Everyone nodded in agreement, and the elf said:
"Then whose Authority do you think is most suitable to do this?"
The Soul Returner began to ponder, and soon, two powers appeared in their minds, one after the other—
To Solidification, to Domination.
The owners of these two powers are Vanessa and Aeldra.
"I'm sure you've already figured it out; we just need to use Aeldra's powers to seal the vampires away."
The elven mage looked at the group of people who had just realized what was happening and said:
"So isn't this just a coincidence? A battle between us and Aeldra is inevitable."
"As for Vanessa's powers, they can be used to solidify the seal and prevent it from being easily destroyed."
[ On the Do Some Farm Work ] pondered and said:
"Since the seal was completed and has been operating successfully for almost eighty years, does that mean your plan has truly succeeded?!"
"Certainly."
The elf smiled and said:
"We only talked about our hatred towards them before, but where does their hatred towards us come from?"
"That's because..."
The Short-Eared Elf trailed off, letting the ever-changing magical artifacts in his hands reassemble into a single staff.
At the same time, Kebola, who was isolated outside the barrier, suddenly felt a pang of heart palpitation and his body swayed violently.
The elf manipulated the warm yellow Psionic Energy, gradually drawing it into the enormous yellow gemstone, and everyone finally saw the full picture of the staff's core.
It was a heart, not much bigger than a fist, translucent amber in color, looking like an exquisite glass artifact from another world.
After all the radiance had subsided, the heart beat slowly, powerfully, and heavily.
"Ugh!"
Kebola, outside the barrier, cried out in pain, clutched his chest, and collapsed.
Everyone paused for a moment, then turned their gaze to the Short-Eared Elf, who awkwardly scratched his head and said:
"This is also a source of his power; being too close will inevitably affect him."
[ Do Some Farm Work ] stared intently at that glass-like heart and asked:
"Could this be Aeldra's heart?"
"Clever."
The elven mage nodded in satisfaction:
"Although this thing looks small, it's the result of me restraining it with Psionic Energy Formula. Otherwise, the moment Aeldra revealed its true form, it would have immediately reverted to its original form and returned to its original body."
"You were able to survive the first wave of Aeldra's attack in the Wilderness of Chaos thanks to this thing."
"After all, giant creatures like dragons always need to avoid accidentally injuring themselves. I used this heart to briefly trick the surrounding rock walls into becoming part of Aeldra's body, which is why I survived the impact unscathed."
Upon hearing this outrageous fact, everyone was momentarily speechless.
That giant dragon, whose every breath unleashed thunderous power, was actually a heartless creature.
No wonder it came here, threw a tantrum for a few minutes, and then left...
A certain Soul Returner was actually working in a medical field, suddenly realized something. He turned his gaze to the Short-Eared Elf elf's staff, but not to look at its exquisite and perfect glass heart. Instead, he looked down to the part that the mage was holding.
With a slight suspicion in his mind, he tentatively asked:
"Then the staff's shaft wouldn't be...?"
"Right."
The Short-Eared Elf gave the Soul Returner an encouraging look, signaling him to continue.
But at this moment, the player was so shocked by his own guess that his mouth went dry, and he even felt a tightness in his throat.
Seeing this, the elf did not insist, but silently changed the shape of the staff once again.
This time, his magical artifact was neither a galaxy nor a staff, but had reverted to its most original form—
One heart, one spine.
The elf pointed to the intact spine and said:
"Just as I expected— Vanessa is indeed a tough nut to crack; her spine is very useful, and can even be used as a one-handed sword when needed."
Although the Short-Eared Elf was smiling, a deep-seated hatred was hidden beneath his expression:
"I can't kill them both, but I have ways to make them wish they were dead."
"Continuing from the story I just told—"
"After identifying the enemy, we lay in wait on the main continent for a period of time, doing everything we could to save the races that had not yet been infected."
He looked at Collins and smiled, then said:
" Little Collins and his friends were the ones we rescued on a whim; he was just a little kid back then..."
"We chose to lie in wait instead of striking immediately because the vampire grand dukes are blood relatives, so they have a certain connection with each other."
"Given their bloodline-derived abilities, we can't defeat them one by one. The best approach is to wait until they gather together and wipe them out in one fell swoop."
"Soon we heard news about the ' True Blood Alliance,' where the seven Vampire Progenitor would gather. That was our best opportunity."
"All it takes is one unprecedented raid to seal them all away, and everything will be alright; the Corpse Tide sweeping the world will end."
Clearly, the Short-Eared Elf's plan had failed. [ Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop ] noticed a small loophole in the other party's words and asked in confusion:
"Can the two of you defeat seven grand dukes?"
Actually, there are eight.
The elven mage said with a smile:
"Without Aeldra, the plan cannot proceed."
"Can you defeat eight grand dukes?"
[ Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop ] corrected its problem, but the Short-Eared Elf shook its head unabashedly:
"Of course we can't beat them—those seven aren't just ordinary High Tier, they're High Tier with authority."
"But we didn't need to fight seven in the first place."
He then recounted his original plan to everyone:
"We obtained their complete investigative materials on the Grand Duke of Vampires from the homes of those two deceased friends."
"The plan is simple: the first one to be sealed must be Antos, because he has no other dukes under his command. Once he is dealt with, the entire Antos Lineage will be free from any threat."
"The second person we need to deal with is Adelaide. Once his ability is activated, the longer the battle goes on, the more disadvantageous it will be for us."
Upon hearing the names of two familiar unfortunate souls, the Soul Returner nodded in unison.
It seems that up to this point, the Short-Eared Elf's plan was working fine. So what happened next that turned out this way?
At this point, the elven mage paused, then said in a tone of disappointment:
"According to my plan, once Antos and Adelaide are sealed away, ' Gluttonous Lady ' Rosalind will definitely take the initiative to attack the other grand dukes."
"Because her power is to devour, and she is constantly tormented by an almost eternal hunger, there is absolutely no reason left to help her blood relatives at such a time."
"That's just how Rosalind is; the farther away you are from her, the more rational she seems; the closer you get to her, the more insane she appears."