In such a manner they've come across a good amount of creatures.
Every time Cyril and Morpho took it on to see what they were capable of, and Rose was giving suggestions from the back.
Despite the grave situation, Cyril felt like he was having a good time.
And seeing Rose's satisfied expression, it was safe to assume she felt the same.
The absence of any other visitors at this time only served to make this experience even more enjoyable.
In every encounter, they've tried to act quickly, since no one knew how long the authorities would remain delayed.
Once the knights arrive, this whole situation will be solved in minutes.
Over time the zoo became more quiet. There were no more sounds of destruction.
This was because many animals had already taken over the territories they liked and made themselves at home.
For some reason not many magic creatures wanted to escape.
"This must be because of the mana vein," Rose said with a thinking expression.
The two of them were walking in the forest currently, hoping to encounter something.
Rose continued, "The city was built upon the largest cluster of mana veins in the world, with the biggest vein connected to the Tower and numerous others branching out across the land. This zoo sits directly atop one."
"As mages, we enjoy being near a mana vein, and these creatures are the same, huh?" said Cyril.
"It might be even more beneficial for them; after all, they use magic instinctively," Rose said and briefly wrote something down in her thick notebook.
Cyril suddenly raised his arm, motioning for silence.
Rose's expression immediately became wary, and she looked around.
When they walked some distance more, she began hearing it too.
It was a familiar sound for them as students. The characteristic ding sound of whenever a spell hit a barrier.
They approached the area as quietly as they could.
Soon they've reached the high wall marking the end of the zoo's territory.
There was a figure standing right in front of the walls, throwing dark red spells in hopes of exploding a path outside.
So far it was a fruitless endeavor. The barrier didn't even flinch.
"That's…!" Once Rose got a good look at this person, she silently exclaimed in excitement.
It was a woman of about twenty years with white hair and red eyes.
The vampire... Cyril was also interested.
Surely this creature had a lot more tricks than displayed back during the show.
Cyril and Rose looked at each other and nodded at the same time.
He confidently walked in front without trying to hide, while she followed behind with a notebook at the ready.
When the vampire heard someone, her slightly longer ears twitched a little, and she turned around with her hands in front of her.
"Who!" She exclaimed.
"Don't worry, we don't work at the park. We simply wanted to find out more about you!" Rose said with a smile. She wanted to appear friendly.
"Hah! You humans are all the same, always wishing to know everything. I am not your lab rat! Go away, unless you want to die!" The vampire said with a scowl, and a red light started threateningly dancing in her palm.
Cyril pretended like he didn't hear her just now and continued walking, which made the vampire frown further.
"Is it true that you can turn other people into vampires too?" He asked with curiosity.
The vampire didn't reply, instead throwing a bolt of dark energy at him.
Cyril, in a familiar manner, destroyed the spell with his backhand. He was getting more and more proficient in this.
Selene's technique was truly wonderful. Not only was it powerful, but it didn't use as much mana as your regular spells.
"The hell!?" The vampire exclaimed and threw more spells, but they've met a similar fate.
Seeing this didn't work, she clicked her tongue, then bit her arm.
Soon a blade made of blood formed in her right hand, and she pointed it at Cyril. Her other hand in a claw shape, ready for anything.
"Close-quarters combat, huh?" Rhamn said with interest.
This was the preferred method of fighting for Cyril, so he was even more intrigued by her now.
Cyril made the first move; he threw a straight punch aimed at her head.
Surprisingly, the vampire simply turned into a dark cloud, phasing through his attack.
Behind Cyril's back now, she materialized again and slashed with her sword.
She was incredibly quick; there was no way for Cyril to react in time.
Thankfully he never fought alone.
Morpho, who was long since ready on his shoulder, flew out like a cannonball at the vampire, hitting her directly.
The vampire fell on the ground while clutching her stomach. The mana inside of her was rampaging.
Over the course of the day, Morpho had made big progress in the execution of the Heavenly Dragon's Judgement technique.
It took the vampire a few seconds to heal her body, which was still shorter than Cyril expected.
"Looks like vampires have good control over their bodies." Rhamn nodded with understanding.
"W-What kind of butterfly is that!" The vampire quickly got up from the ground and distanced herself step by step.
"Are you done fighting?" Cyril calmly turned around and asked provocatively in return.
"Tsk!" The vampire clicked with her tongue; the wound on her arm from the bite earlier suddenly started leaking a lot of blood.
"How do vampires have so much blood in their bodies?" Rhamn was more and more intrigued.
Soon all of the leaked blood flowed to the side, forming a cloud of red bats.
The vampire and her bats now attacked simultaneously, one going for Cyril and the others going for Morpho.
At the incoming blade, Cyril didn't dodge as the vampire anticipated; instead, he grabbed the blade directly with his left arm.
The vampire in disbelief stared at how her sword was actually stopped by flesh, not able to advance further.
For her it felt like her sword was stuck under the weight of the whole mountain.
Cyril didn't waste this opportunity and threw a punch with his right hand, this time hitting the stunned enemy with no problem.
The vampire's body was thrown some meters in the air before dropping on the ground.
The same pain from the inside appeared again, and the vampire began trembling.
In the meantime, Morpho was able to easily dodge all of the attacks thrown by clumsy bats.
Butterflies excel at sudden, unpredictable movements midair. Combined with Morpho's unnatural traits, this made her remarkably effective at evading enemy strikes.
Before the cloud of bats could try anything else, it dissipated due to it's owner losing focus.
The disappointed Morpho flew back towards Cyril to join him.
From now on it couldn't be called a fight anymore. The vampire was powerless to stop them.
Morpho's and Cyril's teamwork was something special; they were almost in perfect sync with each other.
It was like they were reading each other's minds.
At this stage Rose began throwing out her suggestions, and plenty of experiments were made.
It turns out the Flash spell—or any other similar one—didn't harm a vampire in any way, but it did make their body tingle.
The vampire's fangs were twice the size of a human's.
Their structure was also subtly different; at the top of each fang was an almost imperceptible tiny hole.
During their fog form, they were impervious to physical damage, but certain attacks made with magic could harm them.
A pity that they couldn't try letting the vampire suck the blood of someone here. There was no vaguely willing participant around.
Finally, Cyril scanned the vampire's whole body at Rhamn's request.
"They are almost identical to a human; the secret is in the blood." Rhamn nodded with satisfaction.
Rose, too, scanned the creature this time. This was a unique opportunity some couldn't get in their lifetime.
"You perverts! Maniacs! Just kill me already!" The vampire yelled while lying on the ground, with tears glistening at the corners of her eyes.
Did we go too far? Cyril thought with some guilt, looking at her somewhat pitiful state.
"Of course not! She attacked us first, and now she lost. It's not our fault she was this weak!" Rhamn denied his thoughts with a wave of her hand.
Rose acted as if she didn't hear anything. She was looking down at her filled notebook and nodding with a smile on her face.
Cyril could only crouch in front of the vampire and offer a few words of conciliation: "Look, we are sorry. It was only scientific curiosity, nothing more."
Hearing his words, the vampire's tears seemed to flow even harder.
How troublesome...
"If—if only I wasn't starved, you would've groveled under my feet, you human!" She mumbled angrily.
It would've been threatening if it didn't come through all the tears and snot.
With a guilty conscience, Cyril waited until the vampire calmed down.
"Look, if you want to escape, you should head in that direction... just find a hood or something and slip through the gate; it shouldn't be too hard for you," Cyril said.
While on their trip, Rose and Cyril met plenty of zoo staff, who kept telling them to enter the evacuation zone.
Apparently it was quite messy in there. The vampire should be able to sneak out; she didn't look different from a human.
The vampire cautiously stared at Cyril and raised her body.
Seeing him still not move, she slowly started gaining speed, running in the direction he pointed.
"I will not forget this! I will have my revenge!" She disappeared into the trees, leaving such words behind.
"Are you fine with that? I think she meant that," Rose asked, somewhat wary.
"I would be happy to meet her again. There are still experiments we could perform—if she returns, she should expect that. Doesn't that imply her agreement?" Cyril said while scratching his chin.
"Haha, that's true. Be sure to share the results with me when the time comes," Rose said with a smile.
With that, they continued on their way.
Now they were planning to see the lake.