Starting from early spring of this year, everything they had done all year, building livestock farms, expanding the Whispering Bat population, planting crops, constructing new houses and enlarging the city, expanding the army, establishing a more comprehensive system, had all been in preparation for this Months of Deep Winter population raid.
He had been waiting for this day for a year.
This year, Dawn City had to score a big haul during the Months of Deep Winter.
The newly built houses couldn’t be left empty.
When Li De returned to Dawn City, he was still a step too late, the first wave of troops sent to seize population had already departed.
This time, Emi, the Level 15 Shadow High Priest, personally led the operation. A total of 300 vampires were dispatched, including Fourth-Generation Bloodline Descendants, along with 800 Whispering Bats, forming an enormous aerial force. This army had once cast spells to rout over ten thousand beastmen.
Now that the beastmen had just stepped across the border and their forces hadn’t yet penetrated deep into Nolan territory, the sooner they struck, the safer it would be.
On the third floor of City Hall, Harrison’s expression was a little excited.
“Patriarch, according to our spies’ reports, the group of refugees that Marquis Emi is targeting numbers at least three thousand. Furthermore, the vampires we dispatched have already locked onto over ten thousand refugees in total.
Barring any unexpected mishaps, within a month our population will double.”
Hearing this, Li De nodded in satisfaction.
They had done so much preparation in advance for this very moment.
“Excellent. I want to see Dawn City filled with humans by the end of the Months of Deep Winter.”
His great blade had long been thirsting for this. The foundation of everything in Dawn City was population. With people, everything else would follow. Without people, even the vampires couldn’t survive.
A sustainable development strategy was at the core of his plans, but this strategy always required people to implement it. The current population of fewer than ten thousand was far, far too small.
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Emi sat atop a Whispering Bat, racing toward their target under the cold moonlight.
Behind him, the vast bat swarm spread out like a black curtain, their wings, ten blades wide, flapping with sinister menace. The scene looked as if abyssal demons had descended and the apocalypse had come.
Even moving through the darkness, they exuded a suffocating aura.
This was the Shadow High Priest’s first time leading a population raid. Emi was a little excited.
Having spent decades surviving within the Temple of the Knight God, Emi was keenly aware of what population meant to a faction.
It could be said that after a full year of development, Dawn City’s population of under ten thousand had almost no further potential to tap. They needed fresh blood.
The Dawn Mage Tower needed apprentices. The unclaimed land needed farmers. The Dawn Order needed believers. The vampires needed humans to supply blood.
All of this would be resolved during this winter. Dawn City was like parched soil, needing the water of humanity to nourish it.
“Marquis Emi, the refugee group is ahead!” Odys flapped his wings and flew up beside Emi, his eyes alight with excitement.
Nowadays, these Second-Generation Bloodline Descendants who followed Li De had become second-line commanders due to their level. When accompanying top combat strength like this Level 15 leader, they generally obeyed their orders.
Not that any of the vampires resented it, this was a world where the strong ruled. Power was authority. Seniority had no value.
In the darkness, Emi looked down from the pitch-black sky. Even at a distance of over a thousand blades, he immediately spotted the crowd holding torches, dimly illuminating the surrounding forest. Hundreds of torches were like beacons in the night, guiding them straight in.
A flicker of excitement flashed in his eyes, and he raised a hand. “Proceed according to plan. Don’t let these humans scatter in panic.”
“Yes, begin the operation,” Odys turned and began issuing orders.
Over three hundred vampires split off a portion to surround the refugees on all sides, preventing them from fleeing in terror at any cost.
The rest of the vampires beat their wings over the crowd, exerting maximum pressure to shatter their will to resist.
“Ah!! Vampires!! Run for your lives!”
“Why are there vampires? Goddess above, have you abandoned us too?”
“No, impossible. I don’t believe it, this must be an illusion!!”
“…”
The crowd below instantly fell into utter chaos. The vampires suddenly swooping down from midair brought the greatest terror imaginable to the humans below.
These were the vampires of legend, who wouldn’t be afraid??
Panic and helplessness were the only expressions on every human face.
Many had already given up resisting and were preparing to face death. Against so many enormous bats, as terrifying as demons, no one could possibly escape.
At this moment, the oppressive aura of the vampires themselves wasn’t even as frightening as the massive Whispering Bats with their exaggerated wingspans. These newly bred beasts exclusive to the vampires intimidated the humans simply by the sheer bulk of their bodies.
“We are the Saintlight Vampires. We will not harm you.”
After long experience in raiding populations, the vampires had already developed a set of scripts for dealing with refugees.
What to say if there was resistance, what to do if they cooperated, how to handle passive defiance, all of it had been thoroughly memorized by the vampires in charge before coming.
The people below, faced with a sight they couldn’t possibly resist, didn’t dare fight back. They could only stare up at the vampires in the sky with despair in their eyes.
They could already smell death approaching.
Odys flapped his bat wings and flew up beside Emi. “Marquis Emi, now we should go down to reassure them, then escort them back to Dawn City.”
Emi watched this scene with great interest. He had originally thought there would be a battle and had personally come to provide protection, but he hadn’t expected it to go so smoothly, these refugees didn’t have any strength to resist at all.
And indeed, that was the reality. What could a crowd of refugees who had lost their homes possibly use to fight back against vampires?
He waved his hand dismissively.
“I only came in case any powerful enemies appeared. You don’t need to worry about me, do what you must.”
“Yes.” Although Odys was also a Second-Generation Bloodline Descendant, strength was the only true qualification to speak. As a Level 15 Shadow High Priest, Emi was naturally far beyond Odys, a Level 10 Advanced Mage.
Smooth. Everything was going extremely smoothly.