The First Vampire

Chapter 475: 473 Sixth Order_1
 

The night grows darker.

In the gloomy tent, rows of candles burn themselves brightly, barely holding back the impending darkness.

In the candlelight, waves of blood fog encircle the coffin at the center of the tent, constantly billowing and rising.

Within the blood fog, Colin’s figure wavers, appearing ethereal and unreal.

As time passes, soft blood red complex patterns gradually spread across Colin’s body, like an arcane array, or like a constellation’s path.

An oppressive terror involuntarily seeps out, suppressing the flickering candlelight until it grows faint.

The thick darkness seizes this opportunity to grow and expand with impunity, making the atmosphere in the tent even more ominous and murky.

Suddenly, two spots of light explode into existence, tearing through the darkness.

It’s Colin, opening his eyes.

His pupils have transformed into vertically slitted, blood red orbs, radiating an icy glow.

The glow flashes and disappears. Colin also raises his head from the body of Duke St. Prowse, who has already turned into a desiccated corpse.

He can clearly sense that every cell of his body seems to be in a state of jubilant celebration.

The blood fog enveloping him appears to be drawing in mysterious energy particles from the air, transforming them into nourishing power, which he absorbs fully into himself.

The cells of his body, benefitted by this mysterious power, start to evolve at an accelerated pace.

His muscle fibers become more robust and resilient, the bone joints more crystalline and translucent, and his blood roars and surges through his veins like the tides.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Colin’s heart, acting like a powerful pump, begins to beat rapidly, causing his blood circulation to become more vigorous, even to the point of boiling.

The constantly escalating blood pressure causes veins to bulge all over Colin’s body, coiling across his form like purple steel cables.

Along with the engorgement, his muscles inflate and soon fill the confines of the originally loose armor.

Shh!

A pair of black bat wings pierce through the armor, slowly unfolding from Colin’s back.

Bang!

The armor can no longer bear this overpowering strength, and is blown apart by Colin’s swelling form.

Fortunately, the tent is large enough. Otherwise, it might not have been able to contain Colin in his Bloodline True Body form.

This is not the first time Colin has ascended by consuming the fresh blood of higher-ranked knights. Thus, he is not overly surprised by the changes in his body. Instead, he focuses on the source of this miraculous power.

His blood is boiling, his body is wild, and amidst the intense pain brought about by these drastic changes, his consciousness begins to blur.

But Colin grits his teeth, persevering to keep his consciousness clear.

Gradually, an endless stream of images, information, memories, all flicker before his eyes.

He struggles to make out the images, as if always separated by tenuous veil.

Murmurs resonate in his ears, as if someone is whispering nearby.

The blood fog rises and mingles, forming mystical and intricate blood patterns on the surface of Colin’s immense form.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Amid the violent beating of his heart, Colin’s consciousness becomes increasingly blurry, his gaze more vacant.

Instantly, an unstoppable darkness engulfs him, completely submerging his consciousness.

…

Crack!

A flash of lightning tears through the darkness.

Colin opens his eyes again to find himself standing unknowingly on a mountain peak, the soil under his feet gleaming silver.

Crack!

Another flash of lightning streaks across the sky.

Colin discovers a dark figure standing on the edge of a cliff.

In the figure’s hand is a torch, its dancing flame is the only illumination in this darkness.

The figure throws the torch from the cliff.

The red flame draws a trail of fire in the sky, tumbling into an abyss that seems to have no end.

Crack!

The third flash of lightning streaks across the sky.

The electric glow illuminates the entire mountain peak.

It was then that Colin realized that the peak of the mountain was teeming with shadowy figures, and he seemed to be one of them.

All these shadowy figures were raising their hands high, mumbling prayerful words.

“Awaken… Great… King…”

The murmurs of prayers echoed in Colin’s ears, but strangely, he couldn’t hear the specifics of their prayers.

Crack!

The fourth bolt of lightning streaked across the sky.

The lightning illuminated everything between heaven and earth.

From the black abyss, a dark red flame gradually rose—

No!

That wasn’t a flame!

Colin abruptly regained his state of mind and realized that it was a pair of enormous, dark red, beastly vertical pupils!

The place where he stood was not a mountain peak at all, but atop a giant beast’s head!

In the darkness, the sky was continuously streaked with lightning, finally allowing Colin to see the sight before him— a gigantic silver serpent!

Its enormous body was like a mountain range, extending as far as the eye could see.

Under the light of the lightning, there were visible bloody cuts on the serpent’s body, deep to the bone.

The serpent’s muddled eyes stared silently at Colin. In its dark red vertical pupils, Colin’s face was reflected.

It seemed to want to say something.

But Colin couldn’t pick up any information.

He could only make out the serpent’s helplessness, age, and sorrow from its one eye…

It was as if an ancient king at the end of his days was expecting a successor to take his place—

A new king.

Boom!

The last bolt of lightning streaked across the sky.

Everything returned once again to the boundless darkness.

The vertical pupil of the silver serpent also disappeared.

But Colin felt as though whispers were still echoing in his ear, as if the giant serpent was trying to say something to him.

Regrettably, he couldn’t quite hear it.

…

Outside the tent, the knight Logh, who heard the commotion, quickly approached but was stopped by a blood slave.

“What’s wrong with the Count?”

The blood slave didn’t answer but just silently blocked Logh’s way.

“Am I not allowed to go in either?”

Logh questioned angrily.

But the blood slave in front of him remained unmoved.

Logh knew these people were Count Angler’s personal guards. They were mysterious yet immensely powerful and valiant, fearing no death.

Had it not been clear to him that these guards would never betray Count Angler, he would have already drawn his sword to break into the tent.

Just then, the indistinct whispering inside the tent abruptly ceased. But immediately after, an incredibly terrifying pressure exploded, sweeping across the entire camp like a surging wave.

Being the closest, Logh felt this power more profoundly. If he hadn’t felt the intense Holy Light Energy and the familiar aura of Count Angler emanating from it, he would have already drawn his sword.

“Count…”

As knight Logh anxiously waited, one of the guard outside the tent seemed to have been summoned and turned around to walk in.

After a while, Colin came striding out.

“Count, are you alright?” Logh quickly stepped forward to greet him, also noticing that the armor Colin wore seemed to be the same as the guard who had just entered the tent…

But he didn’t dare to ask too many questions, just keeping his doubts to himself.

“Is there any food?” Colin asked, his eyes occasionally flashing a crimson light, and Holy Light Energy still constantly radiating from his body, as if he was still not able to perfectly control the surging power.

“Certainly, please wait a moment!” Logh looked up, feeling Colin’s surging power, couldn’t help but ask, “Count, have you ascended to the sixth order?”

Colin nodded, gazing in the direction of White Dew City:

“Yes.”