Middle layer of the spiral building in the ruins, inside a room filled with inlaid magic crystal instruments.
Three Blood Kin were treating the frostbite and lacerations accumulated along their journey, dark red blood frost congealing on their pale skin.
Cassinar observed the room: "Is this... some kind of control room?"
His fingertips hovered over the nearest magic crystal, yet he did not use magic power to activate it.
In such ancient ruins, rashly activating unknown devices with itchy hands usually didn't end well. Futility was considered a good outcome; the worst case could trigger the collapse of the entire structure, burying oneself alive.
After a brief rest, the team continued their advance to the upper layers. Traversing several corridors, they surprisingly didn't encounter any more Cold Spirits?!
"Perhaps the upper sector is meant to be a safe zone?" one Blood Kin guessed in a low voice.
"Or perhaps an even more dangerous existence is entrenched here," another reminded cautiously.
Cassinar suddenly raised his hand, signaling for silence.
In the next second, three crimson arc blades tore through the air, shooting toward the corner of the wall.
From the spot that was originally empty came a muffled pfft-pfft sound, and several Puchis, cut in two, revealed their forms.
"Puchi?" The Blood Kin looked at those motionless blocks of mycelium in bewilderment, unable to figure out for a moment why such things would be in the ruins.
Cassinar didn't look at the Puchis that had just been dealt with. Instead, he stared dead at the corridor opposite the room, where a pair of scarlet eyes were slowly lighting up.
Step, step, step—
Louisa paced out of the darkness, looking at their group with a somewhat playful expression.
Cassinar's expression instantly turned ugly.
It wasn't that he feared Louisa's personal strength. Although he didn't recognize Louisa, through the induction of blood power, he instantly understood the strength of this tall woman opposite him—a Count, possibly not even reaching Palace-tier yet.
What truly unsettled him was that it was absolutely impossible for this female vampire to be here alone; there must be other forces behind her.
Was the scroll not the only one? How long had the other party been here? Had the secret treasure already been taken? Countless questions churned in his mind.
And...
"I didn't expect to meet a compatriot here." Cassinar wore a look of sincere joy on his face. As he spoke, he retracted the fresh blood swirling around his body into his sleeves to show he had no intention of provoking a conflict.
But in reality, the blood still coiled around his arms, drawn but not released, ready to ambush or defend at any moment.
He bowed elegantly, as if this were not a dangerous ruin but a palace ball: "Respected lady, I am Cassinar Urbic, an Imperial Marquis. Forgive my clumsy eyes, may I ask which of my colleagues this noble young lady serves?"
The attitude in his words exceeded the level of friendliness. Facing a Count, he even intentionally or unintentionally placed himself in a lower position. After all, the strength behind the opponent was unknown.
And this wasn't within the Empire's borders. Even if meeting a vampire colleague from the Empire, killing them for profit wasn't impossible. As long as the job was done cleanly, who could trace it?
Most critically, the way this female Count looked at him was truly wrong.
Those scarlet eyes were completely unlike ordinary low-tier vampires. There was no awe, nor was there panic; there was only a greed that made even his hair stand on end.
It was as if he wasn't a Marquis of higher rank than her, but some kind of natural treasure or rare material?!
Louisa finally spoke, but her words made Cassinar's heart sink to the bottom.
"Regrettably, my Master is not any colleague of yours. As for its name," Louisa gently bit open her fingertip, a wisp of blood floating up windingly like a living creature, "there is no need for a dying person to know."
As soon as her voice fell, several Resonance Cannons fired from the corridors flanking both sides.
At this position and distance, no matter how Cassinar dodged, he would be caught in the explosion.
However, unexpectedly, Cassinar melted entirely into the shadow beneath him, shifting to the rear in an instant and dodging the attack.
The huge explosion caused the entire room to vibrate. Cassinar's three Blood Kin withstood the shockwaves of the explosion, cold sweat streaming down their faces. If they had been the ones ambushed...
Chaotic footsteps and "Puchi" sounds surged from all directions.
Except for the passage they came from, enemies poured out of every corridor entrance.
What made Cassinar's spine chill even more was the composition of the enemy team.
Humans and demons stood side by side, dwarves walked alongside unknown four-meter-tall humanoid creatures, and countless Puchis filled his field of vision.
This mixed-race team definitely did not belong to any faction of the Empire.
"Norris, you're too greedy," Louisa lectured.
"Sorry," Norris bowed his head decisively to admit his mistake. "I was thinking of solving the biggest threat first..."
"It's actually... traitorous vampires?" Cassinar didn't expect to encounter such a rare breed of vampire traitor that one wouldn't see in a hundred years.
At the same time, this meant there was no room for negotiation between the two sides.
Without a shred of hesitation, the Marquis retreated rapidly. The three Blood Kin followed closely behind, blood magic exploding behind them into a scarlet mist barrier that obscured vision.
"Can you run?" Louisa sneered and waved her hand. A massive number of Puchis curled into balls, rolling toward the enemy like a tidal wave.
Charging at the very front alongside them was Norris. Relying on the Ji-da, it didn't take him long to catch up with the three Blood Kin, engaging them in battle.
As for Cassinar, being a LV70 Marquis with the [Shadow Shuttle] talent, he was indeed impossible to catch.
However, Lin Jun had personally led half the Puchi Master Legion to detour outside the spiral building to block the rear path as soon as he detected the presence of a third party, so it wasn't a big problem.
Except, no one expected that Cassinar wouldn't just run straight out.
Instead, he retreated into the previous control room and, without hesitation, urged his magic power to activate all the magic crystal instruments!
Most of the magic crystal arrays had no reaction. A few lit up for a moment before extinguishing again, but several crystals were successfully activated!
Rumble—!
The entire spiral building began to groan.
Norris, who was stalling the three Blood Kin while waiting for the follow-up troops, only felt the corridor suddenly vibrate violently.
Then, to his shock, he saw that the corridor he was in had disconnected from the room they came from. Puchis that couldn't brake in time fell like raindrops into the darkness below.
Tooth-aching sounds of collapse came from all directions. The ice-sealed architectural structure crumbled during the violent reorganization, and a chain collapse spread deeper like dominoes.
Norris was lucky; the section of the corridor he was in remained miraculously intact when everything quieted down.
Norris was unlucky; both the front and back of where he stood were now dead ends, and the only ones present were him and those three Diamond-rank Blood Kin.
The only things accompanying him, aside from the Ji-da, was the Yellow Codex.
Looking at those three pairs of crimson eyes, Norris felt it was probably too late to say that everything just now was a misunderstanding...
[Little No, have you considered keeping me company in the pages of the book after you die?]
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