Chapter 166: Dekan is Always on the Next Level (1/2) |
Late at night, the city-state.
The light gray clouds were dense and heavy, and the moonlight was not bright.
Under the dim yellow lights, the street looked very bleak.
A cool breeze blew past, rolling up fallen leaves and letting them drift on the ground.
The doors of the shops along the street were tightly closed, occasionally making creaking sounds.
There was only one figure on the entire street.
It was a woman in a slightly cheap dress. She staggered as she walked, looking drunk.
She seemed to be having trouble finding her way home, and gradually staggered towards an alley.
However, high above.
It seemed to have locked onto its prey.
Then.
It moved so fast that it was almost impossible to see with the naked eye.
An uncomfortable smell gradually spread in the air.
This vampire pounced on the woman from a tricky angle, completely out of her line of sight, not even giving her a chance to react.
However, in that instant, a cold glint flashed in the woman’s eyes as if she had sobered up, and she sank her body!
She used her agile movements to circle behind the vampire, and a short knife that had appeared in her hand at some unknown time was accurately thrust into the vampire’s back heart with the speed of lightning.
After that, she pulled out the short knife without any hesitation.
Blood splattered on her body, but she didn’t care at all. She grabbed the vampire’s neck and violently flipped it to the ground.
Then she thrust the knife into its heart again.
Although this vampire suffered two fatal injuries in a row, it showed no signs of exhaustion.
The blood that flowed out seemed to have a life of its own and was about to return to its body to help it heal its injuries.
However, just as the vampire was struggling, a man also walked out from somewhere.
A few spell cards appeared in his hand.
He activated them one after another, quickly stunning the vampire, and then unfolded an aura to restrain it.
“Finally caught one.”
The man looked at the immobilized vampire and finally sighed in relief.
“With it, we’ll have a way to find that great vampire.”
The woman pulled out her short knife and observed the vampire she had subdued.
Although it had clear vampire characteristics, the smell on its body was very turbid, not at all like a pure vampire.
It must be a familiar of the great vampire hidden in this city-state.
It was now the late night of the third day since the start of the Shadow World.
And this combination of a female warrior and a male mage were both rank-six elites from the Resurrection Church who had come to snipe Morion.
In the morning, they had just seen the prompt that Mission Objective 3 “Prevent the revival of Marquis Roderick” had been unlocked.
In the afternoon, they saw the prompt of Marquis Roderick’s death.
Until now, they still couldn’t figure out what was going on.
They only felt that this Shadow World was not good, and there might be some hidden depths among the challengers.
According to their understanding, even Morion would find it very difficult to do such an exaggerated thing.
And it was not in line with Morion’s usual clearing style.
So in the afternoon, after a brief discussion, they all confirmed their course of action in this Shadow World—
Don’t cause trouble, give up on targeting Morion, and perfectly disguise themselves as ordinary challengers.
Since there seemed to be a big shot in this Shadow World, they also knew how to adapt to the situation and decided to honestly tag along for a reward.
However, the final reward settlement of the Shadow World was related to the degree of contribution.
If the contribution was very small, the reward would be correspondingly small.
Of course, even if they slacked off, it was very difficult to get no reward at all in a Shadow World.
At least they had never seen such a situation.
In their investigation over the past three days.
They had discovered that a great vampire with an unknown purpose was suspected to be lurking in the city-state.
And after seeing the publicly announced Mission Objective 3, they quickly deduced that this great vampire’s motive was to rescue the sealed Vampire Marquis.
And the reason it was lurking now was definitely because it was too weak and was in the process of recovering.
Strike while the iron is hot, this was undoubtedly the best time to defeat the vampire.
If they could make a major contribution to Mission Objective 2, then their final reward would also be very considerable.
So the strategy they adopted tonight was phishing enforcement.
The female warrior pretended to be a weak woman, walking on the street to lure the vampire who needed to hunt.
And the male mage hid in the dark, ready to support the female warrior at any time.
And also to do reconnaissance work to guard against multiple strong enemies.
And finally to control the vampire.
As expected, the female warrior successfully lured the vampire.
They caught their target with exceptional smoothness.
Next, they just needed to hand over this vampire familiar of the great vampire to the Holy Rite Church or the lord.
The city-state would naturally launch a full-city investigation.
At that time, even if the kill of this great vampire was not credited to them.
They would also receive a good reward for making a key contribution.
“Clip-clop, clip-clop.”
Just as they were preparing to escort this familiar to the church, the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard from the side of the street.
It seemed that their commotion had attracted the night patrol of the knight guard.
Soon, the knights appeared at the intersection, looking at the mess in the alley.
“We are adventurers who have accepted a mission.”
The female warrior and the male mage quickly explained and stepped aside, so that the leading knight could see clearly that the one on the ground was a vampire.
The knight captain sighed in relief after seeing the vampire clearly.
“You don’t have to worry, we are aware of the situation. In fact, we discovered last night that there were vampires appearing in the city-state at night, so we strengthened the patrol tonight. We are very grateful that you could help us defeat the vampire.”
The knight captain dismounted, walked quickly to the two, and said in a calm tone.
“It’s fine, we were just about to hand over the vampire. We’ll leave it to you now.”
The two Resurrection Church members observed the knight patrol team and relaxed after confirming that they were a regular unit directly under the lord.
After a brief handover, just as the two were preparing to leave, the knight captain asked with considerable sincerity:
“Please wait a moment. If it’s convenient for you two, could you assist us in escorting this vampire? And there are some details that our lord would also like to ask you two.”
The knight captain did not mean to force them. He was quite respectful to the two powerful and righteous adventurers.
“No problem.”
The two looked at each other and quickly nodded in confirmation.
This small effort could also increase their contribution.
So the two followed the knight team to the lord’s mansion.
On the way, according to the explanation of the knight captain, in fact, since yesterday, there had been suspected traces of vampires in the city-state at night.
At the same time, there were also three missing citizens.
But in the end, it was just suspicion, lacking conclusive evidence, and a day’s investigation did not yield any results.
The attitude of the Holy Rite Church was very vague, and they did not give any opinion or take any action.
For this reason, the lord was so anxious that he could only strengthen the night patrol.
The lord also instructed that once there were any clues or informants, they must be reported to him as soon as possible.
The knight captain was very sure that these two were the people the lord was looking for.
Before long, they arrived at a luxurious and solemn old mansion.
Around the mansion stood several towering trees with lush branches and leaves, covering the already thin moonlight, leaving only a few mottled spots of light on the walls, plating the entire mansion with a layer of mystery.
Under the guidance of the knight captain, the two followed a winding path from the courtyard into the lord’s mansion, and then went straight to the spacious reception hall.
A middle-aged man with a dignified appearance was sitting on the sofa, his expression very serious.
He was the lord of this city-state.
The patrol knight captain quickly took his leave under the lord’s instruction.
In the huge reception hall, only a few guards were left, as well as a young maid who was serving them drinks.
Then she stood behind the lord’s sofa, holding the tray.
Although this maid looked like a girl in her teens, she must be a combat maid of considerable strength to be able to protect the lord at close range.
“Thank you very much, you two. Because of the suspected appearance of a vampire in the city-state, I have not slept all night. It is only after confirming that you have caught it that I can sleep peacefully for a while today. However, I still have to trouble you two to tell me the details as much as possible.”
The lord pinched the bridge of his nose, his voice full of exhaustion.
The two Resurrection Church members quickly explained the whole story to the lord, including the clues they had found in the city-state.
It was just that they omitted the part about the Shadow World’s mission prompts.
But even if they mentioned the existence of the Shadow World, no one would believe them.
Next, the lord discussed with them for a while.
The lord seemed particularly worried. He was very concerned about all information related to vampires.
If a great vampire had infiltrated his territory, a slight carelessness would mean disaster for him and his territory.
“Lord, don’t worry, we will also help you defeat the vampire.”
“Mm, I understand. I will definitely increase the search efforts in the town. If you need assistance, please tell me, and I will do my best to cooperate with you.”
“Okay.”
In the end, the lord finally calmed down, and stood up very friendly to shake hands with the two and thank them.
The two Resurrection Church members were also very happy.
With the powerful assistance of the lord, hunting down the great vampire of Mission Objective 2 would surely be much more effective.
Perhaps they would even have the opportunity to find and eliminate the great vampire at an unimaginably fast speed.
“Will you two be resting at the lord’s mansion tonight? I’ll have someone prepare guest rooms for you in advance.”
“Then we’ll trouble you, my lord.”
Just as the lord ordered the guards to send them out of the reception hall to the guest rooms.
From some unknown moment.
“Pfft.”
When the female warrior reacted, she found that her clothes had been stained red by gushing blood.
This was not her blood. The male mage next to her had had his heart pierced by a bloody hand that came from nowhere.
Immediately after, the male mage’s body trembled violently, and the ground was instantly stained dark red like a desktop with red ink spilled on it.
The female warrior’s cells were filled with a strong sense of mortal danger, and she instinctively pulled away.
The lord’s mansion guard, who was about to lead them the way and was as expressionless as a chess piece, actually had his eyes turn extremely red, and a thick, pungent smell of blood emanated from his body.
Without a doubt, his true identity was a vampire familiar!
And taking advantage of the close proximity, this vampire familiar had launched a sneak attack on the male mage.
The fragile male mage had already been killed in that unannounced sneak attack just now.
PART 2
And next, from all around the reception hall, a few more figures approached.
They were all rank-six vampire familiars!
The female warrior now realized that the several guards in the reception hall had all long been replaced by vampires!
And they had perfectly disguised themselves as humans by some unknown means!
“Lor…d?”
The female warrior’s lips trembled, and her face turned pale.
The sudden turn of events made her realize.
Right now, she might have been tricked into the enemy’s lair.
Even the lord had a problem!
What she and her companion thought was phishing enforcement was actually all within the enemy’s expectations.
In fact, the vampire familiar they had caught was the bait thrown out by the enemy.
And they were the fish that had been caught.
In the female warrior’s terrified gaze.
The lord did not answer her, but just stood up from the sofa.
Then he walked around the back of the sofa and knelt on one knee in front of the maid waiting there.
“Lady Lilislina, my mission is complete. They have indeed realized your existence.”
The lord said with exceptional reverence, very much like a puppy trying to please its master.
“You’ve worked hard. Go on and continue being a lord.”
The maid waved her hand in disgust, signaling for this fragile lord to leave.
It would be troublesome if the lord got hurt when the fight started later.
“You, you’re the one who…!”
The female warrior looked at the maid and said with a trembling voice.
“Haha.”
The beautiful maid, who originally looked quite girlish, now laughed playfully.
“Foolish humans, did you think I wouldn’t notice you when you were investigating me?”
Even though the maid still looked like a young girl, and her voice was still as crisp.
But the maid’s aura had become extremely oppressive, as if she was looking down on a lower race as she stared at the female warrior.
Her eyes, like blood-red gems, seemed to hide a sea of blood, with countless killings hidden within.
The cold and bloody atmosphere in the reception hall made the female warrior tremble all over.
She was now gradually understanding everything.
The person in front of her was not a maid at all.
But.
The great vampire they had been looking for, hidden in the city-state!
And the lord had long been controlled by Countess Lilislina!
Now the entire lord’s mansion had long since become a demon’s lair, but was instead the enemy’s headquarters!
The enemy could also efficiently obtain all the intelligence and information in the city-state.
So unless the challengers maintained a very high level of counter-reconnaissance awareness, it was very likely that the more they investigated, the more they would expose themselves.
This rank-six Shadow World, although the combat intensity was not that high.
But there were deadly traps everywhere.
One wrong step, and one might fall into a desperate situation without even realizing it.
Amidst the female warrior’s screams, her figure was soon overwhelmed by the siege of the familiars, and gradually lost its life.
“Although I don’t know where I slipped up to be targeted by you little characters, in the end, you’re just delivering a meal to me.”
Countess Lilislina’s face was filled with contempt.
She had a unique mental control ability that allowed her to dominate the minds of humans without turning them into familiars.
She was also good at disguise, not only being able to perfectly disguise herself as a human, but also able to hide the aura of vampires around her.
Even the lord was unknowingly controlled by her after she infiltrated the lord’s mansion, becoming her puppet.
The several guards in the mansion were also replaced by her.
So this became her safest hiding place, and she could also control the situation in the town through the lord at the first opportunity.
Before long, the female warrior was subdued by this group of familiars.
They carried the female warrior, who was on her last breath, to the countess and presented her like a tribute.
“Damn Shadow World…”
The dying female warrior’s voice was intermittent, and her face, stained with blood and tears, was filled with only unwillingness and despair.
This city-state was finished.
Under the premise of an extreme lack of intelligence.
No one would be able to guess the troublesome ability of this countess and the lurking advantage she had already achieved.
Unless someone could convey the information that “the lord has been controlled.”
Otherwise, there would be no hope of turning the tables.
As a member of the Resurrection Church, she didn’t care about the failure of the Shadow World.
She was just unwilling. She didn’t expect that the final boss of this Shadow World would be so cunning as to hunt the challengers in return.
After her consciousness completely faded, Countess Lilislina also began to leisurely consume her nutrients.
This was her most enjoyable dinner time.
“Not bad, it would be even better if it were the blood of a young girl.”
The countess licked her lips. The blood made the corners of her mouth particularly crimson, and she had a satisfied expression.
This city-state would soon become her possession.
Even though her current combat power had not yet fully recovered to the rank-six level.
But as long as she continued to recover her strength in a low-key manner, in another four days, she would be able to recover her full rank-seven combat power.
At that time, she would go to the small town to rescue Marquis Roderick, and everything would be over.
“Damn High Priest… your sacrifice, everything you did was a useless struggle. Both the small town and the city-state will eventually become our hunting grounds.”
Whenever she thought of the High Priest of the small town who had fought her desperately, Countess Lilislina would be particularly angry.
If it weren’t for that priest’s obstruction, she wouldn’t have needed to lurk like this.
For some reason, she felt anger rising in her heart, becoming stronger and stronger.
It was as if her emotions were being inexplicably stirred.
And along with the anger, she felt a sense of hunger stimulating her brain again.
She had just consumed blood, but now she was hungry again.
And this time, the feeling of the appetite eruption was very strange.
Countess Lilislina even felt a little like ordering her familiars to go out and hunt a beautiful girl she most desired for her to drink her blood, regardless of the cost.
She was an extremely cautious vampire.
Every step she had taken so far was full of prudence.
Except for sending out a familiar over the past two days to lure those adventurers who tried to exploit the enforcement patrols, she didn’t dare let her familiars go out and capture civilians so easily.
At least for now, she had to endure in a low-key manner until the Marquis was unsealed, otherwise all her previous efforts might be in vain.
But this restless desire in her heart was really hard for her to bear.
She decided to go find the lord.
No matter what method the lord came up with, she had to drink fresh blood as soon as possible, and it had to be the blood of a pure maiden.
Soon, Countess Lilislina, dressed as a maid, quickly came to the door of the lord’s bedroom on the second floor.
However, before she could push the door open.
The door was quickly pulled open from the inside.
At the same time, a book with a brown cover came smashing down towards her head from inside the door!
She quickly leaned back and lightly jumped to the side of the corridor wall.
Fortunately, her reaction was fast enough.
She dodged this attack.
Otherwise, with the terrifying force of that blow, even she would have had her head smashed open.
She quickly called for her familiars to come up to the second floor and saw the situation in the lord’s bedroom.
Instantly, Countess Lilislina felt her brain shut down a little.
The scene in the lord’s bedroom was very strange.
A girl wearing a White Board Mask was standing at the door.
She was holding a terrifying killing weapon in her hand. Although it looked like a book, Countess Lilislina’s intuition told her that the consequences of being hit by this book would be very miserable.
The White Board girl was obviously on the lookout just now.
And in the middle of the bedroom, the lord at the desk had already fainted.
A man was standing next to the lord, wearing an equally strange mask with a character “中” written on it in bright red paint.
The Red Center man was holding the lord up in the chair, and he was also holding a metal rope in his hand, preparing to tie the lord up.
And by the window of the lord’s room, there was another figure who had pulled the curtain open a little, also on the lookout.
It was just that he was responsible for monitoring the situation downstairs in the lord’s mansion.
At this time, the figure on the lookout by the window seemed to have been attracted by Countess Lilislina’s attention as well.
He turned his head. The mask had a character “發” printed on it in green paint.
Countess Lilislina’s eye twitched.
These three guys, who looked very ominous at first glance, were clearly a mature criminal gang.
Although she couldn’t see the expressions under the masks of these three people.
But she could feel that all three of them had obvious hesitation in their body movements after discovering her, as if they were also very surprised.
It seemed that the original motive of these three bandits was very simple, just to hijack the lord’s mansion.
They also didn’t expect to run into a vampire in the lord’s mansion.
Although Countess Lilislina was still dressed as a maid now, the smell of blood on her body and the bloodstains on the corners of her mouth could not be hidden.
“Is there such a good thing?”
The Red Center man in the bedroom temporarily stopped his work, looked at the maid outside the door, and asked his two accomplices.
“Isn’t this a coincidence?”
The Get Rich man couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Can I keep hitting her?”
And the White Board girl was also rubbing the murder book in her hand, as if she would only feel comfortable if she hit this vampire at least once.
The three of them stared at Countess Lilislina as if they had discovered their prey.
Even though she couldn’t meet the gazes of the three of them through the masks, the countess also felt a chill down her spine.
These three guys were too scary.
She had originally thought that this lord’s mansion was her absolute safe haven.
She could have all the advantages and defend herself against anyone who dared to investigate her.
But she had calculated everything except for the possibility that there would be bandits targeting the lord’s mansion!!
What kind of world was this?!
Is the lord’s mansion a place you can just come and rob so casually?!
