In the underground facility of the Elven Army Headquarters based on Northern Elnira.
After four to five minutes since Ayleen, Samantha, and the others arrived through the Ruby Cube, which was now destroyed, Russell, with the help of Amelie and Lusha, recounted everything that had transpired as they saw the head of the Tafor on the ground, however, it only took them at least two to three seconds to recognize the difference, clearly seeing that the eyes were crimson and it's still blinking.
To Russell's and Amelie's surprise, Lusha claimed the responsibility, that she was the one who uncovered the facade of the true Vampire Commander who had overtaken the body of the former Elven Commander, Tafor.
Although Lusha didn't and would probably have a hard time grasping the knowledge that Russell possessed to discover what was amiss with Tafor's actions, she believed that it'd be extremely suspicious for the others if Russell admitted the truth. After all, it's not even three weeks since the Humans and Elves started to closely interact with each other without any political intention apart from those in the higher ups and except the previous years of just business, where trust had yet to be founded.
"I see… It means Commander Tafor's dead."
The Vampire Commander, whose body was in two pieces apart, heard Thessalia's words, spoken in a gloomy voice. He then took the chance to interject as he addressed Thessalia, trying to take advantage of her currently swayed emotions.
"He's not dead! I'll tell you how to get his body back, just let me go."
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom Everyone looked at the head on the ground, various expressions were painted on their faces; Some were hopeful, some were unknown, and some were disgusted by the sight of a speaking severed head.
"It's truly a different story when it's a Vampire Commander whose head's beheaded. They can stay awake for a long time."
This time, Russell's younger sister, Freya, muttered. She recalled beheading one of the Vampire Soldiers, who then lost consciousness for a moment before attempting to reattach his head to his body.
Thessalia heard Freya's words before scrutinizing the Vampire Commander. A moment later, she couldn't help but query.
"How can we be so sure if he's alive?"
The Vampire Commander inwardly grinned as he let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"My real body's located a few hundred meters away from here. It's on our base of operations where you earlier raided. I just need to transfer my soul back since my real body is in a hollow state. If you're wondering why I can't do it, it's because there's an activation distance required, and based on the memory of your Commander, he went outside the border about two weeks ago since the Vampire Soldiers, or scouts under my command were keeping themselves close."
Lusha and Thessalia tried to recall what happened that time, and they confirmed that Commander Tafor went outside the border to get rid of some Vampire Soldiers, scouting near the border. In other words, the Elven Commander had broken the order of the Queen of Elnira, who made a decree to only guard the border and only engage in battle if the other side made a move first.
"It seems that the real Commander Tafor had a clumsy personality. That's also why he's acting like a normal guard at the entrance of the border and it's simply because that's the usual him, which was also the reason for you to imitate his casual bearing in front of others to avoid being suspected."
Everyone looked at Russell, who assessed the situation as they first came to this border. It made sense for the real Commander Tafor to get caught because of his personality as he also seemed to be someone who wanted to do things his own way, especially if didn't possess great danger.
Before any of them could voice their opinion, and as someone who knew this world more than anyone else, Untouched or Unknown Elements aside, Russell frankly spoke of the truth regarding the condition of the genuine Commander Tafor.
"Thessalia, Lusha, Iefyr, and Kerym. I hate to break it to you, but Commander Tafor won't come back. He passed away the moment this vampire possessed his body."
"W-what… Y-you! Stop acting as if you know better! I'm the vampire here, you're just a mere human!"
Upon hearing the words of the pleading Vampire Commander, Russell's patience seemed to quickly hit rock-bottom, remembering the setting in his unpublished novel that as the story progresses, the enemies would only get smarter, but some were to the point of stating the obvious and stupid statements.
"Hey, stop babbling your mouth or I'll cut off your f*cking tongue!"
Russell warned. Pondering for a moment, the Vampire Commander recalled what the young mercenary said about the Crimson Princess.
"H-he's right… I'm lying, but spare me! I can help you by giving you crucial information!
Everyone was confused at the sudden change of tone and mood of the Vampire Commander after Russell tersely gave a warning as if he's a flipped switch.
"Hey, hey. Did you forget about me?"
At that moment, Ayleen Mayfield crouched and picked up the severed head by the hair. The Vampire Commander's crimson eyes widened as he remembered what they talked about in the meeting room before coming into this place.
"Lusha, Thessalia, and you two. I don't know if this being is telling the truth, but I can find it out. We'll proceed on the purpose of this mission."
"Y-yes Miss Ayleen."
Thessalia spoke, her emotions were a mess, the same as her state of mind. Lusha approached her closely and comforted her. The two male Elven Soldiers, on the other hand, started to clean the mess caused by the fight that had broken out before their arrival.
***
"Well, shall we start then?"
Slash-! Slash-
Russell cut off the tongue of the Vampire Commander as Ayleen spoke. A second or two later, she added:
"Thank you for that. It'll be annoying if he gets noisy."
He inwardly let out a self-deprecating laugh upon hearing Ayleen's words, who didn't mind his arbitrary action of cutting the vampire's tongue, whose eyes at the moment were full of fear.
After some time of organizing the place, Amelie suggested:
"Miss Ayleen, I think that one's the real cubic artifact that can transport us to another space."
She pointed to the identical cube floating within a thick glass.
"I see. It's strange; the one earlier looked exactly the same as that one. However, I think we'll find the answer later after entering the vampire's head."
Ayleen responded before examining the new cube on the other side of the underground facility.
Upon confirming the right information, Ayleen glanced at Samantha before beckoning her.
"I think it'll be better if Samantha and Thessalia are the only two to accompany me since the former's the reason how we were able to get out of that unknown space and the latter's holding the eight captives in cube form."
Everyone agreed, causing the three of them to be sucked into the cube, but this time, it was the genuine one.
***
[You have arrived at the mimic world: Green Training Ground]
Ayleen, Samantha, and Thessalia, along with the Vampire Commander they had dragged with them, found themselves in a spacious training ground made of thick branches and grass; there was also the sun hanging in the sky, illuminating the surroundings.
"I think this is the right place. There's no creepy dark forest anymore."
Samantha whispered, to which Ayleen responded with a nod.
"Thessalia, release the captives. We're pressed for time."
Thessalia then took out the cerulean cubes, resembling the hue of the Frozen Thorn, which was slightly different from the artifact they used to enter this place as its color was light blue.
Without asking, she threw the eight cubes on the ground. After a few seconds, towering Frozen Thorns appeared from the ground. It's like a cage that's constantly inflicting pain on the captives' bodies and minds.
"They're battered already. You sure they won't die?"
Ayleen asked, thoroughly checking the conditions of the groaning Vampire Soldiers, which included the acting commander.
"They won't, Miss Ayleen."
"Alright then. Please standby, I'll start right away."
Hearing the conversation between the two, the Vampire Commander recognized the faces of his underlings, but he couldn't say anything as his tongue was absent.
He also couldn't regenerate it on his will because of Russell's warning.
'Oh, what kind of fate does await us?'
He thought, sensing their impending doom.
***
Lined up in front of her, Ayleen took out from her Dimensional Inventory the Personal Weapon that's been with her for a long time, gifted by her Star Contractor, Witch of Dreams — Fog of Scythe Nightmare (Legendary).
"This isn't something I want to use, but if it's for the sake of the advancement of humanity, on whatever aspects it may be, I'd be glad to."
Raising the scythe, with a silver body and purple blade with a gigantic purple sleeping eye, Ayleen's body emanated a purple aura as the activation of her skill commenced.
[Activating the Unique Skill: Calm Nightmare]
[Accessing the memories of the targets!]
[Projecting the fragments of your Soul Body into the memories of the targets' souls...]
[Projection is successful!]
[Due to the Authority: Memory Walker, you are able to explore the memories of the targets "that are not theirs!"]
***
Authority: [Memory Walker]
Description:
With the wisdom of the Witch of Dreams, you have learned the "partial" truth about why the hymn you have written could override the Failure Penalty of the Tower of Growth — an ancient tower that's older than your world.
Effects:
– Memory Assimilation
– Allows the user to explore the memories of the targets that are not theirs.
– The user's proficiency in any form of psychological attack increases by 200%.
– The user's resistance against any form of psychological attack increases by 200%.
***
At this moment, Ayleen's vision changed and she was now standing in a murky purple haze. What was screened in her glistening purple eyes were the fragments of memories of the targets including those of the Vampire Commanders.
She scrutinized every memory and set aside those irrelevant ones as she focused on the events that were military-related.
Due to her power, she could see everything almost at the same time, and if one would have the same ability to do such, should it cause them to be insane as the amount of information was immense.
In other words, Ayleen Mayfield could multitask and filter the memories of the targets, and by doing so, side effects were being felt and applied to their bodies in real-time.
"Hmm..."
Ayleen focused on the memories of the Vampire Commander. After some time, she whispered.
"Memory Assimilation."
[You have activated Memory Assimilation!]
[You will become an anomaly in the target's memories.]
At that moment, upon selecting the specific memory to infiltrate, Ayleen's vision changed again. She's now standing in a room similar to a normal office room, but the atmosphere was cold.
The Vampire Commander was there, talking with other Vampires of different ranks.
She listened intently to the conversation.
"The end of the year will come, and the war will commence in the name of the Crimson Goddess.
"However, we are ordered by the Vampire Lord not to do anything reckless until after the meeting of the Lords, which will happen on the first of February.
"That will decide the next move we'd obey."
A high-ranking Vampire stood in front of the others, including the Vampire Commander or the owner of this memory.
Ayleen noticed that this meeting of the Lords would happen in a few weeks as she took note of it before listening to other possible critical information.
Sometime later, as the memory was ending, Ayleen walked out of the room where it had transpired and explored the ones that didn't directly belong to the Vampire Commander.
It meant that Ayleen had the ability to continue exploring outside the target's memory.
If the memory only happened in a room, then she could go outside the room to continue exploring, though only for a limited amount of time.
Walking outside the eerie atmosphere, she spotted a young-looking girl and a woman wearing a maid's dress.
"Young Princess, your toys will be sent to Ruby Cubes soon."
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