After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

However, Elaina had no time to lament.

As the leader of the Royal Knights of the Kingdom of Arte, she must fulfill her duties at this moment.

"Stay alert! The guards were ambushed right here a few hours ago! There must be a gathering place nearby. Stay alert!"

"Yes!"

The knights responded.

Relying on the faint light from the oil lamps in their hands, they moved forward slowly and steadily.

Soon, Elena, realizing something, raised her hand, made a gesture to stop moving forward, and pulled out the broadsword at her waist.

Because she smelled an unusually pungent smell.

The taste of blood.

With the only light available, a large pool of blood appeared on the ground in front, mixed with many solid objects of similar colors.

It’s better not to think too much about what it is specifically.

One dragging trace after another extended into an alley that was even darker than the darkness.

found it.

Elena waved her hand, and the knights immediately dispersed silently. They endured the extremely disgusting smell, drew their weapons, lay in a pool of blood, and surrounded the alley entrance in a semicircle.

After finishing her preparations, Elena carried the oil lamp and walked towards the alley that looked like a huge mouth.

It was so quiet that she could clearly hear her own breathing and heartbeat.

As the distance got closer, I finally noticed some different movements.

It was the disgusting sound of chewing and swallowing mixed with the strong smell of blood.

As the light extended, the figure hidden in the alley finally appeared completely before her eyes.

A person...or rather a humanoid creature, was lying on the ground, gnawing on a severed arm.

Startled by Elena's light, it suddenly raised its head.

The appearance is similar to that of humans, and the layout of the facial features is not much different, but the details are completely different.

The skin was pale, abnormally pale, but the blood vessels had turned as black as ink, stretching prominently across the skin, looking like a spider web or some kind of talisman.

Its ears extended strangely backwards, being thin and pointed, while its eyes had turned completely dark red as if injected with blood. In the dim light, it was almost impossible to make out the pupils.

The most eye-catching thing, of course, is the teeth.

The canine teeth extended to a morbid length, extending roughly from the lips like sharp blades, reflecting a faint light.

Blood slaves - this is the name of this kind of monster. They come from the same origin as the vampires, but have become something more disgusting and terrifying.

As we all know, the reproduction of vampires, or blood race, uses blood as the medium.

By injecting one's own blood and magic power, whether it is a human or other demons such as orcs, succubi, etc., they can be converted into vampires.

However, the amount of blood and magic power required varies greatly depending on individual circumstances.

If only a very small amount of blood is injected, or if some minor adjustments are made when injecting magic power, the result will be something like this.

This monster is a blood slave, as it did not inherit the vampire's powerful magic and ability to manipulate blood, but only inherited their physical strength and endless bloodthirsty desire.

Unlike genuine vampires, people bitten by blood slaves will almost invariably be transformed into their kind if no treatment is taken.

During the transformation of these victims, their contaminated magic power will spread to the surroundings. In addition to forming an abnormally gloomy atmosphere, it will also allow weak, injured, and dying humans to be directly infected without being bitten.

It is a creature more terrifying than zombies.

The large-scale spread of blood slave infection is called blood plague among humans.

The blood slave in front of Elena at this moment, from its vaguely discernible facial features, can be seen to have once been a very beautiful girl.

But now, that doesn't make sense anymore.

Noticing Elena's arrival, the blood slave who was gnawing on the severed arm raised his head, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth, and growled like a wild beast.

Behind it, deeper in the alley, there was also a slight rustling sound.

Several more blood slaves emerged from it.

"Confirm the target and begin the attack!"

Elena drew her sword and pointed it at the other party.

Following this, the blood slaves immediately began to act.

This group of monsters, which looked like humans but were not humans, moved at an unimaginable speed on the ground and even on the walls, using their hands and feet to pounce on Elena at an extremely fast speed.

Elena's movements were even faster.

With a flash of sword light, a blood slave was easily cut in half, and its corpse fell heavily to the ground.

Then he delivered a roundhouse kick, sending the other attacking blood slave flying.

Even though they inherited the physical strength of the vampires, they are just a group of beasts with human bodies and are not difficult to deal with.

The premise is that the quantity is not large.

The moment the fight started, the blood slaves let out miserable and sharp roars that were like wails.

Following this signal, dozens of blood slaves emerged like a tide from alleys, broken windows, roofs, and gutters all over the streets.

He roared and rushed towards the knights.

The knights were well prepared. They formed a back-to-back formation and started fighting with these monsters who were once their compatriots.

There was no suspense in the battle.

As the enchanted broadsword was raised and swung down again and again, this group of disgusting monsters were chopped into pieces, with flesh and blood flying everywhere, and fell one after another at an extremely fast speed.

The battle was over in just a few minutes.

The knights, covered in blood, stood in the streets that looked like a mountain of corpses, as if they had become one with this dead town.

Elena shook off the blood on the sword and turned around without taking a breath to ask:

"What's the situation? Is anyone injured?"

"Yes! Captain, over here, he's been bitten!"

A knight lay on the ground groaning.

On his bloody calf, a series of horrific bite marks were clearly visible.

When facing an enemy that wins by sheer numbers, any slackness will mean more than just a blow.

The fact that he is still alive instead of being torn into pieces is all thanks to the timely rescue of his teammates.

"Hurry! Carry him back to the palace as quickly as possible, it will be too late if you are late!"

"Yes!"

The knights, covered in blood, lifted him up in a hurry and trotted towards the palace.

Elena stood still and looked at the corpses of blood slaves on the ground.

About thirty, no more, no less.

But how much more is hidden in this city?

How many people are becoming one of them?

I don’t know and cannot answer.

Elaina tried hard not to think about these questions.

"May the goddess' mercy free your souls."

Elena, a former member of the Holy War Knights, prayed briefly, then turned around and caught up with her team.

After passing through the dark streets, we arrived at the area around the palace, which suddenly became brightly lit.

Simple temporary fortifications were built, separating darkness and light like a dividing line.

The torches and oil lamps that can be seen everywhere illuminate every corner of the dark streets.

Guards, militia, knights, magicians, and a large number of combatants were armed and on high alert, alert to any monsters that might approach the area.

Seeing Elena and the others, the guards quickly removed the roadblocks and let them in. Several knights who stayed behind also came forward to greet them.

"Captain, how is the situation?"

"Someone's been bitten! Call the priest and the doctor immediately to prepare for rescue and purification, quickly!!"

"Yes!"

This kind of situation has happened countless times in the past few days.

The guards - unfortunately - skillfully brought a stretcher and carried the injured guard deeper into the camp.

Elena took off her helmet with a tired look on her face, revealing her once beautiful but now gray golden hair underneath, and sighed deeply.

"Elena, thank you for your hard work."

A familiar voice came from behind her. She turned around and found a familiar figure who had been standing there since she didn't know when.

Her facial features can be described as delicate, but her body is very thin and short, even a little exaggerated, it can be said to be a child's body. Paired with her eye-catching red hair like fire, she is cute but also a little incongruous.

Heidi Yalter is the leader of the royal family of the Kingdom of Yalter and the first heir to the throne.

At this moment, she was fully armed, wearing the heavy armor that belonged to a brave man.

It fits in perfectly with the surrounding atmosphere.

"No, this is my duty."

Elena quickly put away her tiredness and stood at attention to salute.

Heidi quickly waved her hand, signaling her to relax, then forced a smile and asked:

"What's the situation in the city like now?"

Elena shook her head.

"It's not optimistic. We can kill dozens or even hundreds of them every night, but their numbers are still increasing. If this continues, it's only a matter of time before they attack our defenses on a large scale."

Of course, Heidi also knew about this situation.

But after actually confirming it again, I couldn't help but sigh loudly.

He couldn't even fake a smile, he just lowered his eyes, clenched his fists, and remained silent.

Then, he asked cautiously:

"How does the current situation compare to the one you experienced before?"

"Exactly the same, it's heading in that direction. If this continues, it's only a matter of time before the capital, Alster, becomes a dead city."

The female leader of the Knights gave a cold and cruel answer.

Chapter 5 The Princess's Collapse

Judging from her appearance, Elaina is only in her mid-twenties, and in reality, she is pretty much that age.

The reason why she is so young and yet can hold a high position is, on the one hand, because she is extremely talented and strong, and she does have the ability and courage to match the team leader.

The more important reason is that she survived.

During the war a few years ago.

At that time, Heidi's father, the former king of the Kingdom of Art, led his army to fight against the invading demons. The army that directly fought against them was the blood clan's army.

The large-scale spread of the blood plague caused great chaos to the kingdom's army and became the most important reason for the subsequent disastrous defeat, without a doubt.

As a survivor of that nightmare, Elena is extremely sensitive to the existence of blood plague and blood slaves.

Therefore, the moment she saw the abnormal corpses in the royal capital, she discovered something unusual.

This allowed Heidi to take action in advance, which prevented the situation from deteriorating to the point of complete collapse.

But that's only temporary.