Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Enemy mansion (I)

The door closed behind her. She walked towards him, apparently reluctant and trembling. She stopped right in front, barely a meter away, without taking her eyes off the surroundings.

There were no guards there or at the gate. From the looks of it, they felt safe in the mansion, although it wasn't surprising. The women barely reached level 20, while the guards were probably lesser vampires who were bound by a blood contract.

"Not bad. What's your name?" he asked.

"Gold... mi," she replied. She wondered if her friend would mind if she borrowed her name.

"A strange name. Take off your clothes, I want to see you," he ordered.

However, to his surprise, the harmless girl moved faster than he could have imagined. At the same time, her true level and appearance were revealed.

She no longer needed to hide and spend mana on it, so as soon as she started moving, the spells were deactivated.

She didn't kill him. She needed information, so Gjaki relied on Fast Steps and Head-butt against him. She knew that no matter how much difference in level there was, that tavern-fighting skill would never end his life. However, she did make him lose consciousness.

The women looked at her between hope and fear. They didn't know if this newcomer would save them, would also enslave them, or would kill them.

"I need information. Untie them, and bring me the wounded."

When she bit them, some feared the worst. However, after realizing that the wounds simply healed, and they didn't transform into vampires, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Some had been tortured for some time, and had resigned themselves to their fate. Many even wished to die as soon as possible. They didn't hesitate to explain everything they knew.

As she had imagined, that vampire was the real son of the count. He shared his hobbies with his father, and was pampered by him. The most important piece of information was that there was no one more powerful than the count in the mansion.

Her target was somewhat paranoid, and he only trusted his vampires. Since these can't be created higher than oneself, that was the maximum there could be.

It is true that there were hired mercenaries of a higher level, but never inside, and only while the war with the neighbors lasted. These had been temporarily paralyzed, although the women didn't know why. What they did know was that something had happened, and many vampires were missing, although they didn't know why.

The reality was that a truce had been forced by someone powerful, so the neighbors wouldn't attack each other for at least a year. Therefore, they were waiting until after the harvest to bring vassals and convert them, in order to recover troops at the expense of the county's population.

The acts of the count and their subordinates further infuriated the vampiress, who nevertheless didn't kill the count's son. If she did, his subordinates would notice, and that could alert the enemy. So, she left him unconscious, bound and gagged in the care of his slaves.

They wouldn't hesitate to kill him if necessary, even if they lost their lives afterwards. Now that the women could give free rein to their feelings, the hatred resulting from the abuse and humiliation had surfaced. They preferred to die rather than return to that hell.

Gjaki left a pair of hounds to protect them, although they didn't think anyone would enter. With the door closed, only his father could open it without permission. The others didn't dare.

She knocked out, tied up and hid as many as she found on her way. Their level was much lower, and they believed themselves safe, so they didn't even have a chance to resist. Under other circumstances, she would have killed them, but she didn't want to alert her enemy. There would be time to get rid of them.

"Dammit! What's happening today? Where's the meal I've ordered!? Hovfo, go see what's up," the count ordered his assistant.

"Yes, sir," he replied, and left the room.

As he did, someone melted into the shadows. He turned around for a moment, thinking he had noticed something, but the assistant didn't see anything. Therefore, he went on, afraid of irritating his lord. Shortly after, he would be ambushed by a Blood Hound, which this time didn't doubt to finish him off.

While lesser vampires must obey their father, that doesn't mean they lose their awareness. Since both he and other subordinates had committed heinous acts of their own free will, the vampiress would show no mercy when she no longer needed to hide their deaths.

"That raid was a disaster. We were going to get rich, and we've only had losses. Shit. I have to recover in a year, or those idiots will attack me," the level 70 vampire cursed.

Little did he know that there was no need to worry about it. He didn't even notice that something was wrong until a dagger pierced his heart, another did his throat, and two fangs were biting into his neck.

In his mansion, he felt safe, so defensive measures weren't needed, or so he believed. The surprise attack struck him down.

As much as Gjaki would have wanted to question him, in the game she had never had much success with high vampires. Also, it was dangerous to leave him alive. If he controlled the mansion like her, he could use some defenses even without being in the control room.

"Krovledi will've noticed, but I don't think she's coming in person. Besides, it should take days. I've taken care of the portal room, I don't think there're others," she said to herself.

Creating portals wasn't an easy endeavor. Specialists, time and resources were needed. Hundreds of years were necessary to train the spell that could simply create them anywhere, so it was only available to long-lived races. Well, there were also those who unlocked it at level 100. In fact, she had already created many such portals. Merely, she still couldn't use them.

Most of the remaining vampires panicked. Everyone realized that their father had died, although they didn't know how, or who had been. Some even wanted to run away, but it was only possible through the front door.

Gjaki had seen on entering that there was a small device that unlocked the barrier, so she had sent a hound to destroy it. Now, it was impossible to get through without destroying the barrier, or without the count's intervention. She was confident in gaining control. In the worst case, she would destroy the core or the barrier when the vampiress had to get out.

For now, she had to do a bit of cleaning.