The First Vampire

Nightfall.

In the faint starlight, a group of orcs is carefully searching the forest.

At one moment, the leading orc suddenly halts, turning sharply towards a direction at his side. As he begins to swing his enormous axe, a shadow bursts out from the darkness.

Bang!

A small-scale skirmish abruptly erupts.

Knight Maiko sends one orc flying, managing to stab his longsword into the creature’s chest even as he loses his balance.

After landing, Knight Maiko rolls a few times, evading several hacks that come his way.

His comrades behind him also rush out, with Knight Cast leading the charge, delivering a series of strikes into the orc soldiers.

In the midst of the bloody turmoil, three or four orc soldiers have already been decapitated.

The orcs fight back fiercely, but the sneak attack by Knight Maiko resulted in the death of their strongest warrior – the Skull-shatterer, leaving the remaining ordinary orcs to be easily decimated by the two knights.

However, their final counterattack caused significant casualties amongst the humans.

After the intense battle, Knight Maiko approaches a comrade wailing on the ground and stiffens at the sight of the man’s severed leg at the knee.

“Sir Maiko, don’t worry about me. I don’t think I’ll be able to follow you to Wind Whisper City.”

Knight Maiko remains silent for a moment before abruptly asking, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Jason. I’ve campaigned with your father for six years, just recently promoted to squad leader, so it’s normal for you not to recognize me.”

Knight Maiko looks at this little officer who has repeatedly tried to deter him from rash acts along their journey, feeling a certain sense of indescribable regret.

Seeing Knight Maiko standing there in a stupor, Viscount Cast felt compelled to remind him softly.

“We need to move quickly. This place will soon draw more orc reinforcements.”

Coming back to his senses, Knight Maiko hands his sword to Jason, his voice hoarse.

“Kill a few more on your way down…”

“I understand!” Jason nodded heavily.

Knight Maiko immediately stands and continues eastward without a backward glance.

Before long, they hear the faint sounds of fighting behind them.

Knight Maiko falters for a moment but continues moving without delay.

The group treks over mountains and ridges, choosing to use the smaller paths through the wilderness, hurrying towards Wind Whisper City.

Along the way, they encounter more and more orc scouts, indicating their close proximity to the main orc army.

However, they manage to gather several scattered groups of Westland soldiers who had fled from the Sky Breaking Mountain Range, thus their numbers grew rather than decreased.

By mid-July, when Knight Maiko and his party reached Wind Whisper City, they had already gathered over a hundred people.

The formidable orc army hasn’t reached Wind Whisper City yet, but they were close.

Wind Whisper City was filled with an atmosphere of panic and tension.

Three of the city gates were tightly shut with only the east gate remaining open.

People were crowding the area, coming and going. There were warriors from the Westland who had been summoned by Duke St. Gregorian to offer support, like Knight Maiko and Viscount Cast. There were also many commoners who had heard about the impending orc attack and wanted to escape Wind Whisper City.

At the same time, there were refugees who had escaped to Wind Whisper City from cities that had been overrun by the orc army.

These refugees poured into the city asking for food from Wind Whisper Castle, demanding that Wind Whisper Castle send troops to reclaim their homeland, while some refugees began to occupy the houses left empty by fleeing residents, leading to friction and even conflict. All in all, Wind Whisper City was in a state of chaos.

The city’s military didn’t have the manpower to maintain order, and they were busy preparing for the city’s defense. As long as the city didn’t plunge into complete anarchy, they didn’t interfere.

Upon entering the city, Viscount Cast and Knight Maiko immediately rushed to Wind Whisper Castle, intending to meet Duke St. Gregorian, only to be stopped by the castle guards.

“Everyone in the city wants to meet the Duke, but does the Duke have the time to meet everyone?”

Viscount Cast tried to reveal his identity to reason with the guard: “I am the lord of Little Stone City, Viscount Cast. Can you let me into Wind Whisper Castle?”

“Viscount?” The guard didn’t let him through. Instead, he smirked and said, “Was Little Stone City held? If it didn’t, you’re no longer a noble.”

Viscount Cast was rendered speechless. Seeing that the guard was indeed not going to let them through, both men had to leave.

However, as a nobleman of the Westland, Viscount Cast still had some connections in Wind Whisper City and quickly found an officer he once knew.

The officer was busy directing his men to demolish houses near the city wall to fabricate rolling logs and stones. He didn’t exactly give Viscount Cast a warm welcome when he saw him:

“Want to see Duke St. Gregorian? Viscount Cast, I advise you not to waste your time. No one can get into Wind Whisper Castle right now, let alone a Viscount who’s lost his territory. Even a Count was turned away earlier.”

Viscount Cast frowned, becoming more confused.

Why would Duke St. Gregorian choose to seal off Wind Whisper Castle and refuse to meet anyone at a time like this when she was needed to stabilize the situation?

A dangerous thought flashed through his mind, prompting him to ask softly:

“Is…Is the Duke… still here in the city?”

The officer glanced at Viscount Cast with a complex look and then coldly said:

“If you want to run, then you better run! If you choose to stay and fight the orcs, then start working! Stop thinking about these irrelevant things!”

Before Viscount Cast could respond, Knight Maiko stepped forward: “I’m here to kill orcs. Need help? Count me in.”

The officer’s face softened a bit. He pointed at the ruins in front of him and said, “Alright, you can start by helping to carry those beams up to the city wall.”

“Alright.” Knight Maiko didn’t think such manual labor was beneath him and promptly starts helping.

Viscount Cast sighed and said, “I won’t run anymore either. My Little Stone City is gone. What am I running for? I just want to know, how many defenders are left in the city, and can Wind Whisper City hold?”

However, the officer completely ignored his question and continued to direct his men at work.

Helpless, Viscount Cast could only join Knight Maiko in dismantling the nearby houses.

The very next day after Knight Maiko reached Wind Whisper City, the first wave of the orc army finally arrived outside Wind Whisper City.

After that, wave after wave of orc troops started converging from various directions of the west towards this largest city in the Westland.

All the gates of Wind Whisper City were closed, barring entry and exit.

And Wind Whisper Castle remained tightly shut as well.

Duke St. Gregorian was nowhere to be seen.

Standing on the wall of Wind Whisper City and looking out, on the wilderness across the city, the gathered forces formed a breath-taking, all-encompassing wave of darkness.

In front of the orc formation, a large number of human refugees were rounded up. Cries, screams, pleas for mercy echoed through the wilderness.

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