When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#188 - Mechanical Palace on Autumn Island

Vampires, the culprits behind the destruction of the El Empire.

After that catastrophe, a large number of former El nobles defected to the vast vampire and ogre alliance, pledging their loyalty to the vampires in exchange for extending their limited lifespans.

Only those on the fringes of the royal family and local nobles, led by Misera, fled to the Eastern Continent.

Therefore, within the Flesh Courtyard, they never considered themselves vampires, but rather blood elves, and ogres were not called ogres, but giants.

For religious reasons, the Courtyard wanted the territory of the Eastern Continent, and for political reasons, the Empire wanted the territory of the Western Continent.

Thus, in the millennium after the shattering of the Blood Clan's Holy Grail, war has been the main theme between the two sides.

Because the Flesh Courtyard and the Empire repeatedly waged war and pulled back and forth on each other's territories, both sides had some claims and manors within the other's domain.

Therefore, within the Empire and the Courtyard, there are still vampire merchants or spies active in each other's territories.

"So, what we're facing is likely one, or even several, vampires?" Horn asked the tall and sturdy Pasrik, walking along the broken El road.

Pasrik scratched the back of his ear with his finger: "If that were the case, it would be fine. Even though it's cloudy, vampires can't use seventy percent of their spells. I can handle it alone.

What I'm afraid of is the Scale Hermitage coming up with some tricks. We don't understand them, so dealing with them is riskier."

"It's okay," Horn said with a smile, patting Pasrik's shoulder, "My sister, Janna, is invincible."

"Janna is far from it," Pasrik said without any politeness, "If she wants to become a battle witch, she'll need to retrain for a while longer."

"Well said, I think so too, so I'll leave this matter to you." Before Pasrik could refuse, Horn strode to the front.

"Where are we?" Looking at the forest and the misty fog in front of him, Horn asked Viktor beside him.

Viktor squinted his eyes and looked into the fog: "According to the previous scout's message, once we reach this landmark, we'll only be half an hour away from the Beastman Empire's capital."

The long black line walked on the winding ancient road. Even the roads of the El Empire were dilapidated after being used for so long.

Stepping on the ground, Horn didn't know whether the feeling under his feet was prickly or like a massage.

This dirt road was based on thick stone, bonded with rammed earth slurry, and crushed stones formed herringbone-shaped ear patterns on the ground. There were also drainage pipes made of pottery tiles on both sides of the road.

However, time was too long, and it was already filled with silt. A few withered wildflowers drooped their heads in the cold mist, until they were swayed left and right by the wind raised by the soldiers.

Since leaving the dock, Horn's expeditionary force had been walking for almost two hours, clearing out hundreds of undead zombies along the way.

Knowing that the weak points of these long-haired zombies were the back of their necks and hearts, and with the cooperation of Janna's lightning, the long-haired zombies near the dock were quickly cleared by them.

As rumored, these zombies were like paramecium, only able to perform the most basic activities.

They were each responsible for a certain area. As long as outsiders didn't step into their area, even if Horn and his group walked past them, they would turn a blind eye.

As Horn went deeper, the attacking beastman zombies became fewer and fewer, which made Horn ponder. Could it be that the vampires inside were using a defense strategy of prioritizing the inside over the outside?

But on second thought, there was no need. Could these long-haired zombies rebel?

"Hmm?" Horn, who had been thinking with his head down, suddenly raised his head and frowned as he looked around.

Viktor asked curiously, "Your Majesty, what's wrong?"

"Did you hear a strange clicking sound?"

"Clicking sound? I didn't hear it," Viktor stood blankly in place, "Is someone winding a clockwork key?"

Horn tilted his ear to listen, but the strange clicking sound disappeared again.

"That's really strange..." Muttering, Horn raised his head, "It's nothing, let's keep going. Hey, the fog seems to have cleared a bit, and we can see the road ahead clearly."

As it approached noon, the dense fog did dissipate a lot, but under the dark sky, the light was all in gray and cold tones.

Horn looked around. Above the Autumn Twilight Island area, there were traces of abandoned farmland and pastures everywhere.

Stepping onto the wooden plank bridge over the stream, Horn vaguely saw an archway carved with inlaid ribbons standing in the sparse forest. The rest of the palace had turned into dust.

"Beep beep beep—"

The scout's bird whistle came from the front, informing them that they could continue to move forward.

Reaching this position, Horn looked up and could already see the outline of the city ruins in the distance, as well as the garden palace located by the river.

The most striking thing was the towering spire in the palace. He hadn't seen it clearly before, but now Horn realized that it was nearly a hundred meters high.

"Horn, kid, we'll be there in about ten minutes," Pasrik estimated the distance and said to Horn, "These soldiers can spread out a little bit, in groups of ten to investigate the nearby area, slowly approaching the manor."

"Are you sure the vampires are inside?" Horn questioned.

Pasrik pointed to the badge on his neck: "My badge is vibrating. It's a magical item. There must be vampires within five miles."

Under the command of Viktor and Janna, the soldiers left enough guards behind and scattered to investigate the nearby area, but found no danger.

After waiting for a long time, Horn simply called them all back, had lunch, and rested for another half an hour before leading the team to the garden palace again.

Standing in front of the gate, Horn carefully examined the manor in front of him. The high rubble walls were covered with dark green Virginia creepers and vines. From the gaps in the walls, he could see the broken and fallen ivory arch columns.

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On the marble triangular gable of the manor gate, sat a green wooden puppet clown wearing a comical hat, its empty and lifeless eyes staring straight at Horn and the others.

The square, movable jaw opened, and many of the accompanying soldiers seemed to have heard a chilling laugh.

On both sides of the gate stood two bronze roosters painted with mottled and bright paint. They were deep red all over, with white paint on their wings, standing on one leg, like the guards of the manor.

Ordering the soldiers to climb over the manor walls first to investigate the area and confirm that there was no danger, they returned to report.

Having the Holy Gunners line up, Horn told Janna and Pasrik to prepare, and then ordered the soldiers behind the door to open the manor gate from the inside.

The gate slowly opened as it was dragged.

"Cluck cluck cluck—"

In the quiet air, the clear and mechanical crowing of a rooster was unusually clear. Horn's scalp tightened, and he immediately looked in the direction of the sound. It was actually the rooster at the door.

Its beak opened and closed regularly and stiffly, and a series of strange crowing sounds came from its chest.

"Damn!"

Rudylo next to him hurriedly stepped forward and kicked the screaming chicken's head off its line. He raised his foot again, wanting to smash its body.

"Wait." Reaching out to grab Rudylo's shoulder, Horn frowned and squatted down in front of the rooster.

Although the rooster had no head, it was still making a strange and dry crowing sound.

He looked inside from the bronze mechanical rooster's neck, and the precise gears meshed seamlessly. The chain rotated the escapement fork, constantly striking a hollow sphere, and the crowing sound came from this sphere.

"Click, click."

Tilting his ear to listen, Horn found that it was surprisingly similar to the strange sound he had just heard.

Standing up, Horn straightened his back and looked into the doorway. The scattered squares of the garden palace were displayed like a picture scroll in front of everyone.

Not far away, in front of the main palace, the spire was close at hand.

Amidst the incomplete statues and廊柱, the orderly giant tower carried a trace of eerie beauty.

"Let's go, let's go in and take a look."