Chapter 78: Summoning A “Hero”
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Vlad and Alitheus moved to the Bloodshed Sanctuary, entering the abandoned ruined church interior, and finding a crimson-colored altar with the statue of what resembled a vampire with long black wings and a halo resembling a moon; her eyes were covered by a blindfold.
The statue was not made of just gray stone but also crystals and stones of other colors; the skin was of pale white stone, the halo of red crystals, the wings of black stones, and the blindfold of black crystals.
By itself, it already looked like quite the expensive statue and definitely something someone might try to rob if they had the opportunity. He was trying to protect his city, but he had to admit that they weren't the most well behaved, seeing how he and his sister were assaulted over a week ago, despite being nobles, in their own damn city.
He was definitely going to have to protect these areas from any unruly person that would try to rob them, as he didn't know what might happen to the system-tied buildings if they were missing parts of themselves.
His Blazing Doppelgangers can't be in the game when he's logged out either, so he'll have to trust that someone else within the game, such as NPC, will protect these buildings.
"I'll have to talk with Teressa about this; I think she could assign some soldiers and guards to all these buildings… There were fewer casualties than I imagined too; those that survived will definitely be paid well for their job, and those that died will still be paid; their money will go to their families."
As Paul thought about these things and over the noble sacrifice of the soldiers of Elderbridge, he placed a huge corpse on top of the altar, that of a giant armored beast. The statue's eyes glowed bright red as it opened its mouth and suddenly sucked the corpse's blood completely.
FLUOSH!
The corpse was completely tried into a mummy, and then it collapsed into a pile of black ashes; it wasn't just its blood that was drained but everything within it.
This only showed that the Crimson Moon Goddess, Achlys, might actually be a Vampire, and her abilities with Vampirism were on a completely different dimension.
"To completely drain a target's life, energy, blood, and everything until they're nothing but a pile of ashes… what a terrifying power!"
In the game, the Gods were perhaps the strongest NPC, right after the Outer Ones, which might be even stronger. Just thinking about what stats or abilities their own status might have made him unable to realize the holy cross-shaped red crystal outside of the sanctuary was glowing bright red.
Ding!
[The Altar of the Goddess has accepted your sacrifice. The Bloodshed Sanctuary will now produce 100 Blood Energy every day for 7 days.]
FLASH!
Suddenly, a message appeared at the same time as he felt a surge of Blood Energy coming from the Sanctuary… However, it didn't land on his own body but in the halo above the goddess, being stored there.
"Right!"
He quickly drank some blood from a bottle he had to satiate his Avatar's occasional hunger, quickly making it so the statue's eyes glowed bright red behind its blindfold.
Ding!
[The Statue of the Crimson Moon Goddess praises your eager vampiric cravings. For 7 Days, the Bloodshed Sanctuary will gain 50% more Blood Energy.]
"So it's a weekly buff too? Well, that's not so bad."
"Is it done then?" Alitheus asked.
"Ah yeah," nodded Vlad. "Let's go to the factory for now… I think I'll leave some barrier behind the sanctuary at least."
"Barrier?" Chris glanced as Vlad touched the ground.
RUMBLE!
Suddenly, huge walls appeared around the sanctuary, with no doors at all. Then he moved the stone around and created a literal cube, covering the entire sanctuary.
"Eeeh?! Don't you think this is too excessive?!" Chris asked. "Come on, dude, have some faith in your people… Aren't there churches here too? And they're always safe and sound, no? I doubt they'll do something to this one…"
"Yeah, but you're never too sure," said Paul. "I'll take it away once I tell Teressa, and she can assign some priests and soldiers to protect it. After all, the church of evil gods is always protecting the churches, don't you know? They obviously are guarded."
"Ah… oh well then, are you doing the same with the Arcana Factory?" Chris asked as the two made their way to the huge factory, entering its old, rusty metallic interior.
They walked towards the only room there was, where a huge burning stove stood, as if waiting for someone to throw fuel at it.
"The flames are blue and purple…" Chris gasped. "Woah, they're so pretty."
"Hm," nodded Vlad. "Alright. Let's throw some of these… This probably needs more than the sanctuary to work."
Vlad quickly tossed several monster corpses inside of the huge stove until it was completely full, its magical flames beginning to burn the corpses and rapidly turning them into Arcana, directly transferred to the huge blue colored jewel sitting on top of the factory.
Ding!
[You have filled the Arcana Stove to full capacity; its magical flames will slowly consume all the fuel and generate Arcana for your Territory Civilization for an estimation of 30 Days.]
[Because the Arcana Factory is at full capacity, daily earnings of Arcana have been increased by 100%]
"So ten corpses get me a whole month worth of it? Alright, we're done here then."
"What are you doing now? Summoning the heroes? Or use the big eggs you showed me!"
"Yeah, yeah, we're doing that now; calm down."
The two of them flew back to the manor, and then, in there, Vlad decided to grab the big guardian egg and use that instead.
However, there seemed to be an issue.
Ding!
[You have tried using the [Random Territory Guardian Egg (S+ Grade)]!]
[However, the [Random Territory Guardian Egg (S+ Grade)] is not an instant use item.]
[You must first place it on a Territory Guardian Nest, a special facility/building that you must construct near the Capital of your Territory.]
[The Capital of your Territory is the Dungeon Plaza and covers all the way to your Manor.]
[Once a Nest has been made, the egg must be placed there, and it will hatch after some time has passed.]
[Every Territory can only have 1 Guardian.]
[To use the other Guardian Eggs you possess, you must first create a separate territory connected to yours, by invading a small village or city or expanding your city.]
"Huh, so we can't use these yet… Can I build the Nest right now?"
Ding!
[Do you wish to build a Territory Guardian Nest?]
[Cost]: [1000 Gold] [5000 Lumber] [5000 Metals] [5000 Stone] [10000 Food] [1000 Arcana]
[Yes] [No]
"…"
Vlad tried pressing Yes anyways, but…
[Oops! Your Territory doesn't have enough resources right now!]
[Do you wish to spend 50.000 Credits instead to create the Nest right away?]
[Yes] [No]
"Damn, this system is pay2win," Paul sighed.
"Hahahaha! Lol, I didn't expect that message…" Chris laughed. "Well, you've got like two million credits, so it's not that much, right?"
"Maybe, but those are the savings of the entire territory; I would rather not spend so frugally; we'll simply start by producing the necessary resources for its construction…" Paul said. "Then… Um, we'll save the other two eggs for another time."
"So you need to expand the territory by conquering another one, like a village or a small city…" said Chris, nodding. "Hm, wait! Didn't your brother and your aunt die? Weren't they in charge of their own territory?"
"…Wait, you're right!" said Paul. "Maybe if I tell Vlad's mother, then she might be able to check how their city is doing. If we slay their rulers, we could probably easily take over it now that it's unprotected, unless it was already stolen from us."
"Some time has passed, so without a doubt someone else might have taken it," nodded Chris. "But if this is really a game about war and conquest, then whoever took it over is definitely not as strong as those two, right? The big shot vampires are probably already busy and too far away… Maybe? Do you remember if they had any family members?"
"Hmmm, Vlad's memories were very hazy, so I can't remember everything," said Paul. "But… I think he had a niece, and his mom had a brother. They probably took over the territory."
"Are they strong?" Chris asked.
"Definitely not…" said Vlad. "We should try to conquer that city, yeah… It is much richer than ours; it could give us a great boost of resources and personnel, and seeing how vampires are, they were probably treating their people pretty badly."
"Nice! We're doing some conquering later then," giggled Chris. "For now, try using these then."
He grabbed the [Random Territory Hero Summoning Stone (S+ Grade)], which resembled huge rainbow-colored stones glowing with mysterious, spiritual auras.
"The summoning stones… Let's see if I can use these."
Vlad grabbed the stone and gave a mental command of wanting to "use it".
This time, it worked, unlike the egg.
Ding!
[You have tried using the [Random Territory Hero Summoning Stone (S+ Grade)] Item!]
[Using this item, you can summon one Random Hero from any Civilization. Sometimes, you may get a Hero that doesn't fit your Civilization.]
[Once the Hero is summoned, it will be tied to your Civilization and will become your summon and familiar, capable of protecting the territory from danger on their own.]
[A Territory Hero counts as a Special Type of Troop Unit that counts as many troops as possible at once due to their strength.]
[One Hero can change the tide of battle completely and are mighty beings. However, much like troop units, they have different stats than Players.]
[Hero Units cannot grow stronger through the same way Players do and must grow stronger, learn Skills, and gain Weapons and Armor through the Research of specific subjects in the Research Center.]
[Aside from that, each Hero will be connected to a special building they're tied to, which will also unlock new features such as the ability to summon new troops based on their power.]
[Hero Units come with unique abilities of their own, some stronger than others, but all of them are useful.]
[There is a limit of 1 Hero Unit you can summon per Core Building Level (your Manor); Level Up your Manor to gain the ability to summon more Hero Units.]
"So I can only use one?! Dammit, if I knew about these restrictions, I would have just bought one of each…" sighed Vlad.
"Haha, well, you already wasted your points," shrugged Chris. "Come on, get to it!"
"Yeah, at least let's use one…" nodded Vlad.
[Do you really wish to use the [Random Territory Hero Summoning Stone (S+ Grade)] to Summon a Hero that will be bound to your Territory?]
[If you end up summoning a Hero you don't like, you can choose to Sacrifice a Hero in the Bloodshed Sanctuary if you desire them to begone, and the slot they use will be emptied for another one to be summoned.]
[Once a Hero is Sacrificed, you will gain special items and resources.]
[Summon?]
[Yes] [No]
"Ah, sacrificing a hero?!" Vlad muttered. "That sounds so cold… But whatever, let's do it anyway. I'll keep whatever I get. I'm not so heartless as to sacrifice them."
Vlad grabbed the stone and quickly gave the mental command.
FLASH!
The stone glowed brightly, exploding into particles of white and golden light, which then reached the floor and expanded into a huge magic circle.
RUMBLE!
The entire manor trembled as the magic circle erupted with bright light, which suddenly became corrupted.
The white light darkened, and it gained a deep red color, then it exploded into pieces, becoming a massive swarm of insects made of shadows gathering together!
BBZZZTTT!
The horrendous sound of thousands of flying wings echoed through the entire room; Chris covered his ears in pain.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"I-I don't know!"
TRUUUM!
And then the swarm of insects made of darkness and blood combined together, finally taking on a slightly humanoid appearance.
An eerie presence emerged out of the magic circle in front of them.
Two enormous crimson-red eyes looked into Vlad's very soul within this black swarm made of shadows as it slowly dissipated.
An "entity" was summoned.
This being, it definitely didn't have the "air" of a Hero.
They began to walk through the room, reaching up to Vlad.
Several arms covered in hard armor exoskeletons suddenly touched his body, as Vlad felt paralyzed before their enormous auras of power.
Their insectoid eyes, and their huge red and black colored insectoid scythes and claws…
An incredible sense of dread began to come out of this being, as if it were the incarnation of destruction, famine, death, all of it.
Yet, despite all of that, their insectoid face transformed, taking the shape of a beautiful woman with white "skin" and long purple hair, although each hair strand seemed to be a very long tentacle.
Her big red eyes remained almost the same, although they now had long eyelashes, and purple lipstick covered her seductive, meaty lips.
"Master~ Aah~! So you're my new Master~!"
Her face turned into pure obsession that very instant, as her aura encompassed Vlad entirely.
"E-Eh? Wait, wait a second! What are you?! You're a hero, right?!"
"Paul, get away from her! Or him? I don't know... Just get away from that!"
"Huh?!"
The insectoid woman glared at Chris with jealous eyes.
"Child of the Lustful one, stay away from my master! He is mine to eat! SHAAAH!"
She hissed at Chris!
Just what has Vlad summoned into this world?!
"Eating?! You're not eating him!" Chris said.
"Ugh…!" Vlad felt sick the more he was exposed to the hero's aura, as he saw the system message. "Just what is this thing anyway?"
Ding!
[The Hero Unit [Insecta, the Corpse-Eating Crimson Beetle Queen] has been summoned!]
[The World is changing.]
[An Era of Insects had begun.]
[All Insects shall bow down to their queen!]
[You acquired the special Territory Trait [Insect Nest]!]
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[Insect Nest: Lv1/10]
Grants a passive enhancement to the growth of Insect-type Monsters raised or summoned in the Civilization by 100%.
The proliferation of all insects is also enhanced by 100%, their reproduction speed and quantity are enhanced by 200%, and their total power is doubled as long as [Insecta, the Corpse-Eating Crimson Beetle Queen] is alive.
However, their hunger is doubled.
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"I-Insec… ta?!"
"Yes! That is my name, my master!"
Insect stood up, looking to be almost three meters tall, towering above Vlad and Alitheus.
She spread out her enormous insectoid wings and her massive scythes, smiling coquettishly and obsessively at him.
"At long last, after eons, I've been brought back to this world, bound to you! I shall now serve you! And bring insects to the top of the food chain like they once were, millions of years ago!"
Millions of years ago, before Vampires, Werewolves, Imps, Incubus and Succubus, Orcs, Goblins, or even most of the evil gods and moon goddesses existed...
Obscuritas was a realm dominated by an Apex Primal Race, Insectoids.
And Insecta here was the Queen of the Crimson Beetles.
Her Aura continued growing larger, shaking the entire manor, resembling a never-ending, all-encompassing swarm of pure dread and destruction.
"I'll bring down any army you put in front of me… And my children shall feast! Haha… HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Paul! Sacrifice her! She's nuts!"
"W-What the fuck did I summon…"
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Can't wait to see what's next? You can join my Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch
and gain access to all these Advanced Chapters:
73 Advanced Chapters of
The Protagonist's Sister Is Actually The Strongest
47 Advanced Chapters of
The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns
17 Advanced Chapters of
Fantasy Story Online: The Crippled Vampire Prince Walks The Heavenly Demon Path