Chapter 229: (5/26): Turning Tides

The undead had no barrier formation arrays to protect them, and perhaps it was because they didn’t see a need to protect the numerous foot soldiers under their control, but none of the greater undead bothered to create a barrier to shield the lesser undead from the long range bombardment of the mages on the wall.

Over an entire day of bombardment, the mass of undead in the distance had visibly decreased. The ground was covered by the bodies in various conditions, but most of the bodies were ravaged beyond recognition, having been subjected to numerous punishments over the day. Just because a certain undead was “dead” didn’t mean it was exempt from further magic striking it, as at that distance, the landing point of magic was mostly random.

The bombardment reduced the army from eighty thousand undead to perhaps seventy thousand, and there would’ve been more if not for the commanders of the undead army learning and making the lesser undeads spread out so less were hit by every blast.

In comparison, the losses on Dianene’s side were zero except for a few mages that passed out after running out of mana. However, that was only on the surface, because not only did maintaining the barrier take mana, but every time the undead army attacked the city and the barrier blocked the magic, even more mana was drained from the bloodstone stores.

Even if Dianene had a lot of charged bloodstones in its treasury, it wasn’t limitless, and activating the teleport formation long enough to transport the entire city’s population also took a vast amount of mana.

It was hard to tell which side suffered more losses, but the result of the guild’s analysis that presented to the city council was that as time went on, it would be Dianene that ran out mana for its barrier first.

“This is bad… Do we have no other options but to go on the offensive? How long until reinforcements, Letra?” a worried councilman representing the elves said.

“The teleporter is scheduled to activate tomorrow, so it should be arriving soon as long as we hold on for one more day,” came the reply. Once more, the person presenting the report was the ever-calm and composed vice guild leader who finally received a name.

With that, the tension in the room decreased considerably as if a huge weight was taken off the council’s shoulders by Letra’s words.

“If it’s just one more day… then I think we’ll be fine, as long as they make no unexpected movements.”

“An analysis of their behavior suggests that they are content waiting us out, Councillor,” Letra said. “I don’t believe that the undead will break a status quo that favors them in the long run.”

“I suppose…” the councillor said. “But still… they shouldn’t know that we have dwindling stores of bloodstone. And even if we run out, it won’t be hard to transport another batch through the teleporter when reinforcements come… so why are they just waiting us out?”

For the first time, a sign of emotion crossed Letra’s face as she pressed her lips together. “We’re not certain, but we believe it might be related to their king’s activities near that mysterious tower. However, we can’t get close enough to see what’s going on.”

“Their king…” A dark mood fell over mood once more when they were reminded once more of that missing, unknown variable. They had previously been ignoring the king because the king wasn’t present, and out of sight, out of mind. Yet, Letra’s words brought the undead king back into the picture.

“We cannot reach the king unless we break through the main army, or else it will be disastrous if the main army pincered us. All things will start when the reinforcements reach us. Who will they be?”

Letra adjusted her glasses as she consulted her notes. “Of the cities we contacted, four have replied: Celrantis, Beltha, Drearel, and Lapista. Drearel and Lapista did not mention any specifics, but Beltha will be moving half of their A-rank party, the famous Violet Blossoms, as well as a number of smaller parties. As for Celrantis, the lord of their city will come personally along with a number of the B-rank parties operating in her city.”

“Victoria is coming?” one of the councillors shouted, jumping to his feet and slamming his hand on the table. “Really?”

“That’s what the message we have received said, yes…”

The councillor collapsed, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Good… in that case, good… we still have a chance yet.”

Another night passed. Although for the first hour after dark the undead army increased their bombardment intensity under the cover of the night, they quickly dropped back to normal levels after realizing that they were just draining their own mana. 

The barrier wasn’t going anywhere, and Dianene was going to be tough to crack.

As the sun peeked over the horizon, hundreds of people gathered near the center of the city, all waiting for one thing. Then, that thing happened. The teleporter near the center of the city roared to life, the formations beneath the esoteric construct sapping the mana contained in thousands upon thousands of bloodstone crystals that had been stored in the formation. Not only in Dianene, but the formations in the other cities also began to guzzle massive amounts of mana as space itself was torn apart and tunneled through, the passageway held open by complicated spell constructions.

The pitch black portal whined and the gates leading different cities equipped with teleporter formations turned white as the teleporter gates went active. At that moment, and for a few minutes after that, all the cities in the teleporter network were connected.

Some of the people were wealthy civilians that wished to move, carrying almost everything they owned through the gate, while others were merchants with extremely valuable, yet light wares. The last type came through the gates armed to the teeth, their armored boots stamping on the marble floor with sharp clanks.

The first ones through from the gate connecting Dianene to Celrantis were a pair of white-haired vampire nobles, diminutive in stature, yet their presence seemed to warp the atmosphere of the teleporter room. Without having to be asked, people parted for them.

The pair didn’t even look at the people around them. Their heads were held high, as if the world was beneath them.

Following close behind them were two much taller figures, one clad in heavy plate, and the other dressed in robes that were lined with metal for defense. Different from the pair before them, this pair looked around in awe, as if they could not believe what they were seeing.

“Lucienne… we’re really here,” Camilla whispered. She could scarcely breathe. Although she knew that teleporters were real after being introduced to this invention, she always held a certain degree of skepticism. Some of it disappeared after experiencing spatial magic in that dungeon, but not all of it. Now all of that doubt was blown away. When she stepped through that white gate and arrived in a completely different location, there was no longer any excuse. “We’re in Dianene!”

Even Kagriss had a look of shock on her face, even if it was much more muted compared to Camilla’s. “A month’s worth of travel, cleared in an instant…”

As they took in the busy portal room, Victoria cleared her throat to catch their attention and beckoned to them. “Stop blocking the way,” she said. “Time is measured in thousands of bloodstones for each moment this portal remains active.”

“...Sorry.”

Although Camilla still didn’t like Victoria, most of her anger was gone thanks to her talk with Kagriss. But this was her bad, so she grabbed Kagriss and pulled her out of the way. As soon as the space she was standing in was clear, another person took her place, coming from the Celrantis tunnel.

The number of people in the portal room was staggering with people from all over the place. People of different races that she didn’t usually see on the streets even in Celrantis were almost common, especially the various beastmen races. 

As Camilla waited for all the troops from Celrantis to come out before they found to stay, another vampire noble stepped out from a nearby portal. Camilla blinked and turned toward her in curiosity.

No matter where, vampire nobles were an uncommon sight.

Dianene didn’t have one, and with her, Victoria, and Ismelda here, there were only three total. Now, there were four.

The newcomer was dressed in all black with dark skin. Long ears marked her as an elf, but instead of the beautiful golden hair that almost all elves had, the vampire noble had the silver hair that was a symbol of vampire nobility. Yet, it didn’t look out of place at all. 

Strangest of all was the thick, silver eyelashes of the vampire noble, as well as her cold gaze as she looked around the portal room. Her eyes widened when she saw something in Camilla’s general direction, and she quickly walked over.

“What do you think she wants…?” Camilla asked, although she didn’t expect an answer. However, Ismelda stiffened at the sight of the vampire noble, and even Victoria had a reaction.

Victoria threw her hand up, waving. “Elise! Long time no see!”

“Vic… have you been taking care of my daughter? Sorry to trouble you.”

Daughter… daughter… daughter… The word echoed in Camilla’s mind as recent memory pushed itself to the forefront of her thoughts. The image of a certain stone elemental arguing with Ismelda, and what he had called her.

Ismelda, daughter of the leader of an A-rank party. Elise, the leader of the Violet Blossoms, based in Beltha. 

When Camilla looked at the sign that said ‘Beltha’ above the portal that Elise came out of, all the puzzle pieces fell together. Elise was the vampire that converted Ismelda. “What is she doing here…?”

Victoria must’ve heard her muttering to herself. She grabbed Camilla’s hand and Camilla had to fight the urge to throw off Victoria’s grasp. In the end, Victoria also grabbed Elise’s hands and pulled them together in a handshake.

“Camilla, let me introduce you to your aunt, my sister. Elise, this is my daughter.”

“Nice to meet you…”

“And you, Camilla. I heard that you were turned recently. You’re very powerful for one so young, despite the…problems you’ve run into. ”

Camilla looked away, not wanting to remember her history. The problems she ran into were her resisting the transformation and dying, and ultimately making her eligible for becoming the sacrifice to bring the flugels back. By the looks of it, Elise didn’t know about Victoria’s plan either, however.

She just nodded. “Thank you. May I ask what you’re doing here? The leader of an A-rank party must be busy.”

Elise smiled at that. It was a pretty smile that looked beautiful on her face. The soft gentle smile reminded Camilla of Kagriss’s smile— rare, but when it appeared, it was something to be treasured. “No, not particularly. I have many assistants to take care of my paperwork, so that leaves me quite free. I’m usually on missions, though, and this time, I came back because…” She looked at Victoria. “I came back because I heard my daughter was participating in something big, and I’m here to keep an eye on her.”

Ismelda blushed at that. “I’m already a full fledged noble,” she grumbled. “I don’t need you watching me. And I’m not going to join your party.”

“See? She’s very troublesome,” Elise said, turning back to Camilla with a sigh. “As cousins, if I may trouble you to look after her as well…”

It was all Camilla could do to not laugh in Elise’s face. Elise really didn’t know Victoria’s plan, which made sense since Elise didn’t satisfy the requirements. If only she could survive to look after Ismelda. Sadly, it would not be possible.

With one more firm shake, Camilla pulled her hand back, keeping silent.

Elise didn’t seem to mind and marched over to Ismelda, beginning to fuss over Ismelda’s clothing while the core of the Violet Blossoms that she brought with her to Dianene watched in amused silence behind her. Ismelda’s face grew redder and redder until she broke free from Elise’s probing hands and ran out the portal room.

The interaction left Camilla speechless, and it took her a while to make sense of the mother and daughter’s relationship. “Hey Kagriss… did Ismelda run away from home?”

“Wouldn’t you if Victoria acted like that to you?”

That question shut Camilla up, but even in her silence she couldn’t help but consider the answer. If Victoria hadn’t been lying the whole time toward her, if Victoria really took her under her wing… Camilla thought that she might like it. She’d never experienced the warmth of a mother, and she couldn’t deny that she had been happy when Victoria helped her and gave her gifts after Camilla accepted Victoria as her mother.

But now… she felt ill.

Taking a deep breath to clear the air that had become thick and suffocating without warning, only for her throat to lock up, Camilla stumbled out of the portal room, desperate to get away from the woman that so sickened her. If only Victoria never lied… but on the other hand, if Victoria never lied, then she’d never have gotten so close to Kagriss.

Hate and gratitude balanced on a knife’s edge, warping her feelings toward Victoria until she could not even face the woman she had once called her mother for such a brief amount of time. If only she could have the same relationship that Ismelda had with Elise.

“No, I have to stop thinking about it,” she muttered to herself. “Let’s go visit some old friends. Do you think you can find Lucienne?”

“Maybe not before, but now…” Kagriss smiled and closed her eyes. “I definitely can.”