Chapter 290: Chapter 288 Akannis Provoked Someone He Shouldn’t Have
Eve Frostleaf could feel the tip of Jima’s tail brushing against her calf, making her feel a bit itchy. The tail was both cautious and bold, testing her limits bit by bit, and soon it turned into entanglement.
Seeing that Eve Frostleaf did not respond, Jima asked lightly, “So? Little Third.”
Eve Frostleaf turned her head, revealing her icy cold face, gently pushed Jima away, and said, “I can take care of myself.”
Jima knew that she had tested Eve Frostleaf’s limits, and she immediately withdrew her tail from Eve’s calf, smiling, “Alright, if you ever want to take a bath or something, feel free to come by.”
Eve Frostleaf replied with a simple “Okay.”
Her tone was quite indifferent.
Based on her studies of Eve Frostleaf, Jima understood that her earlier actions had made the silver-haired elf determine to come to the Dream Palace less often, if at all.
Jima did not push it; she was satisfied having tasted Eve Frostleaf last night. From now on, she would take it slow, striving to achieve “ice cream freedom,” eating whenever she wanted.
She said, “Well then, you two take your time talking. I’ll be leaving now.”
With that, humming a little tune, she turned and left the room.
Today, she was in a good mood, and even the burning sensation in her lower abdomen had lessened considerably. The joy came from her gain—not related to her lower abdomen.
Eve Frostleaf had gone into her belly, and given some time, Jima believed she could consume her completely. Osuan’s guard would never expect that his daughter would fall into her hands. Thinking about this, Jima felt a sense of inexplicable happiness.
And the previous worry about her identity being discovered had also been resolved. It turned out that even George was helpless in the face of the double beauty bomb, completely losing the sense of pressure he once put on her.
He’s still too young, that kid. If he were willing to think badly of me, then I would have slipped just now.
What a pity.
As for revealing secrets on the eve of the wedding night, it was more of a delaying tactic.
And that “… not marrying is fine too; maintaining our current relationship is good enough.”
It was just Jima holding onto some slim hope. With Jenna and Eve Frostleaf around to loan tofu from, and George himself tirelessly cultivating, such a good deal, how could it be wasted?
Jima walked into the colonnade, where the morning sun fell on the white marble pillars and the soft purple silk pillows on the stone bed nearby, making one feel lazy and wanting to lie down for a nap.
So Jima lay on the cool stone bed, her head resting on the soft pillow, sunbathing like a cat and stretching lazily.
In front of the colonnade was a lush green garden with slender white poplar trees, looking somewhat out of place in the palace, simply because Jima wanted to “plant” poplars.
Crystal droplets of dew dripped from the leaves of the poplar trees, landing on the grass and rustling the blades.
I just want to lie here forever.
Jima squinted her eyes, watching the occasional droplets of dew fall, with the dew, poplar trees, and the garden gradually blurring in her vision.
Her consciousness began to fade, and various bizarre thoughts bubbled up in her mind.
Her lower abdomen was heating up.
Jima placed a hand on her belly, thinking: why not have a child with that kid?
Having a child has many benefits; George couldn’t possibly kill the mother of his child. Moreover, Jenna’s character was nurturing and maternal enough to take care of the child.
In the midst of her routine daydreaming, Jima fell into a trance. She didn’t know how long it took before the sunlight became blinding.
Jima slowly opened her eyes, and the sound of the clock chiming noon echoed above the palace.
“Ah~~~~” Jima interlaced her fingers above her head, stretched, her supple waist making a light sound.
It seemed like she had wasted a lot of time, and the task bar hadn’t updated…
Jima thought as she opened her personal system, accessed the task bar, and saw the task named “Retrieve My, or His, Extraordinary Substance; See Red Name Text,” feeling too lazy to write down task details. She simply added a few words (Completed).
After thinking about it, feeling it wasn’t complete, she added the four characters “Completed Perfectly.”
Looking at the empty task bar, Jima felt truly relaxed.
She was too lazy to add any more tasks for herself.
Jima knew she still had many things to do, such as searching for the potion formulas and rituals from platinum to diamond.
The appearance of the Chaos Knight indicated that the Mother of All Beasts had dealings with the Demon Realm. Did the current Demon King Marus have the means to reveal the fragments of the Demon King’s crown?
Jenna had not yet “gone online,” and George himself had asked her to take a look. She was likely engaged in some military operation.
But no matter what, she wanted to enjoy herself.
After all, getting stronger was just to satisfy one’s own desires, right?
Jima thought, rolling her body, landing on the edge of the bed, ready to snack a bit and continue fooling around. If fooling around got boring, she’d go have some fun, bully some mortals.
Consider it giving herself a vacation.
Oh, and by the way, waiting for Eve Frostleaf to come to her.
…
…
Within the Empire, in the Eivira territory, the capital.
Eivira was just an unremarkable territory among the twelve provinces of the Empire.
If there was anything special about it, it was its proximity to the midget territory, allowing easy access to delicious half-elf cuisine.
Its provincial capital was in no way comparable to the imperial capital Adolf. The capital lacked a fortress where the sturdy Riec Royal Guard was stationed.
However, the solid stone walls and moats, along with the ample food supplies, were enough to protect the humans inside the walls from the darkness lurking outside, in the wilderness.
Nevertheless, the sense of security within the walls was shattered as noon approached in the morning.
In the noon sunlight, the Mourne Knight Order, donned in black armor and venerators of the God of Death, rode armored steeds galloping through the streets.
The sound of hooves shattered the previous tranquility.
These cold knights exuded an ominous aura of death. Out of their faith in the God of Death, they vowed to kill all necromancers and vampires.
Accompanying them were the bald priest Sigma and the renowned witch hunter Van Helsing.
According to Van Helsing, while visiting relatives, he found that all his relatives were disguised vampires and suspected that vampires had already infiltrated the local elite.
Consequently, the inner circle of the Mourne Knight Order decided to make a surprise attack without notifying the local imperial authorities, directly contacting several trustworthy priests from the Sigma Church to form an elite force and head to the vampires’ lair to wipe them out.
Things began smoothly, with the vampires caught off guard, but the vampires’ desperate counterattack was terrifying, injuring many of the excellent foot knights and rendering them combat-ineffective.
Eventually, the fleeing vampires hid in underground tombs.
Moreover, since vampires had operated locally for centuries, the knight order stationed outside nearly clashed with the rushing provincial army, let alone calling for reinforcements.
The Mourne Knight Order decided to resolve the matter swiftly, forcefully trying to seize the underground tomb. After suffering an 80% casualty rate, the assault team barely achieved the victory of “gathering” the spoils, regardless, the downfall of the vampires seemed all but certain.
In the nearly lightless great hall of the underground tomb, fires flickered, faintly illuminating the knights and priests lying on the ground. In the darkness, the sounds of wretched vampires fighting for their lives echoed throughout the hall.
Using the dim light, the witch hunter Akannis managed to see everything in the hall, including the leader of this group of vampires.
A female vampire in a glamorous off-shoulder gown, according to investigations, she was the lover of the local electorate and the wet nurse of his son.
Now, she had lost the beautiful appearance that had once allowed her to thrive in high society—or perhaps it was a disguise—revealing her decaying essence. Her complexion was ashen, resembling a corpse, with no nose, just two nostrils visible.
Fangs protruded about an inch from her lips, and her chin and the corners of her mouth were smeared with blood as she snarled at witch hunter Akannis.
But this was merely her desperate struggle; four bloody wounds had been inflicted on her waist, each one emitting white smoke, with a hint of phosphorescence emanating from them. She held a longsword, pressing against her smoke-emitting abdomen wound, revealing her fangs to Akannis while retreating until she bumped into an exotic coffin.
Witch hunter Akannis was waiting for his extraordinary abilities to cool down. He patiently watched the vampire leader trying for a final strike against him as she gradually “smoked to death,” and asked, “Do you want to die early and painlessly, or would you prefer to die a slow and painful death?”
The vampire leader lost her past politeness and cultivated demeanor, roaring, “Who is it? Who sold us out?”
Witch hunter Akannis spun around to evade an attack from a seriously wounded vampire in the darkness, accurately cutting off its head with his Shadow Blade. Its body turned to ash before Akannis even glanced at it; he lowered his head to re-cock his hand crossbow and asked, “Still can’t accept defeat?”
“Pompous mortal, only a vampire can defeat a vampire.”
“I’ve heard that in history, a powerful vampire was killed with a single blow from the Hammer of Sigma.”
“You could never possibly discover us. There are clearly loyal servants of ours among you.”
Witch hunter Akannis raised his hand to shoot a crossbow bolt, forcing the vampire leader to expend the little strength she had left in defense.
“Accept reality.” Witch hunter Akannis waited for his extraordinary ability to be ready, tightening his muscles, ready to end her. “Decaying corpses are truly bothersome; why can’t you just die peacefully?”
At this moment, behind the vampire leader, the exotic golden coffin moved, and its lid fell open on its own.
“No way.” Witch hunter Akannis said, “Is something gonna jump out from inside?”
“Silence! Do not desecrate our holy relic.”
“Veylin?” Witch hunter Akannis stopped in his tracks as he saw Veylin’s little face appear behind the opened lid of the golden coffin.
She reached down with one hand and yanked out a mummified corpse tied up with linen bandages.
Witch hunter Akannis had heard of such mummies and knew their name.
Without any special effects, the corpse turned to ash in her hand, leaving only the linen bandages. Everything happened so quickly that the vampire leader had just turned her head when she saw the relic turn to dust.
But she didn’t have time to be angry; instead, she was filled with surprise: “Vey… Veylin True Ancestor? How did you get out?”
Although Akannis wanted to mock the nearby vampire for casually throwing around terms like “holy relic” and “true ancestor,” he felt a sudden toothache.
Smacking his forehead as if waking from a dream, he said to himself, “How could I be so foolish?”
Little Veylin’s eyes turned to blood-red pupils, and she gave Akannis a sweet smile: “It’s not like that, Akannis; you’re amazing; you were just stunned by my abilities.”
“Veylin True Ancestor! We are your mother’s subordinates; we never meant to harm you. It was other vampires; it was their conspiracy!”
“I don’t care, as long as your blood can help me quickly restore my original strength,” she said, her blood-red pupils gazing adoringly at Akannis. “I can’t wait anymore; I can’t hold back.”
Saying this, Little Veylin raised her arms, her little feet in black shoes leaving the ground.
Instantly, the vampire leader’s face contorted in pain as a glowing red blood mass was slowly extracted from her mouth, while her ash-gray skin rapidly lost moisture.
At the same time, the countless howls of vampires in the darkness ceased, and blood-colored glowing orbs lit up one after another.
She laughed, “Van Helsing! You fool, none of our sisters combined are even as powerful as her little finger, hahahaha! You’ve been used by her—”
Akannis vanished from his spot and appeared behind Little Veylin, one hand holding a silvery poisoned dagger and the other wielding the Shadow Blade, unhesitatingly striking at Veylin’s weakness.
At this moment, the vampire leader, now gaunt and skeletal as if merely wrapped in skin, had clumps of hair falling to the ground. Yet, even in such a state, she laughed even harder upon seeing Akannis appear behind Little Veylin.
“Prepare to die.”
In her eyes, Akannis couldn’t even touch Little Veylin.
“Rip.”
Though the silver poisoned dagger was enchanted, it merely cut through the layers of her elaborate black dress, leaving a red mark on her white skin.
“Slash.”
That was the sound of the Shadow Blade piercing Little Veylin’s neck between her vertebrae.
The vampire leader’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Akannis’ body stiffened, unable to move. The silver arm holding the dagger was firmly grasped by Little Veylin.
“It hurts, Akannis, it hurts so much.” With the Shadow Blade sticking from her neck, Little Veylin turned her head to face Akannis, her lips stained with blood, “But it’s not as painful as you piercing my chest… that pain was heart-wrenching, I love you, and it’s etched in my soul.”
Finally, the vampire leader could no longer hold on and collapsed into a mummified corpse, turning to dust on the ground, forever perishing with the regret of not witnessing Akannis’ death.
Akannis felt it was over; his face turned pale, for the first time facing such a powerful being, his body was truly paralyzed, unable to make any extra movements, and now even an adult could kill him. He could only maintain his original assassination stance.
This stance, which involved embracing the target from behind and using a melee weapon to kill, now appeared as if it were a lover’s embrace, if one were to ignore the eerie background and the Shadow Blade sunk into Little Veylin’s neck.
Akannis asked, “May I say my last words?”
Little Veylin chuckled lightly, and blood masses surged from all directions toward her, merging into her body as rivers flow into the sea.
Her body was healing, recovering. Veylin’s wounds forcibly expelled Akannis’ Shadow Blade.
Akannis felt his vision blur, and the girl he held in his arms turned into a young woman. She, too, had silvery hair and blood-red eyes, and her outfit changed, resembling the vampire he had seen in the coffin that day.
Veylin reached out, placing her hand on the back of Akannis’ neck, pushing him down onto her shoulder, turning her head to kiss his cheek, saying, “Remember how I informed you of our wedding? I’m very old, older than the empire’s history itself. I was born in the ancient human empire in the desert, long before Sigma was even born. So, let’s go and get married.”
Akannis’ whole body shook in fright.
This vampire was truly a big pervert; he shouldn’t have opened the coffin, he should have thrown it into the cesspit and sank it down, then shoved the key up a green-skinned beast’s backside.
At that moment, a white light lit up at the entrance of the hall. An elderly bald man walked in, it was the local Archbishop of the Sigma Church. He and his subordinates, upon witnessing this scene, gasped in shock:
“Van Helsing! Wake up! This is an illusion; she wants to suck your blood.”
Akannis retorted angrily, “Wake up, my ass! I can’t move; kill this crazy woman quickly!”
“What kind of vampire is she?”
“I don’t know; they say she’s a true ancestor.”
At this moment, Veylin gave him another kiss and said, “Those later inferior species love to give themselves fancy names.”
Akannis said, “Can I refuse?”
“Why?”
“I’m not interested in necrophilia.”
“Akannis, I care so much about your feelings.” Veylin said, “I allowed you to hurt me, to pierce my chest, even while I drank, avoiding the mortals on the ground, worried about making you angry, but how did you repay my kindness? But it’s okay, Akannis, you’re a wild horse, and my yard is big enough to keep you.”
Akannis replied, “But I’m just a mouse.”
With that, Akannis’ silver hand instinctively snapped off, and he disappeared immediately.
Veylin was startled; she felt the empty air where Akannis had just been, and the skin that had met his was growing cold, making Veylin feel a wave of disappointment.
“No! Akannis, where are you?” Veylin sniffed and looked toward the crowd blocking the hall’s entrance, icy coldly saying, “Step aside.”
The Sigma Archbishop stepped aside, revealing a passage beneath the gaze of the crowd.
Veylin darted out like a shadow, searching everywhere for traces of Akannis.
The inner circle knights of Death God Mourne looked up at the archbishop beside him. He asserted confidently, “Ideally, we should eliminate all vampires, but realistically, those powerful vampires who seek no conflict should have their end date postponed.”
The inner circle knights of Death God Mourne did not refute; they tacitly accepted this.
After all, the one most likely to be in danger was that odious witch hunter Van Helsing.
“This operation can be regarded as a complete victory.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Half a day passed.
Afternoon.
In a concealed cave.
Having fled for most of the day, Akannis leaned against the cave walls, breathing steadily to rest. He wanted to catch his breath, but it was said that if one breathes too violently, it would alert the vampires.
I’m stupid, I’m really dumb.
How could a family from a rural town raise a spoiled young lady?
I clearly noticed she was so cool to hold. Why didn’t I think she had long since died?
She didn’t even wear makeup, just a bare version of what she looked like in the coffin, only her hair color and eye color had changed.
She also didn’t seem to like eating, nor was she ever seen using the restroom.
I should have realized something was wrong; I should have killed her sooner!
But why didn’t I notice?
Thinking about having missed the opportunity to kill some true ancestor vampire made Akannis extremely frustrated, feeling he was suffering from a lack of culture and education, leading to a dull mind.
As night gradually fell.
Akannis prepared to rest. He pulled out some softened beef jerky and stuffed it into his mouth.
According to his experience, it was best not to move at night when avoiding being pursued by vampires, as it made you easily detectable. Because sunlight during the day could weaken vampires, and apart from ancient and powerful vampires, exposure to sunlight could even lead to their death.
Wait, it shouldn’t be dark yet.
Akannis pulled out his pocket watch, glancing at it, realizing it was only six in the afternoon. It was early summer; the sun should not have set yet.
Akannis hid in the shadows, quietly approaching the cave’s entrance, leaving no trace on the soft, muddy ground.
Outside, it was dark, shrouded in layers of lead-gray clouds, blocking out the sky completely, and the world was as dark as midnight.
In the distance, beams of light shot up from human cities, piercing the layers of clouds, but they merely opened a brief hole.
What a tremendous power! To turn day into night amidst the interference of extraordinary abilities in a provincial capital.
Akannis felt that he would soon be in trouble.
Just thinking about getting intimate with a vampire made him feel ill.
He could only seek out Emperor Lao Da for shelter.
Akannis thought, preparing to rest for a while before heading to Aldao.
But the next day.
Akannis changed his mind.
Because he remembered “home,” thought of that chicken named Dunana. He also recalled the scream of a woman he had heard when leaving the city.
If Veylin were a vampire, she would surely know what he was up to, and she was a pervert!
Akannis couldn’t help but abandon his idea of returning to Adolf and headed toward home instead.
The journey took nearly four days.
He was certain he hadn’t lost Veylin because it had been overcast every day, turning dark as midnight by the afternoon.
Akannis still chose to take the risk and return home; he needed to see for himself to be at ease.
He arrived next to “home.”
The residential area—a red-tiled, triangular-roofed house—he found the familiar red door and knocked, but no one responded.
Akannis easily opened the door and saw that most of the furniture had already been moved out.
The walls and ceiling near the window were smeared with blood, and the original blue curtains had turned red from staining, crumpled in a corner.
Akannis could imagine the brutal scene of his earnest temporary wife standing by the window seeing off her temporary husband, unaware of the angry vampire standing behind her.
With so much blood, if Veylin didn’t drain her blood, she must have torn her to pieces.
He distinctly remembered smelling a hint of blood; how had he been fooled?
Akannis felt a deep ache in his heart, yet clung to a slim hope. Ignoring the danger of revealing his identity, he donned the witch hunter’s tall leather hat and began searching for people to ask.
The landlord renting the place said, “What bad luck. I really shouldn’t have rented the house to that chicken just because of the gold coins. She’s into that kind of thing, you understand, morally corrupt, unable to receive Sigma’s blessing, and surely fell prey to evil, just soiling my house.”
Akannis punched her, asking various questions, and after getting answers, he tossed her a small bag of gold coins and turned to leave.
“That’s really terrifying. The old coachman’s corpse was found in the cart. When his son opened the door, he found his father’s headless corpse sitting in the chair, completely motionless. I advised him to read Sigma’s scriptures more often and not introduce chickens to others all the time. He didn’t listen and surely lost Sigma’s blessing because of it.”
After a series of twists and turns, Akannis finally learned that several fellow sisters had divided Dunana’s inheritance and with part of her inheritance hired someone to stitch her body back together. The stitched-up corpse was in the local Death God Mourne Church’s morgue.
Akannis went to see it. The old priest took him in and said, “I’ve worked for most of my life and seen the bodies eaten by trolls, half-eaten by beastmen, and smashed by greenskins, but I’ve never seen someone torn to pieces while still alive. The mortician took three days to finish.”
The corpse was preserved by divine magic, temporarily preventing it from decaying.
But when Akannis personally opened the shroud, he was still shocked.
It was a corpse, yet it wasn’t entirely a corpse.
It resembled a human figure cobbled together from various meat chunks, crudely sewn together with black threads. On this remains, Akannis saw nothing that linked it to the Dunana he remembered.
“Burn it.” Akannis couldn’t bear to say. “Burn it immediately; I suspect it’s a cult ritual.”
With that, he found a corner where no one was watching, covered his mouth with his hand, and quietly cried. After wiping his red eyes dry, he turned and left.
Disguising himself as a coachman pulling a freight cart, Akannis traveled along the relatively safe official road, a main route patrolled by guards.
His behavior logically matched his fake identity.
However, not long after leaving the city, a surprised female voice sounded ahead: “Akannis, I found you!”
Before she finished speaking, a silver-haired girl in half-worn Gothic-style dress appeared in front of the freight cart. Her features were beautifully exquisite, resembling a doll carved by a master.
Seeing Akannis, she joyfully ran toward him.
Akannis was exposed; he whipped the horse with all his might, steering it toward Veylin while preparing for battle.
He didn’t see what happened, but the cart tipped over, landing on the roadside.
Akannis called upon his shadows, attacking Veylin from both sides, charging aggressively, hitting hard.
He used all his stocked supplies: seven-fold blessed bolts, holy water—everything was unleashed.
His attacks were precise and lethal.
Even Veylin couldn’t dodge entirely; she could only take the hits. Meanwhile, she had to be cautious of Akannis’ counter-attacks, trying to strike him while minimizing her own wounds.
This put Veylin at a disadvantage—at least it looked that way. Akannis understood that his advantage came from Veylin’s twisted love for him, but he didn’t feel guilty. If he had ten strengths, he’d use twelve to kill her.
Even as strong as Veylin was, she couldn’t ignore Akannis’ attacks. After a few minutes of combat, she pleaded while covering her face: “Don’t! Don’t! Please stop!”
Her clothes had been punctured in several places, revealing silky white skin, but she bore no wounds.
But Akannis didn’t relent; this was a rare opportunity he would not let slip. If she regained rationality and didn’t love him as much, it would be difficult to kill her later.
Finally, under Veylin’s pleas, Akannis inflicted a wound across her face.
“No!!! Akannis!” Veylin lowered her hands, “Why are you forcing me? Forcing me to show you this ugly side of me?”
Veylin’s face changed at a visible pace, turning ashen with hollow cheeks, resembling someone who had been dead for several days. She suddenly looked less appealing.
Akannis knew that vampires were essentially decaying corpses, using dark magic to defy death.
Though a disguised vampire might not sense anything unusual, once a vampire became agitated and entered a combat state, the magic maintaining their appearance would fade, revealing their decayed features.
Veylin, in this state, was even more beautiful than Akannis had imagined, unlike some vampires whose noses rotted away.
It also proved she was stronger; maintaining her appearance was like someone fighting while balancing three layers of porcelain on a plate with both hands. It was only now that Akannis had forced her into a combat state.
“That’s too much, Akannis!” Veylin exclaimed, “Apologize! Quickly apologize to me!”
Akannis raised his middle finger.
In the next moment, everything before him blurred, and he crashed into a tree, breaking it and fracturing his bones. Veylin mounted him, pressing down on his wrist…
——
Seventy-five hundred words.
I finished writing two updates in one go.
After all, I haven’t been writing consistently.
Currently, I still owe one more update.
Tomorrow, I’ll post the “Ice Cream Internal Version” in the group. (Possibly at 23:59)
I’ll consider the owed update done.
