[V6C47 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
“How would I ever dare?!” Medanzo’s smile was inexplicably fake.
“It’s true that the Queen of the Night has awakened, but we’ll definitely accompany your race if things are taken too far. The arachne are not werewolves!” Noxus refused to back down and didn’t hold back his words at all.
Medanzo stared at Noxus for a while, then turned back toward Giant’s Repose as though nothing had happened.
The Windwalker Legion was one of the most famous vampire corps. It consisted mainly of the fourth-ranked Dracula clan, and the ninth-ranked Mammon clan, but those from other clans were also recruited. The issue lay in the fact that the Windwalker Legion was a large unit with over ten thousand regular members, while the Dark Hunters was a special unit with less than a hundred men. Pitting them against one another in a sealed battlefield would naturally result in the Dark Hunters being wiped out amidst the sea of enemy soldiers.
Medanzo’s attempt at seizing control over the Dark Hunters seemed like a jest, but how could existences who had reached their level crack senseless jokes. Their every word contained deep implications. Should Noxus make an inappropriate reply, Medanzo might really turn the jest into reality and really seize control of the Dark Hunters.
Noxus dropped the topic after seeing that Medanzo wasn’t pushing this matter any further, albeit with a gloomy expression.
Medanzo spoke all of a sudden, “The humans are mobilizing too many soldiers! Two-thirds of the current forces is enough if they’re only looking to confront us and split the profits proportionately like before. The current scale is already enough to fight a head-on battle with us.”
Noxus sneered, “Oh they can for sure, but they might not necessarily win. Don’t forget they only have Zhang Boqian, while there’s both you and me on our side. What? Has Zhang Boqian’s previous visit to the Twilight Continent scared the revered Lightless Monarch Medanzo?”
Extremely dense blood energy surged from Medanzo’s body as he turned to stare at Noxus with an incisive gaze.
Not only had Zhang Boqian charged into the Twilight Continent alone back then and caused a great ruckus, but he had also charged back out through the encirclement, injuring several people along the way. This matter was like a ruthless slap on the face for the vampires. The Twelve Ancient Clans almost became the laughingstock of the entire Evernight faction.
This was especially true of Medanzo’s Dracula clan which was situated in Zhang Boqian’s path; their casualties were abnormally high. Two of their dukes received heavy injuries in quick succession and were forced to hibernate in the Blood Pond for survival, while another virtuous count perished in battle. Medanzo was exploring the void back then. Everything was over by the time he had rushed back after receiving the news. This remained a regretful matter for him ever since.
Medanzo was naturally furious now that the old scars were being peeled mercilessly. However, the two peak characters of Evernight withdrew their power after a momentary stand-off. They hadn’t met for many years now and, after an initial probe, still felt apprehensive of one another. Both of them felt that there was no need to go all out with daggers drawn.
On the ground below, a newly arrived group of several dozen soldiers attracted their attention. They immediately figured out the group’s composition with a sweep of their consciousness. That was a powerful combat squad led by the Perth clan’s Holy Son Edward, two marquises, and five counts. Their destination was Giant’s Repose.
In the eyes of outsiders, Edward’s every movement represented Lilith’s will. His arrival on Evernight Continent and personally entering Giant’s Repose thus attracted Noxus’ attention.
With Holy Son Edward's high status, there was simply no need for him to take this risk. He would surely advance to the duke rank as long as he lived on. This was the most appropriate path for him to take. Moreover, the Queen of the Night had received five Ancient Essence Fragments, and such an item had no additional effect when used repeatedly on a single person.
“Is Edward here on Lilith’s command?” Noxus thought. The arachne warlord couldn’t be blamed for thinking this. Edward’s authority in the Perth clan was equal to a duke, and even a prince could hardly mobilize him. Only Lilith could make him bend his head in submission.
Noxus’ gaze gradually turned cold as it fell upon Giant’s Repose. Could it be that there were other unknown secrets in there apart from the ancient essence fragments?
Meanwhile, Medanzo’s eyes moved back to the white mist at the center of the imperial defensive lines. He showed little interest after learning of Edward’s identity and was only puzzled over why the empire was focusing so much manpower here. Was it only to maintain strategic balance at the battle of Giant’s Repose?
The Evernight Council’s scrying abilities had suffered greatly, so they could only rely on reports to judge the general situation. Unfortunately, it was much more difficult to receive military intelligence during a state of war. He might be able to figure out the empire’s intentions if only he could know how many and which divine champions had arrived.
But Medanzo felt much calmer after confirming that Zhang Boqian was here alone.The Eternal Flame and the Queen of the Night were still searching for Sky Demon to engage in a decisive battle, so the empire would have no choice but to maintain sufficient military power in the void as a deterrence. They shouldn’t be able to spare more people to aid Zhang Boqian.
Medanzo shot a disdainful glance at Noxus. The arachne could be considered great soldiers on the battlefields, but they weren’t even as good as werewolves in strategic maneuvers. At least, those big dogs could be dispatched to gather some intelligence.
…
A worm-like creature was boring out of the ground in a certain dark, damp cave. It was several meters wide, and just the part above the ground was a dozen meters long. There was no telling just how long it was beneath the ground.
It possessed neither eye nor nose, only a large mouth filled with sharp teeth at the top of its head and several dozen feelers with which to sense its surroundings.
The large, slow worm seemed harmless at a glance, but Qianye had seen it more than once and knew that this was a terrifying grade-twelve creature.
Its delicate-looking skin was, in fact, extremely sturdy and possessed miraculous effects in absorbing origin power. Qianye had tried blasting it with an origin grenade, but the explosion only left a small wound the size of a table. An injury of this size was more or less negligible compared to its gigantic build.
The giant worm searched for its prey in vain but soon gave up after its endeavor turned out fruitless. Just as it was about to shrink back into its burrow, Qianye leapt down silently from the roof. His hands were both on East Peak which fell promptly upon the Giant Worm’s body. The heavy sword pierced right through the creature’s body and nailed itself into the ground.
The giant worm struggled with all its might, kicking up huge shockwaves in the vicinity with shattered rocks flying out in all directions. However, most of its body was still under the ground with no way to rush out all of a sudden. And the more it struggled, the greater its damage.
Qianye kept East Peak in a steady grip with one hand as he drew a vampiric blade with the other. He then stabbed ruthlessly into the giant writhing body and absorbed its essence blood frantically.
The struggle lasted for well over ten minutes before the worm gradually weakened, and it took half an hour before it lost all signs of life. Qianye was drenched in sweat as he pulled out East Peak and the vampiric blade. He simply sat down beside the giant worm carcass, lit up a cigar, and finished it in silence. Only then did he rise up and vanish into the depths of the dark cavern.
Killing the giant worm provided Qianye with vast amounts of essence blood which, in addition to his accumulations in recent days, sufficed to replenish all of the blood energy he had lost. What he needed to do now was to find a secluded place to cultivate, convert the essence blood, and completely heal his injury.
However, Qianye just couldn’t wipe away that desolation in his heart. The wounds on the body had healed, but the stubborn injury in his heart was still dripping with blood.
The battles around the void colossus’ skeleton had reached a climax. Meanwhile, the troops outside of the skeleton were already beginning to enter the forest area. They were astonished by the peculiar forest at first, but they gradually acclimatized. It was just that some of them felt restless and kept on glancing at those beehive-like treetops.
They couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something there. However, the intelligence gained from the first batch of people stated that these spherical trees looked odd but were actually harmless. The greatest danger within this forest was the enemy faction because, in this world of warped perceptions, those with special abilities could easily kill their opponents.
Even so, those squirming spherical bodies still made one’s hair stand on end. These people had no idea that those treetops were silent when the first group had passed through.
A group of arachne soldiers led by a second-rank viscount was traversing the forest. While running hastily, they looked up toward a certain place on the treetop. Those spherical treetops were vibrating greatly. The orange parts were bulging up all over as though something was struggling to break out of it. The scene was enough to instill great alarm in one’s heart.
The arachne viscount suppressed the uneasiness in his heart and kept on going forward. It was at this time that a small silhouette leapt out from the treetop and fell to the ground with a loud cry. The arachne viscount immediately lifted his arachnid abdomen and shot out a spiderweb to engulf the little thing.
Only then did he see clearly that it was a grey-skinned midget less than one meter tall. It was incomparably ugly with creases all over its body and saliva flowing out of its mouth as it struggled loudly within the web.
The arachne’s sharp web produced several cuts on the midget’s skin, but the creature still managed to tear it apart one strand after the other. Later on, the midget simply knelt down and started chewing on it. Its dripping saliva actually eroded the spider web in a puff of white smoke and broke it.
The arachne viscount’s expression was one of shock. He waved his hand violently and shouted, “Forward march, double time!”
But the surface of the treetops broke apart rapidly, spewing out those little men. They clambered up immediately after falling to the ground and rushed for this group of arachne.
An arduous battle ensued. The arachne finally managed to finish off several dozen midgets at the price of two fallen comrades. The bodily fluids of these grey-skinned little men contained a fierce poison. Even the arachne, who were fairly resistant to poison, couldn’t hold out after being bitten. Meanwhile, the arachne poison had an evidently reduced effect and only served to slow down their movements.
The arachne viscount’s face was ashen. He had never expected these weak little lifeforms to be so difficult to handle. His elite subordinates hadn’t died in a battle with humans, but in the hands of these queer life forms instead.
He suddenly looked up after hearing something. His countenance was immediately overcome by shock!
Dozens of treetops in the vicinity started to shake as more little men sprayed out. A tide of grey madness formed in the blink of an eye and completely drowned out this group of arachne.
Similar scenes were playing out continuously in other parts of the forest. The beehive-like structures on those treetops had all opened up. However, most of them were now completely empty as the creatures within broke out of their shells.