Chapter 458: An Ancient Sanguine
"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."