Chapter 763: Chapter 357: Vampire Earl (Part 2)
After agreeing on the action plan, Leon instructed everyone to pull up their masks. They no longer pretended to be travelers and walked silently into the city gates, which were left unguarded by soldiers.
The street scenes within the city walls appeared just like those of an ordinary day in Kantadar City, with pedestrians and residents coming and going.
If it weren’t for knowing that this place was in the south central area of Roslava Territory, surrounded by countless undead, the group would almost think they were still in Ustato Territory.
However, the behavior of the city’s inhabitants, who avoided them out of fear due to their cloaked figures with weapons at their waists, reminded them that this area was still under undead occupation.
“It’s so strange… Are those vampires planning to build a nation of the living under their rule?” David muttered quietly to himself as he observed the city’s residents with surprise.
“There are not even any patrolling guards here, yet everything seems orderly.” A ranger traveling with them whispered in awe as they made their way into the city, the only ones visibly ard. This, however, granted them the benefit of not being questioned about their identity by anyone appearing to be city authorities.
Olivia, noting the terrified pedestrians avoiding their group, worriedly said to Leon, “Aren’t we too conspicuous?”
“No matter.” Leon shook his head. “Given the farr’s attitude outside the city, we probably look similar to those vampires in their eyes. Let’s maintain that misunderstanding; besides, if we alarm the vampires and they co looking for us, we’d avoid the risk of sneaking into the castle. We could just kidnap one and retreat imdiately.”
He glanced sideways at the direction of the inner city at a greater height.
An imposing castle stood there, yet the dry black blood-stained high walls and the outer walls of the towers bore no emblem flags.
…
Employing the sa old trick, in a quiet corner of the city, the group blocked a timid and seemingly cowardly resident.
Leon dispatched Kovis to threaten, as the boy’s surging magic power turned his eyes red, his skin snowy white, playing the part of a vampire convincingly before ordinary people.
Employing bluff and deceit, they extracted the tis and locations when the residents regularly went to the castle, then the action team hid away, waiting for nightfall.
Whether due to lax supervision or simply not bothering with city defense issues, even as night descended, they didn’t see the expected vampires coming for them.
As the moon rose into the sky, apart from Olivia, who was unard, the rest handed their swords and knives to Kovis at the end of the line, using Shadow Magic to hide, in case they encountered a search during infiltration.
The eight of them left their hiding place together and quickly reached the gathering square ntioned by the resident.
Indeed, many cloaked residents had already gathered there and were heading toward the noble stronghold in the inner city.
“Follow them.”
Leon led the team to blend silently into the group.
Standing close to Olivia, Leon couldn’t cast a Night Vision Spell. He glanced at Acro, trailing at the end, and could only turn and ask his wife beside him, “How about it? Have you discovered anything?”
“There are faint, non-wind noises on so rooftops around… but they’re very far away, not coming near.”
Though the girl had excellent vision, she didn’t possess night vision abilities, relying solely on her extraordinary hearing to identify suspicious presences.
After hearing this, Leon stayed quiet, showing patience without rushing.
Engaging in action in such an open city area wouldn’t be good for catching… beings or undead, and capturing a higher-ranking undead inside the castle might be more fruitful.
Along with the antsy residents, they climbed the castle steps lit by torches, seemingly guiding the way.
Leon realized he’d worried too much, as no one had bothered to search for weapons on them.
After passing through unguarded towers and corridors, they entered a somber and terrifying hall where he saw the residents in front stop trembling with fear.
The doors, swaying as if moved by the wind, creaked eerily as they slowly closed.
The crowd, despite the tension and fear, did not flee.
The doors banged shut, and the flickering candles on the vacant Lord’s Throne cast shadows.
A chilly wind suddenly swept through, extinguishing all the torches and chandeliers in the hall, plunging it into darkness.
Leon could hear the muffled cries of the crowd ahead, and the residents’ breaths ca to a standstill.
Without a word, he drew “Boiling Heart” and “Holy War Knight,” ready to give those potential vampire foes a startling surprise.
Beside him, Olivia perked her ears, sensing every movent around.
Under her cloak, the girl’s palm lay open, and the Sun Magic Pattern subtly erged on the back of her hand.
“Oh… heavens, for the gods’ sake, didn’t I tell you not to co again? Why are you here again!?”
A voice mixed with helplessness and annoyance interrupted Leon, making him pause, bewildered.
This voice….
Why does it sound so familiar?
“…venereal disease, cold poison, leprosy, fiery rash…. your blood is worse than toilet scum, are you trying to poison ?”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, noble one, but my son, he’s caught so illness these days and has been bedridden; there’s really no way…”
The annoyed voice imdiately interrupted, scolding: “If he’s bedridden, go see a doctor. Staying in one house with you, all covered in diseases, it’s no wonder he’s sick! And you, hasn’t the Earl already decreed that doctors don’t charge anymore? Are you saving those diseases for the next life to treat?”
As that voice fell silent, a sudden gust of wind reopened the hall’s doors.
“Get out! Just slling your unwashed stench makes want to puke. If you co again, I’ll have to give you a few lashes to teach you a lesson!”
“Yes! Yes! I’m leaving, right away!” The terrified man stumbled around, then bolted out of the hall under the moonlight shining through the door, stumbling and falling over.
Leon finally rembered who that gloomy, changed voice belonged to.
But David, who knew this voice even better, spoke up in shock before he did.
“Balfe!!?”
David’s call made the previously grumbling voice in the dark suddenly halt.
Then, another deep, unfamiliar voice bood from the darkness:
“The number isn’t right! There’re eight more!”
Almost simultaneously, a series of piercing whooshes slashed through the air, targeting Leon’s team at the rear.
Kovis reacted quickly, raising his hand to pull away the spell-hidden straps, flinging the carried weapons into the air.
Five swords and the Lord’s Garner, under his skillful manipulation, fell beside his companions.
The young man simultaneously activated the Guardian Spirit Holy Lamp with his left hand.
A sun-like light screen burst forth instantly, forcing the wailing black mists back into the shadows.
Lokhak and the rangers unsheathed their weapons in unison as the battle was about to erupt—
“Stop! Stop—everyone, stop!!”
The voice suspected to be Balfe’s shouted sharply, forcing everyone to halt in surprise;
Although shocked, more familiar with the voice than Leon, David exclaid first in astonishnt.
“Lord Balfe, you!?”
At David’s exclamation, the grumbling voice from the darkness suddenly paused.
Gripping the rune-etched Garner, Leon also raised the activated Guardian Spirit Holy Lamp in his hand, illuminating the hall like daylight.
The light revealed, on one side of the throne’s stairs, a figure standing in the glow of the candles, seemingly the once renowned champion knight of the Thorny Flower Family.
Only now, the scar spanning the scar-faced Baron’s face was gone without a trace, replaced by a youthfulness as if he had aged backward by about a decade.
And Balfe’s expression of astonishnt turned to one of profound complexity as he recognized his forr colleagues and comrades, and the son of his lord who had removed his mask.
“Lord Leon, Miss Olivia… David?…”
From the shadows, several vampires in formal attire turned to each other in amazent.
Then, a familiar voice rose, one that filled David with uncontrollable joy as he turned to the sound’s source.
“Oh, my little Griffin, you do surprise , one delight after another.”
A swirling mist of shadows suddenly condensed into an elegant count’s robe at the entry to the corridor.
“I just didn’t expect it to be you so soon.”
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