Dawn Continent. A fortress had risen up against the mountainside in just a few days. This fortress’s outer walls were made up of salvaged airship armor, which made it far stronger than ordinary structures.

Taking advantage of the natural landscape, the diverging cliffsides were now dotted with hidden sentries and firing ports. The places where the demonkin had taken cover during the last battle had been leveled. Now, invaders would have to pave a path with their lives to reach the fortress.

Even now, Howard wasn’t all that satisfied yet. He appeared in a corner of the fortress and began making minor adjustments to the defensive arrangements and personnel, all in the name of maximizing their role.

Nighteye and Qianye sat atop the cliff, gazing at the distant skies. The raging sun hung in the sky, spewing out burning origin power from time to time.

Qianye asked as he watched Howard’s busy figure, “Is there a way for him to recover?”

Nighteye sighed. “Howard suffered heavy injuries during his awakening process and didn’t get enough essence blood. Such injuries can only be treated with an ancient blood pond, but the Byrne clan’s blood ponds are all in demonkin hands. There’s really no way now.”

“How long will it take to rebuild a blood pond?”

“According to ancient standards, a blood pond needs to absorb a hundred years of origin power. Blood ponds with ancient in their name have absorbed at least a thousand years of accumulation. Now that the River of Blood is moving further away, the recovery of blood ponds will require an even greater time.”

This move by the Demon King targeted the vampires’ weakness. Without their ancient blood pond, these descendants would have to reaccumulate for hundreds of years even if they could survive and remain hidden. To restore their past glory, they would have to work for thousands of years.

But people weren’t entirely in despair because the Queen of the Night was still around, and she was the hope of the vampire race.

At this moment, Zhuji ran over from a distance. “Papa, look what I caught!”

A giant bug with a spiked carapace was struggling wildly in her hands, spraying out dense yellowish mist. It was easy to see that the poison was extremely strong. However, this so-called poison was a joke to Little Zhuji, and the bug’s spiked body was locked tightly in her grasp.

Qianye’s smile froze up as he turned back. “Careful!”

Little Zhuji was surprised, puzzled as to why Qianye looked so distressed. She glanced at the flailing insect in her hand; was he worried about this? What was there to worry about this fragile and pretty creature?

Just as she was wondering, a large shadow crept over her. Zhuji turned around in surprise and saw an exceptionally tall man behind her. This person’s tyrannical aura covered the entire clifftop.

“So this is your daughter.” He let out a burst of muffled laughter.

“Sousa! Stop!”

Sousa ignored Qianye’s roar as he grabbed Little Zhuji. He then lifted her to eye level for further observation.

Qianye felt his entire body run cold. His half-initiated sprint came to a halt, afraid that an angry Sousa would crush Zhuji to death. He was fast, but he wasn’t confident he could outpace Sousa’s fingers. This werewolf Sousa was famed for his strength.

“Haha! Who would’ve thought…” Sousa laughed out loud, but his laughter came to a stop halfway through.

Little Zhuji pried the great monarch’s fingers open and jumped down. She then ran toward Qianye at lightning speed.

Sousa was stunned. He glanced at his hand, hardly able to believe what had just happened.

As a werewolf great dark monarch, he had always been proud of his strength. He had even modified his own body to obtain greater strength, turning him into a four-meter giant in his full combat state.

Only a large body could channel his great strength—this was Sousa’s belief. The path he was walking was one no one had tread before.

Sousa had never imagined that this pretty little girl—one who looked like she might break in half with a casual squeeze—could pry his fingers open and escape. This feeling was akin to an ant lifting the finger trying to squish it.

Sousa moved his fingers about and felt a bit of pain from his joints. This young girl’s brute strength could probably compare to certain grand dukes. He had even suffered some pain because he was caught off-guard.

Sousa lowered his hand as though nothing had happened. He scanned Qianye and Nighteye, saying, “Where’s Howard? Tell him to come out and meet me.”

Qianye grabbed Zhuji and put her behind him. “Why are you here?”

Sousa sneered, “Do werewolves need a reason to exterminate vampires?”

Nighteye said indifferently, “I said the same to the werewolves some time ago.”

Sousa’s eyes lit up with flames of fury. “The council made you commander of the allied army, yet you sent all of my soldiers to die at the Imperial fortress! I bet you never thought it’d be your turn one day, huh?”

Nighteye said mockingly, “To wear down the werewolves was a decision made by the vampires, demonkin, and arachne. You’re the only part that doesn’t know. Now you think you’ve found a protector in the Demon King, but the end result will be the same. The vampires will rise again while you become cannon fodder.”

Sousa was furious. “Even if the vampires rise again, you won’t be around to see it! I heard Howard is half-crippled now. Looks like the news is true since he doesn’t dare to come out. Since that’s the case, I’ll send you two young brats back to the River of Blood!”

Sousa took a step forward, shaking the entire mountain with each step. He arrived before the duo in the blink of an eye and swatted down!

They weren’t in the new world at the moment, and the environment on the Dawn Continent favored those who were stronger. Hence, it was only natural that Qianye and Nighteye wouldn’t fight him head-on. Instead, the group fled in different directions. The moment he tried to move, Qianye discovered that Sousa’s palm strike had generated a gravitational force that made it difficult to move.

Nighteye was also affected, but as an ancient legend, she managed to charge out in a burst of blood energy.

Little Zhuji ran with all her might and actually managed to escape the pull of this attack. Only Qianye remained under Sousa’s palm.

The werewolf monarch was stunned. He had already increased his estimation due to Zhuji’s performance, but he hadn’t expected both Nighteye and Zhuji to escape his attack range. However, he kept on with his attack since Qianye was still there. He was rather confident that he could slap Qianye into oblivion without Nighteye to share the load.

He was a mere duke.

With no way to evade, Qianye decided to just let loose. His blood core throbbed with the sound of a giant bell as he raised his arms to block the attack!

A thunderous rumble ensued. Half of Qianye’s body sank into the ground, sending a spiderweb of cracks out in every direction.

Due to the prolonged exposure to daybreak origin power, the rocks and soil on Dawn Continent were as strong as high-grade alloy and highly resistant to heat. Qianye had used an inconceivable technique to spread out the impact across a large area, producing the current phenomenon.

Even so, Qianye was still slammed into the ground. A single slam from Sousa contained enough force to shatter half of an airship’s armor.

Sousa retracted his hand and found Qianye extricating himself from the ground, some blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Just that?

Sousa glanced at his hand and then at Qianye. The latter’s speed of recovery wasn’t a lie—the man had managed to take a slap head-on, only receiving slight injuries. He didn’t even cough up blood, and what little blood that did trickle out of his mouth burst into flames and vanished almost immediately.

The werewolf great monarch’s judgment was wrong once again. This time, even Sousa himself felt that it was inexcusable. This place wasn’t the new world where experts were restrained by the environment and unable to utilize the laws.

All of a sudden, a blade radiance lit up behind Sousa and slashed at his back. Sousa couldn’t ignore this attack from Awakening Dream. He swung his arm backward, turning the terrifying gravitational power to a repulsion force. Nighteye was pushed dozens of meters away and Awakening Dream missed its mark.

Qianye took a deep breath, entering a state of blood boil.

Sousa didn’t chase after Nighteye and instead turned back to size Qianye up. “If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought you were the Spider Queen’s descendant.”

“The vampires’ potential is much higher than you think,” said Qianye.

Sousa snorted. “Is that so? You won’t have the opportunity to realize that potential. Eunuch Liu won’t be here to save you today. As for Nighteye, even I might not be her match if she recovers her full strength, but now? She’s just a small inconvenience.”

Nighteye’s figure flickered away from the repulsion force and fired yet another sword radiance at Sousa’s back. However, the attack was mutually canceled out by a black wall.

Both Nighteye and Qianye were familiar with the Wall of Sighs. Nighteye glanced back and saw Grand Duke Brock as expected.

“You appeared a bit earlier than expected.” Sousa’s voice was cold.

Brock had no intention of leaving the werewolf any face. “His Majesty’s mission comes first. I can’t let them escape just to humor your vanity.”

Sousa’s brows knitted together as a terrifying aura spread out in the air. “How can two mere dukes escape from my hands?”

“Mere dukes?” Brock chuckled. “I heard that the one in front of you once injured a great dark monarch. He’s also the one who took on an all-out attack from a great dark monarch.”

Sousa’s face turned red. “He used an underhanded method to ambush me back then!”

“Is that so? I only see the results.”

Sousa had no way to retort because, in the end, the werewolves of Moorland were forced to contain themselves near their door. They had to avoid Qianye even if they wanted to expand outward.

Back then, Qianye had kept Sousa busy while Eunuch Liu launched a successful sneak attack. There was also the will of the new world hovering above head, so the werewolf monarch had no choice but to flee. Brock’s mockery was difficult for Sousa to refute. What would he say? That Eunuch Liu was much stronger than Brock?

That was indeed the case, but what would that prove? His baseline level of pride as a great dark monarch wouldn’t allow him to argue like this. Moreover, the situation at hand was special, so he couldn’t do anything to Brock. At least, he didn’t dare to break out in full hostility against the demonkin nor did he dare affect the Demon King’s plans.

With nowhere to vent his anger, Sousa roared at Qianye, “Kneel down and hand over the Book of Darkness. I’ll give you a clean death!”

Qianye was surprised to find that Brock and Sousa were here for the Book of Darkness. Apparently, it was more important than wiping out the vampire descendants. It looked like they still had no idea that the Azure King Reynold had fused Qianye’s blood core and heart into the Book of Darkness. Handing over the book was like committing suicide.

Qianye said, “Surrendering without a fight isn’t my style.”

“Then I won’t hold back anymore.”

“Working so hard for the demonkin, huh? Did you ever stop to think about the consequences? The Summit of Peaks won’t agree to this, would they?” Qianye said.

“Summit of Peaks? They’ve long since abandoned tradition and ancestry. They are all sinners who do not respect our ancestors! Compared to the vampires, we feel more disgusted by the Summit of Peaks.”

Qianye said coldly, “So sanctimonious about a betrayal, no wonder you’re the weakest great dark monarch.“

This time, Sousa was truly livid. “Who told you I’m the weakest?”

“Is there anyone who can’t beat you among the great dark monarchs?” Qianye asked.

“Of course there is! For instance…” Sousa wanted to put out some names when Brock cut him short. “He’s stalling for time!”

“What meaning is there in stalling?” Sousa asked.

“Of course there is.” The one who had replied was Qianye and not Brock.

Sousa narrowed his eyes. “Are you making fun of me?”

Qianye produced Dragonsgrave, saying, “I wouldn’t dare to make fun of a great dark monarch. I’m just saying that if I were a werewolf, I would neither put down my hatred of the vampires nor would I bend my knee to the demonkin. At least in name, the werewolves are one of the four holy races, and a great dark monarch should be afforded a certain level of respect.”

Sousa’s expression was gloomy. “Very good, you’ve really angered me.”

Qianye retreated several dozen meters, putting some distance between him and Sousa.

“No use!” Sousa arrived in front of Qianye with a single step, his giant palm bearing down on Qianye like a leaden cloud.

Qianye was just about to channel his origin power to evade when Sousa stomped on the ground. The tremors of origin power broke down Qianye’s own accumulated energy.

Qianye felt as though his feet were stuck in mud, unable to exert force at all. Watching Sousa’s giant palm descend, he could only attempt to block the attack again.

A thunderous explosion resounded as the giant palm came down.

Sousa let out a muffled groan and actually took half a step back. There was a burning sensation on his palm, almost as though it had been cut with a knife. This slap seemed to have landed on an erect dagger. His palm was as hard as a war axe, but he still couldn’t avoid sustaining a bit of damage.

Qianye had actually wounded him while defending? Sousa glanced at Qianye in surprise.

The young man was gazing at East Peak with a surprised expression. The blade was slightly bent, and there were some signs of damage. This blade had been infused with the giant rhino’s horn and soaked in the Pond of Life. Qianye had thought it would never suffer any damage. Who would’ve thought blocking Sousa’s attack would damage it? It would seem that invincibility was relative to the opponent.

Sousa damaging East Peak was something Qianye hadn’t expected. He had just taken a blow from the werewolf—it was hard but not impossible to block. The second blow might’ve been stronger, but Qianye didn’t feel like he couldn’t take it.

What exactly was going on? Could East Peak have become soft?