I can feel the man's axe pass where my head would have been a couple of moments ago. I activate one of the traps the man has just walked into. (he had the axe on his back.)

  A massive spurt of poison hits the man on his face. Poison doesn't work that well against vampires, but it has at least blinded the man. If it had hit a normal person, they would have been puking their guts out.

  I could not have been luckier at that, as I can still feel the strength of the man's blow. This is not going to be an easy enemy.

  I gesture to the ten soldiers behind me to hold their position. I can still fight the warrior by making use of the traps in the surrounding area. With them in the melee things will just get complicated very quickly.

  The other bandits in the tunnel are very wary of stepping in here. After all, they don't know what traps could be here. Only a berserker would be daring enough to fight against a formation mage who is in his home ground.

  The man steps into another trap here, a lightning one. I can smell the electricity as the man stands there paralysed by the trap.

  I don't know how long that will hold him though. Already the poison is beginning to lose effect. Well, there are three traps surrounding the man right now. I have already cut their connection to their triggers. I will be able to activate them whenever I want.

  These traps are a fire-based trap that will explode if he were to step on it. An air one that will push back the person stepping on it. Finally, another poison one, though I can already see how effective that is.

  Even as I remove my sword from my scabbard, I can see the man recover from the lightning trap. He doesn't move, his axe at his side. He is studying the battlefield around him.

  "It looks like I have chosen my battlefield poorly.", the man speaks.

  "Well, where else would I have enough confidence to meet up with a vampire berserker.", I speak. "Anywhere else and I would be running away from you already."

  Looking at the man, I know that I have barely cornered the man. The man is barely restrained by the traps that are here.

  Right now I would say that he is a wolf that has been bound by a string. It is only caution that is stopping the man from attacking me. The man is a berserker. I don't know how long he will be able to keep his caution though. Well, I don't need long, just enough time for me to retreat from this place. Then my trap will destroy the man,

  It is easier said than done though. As I said, the man looks like he is about to attack me any moment and a moment is all he needs to gut me. Let's see if I can rattle him.

  "I must say that your soldiers are quite cowardly. I would have thought that they would be entering into the tunnel already.", I speak.

  "What else do you expect from them, human.", he replies. "They are bandits And smart bandits at that. They won't fall into your traps like an idiot."

  "Are you calling yourself a fool then?", I reply, in what I hope is my most taunting voice.

  The man reacts to this by waving his axe at me threateningly. At least that is what he wants to make it look like. He is checking to see if there is a trap over there. Incidentally, he is waving his axe over the fire trap. Normally, That would have been enough to set it off, but I had already cut off the triggers to trap.

  Only I will be able to activate those three traps now. I wave my sword at him threateningly. No need to tip off to him that I understand what he is doing.

  "Your soldiers must be pretty cowardly as well. Each of them has about double your mana. Still, they hide behind you.", the man speaks, this time trying to provoke the soldiers.

  Well, my soldiers are a pretty disciplined bunch so they don't react to this. A bunch of them would be insulted, but they don't move from their position. The man takes a step forward, (on none of the traps sadly.)

  As I take a step back, the man charges at me. He is fast enough that I can feel his axe raise a little breeze. I block his strike, though it is enough to push me back by a couple of steps.

  He retreats as quickly as he comes to attack me, beyond the range of the traps. The bastard has figured out that the traps are manually activated.

  "You do know that these traps have triggers with them for a reason, you know.", he speaks, a little smirk on his face. "these are something that you cannot activate manually in the middle of a fight."

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  The little smirk of his is enough to tell me that I am not in for a good time.

  (After a couple of minutes.)

  I would like to say that I had a glorious fight with the man. That we fought sword to axe throughout the tunnel. That sword clashes against the axe, finding flesh every few strikes. Nothing like that happened sadly.

  The man would have killed me in a couple of moments if he was not so worried about the traps. He has tried to strike me four times till now, with me blocking him each time. (Barely at that.) The only reason that I can block is that the man is retreating the instant that he is attacking due to my traps. If he followed up for even a moment after that I wouldn't be able to react to him. I would be able to activate a trap and let it hit him though. My injuries would not be light in this process though.

  Not that he needs to worry about it. The man is playing with me. I don't know how I am supposed to retreat now. If he fell into one of the traps, I would still be able to do something, but activating a trap that quickly is not easy.

  I had not expected the man to figure that I would need to manually activate the traps. Even now, the man is standing in front of me, trying to find a point to attack me. The man is a paragon of focus, as he looks at me like a puzzle to be solved.

  Well, there is no need to send myself into a panic. For how overwhelming the man is, that is always the case with berserkers.

  They might start strong and overwhelming, but they burn through their reserves pretty quickly. Even for a vampire that must be true. Still, looking at the man, it is hard to believe that he can get tired.

  I turn to look at the blob of mana coming from somewhere on my left. It takes me a few moments to realize that it is a massive surge of blood mana.

  The quantity of the blood mana is what drew my attention. The amount being released is enough for me to sense it even with my weaker mana sense. It outshines the mana that the berserker is producing, even though the man is closer to me.

  Shit, I brace for impact as I look at the warrior. I had left myself vulnerable to his attack, after shifting my focus like that. The man could have easily taken my head, but the man was staring at the burst of mana with as much focus as me. If I didn't know better I would have said that the man was scared.

  I won't get an opportunity like this again. I begin to step back as quietly as I can. I almost managed to get to the safe zone as well, but after a couple of steps, the berserker looked at me again.

  The fear in his eyes transforms into a steely calm, as the man charges at me. Even as he does a red glow manifests on the man as I duck to the side. The force of his axe is strong enough for a dent to be formed in the floor, where it hits. I am not able to react to that fully, as I bring the sword in front of me.

  The axe hits like a bull, as I feel my legs buckle under the force. Now that is like fighting against a berserker. I am not used to them being this calm. I channel my mana into my sword, even as I feel myself getting stronger. The man doesn't stop pummeling me as well. The force of his strike is strong enough to break through my defense and bite into my shoulder.

  The sweat pouring from his face tells me that he is not able to maintain this state for long. He is already running out of steam. Even as he keeps striking, I feel myself becoming calmer. (It is almost unnatural I tell you. to be that calm in such a state.)

  The man was sent into a state of panic when the burst of blood mana appeared. He started attacking me with all of his force after that. As I think this, I can feel his axe bite into my arm. I managed to stab my sword into his hip, though looking at the man I am not sure he has even noticed it.

  The vital mana he is providing me is what is keeping me going right now.

  Where was I, yeah. The man is in a panic. I think that he means to retreat the instant that I am incapacitated enough for him to escape. That is the only reason that he would be willing to burn his reserves like this.

  The man pummels his axe into me. His every blow blows away my sword like a leaf in the wind. I realize what I need to do as I barely hold my defense. Well, I am not going to be enjoying this. I will need some time. If I pull it off, at least the Mayfires will stop doubting me.

  "Do you know why I had wanted to come in this negotiation with you.", I suddenly speak. I just need to distract the man for a bit. He must not look around too deeply.

  "Well, you were in a desperate state, I had assumed. A well-done negotiation would have brought you time.", the man speaks. "Now I think that you had a more nefarious reason coming to this meeting."

  "Well, there was that.", I reply, still barely holding back his axe somehow. "Of all the vampires, I was worried the least about you. The reason for that is I had a little something prepared for the day you attacked here."

  The reward for speaking so much is an axe in my left hand. I swear that it should hurt more than this. Still, it is good I didn't lose focus. Activating so many formations at a time is a bit hard.

  "Well, do what you want to do.", the man says. "If it was something capable of harming me, you would have already used it on me."

  "Well, you are partially true about that. After all, why would I waste all this time negotiating with you if I could have just killed you from the beginning.", I reply.

  Even as I am speaking the man opposite me realizes that something is wrong. Well, if he had been more aware of his surroundings he would have realized it sooner. He can't do anything now though as two barriers rise, locking us both into this part of the tunnel.

  "Well, maybe this trick of mine is not capable of differentiating friend from foe.", I speak, a little smirk on my face. "Maybe if I were to activate it now, I would be destroyed along with you."

  I can feel the room quickly warm up to an uncomfortable degree.

  "Be happy, warrior. This little trap of mine is going to leave me pretty incapacitated as well.", I speak. "I will still survive it though. You won't be so lucky."

  The man completely ignored me as he began to strike at the chains that had begun to form around him. The destroyed chain dissipates to fire mana heating our surroundings even more. A few of those chains are binding me too, but I ignore them. I can feel the blisters forming as I quietly slip my sword into his heart as the world becomes an inferno around me.