CA - Chapter 185

Chapter 185

By the time Tang Qiu and Erin left the werewolf territory and reached the border between the Gru Empire and the Shas Principality, it was already broad daylight. Neither the Gru Empire nor the Shas Principality had their main defensive cities near the border. The cities in this area had long become dead cities occupied by monsters. The dilapidated city walls were covered in dark red bloodstains, and piles of yellowed and blackened bone fragments lay at their base.

Monsters wandered aimlessly in the surroundings, but they consciously avoided the area near the city walls.

Atop the city wall, Lola was excitedly telling Lucille something. The blood of a Red-robed Archbishop had, just as she’d hoped, allowed her to successfully break through her bottleneck. The fourth and fifth generations were a watershed moment; fourth-generation vampires had their own Blood Domain, and they could use their clan's innate talents with greater skill.

A fourth-generation Assamite could almost perfectly conceal their presence, allowing them to carry out assassinations or sneak attacks.

"The power of a fourth-generation vampire." Lola looked down at her own palm, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly, her voice thick with pleasure and excitement. "It's truly intoxicating."

Lucille glanced at her and reminded her coolly, "Be careful of the Tzimisce Clan."

A fourth-generation hybrid was a very dangerous identity. Almost everyone who knew Lucille also knew Lola. If it were discovered that she had advanced from the fifth to the fourth generation, it would certainly arouse suspicion.

Lola clicked her tongue and pouted. "A bunch of rats hiding in the dark." What the Tzimisce Clan and Evan had done was already exposed. Evan was dead, and the eyes of all the clans were now focused on the Tzimisce Clan.

But the Tzimisce Clan had stopped living in the Blood Domain a long time ago. No one knew where they were holed up, and they showed no intention of coming out to deal with the situation after it was exposed.

However, the fact that two fourth-generation Tzimisce vampires were unexpectedly involved in the assassination of Cambecus suggested they were still in contact with the Holy See. It was likely the Tzimisce Clan had not given up on their hybrid project.

Just as Lola was about to discuss the Tzimisce Clan with Lucille, before she could even open her mouth, Lucille had already leaped down from the city wall.

She paused for a moment, subconsciously glancing ahead, and sure enough, she saw the figure of the blonde-haired bishop walking toward them.

Lola sighed with a hint of resignation and jumped down after Lucille.

A smile unconsciously bloomed on Tang Qiu's lips when she saw Lucille. She reached out and squeezed Lucille's wrist, her gaze shifting past her to look Lola up and down. She smiled and said, "A fourth-generation Assamite. Congratulations."

Lola crossed her arms and grinned. "Next time you have a good thing like this, remember to call me." As she spoke, she licked her lips. "I have to say, the blood of a Red-robed Archbishop is truly delicious."

Tang Qiu shook her head with a light laugh. She withdrew her gaze from Lola and, noticing that the Gangrel vampire wasn't nearby, asked curiously, "How did you end up dealing with those Tzimisce Clan members?"

"Beth took Sela back to the Blood Domain," Lucille said with a placid expression. "The rest of the Tzimisce were killed."

"Do the Gangrel know where the Tzimisce Clan is hiding?"

Lucille shook her head. "No." The Tzimisce vampires used to occasionally return to the Blood Domain, but after Evan's death, they had never contacted the other clans in the Blood Domain again.

Even the other Tzimisce vampires didn't know the whereabouts of that particular clan branch.

Tang Qiu frowned but said nothing. The Tzimisce Clan was hidden too deeply; even Faye, who had dealt with Evan for so long, had no clues.

The commotion from the battle between the werewolves, vampires, and the Red-robed Archbishop was definitely not small. Tang Qiu planned to leave the Shas Principality as soon as possible, so the group stopped their idle chat and began to focus on their journey.

However, when they were about halfway, Lucille noticed that Tang Qiu, who had been walking beside her, had suddenly stopped.

Lucille halted and turned to look at Tang Qiu, who was staring down at her hand. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Tang Qiu looked down at the Light Mark that had suddenly appeared on her palm, her eyes flickering. She thoughtfully scanned her surroundings as the mark on her palm vanished. "...It's nothing."

She retracted her gaze and moved to Lucille's side. Seeing that Lucille was still staring at her, she explained, "Someone was just saying hello."

The place Cambecus had chosen to ambush Tang Qiu with the Tzimisce Clan was deliberately selected. It was close to the Dark Formation but very far from the main city of the Shas Principality. This meant that no matter how much of a disturbance they caused, neither the Shas Holy See nor the empire's knight squads would immediately come to investigate.

This was originally intended to make it easier for him to clean up the aftermath, but now Tang Qiu was the one benefiting from this convenience.

By the time Mario had escorted Tang Qiu almost completely out of the Shas Principality, the Holy Knights of the Shas Holy See finally arrived late. They reached the site of the battle, but they were wary of the Dark Formation and didn't dare get too close to investigate.

The air was thick with a lingering dark aura, several times more concentrated than usual. The knights exchanged glances, hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to retreat, opting to report the matter to the Central Church and let them handle it.

After the Holy Knights of the Shas Holy See left, the dark aura in the air suddenly became active. Wisps of black energy coalesced into a humanoid shadow. The shadow's features were indistinct, with only two crimson flames flickering where its eyes should be.

After appearing, the shadow first turned its head to survey the surroundings. The two flames in its eye sockets flickered on and off, looking sinister and terrifying against the dim sky. It raised a hand, and black energy slowly condensed before it into a chain. The chain twisted and extended into the blood-colored swamp in the distance.

The shadow stared at the blood-colored swamp for a while, then walked over, bent down, and plunged its arm into the mire.

The corrosive power of the blood-colored swamp was extremely strong; the Red-robed Archbishop's corpse had turned into dry bones within seconds. The shadow fumbled around for a moment, then pulled out a corpse that had only just been corroded to its limbs.

Because the Tzimisce Clan had studied the power of darkness for years, the swamp's corrosion rate was slower on them.

The shadow looked down at the corpse. The body's chest was almost torn open, its heart clearly crushed directly.

Someone from the Holy See could not have inflicted such an injury.

The shadow was about to bend down for a closer inspection when it stopped midway. It turned its head to stare in a certain direction and said in a deep voice, "Come out."

The night wind blew gently, rustling the fallen leaves on the ground. A slender figure walked out of the darkness. Her face was as pale as paper, and she looked at the shadow with unease and trepidation. "...I am a descendant of Elder Evan. My name is Delia."

The crimson flames flickered. The shadow moved in front of Delia, enveloping her in a chilling aura. She held her breath, desperately trying to control her panic and force herself to remain calm.

The shadow studied Delia for a moment before speaking coldly, "Why are you here?"

"I came to save people." Delia glanced at the corpse by the edge of the blood-colored swamp, her face pale. "I wanted to see if they were still alive."

"They were ambushed by werewolves." Delia lowered her head and briefly recounted the situation. "I was nearby at the time, but I didn't dare come out. I don't know why the Holy See, the werewolves, and the vampires were fighting each other."

The shadow grabbed Delia by the neck and said coolly, "Then why do you dare to come out now?"

Delia's brow furrowed in pain. She tried to grab the shadow's wrist, but her hand passed right through the black energy. She explained with difficulty, "It's because I saw you, Elder Eden."

"I heard about you from Elder Evan. I was always in charge of the experiments at Rose Manor. After Elder Evan died, I didn't dare return to the Blood Domain, so I wanted to seek refuge with you."

The shadow released its grip. Delia collapsed to the ground, clutching her neck and coughing her lungs out.

"How did you survive?" Eden turned back to study the wounds on the corpse, showing no interest in Delia.

Delia stared at Eden's back, her voice hoarse. "I wasn't with Elder Evan at the time, but I was within the blast radius. I was just lucky to have survived."

She bit her lip, her face filled with resentment. "But I was captured by people from the Holy See. They tortured me constantly. When the darkness descended, I escaped during the chaos, but they left a Light Mark on me. I don't dare go near any cities, so I've been forced to wander. I haven't fed in a very long time."

Her words were a mix of truth and lies, but it was true that she had not had an easy time recently.

Delia's tone was filled with resentment and anger as she rambled on, recounting her entire ordeal. However, what piqued Eden's interest was not her tragic story, but the Light Mark. He turned his head, glanced at Delia, and gestured for her to come over.

Delia walked over and held up her hand. There was indeed a faint white mark on her palm.

Eden glanced at it, then pressed his hand over the mark and ground it. The mark struggled for a moment before slowly disappearing.

Delia stared blankly as the Light Mark vanished. A flicker of emotion crossed her eyes, but she quickly returned to normal. She looked at Eden with a mixture of apprehension and a sliver of hope. "Can I follow you?"

Eden's voice was devoid of emotion. "The Tzimisce Clan does not welcome outsiders."

Delia bit her lip and deliberately brought up Lucille. "But I want to fulfill Elder Evan's wish. Even as he was dying, he was still thinking about that fourth-generation hybrid who escaped."

A slight fluctuation finally entered Eden's tone. "You know the details of that fourth-generation hybrid?" Speaking of which, the greatest regret Eden had about Evan's death was that he hadn't yet captured that fourth-generation hybrid.

He only knew that the hybrid was a Gangrel, but he hadn't found any trace of her or her usual haunts.

Delia nodded and said with downcast eyes, "She's a Gangrel vampire, and her name is Lucille."

She fell silent for a moment, then took a small glass vial from her Space Gem and handed it to Eden. "This is the hybrid's blood. Elder Evan gave it to me."

In truth, Delia had secretly kept this small amount of blood out of her own curiosity back then.

Third-generation elders were arrogant, cold, and not easily fooled. Simple devotion was useless, unless... you could offer them something they were interested in.

Delia was just thankful that her past curiosity had led her to keep a little of Lucille's blood.

After leaving the Gosse Empire, Delia had been wandering through the Gru Empire. She had waited outside the werewolf territory, hoping that Ophelia would come out one day, but to her disappointment, Ophelia never appeared, and she was nearly discovered by Faye.

Faye wanted to kill her; she was only holding off because she wanted to see Delia suffer. Delia understood this very well.

She needed a backer, one who could protect her life.

Eden opened the vial and sniffed. The crimson flames leaped once, then their color grew even darker. He clutched the vial and, for the first time, truly looked at Delia. "You just said you were always in charge of Rose Manor?"

Seeing Eden's interest, Delia's constantly tense heart began to relax. "Yes. Before Elder Evan's... accident, I was the one investigating Lucille's whereabouts."

"Oh?" Eden looked down at the vial in his hand and said coolly, "Then it seems you have some use."

"I will take you back. You will continue to be responsible for tracking Lucille's whereabouts."

Delia let out an imperceptible sigh of relief. A thought occurred to her, and she asked cautiously, "May I make a request?"

Eden looked at her without speaking.

Delia swallowed nervously. "I want to avenge Elder Evan."

"Who killed him?"

"It was Faye!" Delia gritted her teeth and said hatefully, "She conspired with the Brujah vampires and the Black Witches to kill Elder Evan."

Eden's own investigation into the cause of Evan's death largely matched what Delia had said. But the werewolf was Faye?

He had no desire to confront the Wolf Race right now.

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