The sentinels have finally gotten rid of the vampires from the room. They managed to get rid of most of the Bloodfire gang members who were there with the snake.

  Their corpses are lying in this room even as we speak. Right now, John is slitting the throat of every creature here. (It is important that you double-tap anybody related to the vampire. Playing dead is one of their most common tactics.)

  We did not manage to kill the snake, though. Well, that was something that would have been impossible anyway.

  It was taking all of Lauren's effort to just keep the beast at bay. They might have gotten rid of the snake if we just had a bit more time. If the others had gotten rid of the Bloodfire gang members a bit quicker, then they could have killed the snake.

  By the time they were down to the last couple of people, the snake had taken a tactical retreat. Lauren did try to hold the man back, but the snake proved too slippery.

  Well, that is one of the problems of facing a transformer. Vampires, by their nature, are very durable creatures. Transformers have completely different levels of durability compared to their fellows. Most of them don't even mind losing their limbs. (It would be fatal to most ordinary vampires.)

  Well, the snake is long gone now, leaving me with my fellows. As for what they are doing right now. They are checking for any injuries. They are being more thorough than normal.

  You have to be careful when you are dealing with vampires. They tend to be masters of fighting dirty. This is especially the case when one of the vampires is a poison mage. Even a small injury now might prove fatal in the future.

  As for what I am doing right now. I am straining against the ropes that are tying me up. The vampire has tied me up like a little parcel. I don't know how I would even begin to untie this knot.

  That means that the only way that I will be getting out of this is through brute force. Right now, I can't even do that. Without vital mana, my binding proved too much for me. If only I had been more careful in the fight with the snake.. Getting poisoned by a poison mage is about the stupidest way that a man can die.

  "Do you want any help with that, Antonio." Lauren speaks as she looks at me.

  "You might as well. It is going to take me a while on my own." I reply. Even as I open my mouth to Lauren is already there. Even before Lauren can break the bindings on me, John begins to speak.

  "I have told you before. You cannot just rely on your vital mana for everything. There is a reason that we have to spend so much of our training in the gym. You cannot make full use of the enhancing effects of your vital mana if you are body is that weak." He begins. I get up as the man's voice washes over me.

  He is still saying something, though I ignore it. Once he gets that active, then it takes a few hours to shut the man up. Before he can complete, though, I interrupt the man.

  "Why are you here?" I ask, as I look at the group of three. "Weren't you supposed to be in the servants' quarters hunting the void right now?"

  "We are here to save your sorry little ass, Antonio." Emilia begins. There is a vicious little smile on her face that makes it clear that she is enjoying this. A bit too much if I am honest. Well, that lady always had a sadistic streak to her anyway.

  "Well, we have come here to save you." Replies John. "You do realise that the directive that you were given was to keep the vampire busy, not become its. captive."

  "Well, the other party was a poison mage. On top of that, it was a transformer. Ask Lauren how hard it was to fight the creature.", I reply, as I point towards the lady. The lady nods in reply to this. "On top of that, I wasn't ready for this fight. I had gone there with the intent of delaying the enemy. If I had gone all out from the start, I would have killed the beast."

  Even as I look at the faces of the three people surrounding me, I know that they do not believe my words. Well, I guess I do sound a bit whiny.

  "Well, for what else have you come here." I ask, a bit miffed if I am honest. "You wouldn't have come here to just save me."

  "The void has escaped into the casino." Lauren replies. "So, we are following him here."

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  "How?" Is my only reply.

  The searchers should be maintaining a barrier around the servants' quarters. It is meant to make sure that nobody can enter or leave the place.

  "Well, what about the bloodfire gang." I ask. "Please tell me that they have been trapped at least."

  "Well, they have been trapped in there with the aegis right now." Lauren replies. "They should be busy getting rid of the creatures even now."

  "Well, they finally got to get their glory, it looks like. Do you think that will stop Anthony's whining for a while?" I reply. "Anyway, where is Eric?"

  "Well, he was stuck on the other side with the aegis when the searchers cast their spell." John replies. "He was helping get rid of the archer."

  "Well, let's hope that he doesn't mind working with those idiots." I reply.

  "Well, of us all, he is the most likely to keep his cool with them." Lauren replies. "Anyway, he will be busy keeping the archer busy. Maybe he won't need to interact with the guards."

  "Fine, we have gossiped enough. Focus on recovery. We shall leave in five minutes. We don't have long." John commands us.

  Saying that the man sits on his lap, checking his sword for any scratches. Well, I have nothing to do like that right now. So I sit down, pondering what I should do. I guess that I should speak about our plan of attack for this mission. After all, I am sure that things must be very confusing right now.

  We planned to wipe out the bloodfire gang with their leaders in the servant quarters itself. Our plan started with the rebels attacking the casino. This would have completely crippled the Navok family's ability to come to the vampire's aid. (Likely, they would not have come, but it is always best to prepare for the worst.)

  Then came the part of me sitting in the restaurant, acting as bait. I had expected that the snake would have come, but I would still have been fine if it were the archer. He would have been much easier to fight than a transformer.

  One of them would have come to check me out. You see, both of them are maintaining a vigil over the servant quarters. They must keep an eye out and make sure that nobody is sneaking into the place. We couldn't see them, but we knew that they were there.

  It would have been very hard for us to sneak into the place if both of the vampires were present in the place. We could have fought them, but that would have put everybody else in the building on alert. We were trying our best to avoid spooking the void as much as possible.

  Once the snake came into the restaurant, the searchers would have come into action. They have jointly cast a barrier around the servants' quarters. They have separated the servants' quarters from the chaos happening in the casino. The barrier is a simple elemental barrier that will not allow anybody to cross it.

  This barrier would have been destroyed pretty soon. It would have fallen under half an hour under concentrated attack. With them maintaining it will last for a bit longer. Still, this half an hour would have been enough for us to get rid of the archer and the void. We would also have taken care of a majority of the Bloodfire gang in the process.

  Then it would have been child's play for us to take care of the snake and the remnants of the Bloodfire gang. Then we could have run away as quickly as possible while the Navoks put down the rebels.

  We would have been airborne before the Navoks would even have had the thought to come after us.

  At least that is what the plan was supposed to be. With the escape of the void, the plan has fractured completely. Right now, most of our strength has been focused in the servants' quarters. The aegis, the sentinels and my troop were supposed to enter the servants' quarters. Our purpose was to get rid of the enemy completely. (With not even one escaping.)

  If the void is hiding in the casino, that means that we have to enter the place. With only the strength of the sentinels, the void is not going to be an easy enemy.

  The searchers can't even prematurely open the barrier. Doing that would completely wreck the parts of the plan that are working. We had put up the barrier in the first place to prevent any of the enemy from escaping. The aegis and my troop must be in there slaughtering the bloodfire gang even as I speak.

  That means that we need to deal with the void and the snake on our own. The void doesn't worry me too much. After all, the strength of this group is pretty high. Enough to survive a fight against the void. (Even if he were to pull off something that we didn't expect at all.)

  The issue is that this is going to make our eventual fight with the Navoks to become more deadly than it was supposed to be. After all, if we were just an enemy attacking their servants' quarters, then they would have ignored us. After all, they have to deal with people who are attacking their casino first.

  That would have made the Navoks ignore us at least until we made our escape. Now that we are going to go into the casino ourselves, that is going to greatly cut down the time that we have to act.

  "Well, it is time to leave." John suddenly speaks into the room.

  As soon as John says this, everybody in the room is already on their feet. Every weapon is checked and double-checked to ensure that nothing will fail in the battle.

  "When we have to encounter the snake in the future, leave that creature to me. We do not have the time to waste on the creature." I speak as the group prepares to leave. "I can handle the creature on my own."

  "Are you sure, Antonio." John speaks. "Don't let your ego get in the way of rational thought now. We don't have the time to keep cleaning up your mess."

  "I will be able to deal with the creature, John." I reply. "The damn beast has survived encountering me too many times. Anyway, the void is the priority, right now. This entire attack would be pointless if we don't get him."

  "If you say so. Just know that we won't be there to protect you when the creature comes to attack you." John replies. "If you die, you die."

  The man would have argued about that for quite a while more if I were a part of the group. Well, I guess he can't argue with a person at the same level of authority as him. Well, there is no use looking a gift horse in the mouth. I got my fight.