"So hungry..."
Amidst his trancelike words, Jack raised his head and looked at Joshua, who was wearing a pair of scarlet red gloves.
"So hungry..."
His mouth opened in an instant, reaching straight to his ears, revealing his neat white teeth and thick saliva that was constantly gushing out of his mouth.
At the same time, he threw himself forward towards Joshua. He was so fast that he left behind an afterimage on the ground.
Although Joshua was on high alert, he wasn't able to react in time.
Before he could even make out what was happening, the little boy, Jack, had already pounced in front of him.
Thump!
The yellow-haired figure seemed to slam into an invisible wall, stopping only a step away from Joshua.
Jack suspended himself in midair as a reddish glow from the darkness emerged from his body and started to corrode the transparent barrier that was denying him entry.
Behind Joshua and Derrick, Demon Hunter Colin had already fallen to one knee at some point. He had stabbed his sword, smeared with a silver ointment, into the ground.
Soon after, the area around the altar instantly brightened, as if it was the purest ray of the light of dawn.
Colin suddenly drew his sword, and his figure strangely split apart, turning into a series of afterimages that spread out around the altar.
Every single figure raised the sword in their hands at the same time and, combined with the light of dawn in the vicinity, released a bright glow.
Sou! Sou! Sou!
One sword after another was thrust forward as the light of dawn converged towards Jack from all directions, encircling him in the middle.
Under the brilliance of the rising sun, the black and red figures quickly evaporated, disappearing under the storm-like barrage of attacks.
In the underground hall where the altar was located, the brilliance became abnormally bright, so bright that Derrick Berg couldn't help but close his eyes.
With a sudden jolt, he suddenly woke up from his slumber and saw a bonfire quietly burning in front of him and his teammates, who were diligently guarding the camp.
Demon Hunter Colin, who was sitting cross-legged beside a stone pillar, opened his eyes and said in a deep voice, "We will set off after 50 rounds of lightning."
Upon hearing this, Derrick looked up at the sky and found that the frequency of lightning hadn't significantly increased. Darkness remained the ruler of this land.
When he thought of the city he was about to arrive at and the temple of the Fallen Creator, he couldn't help but feel slightly nervous.
After spending some time calming himself down, Derrick quickly ate his food and recovered his combat-ready state.
I wonder what will happen in that temple... Holding the Axe of Hurricane, he came to the middle of the group.
Within the campsite, lanterns that were covered with a thin layer of animal hide were being lit one after another.
...
15 Minsk Street.
Klein heated the water, adjusted the temperature, and took a comfortable bath.
With the languidness after a bath, he took four steps counterclockwise and went above the gray fog. He intended to use divination to make a confirmation about the evil spirit's matter.
In the silence of the ancient palace, Klein leaned back in his chair and began to seriously consider which divination method to choose and how to design the divination statement. It had to conform to the principles of mysticism, it shouldn't involve subdivision or elimination, and it had to contain sufficient information.
After a short period of silence, Klein leaned forward and wrote down what he wanted to confirm: "The evil spirit in the ruins harbors strong malice towards Sharron and me."
He undid the spirit pendulum on his left wrist, gripped it with one hand, and began entering Cogitation.
After muttering to himself for a while, he opened his eyes and looked forward.
This time, the topaz pendant was wildly rotating clockwise!
This meant that the evil spirit's malice was stronger than Klein had imagined!
At that time, there was nothing abnormal about the spiritual intuition we had... That evil spirit is also a powerhouse that's good at interfering with divination and prophecy... Heh heh, he definitely wouldn't have imagined that one of us has the temperance to resist desire, preventing her from being blinded by greed, while the other has experienced too many things to know what it means to "ask a tiger for its skin"... With a sigh, Klein returned to the real world and laid down on his bed.
Unfortunately, the heat brought by the Sun Brooch is only a psychological feeling and can't warm the bed... Before he fell asleep, he closed his eyes and thought with regret.
...
South of the Bridge, Rose Street, Harvest Church.
After Emlyn White wiped the last chair, he straightened up and eagerly said to Father Utravsky, "I've finished doing today's chores!"
Damn old man, don't you suddenly get ideas of getting me to copy the Holy Bible!Emlyn prayed inwardly.
The object of his prayer had unwittingly changed from the moon to Earth Mother.
Father Utravsky stood there, making the vampire look like a child.
He smiled and said, "Recently, you've been able to experience the joy and relaxation of working with dedication and gratitude. Go back and quietly feel the pulse of life and the pure joy that comes from it."
"I haven't!" Emlyn denied on reflex.
Without saying anything, Father Utravsky looked at him with a kind smile, turned and took a seat, and then began his nightly prayer.
Emlyn White's lips quivered as he wanted to refute, but in the end, he failed to say anything. He silently left the Harvest Church and habitually closed the door.
When he returned to his current residence, he found that the house was empty. Both his parents had disappeared without a trace.
It was only after witnessing this scene that he remembered that there was going to be a Sanguine gathering in the Backlund area tonight.
"Those fellows are really disgraceful. As noble Sanguine, they should sleep in coffins or stay in their own rooms. Why are they mimicking humans and holding all kinds of gatherings? There's even dancing!" Emlyn muttered contemptuously.
As he spoke, he touched his belly and swallowed a mouthful of saliva before deciding to change into some clothes to attend the gathering.
"The Odora family sure is enviable. They actually have a pure human partner who runs several hospitals and has fresh blood every day. They can drink as much as they want, anytime they want." Emlyn put on his black top hat and quickly walked out of the house.
West Borough, in a brightly lit villa.
Emlyn picked up a glass with scarlet liquid and hungrily took a gulp of it.
It really has been pre-selected... He half closed his eyes, sighing in praise from the bottom of his heart.
At this moment, on the dance floor, handsome men and beautiful women were dancing, twirling and taking slow steps with each other under the romantic music.
"What's the point of all of this?" Emlyn stood at the edge of the railing on the second floor, looking down at his kinsmen.
As the largest city in the world, Backlund had many vampires living in it. They hid in all walks of life and had completely integrated into human society.
As for those who were unable to control their own destructive urges and bloodlust, they were either sent to castles deep in the mountains or were dealt with in advance to prevent the Nighthawks or other official Beyonder organizations from finding clues.
As he looked at his fellow kinsmen, who were growing more spirited as the night went on, Emlyn increasingly felt like there was nothing in common between him and them.
At that moment, the host of the banquet tonight, Cosmi Odora walked over with a wine cup in hand. Smiling, he asked, "Do you like tonight's ‘wine?'"
"Of course, its owner is young enough and possesses great vitality." Emlyn straightened his back and assumed a noble posture.
Based on appearances, Cosmi Odora was a very gracious middle-aged gentleman, but Emlyn knew that he was over two hundred years old. He had once seen Intis under the rule of Emperor Roselle, and then he moved to Loen because he had "lived" for too long and feared that his neighbors would discover something was wrong about him.
Upon hearing Emlyn's praise, he smiled and said, "Yes, its owner is a young lady who was stabbed by a thief and nearly lost her life. Fortunately, she met me, and this is the price she needs to pay for her recovery.
"You can have a taste of the wine over there, as well as the wine over there. The owners are from Balam and Feynapotter respectively. They have different flavors."
"Feynapotter? Mother Goddess, the humans there love chili so much that their blood has a spiciness that I can't stand. Mother Goddess..." As he spoke, Emlyn suddenly paused, his expression instantly turning blank.
The corner of Cosmi's mouth twitched, and he pretended not to hear anything.
In the awkward silence, he cleared his throat and said, "Emlyn, that's just your imagination. By the way, my grandfather wishes to meet you."
"Your grandfather?" Emlyn was startled for a moment, but he then immediately widened his eyes. "Lord Nibbs?"
Nibbs Odora was a powerful Sanguine who had been active in the Fourth Epoch, but the times had corroded his life and forced him to lie in a cold coffin for extended periods of time.
Cosmi nodded solemnly.
"Yes."
With that, he turned and walked to another staircase on the second floor, not considering the possibility that Emlyn might refuse him.
Emlyn followed, a little nervous and uneasy, thinking about the purpose of Lord Nibbs's summons.
Has he finally understood that the honor of the Sanguine is more important and has decided to help me get rid of Father Utravsky's psychological cue? As he walked, Emlyn White developed a strong sense of hope.
Following the stairs to the underground area, Emlyn White passed through a few secret doors and entered a large gray hall.
In the center of the hall was a heavy coffin made of black iron, engraved with symbols and magic labels.
After Cosmi Odora reported Emlyn's arrival, a heavy and aged voice slowly came out from the coffin.
"Emlyn White, do you know why I summoned you?"
"Honorable Lord Nibbs, I imagine that you are planning on helping me remove the psychological cue," Emlyn responded without hesitation.
Silence reigned in the underground hall for a few seconds. Then, Nibbs Odora, who was lying in the coffin, chuckled and said, "That's one of the purposes, but it won't be me helping you.
"I just woke up from a long dream because I received a revelation from the Ancestor."
"Ancestor? ‘Sh-She' has awakened?" It wasn't Emlyn who exclaimed in surprise, but Cosmi Odora.
After the Cataclysm, doesn't the Ancestor only respond to important matters? Emlyn listened in bewilderment.
"No, not yet," Nibbs said in a heavy voice. "The Ancestor told me that the apocalypse is near and that we must prepare for it, and you, Emlyn White, are one of the key elements in the Ancestor's revelation."
"Apocalypse?" Cosmi asked in surprise.
But Emlyn only had one thought.
I, Emlyn White, was actually mentioned by the Ancestor! I am a key element for the Sanguine's survival of the apocalypse!
Nibbs ignored his grandson's question and continued, "Emlyn White, I'll hand you a task right now."
"Please speak." Emlyn felt that he was being too modest. Even after hearing what had just been said, he didn't show any arrogance in front of Lord Nibbs.
Nibbs Odora solemnly said, "Find a chance to pray to The Fool."
"Ah?" Emlyn suspected he had heard wrongly.
Nibbs lowered his voice and added, "The Fool whose honorific name has only recently been spread."
