High atop a towering hybrid steed, clad in heavy armor, Duke Alama surveyed the sprawling demon battle lines in the distance. His brow furrowed in confusion.
Sigmund... actually abandoning Crimson Spire's defensive advantages and area buffs to march his entire army out for a "fair" field battle?
His original plan had been to use the [War Chariot]'s ultra-long-range weapons to harass and provoke Sigmund into coming out to fight. But the harassment had barely begun when the enemy abandoned their defenses.
Alama didn't deny that Sigmund's army had superior overall strength, but it clearly wasn't an overwhelming advantage.
In a direct confrontation, Alama still had a decent chance of victory.
There's no way Sigmund didn't know that.
Had the commander changed? Or was there some trap he couldn't see?
Considering the intelligence he'd gathered, Alama contemplated many possibilities before turning his gaze toward Eleanor's army.
If there was a trap, the most likely wild card would be that clumsy female vampire.
Even now, she remained stationary at a distant position, coldly observing from the sidelines without moving her troops.
Originally, Alama had thought it was personal grudges spilling onto the battlefield, but now it seemed it might be a show put on for his benefit.
"Relay orders!" Alama commanded his messenger beside him. "Triple the scouts and closely monitor Eleanor's forces' every move! Report any unusual activity immediately! Without my command, all frontline units are to hold formation and not advance!"
Meanwhile, at the demon army's front lines.
Elite demon warriors had already arranged themselves into attack formation. At the very front of the demon ranks were restrained, ferocious demon beasts—their restless growls mingling with the clashing sounds of soldiers' armor, the air thick with bloodthirsty desire.
Most striking of all was the formation at the very rear, clad in dark crimson armor—Sigmund's most powerful core fighting force, the Blood Knight Order!
Every member was at least a Gold-tier half-vampire, with quite a few being true vampires bearing noble titles.
Everything was ready, arrows nocked.
However, the aide anxiously scanned the surroundings but couldn't find the supreme commander who should be here rallying morale and issuing orders—Duke Sigmund himself!
"Where is His Grace? Has anyone seen the Duke?!" The aide couldn't help but raise his voice, asking the surrounding officers and guards, a hint of panic in his tone.
At this critical moment, how could the commander be absent?
Just then, a bat flapped its wings, flying from the direction of Crimson Spire, finally hovering before the aide.
"His Grace the Duke commands: you are to take full command of this battle."
"Me?!" The aide's pupils contracted sharply as he pointed at himself, barely able to believe his ears. "Where is His Grace?"
......
The Duke Sigmund that the aide was so concerned about was currently in Crimson Spire's kitchen.
A chunk of meat of indeterminate origin and rough texture had been casually roasted over a fire, then sprinkled with a pinch of salt. He bit into it with anticipation.
"Ptui—!"
Almost instantly, intense physical discomfort made him spit it out.
Not because the taste was indescribably awful, but because this vampire body fundamentally rejected ordinary food—as if even after eating, it couldn't digest and could only regurgitate it.
"Come to think of it, vampires only drink blood..." Lin Jun suddenly recalled Piggy had this setting.
In the blood clan's headquarters, finding blood was easy as pie. He located a container storing blood and carefully tasted a small sip.
Smacking his lips, savoring carefully—this was his first time experiencing consuming blood with a vampire's senses.
It felt... like drinking a somewhat viscous sauce with a strong rusty, fishy taste.
"Sigh..." Lin Jun couldn't help but sigh, deeply disappointed.
It seemed hoping to taste the world's delicacies with this vampire body was completely out of the question.
A vampire's life didn't seem as enjoyable as he'd imagined.
"What exactly are you trying to do?" From deep in his mind, Sigmund's voice rang out again, suppressing fury.
"Trying to do? Trying to eat good food!" Lin Jun answered matter-of-factly, his tone full of regret.
But that clearly wasn't what Sigmund was asking. His voice carried deep suspicion and a trace of barely perceptible confusion: "You're not someone sent by Alama?"
A guy drawn in through the [Strange Dream] connecting to Alama's daughter, and coincidentally at this critical moment, Alama launched a full-scale offensive...
Connecting it all together, Sigmund was almost certain that this bizarre entity occupying his body was a trap set by Alama!
The purpose was to trick his army into marching to their deaths, then finally hand him over as a war trophy to Alama.
In that case, mutual destruction would be his only option.
But seeing the other party now sighing over food like this, he felt uncertain again.
Lin Jun ignored him, rummaging around on his own to find some sugar cubes and popping them in his mouth.
The orders were certainly given recklessly, but handing over Sigmund himself—that was something Lin Jun could never do.
Sweet!
Fortunately, the body didn't reject sweetness.
He simply hugged the entire sugar jar and wandered back to the outer observation platform.
At this point, the battlefield below had completely erupted.
In the early stages of battle, both sides still maintained considerable restraint, focusing mainly on ranged attacks and small squad probing.
On the human side, Alama remained vigilant for that potentially lethal trap.
On the demon side, the aide who'd been thrust into command was even more terrified, not daring to take any risks, only employing the most conservative, safest defensive strategy.
However, as the battle continued, Alama's keen battlefield instincts detected an anomaly.
Could Sigmund really not be commanding personally?
In this kind of decisive battle, he couldn't possibly be absent!
Unless...
A bold hypothesis that had never occurred to him before suddenly leapt into Alama's mind.
Could something have happened to Sigmund himself?
His condition extremely poor, to the point that... the one commanding the demon army now wasn't him at all?
This thought made Alama's breathing instantly grow heavy, his heart pounding violently.
An opportunity!
Whoever was commanding the enemy now, after these few rounds of probing exchanges, Alama had roughly figured out their capabilities.
Definitely not a complete greenhorn like Eleanor, but merely ordinary general-level competence—completely unremarkable!
Alama hesitated no more. Under his deliberate guidance and relentless pressure, the human coalition's offensive suddenly became incomparably fierce. The temporary commander was overwhelmed, forced to commit his ace Blood Knight Order to the battlefield in an attempt to stabilize the crumbling right flank.
"Now! Ironthorn Knights, charge with me!" The opportunity Alama had been waiting for finally appeared!
With a furious roar, he personally led his most elite Ironthorn Knights in a savage charge toward the Blood Knight Order!
......
Really fierce, Pink Puffshroom's dad.
Lin Jun lay at the edge of the observation platform, watching with wonder.
Below on the battlefield, the Ironthorn Knights led by Duke Alama attacked with incomparable ferocity. After just a few minutes of combat, the originally formidable Blood Knight Order was actually retreating steadily under his onslaught, clearly falling into a disadvantage.
In his mind, Sigmund watched his painstakingly built ace unit being suppressed like this, his legacy being rapidly squandered, already anxious enough to want "mutual destruction."
"Alright, alright, I get it, why so impatient!" Lin Jun muttered, dumping all the remaining sugar from the jar he was holding into his mouth, chewing it carelessly a couple times, savoring that cheap sweetness dissolving in his mouth before reluctantly returning control of the body.
"Be careful, don't just casually die, Little Siggy!" At the moment of handover, Lin Jun didn't forget to thoughtfully add a reminder.
"Ptui!" The first thing Sigmund did upon regaining control was violently spit out that inferior sugar mixture in his mouth. With his accumulated towering rage having nowhere to vent, he slammed a fist savagely into the solid stone wall beside him, blasting out a spider-web-shaped crater!
No time to ponder this bizarre encounter or that damned invader, or even to fix his appearance.
Crimson light blazed in Sigmund's eyes as black mist roiled around him. Transforming into a bat, he shot toward the battling knight orders at astonishing speed.
"Your Grace!" The aide who'd been barely holding on, nearly killed, was almost in tears.
"Finally willing to come out, you damn rat!"
When bitter enemies meet, animosity burns bright. Alama's greatsword and Sigmund's blood claws soon clashed together!
In his mind, Lin Jun simulated it—if he'd been in control, with that one strike, Sigmund's hand would probably already be flying off...
(End of Chapter)
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