It took Lady Lainnia nearly 10 minutes to defeat Maxim.
This was not easy.
Especially when the latter used Blood Wings in combination with defense and flight for the fierce “death drop” tactic, she found herself in a rather passive situation. In the end, she relied on her superhuman elf archery and ranger tactics that she retained after becoming a vampire to make Maxim retreat.
She had to admit that these children of the Blood Vulture who could still support the clan after the clan’s extinction crisis really had so skills! And if even the descendants were already this difficult to deal with, it could be imagined that encountering Lord Murphy on the battlefield would only be more challenging.
But what Lady Lainnia didn’t expect was that defeating Maxim was just the beginning.
The endless stream of vampires and Blood Servants no longer continued to provoke her, but the 30 reserve knights and 60 blood retainers under her command beca the targets of these fellows’ challenges.
They called it “learning and practical combat”, but in reality, the bow knight knew exactly what these guys were up to.
This made her deeply feel the shalessness and “unity” of the Blood Vulture Clan.
They seed to want to express the concept of “ss with one, ss with all” in sticking together, and it might also be a private reminder from a certain petty Count of Kadman.
But in any case, the Blood Pact Knights had an unusually “fulfilling” first day and night in Crimson Citadel.
Especially after the “Blood Vulture Twelve Little Powerhouses” also received the special challenge task specially arranged by Maxim and enthusiastically joined this “practical combat training”, the originally one-sided situation actually underwent so subtle changes.
When midnight arrived, Lady Lainnia looked at the three reserve knights bowing their heads in front of her in her camp with a grim expression.
They were her three deputy officers.
They had lost.
They lost to Sister Pogranate, Brother Mao, and Niuniu respectively.
It was hard to imagine that they, who had undergone rigorous training and passed through layers of trials to beco reserve knights, actually produced an ugly 9:3 record when facing the new mbers of the Blood Vulture Clan.
Well, they only lost three matches.
But this was still unacceptable!
For the proud Cappadocia, an imperfect victory was equivalent to failure.
“Double the training! Train them hard!”
Lady Lainnia clenched her fists, almost gritting her teeth as she said:
“Regain what you lost where you lost it! We will be staying in Transia for a long ti, you have enough ti to win back the dignity you’ve lost!”
“Yes, my lady!”
The three reserve knights responded loudly.
Then they left the camp to hunt the gnolls ravaging the land around Crimson Citadel in the night, to vent their humiliation of failure.
“Vanna, starting tomorrow… no, starting now!”
Lainnia called her deputy, ordering her only descendant before her:
“Have our knights and retainers take turns entering that Fight Club, to challenge the mbers of the Blood Vulture Clan, and don’t refuse the provocations of those barbaric Blood Servants! We must let them know that the dignity of Cappadocia is not to be violated, and the strength of the Blood Pact Knights is not to be underestimated!
You can also view this as your knight training. Before we return to the clan’s residence, each reserve knight must obtain at least 100 victories! Each retainer must obtain 40 victories!
The barbarians of Transia are brave and warlike, they are very good whetstones.
Go and hone yourselves.”
As a descendant of pride, she did not allow the reserve knights under her command to bow to the creatures of Transia, but if Maxim knew about this situation, he would probably laugh so hard he’d wake up from his dreams smiling.
He was just worried that the Fight Club lacked “sparring partners”, and the enthusiastic Blood Pact Knights voluntarily ca to their door. How could they not accept?
But that’s all for later.
Just as the unrelenting Lady Lainnia was giving orders to her servants, in the sewers of the outer city district, the “Chief Architect” Heaven’s Chosen Grayman and “Deputy Architect” Bricklayer, who had been busy directing the camp workers all day, finally had so free ti to attend to their own business.
These two were walking along the first level of the sewer, which had been cleared of most monsters, towards the lower level area. To be on the safe side, they had hired ow King’s “professional team” to escort them.
There was no choice.
These two were both administrative professionals, their combat ability couldn’t be said to be non-existent, but they would be at a loss when encountering fiercer monsters.
In addition to ow King’s six players, there were also four guards assigned to Grayman and Bricklayer accompanying them. Their purpose for this trip was not to fight monsters, but to find that hidden “underground cavity” according to the sewer blueprint.
“Is that thing really there?”
The rogue from ow King’s team was playing with the vampire short sword in his hand like a juggler, making this lethal weapon flutter back and forth between his fingertips like a butterfly through flowers, while curiously asking the two whispering design students:
“You guys can’t actually be sure that the underground cavity definitely exists, right? Based on the information you provided, Brother Stick has been searching in the sewers for several days without any clues.”
“There are no clues, but Bricklayer and I both believe it must exist!”
Grayman pushed up his glasses with so lack of confidence.
This unique accessory made ow King envious. He already knew that this was a “favorability gift” given to Grayman by his two assistants, and thought to himself that he should probably take so ti to grind NPC favorability, maybe he could also get similar rare items.
Although Grayman’s glasses had no attribute bonuses, this thing was currently one of a kind in the ga.
The rarity was maxed out.
And it was given by girls, although only in the category of “paper wife”, but cyber girls are still girls!
“That’s right! Old Chen called again this morning to confirm once more. He said he carefully looked at the sewer map we shared with him and can be sure that a part of the underground area has been hidden.”
Bricklayer, who had just entered the ga a few days ago, was still in the “newbie excitent period”. He was holding a sword in his hand, eager to find a ghoul to practice on.
However, he didn’t forget the main task. While moving forward, he explained to the other fellows:
“Our tutor is really sothing, he’s been doing civil engineering all his life. If he says it’s there, it definitely is! Brother Stick might not have found the right place. This kind of area hidden on the map must have a special purpose, maybe there’s even so damn magic protection.”
“Is it that mystical?”
ow King couldn’t help but ridicule:
“And is your tutor that free? He even has ti to look at the design drawings in the ga?”
“He’s very serious about it.”
Grayman sighed and said:
“Our tutor has no other hobbies, he just likes to collect these ancient buildings, not only from our country but from foreign countries as well. Earlier, in order to plan the city, he asked Lord Murphy for a design blueprint of Kadman City. After he saw it, he hasn’t done anything else for the past two days, just studying that thing.
He even pulled us two to explain to him what this ga is all about. Anyway, according to Old Chen, the city above our heads is definitely not just a casually built model.
He said the modeling of this city is definitely the work of a professional master in this field. From the looks of it, if it wasn’t for Old Chen not liking young people’s stuff, he might have co in to play with us.”
“Well, that’s not impossible!”
Old Tune, who was maintaining vigilance nearby, released the archer’s reconnaissance technique he learned from Lady Lainnia today, while turning his head to joke:
“Our ga doesn’t need any professional external devices. You can just fill out an application for your tutor, and when the helt arrives, the old man can also enter the ga and have fun together. Wouldn’t that be great? If the architectural artistry of this ga is really as impressive as he says, then the old man will definitely be over the moon after entering.
Not to ntion, that Bataxin city alone would be enough for him to study!
And there will be dwarf castles and elf giant trees in the future. These are completely fantasy styles that we don’t have in reality. Why not invite the old man to co in and critique?”
“Uh.”
Grayman and Bricklayer exchanged a glance, and he shrugged, saying:
“Sure, I’ll ask tomorrow. Old Chen is about to retire anyway, it’s good to find him so leisure entertainnt, provided he’s willing. But I guess he should be willing, these days everything has to have a touch of cyber style, so the old folks having so ‘cyber wellness’ would have its own flavor.”
Everyone burst into laughter.
The four guards couldn’t understand at all what these warriors of Lord Murphy were laughing about. They didn’t participate, just vigilantly carrying out their task as protectors.
“Hey, if we go a bit further, we’ll reach the ‘ancient area’,”
A few minutes later, on the stairs leading down from the first level of the sewer, ow King cautiously raised his hand, using his ability as an Oak Knight to apply level 2 Thorn Spells and nature shields to everyone in the team, and applied a nature detection effect to himself, before reminding:
“Although this area is much smaller than the first level, it hasn’t been fully explored yet. According to Brother Mao’s group of five who have been grinding monsters here, the number and threat level of ghouls here are much stronger than on the first level.
Everyone be careful, if anything goes wrong, retreat imdiately!
Grayman, where exactly is the place you need to go?”
“Not far, just directly below this area.”
Grayman looked at the map in his hand again.
This map had two circles drawn according to their tutor’s instructions, which were the locations their tutor said were most likely to connect to the underground cavity. He pointed to the dark, damaged tunnel ahead and said:
“One is at the end of the tunnel, the other is by the water pool next to it. If these two places don’t have it, then it proves that this underground cavity is isolated from the entire sewer system.
In that case, we’ll look for its entrance from outside the city.
But according to Old Chen, when building a sewer system of this scale for a city, it’s impossible not to discover underground cavities, so he thinks we’ll definitely be able to find a way down in these two places.”
“Then let’s go!”
ow King waved his hand and said:
“Let’s see if the old professor’s lifelong research is reliable!”
The group first headed towards the water pool nearby.
This was a large puddle with water ghosts haunting it, but those things could no longer pose any threat to ow King’s team. Old Tune, who had already beco an official Witch Hunter and learned several powerful skills, could handle them alone with his two spears.
“Damn! It can’t be in the water, right?”
Bricklayer walked around the water pool and scratched his head, saying to the equally frowning Grayman:
“The stratum around here is very solid. I dug down a bit, and there’s bedrock about half a ter down. There can’t be any stable passage around. Unless it’s hidden at the bottom of the water pool, but we can’t dive down to look.”
“Let’s go check the end of the tunnel first.”
Grayman shook his head, made a mark here with wood, and then led his group towards the end of the main tunnel in the ancient sewer area.
But after they left, a head suddenly erged from the previously calm water pool.
It was a creature very similar to a ghoul, but its skin wasn’t as decayed, instead showing a pale and bloated appearance.
This was a water ghost, a variant of the ghoul.
However, this water ghost was obviously not right. It didn’t have the chaotic and frenzied state of other water ghosts, but twisted its body to quietly crawl onto the shore, turned around the mark left by Grayman, then waved its claws to tear down the mark and throw it into the water.
This series of actions proved that either this water ghost still maintained intelligence, or perhaps it was a puppet manipulated by so force.
After destroying the mark, this water ghost limped back towards the water pool to subrge.
But before it could fully subrge, a whistling arrow ca from the darkness and precisely hit the back of its heart. The impact was so great that it lifted the entire body and smashed it towards the ground on the other side of the water pool.
The water ghost still wanted to struggle.
But then a huge blood-colored bat wing appeared in the darkness, and Civilian Protection Officer Kudel, carrying his crimson greatsword, rushed out from the darkness. His battle-scarred boots stepped on it, and those sharp eyes under the vulture-faced mask stared fixedly at this water ghost.
“Finally caught you, rat!”
He said hoarsely:
“I can feel them! Those citizens are still alive, I can feel their fear and unease, they’ve been taken hostage by you. Where have you hidden them? Fiend! Tell ! Is it underground?”
The questioned water ghost struggled, but soon the force controlling it began to withdraw from this already hopeless puppet.
Before leaving, that hidden malice gave Kudel a mocking smile. This smile was conveyed to the Civilian Protection Officer’s eyes through the water ghost’s distorted face, making this crimson swordsman extrely angry.
He ca to the depths of the sewer alone and had been slaughtering ghouls here not because he had nothing better to do. When Murphy ca to see him earlier, he didn’t tell Murphy what he was doing.
After all, his sowhat insane mind at this ti didn’t trust any vampire.
But the Civilian Protection Officer could indeed feel so lives that needed help still existing in the deepest part of the sewer. This wasn’t a vampire ability, but ca from his professional ability as a Holy Grail Knight. Just as old Finoch once made a faith oath to Avalon’s Holy Grail, when Kudel was still a human knight, he had a similar encounter.
Of course, it wasn’t Avalon’s Holy Grail.
There are many items similar to the Holy Grail on this mysterious continent, and what Kudel encountered back then was just one of them, but that encounter gave him the mysterious ability to sense the pleas of those who need help.
This is also why Kudel was able to gather so many survivors in the Blood Vulture Halls after the Astral Realm tear occurred.
He heard the pleas from underground, but he had no way to respond to them.
He couldn’t find them!
He couldn’t find those citizens who should have been under his protection, but were now suffering from disaster.
“Puff”
The water ghost’s head was violently crushed.
Kudel turned around. He looked at the filthy, toxin-filled water pool in front of him, and thinking of Bricklayer and Grayman’s speculation just now, this Civilian Protection Officer turned around without hesitation and jumped into the filthy water pool.
He went all the way down in this water pool and quickly felt the uneven bottom in the filthy toxic water. After a few minutes of groping, he successfully found a hidden crevice, from which bubbles of strange color and foul sll were coming out.
“Don’t co down!”
When Kudel touched the crevice hidden underwater, a voice from the spirit level, carrying sharp intimidation, scolded and threatened:
“If you dare to co down, I’ll kill them all! What I’m doing has nothing to do with you, and the survival of this city has nothing to do with you either. Get lost! You crazy vampire with a brain damaged by the sub-space.”
Faced with this outwardly fierce but inwardly timid threat, the Civilian Protection Officer, enduring the ntal impact, drew the crimson greatsword from his back almost without any hesitation. He was about to charge up power in the water to open the passage to the lower level, but before he could act, a huge muffled boom accompanied by earth-shaking tremors ca from the end of the tunnel. This commotion ca so suddenly and violently that it seed to startle even the evil rat who was attacking Kudel with ntal sorcery below.
His control of the evil magic relaxed for an instant, and Kudel gritted his teeth and thrust the great sword into the crevice below. With an explosion of power, he was swept into the deeply hidden shadows below with the vortex of water.
And in the original sewer tunnel, the exclamations of the little players were still echoing.
“Holy shit! There really is an underground tunnel! It’s all empty below! How big must it be? The old professor is aweso!”
“Hehe, Old Chen’s professional knowledge is indeed not just talk! I’m convinced.”
“Quick, look! There’s a monster nest below! Damn, there must be at least 10,000 ghouls down there? And so many vengeful spirits and… wait, I think I see people! There are people down there!”
“Fuck! Forget about the people, run! The ghouls are rushing up!”
“We seem to have blown up sothing incredible, things are getting serious! Quick, report to Lord Murphy!”
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