Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

"Is there anything else?"

“No, no more…”

"Well, then go down."

Alman held up the parchment in his hand again, and the woman had to step back when she saw this.

"Oh, by the way," Alman suddenly called her and said slowly, "Prepare some gifts and get ready to welcome the guests."

"guest?"

"Yes, you are a distinguished guest, so the gift must be given more importance."

Alman said casually, looking at the woman with a smile - he knew that he would meet the "Devil Nun" soon, and it would never be wrong to prepare a gift and be polite to such an important person.

Of course, he didn't know and couldn't understand why he was willing to become a subordinate of the "Devil Nun", but it didn't matter, because that was what the prophecy said.

……

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508 Whose First Embrace

Ten minutes ago.

When Alman arrived at the castle hall, Baron Fisher and Duke Charlbliss had already been waiting there for a while. When the three of them gathered together, Alman smiled dryly, looking as bitter as if he had eaten a fly.

"Is Lady Bran alright? Is she alright?"

Alman was just studying the map of the North when he suddenly received news from his subordinates that the castle had been attacked and assassins had sneaked in with the intention of attacking Charlie Bran.

He was so frightened that when the Duke of Charlemagne summoned him, he rushed over without stopping.

"Thanks to that dragon, she's safe," Duke Charlbris snorted, glaring at Alman unhappily. "She deserves the credit for protecting Miss Bran, but what about us? When Lady Faris returns, no one knows whether we'll be safe! Damn it, Alman, this is the second time you've screwed me! You were in charge of the defense deployment, didn't you notice any omissions?!"

Chalbliss thought that he was the most innocent and unlucky person here. He had never killed anyone and had never caused any trouble. He had always lived peacefully with humans outside the empire. The affairs of the demons had nothing to do with him until that day when Alman tricked him into this mess in exchange for the blood of a real dragon. As a result, not only did he not get any dragon blood, he also lost a lot of his capable subordinates and even himself.

He was inexplicably detained by Elsa and forced to do hard labor here. If anyone told others about it, they would probably laugh their heads off. He was a powerful vampire duke, but he had fallen into such a pitiful state. If he had not discovered Charlie Bran, a mysterious descendant whom even he could not see through, his strong curiosity and love for talents had slightly eased his frustration and depression. He would probably be decades older now.

The source of all this bad luck was Alman. Admittedly, the Alman who betrayed him was actually an avatar in the organization, but this did not prevent Chalbliss from disliking Alman.

Alman felt the resentment from Charlbliss and could only smile awkwardly, unable to express his grievances.

Even Charlbris hadn't noticed the other party's arrival. How could he have done that, with his strength already reduced to one-tenth of what it was? And what about those patrolling sentries? Even though Charlbris's strength had been drastically reduced by Elsa's punch, and his senses and smell had been weakened by his long absence from blood, as a genuine vampire duke, he was definitely not someone that ordinary people could touch.

In other words, the assassin this time has at least the same power as the Vampire Marquis, and must possess some unique means, otherwise he would not have been able to get past the sage's familiar. If such a dangerous guy really wants to break through the castle's defenses, it is hard to say what the outcome will be.

Baron Fisher stood cautiously aside, not daring to interrupt at all - he just had to listen to the two big guys talking.

"Ahem...that...where is the assassin?" Alman tried to change the subject. The pressure from Charlbliss made him feel short of breath.

"Look for yourself, these are relatively well-preserved. I didn't get the rest."

Chalblis threw out a few bloody corpses, strode over and sat down. He stared at Alman with an expression that said, "Let me see how you explain it."

"..."

Alman took only one look and then looked away, groaning in his heart, because he knew those corpses - they were all from the "Shadowless Blood" tribe.

One of them, Alman, even had a name: Palag. The rest were from the tribe. They were all subordinates of the old leader. Among those who had attacked the city of Dammas with Alman was Palag's father, the tribal leader. He was still imprisoned in the prison in Dammas and was dragged out to bask in the sun every day at noon.

Since Palag has appeared here, it must be that his clone has indeed grasped the old leader's legacy and seized the actual power of the organization.

Armand couldn't contain himself at the thought. Why had Palag targeted anyone else, so why did he choose Charlene Blanc? Did he feel he couldn't defeat Elsa, so he was looking for revenge? Childish! Selfish! Stupid! Stupid! After all, Charlene Blanc was Elsa's beloved. If anything happened to the little princess, Elsa would definitely hold Armand responsible!

Oh, damn it! The old leader's legacy, the power of the organization—these should all have been his! Yet, his own clone had snatched them all! The thought of that foolish clone now enjoying everything that should have been his in some corner of this continent, and then, by chance, sending someone to hold him back, was more painful than killing him.

Having to face the wrath of Duke Charlbliss, the accusations of the terrifying Elsa, and the harm from his clone, Alman had never felt so wronged.

At this time, someone came running to announce: "Lady Faris is back!"

"Ok?"

Baron Fisher's expression suddenly became stern, and Chalbliss quickly stood up.

"Whoever comes will..."

Alman swallowed, his heart beating fast.

Chalblis glanced at Alman and said calmly, "You'd better think about how to apologize to Lady Faris."

The meaning in his eyes couldn't be more obvious: Don't drag others into this, or you'll be in trouble.

"Let's go and greet them."

Just as the three were about to leave the hall, a crisp sound came through the windowsill. Elsa pushed the window open and came in, followed by Tricia and Charlie.

"Lady Faris..."

"Where's the body?"

Elsa interrupted Charlbris's greetings, her eyes quickly swept across the hall, and soon focused on the bloody mass of flesh behind Charlbris.

"Tricia, is that okay?"

"I'll try."

Tricia appeared next to the pile of corpses in a flash. She raised her hand and a huge spherical magic circle enveloped her and the corpses on the ground. In the azure ball of light, dense and blurry halos like flying snow appeared in the air.

As the ball of light expanded, Chalbliss quickly took a few steps back, and Fisher and Alman also retreated several meters away.

"Soul magic?"

Chalbliss was knowledgeable and experienced. He looked up at the deep ball of light and vaguely guessed Tricia's intention - to arrest the remnants of the soul and forcibly read the deceased's memories.

It sounds simple, but there are probably few people in this world who can do it, because the power of the soul is too complicated. If it is a dying person or a person who has just died, it is still easy to deal with. You only need to use necromancy to restrain their soul and use it for your own benefit. But once a person is really dead, the soul loses its "container" and will shatter and disperse in a very short time. Once this process occurs, the difficulty of piecing these soul fragments together is no less than picking up all the fallen leaves in a forest and connecting them back to the original branches.

Therefore, the dead cannot be resurrected.

The only people in this world who can truly perform the miracle of resurrection from the dead are the vampires, the "First Embrace" - but even they themselves don't know the principles behind it, it's more like an instinct etched deep in their blood.

But speaking of which, ever since he gradually realized that Shirley Bran's bloodline seemed different from that of ordinary vampires, a question had arisen deep in Chalbliss's heart: Who had bestowed Shirley Bran's bloodline? Why was her bloodline different from that of other vampires? Where did this vague feeling of palpitation come from?

Who was the one who first embraced her? A vampire duke? Or was that person already exploring some unknown territory?

Chalbliss looked at Elsa. He really wanted to ask her for the answer, but after thinking about it, he felt that now was not the right time, so he could only sigh.

……

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509. My Advantage

In fact, there is no need to worry too much about Charlie's safety. First, the vampire marquis cannot hurt her. Second, Tricia has left more than one hidden tricks, so her safety can be said to be quite guaranteed.

Poor Alman was not aware of these arrangements, and he was still feeling uneasy.

"Don't stay here. Tell me what happened over the past two days."

Elsa avoided Tricia's spell range. She didn't want the magic to fail because of her own fault. Since arriving at the castle, Tricia had learned the general course of events from Crow, and made a quick judgment. She immediately decided to use soul magic to forcibly read the memory of the corpse in order to obtain information.

The person has been dead for some time, and the success rate of soul magic is very low, but it is still necessary to try.

Leaving the center of the hall to Tricia, the three vampires followed Elsa to the outside of the castle. To Alman's surprise, Elsa did not hold them responsible. She just confirmed the details of what happened with the three of them, then found a place to sit down and looked at the trembling Alman.

Charlie sat down next to Elsa.

"So, this is another person you sent? Why are you so sure?"

Facing Aisha's direct question, Alman calmed himself down and nodded firmly: "I know myself, so I am sure."

Right now, Alman's greatest reliance was the information gap between him and his clone: ​​from the defeat at Dammas until his arrival in the North, he had carefully concealed his identity, at least to the outside world, and had never revealed it. Therefore, it stands to reason that his clone should still be unaware that he was still alive.

No one would have thought he was still alive - if Elsa hadn't seen it with their own eyes, no one in this world would have believed it.

All in all, the clone should continue to act in his own way. In this case, some things have already been determined - think about it, think carefully about what you would do if faced with this situation. This is what Alman does most every day now.

"In that case," Aisha didn't dwell on this point, but suddenly asked, "Then, as far as you know, why did he target Charlie?"

In fact, this is what Elsa cares about most.

Elsa's words made Alman wilted. In fact, Alman was also puzzled. He knew himself, and he knew Pyrag and his "Shadowless Blood" clan, but why did he bring up Shirley? Admittedly, as Elsa Faris's woman, Shirley Bran was indeed worthy of attention, but the problem was, his clone probably didn't even know this girl, right?

Judging from the current situation of the organization, the clone's understanding of Elsa should be quite limited.

"I think...it's because you have a very close relationship with Miss Bran, so..."

"So you tried to take her hostage?"

"Yes, it is……"

"Isn't this just an excuse you made up?"

Facing Elsa's scrutinizing gaze, Alman was afraid and helpless.

"Forgive my incompetence, Lady Faris... Actually, I can't understand it either. Logically, 'I' shouldn't be so stupid as to make such an inefficient decision..."

He told the truth.

He didn't think that his other self would be stupid enough to try to restrain Elsa with hostages - because this trick would never work on Elsa. Please, Elsa's strength is even above that of the Demon General. Facing such a truly powerful person standing at the top of the world, how could such a cheap trick be useful?

After all, hostages are like ticking time bombs. Could anyone be so naive as to think they could hold Charlie's life hostage in front of Elsa? It's a nice idea, but can it be done? Even if Elsa is left alone, will the sage just stand by and watch? Do they think the vampires have made some remarkable achievements in combating magic?

To be honest, just look at what the sage is doing now and you will know that for someone of the level of the arcane sage, a living Parag is probably far more "valuable" than a dead Parag.

Even if we take a step back and really use hostages to make the issue worse, it is absolutely impossible to attack Charlie directly. Instead, we should take a long-term view and attack other people in the towns of Danmas and Weilin far away in the western province of the empire. Which has a higher success rate, stealing in person or stealing in a distant place?

But why? He thought about it over and over again, but he couldn't figure it out.

Seeing this, Aisha said nothing.

Adele had already figured out the whole story through mind reading, so there was nothing more to ask.

……

Elsa changed the topic and inquired about the progress of the task assigned to Alman and Charblis. Alman and Charblis began to report on the recent investigation work. It has been a while since Charblis came here and sent a large number of young vampires as "labor".

The good news is that not all is lost.

"My people have already tracked down all the original locations of the organization. There's no one there anymore. There are still people in some of the clans' former settlements, but we don't know where those who were left behind went. We only know that they headed west."

said the Duke of Chalbliss.

"Considering they might choose to escape by boat, our men have already staked out several large port cities and inlets. If there's any unusual movement, we'll report it immediately. However, we're short-staffed, so we can't cover some small fishing ports simultaneously. We can only maintain regular patrols. Besides that, the mapping work is basically complete—that's Alman's responsibility."

Aisha turned her gaze to Alman.

Alman unfolded a map as big as a double bed and spread it flat on the ground. Elsa took a quick look at it. This map was actually quite similar to the map of the North and the Northern Kingdom provided by Tricia, but the difference was that it focused on depicting many remote places and terrains. Most of these places were militarily unimportant, so they were generally not marked on the maps provided by the Empire.

However, this map was annotated in great detail and also showed the layout of the vampire forces. It was obvious that this was the result of improvements and additions made by Charlbliss and Alman.

Alman took a deep breath and began to explain:

"Thanks to the assistance of Duke Charlbris and Baron Hillman, their subordinates helped me refine this map. I spent a great deal of effort preparing this map specifically to analyze 'my clone's' movement routes and possible escape plans. It's extremely detailed, and I've checked it repeatedly, and there are basically no errors or omissions."

"We've gathered enough intelligence. Although the North is vast, our mission isn't to find the organization's location. To be safe, I'll definitely be sending out blood slaves as bait. Therefore, it's definitely difficult to find them simply by tracking and searching. But as long as they want to escape the North, they'll have to take action. We just need to wait and see, using the process of elimination to filter them out.

This is the purpose of this map. My job is to think from my perspective and share with you all the plans and routes I can think of. My other self would never imagine that there is someone in this world who can understand every detail of his plans. He is unaware of my existence, and this is my absolute advantage in intelligence!

Alman's tone was firm, and he looked determined to win - he had been preparing for this moment for a long time.

……

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510. Alman's Anxiety

When cutting the grass, you must remove the roots; when doing things, you must do them thoroughly.

Yarman said so.

He had been immersed in studying the detailed map that he had obtained with great effort for several days. He had hardly slept during this period, so even with his powerful body as a vampire, he was a little overwhelmed at this moment - he had not eaten fresh and vibrant human blood for a long time, and his body and mind were overloaded at this moment.

He has not taken in nutritious fresh blood for a long time, and has been forced to "work" in broad daylight for a long time without rest and energy replenishment. He is now at least a million miles away from his peak period. At this time, even a strong and healthy vampire baron can easily control him.

But he didn't feel tired, instead he felt excited because of his anxiety.

His idea was actually correct. If he was given more time, he would definitely be able to find the location of the clone - rather, he had actually had a backup plan all along. He deliberately delayed the progress of the search in order to use his current position to allow Chalblis's subordinates to bring him some valuable intelligence.

He did not reveal all of this information, but hid some of it in order to prepare for his escape one day in the future.

But what happened today sounded the alarm for Alman, because it seemed that the clone could no longer sit still. After all, the clone was strictly speaking just a "usurper". A month ago, the clone used the non-existent dragon blood to deceive Chalblis into standing up for him and successfully took the position of leader. But now Duke Chalblis is gone, and the contradictions within the organization may have begun to intensify.