Chapter 188 The Mechanical Palace on Qiumu Island
Vampires are the culprits of the destruction of the El Empire.
After the natural disaster, a large number of former El nobles defected to the huge coalition of vampires and ogres, and devoted their loyalty to the vampires in order to extend their limited life span.
Only those fringe royal family members and local nobles, led by Myrcella, fled to the Eastern Continent.
So within the Flesh Royal Court, they never considered themselves vampires, but blood elves, and ogres were not ogres, but called giants.
For religious reasons, the Royal Court wanted the territory of the Eastern Continent, and for political reasons, the Empire wanted the territory of the Western Continent.
So in the thousands of years since the Holy Grail of the Blood Tribe was broken, war has been the main theme of both sides.
Due to the repeated wars and tug-of-war between the Flesh Royal Court and the Empire on their respective territories, each side has a portion of its claims and estates within the other's territory.
So, within the empire and the royal court, there are still vampire merchants or spies operating in their respective territories.
"So what we are facing is most likely one, or even several vampires?" Horn asked the tall and strong Paslik along the broken Al road.
Paslik scratched behind his ears with his fingers: "It would be better if that were the case. Even though it is cloudy, 70% of the vampire's spells are still inoperable. I can deal with it by myself.
What I'm afraid of is what kind of trouble the Hermitage of Si Heng will cause. We don't know them well, so it's quite risky to deal with them."
"It's okay." Horn smiled and patted Paslik on the shoulder. "My sister Jeanne is invincible."
"Jeanne is still far from it." Paslik said unceremoniously, "If she wants to become a fighting witch, she needs at least another period of training. Time."
"That's good, I think so, then I'll leave this matter to you." Before Paslik could refuse, Horn strode to the front.
"Where are we?" Looking at the forest and mist in front of him, Horn asked Victor next to him.
Victor squinted his eyes and looked into the fog: "According to the news from the previous scouts, when we get to this landmark, we are only half an hour away from the lycanthropic imperial capital."
The long dragon in black walked on the long ancient road. Even the road of the El Empire was in dilapidated condition after being used for such a long time.
Stepping on the ground, Horn didn't know whether the touch on the soles of his feet was rubbing or massaging.
This dirt road is paved with coarse stones, which are bonded with rammed earth mud. The gravel discharges fishbone-shaped spike patterns on the ground. There are drainage pipes paved with pottery shards on both sides of the road.
But it took too long, and the place had already been filled with mud. A few withered wild flowers hung their heads in the cold mist, until they were swayed left and right by the wind brought by the soldiers.
After coming out of the dock, Horn's expeditionary force had been walking for almost two hours, clearing hundreds of undead zombies along the way.
After knowing that the weak points of these hairy zombies are the back of the neck and heart, and with the help of Jeanne's lightning, they quickly cleared away the hairy zombies near the dock.
As rumored, these zombies are like paramecia and can only carry out the most basic activities.
They are each responsible for an area. As long as outsiders do not set foot in their area, even if Horn and his group pass under their noses, they will turn a blind eye.
As Horn went deeper, there were fewer and fewer lycanthropic zombies attacking, which made Horn think deeply. Could it be that the vampires inside were engaging in a defensive strategy of focusing on the outside and focusing on the inside?
But then I thought about it, it’s not necessary. Will these hairy zombies still rebel?
"Huh?" Horn, who had his head down thinking about something, suddenly raised his head and looked around with a frown.
Victor asked curiously: "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?"
"Did you hear a strange clicking sound?"
"Clicking sound? I didn't hear it." Victor stood there blankly, "Is someone twisting the clockwork key?"
Horn turned his ear to listen, and the strange sound before The clicking sound disappeared again.
"It's really weird..." After muttering, Horn raised his head, "Nothing, just keep walking. Hey, the fog seems to have dispersed a little, and you can see the road ahead clearly."
It was almost noon, and the thick fog had indeed dissipated a lot, but under the dark sky, the light was all gray and cool.
Horn looked around and saw traces of abandoned farmland and pastures everywhere on Qiumu Island.
Stepping onto the wooden bridge over the stream, Horn could vaguely see an arch with carved friezes standing in the sparse forest. The rest of the palace had turned into dust. "Didi-di-di-"
The scout's bird whistle came from the front to tell them that they could continue to move forward.
At this point, Horn raised his head and looked up, but he could already clearly see the outline of the ruins of the city in the distance, as well as the garden palace located by the river.
The most eye-catching thing is the towering spire in the palace. I had not seen it clearly before, but now Horn discovered that it is nearly a hundred meters high.
"Boy Horn, we will arrive in about ten minutes." Paslik estimated the distance and said to Horn, "These soldiers can spread out a little, and go to the nearby area in groups of ten to investigate, slowly Approaching the manor."
"Are you sure the vampire is inside?" Horn questioned.
Paslik clicked the badge around his neck: "My badge is vibrating. This is a strange object. There must be a vampire within a radius of five miles."
In Wei Under the orders of Kedo and Jeanne, the soldiers left sufficient guard and then dispersed. After exploring the area, they found no danger.
After waiting for a long time, Horn simply called them all back. After having lunch and resting for half an hour, he led the team to set off again and headed towards the garden palace.
Standing in front of the gate, Horn carefully looked at the manor in front of him. The high rough stone wall was covered with dark green brocade and vines, and the broken ivory arch colonnade could be seen from the gap in the wall.
On the marble triangular gable of the manor gate, sat a green puppet clown wearing a funny hat, staring blankly at Horn and others.
The square movable jaw opened, and many of the accompanying soldiers seemed to have heard a burst of infiltrating laughter.
On both sides of the gate, there are two big brass roosters painted with mottled and bright paint. They are all deep red, with white paint on their wings. They stand on one foot, like guards of the manor.
The soldiers were ordered to climb over the manor's wall first to investigate. After confirming that there was no danger, they came back to report.
Asking the holy gunmen to line up, Horn told Jeanne and Paslik to get ready, and then called the soldiers behind the door to open the door of the manor from the inside.
The door opened slowly while being dragged.
"Cock-clack——"
In the quiet air, the clear and mechanical sound of a chicken was extremely clear. Horn's scalp tightened and he immediately looked in the direction of the sound. It turned out to be that chicken. Big cock at the door.
Its pointed beak opened and closed regularly and stiffly, and bursts of weird cock crows came from its chest.
"Wipe!"
Rudillo hurried forward and kicked the screaming chicken's head off the line with one kick. He raised his foot again and crushed its body.
“Wait a minute.” Horn reached out and held Rudillo’s shoulder. Horn frowned and squatted in front of the big cock.
Although the big rooster has no head, it is still making a strange and dry crowing sound.
He looked inside from the neck of the brass mechanical rooster. The precision gears were meshing tightly. The chain turned the pallet fork and continuously struck a hollow ball. The rooster's crow came from this ball. ball.
"Click, click."
Listening with his ears, Horn found that it was surprisingly similar to the strange sound he just heard.
Standing up, Horn straightened his back and looked into the doorway. The scattered squares in the garden palace were displayed in front of everyone like a picture scroll.
Not far away, in front of the main palace, the spire is already close at hand.
Among the incomplete statues and columns, the neat giant tower actually has a strange beauty.
"Let's go in and have a look."
(End of this chapter)