Free Web NovelThe hidden passage Elizabeth spoke of lay deep within a walled cemetery. A few withered trees leaned crookedly there, and several bats hung upside down from the branches.
The sound of footsteps roused the sleeping bats; they fluttered toward the stained-glass windows.
Those panes had been tinted with real blood, depicting the progenitor of the bloodline gnawing at Abel’s cervical vertebrae.
Even though Vieya had already guessed a vampire’s dwelling would have coffins and a graveyard, she had not expected anyone to build the cemetery inside a covered courtyard.
“Cat, take those children in the middle. I’ll cover the rear,” Vieya issued the usual orders to the group. Then she looked at Elizabeth and, as always, gave a faint smile.
“I’ll leave ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) the guiding to you — don’t disappoint me.”
How many times had she said that...
Elizabeth rubbed her arm, took a few steps ahead of the others, and assumed the role of guide.
“Meow... you actually took the most dangerous rearguard duty.” Helcat said. “And last night you really stood watch with us the whole night, so diligent!”
“Am I that lazy...?”
“Hmm, before you tried to cook for your daughter, we all thought you were lazy. You left a room full of wine bottles unattended — the place reeks of booze, it could choke a cat!”
“Enough chatter. Take your kids and move!”
“Meow...”
The party strode through the opened dark gate. Contrary to the expected pitch black, both sides of the corridor were lined with phosphorescent stones; they did not shine brightly, but they were enough for everyone to proceed safely.
“Ah!” a child screamed.
“What’s the matter, meow! You human brats, why cry out for no reason! Don’t tug our tails! Show us some mouse’s courage!” Helcat’s angry voice carried.
The children fell silent.
Vieya lifted her foot. The ground was covered with grim white bones, buried deep and shallow in the soil, forming a skeletal path.
The distinctive skulls and ribcages made it obvious these bones belonged to humans; tens of thousands had died here, their remains sinking into the ground for years.
“Wah, so scary...” a child began to cry again, and the more they cried the faster they walked — clearly frightened.
“Looks like vampires did this: catch one, drain one. They’ve harmed a lot of people over the years,” Vieya said, scanning around.
“By the way, is this really the exit? You better not lead us astray!” Helcat called toward Elizabeth’s back.
“Don’t doubt the one you use; don’t use the one you doubt.” Elizabeth emphasized, “Besides, we’re already beneath the exit.”
Vieya looked up. Bones were piled high, but a slit of a passage could be glimpsed.
“My good student, your memory really isn’t very...,” she said with meaning.
“Just say whether I got us here or not, my good teacher.” Elizabeth spoke as she kicked the bones underfoot aside.
Layer upon layer of white bones — it was hard to imagine whether this was an exit or an entrance to hell.
“How did they die? Drained of blood? Tortured, beaten?” Vieya asked curiously. “My good student, do you know?”
Elizabeth frowned and thought for a moment. “Not so sure. But judging from how long those bones have been here, it’s been more than two or three years... No, these are questions I should be asking you, teacher.”
“Stop with this teacher-student act!” Helcat snapped; she did not want to stay another second in the hole and bristled, “Hurry and pry open the exit so we can get out, will you?”
“And you crying human brats — if you want to cry, go cry to your mothers. We don’t raise kids here!”
Rumble!
A dull, heavy roar sounded behind the bones. Whether Elizabeth had triggered some mechanism or not, the mini-mound of bones slowly sank, revealing a bronze gate tucked behind. Beyond that gate was a track that stretched out beyond sight.
“So this is how you trick people into the den?” Vieya looked at Elizabeth and raised an eyebrow. “How did I ever take such a thick-headed student?”
Elizabeth pressed her palm to her forehead. “That’s enough. There are only two bronze water-wheels here. You tell me whether you’ll ride.”
“I’ll ride the first one with you to scout ahead,” Vieya said.
Elizabeth paused. “Whatever you like.”
“Cat, give me one strand of your tail fur.” Vieya turned and held out her hand to Helcat.
“...” Helcat was silent for a moment, then handed over her furry tail and set it in Vieya’s palm. “At most three strands, meow.”
“One is enough. If the exit is safe, I’ll use the tail fur to let you know.”
The bronze water-wheels were mottled with rust and overgrown with green algae.
Vieya and Elizabeth sat side by side on the huge water-wheel and held the rim.
With a thunderous clank! the water-wheel started and sped up along the track, the wind howling on both sides.
Gradually light appeared before them; cold droplets of rain struck Vieya.
Clang!
The wheel jolted to a halt. Vieya and Elizabeth leapt out together.
Wet, cold air hit them, followed by sheet after sheet of dense raindrops. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Where was this?
Vieya stood at the entrance and looked over the surrounding ruins. Thanks to her good memory she recognized the sign half-buried in the mud — Shuangle Noodle Shop.
The noodle shop the mirage demon used to eat at.
But Vieya stepped forward quickly, and her pupils contracted sharply.
They were... suspended in midair. freёwebnovel.com
A whole swath of ground in the residential district had been ripped up by the domed fortress and lifted into the sky.
Below, the city was in chaos. Torrential rain could not extinguish the raging wildfires. Vampires and humans clashed; smoke and the explosions of spells mixed with the rising screams of thousands in a deafening roar.
Even from hundreds of meters away, Vieya could hear clearly: this was indeed the fortress exit... but it opened into the air.
“Respectful teacher, is my castle not beautiful?” In the downpour Elizabeth pressed her right hand to her chest, looked at Vieya, and slowly bowed.
“I don’t have a student like you.” Vieya sighed and watched Elizabeth with calm eyes. “Rania should still be inside the fortress, right? Judging by you, you probably couldn’t break her defenses either. So you wanted to pry at me, probe my true identity while goading my failed student’s spirit. Trying to accelerate her depletion... right?”
“I didn’t want to be your enemy,” Elizabeth sighed. “But I didn’t expect you to spot the problem on the very first night. You stayed awake the whole night, on guard against me. Do you monster girls really not need rest? Or are you an exception?”
She laughed lightly. “My respected new Sword Saint... hehe. If the former Sword Saint knew the current swordmaster was not only a runt but also a monster girl, what would he think?”
“He’d kill you first and think about the rest later.” Vieya said softly.
...
Above the southern part of Fengxiang Town, a thousand miles of clouds rolled and sagged.
The enormous fortress rose from the ground and tore through the entire residential area; those knights who had not had time to retreat, and those civilians not yet driven out, their fates were unknown.
In the central square, the rain of flames could not be extinguished. Vampires nailed to crosses writhed and wailed amid the fire.
At the frontline.
Lilian gazed at the endless sea of clouds and the vast fortress beneath them in silence.
“Your Holiness, what’s happening here is likely not simple,” the Old Dean murmured, his eyelids drooping. He had not expected that a terrifying backing force stood behind that group of vampires.
They had begun as soon as the fight started; the vampires leapt out and caught them unprepared.
“Judging from the aura, it’s very likely tied to a Demon King. Otherwise they wouldn’t have released seventh-tier vampires as cannon fodder.”
The burly elder crossed his arms and spoke heavily, “These monsters have become more and more brazen in recent years. Now they even dare to appear openly in key human border cities.”
“So what will you do? The Hero’s whereabouts are unknown, and reinforcements from nearby cities will not arrive in a moment.” The old city lord solicited their opinions.
“Activate the city’s super-tier array and target the fortress in the sky,” Lilian said. The super-tier array was one of the city’s means to damage Demon King–level enemies. Using it would expend a rare resource.
“Your Holiness, that would not be proper...”
“Yes. The Hero and your monster-girl friend might both be up there.”
“If we act rashly, we may only draw the Demon King’s hatred.”
The three elders disagreed with that approach.
Lilian silently stared at the sky fortress, then lowered her gaze to the three and said calmly, “I will rescue them myself. And if this truly draws the Demon King’s hatred, I will accept all the consequences alone.”
...
Still on the floating fortress’s top.
“My little teacher, your other student is in the lowest blood pool at the very bottom of the fortress. I brought that from the western border — it’s an ancestral relic of the bloodline. If you can’t rescue her before my senior sister drains the Hero’s power, she will be assimilated into the blood pool.” Elizabeth said with a smile; at this point she no longer bothered to pretend and revealed her true nature.
“Assimilated...” Vieya’s tone was low.
“Yes indeed.”
Elizabeth smiled. “But I am not a devil, so I will give you, little teacher, a way to rescue your senior sister. However...”
She paused and showed a small, devilish smile. “...while you go to rescue her, I will launch a full-scale attack on the humans on the ground.”
