“My lord, are you really going personally? Why not let the twins test the waters first?”
After finishing the inventory, the steward anxiously tried to dissuade him.
The steward and the blood descendants behind him had their entire future advancement tied to the Marquis.
If Cassinar, their bloodline source, died, they would have to seek older bloodlines.
Unfortunately, Cassinar was a descendant of the previous grand duke; this was why, after so many years, he remained a Marquis stuck at LV70.
Changing bloodlines was not only nine-deaths-one-life dangerous, but also culturally taboo among blood-clan.
No lord would do it for another’s descendants unless the profit was astronomical.
In truth, vampires could purify their bloodline and advance alone without creating progeny, but that took hundreds or thousands of years. Few solitary vampires lived that long.
Thus no rational blood-clan wanted their liege to take risks.
The steward naturally didn’t want Cassinar to personally undertake this obviously uncertain treasure hunt.
The twins he mentioned were two temple-tier demon mercenaries; strong and previously cooperative.
But on something this important, how could Cassinar trust outsiders?
“Previous scouting parties already brought back enough intelligence. Frost Spirits are troublesome but not dangerous,” the Marquis waved dismissively. “Even if we meet the elemental lord, I can escape. No more discussion. Guard the castle and await my return.”
The teleport array glowed brighter. Cassinar and five blood descendants vanished into spatial ripples.
“Hiss!”
Cold!
Bone-piercing cold instantly enveloped them!
Cassinar had never experienced such low temperature. He immediately activated his constant-temperature talisman to catch his breath.
What shocked him was that even these premium magic items couldn’t fully dispel the chill.
Glancing at the massive spiral building in the distance—the secret treasure was inside.
He assigned two blood descendants to guard the teleport array; the escape route must not fail.
“My lord, the elemental distribution in the air is extremely uneven. The Frost Spirits seem to be moving en masse,” a perceptive blood descendant warned.
Cassinar frowned. Just starting out and already something unexpected.
Was it a chain reaction from previous scouting?
“Direction?”
The blood descendant pointed far away. “On the opposite side of the central spiral building.”
Cassinar’s expression eased slightly. “Not blocking our path; good. Keep watch. If they get too close, we avoid them.”
As he spoke, he took out a dark-red blood crystal. It melted into blood, shaped into a long spear wreathed in blood mist.
The spear tip stabbed into the shadow of a nearby ruined building and pierced out the other side, impaling a Frost Spirit that had followed their heat.
More Frost Spirits emerged from behind ruins. The blood descendants acted instantly; sword light and blood magic intertwined, quickly shattering the approaching spirits.
Without pause, while the spirits hadn’t reformed, one blood descendant scattered special mana-interference dust to disrupt elemental perception and prevent reformed spirits from tracking them, avoiding a dead-end pursuit.
The group efficiently crossed the ruin streets and entered the spiral building.
Then, after encountering stronger Frost Spirits, their pace gradually slowed.
…
Meanwhile, Pink Puchi’s team also ran into big trouble.
“Be good… don’t all crowd around…”
Inanna stood helplessly as Frost Spirits surged from all directions, surrounding the team impenetrably.
Though these elemental creatures were gentle toward her, they lacked basic intelligence and couldn’t understand human speech—at least not her intent.
In the end, Inanna could only repeat her old trick. Every time the team advanced a segment, she fired a light orb spell into the distant sky.
While the Frost Spirits chased the light orb, the team hurried forward.
When the spirits returned, she threw another.
The whole journey looked like festival fireworks…
Lin Jun, controlling a knight Puchi held in Inanna’s arms, extended perception toward the spiral building, puzzled.
For some reason, abnormal mana fluctuations appeared there, like someone casting spells.
The elemental lord?
Reacting to the team’s arrival?
Lin Jun wasn’t sure.
The spiral building seemed to partially block scouting; he could only confirm up close.
Norris noticed too, of course, through the scout Puchis forming the Jida’s head.
When the team finally reached the spiral building entrance, everyone was stunned by the sight.
Norris climbed out of his Jida and looked up at the forty-to-fifty-meter-tall giant gate.
He had known the building was huge, but viewing from afar and standing at its foot were completely different feelings.
Before this colossal structure, even trolls would feel tiny, let alone 1.8-meter Norris.
Lin Jun felt nothing special and urged everyone not to gawk; hurry inside.
His perspective was always differed; size was size, distance didn’t change perception.
After entering the central spiral building, the team gradually encountered high-tier Frost Spirits.
[Frost Spirit – Snow Attendant]
[Frost Spirit – Frost Knight]
Both temple-tier, panels showing considerable strength.
Add the elemental trait of being unkillable and reforming on-site; extremely troublesome.
And inside the entire spiral building, there were definitely more than two such high-tier elementals.
Fighting in? Just thinking about it gave Lin Jun a headache.
Yet at this moment:
The Snow Attendant gracefully circled above Inanna’s head.
The Frost Knight knelt on one knee beside her.
Well… even high-tier Frost Spirits acted like simps. This gave Lin Jun much more confidence!
But seriously, who was casting spells?
After entering, the spellcasting mana fluctuations were even clearer!
Was the elemental lord so eager for Pink Puchi’s arrival it was throwing a tantrum?
Probably not; too ridiculous.
But there couldn’t actually be someone else here, right?!
…
The Snow Attendant’s ice-crystal palms gathered mana, forming a vicious ice ring that exploded outward!
Cassinar’s condensed blood shield froze instantly upon contact and shattered. Flying ice shards cut several wounds on his pale cheeks.
These Frost Spirits were far too amplified in extreme cold; even he found them tricky.
Three blood descendants flashed from behind pillars and partitions, controlling blood to assault the Snow Attendant and interrupt her follow-up casting.
Using the opening, Cassinar melted into the floor shadow and burst out directly beneath the Snow Attendant. Seven crimson spikes shot from his sleeves, nailing her to the ceiling.
“Let’s go.” Lingering was pointless. Cassinar brushed frost from his face and signaled his blood descendants to move on.
“My lord, Qina she…”
Only then did Cassinar notice the perceptive blood descendant who had misjudged the ice ring’s power and used a blood shield like him instead of hiding. She was now an ice sculpture.
Cassinar activated bloodline resonance; only three responses. Qina was truly dead.
“Move!”
Special interference dust was scattered. Four figures quickly vanished up the spiraling stairs, leaving the pinned Snow Attendant struggling on the ceiling.
(End of Chapter
(Edited a BUG: this blood-clan has been promoted to Marquis)
