165 Dekan Bids Farewell to the Town
Dekan learned that High Priest Kevin was a level seven powerhouse.
To lift the first layer of the seal on Marquis Roderick, he needed to defeat the High Priest.
At the very least, it would take a Vampire Count.
However, that enemy did not continue to slaughter the townspeople for the blood ritual to unseal and fully release Marquis Roderick.
The likely reason was that the Vampire Count, while defeating the High Priest, was also pushed to the brink and might not even be able to defeat the knight captain of the town.
So now, lurking within the city-state was probably a very weakened Vampire Count gradually recovering his strength.
The second mission objective was essentially a race against time to investigate.
The Challenger needed to find the Count before he fully recovered.
If the Challenger could locate the Vampire Count before a certain point in time, they would hold a significant advantage and could easily defeat him.
But after that point—
Once the Vampire Count regained his power, it would be exceedingly difficult for the Challenger to overcome him, even if they managed to locate him.
There was also the possibility that the Vampire Count would raid the town, potentially leading to the Marquis’s escape, resulting in the failure of the third mission objective.
Yet, this unnamed Vampire Count probably never imagined—
The Marquis was already dead.
Dekan couldn’t help but look forward to seeing the expression on the Vampire Count’s face when he learns of the Marquis’s demise.
He really wanted to enjoy the sight of his or her fear and despair.
Ahem.
One shouldn’t think like this.
It was all Master’s fault for leading him astray.
“Even I don’t have such interests; you should reflect on your own reasons.”
Master seemed to hear Dekan’s thoughts and replied in his mind.
“You are a great demon, how can you be so pure-hearted? It makes me feel quite embarrassed.”
Dekan pointed out without feeling any sense of danger.
“Pure-hearted? Are you provoking me?”
“N-no, I used the wrong words; you are the most vicious, cruel, and brutal ancient demon!”
“……”
Master seemed genuinely angry this time, as she was silent for a relatively long time.
Then, she angrily took control of Dekan’s body, seizing the plate of snacks that Cornelia was holding and stuffing the treats into her mouth one by one.
Her movements were graceful, yet the snacks disappeared quickly.
Thus, when Dekan regained control of his body, he only felt a very full stomach.
He might not even need dinner tonight.
Cornelia was already stunned.
“Dekan, are you very hungry? Should I bring you some more food?”
Cornelia quickly asked with concern, tugging at Dekan’s sleeve.
She felt that Dekan was starving.
“No, no, that was just the price of power; I can’t eat anything now.”
Dekan explained, shaking his hand.
“You may be full, but the Vampire Count must be starving right now, right?”
Morion asked from the side.
The weakened bloodline would need time and a substantial amount of blood to recover.
With seven days left until the mission deadline and considering the difficulty and reasonableness of the level six Shadow World—
Even if they did not take any actions against this Vampire Count, he would inevitably regain his strength over time.
And before the Shadow World ended, he would definitely recover enough to rescue the Marquis.
So during these next few days,
the nights in the city-state would become the Vampire Count’s hunting ground.
“Yes, he will certainly prey, but his methods of hunting will definitely not be as simple as a murder case.”
If this Vampire Count’s methods were merely like those of a serial killer who attacked targets every night—
Then not to mention the Holy Ritual Church and the security forces in the city-state, even the remaining nine Challengers would quickly discover the Count’s whereabouts.
“That Count must have an unconventional hiding place, perhaps extremely secure or extremely dangerous, making it difficult for the Challengers to find him.”
“It’s fine; no matter where he hides, we’ll proceed according to our plan. At that time, we’ll give him a big surprise and show him what it means to misuse wealth…”
Just as Dekan and Morion were discussing how to tackle mission objective two in the city-state tonight,
the door of the church was knocked again.
The Mayor had finally returned with gold coins.
Dekan and Morion quickly helped the nobleman open the door, putting on a “welcome” demeanor.
“Here are 900 holy gold coins; it’s for you, Engineer.”
The Mayor hurriedly walked up to Morion and stuffed a large bag of gold coins into his hands.
However, this time, Morion did not say a word.
He simply smiled and held his breath.
Standing behind the Mayor, Dekan released a Hypnotic Gas.
Suddenly, the Mayor’s eyelids fluttered, and he swayed before collapsing to the ground.
“You two habitual offenders…”
Teacher Cat jumped out from the Mayor’s shadow.
It felt that the cooperation between Dekan and Morion was becoming increasingly ridiculous in its proficiency.
If Dekan and Cornelia had an innate connection,
Dekan and Morion were completely aligned in their intentions.
They hardly needed much communication; as long as they acted on their thoughts, they naturally coordinated.
“How’s it going, Teacher Cat?”
Dekan asked.
“Found it, meow.”
Teacher Cat shook its tail helplessly and walked outside the church, beginning its guiding task.
Thus, the three efficiently divided their work.
Dekan, as usual, did his priestly duties, expertly binding the Mayor and sending him to the confessional’s private room.
Meanwhile, Cornelia followed Teacher Cat to search for treasure.
Morion transformed into the Mayor’s appearance to head to the Mayor’s house to help clear out the treasures.
When the three reconvened in the church, they were prepared to leave this town filled with many pleasant memories.
“Hopefully when the Mayor wakes up, he can rediscover his original intentions,”
Dekan said with regret as he locked the door of the church.
“So you gave him a lesson too, did you, meow?”
Teacher Cat couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of its eye after hearing Dekan’s sentiment.
“Of course.”
“Meow meow meow! Though the Mayor is hateful, meeting you must have been the worst luck of his life, meow!”
As they chatted, the three quickly crossed the bridge and then retracted it.
Removing the bridge was also a form of protection for the town.
At first, when Dekan was investigating the incident, he also thought the bridge had been destroyed by the enemy.
Now that he thought about it, it was possible that the High Priest had actually been the one to destroy it.
As a level seven bloodline Count, it was only natural for him to have some followers, but these followers remained quietly hidden and didn’t come to the town to kill.
On one hand, these followers might need to stay by the Count’s side to protect their weakened master.
On the other hand,
the followers also feared sunlight.
If they took two days to traverse mountains and valleys to reach the town, there was a strong possibility they would encounter adventurers or hunting parties during the day, which would take them away.
Thus, they were likely also waiting for the bridge to be repaired before launching a nighttime raid on the town.
Unfortunately, this bridge bore the name Dekan.
It had a flexible operating schedule.
So the trio set off towards the city-state, filled with laughter and cheer.
