Chapter 188: Mechanical Palace on Autumn Island
Vampire, the culprit behind the destruction of the El Empire.

After the natural disaster, a large number of former El nobles joined the huge coalition of vampires and ogres, and pledged their loyalty to the vampires in order to prolong their limited lifespans.

Only those marginal royal members and local nobles fled to the East Continent under the leadership of Mircella.

Therefore, within the Court of Flesh and Blood, they never considered themselves vampires, but blood elves, and ogres were not ogres, but giants.

For religious reasons, the Royal Court wanted the territory of the Eastern Continent, and for political reasons, the Empire wanted the territory of the Western Continent.

Therefore, in the thousand years after the blood clan's holy grail was broken, war has always been the main theme of both sides.

Due to repeated wars and struggles between the Flesh and Blood Court and the Empire over their respective territories, each side has some claims and estates within the other's territory.

Therefore, within the empire and the royal court, there are still vampire merchants or spies operating within their respective territories.

"So what we are facing is very likely one, or even several vampires?" Horn asked the tall and strong Pasrick along the broken Aiel Road.

Pasrick scratched behind his ear with his finger: "It would be fine if that were the case. Even though it's cloudy, 70% of the vampires' spells can't be used. I can handle it alone.

What we are afraid of is that Si Cheng hermit will do something strange. We don’t know him well, so it will be risky to deal with him.”

"It's okay." Horn smiled and patted Pasrick's shoulder, "My sister Jeanne is invincible."

"Jeanna is still a long way from being perfect," Pasrick said bluntly, "If she wants to become a combat witch, she will need to undergo further training for a while."

"Well said, I think so too. Then I'll leave this matter to you." Without waiting for Pasrick to refuse, Horn strode to the front.

"Where are we?" Looking at the forest and mist in front of him, Horn asked Victor beside him.

Victor narrowed his eyes and looked into the mist. "According to the information from the previous scouts, if we reach this landmark, we will only be half an hour away from the Beastman Capital."

The long black dragon walked on the long ancient road. Even the roads of the El Empire were badly damaged after being used for so long.

Stepping on the ground, Horn didn't know whether the touch on the soles of his feet was a pain or a massage.

This dirt road is paved with coarse stones and bonded together with rammed earth mud. The gravel forms a herringbone-shaped spike pattern on the ground. There are also drainage pipes paved with pottery shards on both sides of the road.

But time had passed too long and the place had long been filled with silt. A few withered wild flowers hung their heads in the cold mist until they were swayed left and right by the wind created by the soldiers.

Since leaving the dock, Horn and his expeditionary force had been walking for nearly two hours, clearing out hundreds of undead zombies along the way.

After knowing that the weaknesses of these hairy zombies were the back of the neck and the heart, with the help of Jeanne's lightning, the hairy zombies near the dock were quickly cleared out.

As rumored, these zombies are like paramecium and can only perform the most basic activities.

They are each responsible for an area, and as long as outsiders do not set foot in their area, they will turn a blind eye even if Horn and his group pass by under their noses.

As Horn went deeper, the number of attacking beastman zombies decreased. This made Horn fall into deep thought. Could it be that the vampires inside were adopting a defensive strategy of focusing on the outside and neglecting the inside?
But on second thought, there is no need for that. Could these hairy zombies rebel?

"Hmm?" Horn, who had been thinking with his head down, suddenly looked up and looked around with a frown.

Victor asked curiously, "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?"

"Did you hear that strange tapping sound?"

"A clicking sound? I didn't hear it." Victor stood there blankly. "Is someone winding the key?"

Horn tilted his ear to listen, and the strange clicking sound disappeared again.

"This is really weird..." Horn muttered, then raised his head. "Nothing, let's keep going. Hey, the fog seems to have dispersed a little, and I can see the road ahead clearly."

As it was approaching noon, the thick fog had indeed dissipated a lot, but under the gloomy sky, the light was all gray and cold.

Horn looked around and saw that the area of ​​Autumn Dusk Island was full of traces of abandoned farmlands and pastures.

Stepping onto the wooden bridge over the stream, Horn vaguely saw an archway with carved borders standing in the sparse forest. The rest of the palace had turned to dust. "Drip drip drip—"

The scout's bird whistle sounded from the front, announcing that we could continue moving forward.

When he reached this position, Horn looked up and could already see the outline of the city ruins in the distance, as well as the garden palace located by the river.

The most eye-catching thing is the towering spire in the palace. Horn couldn't see it clearly before, but now he discovered that it is nearly 100 meters high.

"Horn, we'll be there in about ten minutes." Pasrick estimated the distance and said to Horn, "These soldiers can spread out a little bit, go in groups of ten to investigate nearby, and slowly approach the manor."

"Are you sure the vampire is in there?" Horn questioned.

Pasrick tapped the badge on his neck and said, "My badge is vibrating. This is a rare item. There must be vampires within a five-mile radius."

Following the orders from Victor and Jeanne, the soldiers dispersed after staying behind to guard the area. After exploring the area, they did not find any danger.

After waiting for a long time, Horn simply called them all back. After having lunch and resting for half an hour, he led the team to set off again and headed straight for the garden palace.

Standing in front of the gate, Horn carefully examined the manor in front of him. The high rubble stone walls were covered with dark green weeds and vines. From the gaps in the walls, he could see the broken and fallen ivory arch colonnades.

On the marble triangular gable of the manor gate, sat a green puppet clown wearing a funny hat, staring at Horn and others with his lifeless eyes.

The square movable jaw opened, and many of the accompanying soldiers seemed to have heard a creepy laugh.

On both sides of the gate, there are two large brass roosters painted with mottled and bright paint. They are dark red all over, with white paint on their wings. They stand on one leg, like the guards of the manor.

He ordered the soldiers to climb over the manor wall and conduct a thorough investigation, and only come back to report after making sure there was no danger.

Horn asked the Holy Musketeers to line up, and told Jeanne and Pasrick to get ready, then he shouted to the soldiers behind the door to open the gate of the manor from the inside.

The door slowly opened as it was dragged.

"Giggle-"

In the quiet air, the clear and mechanical crowing of a rooster was extremely distinct. Horn's scalp tightened and he immediately looked in the direction of the sound. It turned out to be the big rooster at the door.

Its pointed beak opened and closed regularly and stiffly, and bursts of strange crowing sounds came from its chest.

"wipe!"

Rudy Luo, who was standing next to him, hurried forward and kicked the screaming chicken's head off the line with one kick. He then raised his foot and tried to crush its body.

"Wait." Reaching out and grabbing Rudy Luo's shoulder, Horn frowned and squatted in front of the big rooster.

Although the big rooster had no head, it still made a strange and dry crowing sound.

He looked inside from the neck of the brass mechanical rooster. The precision gears were meshing tightly together. The chain turned the pallet fork, which continuously struck a hollow ball. The crowing sound came from this ball.

“Click, click.”

Listening with his ear tilted, Horn found that the sound was surprisingly similar to the strange sound he had just heard.

Standing up, Horn straightened his back and looked into the doorway. The scattered squares in the garden palace were displayed in front of everyone like a scroll.

Not far away, in front of the main palace, the spire was already within reach.

Among the broken statues and columns, the neat giant tower actually has a strange beauty.

"Let's go in and take a look."

(End of this chapter)