novelIdeaMax Chapter 4318 The Mad King and the Blood Disease
Chapter 4318 The Mad King and the Blood Disease
Chapter 4318 The Mad King and the Blood Disease
The battle with the Holy Sons Alliance on Sunday took place deep underground, so news of the Alliance's near-annihilation hadn't yet spread throughout the city. However, Mr. Bernhardt was aware of this; Shad had sent him a letter yesterday, so Mr. Bernhardt stayed at the vampires' secret stronghold that morning awaiting Shad's visit.
Although the vampires had almost no contact with the Holy Sons Alliance, Mr. Bernhard still congratulated Shad on his victory.
Shad then told Mr. Bernhardt about the vampire family sleeping in that underground tomb. Although that family was not the group that the vampires were currently looking for, the ones who hid when Delineor was destroyed, Mr. Bernhardt still wanted to meet them since they were an older clan.
Those "surviving" vampires are still imprisoned in the catacombs. Mr. Bernhardt did not bring anyone else with him, but chose to go to visit them alone with Shad.
The two then left through the cave exit and arrived at the abandoned farm in the desolate area. The farm had been transformed by Vigo into a stronghold for the witches outside the city, and Sylvia had secured the portal connecting her and Dorothy to the tomb there.
Crossing the portal, you arrive at the second level of the tomb. Currently, there are more than 20 girls active in the tomb. In addition, after the battle on Sunday, the power of the sun and the power of life seeped out from the Sea of Origin, so there is no cold feeling common in tombs. It is even more comfortable than the basement of a typical house.
The remaining, crazed vampires that weren't dealt with are currently imprisoned in the third level. Miss Bell and Flora's followers have renovated one of the tomb chambers specifically to hold them. When the girl leading the way brought Shad and Mr. Bernhardt to that tomb chamber, Mr. Bernhardt remarked:
"That's quite a generous gesture; these people are really wealthy."
He wasn't praising the witch, but rather the ancient vampires. The coffins imprisoning them were still the same coffins they used to slumber in, made of matte metal. According to Vanessa and Claire, this was an expensive alloy created through alchemy, used to suppress violent fluctuations in mental energy. Moreover, each coffin was adorned with numerous black, dark blue, and silver jewels, making them appear even more luxurious than the thrones in the palaces of some minor ducal kingdoms.
However, the coffin has now been sealed by Flora, the great witch who has died, and Flora is worried that this half-mad vampire might cause other trouble.
Flora had already told Shad how to break the seal, so Shad and Mr. Bernhard met with the five high vampires imprisoned there in turn.
The original vampire family consisted of 23 people, and these 5 were the most mentally stable. However, compared to ordinary people, they were still completely insane. Only one of the 5 was a 9th-ring warlock, while the remaining 4 were all low-ring warlocks.
When the witches questioned them, these people, in their erratic state, could only offer very little useful information. Shad hoped that seeing Mr. Bernhardt, a member of their own kind, would bring them to their senses, but it was clear that Mr. Bernhardt himself lacked that power.
"The source of power for vampires is blood. They ingest the blood of madness, which directly affects the essence of their lives. Their long slumber further distorts their souls with that madness. These people are beyond saving."
Mr. Bernhardt could only come to this conclusion. He ignored his fellow clansmen, who were either laughing foolishly or remaining silent with gloomy expressions, and instead took out the vampire artifact he had specially brought.
These were items provided to them by Willendale. Mr. Bernhardt tried them one by one and finally discovered that the relic called "Holy Blood Drops" could actually briefly awaken the two of them.
【Holy Blood Drops】is a Guardian-level relic. It is a red, gold-plated, narrow-necked bottle without a cap. Over time, the blood within this relic transforms into healing drops, making it a very rare healing relic.
However, this relic is even more important to vampires because the dew that the relic transforms into has a more outstanding healing effect on vampires, and can even restore some of their spirit.
After Mr. Bernhardt tried it, two of the five people who drank the dew showed a noticeable change in expression. They did not fully recover, and after a brief period of "awakening," they did not even seem to want to figure out what was going on.
Mr. Bernhardt then attempted to communicate with the two women and found that they could respond rationally to some questions, but were unable to engage in prolonged conversations. Neither Mr. Bernhardt nor Shad understood why the relic could suppress madness, but given the opportunity, they each asked a question.
Mr. Bernhardt's question is:
"Did the vampires of your era have any connection with an organization called the [Blood Spirit School]?"
"The Blood Spirit School has maintained a cooperative relationship with our clan since the late Fifth Era. Their research can purify blood, while our clan provides them with ancient 'Blood Worship' literature."
Mr. Bernhardt then said with disgust:
"So there really are 'wild vampire' clans in the Arcadia region."
He explained to Xia De:
"'Blood Worship' does not refer to a sect that worships our racial gods. They worship the power of the Creator who created life in terms of blood, and the primal, savage power of bloodsucking. 'Blood Worship' was a union of wild vampire clans that were most hostile to the Moon Worshiping vampires during the Second Era, but this organization disappeared in the early Fourth Era."
Xia De nodded to indicate that he understood:
"So, among the vampires from the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Delinor, there were actually always wild vampires? The power of the Blood Spirit School has always existed in this region?"
Mr. Bernhardt sighed:
"Based on the current investigation, this is the case. After the destruction of Derinor, some wild vampires chose to go into slumber, while others left the region and officially joined the Blood Spirit School. In recent decades, they have returned here due to the research needs of the Blood Spirit School, awakening some of the dormant ancient vampires and accelerating the 'New Human' project."
Although the timeline had been clarified, it didn't significantly aid the current investigation. The vampire who had spoken with Mr. Bernhardt had once again descended into madness, so Shad questioned another person, a female vampire who appeared to be the youngest in the entire vampire family. She looked even shorter than Adelina and had white hair.
"How much do you know about the ancestors of the Burgundian family?"
She appears to be petite, but her voice sounds like that of a middle-aged woman.
"The Burgundian family claims that their bloodline is inherently noble, and that their blood was tasted long before our generation, but there is no particularly unique power in the blood of the Burgundian royal family."
Until the appearance of a king known as the Mad King Rug, the taste of their blood changed. The Mad King Rug was the illegitimate son of the previous king and a court maid. He was thrown into the turbulent waves of the River Serenil by the queen but did not die. He was rescued by a farmer and spent his childhood and youth as the farmer's son. After learning his true identity, he entered the court at the age of 30 and inherited the throne.
Although he didn't display extraordinary power, someone in our family tasted his blood and detected a primal, pure, rich, and ancient power within it. Not only him, but his descendants also possessed that power in their blood. While this bloodline power diminishes significantly with each generation, at least the blood of the first three generations still tasted quite good.
The vampire telling the story actually showed an expression of rapture:
"Our family reached an agreement with the Mad King: he would provide us with his offspring as blood slaves, and we would provide him with clandestine supernatural powers in return. This cooperation lasted for sixty years; it was a truly wonderful time."
The family had suspected he wasn't of Burgundian blood at all, but bloodline testing showed he was indeed a member of the royal family. His blood was incredibly delicious and could awaken ancient, primal racial talents within us. Abilities like 'Legion Vampire Technique,' 'Dark Blood Explosion,' and 'Blood Fire' were discovered during that time. For a full sixty years, my family became the most powerful vampire race in the southern part of the continent.
Then the madness broke out. This plague struck without warning, suddenly erupting among all the vampires who had consumed that powerful blood. Everyone went mad, completely mad. Ha ha, madness, ha ha, Blood God, Creator, I am your first child, your most devout child, why have you abandoned me?
She went mad again, and her last words were even pieced together from words in five different ancient languages.
Judging from Mr. Bernhardt's expression, Shad knew he hadn't understood, but Shad certainly did.
Then the crazed white-haired vampire began cursing names that neither Shad nor Mr. Bernhardt had ever heard of, cursing those familiar and unfamiliar people who remained in her own memories.
Regarding the story of the "Mad King" and the "Mad Blood Disease," Mr. Bernhardt had some thoughts:
“Mr. Watson, you should know that the inheritance of bloodlines is sometimes not continuous, especially when the bloodline is thin. A dragon-blooded family may have ten generations of ordinary people, but after ten generations, a dragon-blooded descendant similar to the ancestor may suddenly appear.”
Shad was certainly aware that many similar situations had occurred among the seven dragon-blooded families of Moon Bay:
"The ancestors of the Burgundy family did indeed seem to possess some unusual power, but judging from the number of generations they have passed down, the rate at which this bloodline has declined is far too fast."
Mr. Bernhardt has done some research in this area:
"Perhaps this is because the power itself is unstable, making stable inheritance impossible. Or perhaps the power received by the ancestors of the Burgundy family was originally very weak; this power displayed powerful characteristics in the first person, but after being diluted over several generations..."
Vampire Seed Duke winked:
"I'm reminded of some things I recently uncovered, information provided by the church after our collaboration with them to clean the sewers. According to some unofficial historical accounts, the internal relationships within the Burgundian royal family were extremely chaotic in the early days of Delineor's founding."
You know what I mean; in short, consanguineous marriage was very common back then. However, there are only records of this in the early stages of this ancient kingdom; subsequent history books contain no similar descriptions.