Chapter 152: The Settlement Without Blood

Chapter 152: Chapter 152: The Settlement Without Blood

The gates of Bloodfall City opened shortly after sunrise.

Ronan stood beside a black carriage, his wrists bound by a pair of crimson restraints. Unlike the chains used in the dungeon, these restraints didn’t suppress his strength completely. However, the runes embedded in the metal would alert the guards if he attempted to use his abilities against them.

A thoughtful precaution.

Unfortunately for them, Ronan wasn’t planning to fight his way out just yet.

Six vampires had been assigned to escort him. All were experienced soldiers, and their equipment suggested that Varkos wasn’t treating the expedition as an ordinary patrol.

The captain approached, his armor bearing the insignia of Bloodfall City.

"Get inside."

Ronan glanced at the carriage.

"No breakfast? No farewell ceremony? Your lord certainly knows how to treat his guests."

"You’re a prisoner."

"Then why bring me along?"

The captain’s expression hardened.

"Because Lord Varkos ordered it. You would be wise to remember that."

Ronan smiled and climbed into the carriage.

He had no interest in arguing with a guard who was merely following orders. Besides, he wanted to see what had happened at Dusk Hollow.

The opportunity to leave Bloodfall City had come earlier than expected. His underground escape plan remained available as a backup, but there was little reason to risk crawling through forgotten tunnels when Varkos had provided him with a legitimate reason to pass through the gates.

For now, he would cooperate.

That didn’t mean he trusted the Vampire Lord.

The carriage began moving, and Bloodfall City’s crimson walls gradually disappeared behind them.

Ronan watched the landscape through the window.

The road leading west crossed a stretch of barren land dotted with scattered trees and rocky hills. Several patrols were stationed along the route, their numbers considerably greater than those he had observed before his imprisonment.

Varkos was taking the situation seriously.

That alone made Ronan more interested in what awaited them.

---

They reached Dusk Hollow shortly before noon.

The settlement stood in a shallow valley surrounded by rocky hills. Its outer walls had partially collapsed, leaving enormous gaps through which the vampires could enter without difficulty.

Ronan stepped down from the carriage.

The first thing he noticed was the silence.

No birds circled above the settlement. No insects moved through the dry grass surrounding its walls. Even the wind seemed strangely subdued as it passed through the broken gates.

The second thing he noticed was the smell.

Blood.

It lingered faintly in the air, mixed with the odor of damaged buildings and scorched earth.

Yet the ground outside the settlement was almost completely clean.

Ronan crouched beside a broken section of wall and examined the damage.

The stones had been forced outward, suggesting that something had struck the wall from within.

That was unusual.

If an invading force had attacked from outside, the destruction would more likely have spread inward.

He ran his fingers across a deep crack in the stone.

There were no obvious claw marks or traces of a weapon.

Whatever had destroyed the wall possessed considerable force.

"Stay where we can see you," the captain ordered.

Ronan stood.

"Of course. I wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to enjoy your hospitality."

The captain ignored him and signaled to the soldiers.

Two vampires moved ahead to inspect the entrance while the others spread out along the walls.

Ronan followed them into Dusk Hollow.

The settlement was larger than he had expected. Rows of stone buildings lined the main road, and several shops stood near a central square. Most of the structures were intact, but their doors had been torn open, and their interiors had been emptied.

There were no signs of an ordinary battle.

No barricades.

No defensive positions.

No scattered weapons.

It was as though the inhabitants had abandoned their homes in a hurry, except that the damage to the walls suggested they hadn’t left willingly.

Ronan entered one of the shops.

Broken containers covered the floor. Shelves had been overturned, and a heavy wooden counter had been split in half.

Behind it lay a corpse.

The vampire’s skin had turned pale, and its mouth hung open. There were no visible wounds on its neck or arms.

Ronan crouched beside it.

The body had been drained of blood, but something about it bothered him.

He had seen countless corpses during his time in the Abyss. Some had been torn apart by beasts, while others had been consumed by creatures that devoured their prey whole.

This corpse showed none of those signs.

Its flesh remained intact.

Even the fingernails were undamaged.

Yet every trace of blood had disappeared.

Ronan placed two fingers against the vampire’s neck, allowing a thin strand of energy to pass through the corpse but he felt Nothing.

Not even the faint residue he would normally expect from a recently deceased creature.

He withdrew his hand.

’Interesting.’

The captain appeared at the doorway.

"Have you discovered anything?"

"Perhaps."

Ronan stood and brushed the dust from his fingers.

"How long ago did the attack happen?"

"Two nights ago."

"And you found no survivors?"

"One scout survived. We haven’t found anyone else."

Ronan glanced at the corpse.

"Then your people are looking in the wrong places."

The captain frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"It means someone capable of killing an entire settlement without leaving a proper trace probably didn’t forget to clean up a few bodies."

He walked past the captain and returned to the main road.

"If the inhabitants fled, we’d find evidence of their escape. If they were killed in battle, we’d find evidence of the battle. But this place has neither."

Ronan looked toward the central tower.

"Whatever happened here, it wasn’t an ordinary massacre."

The captain’s expression darkened.

"You’re suggesting the settlement’s inhabitants disappeared without a fight?"

"I’m suggesting that you shouldn’t assume they were killed in the first place."

---

The central tower stood at the heart of Dusk Hollow.

Unlike the surrounding buildings, its entrance remained intact. A set of heavy doors had been left slightly open, revealing a dark staircase beyond.

Two vampires from the escort had already searched the ground floor. They reported finding nothing except damaged furniture and several abandoned documents.

Ronan entered the tower.

The air grew colder as he climbed the stairs.

At the top, he found a circular chamber with narrow windows overlooking the settlement. A large formation had been engraved into the floor, its intricate lines spreading toward a central stone platform.

The formation had been damaged.

Several sections were cracked, and the stone platform had split down the middle.

The captain followed him inside.

"This was the settlement’s defensive formation," he explained. "It protected Dusk Hollow from attacks by creatures in the surrounding wilderness."

Ronan studied the engravings.

"How powerful was it?"

"Strong enough to withstand attacks from ordinary King Realm creatures. A sufficiently powerful opponent could destroy it, but the formation should have provided ample warning before the barrier collapsed."

"Did it?"

"The surviving scout reported that the barrier disappeared without warning."

Ronan crouched beside one of the broken lines.

He could sense traces of energy in the stone, but they were faint and strangely distorted. They didn’t resemble the remnants of a conventional attack.

He extended his hand over the formation.

For an instant, something stirred beneath the surface.

Ronan withdrew his hand.

The captain immediately reached for his weapon.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

Ronan stared at the formation.

He had felt something.

Not a living presence, exactly. It was closer to an imprint left behind by an ability, though he couldn’t determine its nature.

He tried again, carefully directing his energy toward the central platform.

The sensation returned.

This time, he recognized the direction from which it originated.

The formation hadn’t been destroyed by an external force.

Something had interfered with it from the inside.

Ronan rose slowly.

"Your scout was wrong."

The captain’s expression tightened.

"Explain."

"The formation didn’t collapse because something overwhelmed its defenses. Someone disrupted it from within."

"That’s impossible. The formation could only be activated by the settlement’s authorized personnel."

Ronan looked at him.

"Then perhaps you should reconsider who was authorized to use it."

The captain fell silent.

Ronan returned his attention to the platform.

The energy residue was weak, but it carried a peculiar characteristic. Rather than spreading outward, it appeared to have drawn energy toward a single point before the formation collapsed.

Something had consumed the formation’s power.

And whatever had done it might have consumed more than that.

Ronan’s gaze sharpened.

If the same process had been responsible for the missing inhabitants, then the settlement’s bloodless corpses might not have been the result of feeding.

They might have been the remains of something that had taken far more than blood.

Unfortunately, he lacked the means to confirm that theory.

Yet.

---

"Lord Varkos will want to hear about this."

The captain had become noticeably less dismissive.

Ronan glanced at him.

"Then send him a report."

"We should return to Bloodfall City first."

"Why?"

The captain hesitated.

"We don’t know whether the attackers are still nearby. Remaining here without reinforcements would be dangerous."

Ronan almost laughed.

Six armed vampires were frightened of a settlement that had been attacked two nights earlier.

That suggested Varkos’s soldiers knew something they hadn’t told him.

Before he could question the captain, a soldier hurried into the chamber.

"Captain! You need to see this!"

The vampire looked toward the staircase.

"What happened?"

"We found something beneath the eastern wall."

The captain immediately followed the soldier out.

Ronan went after them.

They crossed the settlement and reached a narrow alley near the eastern perimeter. One of the buildings had partially collapsed, revealing a staircase descending beneath its foundations.

A soldier stood beside the entrance.

"That wasn’t visible from outside," he explained. "The floor collapsed when we entered the building."

Ronan examined the opening.

The stairs descended into darkness.

He could smell damp stone beneath the lingering scent of blood.

"Did anyone go down?"

"One soldier. He returned immediately after finding a passage."

The captain looked at Ronan.

"You’re coming with us."

Ronan smiled.

"How fortunate."

They descended.

The passage was narrow, its walls covered in old markings that had been worn smooth by time. Unlike the buildings above, this structure appeared to predate the settlement itself.

After several dozen steps, the passage opened into a small underground chamber.

The soldiers raised their weapons while Ronan stopped at the entrance.

The chamber was empty as there was no bodies nor supplies infact no signs of a recent struggle.

Only a circular depression in the floor, surrounded by broken stone pillars.

Ronan stepped closer.

The moment he crossed the chamber’s threshold, the system’s familiar notification appeared before his eyes.

[Unknown Energy Detected.]

[Analyzing...]

[Analysis Failed.]

[Warning: The detected energy does not correspond to any recorded species or known trait.]

Ronan’s expression changed.

He had encountered unfamiliar creatures before, but his system had always been able to provide at least some basic information about their characteristics.

This time, it had failed completely.

He approached the circular depression and crouched beside it.

A faint trace of energy lingered within the stone.

It was the same energy he had sensed in the defensive formation.

But here, it was considerably more concentrated.

Ronan extended his hand.

The instant his fingers touched the stone, the energy surged.

A sharp sensation passed through his arm, and the system’s notification changed.

[Warning! Foreign Energy Interference Detected.]

[Attempting to isolate the source...]

[Failure.]

Ronan immediately pulled his hand away.

The sensation disappeared.

For several seconds, he remained motionless.

Then a smile slowly spread across his face.

Whatever had attacked Dusk Hollow possessed an ability he had never encountered before. More importantly, the energy appeared capable of interfering with formations and resisting his system’s analysis.

That made it dangerous.

It also made it interesting.

The captain approached cautiously.

"What did you discover?"

Ronan stood.

"Something worth investigating."

"Can you identify it?"

"No."

The captain looked surprised by the direct answer.

Ronan continued, "But I know this much. Whatever attacked Dusk Hollow didn’t simply kill its inhabitants. It used this place for something, and the formation above was part of the process."

"Then we should destroy this chamber."

Ronan looked at him as though he had suggested setting the entire settlement on fire.

"And if destroying it triggers whatever happened here?"

The captain said nothing.

"Don’t touch anything," Ronan ordered. "Send someone back to Bloodfall City and tell Varkos what we’ve found. We need more information before making any decisions."

The captain’s expression darkened at being ordered around by a prisoner, but he eventually nodded to one of his soldiers.

The vampire departed immediately.

Ronan remained beside the circular depression, studying the strange energy, Now he was been exposed to the true world of the Abyss and part of it was this strange energy.

Whatever it was, it was worth investigating, Ronan had a hunch that whatever this energy was, it would be important not only to him but even higher ups.

Mind you his system does not even know anything about it.