The First Vampire

Duke St. Gregorian still hadn’t awakened, not knowing whether his injuries were too severe or if the transformation of the holy knight bloodline required more time.

Colin stood atop the chaotic castle, looking down below.

By this time, the turmoil in Storm Fortress had subsided. After all, the instigators sent by Queen Midela had already been slaughtered by the holy warrior blood slaves. And under Emperor Reinhardt’s orders, the nobles had united and calmed their armies; isolated rumors couldn’t cause widespread panic.

Thinking of this, Colin then noticed that Queen Midela had disappeared.

Did she escape?

Colin wondered.

As he pondered, the blood slave had returned with the headless corpse of the Shadow Knight.

Colin was not put off by this, and driven by his bodily weakness, he immediately pounced on it.

Gulp…gulp…

After a while, Colin finally raised his head again.

And the body of the Shadow Knight had already turned into a shriveled corpse.

Feeling his blood start to boil again, Colin squinted his eyes in satisfaction.

But soon, he was startled awake.

Because he suddenly felt a gaze upon him!

He looked around, but discovered nothing.

Instantly, he realized that this gaze was not focused on him, but on Duke St. Gregorian!

Colin walked to Duke St. Gregorian in bewilderment, only to find that the Duke showed no signs of waking up.

Yet Colin had a strange feeling that something else was coveting this body.

What’s going on?

Scratching his head in confusion, Colin thought for a moment and suddenly felt that the situation was somewhat similar to when he tried to turn Holy Warrior Prince Otto into a blood slave.

Back then, the White Wolf Witch King Squin tried to take over Otto’s body, which forced Colin into a strange yet extremely perilous battle in the holy warrior’s soul space.

He had barely won that time.

With these thoughts in mind, he took out the Ancient Oak Mistletoe once more.

The crystal green light enveloped Duke St. Gregorian entirely.

Just as Colin was wondering how to proceed, a sudden bright green light engrossed his consciousness.

In a haze, he seemed to come upon a strange place.

It was dark, humid, devoid of moonlight—resembling the basement of some place.

A massive magic array occupied the ground, releasing an unsettling red light along with a stench of blood.

Upon lifting his head, Colin saw Queen Midela standing at the center of the array, whispering words.

Red light emanating from beneath her feet radiated ripples, expanding and spreading until they converged into an eerie flesh ball above her head.

As he looked at the familiar flesh ball, everything fell into place for Colin.

The Eyes of Judgement!

But why was Queen Midela using the Eyes of Judgement?

Could she be a sixth-order mage?

And her target, it’s Duke St. Gregorian?

In that moment, Colin finally understood Queen Midela’s entire plan.

This was probably her real aim – to take over Duke St. Gregorian’s body!

But Colin would never let her get her way!

Whoosh-

Colin managed to break free from the illusion, finding himself still standing at the top of the castle.

However, he already knew the location of Queen Midela –

She was in the castle’s basement!

…

In the basement…

Queen Midela suddenly woke up.

She felt as if she had just seen a familiar figure in a daze.

But soon, she had no time to think about whose figure it was.

Because, she found that she was verging on collapse.

In the magic array, the corpse of the mage Ernest had completely turned into ashes and among the chaos of the recent events at the Storm Fortress, quite a few refugees and soldiers had died. But these sacrifices were hardly enough to sustain Queen Midela through this forbidden spell.

She felt her body was on the brink of collapse.

However, the eyeball above her head was still unable to hatch.

What on earth was going on?

Why were there so few sacrifices?

Queen Midela was extremely puzzled.

According to plan, the Storm Fortress should have been engulfed in a sea of fire at this point, with countless lives given up for sacrifice, enough to sustain her through this forbidden spell.

But what was happening now?

Without sufficient sacrifices, the magic array could only drain more of Queen Midela’s life force.

If there had been a mirror in front of Queen Midela, she would have been horrified to discover that her cherished beauty was completely gone.

Now, she had become an old lady with white hair, a wrinkled face, sagging skin, and an appearance close to death.

No!

This couldn’t go on!

Queen Midela was about to cancel the spell-casting, but just as she was struggling to leave the critical point of the magic array, a familiar voice suddenly echoed in the basement:

“Your Majesty, how did you end up looking like this?”

“Colin…” Queen Midela’s face changed, but she immediately put on a seductive posture, although her current appearance was not flattering at all, and would only make Colin nauseated.

“How did you get here? What’s happening at the Storm Fortress? Has the sacrifice not begun yet?”

Colin sneered and said:

“Your Majesty, your plan has already failed. The sacrifices outside haven’t started and they never will.”

“What exactly is going on?” Queen Midela’s face was full of panic, but she still managed a smile and begged, “Colin, help me! Sacrifice the Storm Fortress! Otherwise, how can I use the Eyes of Judgement to kill the Orc Emperor?”

Colin raised an eyebrow and asked, “Oh? You’re killing the Orc emperor?”

“Yes!” Queen Midela nodded again and again, explaining, “Prince Lexie betrayed us, so Mr. Ji had to deal with him. I had to preside over this sacrificial ceremony instead.

Hurry up! Start the fire and let the Storm Fortress burn up!

Only then can I kill the Orc Emperor!”

Colin stroked his chin for a moment, then nodded and said:

“Hmm, since you’re so eager to kill the Orc emperor, I suppose I can help.”

Queen Midela’s face brightened up, but then she looked suspiciously at the approaching Colin, saying:

“What are you doing standing here then? Go and start the sacrifice at the Storm Fortress!

No, don’t come here!

Colin, stop!

Ah!

Why are you biting me…”