The light grew brighter, and the darkness grew thicker. The figure on the "altar" became increasingly clear, but the ripples, undulating like water waves, still obscured its face and upper body.
At that moment, the figure suddenly vanished, leaving only the pure, holy, transparent light dome to continue illuminating the great hall.
The Grand Elder, Harold, Quiggins, and the other dwarves, prostrate on the ground, did not perceive this change, but Tess, Galata, Wells, and Edith witnessed the entire process.
"Haha, haha! Their god is gone! It has abandoned them!" Wells was filled with the relief and ecstasy of "surviving a catastrophe."
When the altar had lit up moments ago, he had nearly fainted from terror. A god would actually "descend"?
Unable to read, and having heard tales of Count Vlad being injured by the Church of the God of Truth, as well as legends of the progenitor of the bloodkin and the "Goddess of the Silver Moon," Aeterna, Wells inwardly believed quite strongly in the existence of gods. That was why he had been scared out of his wits. Although he was a noble bloodservant, with an even more noble and powerful bloodkin master at his side, facing a god, he would surely still be as weak as an ant, to be crushed at Its whim.
Moreover, he was a traitor to the dwarven race, and this "God of Steam," this "Lord of Life and Death," seemed to be the dwarves' guardian deity. To fall into Its hands, one could well imagine the outcome.
Edith also laughed like a madwoman: "See! The gods no longer protect you. We bloodkin are the noble race favored by heaven!"
When the altar had activated, the pressure and panic in her heart had been no less than Wells'.
The Grand Elder, Harold, Mirna, and the other dwarves heard the outbursts from the two bloodservants and looked up in alarm to see the empty altar.
"Where is the Lord?"
"Has the God of Steam abandoned us?"
"Did we do something that angered the god?"
Panic, despair, and utter bewilderment spread among the surviving dwarves. They had finally received a god's favor and witnessed Its descent. How could such a change occur?
"High-Level Invisibility! He is a mage!" Galata, the worldly-wise vampire butler, realized. "That was a teleportation circle that pierced through the spatial barrier! There is a spatial node here!"
"Galata, kill him! I will return to the castle to inform the Count!" Tess's expression shifted rapidly. Black, bat-like wings grew from her back, and she turned to flee without hesitation.
A spatial node was the door to this "castle" in the extraplanar space. To guard against enemy invasion or infiltration, it was imperative to control all nodes in one's own hands. Otherwise, the Church of the God of Truth or the Arcane Council might, at any moment, send a few powerful beings to slip inside and seize the entire extraplanar space. In fact, within certain extraplanar spaces, various factions engaged in repeated, see-saw battles, all fighting to control the spatial nodes.
Within the Dark Night Plateau, all discovered nodes were already occupied by powerful vampires. Now, faced with this newly appeared node, the two orthodox bloodkin, Tess and Galata, gave it paramount importance. It had to be brought under their control as soon as possible!
At the same time, because they were unclear about the exact level of the mage who had entered via the spatial node, the cautious Tess dared not take risks. She decided to have Galata hold the fort temporarily while she returned to the castle to summon the Count to take action.
Although long tormented by Divine Arts and frequently falling into slumber, Count Vlad was still a high-level vampire, the most powerful bloodkin in the vicinity.
Normally, a vampire's strength was closely tied to the title granted to them by the Blood Council. For example, a Baron corresponded to a formal knight or dark mage, a Viscount meant mid-tier, a Count and Marquis were equivalent to high-tier, a Duke was on par with an archmage or golden knight, and a Prince belonged to the realm of legend.
However, many vampires lived reclusive lives or blended into human society. Even as their strength grew, they couldn't be bothered to report it to the Blood Council. Therefore, judging a vampire's power solely by their title was prone to error. As for Rhein, who had lived for tens of thousands of years or even longer, he simply preferred the title of Count and had never accepted the honor of being a vampire prince.
Galata hesitated for a moment, but ultimately lunged toward the altar without looking back. As a low-level descendant transformed through the Embrace by Count Vlad, he was completely loyal to the Count and unwilling to disobey the orders of Madam Tess, who represented the Count's will.
Based on the aura that had briefly appeared earlier, he used his keen life-sensing ability to confirm that the mage was still on the altar and had not yet departed!
The moment Lucian teleported over, he saw a group of dwarves, weeping and groveling like madmen on the ground, chanting mystical words towards him. He was so startled he jumped, thinking the teleportation circle he had set up had malfunctioned and he had been caught in a spatial turbulence, "crossing over" once more!
Therefore, Lucian reflexively cast the fourth-tier spell "High-Level Invisibility," intending to hide first and observe the situation before deciding on his next move.
"Can still use magic?" It seemed he hadn't "crossed over" again.
After turning invisible, Lucian gradually calmed down. As a "linguistics expert," it was easy for him to discern that the language spoken by the dwarves belonged to the ancient linguistic family, a direct ancestor of the modern dwarven tongue. He could more or less understand it.
"Lord? God of Steam? What exactly are they doing?"
Countless questions surged through Lucian's mind. Before he could sort them out, he heard Galata's words: "Spatial node?"
"A vampire! This truly is the Dark Night Plateau!" The sight of a dwarven vampire with two black, bat-like wings confirmed to Lucian his location. He then saw another vampire, appearing human, lunging towards him.
Lucian's eyes narrowed slightly. He raised a hand and pointed. He absolutely could not let word of a spatial node here get out!
He still needed to use the Dark Night Plateau for a few more jumps. Being discovered by a Prince-level vampire would be dangerous.
Since Rhein hadn't told him which vampire could be trusted, he would "treat them all equally"!
Harold stared blankly at the empty altar, watching the slowly fading, pure, transparent light dome. He felt that he and the entire dwarven race had been abandoned by the world. Why had the god descended, done nothing, and then left?
Was it because the dwarven race's faith was not devout enough?
Was it because the cruel bloodkin had gained the god's favor?
Was their fate already completely sealed?
His teeth clenched tightly on his lip, drawing blood. Despair, confusion, and dejection made him incredibly weary. He wished he could just die then and there.
Only death could be the end of all pain.