Chapter 322: Infiltration
Chapter 322: Infiltration
After using Soul Search and a bunch of spells that didn't seem very righteous, Liam and his team successfully extracted the latest intelligence from the group.
This week was the annual report period for the Cepesh Vampire Clan. Regardless of where the members of this family were throughout the year, they had to return to the family castle with their year's harvest to give their reports. Naturally, this time was filled with various parties and banquets. Liam and his team had been kidnapped to serve as precious ingredients for one of these banquets.
"How is the defense here?" Liam asked.
"It's no good." Rose Crystal, who had linked her Mind with Liam, immediately intervened upon learning his thoughts: "The Fat Man Mini-Nuke can't guarantee killing all the enemies, and the Megaton Monster's power is way too excessive. The castle's defensive magic isn't that strong, but once we break through it, we might trigger a major country's Doomsday System."
"Alright, then we'll head to the castle's Magic Control Hub first. It seems we'll have to use traditional methods to solve this problem." After confirming that most of the people working in the kitchen were not vampires but Vampire Worshipers (humans who worship vampires) without any alert magic, and only the obese one was a vampire, Liam and his team executed the human-eating Vampire Worshipers, leaving the vampire alive to avoid triggering the alarm system.
Exiting the kitchen led to a passage for servants. The puppeteers easily cleared all the Vampire Worshipers they encountered along the way. At a long spiral staircase, the team split into two groups. One group, led by Canary, included Emerald and Snowflower. Their task was to seize the Magic Control Hub on the second basement level and alter the castle's magic defense system to completely seal the castle.
The other members, led by Liam, rushed to the conference hall. They planned to take advantage of the confusion caused by the change in the castle's magic defenses to launch a surprise attack on the vampires' central point.
The conference hall was on the second floor of the castle, and there were many vampires patrolling along the way. According to the captives, the Cepesh family had over eighty members and more than a hundred Blood Puppets. On their way to the second floor, Liam and his team encountered a Three-Headed Dog with eyes like red crystals, lying lazily with its eyes half-closed. This was one of the Blood Puppets mentioned by the captives.
Blood Puppets are special artificial beings created by vampires. They use their clan's Blood Magic to transform creatures with magical bloodlines, resulting in completely loyal Blood Puppets. These Blood Puppets retain their original magical abilities and gain enhanced darkness affinity and life force due to the vampire transformation. Additionally, the master of a Blood Puppet can fully control it and be immediately alerted to any anomalies.
The dog in front of them, like the one Hagrid had in their first year, had Hellhound blood, though its lineage was far inferior to the one they encountered back then. The fact that it only had two heads on its neck clearly indicated this. Based on his research, Liam easily used Shadow Magic to wrap himself, cutting off the human scent, and employed a Life Magic technique to suppress his life glow.
After completing these preparations, he quietly slipped past the Three-Headed Dog while it was snoring, never alerting the creature, which relied on scent and soul observation to gather information.
Having safely passed the Three-Headed Dog, the rest of the journey was smooth. The vampire elders did not want the lower-ranking vampires to interfere with their meeting, so the other vampires were scattered in their respective rooms or entertainment areas, indulging in food and games. The corridors were empty, and the few automatic defense ritual arrays were easily bypassed by Liam using alchemy techniques.
This wasn't because the Vampires were careless; Castle Cepesh itself was a secret location that had hidden Magic released within its walls, known only to the Vampires of their own kind. Even those brought in as food were carefully selected to ensure they would never leave alive. Under such circumstances, it was only natural for the castle's internal defenses to be somewhat lax. After all, who would enjoy installing surveillance or traps in their own home? Vampires were no different; they didn't want their living spaces cluttered with too many Ritual Arrays.
The one thing they hadn't anticipated was that Barty Crouch Jr. had chosen a young Wizard for their deal whose power far exceeded that of a typical Wizard. But that wasn't their fault; under normal circumstances, who would expect a 14-year-old Muggle-born Wizard to have so many advantages?
It wasn't until Liam and his group reached the door of the meeting hall that they saw two guards standing there. The Scouting Gold Disk given to them by Rogen indicated that these two Vampires were very powerful and couldn't be subdued quickly. If they couldn't take out the guards swiftly, the Vampire Elders inside the meeting hall would be alerted immediately.
Liam, hiding around the corner, thought, "We'll have to wait for Canary's signal." Fortunately, the wait wasn't long; three minutes later, Azure nodded to Liam, signaling that her sisters had taken control of the central control room and were ready to act.
Liam immediately distributed weapons to the small Puppets and began counting down five numbers with the other group.
"Go!" As soon as the count was finished, Liam felt the castle tremble slightly, and the Magic lamps on the walls began to flicker. Azure confirmed that the castle's protective shield had been successfully modified.
Liam darted forward like an arrow, just in time to see the two Vampire guards opening the door, trying to alert the Elders inside about what was happening. Seizing the opportunity, they threw the objects in their hands into the room.
"Who—" The guards tried to intercept the flying objects, but they were enchanted and easily dodged, entering the meeting hall.
"Boom!" A massive explosion erupted from the meeting hall. The blast was powerful, and the two guards were thrown against the opposite wall by the shockwave, their bodies embedded with shrapnel.
"Ah!" They let out agonizing screams, clearly hit by the fragments from the Cluster Grenades that had been thrown.
These grenades were experimental, prepared by Liam for the Others. Each seven-in-one Cluster Grenade had a core made of explosive cherry jam created through Alchemy, encased in a shell. The shell's lining was filled with Valyrian Steel Beads, Dragon Crystal Beads, and Concentrated Sunlight Crystals. The power of light from these objects was causing the guards immense pain.
Once the attack began, there was no need to hold back. Vampires who fed on humans did not deserve to live. Soon, the two Vampire guards lay motionless, their bodies pierced with petals, crystals, and black feathers.
"What a terrifying Bullet Storm", Liam thought as he pried two Sunlight Crystals from his Bracelet, cast a spell, and hurled them into the meeting hall. Using the sudden burst of light, he rolled into the room amidst the screams of the Vampire Council members.
There had originally been 13 Vampire Council members in the meeting hall, but after two rounds of attacks, only the Clan Leader and the Head Elder, who sat to his right, remained alive.
The Vampire Head Elder, though still alive, was on the brink of death. As he shielded his eyes from the sunlight, a Rose Crystal transformed into a purple blur and flew toward him. The Head Elder heard the movement but was too injured to dodge. Rose Crystal's Crystal sword decapitated him with a single strike.
Now, only the Vampire Clan Leader, cocooned in a Blood Cocoon, remained in the meeting hall. Liam and his group watched the Blood Cocoon tensely, preparing for their next move.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
