Chapter 2071 Alliance Without Betrayal
On the battlefield, it was a scene of pure carnage.
The battle had only just concluded, but the atmosphere was still tense. Tenser than ever before.
Less than a hundred and fifty adventurers survived the battle. Though all of them were heavily injured. Surprisingly, every last Councilor also made it till the end. Only Umlo seemed like he could die any moment. Still, he persevered and stood upright.
As for the vampire army. All of them died.
All of them except one.
Sandra.
The tide of battle had already begun to shift in favor of the adventurer army once Luca displayed his true fighting prowess. He killed two Generals and scores of lesser vampires who dared to challenge him.
But the true turning point of the battle came when Sandra betrayed her army. She backstabbed one of the vampire Generals in the heat of battle. After that, it was only a matter of time before the adventurer army emerged victorious.
The adventurer army did win. But now the survivors, led by the Councilors, had taken up arms against Sandra… and the person shielding her.
"Luca, what is the meaning of this?!" Gregor growled. "Why are you protecting her?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Luca asked, breathing slightly heavily. "She's our ally."
Sandra, who stood heavily injured behind Luca, stared at the rest of the Councilors warily. They had almost surrounded her and Luca. She knew she was too injured to break her way out of this encirclement.
Umlo spat bloody phlegm on the ground. "Traitor! You and your brother! Where is he?"
Kesha stared with unease. Meanwhile, Aramen radiated an utterly cold demeanor. Silently watching. Silently weighing the situation.
Aramen was the only person Luca was wary of. He could defeat the rest. But Aramen… he didn't know.
"What have you got to say, Luca?" Aramen spoke flatly.
He was the oldest among everyone gathered on the battlefield. But he looked as though he hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Did you and your brother betray us?" Aramen asked again.
"Betray? That's rich." Luca sneered.
"We are trapped inside this battlefield by a barrier," he continued. "Brother has gone to the castle to deal with the one who set this barrier. We believe it's the gypsy."
Behind him, Sandra's eyes widened.
The adventurers stirred as well.
"And we are to believe your words?" Aramen spoke calmly. He always did.
"Yes." Luca shrugged. "Send your scouts to the edge of the battlefield. See if they can get out."
Aramen's eyes narrowed. After a moment of deliberation, he waved a hand and signaled two squads of three to head in opposite directions.
As the rest waited, Kesha couldn't help but ask, "So you were secretly allied with that vampire all along?"
"An alliance without betraying your own people. Shocking, isn't it?" Luca scoffed.
Kesha could only smile wryly. Beside her, the short elf, Daerona, silently clutched her hand.
The battlefield slipped into tense silence. A few minutes later, the scouts returned.
"Councilor! There is indeed a barrier surrounding this battlefield!"
Aramen's expression turned grim. He turned back to Luca and asked, "How did your brother get out?"
"He's a Runesmith," Luca said matter-of-factly. "It's how he identified the barrier in the first place."
"Why trap us here?" Gregor couldn't help but ask. "That too with the vampires!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Luca turned to him. "The Vampire King didn't wish to let anyone live. Not even his own people."
His own people did not survive the war, anyway. Only Sandra did.
"So we're just sitting ducks?!" Umlo roared. "Boy, I don't believe—"
Aramen raised a hand, silencing him.
He glanced at the sun. The sun that had been swallowed by the red moon.
Then he turned to the adventurers and ordered, "Heal those who cannot move. The rest divide into groups and attack the barrier."
Luca wanted to tell them it would be futile to attack the barrier unless they knew the weak points. But he didn't. He let them be.
Aramen turned back toward him, studying him for a few moments. Then the old man shifted his gaze toward the snow-white-haired vampire. A moment later, he turned away.
𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Only then did Sandra breathe a sigh of relief. She looked at Luca and murmured, "Thank you."
Luca turned to her and said in a flat voice. "You should thank Adam. I care not whether you live or die."
Sandra forced a smile and nodded. "Either way. Thank you very much."
Luca scoffed. "You can start by returning my armor and the battle axe."
His eyes narrowed and he threatened. "If you lost them or gave them away, then I will kill you here myself."
A bloodied Michael arrived beside them just in time to feel the cold, oppressive aura in the air. He cursed silently, thinking about why he had approached them.
Sandra's smile vanished. She knew Luca was serious. If she didn't return the armor and weapon, the Paladin would break his word to Adam and truly kill her!
It made her wonder about the significance of those items…
"Of course," she murmured.
A tap to the pouch inside the folds of her robes, and two items flowed out and landed at Luca's feet.
Seeing that they were just as he remembered them, Luca breathed a sigh of relief. He put them away inside his storage artifact.
Michael finally spoke up, his voice hushed, "So… we wait for Adam and then we're out of this secret plane?"
Luca looked in the direction of the castle. He didn't know what Adam's plan was. But before leaving, Adam had asked for both communication artifacts and the concealment artifact that had been in Michael's possession.
"Something tells me it won't be so simple," he said solemnly.
He kept a watch on the Councilors and the others as he sat down and began recuperating mana. He noticed Leah walking toward them.
"Leah!" Michael stepped forward and helped her. He looked around and asked uncertainly, "Where's Meji?"
Leah silently shook her head.
"…I see." Michael's lip trembled.
Leah looked at Luca and asked, "You don't mind if I join you, right, Captain?"
Luca nodded. "Michael, dress her wounds," he said.
Together, the four of them — three humans and a vampire — camped separately from the rest of the adventurers.
Even though Luca was resting, his eyes never stopped watching for potential threats, whether from the adventurers or from beyond the barrier.
By chance, his gaze turned toward the moon.
And from the moon, a pair of eyes stared back.