Dragon Tribulation of All Realms

Chapter 166 - The Custom-Made Compass

That was another dazzling, blood-red light—a light that indeed possessed power far exceeding that of ordinary vampires. The force field wall, theoretically capable of resisting all physical or energy effects, instantly dissolved in the exploding blood-red light. And what dissolved along with it was not limited to magical effects.

The blood exploded, covering a sphere with a radius of fifteen meters.

Within the area covered by the sphere, whether it was planks, stones, or even steel or gold and silver used as furniture decorations, all showed bizarre wounds under the blood explosion—their edges softened, and crimson blood flowed from them. And this blood gushing from the mud, rocks, and wood left a pool of blackish-red blood in the Frost House... in the ruins that should have been called the Frost House, as the blood explosion subsided.

Matter distortion.

Divine power manifested.

That's right. Even if this isn't the source of vampires, but a direct descendant of the demon god Moragbal, it's at least very close to pureblood. The one appearing here isn't an ordinary, wild vampire transformed by vampire fever, but a vampire lord with at least some merit!
It missed its target.

Wu Chen then took action.

When the magic shield outside the direct hit zone didn't collapse instantly from the aftershocks of the blood explosion, Wu Chen was already charging up a javelin. And the instant he and Frigga regained their footing, the javelin was hurled towards the owner of the treasure shop, a stranger to the Prophet!
'Boom—' The javelin was swift and hit its target precisely.

And in the next moment——

'Beep—! !! ' The alarm horn signaling an attack on the city reached Wu Chen's ears belatedly the instant the javelin exploded.

There was no tangible impact, no scoring for 'friends'—the javelin struck only a bubble. The Windhelm City Guard would soon be gathering. And Wuchen's final reward in this battle was a severed vampire hand.

........................

It wasn't just a severed hand.

“You saved my daughter, Master Dust. The Shattered Shield family will open its doors to you, my friend.”

Frigga recovered faster than expected. After the ritual of the necromancer's amulet was destroyed and the amulet was removed, the woman's body returned to health almost at a visible speed—the last time Wu Chen had seen something similar was with the King of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings movies—and within a few breaths, the slender, sickly beauty had regained her agility and nimbleness.

Filled with gratitude, but also filled with anger.

Her parents, the current patriarchs of the Shattered Shield family, lived not far away. They had brought all their family guards to her aid before the attack horn sounded—Frigga was immediately embraced tightly by her tearful mother. By the time the city guards arrived, the daughter of the Shattered Shield family and her benefactor were already under their protection.

This saved some trouble and made the negotiations much simpler.

Wu Chen casually offered a reason to visit Frigga, and the wealthy young lady naturally forgot about the soothing spell that had been slapped in the face through the door. After that, everything that happened was properly recounted.

"Callisto of the Treasure House is a vampire, likely a high-ranking one, and he possesses an ancient artifact. It was in order to activate that artifact that he played the role of the 'butcher.' Furthermore, he secretly orchestrated a sacrificial ritual in Miss Frigga's house. And this ritual led to Frigga's weakening."

Wu Chen recounted the facts and his own speculations. He was now seen as an expert by everyone, and no one dared to correct his errors.

"The ritual drained Frigga's life force, and if successful, that vampire might be able to carry out a much larger conspiracy. Fortunately, I stumbled upon some strange signs, so as an outsider, I rashly visited Miss Frigga. It's just a pity that I was unable to obtain the treasure that was entangled in a trap. In the end, I only managed to keep one of the vampire's hands, and it will surely take further action in the future."

"Damn Callisto, he's been deceiving us for so long!" The captain of the city guard pounded his chest, displaying an extraordinary sense of justice and fury. He assured the shattered-shield chieftain that action would be taken immediately. "Rest assured, the city guard will eliminate all destabilizing factors within the Windhelm. That monster will be found soon, and then, under the witness of the Nine Holy Spirits, it will receive the most thorough punishment."

His voice was very loud.

He acted immediately—a messenger was dispatched to the royal court. It wouldn't be long before either Wynfis, Jorreford, or Brunwuff, who had stopped their further conflict, learned of the situation and took action.

A new struggle will unfold. It will add fuel to the fire in Windhelm, until the inevitable flames ignite—Ulfric will assassinate Toig sooner or later, and the news that will destabilize Skyrim will eventually reach every corner of the province on the cold winds. Only then will the city be filled with boiling blood and fire.

Hera didn't care about any of this; she didn't care about the constant fighting and strife in Skyrim. And since Hera had no interest in it, even if Wu Chen wanted to do something, he was powerless to do so.

He didn't stay long in the Shattered Shield family's mansion. His mind was still filled with urgency, a desire to further eliminate his current tasks—Callisto's identity had been confirmed, and he had therefore kept the severed hand. The Nords were ultimately a simple and brutal people; they didn't value evidence much, preferring to act in the shortest possible time.

"For my suffering daughter, the Shattered Shield Clan will avenge her with blood!"

A powerful clan's private army was quickly assembled, carrying the vengeful fury of shattered shields, and set off towards the location of the Treasure House—they would reach their destination in a very short time, and they were destined to come up empty-handed.

There was no reason, no evidence. But Wu Chen felt they would find nothing—he found a messenger and sent him to inform the watchmen in Windhelm of what had happened. He then returned to the lodging Hera had arranged for him, carrying the severed limb.

Then--

He saw Hera again.

........................

“You did something interesting, and met some interesting people, Dust.” Hera’s gaze swept over the severed hand carried by Wu Chen, which then floated up and hovered in front of Hera—her eyes shone with wisdom. Within that light, many complex parameters were faintly visible.

"I learned about the necromancer's amulet and was almost able to get my hands on it. But I never expected that a vampire would be involved with this treasure."

He wasn't particularly interested in news of the treasure; Mannemark's legacy might not hold much appeal for Hera. In fact, if Hera did become interested in the treasure, it would save Wu Chen a lot of trouble.

"Vampires are high-ranking undead, so it's only natural that they'd be attracted to this treasure. But, well... this is indeed a bit unbelievable."

Her fingertips brushed across the severed arm, and the next moment, the pale limb dissolved into bone and blood—the glow of magic swirled around it, and the amorphous mass of flesh was then reshaped by the power of arcane magic.

"This vampire is younger than I expected."

"...How young?"

"Its lifespan as a human is forty-eight years. But its lifespan as a vampire is only eight days."

Eight days.

Eight days is an interesting timeframe—because it took Wu Chen seven days to travel from the Misty Tower to Windhelm. Then, add the night he rested yesterday.

The time since the arrival of the witch's dust is eight days.

Eight days have passed since Hera discovered the loss of information and began to pay attention to Wu Chen.

The timing was too clever.

There must be a connection between these things.

“Fate chose you as the driving force, Dust.” The amorphous mass of flesh before Hera rapidly contracted and reformed. It eventually transformed into a small compass with a white background and red material, and the pointer on the compass was none other than Callisto’s finger bone.

“You do have the karmic connection to possess that amulet, but you will still need to put in some effort to realize it. However, this compass should save you some time.”

The compass made of white bones was placed in Wu Chen's hands.

"Go, find the vampire carrying the amulet. It won't leave this city, and once you defeat it, your wish will be granted."

(End of this chapter)