Chapter 354: Night Raid on the Count's Mansion
The city was shrouded in darkness and silence, with only occasional faint noises breaking the stillness.
The stench of blood lingered on the city walls, carried by the howling north wind into the city. Fortunately, most people were already asleep, though some were haunted by nightmares.
The city walls were piled with over a hundred corpses, some drained completely dry, leaving only shriveled skin and bones—a clear mark of the vampire players' handiwork.
Blood pooled and flowed slowly down from the walls, leaving large, gruesome stains.
Langli Baitiao wiped his hands with a silk handkerchief and remarked dramatically, "Such trouble, why did they have to provoke us?"
Wolf of the Night muttered under his breath, "Wasn't it you, Boss, who caused the commotion…"
"Ouch!"
Another head smack followed.
Langli Baitiao patted his shoulder again and said in a tone of exaggerated seniority, "Young people need to take responsibility bravely. You can't just push blame onto your elders all the time, can you?"
"..."
A player with the nickname [Flying Mosquito] quickly chimed in, "Stop arguing already! We need to hurry up."
"Once the sun comes up, we'll have to skulk around like sewer rats again."
"Damn, let's move quickly then."
This limitation—[Sunlight Sensitivity]—was precisely why the vampire template, despite being powerful, wasn't popular among players.
[Sunlight Sensitivity] was purely a debuff. Any player with the vampire template exposed to sunlight would burst into flames and turn to ash in less than a minute.
Even Langli Baitiao, as a vampire leader, could only last two extra minutes at most.
However, being one of the leaders of Nocturne, he was relatively wealthy and could afford scrolls with sunlight protection spells, allowing him to attend daytime events occasionally.
Compared to popular racial templates like Dragonborn or Half-Dragons, vampires had become a fringe choice within the Ember Kingdom faction—appealing mostly to vampire enthusiasts or newcomers duped into joining by Langli Baitiao.
Naturally, the latter included many gullible novices tricked by Langli Baitiao's schemes.
Unlike regular players who actively participated in various activities, most Nocturne players spent their days in pitch-dark caves—sometimes mining, other times fighting underground creatures like phase spiders and subterranean lizards, leading an entirely nocturnal existence.
Only at night could these vampire players freely display the fearsome might of "Nocturne," flaunting their bounty hunting orders and capturing targets.
Now, Langli Baitiao had finally rallied these vampire players to seize a rare chance to participate in a large-scale battlefield mission.
The vampires scaled the city walls one after another, landing silently on the ground within and disappearing into the shadows of deep alleys, moving swiftly through the darkness.
Some clung to walls, crawling like spiders.
Langli Baitiao skimmed just above the ground, his crimson eyes glowing faintly and his dark red cape fluttering behind him. He exuded a noble and imposing vampire aura.
"Tonight, we take Vichy City!"
"Reforge the glory of the bloodline; it's our sacred duty!"
Langli Baitiao declared passionately.
"But Boss, we're vampires. Won't we, you know, die immediately in sunlight?"
Wolf of the Night, clinging to a wall nearby, scratched his head in confusion.
The boss-like aura Langli Baitiao had painstakingly built shattered instantly, leaving him deflated.
"Stop talking nonsense! Just follow my lead."
"See that big house with the lights on and a garden? That's the Count's mansion. I think his name's Okot Sur."
"The plan is simple: we storm in and assassinate the Count. That's it."
"Got it, Boss."
The night hung heavy, and the moonlight shimmered like silver threads.
The ancient stone walls of the Count's mansion gleamed solemnly under the moonlight.
The vampires infiltrated the estate without a sound. Their figures flickered in and out of sight under the moonlight, like wisps of smoke merging seamlessly with the surrounding darkness.
Guards stationed at the gate remained oblivious to the intruders scaling the walls with ease.
"Crack."
In the next moment, the two gate guards had their necks snapped simultaneously.
"Boss, didn't you say only kill witnesses?"
"Couldn't resist. Got itchy hands."
"This stealth mission feels… off. It's nothing like the ones I've seen in movies."
"Forget that nonsense. Just answer me this—have you been spotted?"
The vampire players continued their search for the Count.
Their footsteps were light and swift, each step landing soundlessly, like a cat prowling through the darkness.
At **, read error-free versions in Book Bar!
The vampires traversed corridors and courtyards, silently eliminating patrolling guards as they approached the brightly lit mansion hall.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded ahead—a maid cautiously opened a door, carrying a silver tray filled with food scraps, her face weary.
She murmured to herself, "How strange… where's Lord Bernard?"
"Never mind, I need to finish my tasks quickly. We're almost out of food at home, and little Aige is probably still waiting for me."
"Sigh, things in the city keep getting worse lately."
In a shadowy corner of the mansion, several pairs of blood-red eyes watched the maid intently.
"Boss, should we kill her?"
"…"
"Forget it. Let her go. The mission says not to kill civilians."
The maid felt an unusually cold breeze around her, a foreboding chill making her hair stand on end.
She glanced nervously around, carefully emptied the food scraps into a cloth bag, and hurriedly quickened her pace, clutching her skirt as she rushed off.
Unbeknownst to her, she had narrowly escaped death.
She also had no idea what was about to unfold next.
In the bright light of the hall, a tall, burly silhouette appeared in the grand glass window—clearly, the vampires' target, Count Okot Sur.
At that moment, the Count was shouting furiously, utterly unaware of the imminent danger.
"Damn fools! Be careful not to dirty my paintings!"
"That's an original by Master Avaro, worth hundreds of gold coins. Your heads wouldn't be enough to compensate!"
"And those coins are mine! Thirty-four thousand seventy-three coins—don't lose a single one! If even one is missing, I'll chop off your filthy hands!"
"Where's Alyosha? Why isn't he here yet?"
Inside the brightly lit hall, the Count's personal guards were busy transporting his treasures, seemingly intent on emptying the mansion.
Count Okot had even hired a mysterious mage skilled in teleportation magic, planning to flee to the southern Fadlan Empire with his amassed wealth.
"I will leave this place and continue living as a noble in the south,"
the Count thought as he gazed into the distance.