"What are those things? Monsters?" Asked Fuo, with concerned look on her face.
Nope, those are dinosaurs...but since I can't say anything about past lives or reincarnation anymore, I'll play dumb. The existence of dinosaurs had been publicized after I infiltrated The Valaque Empire, but I have no idea how that might have been changed when not-God altered everyone's memories, so better safe than sorry.
Now, I'd expected to see a lot of dinosaurs since the next target, the Reptile King, was hiding in the underground cavern, but right now, I was really surprised to see them...because we weren't in the underground cavern yet, we had only just entered Platinberg, and as soon as we did, using a Stealth barrier, the first thing we saw was a fucking T-Rex. And when I took a closer look, I saw that there were some smaller dinos too, scurrying about.
"They're probably the animals that live in the underground cavern, some of which are what Rex's Animas came from. Doesn't really matter, either way, let's just stay away from them. We'll do this quietly...we find the Reptile King, I'll consume his life force, and then we head back, we won't risk fighting any Vampires or any of these things either...unless we run into a high-ranking Vampire who's by himself and has a useful Cross. Tell Atticus to keep track of the Vampires, and to warn us if we get close to where an Evil Number or Vampire Knight is."
"You have a Vampire too, can't you just ask him?"
"No, I'm having him focus on the Reptile King's location."
Thanks to the Stealth barrier, we got past the T-Rex and other dinosaurs without a problem. There were also some Vampires roaming about, the dinosaurs seemed to be paying them no attention at all though. There wasn't a human in sight, but I could sense them using Lightning Sensory Field, they were all inside the buildings we passed by, which had their doors and windows firmly shut.
Hey, Lazarus, you never mentioned the dinosaurs when you told me about the history of this world...does that mean that you didn't know about them?
"That's right, I didn't. I'm aware now thanks to your memories, but I had no idea that these reptiles were underground all this time, they were likely there even before the monsters were created."
I see, so this might be the first time that they're seeing real sunlight. They all look pretty well-fed too, guess they were enjoying the all you can eat human buffet.
It was currently around 4 PM in the evening, and the entrance to the underground cavern was under the castle, which was at the center of the nation. It'd take us about half a day to get there if we go at a good pace, so we had a lot of walking to do.
"Hey, so, um...can I have another monster king's life force?" Inquired Fuo hopefully.
"Hm? Oh, well, I was already planning on letting you have the Imp King's life force, that's going to be our next target after the Reptile King."
"Really!? Thanks!" She exclaimed with an excited grin.
Huh, that's pretty out of character.
"You really want more power, don't you?" I remarked with a laugh.
"Well, yeah, but it's not just that...um, when I got the Were King's life force transferred into me, it felt...well, really good," She replied sheepishly.
Fair enough, looking back at how I could barely control myself when it came to Vampire life forces, that was reasonable. According to Lazarus, I was unlikely to feel that craving this time around, he'd made a few adjustments to my body in order to prevent that.
"Yeah, I can agree with you on that, consuming life force is pretty satisfying, and the stronger it is, the better."
"Hey, if we run into a strong Vampire, and if you're not interested in their Cross, and if there's no other Vampires anywhere nearby, could I have their life force?" She requested, as we continued making our way to the castle.
"That's a lot of ifs, but if we do run into a Vampire who meets those conditions, then...sure, why not? Don't get your hopes up though, the chances of that happening are pretty slim."
"I know, I'm not expecting to have such good luck. Hey, we've passed by a few Vampire Minions so far, and they all seem pretty carefree...I was expecting the Vampires to all be in bad moods, since they are trapped in here."
"Well, yeah, but unlike the Forbidden Zone, where they were all crammed together, they have a lot more space now, plus a couple million or so humans to feast on, I'm sure the population here has taken a hit, but plenty are bound to be kept alive, I doubt the Vampires will let them all die out."
"Woah, you're right...look there," She suddenly pointed.
I followed the line of her finger, to see a Vampire tossing some vegetables into a window of a house, before shutting it as a couple of large dinosaurs wandered close. I see, they're making sure that the humans aren't starving, in order to keep them alive.
"The people can't leave their houses because of the dino-...these reptiles, so the Vampires are feeding them...these people are being treated like cattle, they're basically livestock for the Vampires...well, I already knew that'd likely be the case when I commanded the Vampires to stay within Platinberg."
"Wait, then how are they getting vegetables if they can't leave past the walls?" Asked Fuo in confusion.
"Hm? Well, unlike the other nations, Platinberg actually has patches of fertile soil within the walls. The other nations can't properly grow fruits or vegetables anywhere within their walls, the soil is way too infertile, that's why all our produce is either gathered or hunted from the surrounding areas, or imported from other nations. See, look there," I nodded at a fenced-in spot.
It was a small vegetable farm, with several plants growing. A few humans were tending to them, while a couple of Vampires stayed by the fence and kept an eye out for any dinosaurs.
"They're guarding them...while those people make sure that the fruits and vegetables are growing properly, the Vampires make sure they aren't attacked....," Observed Fuo with intrigue.
Had to say, I was impressed, the Vampires were sustaining themselves and their prey pretty well...
"Exactly...looks like the Vampires here have become nicely organized. Well, they are intelligent, and without humans to feed on, they'll slowly grow weaker over time, so sustaining the human population in Platinberg is crucial. They're probably making them breed too."
"So then the people here really are just like livestock now...that's a bit unsettling. Hey, why didn't you just use that command Cross to force all the Vampires to kill themselves?" She suggested, as we walked past the small farm.
"A couple of reasons, first, because I want to keep them in reserve just in case, they might come in handy...after all, I do still have two commands left at my disposal, I can use those to make the Vampires do as I please if necessary. And second, because I wanted to ensure that The Valaque Empire wouldn't have any allies to fall back on, so I essentially ended Platinberg's independence as a human nation by stationing the Vampires here. Though that second one's a moot point, I suppose, since The Empire doesn't exist anymore."
After that, we continued making our way to the castle, easily avoiding the Vampires and dinosaurs we came across. It sure was a hard sight to get used to though, dinosaurs roaming the streets. We encountered far fewer Vampires than dinosaurs, and so far, we'd only run into Vampire Minions.
Well, of the stronger Vampires, there were only two Evil Numbers, five Vampire Knights and fifteen Vampire Generals still alive, so chances were that we wouldn't run into so much as a single one of them. At least, that would be the case until we reached the castle...according to Atticus, most of the stronger Vampires were in there.
We took ten minute breaks every hour or so, instead of taking longer breaks at longer intervals. Platinberg had a relatively similar layout to Silvland, but it looked like the people here were even more religious. We'd passed by several churches, there were dozens of religious-y statues erected all over the place, and what looked like religious crosses were on almost every door we walked passed.
They were similar to the t-shaped crosses in my old world, except that the sides of the horizontal line curved downwards a bit, it looked a bit like an arrow pointing upwards, though not as angled. Well, one of the major reasons why I didn't have a problem with leaving the people of this nation at the mercy of the Vampires was because they're a nation of religious fanatics, so who cares if they die? The God they worship probably doesn't exist in the first place.
Anyway, a little bit past midnight, we decided to call it a day and get some sleep, before continuing on in the morning. Finding a place to sleep was going to be a bit of a problem though...we couldn't do what we did in Silvland, sneaking into people's houses, because the people here are completely on edge right now. Even with the Stealth barrier, it'd be tough to fall asleep with mentally unstable and stressed out people around us.
Same goes for finding a place to sleep outside. Sleeping with the Stealth barrier active would be too tough anyway, it's more tall than wide, so we can't lay down and stretch out if we want to fully be concealed in the barrier. Fortunately, we managed to quickly find a solution...the churches were all empty, so we headed into one and decided to spend the night there.
"I'm a bit surprised that this place is empty, I heard that the people of Platinberg pray a lot," Remarked Fuo, as she lay down on a bench.
"I bet they were praying desperately after the Vampires first showed up, only to lose hope and fall into despair when things kept getting worse no matter how much they prayed....religious fanatics are all the same, they're just pitiful. Get some sleep, we'll move out again at six in the morning."
"Yeah, okay...and wow, you really hate religion with a passion, don't you?"
"Oh, you have no idea."
...
...
The next day, after we woke up and had some breakfast, the canned food we brought with us, we continued making our way to our destination, they royal castle of Platinberg.
"We don't have a lot of cans left, we'll probably run out soon after we leave Platinberg," Remarked Fuo with a frown.
"It should be fine, we mainly needed canned food for when we sailed here, but we'll be heading back completely by land, so we can just hunt animals or find fruits and stuff. Though even when we were at sea, we could have caught some fish if we'd run out of canned food then," I pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess you're right...w-well, anyway, let's stop talking about sailing, I'm never getting over the trauma I suffered. Hey, by the way, how much ground do you think we've covered, would you say that we're at least halfway to the castle?" She asked, a bit impatiently.
Oh, I get it, she wants to get this over with so that we can hunt the Imp King, whose life force I agreed to let her have...
"No idea. Lazarus can sense the Reptile King's position, but it's not like he had a map on how to get there, he just tells me the direction. Blasting straight down through the ground without attracting attention would probably be impossible, so we'll first enter the underground cavern, and then look for our target. Getting impatient, or just lazy? Or should I say...Imp-patient...because, you know, you're feeling impatient to get the Imp King's life force in you?" I inquired with a teasing grin, poking the side of her face.
"Grr, sh-shut up!" She growled, smacking my finger away, "I-it's not that...at least, not entirely...it's just that, like Atticus said, most of the stronger Vampires are there, it'll be tough to avoid running into any of them. And I'm kinda worried, even you'd have trouble if they all attack us simultaneously."
True, fighting all the remaining Evil Numbers and Vampire Knights wouldn't be easy, not even for me.
"Not a problem, we'll sneak past them all using the Stealth barrier and head straight for the cavern entrance...or rather, since we don't know exactly where the entrance is, we'll have to try and find it as soon as possible while avoiding the Vampires."
"Atticus is worried about Zero, his Cross nullifies magic within a fifty meter radius, after all."
"Guess we'll just have to stay away from him at all costs then."
...
By around 2 PM in the afternoon, the castle was finally within our sight. And just as Fuo had said, the strongest of the remaining Vampires were all here. Which made it too risky to try and capture one of them to consume their life force...if we had to fight them all and I failed to finish them all off in Vampire God Mode, we'd be totally screwed...I had used the King's Decrees to command them not to attack humans from Bronztan, Silvland and the Rustlands, but there was a chance that that would only prevent them from attacking humans who were physically IN those three nations, they might be able to attack us while we're in Platinberg.
Of course, if they couldn't attack us, then they'd be completely at our mercy while we could pick and choose which ones we wanted to steal Crosses from, but it was too risky to test it out just to see whether or not they could attack us.
"Hey, there's an Evil Number just inside the entrance there," Informed Fuo, as we headed for the front gates.
"Yeah, I know...let's get within fifty meters and see what happens. If it's Zero and his Cross happens to be active, then the barrier will be deactivated."
"Okay..."
We tentatively stepped forward till we were within fifty meters of the Evil Number that was just beyond those closed gates...nothing happened. The only other remaining Evil Number was Thirteen, who like Zero, I'd never seen before.
"So, that's either Thirteen, or it's Zero with his Cross not active. Come on, let's hurry."
"There aren't any another Vampires close by, they're all a fair distance away from this spot, so, um...maybe we could..."
Ah, she wanted her life force...
"We can, I guess, but you do know what her Cross is, right? Do you really want that power?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Hm? No, what is it-...oh, Atticus just told me...yeah, I don't want that."
"Right, her Cross is the Kiss of Death, if she kisses someone she can either kill them or control them, but since I have the Eyes of Compulsion, I don't need those abilities...heck, even I didn't have it, a power that requires a kiss to activate isn't something I can use too often."
"Yeah, I don't want to have to kiss my enemies just to activate the power...speaking of your Eyes of Compulsion Cross, it's unfairly powerful," She pouted with a huff, elbowing my side.
"Not really, I mean, it can be resisted, after all, and it seems to be weaker each time I use it on someone who's already broken free from its effects before. Though it does make my Stagnate Cross kinds redundant though...that Cross can paralyze an opponent upon eye contact, but I can just say 'don't move' with Eyes of Compulsion for pretty much the same effect."
"Oh, then can you give it to me!?" She requested immediately.
Damn, that was fast.
"I would if I could, but I can't...I tried giving it away to Rai a couple of months back when I realized that I didn't need it, but once a Cross is mine, I can't give it away even if I want to."
"...that's too bad. What a waste, since you won't even need to ever use it..."
She seemed really disappointed. We then walked into the castle, phasing through the gates. What the...
"Wow, this is pretty disturbing...," I muttered.
"Ew..."
A Vampire, with wavy black hair that fell over her right shoulder with a red-tinge at the end of it, wearing a hooded cloak over nothing but red underwear. And she was sitting on a chair made of human men...they had blank looks in their eyes, were naked, and their arms and legs were linked to form a pretty elaborate human chair.
She looked bored, her heel digging into one of their crotches while she absent-mindedly flicked another one over and over, batting it around like a cat with a string...this is one of the two remaining Evil Numbers, Thirteen...yeah, let's definitely avoid this one, dealing with creepy perverts is something I'm pretty sick of at this point. I nudged Fuo, who was looking pretty taken aback by the bizarre sight, and gestured that we should keep moving.
I didn't need to be quiet since we're in the Stealth barrier, but I just felt really uncomfortable and felt like I shouldn't make a sound right now. We quickly moved past her and began exploring the castle, using Atticus's help with navigating so that we could avoid running into any Vampires, especially Zero. Time to find the entrance to the haven of dinosaurs, where I can hunt down my current target...
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