Knight and Wand

Chapter 356 Vampire Count

“You can’t just rush in.”

After discussing with everyone, Leon put his original straightforward pursuit plan on hold.

The most difficult situation was originally expected to be the attack on the Undead stronghold, but there are still so many living people here. A reckless and reckless frontal attack is bound to cause chaos, and who knows how many unnecessary casualties will result in the city.

Leon took off his armor and ordered his men to dig out a simple travel cloak from the baggage, then changed his strategy.

After all, the biggest purpose of this trip is just to capture some tongues and torture them to find out the whereabouts of Elifer and Shaleman, rather than rashly starting a full-scale war with the undead entrenched here.

"Olivia, Akau, and Lohak, follow me and sneak into the city."

Olivia, who has the ability to block the vampire's atomization, is an indispensable helper in the ghost hunting operation. Leon also selected the two most skilled companions and three rangers, and then looked at the others.

"Aze, you and David will lead the troops to ambush on the outskirts of the city. Once the arrest is successful, the entire army will be dispatched to assist us in retreating."

"Wait, Lord Leon, I'll go too." David took the initiative to ask: "You are going deep into the enemy camp for news about my father. I can't stay outside and wait."

Seeing his determined look, Leon nodded.

David's martial arts skills are pretty good among ordinary knights, so he won't be a drag if they act together. What's more, if something unexpected happens, he can also send out a few carts of strong men to cover the rear, so there is no need to worry about David falling behind.

The eight men took off their clothes except for their inner armor and put on simple outer robes. Leon and Corvis stuffed the holy lamp into their backpacks and slung them over their shoulders, disguising themselves as lost travelers who had mistakenly entered the mountain city to escape the undead.

Death Claw and the eagle Xiao An were ordered to watch and wait on a nearby cliff. The crowd, carrying swords and long knives, crossed the mountain path and came to the fields on the outskirts of the strange mountain city.

Leon looked at the huge city in the distance, thought for a while, and walked towards the farmers in the wheat fields, intending to ask where this place was and what the situation was.

Even though there were many Kantardar warriors in the Crusade team and the Second Company of Avalon Ravenwing, they were all from the eastern and northern counties. As for the geography of the south, they only knew some towns in the Shannan Territory, but knew nothing about the Roslava Territory where they were now.

It was noon and some farmers were sitting by the fields resting and eating.

A farmer glanced and saw a group of people wearing cloaks and hoods and carrying weapons on their waists walking towards him, and he was frightened and shuddered all over.

It was the first time he had seen them appear in front of everyone at noon in broad daylight.

Without even thinking of running away, the farmer turned around, knelt down on the ground and kowtowed, fearing that he would cause any misunderstanding or trouble.

"Sir, my family has already been to the castle three days ago. We didn't try to be sneaky! If you are hungry, we will go there again tonight!"

Leon stopped in his tracks when he heard this, and instantly realized that the other party had mistaken him for someone else.

castle?

He wanted to clarify, but something occurred to him. He raised his hand to stop the people around him, lowered his throat, and spoke in a low, cold voice:

"Your excuse is weak. If you have indeed been there, then tell me what you saw there?"

The farmer shuddered, his throat seemed to be dry and he swallowed, and he answered fearfully: "But, I...we didn't dare to see anything, it was too dark there, sir. I only heard the noises of the noble beings' meal."

Looking at the farmer who was trembling with fear, Olivia pulled Leon's sleeve and pointed at his neck.

Looking in the direction he was going, he saw a pair of healed tooth marks on the farmer's neck.

Leon frowned, the thought that this fellow might be treated as food made him feel angry.

Are the living people here really being raised as blood food by the vampires?
But the next moment, seeing the farmer who was not restrained at all, Leon calmed down a little.

"Since you are so scared, have you ever thought about running away?" Leon continued to lower his voice, his tone as sinister as the ancestor of the Soul Palace.

"I dare not! I absolutely dare not! Gu." The farmer knelt on the ground and swallowed his saliva. He answered humbly with a mixture of truth and falsehood in his heart: "Under the rule of you gentlemen, my family has lived a well-fed and well-clothed life for more than a year. We have never been hungry. How could we run away? I am willing to provide blood for you gentlemen forever in the future. I only ask... I only ask for our lives."

Leon raised his eyebrows. These words were enough for him to roughly understand the situation of the people here.

Not wanting to arouse suspicion, he stopped threatening the other party and waved his hand to lead everyone to continue moving towards the mountain city.

Lohak looked back at the farmer who was afraid to stand up for a long time, and couldn't help but approach Leon and asked, "I say, it seems that those blood-sucking monsters are entrenched in the fortress in the city. What should we do? Should we raid the castle?"

"Don't rush to attack." Leon waved his hand and looked at the sky.

"The farmer said they went to the castle at night to provide blood. Let's wait and see what happens at night. If we can blend in with the crowd and go in together, breaking through from the inside can save a lot of trouble."

Facing those vampires with special sensing means, the invisibility of light and shadow magic has no effect. Just like when he sneaked in that night, he didn't notice the vampire, but the vampire was able to discover his invisible self in advance.

As undead, those guys could either see the soul fire of living beings, or their perception abilities could easily detect the vital signs and footsteps of living people. The crowd was unable to conceal their breath and sneak into the stronghold.

After renegotiating the action plan, Leon asked everyone to put on their masks and no longer pretend to be travelers. They walked silently into the city gate where there were no soldiers guarding it.

The street scene within the city walls was just like any other city in Kantadar, with pedestrians and residents coming and going.

If they didn't know that this place was in the southern hinterland of Roslava Territory surrounded by countless undead, everyone would almost think they were still in Usato Territory.

However, the fearful avoidance of the people in the city towards the men in cloaks and carrying weapons reminded them that this was still the territory occupied by the undead.

"Those vampires are so weird, are they planning to establish a kingdom of the living ruled by themselves?" David couldn't help but mutter to himself as he observed the residents in the city.

"There aren't even patrolling guards here, but everything is in good order." An accompanying ranger sighed in a low voice. As they entered the city, they, the outsiders, were the only ones carrying weapons. But thanks to this, no one who looked like a city manager had come to question them about their origins since they entered the city.

Olivia looked at the terrified passers-by who were trying to avoid her and her group, and said to Leon with some concern: "Are we too conspicuous?"

"It doesn't matter." Leon shook his head. "Judging from the attitude of the farmer outside the city, we are probably dressed similarly to the vampires in front of outsiders. Let's keep this misunderstanding. Besides, if the vampires are alarmed and come to us, we will save the risk of invading the castle. We can just kidnap one and retreat immediately."

He glanced sideways toward the inner city in the distance.

A magnificent castle stood there, but there were no coat of arms or flags hanging on the outer walls of its high walls and towers, which were stained with dried black blood.

Using the same old trick, they blocked a poor, timid-looking resident in a secluded corner of the city.

Leon sent Corvis to intimidate. The boy's rising magic power dyed his eyes red. With skin as white as snow, he played the role of a vampire in front of ordinary people very realistically.

After a series of bluffs and deceptions, they found out the time and location of the residents' regular visits to the castle to supply blood, and then the action team hid and waited for dark.

I don’t know whether to say that the supervision was lax or that they never worried about the city’s defense at all. Everyone waited until night fell, but the expected vampire never showed up.

When the moon rose into the sky, except for Olivia who did not carry any weapon, everyone else handed their swords and sabers to Corvis who was following at the end of the team, and hid them with shadow spells to avoid being questioned when sneaking in.

The eight people walked out of their hiding place and quickly rushed to the gathering square that the residents mentioned.

Sure enough, many people in cloaks had gathered together and were heading towards the noble fortress in the inner city.

"Follow."

Leon took the lead and joined the team, and the group blended in silently.

Olivia was too close to him, so Leon couldn't cast the night vision spell. He looked at Akao who was hanging at the end of the team and watching. Unable to shout loudly, Leon could only turn around and ask his wife, "How is it? Did you find anything?" "There are some vague movements on the roofs around us, which are different from the sound of the wind, but they are far away and not close to here."

Although the girl had good eyesight, she did not have the ability of night vision and only used her extraordinary hearing to identify the suspicious existence.

Leon calmed down after hearing this, and was patient and not in a hurry.

It's not easy to catch people or ghosts in this open urban area. It's better to go into the castle. Maybe we can capture more advanced ones and know more about high-level undead.

Following the anxious residents along the way, we walked up the castle stairs illuminated by torches that seemed to be guiding the way forward.

Leon found that he was worrying too much, as no one searched the visitors to see if they were carrying weapons.

After passing through the unmanned towers and corridors and entering the eerie hall, he saw the people in front of him trembling and stopped.

The windless automatic door made a terrifying creaking sound and slowly closed.

But although the people present were nervous and fearful, no one took the initiative to run away.

The door panel made a loud noise and closed with a bang, and the candlelight on the empty lord's throne flickered.

A gust of cold wind blew, and all the torches and chandeliers in the hall were extinguished instantly, plunging it into darkness.

Leon could hear the suppressed screams of the crowd in front of him, and the residents' breathing was choked.

He wordlessly drew out the two Neti cards, "Boiling Heart" and "Holy War Knight", ready to give a big surprise to any vampire that might show up.

Olivia on the side pricked up her ears, sensing every move around her.

The girl opened her palm under her cloak, and the sun magic pattern had faintly appeared on the back of her hand.

".Oh my god, for the love of all the gods, didn't I tell you not to come here again? Why are you here again!?"

A scolding mixed with helplessness and annoyance made Leon pause and he was stunned.

This sound.
Why does it sound so familiar?

".Veindisease, cold poison, leprosy, heat rash. Your blood is more stinky than the stuff in the toilet. Are you trying to poison me?"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, sir, but my son has been ill for the past few days and is bedridden. I really can't help him..."

The annoyed voice interrupted immediately and scolded: "If you are bedridden, go see a doctor. It would be strange if your son doesn't get sick if he lives in the same room with a sick guy like you every day! And you, the Earl has already ordered that doctors don't charge any money? Are you saving this disease for the purpose of curing it in your next life?"

As the voice fell, the door of the hall was suddenly blown open by the cold wind.

"Get out of here! I'm about to vomit just by smelling the smell of you not even taking a shower. If you come again next time, I'll have to whip you a few times to teach you a lesson!"

"Yes! Yes! I'll get out of here right now! I'll get out of here right now!" The terrified man turned around in panic and ran out of the hall, crawling and rolling, taking advantage of the night light coming in through the door.

Only then did Leon finally remember who the gloomy and slightly out-of-tune voice belonged to.

But David, who was more familiar with the voice, spoke out in shock before him.

"BALF!!?"

David's call made the cursing voice in the darkness suddenly stop.

At this time, another gloomy and unfamiliar voice shouted from the darkness:

"The number of people is wrong! There are eight too many!"

Almost at the same time, sharp wind sounds broke through the air and suddenly came.

Corvis reacted quickly, raised his hand, pulled the straps hidden by the spell, and threw all the weapons on his back into the air.

The five swords and the lord's Gungnir fell into everyone's hands under his exquisite manipulation.

The young man activated the Holy Spirit Lamp with his left hand.

The sun-like light curtain exploded in an instant, and groups of black mist flew back into the shadows with a scream.

Lohak and the rangers drew their blades at the same time, and the battle was about to break out.

“Wait!——Stop it now!!”

A voice resembling that of Balfe shouted loudly, and the sound waves contained the magic power of the soul. The sound waves rolled and made the iron chains of the chandelier in the hall rattle.

The crowd, frightened by this sudden change, began to cry out. Some collapsed in fear and held their heads in their hands to pray, while others rushed out of the open door of the hall and fled.

Holding Gungnir with magic patterns on it in one hand, Leon also raised the activated Holy Spirit Lamp in his hand, illuminating the hall as bright as day.

The light reflected a tall figure in a knight's uniform standing on the side of the throne steps.

If one ignores the pale skin and scarlet eyes, the person who appeared in everyone's sight seemed to be the meritorious knight of the Thorn Flower family.

But now, the scar across the face of the scarred baron of the Farolis family has disappeared without a trace, and he even looks as if he is ten years younger.

And Balfe's astonished expression was not any calmer than Leon's at this moment.

"Lord Balfe?"

Leon asked doubtfully: "Have you regained your sanity?"

"Master Leon, Miss Olivia David?"

Looking at his former colleagues and comrades-in-arms, as well as the lord's second son who had taken off his mask, Balfe had a very complicated expression.

In the shadows, several vampires in formal attire looked at each other.

At this moment, a long sigh floated from the depths of the corridor in the hall.

"I know you will come one day."

The familiar voice made David unable to suppress his surprise and he looked sideways in the direction where the voice came from.

"But I didn't expect it to happen so soon." A ball of flying blood mist suddenly gathered into a gorgeous earl's robe at the entrance of the corridor.

With the signet ring on his right hand and the scepter in his hand, he stepped out of the shadows with a wry smile on his face. Earl Elliver blinked his red eyes and looked at his lucky general.

"You really always bring me surprises one after another, my little griffin."

(End of this chapter)