to see for myself, wouldn't you agree? Come forth, my minions, and destroy those who dare slight me!"
The trio stepped back in shock, watching over 2,000 undead of various grades appear before them. Unfortunately, since the cave and the clearing were not too large, they were forced to pack themselves like sardines.
This lowered the grandeur of the undead army, but increased their threatening effect greatly. Darm saw this and was incensed, so he waved his hands to both sides.
Immediately, the trees that surrounded the clearing were cut at the base by rapid blades of blood, then blown away into the distance. This haphazard method certainly did increase the amount of space they could move for sure, but it also ruined the land around the cave.
Darius was naturally not bothered, but Xela and Gunner were furious. One was the Divine Maiden of Life and the other was the descendant of Gaia. To see nature being disrespected like this was absolutely unforgivable!
Darius slammed his staff to the ground and pointed forward. He then cast Flamepillar, which swallowed the undead in the center of the army.
The Vampire Lord was the only one with Resistance, so the undead were left naked before Darius' might, suffering full damage.
Even though the undead were mixed between Amateurs, Journeymen, and Adepts, they were all the same to the empowered Darius. His single attack that covered an area of 50 square meters killed more than 30 undead at once, more than 50% being Adept stage.
The expression on Lord Darm's face froze, his shock visible as he could not comprehend how someone he perceived as a weakling under the Adept stage could muster such offensive power.
He was left even more flabbergasted when Gunner entered the battle with his familiar jumping Earthen Stomp, unbalancing almost the entire army at once and killing all those in his immediate proximity.