Chapter 181 - Chapter 181: Chapter 173: The Blood Baron (1/2)
Chapter 181: Chapter 173: The Blood Baron
Following a merchant caravan, a gray-haired old man secretly arrived in Nasir Town.
He was once Baron Hovern who led troops to exterminate the jungle natives, but after witnessing the Mighty Bloody Demon, he survived alone and went mad after escaping.
Twenty-two years ago, he was a very handsome man, but today, Baron Hovern had become a down-and-out old man.
“I’ve finally arrived…”
Baron Hovern alighted from the merchant’s carriage and stepped onto the streets of Nasir Town, which were much more prosperous than they had been over twenty years ago, his face a picture of disbelief.
“I’ve finally returned. Is this really Nasir?”
This town, which had once belonged to him, had transformed into something unrecognizable; in the past, he disdainfully regarded its backwardness and poverty, choosing to live in Fein City and unwilling to come here often.
“How did it come to this? Why did I lose it, what on earth happened over these past years…”
He muttered to himself, but deep down, he knew the answer to his questions.
Baron Hovern knew that everything had been orchestrated by his wife and brother, those two despicable individuals who colluded with the Fischer family to betray what was rightfully his.
The Fischer family, those lowly beings who were merely commoners, were now pretending to be real nobility.
“It’s truly laughable. In just over a decade, people have actually started to worship the rise of the Fischer family?”
Baron Hovern’s face was filled with despair and sorrow.
On his way from Fein City to Nasir Town, he had heard multiple times from others that Earl Hovern had died and that both major churches were jointly investigating the affairs of the Hovern family.
He wandered the streets that were both familiar and strange, the unease, fear, and despair within him growing ever more pronounced.
“I should be the master of this town; everything should belong to me. Why has everything turned out this way?”
“Ah, ahhhh! My over ten years! Ahhhhh!”
He felt like he had been dreaming ever since that time over a decade ago.
An utterly terrifying nightmare where countless amounts of blood rose around him, continuously enveloping and entwining him, preventing his return to the real world.
It took Baron Hovern more than ten years to fully awaken from that dreadful dream, only to find the world had changed drastically.
His property had long been taken by his wife and brother, and the territory of Nasir Town had been encroached upon by the Fischer family. The Hovern family, his once reliable support, was on the verge of collapse…
He had just woken from a nightmare, only to find that he had nothing left!
“Could it be that I have never truly woken up?”
Baron Hovern suddenly couldn’t help but burst into maniacal laughter in the middle of the street, his body shaking violently, his eyes gradually showing a strong blood-red glow, and fresh blood even oozed from the seams of his skin.
“Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!”
The sudden laughter stunned the residents of Nasir Town, who looked at Baron Hovern in disbelief, with no one recognizing him as the lord of their town.
“Whose madman is that?”
“What’s wrong with that person? Are the patrolmen nearby?”
Just as people were about to approach and inquire, Baron Hovern looked around at everyone with a chilling gaze, exuding an inhuman aura that made everyone too afraid to move.
He then fled with astonishing speed, disappearing from the sight of the townspeople.
The people who had been staring at him stood dumbfounded, realizing that he was an Extraordinary Exponent, his gaze having seemingly frozen their blood.
That was not the look of a human!
Not long afterward, Vanessa, who had taken charge of the town’s patrol team, arrived with her subordinates.
“No one recognizes that Extraordinary Exponent. His identity is highly suspicious; we must find out who that old man is and where he went.”
After she issued her orders, the patrol team immediately began searching throughout the town, and Vanessa, using her “patrol” ability, was the first to discover traces of the old man.
“What’s going on here?”
She approached the location of the old man and quickly sensed that something was amiss.
It was a very secluded house, filled with the thick smell of blood, almost making one want to vomit.
Vanessa’s brow furrowed slightly as she cautiously approached the door.
She soon witnessed a shocking scene: two middle-aged people lay in a pool of bright red blood while the old man who had infiltrated the house was gripping an unconscious little girl, his body covered in writhing crimson blood and looking more like a blood-soaked monster than a human.
Vanessa quickly surmised that the old man holding the little girl appeared to be mentally unstable.
His clothes, though once opulent, were now old and shabby. He had no intention of fleeing, only staring coldly at her with bloodshot eyes.
Baron Hovern asked almost emotionlessly,
“Who are you?”
Vanessa, sensing the man’s mental instability and not wanting to provoke him, calmly replied, “I’m the head of the patrol team. And you?”
Baron Hovern instinctively tilted his head back. His previously icy demeanor suddenly erupted as he answered very loudly, “I am the master of this town!”
Vanessa gently shook her head, continuing, “The master of Nasir Town is my husband’s cousin, or you could say, my husband. It definitely isn’t you.”
Baron Hovern’s mouth suddenly twisted into a grin that reached his ears, and he began to shout almost madly,