Chapter 173 Hesperides

Hao Ren still remembered Hesperides' appearance when he first met her. In his impression, she was a woman with a calm demeanor and a hint of melancholy, like a mature older sister with a slightly gloomy personality. But this second meeting shocked him. Hesperides looked like a ravenous ghoul crawling out of hell, ready to devour anyone. A palpable killing intent emanated from her. Her eyes were bloodshot, her voice hoarse, and the giant mace of unknown material in her hand was stained with the blood of countless people, dripping onto the ground. Vivian covered her eyes and muttered, "Second personality..."

"Have you seen the One-Eyed Dragon?!" Hesperides looked like she had gone mad, but her cognition was actually fine. She stared at Hao Ren and Vivian and asked in a raspy voice, "Leave him to me, leave him to me..."

"You've been fighting for too long, you should go back and rest," Vivian seemed to be trying to calm her down, but after receiving a fierce glare, she shook her head helplessly. "The Demon Hunters didn't come this way. The Shadowmancer family's bastards are colluding with them. We're going to kill Besemos now—do you want to come along?"

"No, I'm going to find the One-Eyed Dragon, I'm going to kill him," a scarlet aura gradually rose from the "war club" in Hesperides' hand. Under the shroud of the aura, the surrounding space gradually became hot and distorted. "I can feel it... I can feel that he has come to this city. This time, it's definitely right. The wound feels as if it's burning hot... Ah, the arrowhead in the wound must have sensed the call of its master! It will also lead me to its villainous master..."

Hesperides muttered to herself like a neurotic, and a trace of silver light was revealed from under the ornate jewelry band on her forehead. Vivian initially looked at this delirious friend with pity, but when she heard the last few words, her expression suddenly changed: "Wait, you sensed it this time?"

"Absolutely," Hesperides covered her forehead and let out a hoarse laugh, "He's alive, he's here, and he's going to die today!"

After saying this, Hesperides didn't give Vivian a chance to continue asking, but instead transformed into a sunset-like orange-yellow radiance and dissipated into the air. Hao Ren asked strangely, "What's going on? Who is the One-Eyed Dragon?"

"The One-Eyed Dragon is an 'Ancient One' among the Demon Hunters," Vivian turned around and continued towards the Shadowmancer Castle. "We don't know his real name, we only know that he's blind in one eye. The wound on Hesperides' head was inflicted by that guy. I didn't expect that guy to still be alive... Demon Hunters who have lived to this day are at least at the 'Elder' level, or even a 'Saint'..."

Hearing this, Hao Ren subconsciously asked, "Does Hesperides need help?"

"There are other Ancient Ones in this city who will help. We have more important things to do," Vivian said without looking back. "The top priority now is to catch Besemos. I have a premonition... he's about to run away, and he's planning to run very far away. If we don't catch him this time, the consequences will be endless."

Hao Ren nodded and said nothing more, but Vivian couldn't help but mutter, "An 'Elder' level guy leading people to purify this city, what is it about this city that's worth them doing this?"

Vivian's speed towards the Shadowmancer Castle did not decrease, but more and more doubts arose in her heart. It was already shocking enough for Demon Hunters and Inhumans to collude together, but now there was news that the commander of the Demon Hunters was one of the old guys who participated in the Olympus incident back then! It would be understandable if the new generation of Demon Hunters colluded with the Shadowmancers, but how could such an old-fashioned Demon Hunter cooperate with Besemos?

What is it in this city that is worth them doing this?

Vivian frowned. Although she had neglected the affairs of the Inhumans for many years, she still thought of a certain possibility at this time. At the same time, Hesperides' chest communicator rang again, with a message from the family headquarters: "Mistress! A large number of Demon Hunters are attacking our side! The enemies in several nearby blocks seem to have gathered!"

"Attacking our home?" Hesperides was taken aback. "Did you aggro them too much with your firepower?"

"I don't know. There's also news that the Lucas family is under heavy attack. Sentries report that the Demon Hunters in the city, apart from those maintaining the space rift, have gathered into two armies and are attacking us and the Lucas family..."

"Can you hold on?" Hesperides asked with a frown.

The voice in the communicator was firm: "No problem! We have plenty of ammunition, and the Demon Hunters are clearly not used to our fighting style. They haven't developed an effective assault strategy yet. We've activated all the landmines, and now the Demon Hunters don't dare to use space teleportation casually."

Hesperides laughed, "Take it easy, don't blow up our own people."

"The Demon Hunters are attacking the residences of the Hesperides and Lucas families?" Vivian glanced at Hesperides. "It seems I guessed right, they're here for the relics... and Besemos lied to them."

Hao Ren had also been thinking about this just now, and at this time he understood it together with Vivian: What is it that the Hesperides and Lucas families have that is worth the simultaneous attention of the Shadowmancers and Demon Hunters, and that they would come to snatch it in such a big way? The answer had already been given, and that was the two keystone tablets that Besemos had snatched away. Regardless of what the truth of the relic was, it was obvious that Besemos had revealed the information that the "keystone tablets were in the hands of the two vampire families" to the Demon Hunters!

But that old fox didn't tell them that he had already snatched the keys in advance.

The Shadowmancer Castle was engulfed in flames. After a round of aerial bombardment plus the subsequent RPG barrage, two-thirds of this black castle with thousands of years of history had collapsed, leaving only huge stones cracked by the high temperature and crumbling walls still trying to outline the original grand scale of the ancient castle. After the first wave of berserker troops bombarded the castle, Hesperides sent another group of people. The second group dropped a massive amount of white phosphorus bombs and various high-performance incendiaries. They didn't expect to burn to death the Shadowmancers who were half-demons, but they wanted to completely destroy the castle—this was Hesperides' style. This seemingly lively and cute little vampire had an exceptionally ruthless side. If she clearly regarded someone as an enemy, she would never give up until she crushed the other party into powder. She had decided to destroy the foundation of the Shadowmancers, and not a single brick would be left in this castle.

But that's how wars between Inhumans are. These creatures of different races and full of contradictions are never afraid to completely exterminate their opponents when necessary. Therefore, the Shadowmancers in the castle did not lose their composure in the face of this crazy attack, nor did they lament the destruction of their homes or regret provoking a group of devils. They just silently fought tenaciously, dealing with everything with an almost numb attitude, and in the face of the disadvantage of the air raid, they caused considerable casualties to Hesperides' troops.

But that was all this old family could do. The strength gap between the Hesperides family and the Shadowmancer family was not large in the first place, and now the former had the advantage of a trump card, while some of the latter's troops had been successfully blocked by the Lucas family before. The resistance force in this castle was almost finished.

Hao Ren and his group passed through the smoke-filled castle courtyard, crossed the ruins of the garden filled with the corpses of Shadowmancers or vampires, and encountered the last wave of resistance deep in the castle's underground. After Izhaks blasted these half-demons away with the power of a true demon, Hao Ren kicked open the heavy stone door in front of him.

This may also be the last intact door in the entire castle—of course, now this last door is gone.

Besemos was not in the basement. There was only a space gate that was slowly closing, and the ruins of an altar that was still smoking.

The crowd did not see the keystone tablets, but only saw some white fragments scattered around the altar.

Hesperides ran over quickly and found some small metal fragments from the remains of the altar. She laughed in anger, "Heh... timed bombs combined with the opening ceremony, the old bastard is also keeping up with the times—is he not planning to come out?"