Chapter 379 - 379: Extreme Rage

The victory of the ducal knights had been entirely expected. The very reason Syanna had resorted to scheming was because she could never compete with them in raw strength.

Once the correct direction had been found, an armed band of exiles could never hope to stand against a regular army. Victor was merely surprised by how efficiently the knights had acted.

But then he realized something was wrong.

Over the past few days, whether reading the newspapers or casually chatting with his patients, he had heard absolutely no mention of the elder princess.

In other words, the news that Syanna had been rescued, or rather arrested, had been kept under extremely tight secrecy.

That was not normal.

Then Victor thought of Regis, the herbalist who had remained at The Rocking Horse waiting for Dettlaff. Logically, after such a major development, Regis should have received word or at least contacted Victor ahead of time.

Yet for half a month, there had been no word from him either.

A vague feeling crept over Victor that the script they had written beforehand was in danger of going off the rails.

"It seems things aren't that simple. Didn't I leave you a letter telling you to have the elder princess write a clear message in Rhenawedd's name, send it through the original channel, and confirm that she was safe so the threat of the Beast could be removed? Don't tell me you didn't do it."

"Uh, no, it's not that we didn't do it. It simply turned out to be unnecessary. There was a small accident on the night of the assault. A man dressed in black leather slipped into our formation. He was an exceptionally capable fighter and fought alongside us all the way to the elder princess's room!"

With the memories of his previous life combined with everything he knew in this one, the moment Victor heard the words black leather, he developed a very, very, very bad feeling.

Three verys, because this was anything but ordinary.

"Don't tell me he was a higher vampire..." His voice sounded like the groan of a dying man.

"Uh, I'm sorry, but nobody knew what he was at the time." Horace spread his hands. "You know how it is. Every now and then a knight-errant wanders in and decides to right some wrongs. It's a Toussaint tradition."

Unable to hide his frustration, Victor covered his face with both hands and rubbed hard.

The script had not merely gone off the rails.

The whole thing had overturned.

And he did not even know where the problem had started.

"Were you there? Do you know exactly what happened?"

"I was. Because of the elder princess's special status, and because she needed to be secretly protected, detained, until reconciliation could be arranged, only the captain and I went inside at first. We briefly informed her that she was under arrest, and just as we were preparing to escort her away, that higher vampire named Dettlaff stopped us."

"Wait. He was the only one who appeared? I mean, beside the man in black leather, was there an older gentleman with gray-white hair, carrying an herbal satchel and smelling strongly of herbs?"

"No. I'm absolutely certain there wasn't. If someone matching that description had been there, I would remember him. But there was nobody like that."

So the original plan had not only overturned, it had now caught fire.

Too numb to react, Victor waved for him to continue.

"Dettlaff demanded to know why Lady Syanna had done all this. He sounded as though he already knew the truth, and his manner was extremely fierce. Captain Damien sensed something was wrong and ordered the knights forward to protect the lady.

"Dettlaff originally tried to rush toward her, but fortunately Lady Yennefer arrived in time and knocked him back with a spell... Once the higher vampire saw the sorceress there, he gave us a vicious glare, turned into a cloud of mist, and escaped through the window."

"That's all? He didn't leave any message?"

Although the situation did not yet sound completely beyond recovery, Victor no longer had much hope.

Sure enough, Horace, who had appeared relaxed until now, showed a trace of tension on his face. He pulled out a letter and placed it in front of Victor.

"That same night, someone carved a large hole into the chest of the stallion statue in front of the palace. This letter was inside."

Victor did not even need to read it.

He could practically imagine what it said.

The situation had gone far beyond derailing and overturning.

Now the wreck had caught fire and exploded.

...

Ultimatum

Rhenawedd, or rather Sylvia Anna...

Whoever you truly are, come to Tesham Mutna and explain everything.

If you do not come,

I will raze Beauclair to the ground.

I promise you, I will do exactly as I say.

You have three days.

I will be waiting.

Dettlaff van der Eretein

...

"Three days... Wait. When did you say you rescued Syanna?"

"Three days ago."

"Fuck, then that's tonight!"

Victor roared and slammed his fist onto the table, knocking the teapot over and sending it crashing to the floor.

Hearing the shout and the sound of breaking pottery from inside, Alfie folded his arms and dutifully stood guard outside the door, gesturing for the servants not to approach.

"Uh... Vic, I know that's what the letter threatens, but you don't need to take it quite so seriously. How could one monster possibly raze Beauclair to the ground? He wouldn't even be able to get past the sorceress.

"And after receiving the threat, Lady Yennefer prepared a number of magical devices. She assured us that if Dettlaff dares attack the palace, she will definitely be able to trap him, and then we can destroy him."

"Then what the fuck are you worried about? Why did you come looking for me?"

Sensing the icy fury radiating from Victor, Horace scratched his hair awkwardly.

"I just couldn't shake this vague sense that something was wrong. I wanted to hear your opinion. Ideally, I'd also like you to enter the city tonight and help us eliminate the Beast."

Victor felt as though he was about to have a heart attack.

These people were going to kill him through sheer frustration.

Still, he understood that their mistake came from ignorance and preconceived notions.

Under ordinary logic, a single human-sized creature genuinely could not withstand the combined might of an army and a mage, much less raze an entire human city.

The problem was that not all beings were built alike.

Even Dettlaff in an extreme state of rage could not punch through a half-meter-thick slab of meteorite steel, but he was not going to spend the entire day merely being angry or let everything end with one well-timed sliding tackle...

He was practically the vampire world's own god of war.

With a single command, he could summon an army of a hundred thousand...

No.

Countless lesser vampires.

Victor seized Horace by the collar and hauled him out of his chair.

"There's no time to explain this slowly. Damn it, it's happening tonight! If we can't bring Syanna to meet Dettlaff, he really will drown the city in blood! We only have one day left to salvage this mess. We leave immediately!"

After saying that, the witcher strode outside.

He carefully gave Alfred detailed instructions on what precautions to take, then told Angoulême, who had hurried over after hearing the commotion, to remain on high alert and lead the manor guards in defending the estate tonight.

Victor then stripped off his loose robe, put on his Undvik armor, and retrieved the weapons he had painstakingly prepared over the past several days.

Fully armed, he mounted his horse alongside Horace and rode toward Beauclair.

...

[Name: Frost's Lament]

[Type: Weapon, Silver Sword]

[Quality: Epic]

[Attack Power: Extremely High]

[Traits: Dragon Power, Ice Resonance]

[Enchantment: Merigold's Freezing Spell]

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