“The shameless Blood Vultures have colluded with the Witch Hunters! Avalon’s power covers this place, we have suffered heavy casualties!”
Wolfsbane’s roar echoed in the dark sewers, representing the dramatic change in the battle situation. After the Witch Hunter faction joined the dark hunt, the original suppression of the Blood Vulture remnants by Wolfsbane’s vanguard had been reversed, and as the battle between Korando and Murphy dragged on, the situation of the Wolfsbane warriors being defeated everywhere became precarious.
This made Mark Korando’s heart sink more and more as he led a group of elites raiding everywhere with unstoppable success.
They had already killed many of the Blood Vultures’ elite Blood Servants, but this cold and cruel death not only failed to scare the opponents, but made their momentum even more fierce.
That kind of shared hatred was being played out in an incredibly “horrifying” way in this sewer filled with hidden killing intent. Mark Korando had seen more than once those crazy “Blood Servants” embracing bombs and perishing together with the Sons of Wolfsbane.
He couldn’t imagine the mental state of these guys!
You’re Blood Servants, damn it!
He had never seen any Blood Servant on Greenleaf Island be so fanatical for vampires, and were these Sons of the Blood Vulture really not afraid of death?
This isn’t right!
No matter how tenacious the human spirit is, it’s impossible to completely ignore the threat of death, but these guys in front of him were not just ignoring death, they were even despising and mocking it.
“Sorcery!”
A Wolfsbane Spirit Mage beside Mark cursed:
“The damn Blood Vulture Clan must have used some kind of sorcery we can’t understand to transform their descendants, they’re too crazy! It’s as if all their fear has been castrated. I can’t feel any ripples in their hearts except for fanaticism and strange joy, they’re just like a group of...”
“Here comes my human flesh mega bomb!”
Before she could finish her words, a hoarse voice shouted, followed by a little player with bloodshot eyes leaping out from the corner ahead, his body covered with alchemical bombs that had all been lit.
This guy was also clutching two lit Molotov cocktails in his hands, making his pounce like that of Crazy Ivan.
“Brother Loyalty! Don’t do it! You’re charging too fast, we can’t keep up to heal you, you madman!”
There was a group of little players shouting behind him, but it completely failed to stop the death attack launched by this madman in front of them.
Mark saw him. As a descendant of Wolfsbane, he saw no trace of fear in the fanatical eyes of this madman before him. In those crazy eyes, there seemed to be a hint of something he couldn’t understand...
Eagerness?
Hey!
Wake up!
Do you know what you’re doing now?!
“Boom”
As Mark’s sword cane pierced Loyalty bro’s heart, the “enhanced” bombs on the latter’s body also detonated at this moment.
Terrifying flames rose along with corrosive poison liquid and toxic smoke bursting forth. Those splashing liquids were also too viscous, igniting as soon as they touched the hairy skin of Mark and the Spirit Mage beside him. R�
It simply couldn’t be extinguished.
“Ah!”
The Spirit Mage screamed and fell to the ground. Mark Korando tried to grab her but was pushed away by her hand.
“Go! Run quickly!”
This female brute screamed at Mark:
“They’re all a bunch of madmen! The Blood Vultures don’t care about their lives at all, they themselves don’t care, we’ve been tricked! This is a death trap left for us, run!”
“Run? Where do you plan to run?”
A gloomy and brutal voice accompanied the explosive sound of the wall breaking behind them. Mark Korando turned his head to see Maxim appearing in the darkness, holding a Wolfsbane warrior beaten to near death in each hand. He kicked open the ancient wall amidst flying dust, while Lady Adele and her descendant Dorothy also silently appeared from the dark flank.
On the other side, the excited roar of the manticore heralded ill omen. In the joyful pursuit of Feel You Poor and Bursting Belly, they had already rushed out under the lead of the Grand Duchess’s guard captain “Crazy Bonnie”, blocking the last direction for a breakout in this four-sided land.
Wolfsbane can’t fly!
These few very powerful elite monsters obviously had no way to escape now!
The little players looked at the obviously uncommon equipment on Mark Korando’s body, their eyes lighting up in the darkness with undisguised greed.
Even though they had just lost many companions, they didn’t seem to feel the slightest emotion for these deaths.
This unique and creepy gaze made Mark Korando shudder.
He suddenly realized that his understanding of the Blood Vultures seemed to be limited to past hatred, while the current Blood Vultures had already undergone a complete transformation and were different from others.
No!
They were no longer even the familiar vampires, no longer the traditional and detestable children of midnight. They were more like a group of monsters wearing vampire skins.
No one could imagine what kind of crazy stuff had been stuffed into those shells.
Father made a terrible mistake!
Mark Korando sighed in his heart. He pulled out his sword cane, and at this moment he thought that not only his father, but the entire Greyclaw faction seemed to have made a serious mistake.
They firmly believed in the weakness of the Blood Vultures, but this family seemed to be reborn in a bizarre way that they could not even imagine.
No.
Rather than “complete transformation”, perhaps “reincarnation in a borrowed corpse” would be more appropriate?
Such an explanation seemed to give a reason for tonight’s failure. After all, no matter how fierce the warriors of the Wolfsbane Clan were, they were normal people. How could these normal people possibly be a match for a group of madmen who couldn’t be measured by common sense?
On the other side, near the area of the ancient sewer.
The young lady Femis was performing the final “ritual” here. According to Murphy’s previous instructions, she was to use spirit energy that could turn stone into mud to re-seal the crack leading to the third layer of the underground cave.
This meant that the gnoll vanguards and a small number of Wolfsbane warriors still fighting with the ghouls in the third layer below would be completely sealed in.
I also hope to see the name of Blood Vulture echoing under the midnight sky again.
And you!
You’re the person most likely to achieve this in the shortest time. So, when you have some free time, I’ll teach you the most basic spirit control techniques.
We’ll start with the variant techniques that can be derived from your unique ‘Death’s Grasp’.”
“Awooo!”
A piercing howl echoed through the sewer at that moment, interrupting the young lady’s words. It made her instinctively grip the Night Howl Staff tighter, while Murphy remained impassive.
He looked at the uneasy darkness ahead, then glanced at the Greyclaw sword cane in his hand.
He said in a low voice:
“Korando is dead. The Greyclaw faction is finished. Hmm, ambition has died, but it will nourish another mind, leading the victor onto a thorny path.
I’m truly honored to witness this moment.”
“You handed him over to Andrei?”
The young lady immediately grasped the true meaning of Murphy’s words. She said in surprise:
“I thought you would personally deal with Korando, after all, he challenged you, and your character wouldn’t refuse.”
“I know how to share, Lady Femis.”
Murphy smiled in the darkness and said in a soft voice:
“Wanting to monopolize all good things is painful. Only by sharing can one find happiness. Moreover, things like hatred are meaningless if not shared.
Let’s go.
Come with me to applaud the victor.”
——
Korando was dead.
He had been almost completely frozen into an ice sculpture. It was the final death achieved under the continuously released power of the winter spirit essence, freezing his flesh and blood essence.
Faced with an enemy who could not be killed by swords, Count Andrei took the most direct and effective approach he could think of.
Of course, to achieve this, he also paid a heavy price.
“Your Highness!”
The blood-covered loyal servant Vesta rushed into the darkness and immediately saw Andrei slumped beneath the frozen wolf-bat ice sculpture.
The latter’s left arm had been completely bitten off, his chest torn open to the extent that his internal organs were visible. To prevent further weakening, he had to freeze his own wounds to heal slowly.
The Count of White Mountain’s hair, eyebrows, and the beard he had just grown had all turned pure white like the north wind. This was the change that occurred when pushing the winter essence of the wilderness bloodline to its extreme.
The bloodline of Hero King Boris had its own wonders, but the Count of White Mountain had still paid everything he possessed for this hard-won victory.
His second Frostfang blade had shattered.
That broken blade was stuck in Korando’s forehead between his eyebrows, while in Andrei’s hand was a white silver vampire heart frozen like a jewel by the winter cold.
“Don’t touch me, let me stand up on my own”
Vesta came forward wanting to support his count, but was refused by Andrei. This young vampire was already weakened to the extreme, but his eyes were full of joy and the pleasure after victory.
He used the broken sword to prop himself up, patting the unique ice sculpture behind him shakily. The Greyclaw leader, completely transformed into his wolf-bat true form, was frozen in a most realistic and brutal image at the end of his life. This was a legendary scene that even the most skilled sculptor could not replicate.
“This will be the best gift”
Andrei looked at his work with satisfaction. He then handed the frozen vampire heart to Vesta, instructing:
“You personally deliver this heart and this ice sculpture back to North Wind Castle, into the Ice Palace. Korando’s heart will be a gift for the 371st birthday of ancestor Shani, while the Greyclaw ice sculpture will be my gift to my sister. She will surely love this eternal imprint of the moment of victory, shaped by the death of our enemy.
Vesta, you must deliver them personally.”
The Count of White Mountain urged:
“This will allow our faction to be reborn.”
“I will not fail this task!”
The loyal servant swore solemnly, then let two Thorn handmaidens support the count as they left the place. As he walked out of the dark tunnel, he saw Murphy and Femis beside him ahead.
The Count of Kadman looked up and down at the miserable Andrei, while the Count of White Mountain, no longer elegant and solemn as before, struggled to straighten his back.
“Not bad. From a soldier’s and commander’s perspective, you’ve already been quite competent.”
Murphy gave a word of praise.
He twirled the exquisitely carved wolf head sword cane in his hand, then handed it to Andrei with one hand, saying:
“But how can a commander be without a suitable weapon? It’s yours now. Congratulations on your ambition triumphing over others’.”
“This thing is quite precious.”
Andrei said hoarsely:
“I thought you would keep it.”
“I’m not very interested in these material possessions.”
Murphy waved his hand and said:
“Victory is all I need! Yes, victory alone is enough to soothe my generous heart. Ah, another page has been added to the ancient grudge tonight. Listen, the wheel of resentment has begun to turn again.”