Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

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184. Clues left behind a year ago

Becky hates the sun because it makes a vampire's skin dry and cracked, just like a river without water.

This is a woman's biggest enemy.

Only powerful vampires can ignore the troubles brought by the sun, while the weaker the vampire, the more they dislike the sun, and even fear it. In the southern countries, there was a torture method of tying up vampires and roasting them in the square. This cruel punishment could even directly dry out some weak vampires into mummies and kill them.

Becky was basking in the sun, a strong one. She certainly wouldn't be killed by it; she wasn't that weak. Even among the vampires, she was considered quite formidable. But she was still like a kitten, helpless as Elsa carried her out of the forest, braving the scorching sun all the way to the town. Along the way, she felt the sun's scorching heat and a deep sense of despair—she felt she was about to die.

She was taken to the church by Elsa and met a group of Templar Knights. Even when she just glanced at these knights, Becky could feel their eager gazes scratching her neck like knives, as if they were going to execute her.

Becky swore she had seen more Templars today than in her entire life.

"Let me introduce him to you. He's also a 'Paladin'," Aisha introduced a Templar Knight to Becky as she passed by him. "Oh, this one is also one, this one is also one, that one is also one, and he and him are also one."

Becky felt her hands and feet go numb.

When did the most powerful Paladins among the Templars become as numerous as weeds on the roadside?

"This is the archbishop sent by the Holy See."

It turned out to be the Archbishop. Apart from the Saint, the Archbishop is the most powerful person in the Holy See under the Pope. He has the power to mobilize even an army of tens of thousands of people. The territory she took over from her master is not worth mentioning at all in the eyes of people at this level.

But that wasn't the end yet. Elsa's next words hit her hard again.

"This is the Mystic Sage—doesn't he need an introduction?"

Is the Mystic Sage really here? Becky is about to cry.

Tricia gave Becky a strange look.

"She's the suspicious one? How could she be a vampire? How strange! She clearly has the mark of a blood slave on her body, but she's a higher-ranked species?"

Becky turned pale.

This legendary sage was indeed unfathomable. Just one encounter made her feel as if she was stripped naked and standing there.

Elsa took her to a room. The paladins were guarding outside the room, while Elsa and Tricia came into the room.

"This chair is yours, sit down."

She dared not move.

"sit."

Aisha repeated it again, emphasizing her tone, and Becky was so scared that she sat down quickly.

Two pairs of eyes looked at her.

She bit her lower lip slightly to prevent her teeth from chattering and making an unpleasant sound. She carefully lowered her eyes and did not want to look at Elsa and Tricia. At this time, her hands and feet were not shackled by magic, so she could move freely and use magic.

But she didn't have any other thoughts at all.

Elsa and Tricia were like two huge mountains blocking any glimmer of hope for her - she had been living in the North, interpreting the notes and experiments left by her master, but even the most uninformed person could not have not heard of the reputation of the Mystic Sage.

As for Elsa, she had never heard of her, but she had experienced her - more beautiful than the most charming vampire, stronger than the most resolute paladin, more cunning than the most sinister devil. These three combined into one was Elsa in Becky's eyes.

"Start now. Tell me about yourself," Elsa said softly. The voice seemed particularly amusing to Becky. "How did a vampire from the North come here? You can't be here for sightseeing, right?"

Tricia stared at Becky without saying a word, her lifeless eyes were frightening.

Facing Elsa's interrogation, Becky didn't dare to hide anything and told her about her territory and master in the North Country.

"I, I really was just passing by... I didn't mean any harm..."

She explained with a sad face.

Indeed, she had only wanted to gather intelligence at first, and had no intention of doing anything in this small town. But Elsa ignored her words, her gaze colder than the north wind. She no longer looked weak and timid.

It's all fake.

Looking back, there were actually some things that were quite abrupt. If it hadn't been for the urgency of the situation, Becky felt she would never have been deceived. But it was too late to say anything now. She was completely inside the dragon's nest, and getting out was impossible.

"You said you came from Belmont Freya? And...your master was here a year ago?"

Speaking of the vampire who appeared in Weilin Town a year ago, Elsa had a very deep impression of it. If she hadn't appeared, those adventurers would not have died, and Charlie would not have experienced so much pain and torture for so long.

In fact, Elsa had not expected that the incident a year ago would have so many complicated inside stories.

But to be honest, the time was completely right, so Elsa thought that Becky did not lie to her - because the time when the gold medal adventurer Kus saw the dragon was around that time, and the black monster had never been seen before this time. Obviously, the black monster appeared later.

"Yes, it is……"

"That's a coincidence. I happen to know your master - but unfortunately, she is indeed dead."

Aisha's cold gaze seemed so meaningful in Becky's eyes.

"what?"

Becky didn't understand what Elsa meant by "coincidence", but now that things had come to this, she had a vague guess. She looked at Elsa and was very scared, as if Elsa was going to eat her at any time.

Elsa continued to ask, "According to your master's speculation, those monsters were originally residents of Sky Island?"

"Yes, it is……"

"Is there any evidence?"

"No... just guess..."

Snapped--

Elsa dragged a chair in front of Becky and sat down in front of her. The oppressive feeling of face-to-face contact made Becky swallow her dry throat unconsciously.

"Let's change the subject. How long have you been following your master? Are you from her territory?"

Elsa narrowed her eyes at Becky.

"When I was little...when I was little...I was sold by human traffickers..."

Slave trader——Elsa's eyes moved slightly at the appearance of these words.

More than ten or twenty years ago, when Becky was a child, there were indeed many slave traders active in human countries. This business walked on the edge of the gray area and was not necessarily legal, but most territories turned a blind eye to it. It was not until the church promoted reconciliation with the elves that the countries finally reached a consensus to send those guys to prison as a show of sincerity. After that, this industry finally gradually disappeared.

It's not that they have completely disappeared. Some of them have simply become human traffickers.

Aisha then asked, "So you became a blood slave?"

"Um……"

"Go on, tell me what you know about your master's research. Don't leave anything out. You know it won't do you any good."

"I……"

Becky was very hesitant, but looking at Elsa's cold golden eyes, she gritted her teeth and told her the secrets about the monsters and the sky city. As she expected, Elsa had already anticipated this.

"We call those things 'Filth Ones'," Aisha changed the subject. "So, you can already communicate with them?"

"I can only communicate in a simple way... I've only been studying for a year, and I haven't even finished deciphering the master's notes. If it's the master, I should be able to..."

Becky's voice gradually became quieter and quieter, and finally she simply shut up.

"Where's that notebook? Do you have it with you?"

"In the master's laboratory... in my castle..."

Becky said quickly, afraid of accidentally upsetting Elsa.

Aisha nodded and said nothing more, but she already had a plan in mind - she didn't know what was recorded in the notebook, but she believed that if she gave it to Ryan, it would definitely be helpful to Ryan. Ryan and Moira were currently translating and interpreting the Winged People's language. Since the notebook recorded the way to communicate with the Filthy Ones, it would definitely speed up the translation progress.

But before that, Elsa had some information that concerned her.

"You mentioned the 'black dead branch' earlier, right? Where did that thing come from?"

……

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185. Shadow of the Blood Clan

Black dead branches—

This was not the first time that thing appeared in Elsa and Tricia's sight. From the resurrection of the undead general Tobias, to the attack on the teleportation array in the fortress, to the attack of the vampire Gray Shadow, that black dead branch was present throughout.

There is still a black dead branch left in the Dammas Fortress. Tricia has studied that thing before. It is very strange and can corrode almost any form of magic, making it difficult for her to deal with it for a while.

Originally, Tricia wanted to let Elsa try, but considering that Elsa might directly destroy the only clue, she gave up.

Lord Hibern has been sending people to follow up on the investigation and research of the black dead branches, but there has been no progress so far. According to Alman, the black dead branches came from a mysterious person, but even Alman knew nothing about the mysterious person, not even his gender, let alone his appearance. He only knew that the mysterious person had dealings with the leader of his organization.

At this point, the black dead branches have become a mystery of unknown origin.

But after a while, the black dead branches appeared again.

This time I heard it from Becky's mouth - a year ago, Becky's previous owner came to this forest with a piece of black dead branch, and then died. The whereabouts of the black dead branch is still unknown.

"I don't have the impression of having seen anything like that. Perhaps I broke both her and her space ring."

Aisha recalled.

And Becky continued her narration.

"...In the end, those 'Filthy Ones' injured me and stole it... I came back here just to get to Sky Island this time, with absolutely no other intentions..."

Becky seized every opportunity to clarify things for herself, hoping that Aisha would see her sincerity.

But Elsa didn't care.

"So... you've actually come into contact with them, and agree with your master that they know about Sky Island because they were originally its inhabitants?"

Elsa and Tricia looked at each other. Tricia stepped forward and used magic to construct the appearance of a filthy person - a deformed body, black whiskers, a hideous face and huge claws.

Becky was stunned, as if frightened by the appearance of the filthy man.

"Are these the 'monsters' you're talking about?"

"Huh? No, not really... but it kind of looks like it, if it weren't for those black things..."

In other words, the "monster" that Becky mentioned should have absorbed the power of the dead branches like the Undead Demon General and changed as a result. This does make sense.

But the doubts were not dispelled.

"Have you ever seen such a person?" This time, Tricia used magic to outline the appearance of a winged man.

However, Becky glanced at the screen with some doubt and answered firmly: "No."

"That's a shame. You and your master might have found the wrong person. Those monsters might have known about the existence of Sky Island through some means, but they are most likely not its inhabitants."

What Aisha didn't finish saying was that the Filth Ones were most likely creatures from the same era as the Winged People.

Because the winged girl seemed to know something about those black monsters.

"Let me ask you another question - when was the last time you came into contact with the 'Filth One'? What happened afterwards?"

"No. I ran away after that and haven't seen them since..." Becky recalled. "The last time they attacked me was about two months ago."

Two months ago, it happened to be the time when the black monsters first caused trouble. There were only a few black monsters at that time, but they still caused injuries for a while.

The timing is right.

Aisha already had a guess——

A year ago, Becky's former owner arrived here, discovered the portal and the seal, and awakened the dragon of Sky Island. She came into contact with the "monster" for the first time and weakened the seal, but breaking the seal would take time. During this time, she began to replenish her magic power by replenishing the blood of adventurers in the town. Eventually, she encountered Elsa and died before the seal was broken. The black dead branch also disappeared.

Two months ago, Becky came here and completely broke the seal, but was attacked by a "monster" and the dead branches were taken away. The "monster" absorbed the black dead branches and turned into the current appearance of the "Filthy One", and attacked the village closest to the forest.

The only turning point was the black dead branch.

Elsa was silent for a moment, thinking.

"Back to the original question, who gave you those black dead branches? Since your master's dead branches are lost, where did the ones you have come from?"

"A mysterious man!" Becky said quickly. "—He seems to belong to a vampire organization. My master has had dealings with that organization... My master provided them with some research results in exchange for gold coins and magical materials. After my master died, they were the first to find me and let me inherit his property and research..."

"Mysterious man? What are his characteristics?"

"I... I've never seen his true face, and I can't tell the difference between a man and a woman by his voice... Really! I'm not hiding it, I really don't know what he looks like..."

Aisha said nothing and continued to ask.

"So, what is the organization of the vampires?"

"I don't quite understand... I'm not one of them. Every time they come looking for my master and me..."