The First Vampire

“The lives of three hundred thousand commoners and an eye, these are the materials needed for the Eyes of Judgement spell?”

“Yes.”

In the tent, Vera, like a kitten, snuggled into Colin’s arms, resisting the spell scroll in his hand but still painstakingly explaining the Elf text on it.

“So, for the spell-caster, he only needs to give up an eye, while the real backlash of the forbidden spell is borne by those three hundred thousand commoners?”

“Yes.” Vera’s face was filled with fear and anger, “This is a devil’s spell! I can’t imagine why my teacher would develop something like this.”

Colin patted Vera’s head in comfort, but his heart didn’t stir much.

In fact, he thought the creation of this forbidden spell was inevitable.

The eternal torment of mages has always been the inability to break through the sixth level into the Holy Field, and the forbidden spells, which have power comparable to the Holy Field, require the spell-casters to pay with their lives.

This cost will certainly prompt mages to continuously seek improvements. Even if they can’t avoid the backlash of forbidden spells, they will definitely find ways to find a “scapegoat” to help bear this backlash.

Now, they’ve succeeded.

Ignoring the moral issues, this forbidden spell of the “Eyes of Judgement” can be considered a masterpiece of genius.

Colin could even imagine the impact that the spread of this forbidden spell would have on the current situation of the Glorious Empire.

The Knights of the Empire, especially the two Holy Knights, will certainly not sit idly by while the Mage Council holds such a terrifying forbidden spell.

So, did Mage Cusius easily give the scroll of this forbidden spell to Vera to split the hate? Or is it a diversion?

“What about the spell-caster? This can’t be a spell that a low-level mage can cast, right?”

“Uh-huh, it must be a sixth level mage.”

Colin breathed a sigh of relief. At least Vera doesn’t have the ability to cast this forbidden spell. So, she won’t become the top target of the Holy Knights for the time being.

“When Cusius gave you this scroll, didn’t he say anything else?”

Vera thought for a moment and said, “He said he would never hurt me.”

Hehe, Colin sneered silently.

He certainly did not believe such words.

“Anything else?”

“That’s it.”

Colin frowned, the information still wasn’t enough for him to determine the true intentions of Mage Cusius.

But he harbors no complacency, he already ordered his newly converted blood slave – a fifth level warrior Tumu to keep a close watch on Cusius. If the other party makes any anomalies, he will unhesitantly give the order to kill.

“Colin, what do we do with this scroll?” Vera asked hesitantly.

She strongly wished to destroy this spell scroll full of blood scent but was irresistibly drawn by the profound magic techniques recorded in it. After all, this is the first forbidden spell that allows the spell-caster to survive!

Even though the method of transferring the forbidden spell’s backlash used is extremely inhumane, it has provided a precious approach which has great reference value.

“Keep it for now.” Seeing Vera’s dilemma, Colin advised her, “It can be used as a reference, and besides, there must be more than one copy of this spell scroll. Destroying it can’t really eradicate the spread of the Eyes of Judgement forbidden spell.”

After a moment, Vera reluctantly agreed, “Alright then.”

Colin kissed her on the forehead and said softly: “Alright, don’t think too much about it. Get some rest. We will retreat back to Winterfell City tomorrow.”

“That soon?”

“Yes, the Menam family’s army is only three to four days away from us. If we don’t hurry and retreat, we risk getting our retreat path cut off.”

“Okay.”

Early the next morning, the Golden Lion Legion camp on the south bank of the Ben Liu River was bustling.

The commotion here obviously alarmed the dwarf sentries on the other side of the river. They thought that the Golden Lion Legion was preparing to cross the river for a counterattack, and they hurried back to report in fear.

At this time, Marquis Dawson had not fully recovered from the disastrous defeat of the day before. Upon hearing the news that the Golden Lion Legion seemed to be preparing for a counter-attack, his face immediately turned even paler.

Therefore, the dwarf Marquis, already as jumpy as a scared sparrow, instantly gave the order— Retreat!

Then, a very peculiar situation occurred on both sides of the Ben Liu River. The warring sides almost began to retreat at the same time, as if yesterday’s life-and-death struggle was a mere dream.

Colin watched as the Dwarf Legion on the opposite side retreated even faster than his own side and couldn’t help but smirk.

This Marquis Dawson was even more cowardly than he had imagined.

Knight Kambening suddenly suggested: “My lord, the Dawson Family is probably finished. Should we take advantage of this and pursue them across the Ben Liu River?”

Colin glanced at him, thinking that this new commander of the Golden Lion Legion was trying to show off, he asked indifferently: “Are you confident that you can take Ironforge City in a short period of time?”

To Colin’s surprise, Knight Kambening nodded heavily: “My lord, you may not know this, but Ironforge City is not a stronghold that is easy to defend and hard to attack. As long as you give me your full support and trust, I can take it within three days!”

It was then that Colin took him seriously and turned his head to look at Scholar Doan.

Scholar Doan nodded and said: “Knight Kambening is right. Ironforge City is indeed not a stronghold.

When the Dawson Family pledged loyalty to the Lord of the North Territory, in order to show their sincerity and to alleviate the fear of the dwarf among the Lords of the North Territory, they deliberately built the city walls of Ironforge City very low, with the highest point at just three meters.

Such city walls can keep some thieves outside the city, but when faced with a strong army, they are almost useless.”

Colin thought for a moment with a frown. He realized that if they could take Ironforge City in one battle and capture Marquis Dawson, it would be a huge help to the situation in the North Territory, so he asked: “So you also agree to pursue them across the river?”

Scholar Doan, however, shook his head and said: “No. I still insist on retreating to Winterfell City.”

“Oh? Why?”

“First of all, attacking a city is still risky. If Ironforge City cannot be taken for a long time, we will face the risk of being cut off by the Menam Family. So, retreating to Winterfell City is the most prudent move.

Moreover, my lord, don’t forget there’s still the Uman Clan. Although they just went through a mutiny, we don’t know how many troops Count Uman managed to gather after the chaos, let alone where they are now.

This is a danger we cannot ignore. We’d better be cautious in case of unforeseen circumstances.”

Colin nodded his head. Although the Golden Lion Legion had just won a major victory, their current situation was indeed not optimistic. Knight Kambening’s proposal was a bit too aggressive. If they were to be thwarted, it would send the Golden Lion Legion into an irreversible abyss.

Colin looked around at the high-ranking officers of the Golden Lion Legion and suddenly asked: “What do you all think?”

Most of the officers answered without hesitation, “We also believe that retreating is the most prudent arrangement. Of course, we will follow your and Miss Vera’s commands on how to proceed!”

“Good.” Colin nodded in satisfaction, but then he noticed that he did not see Knight Louis among these officers.

“Where is Knight Louis?”

Knight Kambening hesitated for a moment before replying, “My lord, we have not seen Knight Louis since yesterday’s battle.”

Colin’s eyebrows knitted together as he continued to ask, “Did he lead his troops to charge yesterday?”

“No.” Knight Kambening shook his head.

Since he didn’t go to fight the enemy, he couldn’t have died on the battlefield.

“Heh.” Colin sneered, guessing that Louis had likely run away in the confusion.

Scholar Doan whispered in Colin’s ear, “My lord, Knight Louis used to be Joyce’s riding teacher.”

Upon hearing this from Scholar Doan, Colin was completely certain that Knight Louis had indeed fled.

Since Knight Louis had deep ties with Joyce, he certainly wouldn’t want to see Vera in control of the Golden Lion Legion, let alone the position of the Northern Duke. Therefore, he must have run to Winterfell City to report what had happened.

With this in mind, Colin made up his mind and commanded:

“Retreat immediately! We cannot afford to lose Winterfell City.”

“Yes!”