Chapter 273 – Queen and Princess

‘I found out after using Drain Touch. This is vampire mist.’

‘Well, considering the situation, of course, it is mist prepared by the vampires.’

‘That’s not what I mean. The mist itself is a vampire.’

‘Well, they turn into mist or bats when running away. Is it that kind of mist?’

Eric asked with a serious expression.

‘Yes, it is. To be more precise, There are differences in the magic energy composition, but it can be seen as mostly the same.’

‘What! Should we really be breathing in such a thing then? What if they start controlling us?’

‘Well, it is probably fine. But I’m not completely sure.’

Mist was good for hiding information, as well as magic obstruction.

But having the ability to control people on top of that should be much too difficult.

‘That’s a relief!’

‘I don’t think we should be relieved. I’d rather breathe in powdered wolf dung into my lungs than this.’

“Gruff?”

At the sudden mention of wolves, Grulf, who was following me closely, barked.

Grulf was a spirit beast wolf. He had a special ability where he could prevent vampires from transforming by biting them.

And so he shouldn’t take any damage no matter how much vampire mist he inhaled.

If anything, it was probably the vampires who were taking damage right now.

That being said, there was too much mist, and so the damage inflicted by Grulf’s fangs would be close to nothing.

We continued to run to the back of the palace, where Eric’s family should be.

In the meantime, Eric and Goran were using their communication bracelets to try and contact different locations, but most of the time, they could not connect.

Even Lord Gerberga’s godly cry could not rid the entire palace of mist.

Still, they were able to contact a few departments, and give out orders.

“Shia. Can you hear me?”

‘Zzaa…zzaa…’

I still couldn’t contact Shia and the others. They must be in the mist then.

After running for some time, the mist began to surround us again.

‘The mist again. This is bad.’

‘Lord Gerberga, if you would be so kind.’

“C….ock-a-doodle-dooooo!”

Lord Gerberga’s godly crowing sounded, and then the mist vanished around us.

‘Thank you, Lord Gerberga.’

“Cluck.”

‘Locke. Is this because they keep making more mist?’

‘No. While I said that it was almost the same, it’s different from a normal transformation. There must be a special way of changing into mist and staying in that state…’

‘I doubt I’ll understand it, but you explain it to me later.’

‘Ah, yes. That’s true.’

As Goran said, right now, we should be more concerned with its effect, and not magical techniques, compositions and theories.

‘To put it simply, there must be someone who is maintaining their mist transformation with magic.’

‘So if we defeat that person, then we won’t have to worry about the mist anymore.’

‘Exactly. I’m searching for that person with magic, but there is too much mist in the palace.’

‘This is really bad.’

Eric groaned, and then Goran said,

‘It’s Arc Vampires and above who can turn into mist, yes? And they used their bodies to fill the palace with mist… It’s hard to believe.’

‘I agree with Goran. I can hardly believe it myself. It would take more than a few hundred.’

Thousands at the least. Perhaps they had created this mist with ten thousand Arc Vampires.

And the only person who could do such a thing was that True Ancestor.

The separate body that we had faced earlier. The main body must be hiding somewhere in this castle.

But I still had questions. It was only yesterday that we killed it. A day hadn’t even passed.

Besides, we had killed it in the Ringain Kingdom. That was too far away.

We had only returned so quickly because of the teleportation circles.

‘In any case, let’s find it and crush it. Then we can think about the rest.’

As I pondered over it, Goran made the suggestion with a laugh.

‘Yes, it’s as you say, Goran.’

‘Right?’

After that, we had Lord Gerberga crow a few times as we continued to run through the palace.

And then, we reached the living area of the king. In other words, the area where Lefy and Marie were.

‘The mist is thin here. I can see ahead.’

Eric said with a suspicious expression.

Considering the position we were when Lord Gerberga last crowed, and the area of effect, this was not due to Lord Gerberga.

Besides, while it was thinner, it was still present.

‘Please do it, Lord Gerberga.’

“Cock-a-doodle-dooooooooooooooo!”

As always, Lord Gerberga crowed in a godly way.

The thin mist that covered everything began to vanish.

‘Zzaa…zzzaa… Mr. Locke! Can you hear me!’

Shia’s voice rang from the communication bracelet.

“Yes, I can hear you.”

‘The dark ones…’

As we talked, I opened the doors to the room that Eric and the others usually spent time in.

There, I saw Shia and Serulis, who held their swords up. Queen Lefy and Princess Charlotte and Princess Marie were behind them.

As were ten vampires.