Chapter 153: The Royal Vampire

Chapter 153: [Royal-Class Vampires]

After the temporary operational briefing concluded, Xia Zheng was forcefully pulled aside by Luo Bing. She cut straight to the point, asking, "What are you planning? Do you really have to play the lone hero?"

Xia Zheng retorted, "Aside from this, do you have a better plan?"

"I..." Luo Bing could not answer. She herself understood that the strategy of splitting forces was ultimately ineffective.

"Luo Bing, I've told you about my origins. I am a human from the future world, and I came here to change destiny—specifically, the fall of Eternal Night City. You don't need to worry about my death; I will merely return to the future," Xia Zheng comforted her, though right now, he could only fabricate a lie.

Luo Bing, who had always appeared so strong, finally broke down. Her shoulders shook as tears streamed down her face.

"I know, I know this day had to come. I just didn't expect that when it finally arrived, it would be so unbearable to accept. You carry the weight of the future upon your shoulders, while I simply do not want to lose you, even though I know such emotions are a grave taboo given the current situation." Luo Bing hugged Xia Zheng tightly, as if terrified of losing him.

As Xia Zheng stroked her back, he whispered into her ear, "Everything will pass. If destiny can be changed, then our sacrifice has meaning. In the future I come from, the fall of Eternal Night City became an indelible scar upon the Federation. Countless families were torn apart, and countless loved ones and friends were separated by life and death. That is why I swore to reclaim Eternal Night City, and to return to the past—which is here. This is my mission."

Though Xia Zheng had harbored the grand ambition of reclaiming Eternal Night City in the real world, the deeper his understanding grew, the heavier that burden felt.

Therefore, in this dungeon world, Xia Zheng would exhaust every possible means. Even if it meant he failed to clear the instance, as long as he could rewrite the ending where Eternal Night City fell, he would try without reservation—all to truly accomplish this feat in the real world one day.

"I understand. I won't try to persuade you anymore. I just want to cherish our final moments together..." Luo Bing voluntarily shed her clothes. Though Xia Zheng felt it inappropriate, refusing her at this moment was impossible. Soon, the two of them became entwined in a passionate embrace.

Once the rest period ended, the army of over sixty thousand resumed its advance. As the two supreme commanders of this isolated force, Xia Zheng and Luo Bing officially finalized the tactical plan to shatter the vampire altar.

When the altar was still a few kilometers away, the main army went into concealment, while Xia Zheng set off alone toward the altar. Nearly everyone in the army knew that this departure might well be his last. One by one, they removed their military caps and saluted him, displaying their utmost respect for Xia Zheng.

Luo Bing had already donned sunglasses and a black face mask, hiding her true expression from the others. Yet anyone could tell her heart must be aching terribly; after all, her relationship with Xia Zheng was an open secret throughout the army.

In the air, Xia Zheng cupped his fists in salute to all his comrades without uttering a word. Then, vibrating the illusory wings manifested behind his back, he instantly soared off into the distance.

To conceal his tracks, Xia Zheng repeated the exact method he had used when smuggling Ellie out of the city district. His mental energy directly materialized a patch of clouds hundreds of meters wide, their hue blending seamlessly with neighboring cloud formations, making them virtually invisible.

At the same time, he suppressed his aura to the absolute barest minimum, gliding stealthily through the air and bypassing wave after wave of vampire blockades and encampments, which collectively comprised roughly ten thousand troops.

History proved that the vampires could never have imagined such an "absurd" method of stealth, for no human could pull it off, and even among the vampires themselves, scarcely anyone possessed such capability.

Finally, after an hour of covert infiltration, he arrived once again in the vicinity of the altar. This time, the guards were noticeably more heavily fortified, and he also discovered five extraordinary and formidable vampire powerhouses.

These individuals wore lavish robes in shades of purple, gold, red, blue, and green—three males and two females in total. Among the males was an elderly man with a full head of silver hair, a short-haired middle-aged man with a thick beard, and a relatively younger man with a lion-like mane of golden hair and exceptionally handsome features.

As for the two females, one was dressed very skimpily with rolled-up hair and a green robe whose neckline plunged extremely low, exposing nearly two plump mounds of flesh, while her snow-white legs were bare beneath the garment. Xia Zheng even found himself wondering if she was wearing anything underneath at all.

The second woman looked somewhat familiar, yet subtly different, leaving Xia Zheng slightly uncertain.

This woman appeared dignified and delicate, clad in a form-fitting blue forged-metal robe. Her neck was slightly slender, her posture graceful, and her demeanor regal.

Hidden within the clouds, Xia Zheng silently observed the altar below.

Despite being repaired after the sabotage and devastation he inflicted last time, clear traces of damage remained visible. Presumably, the vampires lacked the energy and time to restore it completely.

At this moment, the mysterious female statue standing before the altar was covered in layers of human skeletal remains—numbering in the thousands by a rough estimate. The female statue's entire body now looked virtually indistinguishable from that of a human woman, yet she still appeared to be deep in slumber; Xia Zheng could not sense the terrifying aura emanating from her that he had felt previously.

A gaze swept past him, seemingly non-existent yet sharp. Xia Zheng’s heart tightened, and he immediately redoubled his efforts to suppress his presence, compressing his aura almost to the vanishing point.

The owner of that gaze was the blue-robed woman. She seemed to feel a stir of unease—did she possess such a piercingly sharp innate intuition? Yet, despite purposefully searching for the source of her disquiet, she found nothing amiss, which left her perplexed.

"What is it, Blood Spirit King? What's wrong?" the elderly male asked.

Frowning, the blue-robed woman replied, "I seemed to sense the aura of that person."

"That human?" the old man asked uneasily.

"Yes. But when I searched carefully, I couldn't find any trace of him. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid," the blue-robed woman answered.

At that moment, the short-haired man and the golden-haired man chimed in, "Blood Spirit King, your perception is the strongest among us. If even you can't detect anything, then he probably doesn't exist."

The scantily clad, green-robed woman at the side let out a coquettish laugh and said, "Could it be that the Blood Spirit King was defeated by him once in the Sanctuary Gardens, and now she's become a frightened bird at the mere shadow of a tree?"

Hearing this, the other three found it difficult to chime in. The blue-robed woman shot her an unhappy glare and retorted, "Seduction King, don't underestimate him. In my view, you are no match for him either."

"Hmph, sounds like the Blood Spirit King has developed psychological trauma," the Seduction King sneered with unconcealed dissatisfaction.

The Blood Spirit King smiled. "You'll find out soon enough. Although one of my avatars perished at his hands, I have gained a fair measure of his capabilities. His strength is no less than that of us royal-class beings."

The other four looked somewhat incredulous at this.

The old man couldn't help but say, "Back then, he took a blow from me. Logically speaking, he should have sustained heavy injuries, yet he recovered so quickly. It seems his physical recuperative power truly rivals our own."

"I'd love to cross paths with him. Being on par with us several Princes is truly something to look forward to," the golden-haired man said, licking his lips with a deeply combat-hungry expression.

The Blood Spirit King nodded. "King Qingming is getting on in years, and the Black Prison King's combat prowess has not yet fully recovered to its peak. King Jinling, among us present, your current combat power is the highest, and you are the most likely to defeat him."

The old man and the dark-haired man both nodded in agreement, and even the usually arrogant Seduction King offered no objection.

Hidden within the clouds, Xia Zheng experienced a sudden epiphany. These individuals were all royal-class powerhouses among the vampires, and furthermore, one of them—the blue-robed woman, the very vampire maiden he had fought in the gardens—was merely an avatar of hers. This realization caused Xia Zheng's expression to turn solemn.