Chapter 156: Ancient Blood Elf [Seeking Subscription]

South of the Human Emperor's Tomb.
Roughly eighty kilometers to the east.
At this moment, a reinforcement team heading toward the Suizhou Safe Zone was advancing rapidly.
There were four large carriages in this convoy, accompanied by more than fifty people in front and behind. They belonged to the Xinyang Safe Zone, and their main mission this time was to provide supplies and participate in rescue operations.
The team was led by a man in his fifties who was originally from Suizhou, though he had settled and developed his career in Xinyang. This time, both his wife and daughter were in Suizhou, which was why he was risking his life to rush back.
However, just as everyone was tense with anxiety, fearing discovery and attack by some strange beast, a bizarre banner suddenly appeared right in front of the convoy.
The color of this banner was peculiar; it was impossible to tell whether it was black or red. As the banner fluttered, various shadows and strange musical tones emanated from it.
Because the banner blocked the only way forward, the convoy was forced to stop.
Yet the very instant the vehicles came to a halt, one of the explorers in the convoy collapsed directly to the ground.
Immediately after, a second, a third, and a fourth.
The consecutive falling of these explorers triggered widespread panic. Someone quickly tried to report the situation, but anyone who raised their hand barely survived past the next second.
This eerie phenomenon instantly left everyone too terrified to make a peep.
However, before long, those explorers who had just fallen actually stood back up, one by one, and slowly approached the area around the banner, looking just like puppets!
Terror was plastered across everyone's faces, and some even began releasing skills in all directions, yet they discovered absolutely nothing!
"Preying on ordinary members of the Human race—you really are regressing as you age."
Suddenly, a crisp voice broke the silence. The language used was not any human tongue, but a special form of coded information.
Everyone's gaze turned toward the source of the voice, only to discover that two strange figures had suddenly appeared at the rear of the convoy.
One was a woman draped in black spellcaster robes; her figure was exceptionally slender, possessing an almost morbid pallor.
The other was a massive brute standing at least three or four meters tall, yet he walked without making the slightest sound.
After the woman's crisp voice broke the silence, a shadow—matching the color of the banner—suddenly materialized beneath the eerie flag.
The shadow's body was even stranger: emaciated and twisted, stained with black mud as if it had just crawled out of some riverbed.
"Aren't they disqualified from being called humans? Their bloodlines are far too mixed. I never expected them to have evolved into this state by now."
The black shadow spoke, its tone carrying a hint of disdain, also utilizing those strange musical notes.
While speaking, it did not halt its actions. Around them, explorers continued to drop one by one. Once the very last explorer fell, it continued, "A Titan, and a Blood Elf. I didn't expect any Blood Elf mages to still be alive; quite a rarity."
"I also find it quite rare that Banner Witches still exist."
"If I recall correctly, your Banner Witch clan ultimately did not join the Twilight Covenant."
The woman raised her hand, faint runes flowing across her arm. The black aura surrounding the banner instantly dimmed, replaced by a pale blue watery elemental environment.
Hearing the woman mention the Banner Witches and the Twilight Covenant, the black shadow couldn't help but frown, sensing that something was amiss.
All three of them belonged to "Venerables" resurrected by the vampires.
Yet these Venerables actually originated from something known as the "Twilight Covenant."
They had fallen into deep slumber, to be protected, awakened, and resurrected by descendant clans.
Generally speaking, they were relics of ancient beings and were not permitted to be reborn in this world; it was a specialized form of stealth smuggling.
The vampires were their descendant clan, paying the price to resurrect them. According to the contract, they were also required to help the vampires accomplish certain tasks. This was the general content of the Twilight Covenant.
There were generational gaps even among the "Venerables." The Banner Witch clan had indeed not participated in the initial Twilight Covenant, joining only in a subsequent phase, making them signatories to a supplementary protocol.
Those who brought up the Twilight Covenant unprompted were generally members of the earliest races that had gone to sleep to resist datafication.
Now, the three of them were about to set out on a mission together. Listening to the woman's tone and demeanor, the Banner Witch inexplicably felt an ominous premonition.
When he focused his gaze, he was shocked to find that the Titan standing beside the woman already had a vacant expression!
Although the massive brute's soul was still present, it had been completely enslaved by this woman!
The Banner Witch felt a nameless sense of threat wash over him.
He had been resurrected for less than three days, while the entity opposite him had clearly been awake for a period that vastly exceeded his own.
"What you are doing is a breach of contract."
The Banner Witch frowned deeply. He had originally thought he was merely helping the vampires deal with a minor nuisance, but he hadn't expected internal conflict to erupt so quickly.
This Blood Elf exerted a crushing sense of pressure on him.
His abilities had not yet fully recovered, and if a real fight broke out, he wasn't certain he could hold his own.
The woman opposite him chuckled softly. Instead of answering the Banner Witch, she raised her hand once more, causing all the water elements that had previously dispersed into the surroundings to instantly freeze solid.
The Banner Witch attempted to escape by transforming into a shadow, but the next second, he collided with an ice wall!! Immediately after, he was frozen solid once again!
He had already spent countless ages frozen beneath the earth, and he hadn't even been resurrected for three days—before he could even finish consecrating his banner—when he was frozen all over again.
Soon, the woman approached the black banner. The banner then transformed into specialized threads, completely unraveling and merging into her body.
The Banner Witch's aura plummeted drastically, blood-red runes appeared on his body, and his eyes glazed over completely.
The woman dealt with the Banner Witch just as easily as the Banner Witch had dealt with ordinary explorers!
After finishing everything, the woman glanced at the surrounding corpses, frowned slightly, and waved her hand.
That group of explorers who had previously been killed by the Banner Witch all turned to dust and blew away.
"The Human Emperor's Tomb."
"How interesting."
The woman looked in the direction of the Human Emperor's Tomb, and in the next second, her body flashed onto a nearby hillside.
She did not merely flash by herself; she stepped into the void carrying the two vacant-eyed vampire Venerables along with her!
Her flashing distance was far longer than Yishen's dozen-meter blinks. In just a few seconds, she vanished deep among the mountains.
From the Xinyang Safe Zone to the Suizhou Safe Zone, the journey typically took over three hours.
Yet in less than half an hour, that Blood Elf mage had arrived at the Human Emperor's Tomb.
The energy required for her resurrection was extremely immense.
This was why she needed to absorb the power of the other two "Venerables."
Beyond that, as a Blood Elf mage, she disdained the company of these lower races.
Even though they were also referred to as Venerables by the vampires, in Nicole's eyes, these filthy creatures belonged in hell.
This mission involved dealing with a human mage from an emerging race, and it seemed she might even get to unleash some minor curses.
Yet Nicole didn't take this mission seriously at all.
In fact, her trip to the Human Emperor's Tomb wasn't primarily for the sake of that mission.
The recovering magic within her body would soon enter a state of chaos.
She needed to acquire the Blood of the Human Emperor located within the Human Emperor's Tomb in order to stabilize her inner magic.