Knight and Wand

Chapter 357: Bones and Blood (Thanks to the leader for the reward)

"Lord Elliver." Looking at the familiar face that looked much younger, Leon breathed a sigh of relief.

Both Balfe and Count Elliver, although they had been transformed into vampires, seemed to at least have maintained their sanity before death.

This result is much better than having the soul imprisoned in the hands of some high-level undead.

"Can you please turn off the holy lamps in your hands first?" Elifer raised his hand and smiled. "When I was alive, I really enjoyed the warmth of the magic lamp, but now for us, getting close to it is like getting close to a flame."

Corvis looked at his master cautiously.

Lion nodded and tapped Gungnir's tail blade with his right hand.

Several flames of heat element flew up from the magic pattern that unfolded at the end of the magic wand, and with a bang, fell into the braziers and chandeliers around the hall.

When the firelight illuminated the surroundings, he and Akao turned off the lanterns one after another.

Earl Elliver nodded, walked over with his scepter, and looked at the trembling city residents in the hall: "You can go now. The blood tax will be suspended tonight. Come back next month when it is your turn."

After getting the permission from the vampire lord, the crowd expressed their gratitude profusely and turned around and ran out of the hall in panic, quickly escaping from this dangerous place.

"Father!" After all the residents of Kantadar in the city had left, David could no longer hold back and walked forward excitedly.

Elifer's bloodshot eyes revealed a hint of warmth and satisfaction as he looked at his son in front of him.

"Are your mother and elder brother all right?"

"They are fine, father, so good. I'm glad you're okay. Let's go back. And Lord Balfe, we are here to find you!" David smiled happily, and the depression that he had been pursuing for more than a year was swept away.

Count Elliver raised his eyebrows helplessly.

"Silly child, look at us, we are neither human nor ghost, do we look like we are okay? Besides, if we can go back, why would we have to wait for you to come all the way here to find us? I can't leave now, and I have no way to leave."

David was stunned with surprise, and was very confused: "Why?"

He recalled the scene just now and couldn't help but open his arms excitedly and said, "Do you need to suck blood to survive? But looking at what you are doing here, it seems that you don't need to hurt people's lives. Fresh blood is not difficult for the family to obtain. As long as you pay enough money, you can find a lot of people who are willing to provide you with blood!"

Looking at his anxious son, Elifer couldn't help but smile on his handsome pale face. He raised his hand and patted David's arm to calm him down.

Seeing that the vampires around him had put down their threatening attitudes and that Elifer's condition did not seem like a disguise, Leon lowered his gun blade and came to the count with Olivia.

"My Lord Earl, since your minds are not disturbed, why do you still want to stay in this land of the dead? Are there more powerful undead threatening you?"

Elifer turned his head and looked at the most powerful vassal who had once been under his command.

He waved helplessly at the vampire clansmen around him.

"Everyone stand down except Balfe."

The vampires that were looming in the shadows around the hall bent down, and disappeared in the blink of an eye amid the whistling wind.

".You guessed it right, Leon."

Elifer answered their questions, turned around, walked up the steps, sat down on the throne, and then told them about the situation he and several vassals around him were in a state of neither life nor death, and were now controlled by others:
"As the 'family' created by Shaleman himself, we are important tools and weapons in his hands. He will not allow us to leave. At least, Shaleman will not give us freedom before completing his revenge."

"Charleman? The leader of the blood-sucking undead that attacked Kilmerton Fortress?"

Hearing the name of Azerien's father, Leon's eyes became serious.

He had never seen the "Blood Baron" in person, but he had heard of his overwhelming terror and power more than once from Ms. Agatha, Warlock Harvey and others.

Elifer nodded, his slender fingers extended with sharp claws to stroke the armrest, and whispered: "It is him. In that battle, Charleman killed us and turned us into the ghosts we are now."

He frowned, recalling the bloody memories he didn't want to recall, and said slowly: "The feeling of death is like being in an ice cellar, and when I just woke up in this undead body, I was far from being able to have a rational conversation with you like a normal living person like I do now.

At that time, I only had endless hunger and a hatred in my heart that was no less than mine. We hunted down any living people we could find, sucked their blood, and devoured their flesh. Even from the perspective of war, we were stained with too many sins. It was pure slaughter. "

Earlliver raised his scarlet eyes and looked at David: "Just like the blood-sucking monsters you and I saw in the Battle of Kilmerton."

Balf, who was standing at the foot of the throne steps, closed his eyes with a gloomy expression and his face twitched slightly after hearing his master's description.

"Under the leadership of Shaleman, we destroyed one village and town after another, and fought our way into Roslava from Shannan Territory. It was not until more than a year ago that the sun dispelled the clouds of eternal night, and a little thinking ability finally returned to us." Elifer unconsciously clasped his five fingers together, his long fingertips piercing into the skin, but he seemed to feel no pain. The wound in his palm oozed blood, slowly flowing onto the stone carving of the handrail.

"But we only have some sanity back, but freedom is still not ours. Charleman was a Serian noble who died in Rolandar. I don't know what he went through to be so angry. Even now that the sun has returned to the earth, his hatred has not subsided. He ordered us to keep killing until we kill all the Kantadars, Urias, and Atias, regardless of gender, age or status."

Elif paused and looked at Leon again.

Although the other young vassal who had been enthroned in Selva was not in sight at the moment, Elifer still remembered that Azerien's father, the parliamentary baron of the Holy City, was also called this name.

He didn't think it was a coincidence, but he didn't rush to verify or blame.

"Shaleman originally wanted to lead the undead army to the north and west, slaughter all the Kantardars and completely destroy the kingdom. It took me a lot of effort to convince him to temporarily direct his troops to Aviut and Karazik. After all, they were the culprits who directly launched the eastward invasion and massacred their homeland."

"Aviut, the former king of Kantardar? Who is Karazk?" Leon couldn't help asking. Elifer leaned back in his chair: "Aviut is the former king of Kantardar, but now he has become an extremely powerful monster, commanding an army of undead that is far larger than Shaleman.

As for Karazik, I don't know much about him. I only know from Shaleman that he seems to be one of the Atias who instigated Kantadar to invade the east."

Corvis' eyes flashed, and he immediately moved closer to Leon.

"My Lord, I have seen Karazk. He is one of the several imperial masters who came to the Western Continent together with Salodia, Lavina, Pilieno and others. However, Karazk is much more powerful than the other master mages. He was almost expected to become the seventh mage archon of Atias."

Leon nodded when he heard this, kept it in mind, and then looked at Count Elliver.

"So, sir, you are now under the control of Charleman. Are you afraid of escaping from his control without permission and angering him?"

"Not only that, it's not that I don't dare to betray him, but I absolutely can't betray him, because I can't do it."

Elifer looked at the healed wound on his palm and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"According to the spies I sent out, people now call people like us 'vampires'? This is a pretty descriptive name." He leaned against the throne and cast a glance at everyone.

"Did you see those vampires who obeyed my orders just now? They are all the 'familiar' I created. They cannot disobey any order I give, just like I can control their thoughts deep in their minds. And Charleman's orders and will are the same for me, Balfe, Ajilia, Krosh and others at this moment."

David gritted his teeth, unwilling to see his father being enslaved by others: "What if I can free you from this vampire body?"

Elifer was a little surprised, but he then looked at Leon, knowing that only a spellcaster who understood mysterious witchcraft could handle such a problem that was beyond ordinary people's understanding.

"Do you have any idea?"

Facing Elif's gaze, Leon couldn't help but feel troubled.

Before this, the worst scenario he had imagined was that Count Elliver would completely become a crazy and bloodthirsty undead.

If you are trapped in such a situation, then trying to transform it into the spirit of the Neti card, so that it can regain its sanity and exist in the world as a spirit, is indeed a relatively better choice, and there is nothing to worry about.

However, the situation at this moment was beyond Leon's previous expectations. Count Elliver had already regained his sanity. Under such circumstances, if he still included him in the Neti card, then in a sense, it was nothing more than transferring the control that restricted his freedom from Charleman's hands to his own hands.

Honestly, if Charlemagne hadn't existed, Count Elliver would have more freedom if he continued to exist as a vampire like he is now.

At least in terms of actions and decisions, it is definitely much freer than being tied to him. After all, his magic power is not enough to sustain the Neti-brand Heroic Spirit to appear and move freely in the world for a long time.

"I do have a method to transform the undead, but for you now, the price to pay for using this method is extremely huge. It may not even be worth it." Leon frowned slightly and said carefully. It was not convenient for him to talk about his secret in front of so many people.

Elifer stared at Leon's slightly embarrassed expression, gently supporting his chin, his eyes revealing a thoughtful look.

After a moment, Elifer understood what he meant and did not continue to ask what the so-called price was. Instead, he asked another crucial question: "Can the method you mentioned free me and all the other people who have turned into vampires from this curse, or can it only restore me?"

"For now, with my ability, converting three people, including you, is already the limit, and there is still the possibility of failure." Leon answered truthfully and looked at Baron Balfe beside him.

In addition to the Scarface Baron who no longer has a scar, according to Elliver, several vassals of the Thorn Flower who died that day, such as Ajilia and others, seemed to have been transformed into vampires by Shaleman, but they are not here now.

Then the three empty cards left in his pocket are obviously far from enough.

"let it go."

Elifuer relaxed his frown with an open-minded look, looked at his son with a distressed face, and waved his hand to comfort him.

"Okay, David, don't be so sad. I'll stay here and at least indirectly guide Shaleman's anger to the south. Otherwise, if that monster turns its attention back to the north one day, it will definitely be another tragic death disaster. Even the hundreds of thousands of Kantardars in Glade County that the family has obtained will not be spared by Shaleman.

And now, Aviut's huge army of zombies in the south of Shannan Territory and Ulia grassland is enough to stalemate with Shaleman's anger for a long, long time, until these most powerful monsters decide the outcome in the future.

Go back. You have more important things to do than me. The crisis of the undead is far from over. There are many powerful ghouls like me who have more or less regained consciousness. Most of them followed the former king Avilut, but are now suppressed further south by Shaleman's vampire army. Be prepared. Sooner or later, you may still have to face the final winner of this long battle, whether it is Shaleman, Avilut, or Karazik. "

The Earl stood up after he finished speaking, and looked at his son's bloodshot eyes, which softened a little: "Tell your mother when you go back not to worry too much about me. You and your brother should take good care of her."

Unlike the cautiousness when they sneaked into the mountain city, they left almost in a swagger, and Balfe escorted them all the way out of the city gate to avoid any conflict with the vampires on patrol.

Under the moonlight, Balfe looked at the confusion and anxiety on the face of the young lord's second son, sighed, and said: "Don't be depressed, David, Lord Elliver didn't tell you everything. In fact, staying here is our best choice."

"What do you mean?" David turned his head puzzledly and looked at his former martial arts instructor.

The people walking in front also stopped.

Balfe, a tough guy with pain in his eyes, couldn't help but tell some darker truths.

"We have shed too much innocent blood in our initial madness. Even the atrocities committed by the most evil criminals are not even a fraction of the cruel killings we committed. The heinous crimes we have committed have long made us unworthy of returning to our past lives. The rationality we displayed in front of you is, in fact, only maintaining a delicate balance.

I dare not imagine when this balance will break like a string. That crazy bloodthirsty desire, the longing for the flesh and souls of the living, still lingers in our hearts. Only by relying on regular bloodsucking and creating clans to disperse this power, these two methods we have explored at the moment, have allowed us to get rid of the madness at this moment.

We are one of the very few people in Charleman's clan who can still maintain most of our sanity. As for those blood-sucking monsters who, despite their intelligence, are completely corrupt and crazy, you may have already seen them in other places.

So even without Charlemagne, we wouldn’t dare to go back to our families easily. After all, who knows when we will fall into madness again? ” Balfe sighed.

(End of this chapter)