Chapter 176

— No one can repeat such a feat every day, Your Grace — the vampire preferred to immediately set the limits of his capabilities, lest he be expected to run through the forests every night in search of goblins.

— Yes, yes. Still, I'm impressed.

As he was leaving, he stopped and turned back to his interlocutor.

— You know, I'm confident in the success of our endeavor; with such warriors, we can handle anything!

— And I'm confident that we're headed for failure.

The vampire did not elaborate on his thoughts and entered the tent, accompanied by the commander's thoughtful gaze.

The next night passed quietly. During the day, they reached the place where the first artifacts had been discarded on their path. If not for the memory of the archmage's blood, who had personally overseen the creation of the hiding places for them, the squad would have passed by without a problem.

Naturally, the vampires did not let that happen. The most valuable artifacts were quickly "found." And these were indeed the most valuable of those left behind — as they had been discarded last. The captain was almost jumping with joy when he was informed about the find. He immediately ordered the artifacts to be retrieved from the hiding place.

— Why?

— What exactly?

— Why retrieve them now? Wouldn't it be better to take them on the way back?

The knight's advice was accepted, and the hiding places were closed again. The Orodian army had discarded artifacts four times. The largest of them was the second hiding place. But for the Elurians, it was the third. And it was the destination of the expedition. Now they only needed to mark the found artifacts on the map and continue their journey. Goblins had no interest in magical items of humans due to the absence of mages among them, and nature had no power over such powerful artifacts. The artifacts could have lain there for centuries.

The squad followed the exact path that the Orodian army had taken into Elur. They occasionally encountered abandoned carts, weapons, armor, graves, and signs of goblin feasts — gnawed horse bones.

And then came the goblins themselves. The true masters of the passes. The kingdoms of Orod and Elur could draw lines on maps all they wanted, marking the borders between countries, but the passes belonged entirely to the goblins. Even before reaching the second hiding place, the squad found itself stuck in the reflection of endless raids.

A small creature jumped, aiming a spear at the enemy's throat. The enemy managed to turn away and let the flying goblin pass behind him, then turned around and impaled it. The blood of the fallen was almost instantly drained. Then a similar scenario unfolded with the next attacker. The squad of vampires was covering the wagenburg from the rear. (*A mobile field fortification made of wagons. In a broader sense, closely placed wagons forming an enclosed space and used for defending the camp during halts.) T

he main fight was happening on the other side of the camp. But a hundred goblins decided to test their luck from the rear and were punished for it. This had been happening for several nights. Only the roles changed; sometimes the vampires were on the front line, and sometimes, as tonight, in the rear.

They greeted the morning as usual — with ritual fires and digging graves. That night, another dozen people went to meet the All-Powerful. Afterward, the tired men would go to sleep and pray to all known gods that the goblins would not repeat the attack. No strength was left.

— If we're lucky, we'll reach the second hiding place by evening.

Alexander looked at the approaching captain and nodded. According to his calculations, they would arrive even a little earlier, but that was not critical. The men were exhausted both morally and physically. The vampires, on the other hand, were very pleased. Their well-fed and shiny faces contrasted even more with the tired appearance of the rest of the squad. The amount of blood consumed made it impossible to sleep properly; sleep just wouldn't come, and the energy was overflowing.

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