Although the distance from the hall to the Slaughterhouse wasn't particularly far, under normal circumstances, Zane would've found it nearly impossible to carry someone as massive as Evan all the way there.
But now, Zane didn't even break a sweat. He hauled Evan's bulky body straight to the Slaughterhouse entrance without so much as a labored breath.
He pushed open the door and casually tossed Evan's corpse inside.
The next second, it was as if the Slaughterhouse had come to life. A massive iron cage dropped from the ceiling, slamming down over Evan's body. Then, from every corner of the room, tools began to fly in—saws, hammers, scythes—whirling around the cage like vultures circling prey.
[Host has deposited a corpse into the Slaughterhouse.]
[Based on Host's power level and corpse quality, the Slaughterhouse can convert this body into: Tier One Ghoul.]
[Would the Host like to initiate the creation process?]
Zane rubbed his chin, falling into deep thought at the sound of the system's prompts.
So it wasn't just his own strength that determined the quality of the monster—it depended on the corpse's condition, too.
And since there was a limit to how many monsters he could create, that meant tossing just any random grunt in here would be a waste. Ideally, he needed the corpses of strong enemies. The stronger the raw material, the more powerful the result…
Thinking of that, Zane couldn't help but recall something Evan had said earlier.
"You're finished! Captain Chris will notice I'm missing soon! He's the bravest warrior in the entire kingdom…"
The bravest warrior in the kingdom, huh? If that wasn't just hot air, then this Captain Chris might make an excellent future guest of the Slaughterhouse.
"Well, catching that Captain Chris can wait. Let's see what this Tier One Ghoul is all about first."
"System, begin creation!"
As soon as Zane gave the command, the Slaughterhouse roared to life.
Zane didn't mind being the ultimate villain in this world, but he couldn't be bothered with anything too grotesque. So, he simply closed the door to the Slaughterhouse and walked away.
Back in the main hall, Zane sat in the stone chair for a bit before calling for the Chunk of Flesh.
"Master, how may I serve you?" the creature asked.
"How's Princess Lila doing?"
"Please don't worry, Master. Without your permission, she can't take a single step outside your bedroom. As for the food you ordered, I've already delivered it. But the princess is weak... and afraid of me. She didn't eat anything while I was there."
"No matter," Zane waved it off. "If she gets hungry enough, she'll eat. By the way, when you went down the mountain to grab that knight, did you run into the rest of the Duchy of Winterscar's vanguard?"
"I did. Not counting the one we captured, there are nine of them left," Chunk of Flesh answered honestly.
So Evan hadn't been lying after all.
Zane paused, thinking for a moment, then continued.
"What's your take on the strength of this vanguard squad?"
"They are utterly weak! If Master takes action, they'll be reduced to ashes in an instant!"
Hearing that, Zane gave a helpless chuckle. He knew Chunk of Flesh had a pretty skewed understanding of his true strength. Not that he could blame him—after all, in his eyes, Zane had always been the infamous Dracula, the long-standing villain of the Northern Ens Continent.
"Alright then, let me ask it a different way... If you had to face that vanguard team on your own, what are your chances of winning?"
Chunk of Flesh paused for a moment, then lowered his head in shame.
"Master, this humble servant is lacking in strength. If I had to fight them alone, I'd say my odds are about thirty percent."
Only thirty percent?
Zane wasn't quite ready to give up on this line of questioning.
"What if you had a Tier One Ghoul fighting alongside you?"
"Hmm... In that case, our odds would rise to about fifty percent. However, if Master were to join the battle..."
"Alright, alright, spare me the flattery!" Zane cut him off with an annoyed wave. "I get it now! You're only good for sneak attacks and shady tricks. When it comes to real combat, you're barely stronger than a Tier One Ghoul!"
Chunk of Flesh gave a sheepish grin and scratched his head.
"After all, this humble servant is your butler—not your warrior."
"Sigh..."
Zane let out a long breath. He was still too weak. Right now, the enemies they were dealing with were just a ten-man vanguard squad. The main force of the Duchy of Winterscar hadn't even arrived yet. And it wasn't just the duchy he'd pissed off—it was practically the entire righteous faction of the Northern Ens Continent!
If this kept up, that knight Evan might end up being right—Zane really didn't have much time left.
Chunk of Flesh seemed to pick up on Zane's frustration and said cautiously,
"Actually, this servant may have... a plan."
"Oh? You have a plan?" Zane raised an eyebrow and looked over. "Let's hear it."
"If we can lure that squad into the castle, then with this servant and the Tier One Ghoul together, we could likely eliminate them all. However, there's one among them—an especially strong one. Master would probably need to take care of him personally."
There was no need to ask who that "especially strong one" was. Obviously, it had to be Captain Chris.
If what Chunk of Flesh said was true, and he could deal with the other eight along with the Ghoul, then Zane felt confident about taking on Chris himself.
After all, with Vampire's Touch as his trump card, all Zane needed was to land a single touch—just a hair, even—and Chris would be done for.
Thinking that, Zane turned to Chunk of Flesh and asked,
"When you went down the mountain just now, did you catch any indication of what that vanguard team was up to?"
"I did," Chunk of Flesh replied without hesitation. "They've set up camp at the foot of the mountain. It doesn't seem like they plan to approach the castle anytime soon."
That was more or less what Zane had expected. After all, it was just a vanguard team. Even with someone like Captain Chris leading them, they probably weren't arrogant enough to launch a direct assault on Howling Castle.
Now the question was: how to lure them into the castle... and crush them one by one?
Faced with this dilemma, Zane didn't have any solid plan just yet. But deep down, he had a strange gut feeling—Princess Lila might end up playing an unexpectedly important role in all of this.
"Forget it. I'll deal with that tomorrow. Chunk of Flesh, I'm kinda hungry. Go fetch me the same food you brought for Lila earlier."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean 'huh'?! Can't a duke get tired of drinking blood and want a change of taste for once?"
"Of course, Master. Please wait a moment."
Chunk of Flesh had long since gotten used to his master's unpredictable moods. Without another word, he dutifully scurried off to carry out the order.
It didn't take long for him to return, bringing with him a surprisingly decent meal—beef, bread, even some vegetables and fruit.
"Well, look at you," Zane said, clearly impressed. "Didn't know we still had this kind of stuff in the castle."
"We don't, actually," Chunk of Flesh replied with a grin. "But there's a human village about ten miles south of the castle…"
There was a human village that close?
Zane hadn't seen that coming. Who the hell would be crazy enough to settle down this close to a vampire's castle?
"Damn, that takes some serious balls. I have to go check that place out sometime—see what kind of lunatics live there."
After he'd eaten his fill, Zane sent Chunk of Flesh to keep an eye on Lila again. He himself headed back down to the castle's dungeon.
After all, there were still six stunningly beautiful women locked up down there…
Of course, it wasn't just about the beauties—Zane was far more interested in farming Negative Emotion Points.
Sure, he'd managed to squeeze 50 points out of Lila earlier tonight, but that was far too slow. And he couldn't just bully only Lila forever—he had to be fair and let everyone have their turn, right?
More importantly, he'd moved too fast when he killed Evan earlier, and only managed to get a single Negative Emotion Point out of it!
Which meant—death itself didn't yield much in the way of points.
So unless Zane was absolutely sure he could win a fight with no downside, picking battles at random wasn't a smart move at all.
Hell, for all the effort it took to kill someone like Evan, he might as well just pull down Lila's underwear again—it'd be more rewarding!
So why bother fighting? Honestly, focusing on breaking in the beauties was way more profitable...