Far at the border, Odys felt that everything had changed.
It was as if his body had shed some heavy burden last night, and his entire soul now felt light and buoyant.
The air felt different, the mana felt different, and even his breathing seemed smoother.
His level, which had been stuck at Level 9, now gave him a sense that it might soon rise.
At first, he thought he was the only one experiencing this, but Avi, clad in her black mage robes, also joyfully informed him that she felt the same way.
This surprised him. After further inquiries, it turned out not just the two of them—Lucy, Dylon, and all the other second-generation Bloodline Descendants, as well as every vampire, shared the same sensation.
This made Odys wonder: Could it be that their great clan leader had developed a new power within their bloodline?
This reminded him of the time Li De, from thousands of miles away, issued commands to all of them through their bloodline connection.
And last night’s strange fluctuations they sensed led the second-generation Bloodline Descendants to unanimously agree with this hypothesis.
But since they couldn’t contact Li De for now, they could only hold onto this guess and confirm it with him once they returned.
“Lord Viscounts, we’ve discovered a new group of wandering commoners, and there are no beastmen nearby.”
A vampire below brought up the latest intelligence report.
During this period, they had found quite a few groups of commoners, but many of these groups were near patrolling beastmen wyverns.
Although the beastmen had no interest in humans who had already been captured, if the vampires recklessly took humans without regard for risk, they would surely be discovered by the beastmen.
The beastmen may not care about human commoners, but they were highly interested in vampires, whose bodies were full of alchemical materials.
For safety reasons, whenever beastmen were spotted near wandering commoners, Odys and his group refrained from taking action.
Otherwise, in these past half months, Dawn City would have gained more than just 2,000 people—perhaps even double that number.
The borders were too dangerous; this was the territory of the beastmen. The vampires weren’t yet in a position to challenge hundreds of thousands of beastmen.
If they acted rashly, the losses the vampires faced would be significant. Such high-risk actions did not align with the vampires' interests.
Thus, Odys led the vampires in lying low, ensuring maximum safety before every operation.
“Send out twice as many bats for reconnaissance and expand the search radius threefold. We must ensure there are no beastmen nearby.”
The borders were currently dominated by the beastmen—a fact even humans had to admit.
Especially after the human armies were utterly defeated, those crude beastmen sent out large numbers of wyverns daily on patrols to find villages and towns of humans that hadn’t yet been captured.
Even with their extreme caution, the vampires encountered them a few times. Fortunately, no major losses occurred, which was why Odys remained so cautious.
“Yes, Lord Viscount.”
After the reporting vampire left, Odys stood up and looked at Avi, Lucy, and Dylon—companions he had known for a hundred years—and said gravely.
“Avi, for this operation, you’ll handle coordination as usual, while I’ll take charge of reconnaissance and keeping an eye out for the beastmen.
We’re at the border, and among us, I’ve spent the longest time here, so I understand better than anyone how fierce the beastmen are.
That vast horde of lowly creatures is extremely dangerous. Though our numbers are small, even if we can fight them head-on, we mustn’t act recklessly.
The safety of the vampires comes first. No amount of caution is excessive at the border. Let’s begin the operation.”
After hearing Odys’ words, everyone began preparations according to their previously assigned roles.
Originally, Li De had ordered Avi to lead the population raids at the border, but since Odys was more familiar with the border environment, after observing twice, Avi decisively handed over command back to Odys.
Avi was a very intelligent female vampire. She knew that the vampires couldn’t afford to lose a single member, so for safety’s sake, she cooperated fully with Odys.
After several population raids, the team had become familiar with the process.
Odys kept watch, Dylon controlled the Whispering Bats, Lucy intimidated the humans—if resistance arose, she struck first—and Avi was responsible for calming the crowd.
Though not perfect, this structure was sufficient against panicked and defenseless civilians. When dealing with humans, their main concern wasn’t how to make them surrender.
Rather, it was how to prevent the humans from scattering in all directions.
Few could maintain the will to resist under the shadow of countless giant bats blotting out the sky.
The fourth population raid soon commenced.
At dusk, a group of nearly a thousand refugees rested on a wide grassland. Exhausted and hungry from a day’s journey, many had already started fires to prepare food.
Just then, enormous bats blotted out the sky.
Under the twilight, the terrifying scene felt like the end of the world.
Vampires have arrived!!
Everything unfolded as it had the previous times—chaos, fear, and some people even fled outright.
But the experienced vampires followed their standard procedures: intimidation, pacification, and finally, making various promises.
By the time the sky darkened, the population raid was nearing its conclusion.
Though the displaced commoners were reluctant, under the overwhelming pressure of the vampires, they obediently climbed onto the Whispering Bats and began flying toward Dawn City.
However, just as half of the Whispering Bats had taken off, Odys, who was on guard duty, suddenly turned pale.
They were in deep trouble.
A message came from the nearby lookout post: three hundred wyverns were heading in their direction.
They would arrive in one-third of a sun-hour.
But it would take at least half a sun-hour to transport all the humans.
This put Odys in a dilemma.
If they abandoned the mission, these humans were a desperately needed resource for the vampires. Moreover, the enemy wasn’t overly numerous, and they still had some time before arrival.
But if they didn’t abandon the mission, the wyverns—though weaker than Whispering Bats of the same level—were the beastmen’s most powerful aerial units. If a battle broke out, no one could guarantee that no vampires would fall.
His expression hardened as he glanced back at the halfway-completed evacuation.
“Avi, Dylon, Lucy, come with me. We’ll hold off the beastmen for a while.”
Though there were only four of them, as second-generation Bloodline Descendants and superior beings who had lived for over a hundred years, they wouldn’t fear facing hundreds of beastmen.
They had enough confidence to face the enemy. Even if they couldn’t win, they had enough tricks up their sleeves to escape.
Odys’ words received unanimous agreement from everyone. What they didn’t know was that this courageous action would bring them immense rewards.
That night, four system notifications rang in Li De’s ears.
“Ding~ Second-generation Bloodline Descendant Odys Kachar has broken through to Level 10, advancing to an advanced professional. Vampire strength has increased. Gained character experience—100.”
“Ding~ Second-generation Bloodline Descendant Avi Kachar has broken through to Level 10. Gained character experience—100.”
“Ding~ Second-generation Bloodline Descendant Lucy Kachar has broken through to Level 10. Gained character experience—100.”
“Ding~ Second-generation Bloodline Descendant Dylon Kachar has broken through to Level 10. Gained character experience—100.”