Because of the Pantanal voodoo cult's poisoning of the Count a few days ago, there were ring sorcerers from the church present at the banquet, so even though Shad had heard about the Truth Society and the cultists a few hours ago, he was not particularly worried.
He calculated the time and was ready to go to the courtyard of the manor at almost nine o'clock to return the earrings in his hand to Princess Margaret. It happened that Mr. Bernhardt had nothing to do, so he planned to go with Shade. After all, it would be a bit conspicuous to leave the banquet hall alone.
Although tonight's banquet was held indoors due to the weather, there were actually some people in groups of two or three holding glasses of wine to "watch the moon" in the courtyard. Of course, it is hard to say whether they would have private conversations while watching the moon, or whether there would be in-depth exchanges between young people.
Shade and Mr. Bernhardt came to the yard together, chatting and laughing. They looked up at the moon above their heads almost at the same time, and then smiled at the same time. Shade bathed in the moonlight and felt refreshed. The vampire bathed in the moonlight and felt that the fatigue brought by the noisy banquet was swept away.
There was some vague music behind him, and he came to the quiet courtyard, as if he had suddenly entered another world. Seeing that the princess's maid had not arrived yet, Shade invited Mr. Bernhardt to take a walk, and Mr. Bernhardt was of course happy to have some quiet time.
In this early winter, except for a few evergreen plants, most of the other plants in the courtyard have withered. However, in the hands of the royal family's outstanding gardeners and gardeners, the quiet courtyard under the moonlight is still so beautiful. Looking at the courtyard of the manor, Shade inevitably recalled the first large banquet he attended after coming to this world, which was the Lake View Manor Banquet.
He heard a lot of things and met a lot of people at the banquet, until the end of the banquet, when he kicked the ball under the moon. Thinking about it now, that experience is still so incredible.
“Once winter arrives, Huntington’s night weather is even better than in the summer.”
Mr. Bernhardt said as he and Shade walked to the Knight Fountain in the courtyard. The sound of the water was gurgling, adding a sense of loneliness to the quiet night.
"Yes, I didn't expect to be able to see such a beautiful starry sky and moon from the city."
Both of them have magical powers related to the "moon", so once the topic is opened, they can find a lot to talk about.
For example, the "Moonlight Slash" that Xia De mastered was a relatively basic Moonlight series of magic. It could be used not only by the Silver Moon, but also by the Yellow Moon and the Red Moon. However, the Moonlight Slash of the Silver Moon tended to fight against evil and had a "holy" attribute; the Moonlight Slash of the Red Moon tended to destroy flesh and blood, and had a very strong effect on the destruction of the flesh; while the Moonlight Slash of the Yellow Moon did not have outstanding attribute characteristics, which instead allowed the purest destructive effect of spirit and energy to be more fully exerted.
Mr. Bernhardt is a seven-ring warlock, and his experience is a great inspiration to Shade. And Shade has mastered the "Silver Moon" and "Yellow Moon" that Mr. Bernhardt has not mastered, so his experience is also of great value to the vampires.
When sharing his experience with "Moonlight Slash", Shade of course also mentioned the three forms of changes he made to this magic, namely the most basic slash, the slow but extremely powerful slash that leaves a cross arc of light in the air, and the slash that quickly casts a spell to pull out the arc of light after clapping his hands together.
"You are so talented with the moon."
Mr. Bernhardt said sincerely:
"Now you have the power of the Yellow Moon and the Silver Moon. If you can obtain the Red Moon, perhaps all your moon magic will undergo a qualitative change."
In fact, Xia De's fourth ring already has the "Red Moon" spirit rune, which is the power of blasphemy. But in order to save the Twin Red Butterflies, the Red Moon is temporarily sealed, and he has not found a suitable way to restore the power of this spirit rune.
"As for 'Moonlight Slash', I don't have the talent like you to develop so many forms."
Mr. Bernhardt said softly, looking around to make sure there were no young men and women having an affair in the bushes nearby:
"My family, oh, not the Bernhardt family, but the vampire clan. We have more skills in using this ability."
A ring wizard has never been an extraordinary profession that works behind closed doors. A long time ago, Priest Augustus said that a ring wizard is actually more like a scholar. Sometimes other people's notebooks are more useful than one's own concentrated research for a month:
"Moonlight Slash can be cast not only with the hands, but in theory, any part of the body can be used to cast spells."
As he spoke, the gentleman lightly kicked forward, and Shade saw a scarlet blade of light sweeping along the ground. Because he deliberately controlled the power, the light mark disappeared when it touched the base of the fountain.
“I’ve tried to do that, too.”
Xia De nodded. The kick he made under the moonlight was an application of the Moonlight Slash with his feet:
"But other than my hands and feet, it's hard to cast spells with other parts. This is all I can do now..."
After he finished speaking, he opened his mouth, flickered his tongue, and a small streak of silver light flew out. After Xia De learned this move, he never showed it to anyone because it had no practical use, was too weak, and was too shameful.
Mr. Bernhardt did not feel anything was wrong, their discussion was purely academic:
"Yes, it is really difficult. Our race has the talent to transform into bats, so in bat form, we use wings to cast spells. As for using the tongue like you did, some people have tried it, but the power was very poor. After all, the tongue itself is not an organ with offensive power."
After saying this, he suddenly smiled:
"As it happens, I have time today. I will show you the special Moonlight Slash technique that the clan developed from the talents of the Dhampir."
The two walked from the central path of the courtyard to the path in the courtyard. After confirming that they were far enough away from the mansion—
"Oh!"
Mr. Bernhardt clenched his fists under the moonlight, and raised his arms to the upper left and upper right respectively:
"ha!"
Bring your arms back and cross them in front of your chest, keeping your fists clenched:
"Moonlight Slash!"
With a low chuckle, the middle-aged vampire turned into a bright red arc of light and rushed forward, but did not hit any target and turned back breathlessly.
He gasped for breath and explained to Shade:
"Among the magic inherited by our race, there is a 'Blood Blade' related to the Blood Spirit Rune, which uses one's own blood to cut down the opponent. The form change of Moonlight Slash uses a similar principle to turn oneself into moonlight to attack the enemy. But the weakness is also obvious."
Mr. Bernhardt looked exhausted:
"Look at me and you'll know how much energy this move consumes. In addition, if the Moonlight Slash is interrupted by the enemy during the attack, you will suffer considerable damage. Moreover, this form change is essentially just an application of thaumaturgy. There is no specific learning method, and you can only rely on your own experience. This requires not only a high degree of affinity with the moon, but also an affinity with light itself. Few people below the high level can master it directly."
Speaking of this, Mr. Bernhardt was somewhat pleased with himself, and Shade also praised him wholeheartedly:
"It is indeed amazing. This can be said to be the ultimate form of the Moonlight Slashing Technique."
Moonlight Slash was a magic that could be learned at a low level, after all. After developing three forms, Shade realized that the magic had reached its limit. He planned to develop the last form of this magic at the last level of the fourth level, and after being promoted to the middle level, he could seek other moonlight attack magics.
The two did not walk far, but continued to chat in a position where they could see the manor house. However, before Princess Margaret appeared, a light suddenly flashed in the garden behind the manor. The light was extremely conspicuous in the middle of the night. Not only did Shade and Mr. Bernhardt see it, but anyone in the manor who looked out the window would definitely see it.
"Light spell?"
Mr. Benhart hesitated:
"Aren't you afraid of attracting the church's ring sorcerers by using light magic here?"
"Perhaps it is to attract the church's ring sorcerers, and those ring sorcerers will have to send some people to check the situation."
The knowledgeable Xia De said in a low voice. The two of them were silent for a while and looked towards the back of the mansion together, but there was no other movement for a long time. So Xia De looked at the door of the mansion not far away:
"Why hasn't Princess Margaret's maid arrived yet?"
"I have a bad feeling."
Mr. Bernhardt said with some concern, and then suggested:
"Let's go back and take a look at the situation. Whatever that was, it must be related to the Ring Warlock. Maybe those lunatics from the Truth Society really dare to take action here."
Xia De also agreed with his opinion, and the two of them walked quickly back to the door of the mansion, but Xia De pushed the door and failed to open it:
"Um?"
He felt like he was trying to push a mountain.
Mr. Bernhardt came over to help, but he also failed to push the door open. Listening carefully to the sounds inside the door, the music was normal, and the conversations and laughter did not seem fake, because they could clearly hear the two people at the door arguing fiercely about the topic of sailing:
"Someone locked the door?"
Mr. Bernhardt said doubtfully, and Shade reached out and used the key to open the door. The magic did work, but the process of unlocking the door was like arm wrestling with a dragon. He could open the door, but he had to concentrate on using the magic:
"Mr. Bernhardt, wait a moment, I'm unlocking the door."
"The banquet is still going on normally. This 'lock' is obviously the power of the ring magician. The person who set this lock just doesn't want outsiders to enter in a short period of time, and doesn't want to attract more people's attention. The Five Gods Church directly provides protection to the royal family, and the Truth Society should not directly attack Princess Margaret. What are they doing?"
Mr. Bernhardt analyzed, and after waiting for nearly five minutes, Shade finally opened the lock. After pushing open the golden door, the two quickly slipped in. The ball was still going on as usual, and the elegantly dressed gentlemen and beautiful ladies were still dancing and enjoying themselves. The melodious music was so relaxing, and the two gentlemen who were arguing about sailing at the door just glanced at them. It seemed that no one realized that something unusual was happening.
But Princess Margaret had disappeared into a corner of the sofa in the banquet hall. After a little inquiry, they found out that someone had called her away not long ago. But when asked who called the princess away, those ordinary people could not explain clearly.
"Sure enough, something happened."
Xia De said to Mr. Bernhardt in a low voice with some nervousness:
"I'll go find that witch. There won't be any problems with her around."
Mr. Bernhard nodded, but didn't want to follow Shade:
"I will go find my fellow tribesmen and ask them what happened. You and the lady can come to me directly later. Maybe you already know where the princess went."
So the two of them split up, and while preparing the spell materials, Shade left the banquet hall and walked along the left corridor to find Miss Sylvia. But after turning the corner of the corridor, he saw a tall man standing in the middle of the empty corridor, as if he was waiting for Shade deliberately.
Xia De didn't see him at the banquet just now, because there was a dark green vertical line on each side of this man's cheek extending down from his cheek. His skin was a little dark, and his eyes were deeply sunken, obviously waiting for Xia De:
"You opened the 'lock' from the outside?"
The strange man spoke with a heavy accent in Carsenric, and looked at Shade with his grey eyes:
"Sir, whoever you are, what happened tonight has nothing to do with you. If you can pretend that you don't know about this, I'm willing to pay you 100 crowns."
Xia De was also looking at him. He was a low-level warlock, probably a third-level warlock, so the "lock" just now was not set by him:
"Pantanal Voodoo Coven?"
He asked hesitantly, but he didn't expect the man to nod:
"Yes, Mr. Delarion. But this matter has nothing to do with the voodoo society. We are just hired by others to do something."
"Who hired you?"
Xia De asked again, but the man just shook his head:
"Do you think I'd tell you?"
"I just don't understand why the Truth Society, which has always looked down on country bumpkins like you, would be willing to hire you?"
Xia De was just testing the waters, but he didn't expect the burly man's expression to change.
"It seems that you really came here to protect Margaret of Anjou. Don't worry, neither we nor the Truth Society dare to take action against members of the royal family. We are just looking for an item."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"If I can't stop you, at least make sure that the Inquisition of the Church of the Five Gods will not be dispatched for this operation."
He put his hand in his pocket and looked at Xia De deeply, as if he was making some kind of decision:
"I pursue the way of the wild, and I have a keen sense of power. I can feel how terrifying you are. Even if you are not a high-level warlock, you are definitely not inferior to a high-level warlock. I can't stop you, but don't think you can get away easily. Those professors who claim to be civilized people have given us valuable knowledge, and we will do our best to help them."
As he spoke, he took out something that looked like snake skin from his pocket. The strong whispering elements immediately spread in all directions, and Shade heard a hissing sound in his ears.
"Relic?"
Xia De was startled, and he swung his hand to send out a beam of moonlight. The three-ring warlock did not dodge at all, and at the same time when the moonlight accurately split him in half from the waist, he swallowed the snake skin into his stomach:
"This is a clerical-level relic, the Undead Snake Slough. Praise the Pantanal! Praise the Undead Snake! So, please die!"
The last few words turned into a completely strange snake-like language, but were still translated by Shade.
Blood spurted out from the man's waist. He had fallen to the ground due to serious injuries. His whole body was shaking and it seemed that he was about to die.
But Shade's face turned pale and he kept retreating. As the snake skin was swallowed by the man, the gas lights in the corridor quickly dimmed. The whispering elements became more obvious and clear, and a crack appeared on the top of the man's "corpse". In Shade's surprised eyes, a black snake with bloodshot eyes and a body covered with mucus, as thick as the man's waist, crawled out of the corpse.
“Hiss~”
A scarlet tongue protruded from the snake's mouth, and mucus flowed on the surface of the snake's body, gradually allowing Shade to see the tapeworm-like pattern on the snake's body.
Its body was larger and longer than the corpse behind it. It turned around and swallowed the corpse, then crawled towards Shade, leaving wet marks on the carpet as it crawled. Even though Shade had seen many snakes in the Sikar Mountains in autumn, he still felt a chill when being stared at by this thing.
"He swallowed the relic? The relic got out of control?"
This reminded Shade of the ring warlock who turned into a murloc because his murloc scales got out of control.
It's not losing control. Swallowing the snake skin should be the triggering method of the relic's characteristics.
“It’s disgusting.”
He drew the Moonlight Greatsword from the air with his right hand and rushed towards the snake. The huge and slow-moving python also rushed towards Xia De, and suddenly bent its body to accumulate strength, like a flying arrow, shooting towards Xia De in the increasingly dark corridor.
It was extremely fast, but ultimately failed to hit Shad, instead passing through a large group of red butterflies.
As the giant python landed, the butterflies gathered again. Holding the "Moonlight Greatsword", Shade turned and slashed, the greatsword slashing at the snake's head, but the greatsword with holy silver light actually pierced through the snake's body and slashed on the ground.
"Hallucination?"
It was not an illusion, because the giant python swung its tail and hit Shade's waist with great force. Shade originally thought that this sword would at least severely injure the opponent, but he did not expect that his attack would miss, so he was hit against the wall by the tail like a ball hit by a club.
“Hiss, hiss, hiss~”
The light in the corridor continued to fade, and darkness was falling. The pitch-black giant python turned around, supporting its body with its tail, its mouth opened to reveal its sharp teeth, and its scarlet eyes stared at Shade who was climbing up, as if it wanted to bite off Shade's head.
The coming of darkness made the snake stronger, and at the same time, darkness was like a thick liquid, making Shade feel that his movements were becoming slower and slower. But it bit forward, but it failed to hit Shade, and instead its head hit the wall heavily, breaking through the wall and entering the empty room on the other side.
And Shad, who used Lager's jump transfer, appeared in the distance of the dark corridor.
The giant snake swam out of the hole in the wall, spitting out its tongue and observing Shade, obviously planning to kill him with one blow. However, such an obvious sound just now actually failed to attract anyone's attention. It seems that this action was indeed done in every possible way to avoid attracting attention.
Relying on his darkvision, Shade stared at the giant snake that almost blended into the darkness in the almost dark environment, and asked in his heart:
"Why can't I attack it, but it can attack me?"