"Ha?"
The players collectively gasped in shock.
"Um."
Everyone in the Eternal Domain nodded in unison.
"Ah?"
A small, thin Blood Corpse hidden among the horde of Blood Corpse accidentally let out a startled cry.
Xilǐ'er quickly pinpointed the location of the sound, pointed, and shouted:
"It's what led us here!"
"Whoosh!"
All the Soul Returner turned their heads in unison, their voices audible as they spoke together.
The Blood Corpse, stared at by nearly a hundred people, paused for a moment, then poured itself into the lake in front of everyone, turning into a pool of blood.
Two years and three months ago, Adelaide broke free from the first sealing rune, and tiny Psionic Energy tentacles began to extend underground in Klaf City.
Before that, he had been sealed at the bottom of an underground lake for more than half a century.
He initially thought it was his own ability at work, but after numerous experiments, he was forced to acknowledge a tragic truth:...
This is simply due to the aging of the seal, and has nothing to do with his own efforts.
Until a quarter of the overall seal has aged and Shattered, he will still be unable to exert any influence on the outside world and can only continue to endure and wait for the seal to Shattered.
However, he wasn't worried about it.
Creating something from nothing is always the most difficult. Once the first seal crack is established, the subsequent cracks won't be far behind.
Even if it takes hundreds of years, Adelaide, which has already endured more than half a century of suffering, can still afford to wait.
Grand Dukes of vampires possess extremely long lifespans, so time is the least valuable thing to them.
He didn't know if he could live forever, since no grand duke had ever truly died of old age since birth.
Therefore, when recruiting demons and human nobles, his favorite offer was to use his age as proof, telling them that becoming a vampire would grant them unlimited lifespan.
For those short-lived species, this is almost an invaluable gift.
As for Adelaide, she didn't actually pay any price in the process. Even if those she deceived did die one day, they would most likely have died from war rather than old age.
As long as he controls the proportion of lineage loss and ensures that the Blood Corpse is killed before it dies of old age, his lies will never be exposed.
As for the few intelligent individuals who retain independent thinking abilities after being transformed and are able to discern certain clues, Adelaide wouldn't mind letting them go a step further and become vampire nobles.
Once you become a beneficiary, those little bit of deception from before will seem insignificant.
He formulated this battle strategy nearly a century after the First True Blood Alliance and quickly put it into practice.
The effect was remarkable. Before the Second True Blood Alliance, his lineage army captured the Klaf City, located in the heart of the kingdom, and converted almost the entire population of the city.
This is one of the top five largest cities on the entire continent, with a complete city defense force and mage corps, and enough food reserves to last a whole year.
Even so, under his almost pyramid scheme-like tactics, Klaf City still fell.
Then came the Second True Blood Alliance.
Adelaide, who was toying with the Territory Secret Pact the Klaf City territory, didn't really care about the other grand dukes' discussions on the follow-up plans.
The second alliance meeting was only held because the vampire alliance, which had split into two groups, was facing obstacles on its own, and they planned to use this method to exchange benefits.
Adelaide's attack was going smoothly, and he was so well-fed that he wasn't afraid to switch sides or not. Plus, Klaf City was his home ground, with a million-strong army of Blood Corpse all in and around the city. So he barely listened to a word of the meeting.
But who could have imagined that such a meeting, which only the Grand Duke was qualified to attend, would have uninvited guests?
Although nearly a century has passed, Adelaide still feels a burning hatred whenever she thinks of those two " Short-Eared Elf " who broke into the city lord's mansion and began their killing spree.
This hatred, instead of fading with time, has only grown darker and deeper, becoming a demon in Adelaide's heart.
Decades ago, when the seal had not been broken even slightly, he had already secretly resolved that one day when he could leave this place, he would lead a large army across the sea and then massacre that Elf Island.
As for transforming into Blood Corpse?
He doesn't need any of them; he only wants the elves to disappear from the world forever.
Over a year ago, Adelaide's seal aged further, and his Psionic Energy detected a familiar aura—
Antos.
My dear younger brother is also in a sealed state, which is truly wonderful news.
However, since both sides were meeting through Psionic Energy tentacles, neither could pinpoint the other's location.
As for proactively reporting or inquiring?
The seven siblings have been engaged in open and covert struggles for thousands of years, and they all know what kind of people the others really are.
So the matter was quickly dropped, and the two dukes, who were in the same boat, began to collect Blood Corpse, hoping that the seal would age further and destroy it more quickly.
Then, a few months ago, a familiar yet strange aura appeared in this underground city.
After exploring for several months, the group left Klaf City, and some time later, an even more powerful and majestic aura appeared.
Adelaide ceased all manipulation of the Blood Corpse, silently sensing everything that was happening within the dungeon.
He then sensed that the aura had arrived at the city lord's mansion, located on the third basement level of Klaf City, with a clear purpose...
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Antos's screams echoed in both the real and spiritual realms. Although she didn't know exactly what had happened, Adelaide could still sense the great battle through the fluctuations of Psionic Energy.
To fight Antos, the seal must be broken.
Adelaide's mind raced, and she quickly realized what had happened:
After a group of people found out Antos's location, they called in more people, forcibly broke the seal, and brutally beat Antos was in his weakest state.
What a terrifying group of people!
Just as Adelaide felt a chill run down his spine, he finally confirmed Antos's exact location, and at the same time, heard Antos's call for the last time:
"Brother, elder brother! Save me, please!"
Having thought everything through, Adelaide made the wisest choice at that moment—to play dead.
If you encounter a bear in the forest and want to escape, you don't need to run faster than the bear; you only need to run faster than your companions.