Chapter 1 Hassu from Six Hundred Years Ago

Tall and sturdy, with a face of hard lines and a signature single eye, the demon hunter elder who had just arrived possessed a visage all too familiar to Hao Ren—none other than Hassu, the original owner of Hao Ren's equipment!

Of course, this was Hassu from six hundred years ago.

The moment he saw the old hunter, Hao Ren almost jumped. His first reaction was to conceal his demon hunter disguise as much as possible. However, while swords and hand crossbows could be stowed away, his clothes and the badge that identified his status were impossible to hide. Especially the clothes; he couldn't exactly streak in public, could he?

At that moment, he regretted why he had insisted on putting on this outfit...

But regret was futile. Hao Ren knew that he had to wear the entire getup to increase his chances of successful infiltration, even if he had known in advance that a demon hunter elder was nearby.

But who the hell knew that the demon hunter elder would be Hassu!

Hassu, at this point, noticed Hao Ren, the only unfamiliar face among the demon hunters present. Hao Ren's oriental appearance wasn't the issue, because demon hunters as a race didn't have any inherent physical traits. They could transform their appearance to match the people around them for a period of time (though they could also consciously stop this process). This transformation didn't require any external forces like disguise; Hao Ren's oriental features only suggested that he had been active in Asia for quite some time. What truly interested Hassu was the clothes this vagrant hunter wore...

Why did they look so familiar?

"You are the vagrant hunter?" Hassu asked, a hint of doubt in his mind, but out of courtesy, he didn't show it on his face.

"Greetings, Elder," Hao Ren said, forcefully suppressing his pounding heart and trying his best to adopt the attitude a vagrant hunter should have when meeting an elder from Corvus. Lone wolf hunters might be reclusive and difficult to get along with, but they were still members of the demon hunter community. They still needed to show sufficient respect when meeting higher-ranking demon hunters. "I believe there has been some friction between myself and your hunting party."

After speaking, he shut his mouth, afraid that any extra words would arouse the suspicion of this Hassu from six hundred years ago. At the same time, he winked at Lockheed, signaling him to explain the situation.

Lockheed cooperated as expected. This single-minded demon hunter probably genuinely felt that his impulsive actions that night had ruined things, so he simply and clearly explained the whole affair. He even tried to take all the responsibility on himself. What was even more commendable was that he filled in details that Hao Ren himself didn't know how to fabricate—listening to the other man's words, even Hao Ren, with his thick skin comparable to a crow 12345, felt a little overwhelmed and thought that deceiving such an honest person was a bit too unkind...

After listening to Lockheed's account, Hassu understood the entire situation. His single eye lingered on Lockheed for a moment, and he said in a serious tone, "A careless mistake is still a mistake. I will note this error of yours."

Then he looked at Hao Ren: "Vagrant hunter, I apologize for the damage caused by this reckless action, but I believe now is not the time to dwell on minor details. Making up for the losses is the top priority. The witches have escaped our encirclement. I have just learned that they not only have a werewolf among them, but also a suspected vampire. Although it is unclear how werewolves and vampires can coexist, such a combination is obviously quite tricky. We need to cooperate to complete this hunt."

Hao Ren had been waiting for these words for a long time, so he nodded without further ado: "I agree with your assessment."

"Now the moon has risen," Hassu looked up at the night sky. After the fog had completely dissipated, a nearly full moon hung high overhead. "In the moonlight, werewolves and vampires become more difficult to deal with. We probably won't be able to catch them tonight, but they can't run too far in one night—and according to your information, their target is the ancient vampire's resting place, so unless they give up this target, they won't run far."

"They may go to that resting place next," Hao Ren nodded, "but I don't know the exact location of that resting place."

Unexpectedly, Hassu smiled slightly when he heard this: "Don't worry, I have roughly investigated the location of that resting place. If I'm not mistaken, it's in the ruins of an ancient castle, and in this area...there are not many abandoned castles."

Hao Ren was shocked: These demon hunters had already investigated to this point?!

He forcefully suppressed the shock in his heart, only revealing some appropriate surprise: "Oh? You have already investigated this much? Then the next action will be much easier."

Hassu nodded and sighed softly: "To be honest, I didn't expect a group of other races to be interested in that ancient vampire, and they also have a way to open the seal... If I had known of your existence earlier and cooperated with you, we could have saved a lot of trouble."

Hao Ren felt quite subtle in his heart, with a feeling that his own fabrication had filled in the entire chain of clues, and as he continued to fabricate, he almost began to believe his own nonsense...

The witches had escaped, and tonight's hunt was destined to end without success. Under Hassu's orders, the demon hunters rested on the spot, settling down in this cemetery that had been abandoned by the witches and where the magical power was gradually dissipating, waiting for the attack at dawn. The eerie cemetery was by no means a good place for ordinary people to camp, but for demon hunters who dealt with dark forces all year round, any flat ground could be used as an excellent camp. The jagged dead trees and broken tombstones were just decorations in the camp.

The scale of a hunting party was not large. After a rough observation, Hao Ren judged that the number of these demon hunters was probably only fifty or sixty—compared to the holy knights of the mythological era, this could only be regarded as a small team.

However, for the witches led by Madame Marie, this was a disaster.

Bonfires were lit in the cemetery, and the power of the Leta runes was injected into several still-intact sculptures, turning them into stone statue guardians patrolling the night, wandering around the cemetery with the night watchmen.

Hao Ren and several demon hunters sat at a long table in the center of the cemetery, discussing the hunt. The table was still filled with food and wine that the witches had no time to take away, but every demon hunter was only gnawing on the dry food they brought, with no interest in these rich banquets: in their eyes, these foods were filled with the aura of black magic and smelled terrible.

Hao Ren's evaluation of this was affected—but he had to go along with it at this time anyway, he really wasn't interested in the things on the table.

A demon hunter saw a large pile of plates that had been swept empty on the table, which had once been used to hold meat, and let out a snicker: "These witches have quite the appetite."

Hao Ren: "..."

That was all eaten by Lily alone...

Suppressing the awkward emotions in his heart, Hao Ren looked at Hassu sitting next to him: "If possible, can you tell me who exactly is the ancient vampire you are tracking?"

A trace of solemnity flashed in Hassu's only eye: "You should have heard a name, the oldest vampire, Vivian Anseista."

Sure enough!

Hao Ren suppressed the impulse in his heart and made a somewhat surprised appearance: "The poorest one?"

"Yes, the poorest one."

The atmosphere was a bit awkward for a while.

Even Hassu subconsciously picked up this weird topic...

"Ahem, the Countess of the Red Moon, her reputation is probably known to every demon hunter," Hao Ren quickly coughed to break the deadlock. "You are actually preparing to hunt her this time? Aren't demon hunters always respectful and distant from her?"

Hassu adjusted his sitting posture, and the expression on his face was more serious than usual. His only eye stared at Hao Ren until the latter thought that the old hunter had seen something before he shifted away: "We are not here to hunt her."

This time, the surprise Hao Ren showed was genuine: "Not to hunt? Then what are you doing here?"

"You should know that she is an ancient one who often falls into a slumber," Hassu said, looking at Hao Ren. "She is also an ancient one who occasionally falls into extreme mania and is unpredictable. She has been slumbering in this place for two centuries, which is a long slumber even for her—this is very unusual."

"Unusual?"

"Corvus has been paying attention to this maverick countess. After she didn't appear in the world for two centuries, we realized something was wrong and launched an investigation. Not long ago, we confirmed that she had not fallen, but was in a long slumber in a place. In the subsequent investigation, we discovered this area and detected very strong negative power fluctuations nearby..."

A sense of vigilance suddenly emerged in Hao Ren's heart: "Negative power?"

"Old hunters like you should have heard of this negative power," Hassu glanced at Hao Ren. "That countess occasionally goes mad. When she goes mad, this negative power will dominate the entire area..."

"That is to say..."

"The countess's hibernation is probably in trouble. She is going crazy in her sleep, and now...she is about to wake up. According to my estimation, there is an eighty or ninety percent chance that she will wake up with rage."

As Hassu spoke of his investigation and speculation, Hao Ren had already thought of another answer that was probably closer to the truth:

Vivian's evil spirit is taking shape! The mad Vivian in Hassu's mouth is not the real Vivian, but an evil spirit!

Hao Ren was quite sure of this, because he had the Notebook to prove it: Vivian would only fall into madness before going to sleep, and she must be awake after waking up (not counting the situation of being woken up early with morning sickness), so there was only one possibility for the negative power that emerged at this moment: a newborn evil spirit.

No wonder the demon hunters would take the initiative to find Vivian's trouble, no wonder Hassu, the old hunter who had been taught a lesson by Vivian several times, would lead the hunting party to this place at such a great risk—they were here to stop Vivian's evil spirit!

"Do you think you can beat her?" Hao Ren frowned. The demon hunters should not know the existence of the evil spirit, but even if they don't understand the evil spirit, they should know how terrible Vivian herself is. "Even in the mythological era, the holy knights directly organized by Corvus have never won when facing Vivian."

"Of course we can't beat her. Once the Red Moon descends, the gap between the countess and ordinary creatures is not something that can be measured by strength. So far, no one has any way to fight against the power of moonlight," Hassu admitted this frankly, but then changed the subject. "We don't expect to win. Our plan is to buy time—first, lure her to a place far away from people, and then try to hold on in her moonlight for as long as possible, because the countess's madness will not last long, especially when she has just woken up. This madness is only fleeting. As long as we can survive this moment, the mission will be completed."