My Players Are So Fierce-Chapter 434

Chapter 434: Anti-Dusk Small Alliance

Grand Duchess Shani had never imagined that she would actively come to Transia one day.

After all, in countless past times, Transia rarely represented anything good, but since Murphy appeared and the Blood Vulture Clan was rebuilt, Grand Duchess Shani had come here three times in just two months.

This made her now unable to help but wonder if there really was something “unclean” about this ghostly place Transia?

However, thinking carefully, aren’t vampires themselves the most unclean things existing in this land? Could there really be any strange things appearing here that could surpass vampire nature in terms of evil and depravity?

No way!

Are there really such sinister things on this continent?

Grand Duchess Shani pondered this question.

She considered it very seriously, so much so that when Murphy and Tris walked into the reception hall, this beautiful Grand Duchess with twin braids resembling the cool beauty Cammy was still immersed in her thoughts.

Of course, both Tris and Murphy knew this was just Shani putting on an act.

As a Golden-rank vampire assassin, it would truly be strange if she didn’t even have this much vigilance.

“Everyone is busy, so let’s get straight to the point.”

After taking their seats, Murphy took the initiative to say:

“Did you find anything worth noting in your handling of the Thieves Guild in Dnipro City?”

“Yes, and quite a lot.”

Grand Duchess Shani played with her golden braids, relaxing back in her chair. Her beautiful eyes swung back and forth between Murphy and Tris as she said with a smile:

“But I can’t tell you. To be more direct, I don’t want to tell you unless I can confirm you’re truly on my side.

What I mean is, when facing the Dusk issue, I cannot stand with fools and weaklings. Whether you belong to either category, it would result in my clan and I being devoured completely by dangerous entities.”

“Huh? You mean we have to prove our capabilities to you first?”

Tris responded very unhappily:

“If you want to speak then speak, if not then leave. Your coming here already proves that you’re alone and desperately need help in this matter.

Shani, stop pretending!

If even Lord Payne needs to take Dusk seriously, then we vampire grand dukes have even more reason to unite together.

This isn’t for you or me, or for our clans and subordinates.

This is for something deeper.

Although it sounds magical for vampires to talk about world peace and seeking a sustainable future, if you really knew what the Dusk followers wanted, you’d understand what I’m saying.”

“Sharp-tongued.”

Shani snorted, saying quite flirtatiously:

“Your words have become so nimble, seems little Murphy has been enjoying himself lately.”

“Hey! Is this something a vampire grand duke should say? Where’s that dignity you royal-born vampire grand dukes always insist on?”

Tris was thoroughly angered.

Obviously understanding the vulgarity hidden in Shani’s words, she jumped up like an enraged wildcat, only to be pressed back into her chair by Murphy who couldn’t stand watching anymore.

What’s going on with these two women?!

Why does the scene become so explosive every time they meet? Is this the legendary rivalry where beauties refuse to yield to each other?

“Please discuss the matter at hand! Lady Shani.”

Murphy took over the conversation while calming the fuming Tris, saying very seriously:

“If you’re only here to provoke or spread meaningless and malicious gossip, then I’ll have to ask you to leave.

As for that nonsense about proving capabilities, let’s not speak of it anymore. Lord Payne has acknowledged our investigation and sent us an assistant who is on the way. I don’t think whether the Blood Vulture Clan is qualified to participate in the pursuit of Dusk is something you can judge.

Tell us, what did you discover in the Thieves Guild?”

Faced with Murphy bringing up Lord Payne, Grand Duchess Shani couldn’t argue back.

She could only purse her lips before saying in a deep voice:

“Corruption!

Terrifying, all-pervasive, almost impossible to clean up corruption and degradation.

The Thieves Guild in Dnipro City had 371 people total, not many, after all it’s just an outpost in a remote area, far from matching the scale of their grand guild in North Wind Fort. However, among these 371 people, at least two-thirds had already become puppets and followers of dark entities.

If I hadn’t personally overseen the cleanup there, relying just on the Thorn Clan’s descendants stationed in Dnipro City, this operation would likely have failed.

I heard you caught a spider demon?

That’s fantastic.

Because I personally killed 27 spider demons in the Thieves Guild castle in Dnipro City. It was deadly! Before we broke through, those released madmen had almost completely slaughtered all who resisted.

The Thieves Guild’s stronghold in the Kafhoka region can basically be declared completely wiped out. This is one of the most devastating losses in this guild’s 350-year history.

Even during the Black Plague, those cunning fellows weren’t this miserable.”

“So here comes the question.”

Murphy and Tris exchanged glances, he leaned forward and asked:

“What exactly do the Dusk followers want? What were they trying to obtain from the Thieves Guild? Don’t tell me you overturned an entire stronghold but couldn’t figure out even this much?”

“This is precisely what I came to explain to you both today.”

Shani’s tone became serious as she said:

“You probably can’t understand the threat your sudden interference posed to my strategy. I had already detected the corruption of the Thieves Guild in Dnipro City before, and I had planned to keep them under observation and tracking to obtain more clues. However, your investigation of the Snegov Family directly alarmed them.

This made things irreversibly slide to where we are now.

I’m not criticizing you for being too rash, but the fact is, since the Blood Vulture Clan has never excelled at secret operations, don’t pretend to be assassins or infiltrators.

If I hadn’t intervened in time, this situation would have evolved into something worse!

It could have even triggered terrible slaughter and panic in Dnipro City. I hope you can give me a heads up before your next operation so I can be prepared.”

“Ha, another fool trying to reach into the mud to obtain truth! Another confident one trying to dirty their hands to catch criminals.”

Tris immediately shot back:

“Do you know who the last person to do this was? The last White Knight Saint of the Avalon Church, old Finoch Lawson, also made the same choice as you.

He tried to join Dusk to obtain their core secrets, but guess what happened to him?”

Seeing Shani’s uncertain expression, Murphy also sighed and said:

“Old Finoch specifically warned us before his death to never try to probe Dusk’s situation by infiltrating their ranks, because that’s exactly what they want you to do.

Old Finoch was able to maintain his clarity in his final moments thanks to the blessing of the Avalon God, but we vampires don’t have any deity to protect us.

Therefore, Lady Shani, stop your suicidal behavior.

You think you’re the clever hunter, but in reality you’re the prey stepping into the trap one step at a time. Your actions are fundamentally wrong and risky, you cannot obtain the information you desire from them.

All that awaits you is being assimilated into becoming a fallen one like them.

That’s a cult organization related to subspace!

I don’t believe your will is strong enough to face subspace shadows while maintaining firmness.

No!

You are a Descendant of Jealousy.

You harbor terrible darkness in your heart, so you can’t do it!”

The two’s persuasion made Shani hesitate for a moment.

But the Thorn Grand Duchess didn’t respond directly, instead turning the topic back to the previous question, saying:

“The Thieves Guild in the Kafhoka region has been continuously accepting orders from mysterious forces for about 5 years, requesting them to visit the hometowns of all heroes who have appeared throughout the Portia Federation region and reactivate the power they left behind.

Well, that’s the ‘artistic’ way of putting it.

The unbearable truth is that for these 5 years, a group of tomb raiders under the Thieves Guild has been digging everywhere. What happened in Count Seicob’s tomb isn’t an isolated case.

Before you caught that group of tomb raiders, the tombs of ancient heroes including ‘Wind-Chasing Swordsman Nolan’, ‘War Dog King Carter’, ‘Barbarian Fighter Seus’ and others had already been robbed. These fellows’ footprints even crossed national borders into the Kingdom of Nordtov during the most chaotic time of the Ten-Year War.

That’s when we noticed their unusual movements.

The masterminds behind these people had quite an appetite, they were even arrogant enough to eye the tomb of Hero King Boris, who is my ancestor.”

Shani shook her head and said:

“I have sufficient reason to believe those people aren’t just doing this in the Kafhoka region, other regional Thieves Guilds must have similar orders. Unfortunately, the Thorn Clan is just one of the founders of the Thieves Guild, and I don’t have the authority to retrieve the description of every mission order at the Thieves Guild headquarters in the Genoa Peninsula.

But based on the information I currently possess, in these 5 years, they’ve stolen at least 8 corpses of Golden-rank heroes and at least 35 Silver-rank ones.

I still can’t understand what these people are planning to do with these remains that have weathered in time?

Execute some evil ritual?

Or plan to use some necromancy to summon back the heroes’ souls?

But that’s not how the Netherworld laws work!

Even though my knowledge falls far short of old seniors like the Crimson Witch who has left legends across the continent, I also know that the gates of the Netherworld have always been guarded by the Moon Holy City of the Sanghai Empire, those Moon priests strictly guard the boundary between life and death.

Even Dusk cannot freely enter that plane belonging to the dead, let alone such large-scale soul summoning.”

The atmosphere in the reception hall became eerily quiet for a moment.

Shani’s expression slightly changed, because she quickly realized from Tris and Murphy’s changes in expression that some bad news she didn’t know about might have happened in Transia.

Under her increasingly heavy gaze, Murphy sighed and said:

“Your understanding of the Netherworld plane is clearly still stuck in the previous version, but the situation has updated, Lady Shani. Dusk already has quite a complete undead system in their hands.

Like everything that happened in Seicob City.”

He briefly told Shani about the Netherworld army in Seicob City, shocking the Thorn Grand Duchess to suddenly stand up.

At this point, there was no more of that gentle housewife-like fake smile on Shani’s face, replaced by a hint of anger and slight fear.

If what she said earlier was all true, it meant that in these 5 years of tomb raiding, Dusk had secretly accumulated a super luxurious command sequence for their Netherworld army consisting of at least 8 Golden undead and 35 Silver undead commanders.

It’s no exaggeration to say that just the deterrence formed by this concentration of powerful beings is enough to make vampire families like the Thorn Clan back off.

Damn it, a vampire family has at most one or two Golden powerhouses, but they have a whole eight of them!

Although beings of this rank definitely have reduced strength after resurrection, just this number alone is intimidating enough, right? Without Lord Payne and the Blood Pact Clan participating in the war, this is enough to take on the currently declining vampire civilization as a whole, isn’t it?

“I must go to the Thieves Guild headquarters!”

Shani was a decisive person.

After realizing the situation’s development had exceeded her control, she immediately made the decision and said:

“I will compile a list of the hero powerhouses’ remains that have been stolen over these years as quickly as possible, and share this information with you afterwards.

Additionally, I will personally report this matter to Lord Payne.

However, based on what you said earlier, that ‘Source’ clearly isn’t with the shadow elf cultists who have infiltrated the Thieves Guild, which means we now have grasped two different factions under Dusk’s forces?”

“Three!”

Murphy raised his head and said:

“There’s also the ‘Wolf Vulture’ faction led by Lady Cecilia, that’s a force that can be completely confirmed as part of Dusk, she’s currently hiding on Greenleaf Island, under the Wolfsbane Clan’s system. Perhaps that’s a wedge Dusk has driven into vampire civilization.”

“You haven’t reported this?”

Shani questioned:

“Lord Payne just allows such an unstable factor to exist within our race?”

“I told the Lord immediately, but he told me not to mind it.”

Murphy sighed helplessly and said:

“I guess this is a game of the ancients, he and old Edward must have a plan for Lady Cecilia, just don’t know if they’ll mess it up.

To be honest, I’m pessimistic about this.

However, since the Lord has already established relations with the Moon Holy City, it means we don’t need to worry too much about the undead army aspect.

We’ll have a thick enough thigh to hug onto.”

“That expression is really enough!”

Shani now became “dignified” again, showing none of the boldness from when she made vulgar jokes with Tris earlier. She snorted and waved her hand saying:

“This way of speaking is too undignified, but I have to admit, your gains in tracking Dusk are no less than mine, so I acknowledge you now.

We can deepen our cooperation in this aspect later.

However, with the Black Plague approaching, tracking Dusk can only be placed second. If we cannot withstand the Black Plague, then no matter how troublesome Dusk is, it won’t be an issue we need to consider.”

“This thinking of yours”

Murphy was even more helpless.

He was too lazy to continue speaking, while Tris leaned back in her chair and said mockingly in a drawn-out voice:

“Oh Shani, Shani, when you’re smart it makes people want to twist off your head, but when you’re stupid, that pitiful brain of yours is probably not even bigger than those two lumps on your chest. How can you not think, what if this Black Plague is also part of Dusk’s world-ending plan?”

“?”

This suggestion left Grand Duchess Shani no time to even get angry, she stared at Tris and said:

“That’s impossible! Dusk has appeared for at most 100 years! But the existence of the Black Plague far predates that time.”

“What’s impossible about it? The gnolls tried four times but couldn’t conquer the continent, for victory, is it so incomprehensible for those barbarians to cooperate with cultists?”

Tris snorted and said:

“In fact, right under the nose of Fort Crimea that you now control, there’s a gnoll warlock clan hiding in the Foul Swamp.

The magic they use all comes from Dusk’s bestowal.

My little Murphy is about to launch a cleanup operation in the Foul Swamp. If you don’t believe it, we can give you a chance to participate and see with your own eyes.

Then you’ll know that the Black Plague is just the trouble right before our eyes, while Dusk… that’s a terrifying threat that will drag everyone into hell.

Shani, I’m not begging you.

The fact now is that our previous sacred blood alliance to deal with the Wolfsbane Clan looks like it needs another clause added.”

“We can form a small anti-Dusk group.”

Murphy suggested:

“That common enemy appearing before us is absolutely not a threat that the Blood Vulture or Thorn Clan can handle alone, we must cooperate sincerely.

I believe this is also what Lord Payne hopes to see.

If you agree, I can share more information about Dusk with you, such as the true name of the subspace shadow standing behind this cult organization.”

“You even know about that?”

Grand Duchess Shani was now truly shocked by Murphy and Tris’s intelligence gathering abilities, she said:

“How did you manage to do it? Given the Blood Vulture Clan’s current rebuilding status, you couldn’t possibly spare so much energy to handle so many things simultaneously.

You must have more secrets!”

“Our secret is our warriors.”

Murphy stood up, saying with a smile:

“I told you the first time we met, Lady Shani, you should value my warriors, they are all ‘Children of Miracles’. How about further opening up the Thorn Clan’s reputation for my warriors to try?

How about setting up the reputation point in Fort Crimea?

Give my warriors the freedom to enter that fortress and gain your service and exchange for your specialty items within.

I believe you and your clan members will soon see their true potential.

If you’re not satisfied, I can offer refunds.”