The entire manor had been occupied by vampires.
The building stood three stories high with numerous rooms, but up on the rooftops, vampires lurked in the shadows as sentries.
When Rowena and Helga approached the manor, they had been spotted from afar by these lookouts, which led to the charade with the butler at the gate.
Wizards generally possess sharper senses than ordinary people, and Rowena and Helga were in a league of their own.
Standing at the iron gate while the butler stalled them, both women had felt the prying gazes upon them.
After the brief, cold exchange, Rowena and Helga were certain: the butler was compromised.
To avoid alerting the enemy prematurely, they pretended to leave.
As they walked away, several vampires crept down from the roof to trail them.
With two living, breathing women wandering into their territory, the vampires naturally wouldn't let them go. They planned to attack the moment the women entered the mist, obscuring them from view.
We're being followed.
Alert as always, Rowena and Helga exchanged a glance. Just as the vampires launched their attack with ghostly speed, the two witches Apparated. In an instant, they vanished and reappeared right back in front of the iron gate.
Since the stalkers were vampires, it meant the manor was completely under vampire control.
There was no need to be polite to vampires.
With that established, Rowena and Helga dropped all pretenses.
"Alohomora."
With a soft command, Helga raised her wand, and the tall iron gate clicked open.
Creak. The gate swung wide, and the two walked straight in.
Immediately, vampires hiding on the roof and in the garden pounced. Their agile movements were so fast they left only blurred afterimages in the air.
BANG!
A loud noise erupted as a vampire lunged at Rowena from the front, slamming headfirst into a magical shield she conjured with a flick of her wand.
The shield formed a shimmering arc following the trajectory of her wand. Upon impact, the vampire slid off the smooth surface and was sent flying by the recoil.
"Reducto!"
Her wand pointed at the vampire she had just repelled. With a blasting curse, the creature was instantly reduced to ash.
For spells like these, Rowena and Helga didn't need to speak the incantations. A simple thought was enough to cast them non-verbally.
The vampires were fast and numerous. But no matter how fast or how many there were, they couldn't outpace the wands of the two Founders.
The witches strolled through the garden as if taking a leisurely walk. Every vampire that pounced crashed helplessly into their shields, and those hesitating were blasted into oblivion by a relentless barrage of curses.
---
Even in the heat of battle, Rowena never lost her elegance, while Helga radiated energy and power. Their coordination was seamless, moving and casting as if they shared a single mind.
Simple Protego charms combined with lethal blasting curses became a nightmare for the horde of vampires.
There were many powerful wizards in the world, and plenty capable of fighting vampires.
But beautiful witches who could stroll casually through dozens of attackers without breaking a sweat? That was a rare sight indeed.
"It's Rowena and Helga! Two of the Four Founders!"
A terrified roar suddenly erupted from the vampire ranks. Powerful wizards were natural predators to vampires. And if they were predators, their names were well known to the prey.
Hearing the shout, Rowena and Helga exchanged a smile. The title "The Four Founders" had been quiet for many years, but it seemed their reputation still held weight, especially among dark creatures.
Vampires feared the sunlight.
But they feared death even more. As dark creatures capable of immortality, the concept of death was terrifying.
Because they had no souls, death meant total dissipation—erasure from the world without a trace.
However, despite their fear of death, the vampires continued to pour out of the manor like madmen.
It was abnormal. They should have been fleeing. In the past, dark creatures usually scattered the moment they recognized any of the Founders.
To stop Rowena and Helga's advance, the vampire numbers swelled from dozens to over a hundred in the blink of an eye following that terrified shout.
This explosive increase in numbers proved there were even more inside the manor.
For so many vampires to mobilize at once, they had to be led by a high-ranking vampire—a Count or even a Duke.
This meant they were conducting something critically important inside the house. And whatever it was, it wasn't finished yet; otherwise, they wouldn't be throwing their lives away to delay the witches.
This wasn't a vampire holy land. There was no reason for them to defend it to the death unless the stakes were incredibly high.
"We need to end this quickly!"
Rowena and Helga nodded to each other, their thoughts in sync. They both sensed the unusual nature of the situation.
With a silent communication, Helga immediately began circling Rowena, blocking every incoming attack from the swarm.
---
Trust was the foundation of the friendship between Rowena and Helga.
With Helga handling the defense, Rowena stopped walking, ignoring the vampires lunging at her. She stood tall, raised her wand high, circled it once above her head, and then pointed it straight at the sky. She began to chant an incantation in an ancient tongue.
Magic surged. A beam of white energy, as thick as a child's arm, shot from the tip of her wand into the sky.
At a height of about a hundred meters, the energy coalesced into a sphere, then rapidly expanded and detonated.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion echoed over the island, the sound vibrating in the air with immense power.
Accompanying the boom, the exploding magic released a blinding, searing light that illuminated the entire manor and the surrounding grasslands.
The light was intense, as if a small sun had suddenly appeared over the estate.
The moment this miniature sun appeared, the vampires mid-pounce began to wail in agony.
Their bodies started to disintegrate. It was as if they were exposed to the harshest midday sun. No matter where they tried to hide, under the relentless illumination of the spell, there was no escape.
The sudden white light shocked even Rowena and Helga.
Under the glare, they saw a sea of heads—countless vampires vanishing into dust. Just by a rough visual estimate, there had been at least three to five hundred of them.
But against wizards of Rowena and Helga's caliber, numbers were meaningless.
Sunlight is fatal to vampires. The spell Rowena cast created actual, magical sunlight.
To a normal human, the spell would merely be a very bright illumination charm. But to a vampire, it was a weapon of mass destruction.
seeing the sheer number of vampires, Rowena's expression turned cold.
This many vampires represented the entire lineage of a Vampire Count.
It meant a Count had spent unknown years turning humans one by one to build this army.
For a Count to sacrifice his entire lineage to attack a wizarding family... whatever they were seeking had to be of unimaginable importance.
With the vampires outside liquidated, Rowena waved her wand at the manor.
BANG!
The heavy, closed wooden doors of the villa blasted open.
Helga followed closely, and together, the two witches strode into the main hall.
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