Pale Emblem

Chapter 202 Night Raid on the Garrison

The damp, cold night wind howled and swirled among the battlements, the drawbridge on the moat was bathed in pale moonlight, and the frost on the iron chains shimmered with a ghostly blue light.

The old bronze wind vane spun wildly every now and then atop the flagpole, making a piercing sound accompanied by the howling monsoon winds.

Victor stood between the battlements of the city wall, facing the night wind, gazing at the mountain ridge to the northeast.

He saw that the undulating mountains were already shrouded in white mist, which was spreading in this direction like a tide and would reach and submerge the Godore fortress complex in no more than four quarters of an hour.

Tonight the sky is clear and cloudless, the moonlight is bright, the evening wind is howling, but there is a thick fog, the air is damp and cold, as if winter has arrived early.

This is by no means normal.

"What a horrible weather!"

"They woke me up in the middle of the night... and wouldn't even let me put on any clothes, just a cloak... I'm freezing!"

"I said, do you know what happened?"

"I don't know... The officer forbids me from asking."

The guards passed by Viktor in twos and threes. They complained about the weather and their officers, but no one paid any attention to Viktor and his group standing by the battlements.

Victor looked away from the soldiers and asked Kent in a low voice, "What do you think of the fog outside?"

The ferocious half-elf, his expression grave, shook his head and said, "My lord, I don't sense any danger in this fog."

Victor nodded slightly. The ferocious warrior's danger instinct has limitations and is not always reliable. For example, a dormant venomous snake will not trigger the lower limit of the danger instinct, while an irresistible danger will exceed the upper limit.

Although this fog was clearly abnormal, it would at least not directly harm half-elves or half-orcs.

Victor just hoped everything would go smoothly and that they could get out of that damned Godore Fortress as soon as possible.

The garrison soldiers had assembled, and more than a hundred of them were lined up neatly on the platform at the city gate.

Commander Bill and his two deputies scrutinized each soldier with serious expressions.

Christine led them to believe that the prestigious Silver Horn family had become embroiled in the political struggles of Fallen Leaf City's upper echelons. Meanwhile, Vice President Berg, representing the opposing forces, bribed their garrison soldiers to act as spies. Fortunately, the Earth Temple of Fallen Leaf City had also planted a spy within Vice President Berg's inner circle—the beautiful Miss "Joanna."

Their current mission is to assist Miss Joanna in uncovering all the traitors that Berg has bribed.

The mental entities of intelligent beings always have a changeable nature. Skilled swindlers know how to take advantage of this changeable nature to make victims "think they are clever" and thus fall into a fraud trap.

If even a conman without magic can do this, how much more so a vampire who can sense emotional changes?

Christine is a master of seduction; she's a succubus who can deceive anyone to death.

She doesn't need to use her charm to completely outsmart Commander Bill and his crew.

However, if she wants the garrison to defend the East Gate and fight Clark's army to the death, she must use her charm ability on all the soldiers of the garrison to completely control them.

Christine's journey from seducing, controlling, to enslaving a mentally sound intelligent being was never easy.

In the past, it might have taken her ten days, months, or even years to gradually erode the other person's will before she could finally succeed.

Those mentally unstable individuals are easy to control; the cultist at the Golden Sands Inn, for example, had his mind taken over by the banshee in an instant. However, these kinds of fragmented and deformed souls hold little appeal for Christine.

Now that Christine has Victor backing her up, her success rate with her charm abilities has significantly increased, and she's become bolder as well.

The enchantment of over a hundred soldiers is extremely difficult and risky. A slight misstep could drive the soldiers into a frenzy, causing them to devour the caster's flesh and soul on the spot!

However, Christine dared to try; her soul was already anchored to Master Victor, so even if she failed, it wouldn't be a big deal.

She was not only confident, but also well-prepared.

These days, Christine seizes every opportunity to communicate with every soldier in the garrison, whether verbally or through eye contact, winning their favor, admiration, jealousy, and possessiveness. Her alluring charm has subtly eroded the soldiers' will.

Tonight, it's harvest time!

"Ms. Joanna, all the soldiers in the chapter have assembled. Do you think we can begin?" Commander Bill asked softly after the squad leaders had finished calling roll.

"Of course!"

Christine smiled faintly, her bright eyes gleaming with an unusual light. She stepped forward to face the soldiers below the stage, the hem of her long robe revealing a section of her slender, snow-white leg, instantly attracting countless greedy gazes.

The banshee doesn't need to speak; her alluring aura automatically ignites the primal desires of the half-elf soldiers.

At this moment, all the mental focus of the 27 professionals, 42 awakened individuals, and 55 ordinary soldiers of the garrison was concentrated on Christine.

This is actually a dark ritual.

Spiritual power is offered to God in the form of faith, but if it is offered to the devil in the form of desire, it belongs to the devil.

Christine's succubus bloodline was intensely stimulated, immediately initiating a transformation. Her alluring aura blossomed like layers of flowers, causing the desires of all the guards to scorch their minds, making them even more unable to extricate themselves.

With a crisp "crack," the transformation of the Desire Demon bloodline finally reached the critical point and began to manifest changes in the body.

As bones, muscles, and tendons cracked and reformed, Christine's body expanded and grew taller, bursting through her cloak in the blink of an eye, growing from 1.7 meters to 2.4 meters in height. At the same time, her hair grew wildly, transforming into a thick, long, vibrant pink head that reached her slender ankles.

When she arrived, Christine was wearing nothing under her cloak. Now, the cloak has been swept away by the night wind in tatters, but Christine's smooth, delicate skin is covered with a layer of fine white down, as smooth and dazzling as the finest silk.

Then, her feet transformed into a pair of exquisite hooves; a long, smooth tail extended from behind her upturned buttocks, as nimble as a living snake; and a pair of pink, curved horns appeared on her forehead.

Despite undergoing numerous inhuman changes, Christine's proportions remained balanced, and her curves became even more alluring. Having transformed into a fifth-tier succubus, Christine's charm transcended racial limitations, possessing a natural allure to all sentient beings.

People or animals that stare at her for a long time will experience hallucinations, and their minds will project their most pressing desires.

If a hungry gnoll sees a succubus, its appetite will be amplified, and it will completely believe that the succubus can satisfy its desires.

In this state, it is unable to perceive or think; its spiritual power, under the influence of the alluring aura, transforms into a tentacle that connects with the spirit of the succubus. The succubus's soul energy will then corrupt and control the other's soul through this spiritual tentacle.

Christine's transformation into a fifth-tier succubus resulted in significant enhancements in all aspects of her abilities. At the very least, the maximum number of sentient beings she could control increased from 26 to 113.

Faced with hundreds of spiritual tentacles reaching out, the succubus Christine first corrupted and controlled the three commanders, Bill, Beto, and Jorge, then the professionals and the awakened ones, and finally the ordinary soldiers.

The interaction process in the spiritual world takes an extremely short time in reality.

Christine managed to subdue 75 soldiers in less than a second, but what was bound to happen still happened.

Christine failed to retract her 76th mental tendril due to the overwhelming strain on her mental strength, and reality would not give her any chance to make amends.

The remaining 31 soldiers' spiritual tendrils contracted and rebounded instantly, causing their souls to throb and driving them into a frenzy. Their eyes turned bloodshot, blood gushed from their mouths and noses, and they roared as they lunged at Christine.

At this point, Christine was unable to move, and the 75 soldiers she had just taken control of were stiff as wooden figures, unable to make any effective response.

However, the alchemical demons were prepared for this. Seeing the guards driven mad with hatred, they immediately acted, killing all the irrational soldiers with swiftness and minimal movement.

Throughout the process, Victor kept his eyes fixed on the thick fog to the northeast and never looked back.

His tightly closed lips formed a hard, cold line, revealing that his heart was not at peace.

After his followers finished cleaning up the scene, Victor went over. He found Commander Bill trying to take something out of his satchel, but he couldn't manage it after several attempts, and his movements were particularly stiff and his body seemed very uncoordinated.

The messenger, Pild, stepped forward and took the silver token from Bill's satchel. Then, with a fanatical expression, he knelt before Christine and said, "Great master, I will return the token now."

Clark required a silver token as a receipt for issuing formal orders. After completing the task, the commander would personally return the token to General Clark and report on the mission's success.

Pildey stole the silver token to use in order to give Bill false orders. If the token isn't returned to its rightful owner in time, Pildey will be in big trouble with Clark.

A controlled messenger can be surprisingly effective in the coming days.

Christine obviously couldn't allow Pild to be suspected in front of Clark.

After Pild left, Victor looked up and examined Christine in her succubus form. After a moment, he frowned and said, "You don't look too good..."

It was clear that Christine's eyes were not as lively as usual, and the soldiers she had just taken control of were also not normal. Take Commander Bill, for example; even a level four archer warrior had difficulty finding a token.

In a situation like this, how can you expect them to still be able to fight?
Christine paused for a moment before speaking, "I'm sorry, dear master, for making you worry... I'm fine. I'm just getting familiar with my new abilities through the memories of my newly awakened bloodline."

The vampire banshee transforms into a succubus and ascends to the Gold rank, requiring some time to familiarize herself with and master her more powerful abilities.

“Master, you can understand my abilities in no time if you just think about it. Because you are my master, and also their master,” Christine added.

Victor tried it, and his mental body indeed received Christine's message.

To be precise, he accessed the invisible realm of souls through a Gold-tier succubus.

Then, Victor "saw" that each of the 75 soldiers in the garrison had a mental connection to Christine above their heads, and Christine also had a mental connection to him.

This spiritual connection is actually a channel for the transmission of soul energy.

First, Christine maintains her succubus form at the cost of rapidly consuming her own life energy, but she can freely extract the soul fire of these 75 warriors to replenish her lost lifespan and permanently enhance her own power.

Secondly, the succubus is not a combat-type hellish demon, but she can create multiple or one dedicated combat puppets.

The specific method is that the succubus immediately goes into hibernation and distributes its demonic power through a mental connection. These 75 warriors immediately regain their spirituality and carry the master's will, essentially becoming 75 puppet clones of the succubus.

The clone puppets possess the ability to suck blood and devour souls. The life energy and soul fire they steal are transferred to the main body, which then distributes and uses them.

When the clone dies, its soul fire will return to the original body, and will be allocated and used by the original body.

This means that Christine can distribute her soul energy to other puppets, making the clone puppets stronger and stronger in battle, until only the sole gold-tier combat puppet remains.

It could be a giant bull demon with thick skin and flesh, a shadow demon skilled in vicious magic, or a slaughter demon with unparalleled combat skills.

Christine, the succubus, will choose the appropriate combat form based on actual needs.

However, the Golden Battle Puppet has a time limit, and Christine cannot maintain it for more than 30 minutes.

When a golden battle puppet collapses or dies in battle, its soul will automatically disappear and cannot be used to nourish the succubus's main body.

In that case, Christine would lose approximately fifteen years of her life.

Her current lifespan is only twenty-eight years. Therefore, these fifteen years of lifespan are the price she pays for forcibly casting a group berserk charm and temporarily advancing to the Gold rank.

Through their mental connection, Victor knew everything Christine was thinking. She planned to sacrifice her precious lifespan to create powerful gold-tier combat puppets to guard the east gate, while simultaneously demanding that Berg take the mute barbarians away.

With the Gold-tier combat puppets present, the defense of the East Gate wouldn't require Berg and his mute barbarians.

Christine believed that if Vice President Berg were alive and his identity had not been exposed, he would be more helpful to Master Victor in the future.

(End of this chapter)