The sky was gloomy, with white snow drifting down.
The church welcomed a rare white holiness once again, as the entire landscape was blanketed in white snow.
No candles were lit in the monastery, yet over a hundred church personnel had gathered in the courtyard.
These church personnel had all been transformed into second-generation or third-generation vampires. It wasn't that the church had only converted this many people, but rather that many severely brainwashed church members, even after transformation, refused to acknowledge themselves as unclean beings and had to be forcibly eliminated.
This greatly reduced the number of church personnel who should have been converted into vampires.
Norton, wearing a white missionary robe with his hood up, stood at the entrance of the church hall, seeming to blend into the pure white snow.
Ten years—this was only the second time in ten years he had worn such neat, clean white robes, finally making him look somewhat human again.
However, the skin beneath his hood was dry, wrinkled, stiff, and pale, making anyone who glimpsed it shudder inwardly.
Abraham still wore his white priestly robes, standing slightly bowed beside Norton, appearing extremely respectful.
Looking at the ten-meter-deep water pit dug out before the hall."Progenitor, the people are ready."
Norton nodded with satisfaction: "Excellent, lure out the Holy Knights now."
"Yes!" Abraham responded respectfully, then waved his hand. Two Church Knights from behind immediately stepped forward and entered the church hall.
All of the over hundred church personnel present had been transformed into vampires. The missionaries were third-generation vampires, so their working hours had been shifted to nighttime, since sunlight could cause them real harm.
The Church Knights were second-generation vampires. Although still far inferior to the first-generation Abraham, their strength enhancement and physical recovery speed had vastly surpassed their previous levels.
And they would become Norton's most loyal enforcers.
This was the most convenient aspect after Norton took power—he no longer needed to handle everything personally himself.
Snowflakes drifted down, and the cold air brought no discomfort to the vampires gathered in the courtyard.
Before long.
"BOOM!!!" A tremendous roar erupted from the church hall, followed by a Holy Knight thrusting a Great Sword through a Church Knight's body, forcibly pushing him to collapse the hall's door, then both tumbling together into the water-filled pit.
The vampire knight pierced by the Great Sword didn't rapidly heal his wounds as usual. Instead, he seemed under some powerful suppression, unable to regenerate his injuries.
But at the very least, he had dragged the Holy Knight into the water with him.
"Gurgle..." Some bubbles rose from the water. The wounded vampire knight seemed severely injured, struggling desperately to move his body away from the Holy Knight who had fallen into the water.
Another scene of childlike water play appeared in the water. This low-tier Holy Knight was exactly like the two Norton had drowned before, wildly swinging his sword in the water, trying to slay the unclean vampire before him, yet he could only continuously roll and turn, unable to advance an inch.
Father Abraham watched the Holy Knight thrashing helplessly in the water, his face full of astonishment.
'Using such methods to cleverly kill Holy Knights? It seems this so-called Progenitor of the Vampire Clan is also a meticulous thinker! I need to be even more respectful toward him to avoid him detecting my slight abnormalities!'
The Holy Knight in the water was already like a lamb waiting for slaughter, but then noise came from the Sanctuary again.
"WHOOSH!!!" A thick, jet-engine-like exhaust sound erupted from the hall, followed by heavy, rapid footsteps approaching.
"Filth... Purge... Holiness!!!"
Under Father Abraham's slightly terrified gaze, a figure clad in golden armor burst forth from the hall wielding a golden Great Sword, a hoarse, almost mechanical voice emanating from his helmet.
Perhaps because there were too many vampires outside, this actually caused him to freeze up momentarily.
But in an instant, an even more ferocious aura erupted from him. His shouts grew louder, and Norton could even feel the heat radiating from his body rapidly increasing.
"Heretic! Heretic! Heretic!!!"
The Holy Knight raised his golden Great Sword high, his shouts deafening. As he yelled, dense steam visibly poured out from his armor.
This terrifying display made Norton click his tongue in amazement—his physique was truly like a human steam engine!
With a roar, this supposedly solemn and holy Holy Knight charged toward the nearest vampire, Great Sword held high.
The surrounding Church Knights who had been turned into vampires needed no command; they spontaneously rushed forward.
Over a dozen Church Knight figures charged toward the Holy Knight.
Although transformed into vampires, these Church Knights' minds weren't damaged—their combat skills remained at their peak.
Before closing in, three Church Knights fired grappling hooks from their crossbows, but they weren't aiming at the Holy Knight's Steel Armor-clad body—they targeted his legs instead.
"Clang!" The hard Steel Armor deflected the hooks' penetration, causing them to scrape past the Holy Knight's legs and shoot backward.
Three surrounding Church Knights in encircling positions immediately grabbed the incoming hooks, then intertwined them and pulled outward.
The taut ropes restrained the Holy Knight's legs, pulled straight by the fierce tugging of six vampire Church Knights.
The Holy Knight's strength wasn't actually excessively overpowered. While he could collapse earthen walls and Stalactites, the quality of earthen walls in this era was truly poor—even an enraged ox could knock them down.
Moreover, his defensive capabilities mainly relied on his Steel Armor rather than abnormal physical strength, otherwise the church wouldn't only use him as a special forces unit for decapitation missions.
Furthermore, Norton had read in his research on vampires that second-generation old-era vampires could already withstand Holy Knights, which sufficiently indicated that Holy Knights weren't excessively overpowered or exaggerated. (No stealth nerf)
So, under the pulling of six vampire Church Knights, they actually managed to halt the charging Holy Knight.
After all, he had only consumed the Divine Blood from the Divine Corpse behind the Vatican—this only greatly enhanced individual strength without advancing his Status Hierarchy. Having such performance was already considered superior.
"WHOOSH!!!"
A steam-engine-like breathing sound came from the golden helmet, with dense steam pouring out. The interval between his breaths actually shortened compared to normal, and under this rapid breathing, the heat radiating from the Holy Knight was still rapidly increasing!
As his body heat grew, the Holy Knight's rope-bound legs actually withstood the combined strength of six vampire knights, slowly lifting again!
Then he actually resisted the pulling force on his legs, wildly swinging his sword trying to kill the closer vampire before him.
"Can't even cut the ropes on his own legs? Useless thing!"
Before Norton's thought finished, with a "SNAP!" sound, the ropes binding the Holy Knight suddenly broke.
Then, completely freed from restraint, he madly charged toward the nearest Church Knight.
"Heretic! Heretic!!!"
Before he finished shouting, Norton, who had waited long enough, could no longer endure.
He snatched a Great Sword from a nearby Church Knight's waist, then coordinated his waist and horse stance, his slender, withered arm suddenly hurling the massive sword.
The Great Sword shot swiftly toward the Holy Knight standing by the water pit.
"THUD!"
With a massive impact sound, the Holy Knight whom even six second-generation vampire knights struggled to control was actually smashed into the water by Norton's thrown sword.
"Worthless!"