Shinji Matou At Your Service

Chapter 290: A More Important Objective

The answer is not that hard to guess, because compared to wiping out the Chelon Canticle Brigade, Ortenrosse has a more important goal - to obtain Shinji.

After several rounds of confrontation, Ortenrosse's perception of Shinji changes a little with each round.

In the first round, the sneak attack severely wounded Ortenrosse and his subordinates, and he only saw Shinji as a fool. Even though Shinji had such good stealth skills, and even carried precious weapons to suppress the Dead Apostles, he did not flee but instead rushed to the White Wing Lord's doorstep to cause trouble. Isn't this just deliberately going to his death?

In the second round, Shinji blocked his attacks twice, buying time for his comrades to retreat. Ortenrosse raised his evaluation a bit, seeing the powerful fool. He must be strong to be able to block him, and as for being a fool - in this world where the gap in combat power is extremely large, anyone or any force knows the preciousness of high-end combat power. If it were Ortenrosse in Shinji's position, He would abandon the Chelon Canticle Brigade and save himself, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge later.

From this point on, Ortenrosse had the idea of turning Shinji into one of his subordinates.

In the third round, in a confrontation, Shinji destroyed Ortenrosse's white light with a new divine artifact and also destroyed the subordinates barely hanging on nearby. From that moment on, Ortenrosse changed his goal - as long as he could get the person in front of him, he could let the Chelon Canticle Brigade go wherever they wanted.

With the racial advantages of the Dead Apostles plus this man's combat power and various strange armaments, a powerful Dead Apostle on par with the Twenty-Seven Ancestors could soon be born. More importantly, this Dead Apostle would be directly under his command. With Shinji's support, Ortenrosse would be able to gain the upper hand in the struggle with his old rival, Altrouge Brunestud, and even go further to become the true King of the Dead Apostles.

The subsequent fourth round of overpowering him and the current fifth round of wrestling are all attempts made by Ortenrosse to achieve his goal. He wants to break Shinji down from various aspects, deprive him of his ability to resist, and then absorb his blood to turn him into his kin.

The night is still long, and Ortenrosse has enough patience to accompany Shinji slowly. In terms of consumption, humans can never match the Dead Apostles, whether in lifespan or endurance.

As time passed, the highly concentrated magic power in Shinji's body became less and less, and the glow of the command spell nearest to his right wrist also gradually faded, finally dimming into a faint scar after a brief flare-up.

At the same time, the violent magical power fluctuations on Shinji's body also withered away, causing Shinji's movements to slow down as well.

To be safe, Ortenrosse did not hurry to change his tactics but continued to observe and confirm that Shinji's enhanced state had indeed ended, before finally ending the bout, like a fierce tiger descending from the mountain or a gray eagle pouncing on a rabbit, launching a full-frontal assault.

Without the enhanced power of the Command Spells, Shinji did not dare to directly engage Ortenrosse and instead immediately activated his feathered shoes to flee in all directions.

The ambitious King of the Dead Apostles was also not in a hurry, just leisurely hanging behind Shinji, occasionally lashing out with invisible slashing attacks, both consuming Shinji's stamina and magic power and controlling the direction of the prey's escape.

The small town, despite its dilapidation, still contained many obstacles like houses and walls. Just now, Ortenrosse had consumed the opponent's strength by relying on these obstacles, but now he didn't want the opponent to use these obstacles against him.

Under the constant pressure of Ortenrosse, Shinji soon crossed the entire small town and came to the open hills and plains outside the town, with no cover.

Here, Ortenrosse could finally unleash his power and skills without worrying about the terrain.

In the open field, the ancient Dead Apostle, unlike a typical vampire, floated in the air. The hazy moonlight shone through his pure white wings, casting a dreamlike light and shadow on the ground. The light and shadow kept rolling and changing, as if brewing something.

The pure white feathers detached from the wings and fell into the wondrous world constructed by light and shadow. In an instant, the light and shadow detached from the intangible concept and transformed from the virtual to the real, as if they had been endowed with life. No, they had indeed been endowed with life.

The things born from the light and shadow were indeed living beings, numbering about twenty. Some of them Shinji could name, but more were unnamed, even strange monsters that did not conform to the evolutionary rules of biology. Although these beings had different forms, they all had one common feature - their bodies were white except for their eyes. This was the symbol of "White Wing Lord" Trhvmn Ortenrosse, and these monsters were his familiars.

The familiars of the Dead Apostles are similar yet different from the familiars of the Magus. The similarity lies in their uses and functions, while the difference lies in the method of creation. For the Dead Apostles, drinking blood has a deeper meaning beyond just a biological need for energy. Their physical bodies, the containers themselves, begin to rapidly deteriorate the moment they become dead apostles. To make up for this, they need to constantly consume the blood of others, absorbing the genetic information of others into their bodies to maintain the stability of their physical form.

For some dead apostles who have lived for a very long time, ordinary human genetic factors are no longer very suitable for repairing their physical bodies. Because the fundamental capabilities of human animalism are quite poor, absorbing the essence of beasts, demons, and phantasmal beasts is more efficient for repairing physical bodies. For the dead apostles who have absorbed beasts, if necessary, the beasts can be restored to their original form, just like now, where Ortenrosse is restoring a group of familiars using a single feather and his power.

"Go," accompanied the master's order, familiars scattered.

One wolf-type familiar appeared within Shinji's line of sight, and he fired a silver bullet, killing it.

But not long after, Shinji detected the presence of another bird-type familiar and also realized Ortenrosse's intention - this king of dead apostles considers himself the most important prey.

This discovery filled Shinji with mixed feelings. The good news is that since he has been made the prey, Chelon Canticle Brigade is likely safe. The bad news is that escaping has become much more difficult.

If no familiars were roaming around, Shinji could just find an empty place, rely on the invisibility of Hades' cloak, and evade Ortenrosse's search.

But now it's not possible. No matter how skilled the invisibility, it's impossible to instantly erase all traces, and with the familiars watching, Ortenrosse can easily detect Shinji's presence.

Don't forget, these familiars are separated from Ortenrosse's body, and while their combat power may not be strong, they are of one mind with their master, equivalent to his eyes and limbs.

A way must be found to get rid of these annoying eyes - but not now, at least not for another 2 hours.

Shinji looked back at the conspicuous white light source in the darkness and continued to flee westward.