After breaching Wall Victoria, taking down Wall Baobahn was easier than they initially expected. Maria and her officers were expecting a fierce retaliation from the Vampire’s side but when they attacked Wall Baobahn, not much resistance was met by their soldiers. They did struggle a bit but that was only because the size of the wall was a great impediment.
Once they got onto the wall, taking control of it and opening the gates was easy so Maria made sure to have her soldiers be even warier just in case this was some kind of ploy to lure her army into a trap, however, none of that came to be. The reason was that the area behind Wall Baobhan was something like Transylvania’s slums. It was a place with the least consequence and only the poorest, disgraced, or low-ranking vampires lived in this area.
When she saw this, Maria had to reevaluate her approach when taking over the city. She did want to massacre all of her enemies but seeing these scared people that didn’t seem to know what was happening and had already resigned to their fates made Maria hesitate. She was feeling a little bit compassionate at the moment but she didn’t let her feelings cloud her judgment. Maria gathered her officers before they moved their army further into the slums area and gave them new orders.
“Do a thorough inspection on the people of this area since our enemies might be hiding in their ranks waiting to ambush us. If there’s anyone that’s acting suspicious, capture them, and if they resist, use lethal force if necessary.”
“At once, Your Highness!”
Maria’s soldiers proceeded into the slums with caution and they checked every nook and cranny of the place while interrogating the scared residents, capturing those that seemed suspicious and leaving alone those that looked harmless. Her soldiers were still wary of those vampires though because even the harmless-looking ones could actually be part of the enemy but when the vampires saw Carmilla, their faces became relaxed and seemed a little more trusting of these invaders.
Ash made a mental note of this when he saw Carmilla treating the low-born and impoverished vampires with care and their reactions when they saw her. It wasn’t like Carmilla at all but then again, what did he know about her? He had only returned to Vanhal some months before in the game and never really made contact with Carmilla even before his banishment. He didn’t know everything about her and he was still learning so just like his master said, he needed to be wary of her even though she had become his bride already.
‘It looks like my Master was right. There is something Carmilla is hiding from us…I just hope in the end she doesn’t betray us or we’ll have to put her down just like how we’ll put down that bastard Siegfried.’
Ash’s hate ran deep for his nemesis. He had everything stripped away from him thanks to the banishment, his family, his land, and his honor… just thinking about being able to get his hands on that bastard, Siegfried, and ripping him apart got Ash all excited. This was all possible thanks to his Queen, Maria, so if anyone tried to harm her interests and betrayed her, be it a close ally or even his own bride, Ash was going to eliminate the traitors regardless of how he felt about the other person.
“Once you’re my Queen’s enemy, then you’re my enemy…” Ash mumbled as he glared at Carmilla.
Carmilla noticed Ash’s gaze and turned towards him. She felt a slight hint of bloodthirst from him, but it quickly disappeared as a smile appeared on her husband’s face. Ash nodded towards her before moving away. After securing most of the slums area behind Wall Baobhan and making sure that it was completely safe, Maria moved the rest of her forces into the gate but kept their forward operations base at Wall Victoria.
Even though the vampires behind Wall Baobhan had been inspected and all of them that were left were found innocent, she still didn’t trust them. These people could easily turn their vampiric fangs and claws on her people once the battle started so she made sure that some soldiers were watching their rear while the rest focused on taking down the next wall. This time around, Maria’s forces were met with fierce retaliation because behind the wall ahead of them was the Main District of the city where all of the high-class and middle-class vampires lived.
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The wall that was protecting them was called Wall Dracula and it was named after the very first Blood Lord after the Progenitor had disappeared. This was the second to the last wall but it could also technically be called the last wall that protected the vampire city, Transylvania. The last wall was called Wall Vampyre and it only protected the Blood Lord’s Castle so once Maria was able to breach this wall, she would have effectively taken full control of the vampire city.
Maria’s forces were halted here for a few days due to the fierce resistance their enemies were putting up. Eventually, however, Maria grew tired of it and blasted Wall Dracula with Greed’s Unholy Eye which blew open the gates and killed many of the enemy vampires that were caught in the combination technique’s area of effect. This time, her forces had been prepared so they had taken cover when Maria used the technique and rushed through the torn down gate and started their invasion of Transylvania’s Main District as soon as the blast’s turbulent energy subsided.
During the few days they were stuck here, the vampires in the slums didn’t do anything and only watched the battle unfold. Even though it was their home being attacked, they didn’t do anything to stop the invaders and let them decimate the city. Some started weeping but soon they began cheering on Maria’s soldiers. Maria, who was recuperating after firing her devastating technique, was puzzled as to why those impoverished vampires were doing that. She couldn’t understand why the vampires in the slums were rooting for her army when she came here as the enemy.
“...Hmmm.”
Maria only spared a brief amount of time thinking about it before letting it go. As long as those vampires didn’t bear their fangs at her, then it didn’t matter what they were doing. Raijuu and Alexa had regrouped with Maria’s forces after they breached Wall Baobhan so they were tasked with keeping guard over her while she was facing her technique’s backlash. Ash, on the other hand, was on the frontlines and fighting alongside Carmilla. He was keeping a close eye on her and thankfully, from what he saw, she wasn’t doing anything suspicious–at least, not yet.
Everyone that put up a resistance against the invasion was killed by them without exception, even if they got on their knees and surrendered. Just because they got down on their knees and laid down their weapons didn’t mean they would survive. Maria had made it known to her soldiers that anyone who bared their fangs and took up arms against them wasn't to be spared.
A massacre began in Transylvania’s Main District and it dyed the streets red as blood flowed in the gutters of the city, making the place reek of death and destruction. The helpless cries of the vampires rang through the air all day long but Maria didn’t have a single shred of mercy or feel any form of remorse for causing this...tragedy.
They were objects that needed to be dealt with and she didn’t care if she was labeled as a tyrant by those that managed to luckily survive or escape the purging. She didn’t need any of these vampires that were loyal to the Blood Lord and the people who were spared should feel that they were lucky to even be alive since Maria’s initial plan was to wipe out all of the vampires in the city without exception.
She decided to be a bit more lenient and ordered her soldiers to only kill all of the enemy soldiers while sparing the civilians that didn’t put up a resistance. It took 2–almost 3–days for Maria to take full control of the city’s Main District. The place was huge and wasn’t properly arranged. It was as if the vampires just built their homes or buildings here and there just because they wanted to.
It was quite obvious that the vampires held no regard to city planning or development. As long as they built their home as lavishly as possible, then it was fine. Only the other half of the Main District had some form of organization but the area Maria invaded was just a hodgepodge of buildings and homes.
Thanks to this, the streets and back alleys were like mazes and it was hard to navigate. There were so many potential hiding spots and Maria had to be thorough in her capture so she made sure her troops combed through the city at least a few times over before she was satisfied. With the fall of Transylvania’s Main District, all that was left was to capture the Blood Lord’s Castle, Castle Bran.
Maria didn’t need to bring all of her troops to take down the castle. She selected a squad of elites to come with her to conquer it while the rest of her forces were to remain outside and keep the city in order. The team she selected consisted of herself, her little vampire sister Alexa, Lightning Spirit Raijuu, Duke Ash, Twin-headed Ogre General Orh’bankhur, and finally, Duchess Carmilla who insisted that she go in with them.
From her insistence, Maria and Ash could see that Carmilla was indeed hiding something from them but all she said before they entered the castle was to trust her because she had no motive that would bring any harm to them. Carmilla knew at some point that her husband, Ash, and her Queen, Maria, had been slowly placing some doubts in her so she made sure to emphasize that she wasn’t going to do anything detrimental to their plan.
Maria was skeptical, but she decided to put her faith in her subordinate. If Carmilla did turn out to be lying, she would just kill her.
“Alright, with this party of elites, we’ll enter the castle. Big guy, you’re our tank so take point!” Maria said as she ordered Orh’bankhur.
“Yes, we front! We fight and protect Queen!” Orh, the more intelligent head said before the lesser intelligent head, Bankhur, roared in agreement, “Uraahh!!! Fight! Protect!”
Maria turned to the other generals that quickly saluted her and said, “Remember my orders. Keep this place in check while I conquer the castle. I better not see any riots when I get back!”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
She walked through the Castle Gates which were open for some reason and a notification bell rang in her ear.
*DING*
You have entered the Unique Dungeon: The Vampire Progenitor’s Domain - Castle Bran