Chapter 457: The Feeling of Getting Infinitely Close to the Truth Makes One Restless

When Flesh Render left the “Land of Creation” fully dressed and carrying a body bag with a limp, the swamp giant snake that had been banished to the Astral Realm by the “Explorer” had already returned to the material world.

The time was shorter than the 30 minutes claimed by the Explorer, which fully proved that even among the Black Plague servants, such a “professional world-destroying” group of villains, there were highly unreliable individuals.

And this “small mistake” was enough to cause heavy casualties among the Gnolls and undead army that Flesh Render had left here. Seeing the situation was unfavorable, they retreated outside the restricted area. Fortunately, Flesh Render’s authority was still effective, so these fellows didn’t run back to Plague Town all at once, but specially left a group of undead soldiers to assist Flesh Render’s return.

Although in their hearts, they all wished how nice it would be if Flesh Render just disappeared into the deep swamp?

With the silent assistance of the Netherworld Knights, Flesh Render had a thrilling but safe passage through the battlefield that was being frantically ravaged by the swamp giant snake. One-third of the assault zombies that came along were sent out just to lure this beast to vent its fury elsewhere.

Practice proved their strategy was correct.

The beast’s echoing hisses in the swamp mist were filled with angry meaning, it had been completely enraged, which meant it had lost its calmness and wisdom.

“Is it injured?”

Having returned to safety, Flesh Render looked back at the battlefield behind, both marveling at the legendary creature’s formidability and feeling a strange eagerness to try.

It could hear the pain that couldn’t be suppressed in the giant snake’s roars.

This indicated that the “Astral Realm journey” just now had brought trouble to this powerful creature, it had started bleeding. This was an unexpected joy, as once the plague sorcerers got hold of a creature’s blood, no matter how powerful it was, there would be exploitable weaknesses.

Whether malicious curse spells or the concoction of dissolving poisons were very useful methods of weakening.

“You stay here! Collect Ningkinanka’s blood.”

Flesh Render decisively barked at its apprentices:

“I need to return to Plague Town first to handle our King’s remains. I will return here tomorrow morning with the necessary items. This wandering swamp giant snake must be killed before we can continue searching for other secret treasures left by our King in this area.

We have achieved the first step of our goal, but we cannot return with just the King’s remains.”

“You found it?”

Flesh Render’s words startled the Gnoll sorcerers.

They all looked at the black body bag that Flesh Render was holding tightly to its chest, realizing that inside lay the only leader of the Gnoll race. This was enough to shock these arrogant fellows.

Gnolls have very short lifespans, compared to humans in this world who can easily live to 140 years old, Gnolls can only live up to 60 years at most, and living in that hellhole of Dark Mountain means an even shorter lifespan.

This means that these young Gnolls, like humans, grew up listening to legends of King Gnawbone.

They had also come to view King Gnawbone as a legendary figure, and now having the remains of the legendary figure right before their eyes was enough to give these fierce and dangerous fellows a sense of shock as heavy history came crashing down on them.

“Can we… can we see it?”

A bold apprentice made the request, and other apprentices nodded in agreement.

Flesh Render looked at them and initially wanted to refuse this disrespectful request, but on second thought, it would still need these fellows to search here for King Gnawbone’s personal items that were hidden away, so it wouldn’t be good to dampen their enthusiasm. Besides, making public the news of King Gnawbone’s remains returning could also boost morale.

So it nodded as well, and next to its wyvern, Flesh Render opened the body bag in a reverent manner, once again revealing King Gnawbone’s dignity.

It must be said that by Gnoll standards, even in death, King Gnawbone’s remaining remains were still heart-stirring.

King Gnawbone’s body was extremely large, even as a mummy it was still a size larger than purebred Gnolls like Kenport.

Moreover, it possessed quite fierce claws and a long powerful tail. The very regular spots on its shriveled corpse still embodied an incomparable “nobility” in the eyes of the surrounding Gnolls even after a hundred years. Its fierce jaw and protruding fangs all represented its formidable combat ability.

The King’s remains lay with closed eyes, and though reduced to skin and bones, it was still like an enraged lion, as if it could open its eyes and go on a killing spree at any moment.

This majestic posture perfectly satisfied the young Gnolls’ stereotypical impression of King Gnawbone in their hearts, making them can’t help but imagine the mighty and imposing manner of the powerful King leading armies on killing sprees when it was alive.

However, someone soon raised doubts:

“Mentor Flesh Render, why is our King wearing only simple clothes? What about the ‘Hunting’ Crown bestowed by the Hunting God to our King, the ‘Trampling’ Bone Shield, the ‘Skull Crusher’ Scepter, and the ‘Soul Render’ Flail?”

The one-eyed apprentice questioned:

“Those are indispensable legendary items in all the legendary stories about our King! They are the symbols of power for us Gnolls, we must bring those things back to win respect for the clan.

More importantly, if we find the secrets of its power in our King’s bequest, doesn’t that mean we can also train war warriors for the Plague Clan! Those legendary Hunting Guards who roamed the continent!”

Flesh Render couldn’t tell its apprentices about the Creator’s secrets, but making up a lie was no challenge for it. This fellow’s eyes rolled once, and then with a lamenting face said:

“Our King had a fierce battle with the swamp giant snake in its final moments, its most loyal Sons of the Hunt accompanied it to the end. It was an epic intense battle, our King’s armaments were lost on this battlefield, so we must stay here to recover our King’s personal items.

No one knows where those legendary weapons were lost, but that is precisely the responsibility you must shoulder next.”

Flesh Render coughed once, pounding its waist to affect a weak posture, it said as it gathered up King Gnawbone’s remains again:

“I am old, the merit of finding our King’s remains is enough for me to enter the decision-making circle of Moss Valley. I am satisfied holding the final outcome of my life, however the leadership of the Plague Clan still hangs in the balance.

I cannot select a suitable person from among you inheritors who are all very excellent, so how about this?

Let’s use this action of retrieving the relics as the criterion for judgment, whoever can find our King’s legendary armaments, I will appoint them as the next chieftain of the Plague Clan, and resolutely support the weapon finder to inherit that King’s power!

I swear to the Lord of the Hunt that I will fulfill my promise today!

Therefore my disciples, I hope you seize the time, we only have one last step left before our work in the Foul Swamp can end.

We can leave here forever with the precious items, those Transian clowns will never know what we found in the swamp. I’m already too lazy to deal with their boring war, but I’m willing to give you all a chance to prove yourselves.

30 days!

I will give you one month!

Whether or not you find those legendary items, I will destroy Plague Town and withdraw.”

Flesh Render’s promise made the young Gnoll sorcerers’ eyes light up one by one.

They certainly didn’t believe this old immortal fellow would keep its promise, but they didn’t care. After all, they had already received Flesh Render’s promise, which was equivalent to obtaining a “strong claim.”

They exchanged glances with each other, preparing to first do things according to Flesh Render’s instructions to lull this old but still powerful old timer, then secretly accumulate strength to complete a wave of coordinated internal and external cooperation to kill this old thing here.

Since bringing King Gnawbone’s remains back to Dark Mountain would earn rewards, why couldn’t they be the ones to receive the rewards?

However this matter must be carefully planned – even old, Flesh Render wasn’t easy to deal with. Before truly taking action, they must put on an obedient appearance that could put the old thing at ease.

Several minutes later, Flesh Render’s wyvern passed through the heavy mist of the swamp restricted area returning towards Plague Town. The old Gnoll on the saddle stroked the body bag beside it, a flash of cold determination passing through its murky eyes.

What its disciples wanted to do, it knew perfectly well.

However, these ambitious fools didn’t yet know about its agreement reached with the Explorer, the Gnoll sorcerers in Plague Town, every single one of them, would not leave here alive.

Since these fellows had already been promised to the Explorer as cannon fodder, before that guy came to take over, it should also fully exercise the virtue of frugality and conduct a final “waste utilization.”

“Search, go search, find the information our King left for us descendants. I believe King Gnawbone buried all of its plans within.

I believe our King absolutely left behind a power capable of overturning the continent.”

Flesh Render roared in its heart:

“Our King perished in the Land of Creation, this is the Creator’s divine arrangement! This has already destined that the great power hidden in this swamp shall belong to Gnoll hands and become the source of power for our race’s rise! No one can take it from Gnoll hands!

Whether Transians or Dusk, you all dream of snatching away our clan’s secret treasure.

Only King Gnawbone’s true inheritor is qualified to obtain it all!

I am old.

But I also won’t just watch our clan’s hope fall to others. The Black Plague sounds terrible but four consecutive failures have fully proven that the Black Plague cannot help our race rule the continent. We must have more powerful strength as support for conquest.

Hmph.

I will make one last contribution for my race…”

It looked down at the body bag in its hands, after several seconds of silence, Flesh Render said in a low voice:

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I originally thought bringing back your remains would be enough to reunite our people, but I have already witnessed the Creator’s power at the place of your death. I realized the message you wanted to convey to us unworthy descendants.

No matter what you left in that Land of Creation, I will bring it all back to Dark Mountain!

So, please forgive my offense next, please fight one last time for your people!”

Flesh Render made a decision that was destined to be difficult and dangerous, but it had no regrets or hesitation. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

As the wyvern approached Plague Town, Flesh Render ordered Lame Claw, who was idling in the Construction Tower, through the special connection between sorcerers:

“Lame Claw, clean up your laboratory! Prepare all materials for the necromancy ritual, I want you as my assistant to complete a necromantic awakening.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly receiving the order, Lame Claw let out a surprised howl, saying:

“But you haven’t personally done it for many years…”

“Shut up!”

Flesh Render said in a deep voice:

“The test subject this time is very special. I must complete it personally to wash away the terrible guilt in my heart. You make preparations immediately.”

“No, Mentor, I mean, you haven’t done it for many years so your corpse construction technique has probably regressed a lot. If the test subject is really important, then let me do it instead, to avoid you ruining it due to poor eyesight and shaky hands.”

“…, you’re quite hurtful when speaking the truth, fine! Then you lead, I’ll be your assistant.”

————————

“What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you sleeping and coming out to look at the moon in the middle of the night? Have you finally convinced yourself to try the orthodox vampire’s schedule?”

Above the Blood Vulture Halls, in the ruins worksite being cleared by Stonemason Guild workers, Murphy stood alone under the quiet night gazing into the distance, then heard the Crimson Witch’s teasing voice.

The vampire lord looked back, seeing Tris slowly descending from the air with flapping wings while stretching her arms. Seeing how energetic she looked, she must have gone out for a walk to exercise.

For an orthodox vampire like her, this moment was the most energetic time of the day.

“Nothing much, I just feel somewhat restless tonight.”

Murphy opened his arms to Tris, who did not resist coming forward, allowing little Murphy to hold her slender waist. The two stood under the moonlight as if the whole world had fallen silent again in this instant.

“I can’t sleep at all, tossing and turning thinking about recent operations but haven’t found where some unexpected hidden dangers might appear.

But my intuition is warning me that something may be about to happen or has already happened…”

Murphy told Tris his thoughts tonight:

“I rarely have this feeling. The last time I felt so uneasy was before the decisive battle with Kenport. Perhaps this is fate reminding me to be extra careful.

But I cannot know the source of this unease.”

“Vampires are supernatural beings, we occasionally do have this kind of ‘disaster warning’.”

Tris said in a low voice:

“Would you like me to do a divination for you?

Although prophetic magic has always been criticized for its highly uncontrollable results and complex variable interpretations, during some special periods, divination results can indeed indicate many things.

At least it can give answers to your doubts.”

“Sure.”

Murphy accepted this suggestion, he gently patted Tris’s buttocks, saying:

“Just how many abilities do you have that I don’t know about?”

“Oh, there are many.”

The Blood Vulture Grand Duchess rolled her eyes and replied.

As a Spirit Sovereign like her didn’t need many instruments and aids to do divination, merely taking out a small crystal ball from her spirit bag counted as completing the preliminary preparations.

“Put your finger on it, and don’t move no matter what you see next.”

Tris reminded him once, using magic to make the crystal ball float in front of Murphy.

Following her instructions Murphy extended his finger and placed it on the smooth surface of the crystal ball, then closed his eyes listening to Tris’s unique dreamy-like hoarse chanting voice. Like a hypnotic feeling, it quickly made Murphy become drowsy.

In that power carrying mental guidance, Tris asked softly:

“Tell me, what do you see?”

“There’s nothing.”

Murphy answered:

“There’s nothing before my eyes, except mist, hmm, mist everywhere, and blurry figures floating before my eyes, like illusions of giant snakes hidden in dark waters, unclear in the jumping starlight.”

“Mist, giant snake and starlight, sounds related to the Astral Realm.”

Tris frowned and said. She chanted another passage, then asked:

“How about now?”

“I see a person, no, a corpse, it’s being infused with some power that doesn’t belong to it, I can hear its angry rebukes and its wails…

It’s rebuking desecration…

Completely incomprehensible.”

“Well, this is indeed the first time I’ve encountered such divination results, completely unable to confirm where your unease comes from. We could perhaps go deeper.

Come.

Relax your mind…”

Seeing Murphy before her had already entered deep mental guidance, Tris asked softly:

“Let me ask you, little Murphy, have you been in my laboratory?”

“Mm, I have.”

“What did you see in there?”

“Nothing much, I don’t understand those complex alchemy, but I carved a poem of my thoughts and love for you at the bottom of one of the beakers.

Tris, you haven’t been paying attention to me lately, I’m very sad…”

“Tch”

Hearing the dazed Murphy say these things, Tris was barely reassured. She pouted and said:

“It’s not that I don’t care about you, you little fool, I just want to keep you away from danger, that’s all, ah, wake up!”

She snapped her fingers, bringing Murphy out of the mental guidance state. The vampire lord woke as if from a dream, looking around confused, he said:

“What did I just say?”

“Some divination information that cannot be understood.”

Tris said with an unchanged expression:

“About giant snakes and starlight and mist, as well as desecrated corpses and so on, these are all signs whose direction is not so obvious.

I need to spend some time studying before I can give you a conclusion, but you’d better stay away from Astral Realm power recently.”

“Alright.”

Murphy sighed, saying:

“Actually there’s no need to be so urgent, you’ve been too busy lately, perhaps you need to rest a bit.”

“But how can I let my cute little baby feel worried? Isn’t solving your troubles my duty?”

Tris snorted, taking the initiative to come forward and offer a fragrant kiss.

Perhaps due to guilt from neglecting Murphy’s feelings while being busy with other things lately, she was particularly proactive tonight, even having a sense of immersion in it.

And as the vampire lord kissed his girlfriend’s delicate earlobe, resting his head on her shoulder, he suddenly blinked.

“Hmm, fortunately I was cautious beforehand…”

Murphy thought to himself as he easily passed the test with perfect acting:

“Otherwise, I would have really been caught by you, you witch.”