Anna could hardly believe her eyes.
When Shen Yi entered the church, she was prepared to see him fleeing in terror from the townspeople, or perhaps even being tied up and thrown into a dungeon.
She had even started planning how to rescue Shen Yi from the prison.
But what she ultimately saw was the townspeople respectfully seeing Shen Yi off from the church.
No, there were exceptions.
The tavern clerk, Gasken, glared at Shen Yi with anger in his eyes: "You may deceive others, but not me. I know there are people in this world with special abilities, but that doesn't prove anything."
"Indeed," Shen Yi replied with a smile: "Every person with abilities is a gift from the Lord. The Lord hopes these people will spread his glory, but some walk the opposite path. Some become enemies of the Lord, wielding evil power, destined to be destroyed. Others hide their talents, like pearls cast into the dust, wasting the Lord's gift. As for me, I simply heed the Lord's call to embrace the light and dispel darkness. You may not believe I am the Lord's messenger, because that's not important. What matters is that I follow righteousness and heed the Lord's call. Guided by the Lord, in the Father's name, I do what must be done."
Gasken stared blankly at Shen Yi.
Shen Yi leaned in and whispered: "You know about people with special abilities because you're one of them, right? But you've never faced your responsibilities. With this attitude, you'll never win Anna's favor."
Gasken was speechless.
It must be said, psychic probing is indeed a powerful ability.
This helped Shen Yi establish a sense of mystery and omniscience in the townspeople's minds, bolstered by his healing skills. Some of the townspeople had begun to believe Shen Yi was a messenger of God.
After establishing his credibility, Shen Yi returned to Anna's house. Anna grabbed him and asked, "Tell me, how did you do it?"
"What do you mean?" Shen Yi feigned ignorance.
"The attitude of the townspeople towards you! Oh my, I've never seen anyone change others' impressions so completely in just an hour! They've started respecting you!"
Shen Yi smiled: "Don't trust what your eyes see, Anna. No one can earn respect in an hour, not even if you save a life. True respect comes from understanding, an admiration from within. It takes time, not short-lived glory. The townspeople respect not me, but God. I just borrowed His name to give me a hand, that's all."
Shen Yi briefly explained what had happened.
Anna listened, her head spinning.
"It's incredible, but why... why do it?"
"Because we're up against Count Dracula!" Shen Yi said seriously: "The Villares family has failed to kill that vampire for centuries. Why? Because you've been fighting alone. You should've united all possible forces before fighting."
"It's not that we didn't want to, but we couldn't!" Anna responded loudly: "You've seen it, the people here are cowardly, unwilling to cooperate with my family! They'd rather live in servitude to evil!"
"That's because you don't understand human nature or the art of leadership. Do you know how to make people willingly die for you?" Shen Yi asked Anna.
Anna shook her head blankly.
Shen Yi whispered: "First, you give them hope!"
"Hope?"
"Yes."
Shen Yi smiled: "The trick of leadership is to give hope, then inspire awe. Awe is respect mixed with fear."
"Promising hope can control hearts. That's respect."
"Decisive actions can control situations. That's fear."
"Using miracles, in the Father's name, adds to your majesty."
"Demonstrating power, setting thieves as examples, establishes confidence."
"If people respect and trust you, if you give them promises and hope, they will follow your lead, even to death, without regret. Show them the light, and they will rise to fight!"
"With a sword in one hand and a book in the other, this is the eternal secret of rule. Sadly, the Villares family only knows how to wield a sword."
Shen Yi's words profoundly impacted Anna.
She had never considered such deficiencies in her family's fight against vampires.
In fact, not just her, but other adventurers facing Van Helsing's challenges hadn't thought of rallying the townspeople to resist.
Shen Yi didn't know if this aligned with the desires of the bloody city, but he knew one thing clearly—any method not explicitly forbidden and beneficial to him was worth trying.
Whether on Earth or in this world.
If necessary, he wouldn't hesitate to rally all of Transylvania to his cause.
Anna thought for a while, then trembled: "This will lead to many deaths."
"With God, death is not to be
feared," Shen Yi smiled.
"So, you're confident you can lead the townspeople to kill Dracula now?"
"No, not yet," Shen Yi immediately replied: "They have just begun to accept me. I need more time to consolidate and strengthen their faith in me."
"How will you strengthen their faith?"
Shen Yi did not answer.
He quickly walked to a corner of the hall and pulled a cross-shaped longsword from the weapon rack. The bloody emblem prompt read:
Baptized Cross Sword: Damage 5-12, inflicts 20 extra damage to undead creatures, not a mission reward item, cannot be taken out of this world.
Shen Yi's fingers glided over the sharp tip of the sword as he spoke in a cold tone: "First, let's take down another of Count Dracula's minions."
At night, the outskirts of the Transylvanian town were silent. Most people had already sunk into deep sleep. About 1500 meters from the town, in a small forest, lay the camp of the dwarven demons. These demons, similar in size to dwarves and always wearing masks, carrying large axes, and with small throwing axes at their waists, appeared unthreatening but were in fact one of Dracula's most despicable minions. Like werewolves, they were formed from the dead, brutal and cruel, with a penchant for bloodshed.
Shen Yi and Anna approached the dwarven demon camp cautiously, skirting the edge of the forest. Several dwarven demon warriors were patrolling the camp's perimeter. In the midst of the group, a particularly tall figure in a red cloak, wearing a mask and wielding a giant axe, was barking orders.
That must be the dwarven demon leader.
With his enhanced attributes, Shen Yi's vision had greatly improved, allowing him to see clearly even in the dark. He quietly used psychic probing on one of the dwarven demons:
"Dwarven Demon Soldier, Attack 7-15, Defense 2, Health 50, no skills. Undead creature, vulnerable to holy attacks, strength-based. No special weaknesses. Skilled in throwing axes."
The demons were considerably weaker than the werewolves, except for the lack of special weaknesses. This explained why the second main task only rewarded 500 bloody points. However, the camp was swarming with more than just ten demons, significantly raising the difficulty.
"There are over 50 of them," Anna said, looking worriedly at Shen Yi: "There are too many, what do we do?"
When Shen Yi told her he planned to kill the demon leader, it terrified her. Despite her family's legacy of fighting undead creatures, she knew how tough these beings were. Seeing the sheer number of demons, she subconsciously hoped Shen Yi would reconsider.
But Shen Yi said, "That's why we need to lure some away, at least half."
He showed no intention of backing down.
"How?" Anna asked.
Shen Yi whispered a plan to Anna, who frowned: "How can you be sure the demon leader will split his forces? What if he doesn't?"
"He will, because he is a leader. Leaders must do certain things," Shen Yi replied.
"I don't believe it."
"How about a bet?" Shen Yi suggested.
"What are we betting?"
Shen Yi thought for a moment and replied: "If I win, you agree to do one thing for me, nothing too difficult. How about it?"
Anna paused, then chuckled: "Okay, I agree."
Her demeanor was generous, but her eyes held a hint of something else. Shen Yi realized she misunderstood, but since she didn't object, he didn't bother to explain.
A dwarven demon sentinel, wandering outside the camp with an axe, heard a twig snap nearby. Upon investigating, it found a shining silver coin. It walked over, muttering to itself, then covered the coin with dirt. Undead creatures have a natural aversion to silver, burying it if not used as a weapon.
After burying the seventh coin, a cross-shaped sword suddenly thrust out, swiftly cutting the demon's throat. Black, rotten blood spurted out, and the demon fell heavily.
Shen Yi emerged from behind a tree, looked at the buried trail, and said to Anna with a bitter smile: "If we were fishing for people, they would've picked up the money. The same action, different beings, different choices, but the same result... interesting, isn't it?"
Anna rolled her eyes at him.
Shen Yi lifted the demon's body and ran towards the river.
Ten minutes later, the demons realized one of their soldiers was missing. They began to search, and eventually found the missing demon dead across the river. Enraged, they swarmed out, leaving only an empty camp guarded by two soldiers.
"Hey, how are you?" Shen Yi suddenly appeared from behind a tree.
With that greeting, his gun smoked and one demon fell. As the other demon tried to throw its axe, Shen Yi's sword pierced its back. The demon shivered and fell dead.
"What now?" Anna asked, pulling the sword out.
Shen Yi caressed the gun and said coldly: "We wait for them to return, and then... kill them all!"