Ed had anticipated the gag incident; he first learned of it when the player known as [ The Chosen of the Four Gods ] was completely infected and turned into Blood Corpse.
The player claimed that he could hear someone talking to him in his head, and Ed also clearly felt that his control over the other person's body was weakened.
Now, the tables have turned. He used vegetable juice to invade Bennett Bennett's body, turning from a homeowner acting in self-defense into a burglar who broke into the house, but Ed felt no remorse whatsoever.
His consciousness seeped into Bennett's mind. Although the Blood Corpse's brain wasn't exactly blank, it was practically the same as having nothing at all.
Ed walked along the streets in Bennett's mind, looking at the street signs ahead to confirm that this was Fir City from nearly a hundred years ago.
At this moment, the city was engulfed in war, with countless soldiers and Blood Corpse clashing against each other, and extremely fierce close combat breaking out from time to time.
Ed roughly understood what was going on:
Although Bennett has fallen into the realm of Blood Corpse, his deepest memories, whether of his first half as a human or his second half as Blood Corpse, are of the Battle of Fir City nearly a hundred years ago.
At this moment, with an unknown force gripping his throat, he naturally recalled the day he first met Grand Duke Antos.
According to the normal plot development, the outline for the next period should be that Ed helps Bennett overcome his inner demons. Once he is completely free from this nightmare, the elderly count will begin to repent and weep bitterly, eventually washing himself clean Ed's group.
But Ed clearly wasn't planning on doing that—his team was already struggling to add even the best guys, let alone someone like Bennett.
Although his current rank is still very low, the high status brought by Little Green allows him to hold his own in battles of consciousness.
Ed looked around and felt that there was something wrong with the logic of both human behavior and the logic of the Blood Corpse ' behavior.
As if he had discovered a bug in the world, Ed sensed something deep within Bennett's mind and quickly confirmed one thing—
The Grand Duke of Antos must still be sealed away, and his mind is definitely not clear.
Whether it was the Whisper that had been uttered in the mind of the [ Chosen of the Four Gods ] or the imprint that remained in Bennett's consciousness, neither seemed particularly proactive despite their power.
[ The Chosen of the Four Gods ] will hear Whisper, which is roughly equivalent to Antos talking in his sleep, and Bennett is unable to reveal any information related to Antos, which can also be said to have triggered the automatic defense system.
Since that's the case...
The sapling in Ed's eyes turned even greener than before, and the horrific battlefield before him began to wrinkle little by little, eventually turning into a torn canvas tossed aside.
He briefly blocked Antos's control over Bennett, then reopened his eyes to reality:
" Bennett, tell me everything about Antos."
The count was astonished when he felt the immense pressure that had been hanging over him suddenly disappear. Although he had been tormented terribly by Ed, he never considered this young man to be an equal to the Grand Duke.
But now that the other party had so easily erased the mental imprint that Antos had left in his consciousness (he didn't know it was temporary), he felt a greater sense of awe for the boy in front of him.
"Okay, I'll talk."
He spoke in a hoarse voice:
"Lord Antos... no, Antos is a vampire who has existed for at least a thousand years... uh, the Vampire Progenitor..."
"No need to change your speech patterns, just say it the way you normally would."
"He led at least twenty large-scale wars against human kingdoms, and even conducted a transoceanic operation intending to land on the southern empire... When I was young, his name was known throughout the entire kingdom..."
Bennett mumbled about everything she knew, the information a jumbled mess of details, as if she were going through memories from birth.
Much of the information came from when he was still human. Ed and Willow listened patiently, while [ Zhong Lele ] began to write furiously, recording the valuable plot details.
The timeline of the information quickly moved to the period after the outbreak of the Demonic Tide, which was when he was transformed into a member of the Antos Lineage:
" Antos loves gems and wields the power of ' Bone and Blood.' My ability is merely a degraded version of his. As long as the Blood Corpse of his lineage haven't all died, he won't truly perish... And among the seven Blood Grand Duke, he is known as the ' Sixth Progenitor.'"
" The Sixth Progenitor?"
Ed frowned:
Are the seven grand dukes biological brothers and sisters?
Bennett shook his head:
"I have no idea..."
"Besides Antos, who else has been sealed away?"
Bennett thought for a moment:
"And the Grand Duke of Adelaide, he was the Fourth Progenitor; I don't know about the others."
Do you know the exact location where Antos and Adelaide are sealed?
"Have no idea."
Tell me about the hierarchical system in the Blood Corpse Genealogy.
Those without reason are collectively called Blood Slave; those capable of simple thought are called Blood Servant; those capable of independent thought and possessing Low Tier Upper Grade strength can be called Earls; and those of Middle Tier are collectively called Marquises.
" High Tier? Does that mean he'll be called a duke?"
"Apart from the Grand Duke, there are no High Tier in the entire lineage."
Bennett shook his head:
"All promotions require the Grand Duke's personal approval; he does not want any member of his lineage to be of the same High Tier as him."
Ed curled his lip, thinking to himself that the old man was quite possessive of his food.
"So stingy, no wonder he's ranked sixth... which means the strongest Blood Corpse under Antos's command is only at the peak of the Middle Tier, right?"
"Yes."
"How many earls are there in the Antos Lineage? How many marquises? Approximately how many Blood Corpse are there in total?"
"Five marquises, twenty earls, and approximately... one million Blood Corpse."
One million? That's not enough to feed anyone.
Ed has now straightened his back. Hearing the number of one million Blood Corpse, he is not afraid at all, but rather feels that it is a bit too little.
After all, with more and more players, even after the Bloody Night quest ends, clearing out the Blood Corpse will likely remain a long-term task.
But this little bit of Blood Corpse isn't enough for everyone to share...
He now only hopes that Antos's "sixth place" ranking is based on strength rather than birth order, so that at least he can still expect the dukes ahead of him to provide him with more resources.
However, it's too early to think about these things now. Ed estimates that even if he tries his best, he can barely manage a draw with a relatively weak marquis.
As expected, I need to eat more Blood Corpse so that I can reach the threshold of the Initial Tier and Middle Tier as soon as possible.
Ed rolled his eyes and asked again:
"Given such a clear hierarchy, how do you command the Blood Corpse?"