"Phantom Rebirth: The Last White Raven’s Path to the Ultimate Assassin"

Chapter 178 – The White Raven’s Hunt

The air was thick with the scent of blood and decay. The forest, once a sanctuary of ancient trees and whispering winds, now felt like a cage. Shadows twisted unnaturally in the moonlight, their sources hidden behind gnarled trunks and tangled underbrush.

Seraphis stood in the center of the clearing, her white hair glistening under the dim glow of the moon. Her keen eyes flicked between the figures emerging from the darkness—thirty vampires, their crimson eyes glowing like embers in the night. They did not charge recklessly. These were not mere feral beasts; they were hunters, strategists, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Her fingers brushed over the cold steel of her playing cards, feeling the pulse of magic within them. This was no ordinary skirmish. She was outnumbered, but she had faced worse. And she would not fall here.

The First Clash

A flicker of movement.

Seraphis dodged instinctively as a vampire lunged from the left, claws aimed for her throat. She twisted mid-air, her enhanced agility allowing her to glide just past its grasp. In that same motion, she flicked a single card—razor-sharp and swift. It embedded itself in the creature’s eye, a gurgled scream ripping from its throat before it fell, convulsing.

But she had no time to celebrate. Two more surged forward.

She spun, a blur of white and steel. Her cards fanned out like a deadly storm, slicing through flesh and tendons. One vampire collapsed, its legs severed at the knee, but the other managed to grab her wrist. Its strength was monstrous, its grip like an iron vice.

With a sharp exhale, she released a surge of mana into her fingers, reinforcing her body. Using her free hand, she summoned a card—a special one, engraved with runes of draining magic. She pressed it against the vampire’s chest. The effect was instantaneous.

The creature shrieked as its life force was siphoned away, its body withering as if consumed by an unseen fire. Seraphis tore her hand free just as the vampire crumbled into dust.

Twenty-seven left.

Aerial Supremacy

Realizing she could not fight them all on the ground, she took a step back and shifted. A shimmer of silver enveloped her form, her body shrinking, twisting. In the span of a breath, she became the White Raven.

Her wings beat against the air, propelling her upwards. Below, the vampires hissed and cursed, their claws slashing at empty space. They would not let her escape so easily.

From above, she saw them repositioning. Several leapt into the trees, their supernatural agility allowing them to traverse the canopy with terrifying speed. Others remained below, their eyes locked onto her with predatory focus.

She had to be faster.

With a sharp caw, she dove.

Her beak transformed mid-flight into a steel-edged card, slicing through the throat of an unsuspecting vampire. Before its body even hit the ground, she shifted back to human form, landing gracefully behind another enemy. Her daggers flashed, severing its spine in a single stroke.

Chaos erupted.

The Turning Point

The remaining vampires adjusted. They stopped fighting individually and began moving in unison, surrounding her, forcing her into a smaller and smaller space. A clever strategy. But she had planned for this.

With a flick of her wrist, she pulled out the blood-draining card—the one she had saved for moments like this.

She whispered an incantation. The runes pulsed with a sickly red glow.

Then, she released it.

The card expanded mid-air, twisting like a hungry beast. It latched onto the nearest vampire, sinking deep into its chest. The creature convulsed as its blood was siphoned away, but the magic didn’t stop there.

The stolen life essence spread, chaining from one vampire to the next. They howled in agony as their bodies shriveled, their own blood turned against them. One by one, they fell, reduced to nothing more than dry husks.

Within seconds, the battlefield had changed.

Only five remained.

They hesitated now, no longer so eager to attack.

Seraphis, breathing heavily, wiped a streak of blood from her cheek. Her white eyes gleamed under the moonlight.

“Your move,” she whispered.

And the fight was far from over.