"Follow the plan and lure the monsters at the place!" Ciaran spoke as the creatures of the dark all moved swiftly.

It was in the middle of the night and they were now conducting their plan for the third mountain.

"Understood" they responded as they dispersed in the darkness towards the places where the scouts have reported that the group of monsters were.

---

Kurrrk?

The monster with a beetle-like appearance along with its shiny back and wings and its long protruding horn tilted its head to the side as it watched the smallest monster from its group chase around a butterfly.

Kurrrk...

It nodded its head, satisfied that the smallest monster in their group was growing up well.

The monster looked back as it watched the other members of its group eat away at the carcass of a giant deer that they caught in the wilderness.

The stomach was ripped open and intestines, livers, and other organs were scattered around the lifeless body of the giant deer as the group of monsters ate away at its flesh.

Kurrrk?

The giant beetle turned its head back to watch the smallest and youngest member of their group again. However, the small monster was not in its line of vision anymore.

---

flap~

The large bird flapped its wings inside the cave and dust started to rise from the ground and scatter all around it.

Kroo...

It cooed as it rested well on the nest it built.

Chirp!

The small monster birds under the giant one's feathery belly chirped as they all felt pleased with the warm sensation their mother was giving them.

The giant bird with seven eyes that looked in different directions pecked lightly on one of the chick's heads as if to care for it.

Chirp!

The bird sounded in satisfaction as it received its parent's loving care.

Surrounding the giant bird and its nest was also small insects ranging from beetles, worms, and other creatures it could feed its children.

The bird started to peck on the creatures and blood and bile gushed out of the insects as the bird's powerful peck hit them one by one.

However, it looked back at its chicks when it felt something squirm underneath it.

It was the chick that it had just taken care of. The small bird was trying to get out from under its parent's belly and the huge monster bird adjusted its weight so the child can get out.

Flap flap flap~

The small monster bird flapped its wings when it got out of the parent's belly and it started to peck on the smaller monsters and insects that were surrounding them.

Kroo?

The small monster bird tilted its head as it saw a shadow start to emerge at the front of the cave.

Kroo~

It started to go towards the shadow that was peeking at the entrance of the cave as if it was enticing it to play with the shadow

---

The monster-like bird followed the shadow outside the cave. It was flapping its wings with only minimal feathers as it ran towards the shadow that also ran away when the monster neared it.

However, before the bird could catch up to the shadow, black smoke started to rise from the shadow's body.

The monster bird watched as the smoke covered the outline of the shadow. Immediately, it did not have time to react as a swift movement came from the smoke and sliced the monster bird's neck.

Blood poured out from the neck of the bird as it tried to scream.

But it failed to do so as the cut on its neck immediately made the monster bird lose its consciousness and eventually die.

Ciaran appeared beside the corpse of the smaller monster bird and swiftly carried it back to the cave.

The vampire prince then positioned the corpse of the small monster bird at the entrance and made sure that blood rushed out of its neck.

After making sure that the mark of blood was imprinted on the entrance of the cave, Ciaran started to quietly drag the corpse towards the place all the while making trails from the blood of the monster.

---

The vampires of Nightfall along with the hooded stranger all were perched on top of the trees.

They were surrounding a clearing on the ground where they were about to conduct their plan.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

As they have expected, Pier's plan worked.

The giant beetle monster made its way towards the clearing as it took a few trees down in its path. The insect monster was so huge that it looked like a small hill when it was laying on its stomach with its back facing the sky.

Kurrrk?

The monster tilted its head again as it got into the open field of the forest.

It then saw the scene that was happening in the middle of the clearing.

The small monster insect that it had been watching over and searching for in the past hour was digging on the corpse of something.

The carcass had small feathers on the different parts and the monster insect happily chewed on the flesh of the small monster bird.

The huge beetle monster started to approach the smaller ones.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Its footsteps made the ground shake as it approached the small monster insect.

However, before it could even close the distance fully, the small monster insect was instantly crushed by a huge beak right from above.

The body of the smaller monster insect exploded at the pressure of the sharp and huge beak and its organs and other body parts were scattered.

Some of it got on the giant beetle's body.

"..."

The giant insect was quiet for a moment as it stared at the now bloodied area where the smallest member of its group just had been.

After a few seconds, its eyes emitted a red glow and it stared up above.

There, the huge monster bird was also emitting a red glow in its eyes as it stared down at the giant beetle.

"Hehe," Pier laughed as he sat on the branch.

'It's like I'm watching King Kong but with a giant insect and a giant bird at that,' He thought as he bit on the apple he was holding.

Pier Belmiunde was craving apples and all he ate today were apples.

He watched as the giant insect opened its wings. As it did so, a few trees got in the way of its wings and luckily the vampires who were perched on those trees were able to dodge the impact and fly to another tree.

The giant insect flew up above and Pier had to contain his disgust.

He disliked insects.

There, the vampires watched as the two giant creatures clash in mid-air.

They were both inflicted with rage for having the youngest member of their groups killed by the other.

Of course, Ciaran was the one who killed the small monster bird and dragged it in the middle of the clearing, and Clone's ability to clone creatures that are within her magic power's capacity such as the butterfly that the small insect followed towards the clearing were the main reason for the success of their plans.

But of course, they all gave credits to the person who thought of the plan.

That's right, it was the stranger named Pier who came up with it.

The hooded stranger who comfortably sat on the branch as he munched on an apple was silently watching the battle mid-air between the giant ferocious creatures and the vampires shivered in fear once more.

Who would have the guts to watch two giant creatures killing each other while munching on an apple anyway?

Pier based his plan on the report of the scouts.

The giant bird and the giant beetle were the strongest groups within the third mountain. They ruled a huge portion of the forests and are accountable for many deaths of other creatures.

Pier hummed as he watched as the giant beetle's body was starting to get torn in shreds by the giant bird.

'I thought they have high intelligence but that giant disgusting idiot flew in the air where it is more advantageous to the bird.' He clicked his tongue at the thought he had.

It would have been another story if the giant beetle stayed on the ground and waited for the bird to get tired since its hard back could withstand the pecks of the giant bird.

"Well, whatever. It made things easier for us," He talked to himself as he changed his position from sitting down to standing up on the branch.

"Prepare for the next step!" Ciaran's loud voice resonated around the clearing and the vampires all nodded their heads.

The green-eyed man looked at the young master who had his entire body covered with the cloak and the hood. The young master bit one last time on the apple before discarding it to the ground.

"This will be fast," Pier spoke as he readied himself.

Ciaran watched with worry as the young master jumped off the tree and started to walk into the clearing.

"Remember the plan after I finish this," He heard Pier say and Ciaran nodded his head.

They were now basically just following Pier's plan. Though they did some revisions and made it better, everything was accountable to the young master who had critical thinking skills.

It wasn't long before the giant beetle fell on the ground and right after the almost castrated body was the giant bird.

THUD!

The body of the giant insect landed with a loud thud on the ground and gusts of wind from the giant bird's wings made the trees sway wildly.

The bird with a monstrous face landed right on top of the now barely moving body of the insect and it started to peck at the giant beetle's flesh.

Pier had a disgusted look on his face again as he watched the gruesome scene of the bird eating the carcass of the giant insect.

Schaa~

His ice sword manifested in his right hand as he slowly walked towards the clearing with the two giants.

"I'd love some grilled meat but I might pass out after remembering this scene," He spoke as wind magic surrounded his body and his entire frame produced a faint white glow.

Pier moved. His movements were so quick that everyone was barely able to keep up with the speed. They only saw as Pier ran from the side of the clearings and dashed towards the bird.

He leaped from the ground when he reached the center and

"Perfect," He said as he slashed his weightless ice sword at the right-wing of the giant bird.

It was only a small cut that the bird who was busy gnawing at the corpse of the giant beetle did not notice.

However, that small cut was the only thing that Pier needed before his ice sword disappeared and he pointed his hand at the bird.

'This is very unconventional but I do not want to spend so much magic' He thought as he started to chant.

Incantations allow the users to properly deliver the flow of magic from their inner core and manifest it in the form of elemental and other types of magic.

Pier's chantless ones made his magic directly come out of his body without proper channels so it consumes larger portions of his magic capacity compared to when he does a chant.

Sigh

"Enclose those who were wounded with my sword," He spoke once and the small wound on the bird's right wing started to freeze.

Ice started from the wound and it rapidly spread on the entire wing of the bird.

It did not even take a minute for the bird's entire body to be frozen. It did not have time to react as Pier's ice magic froze the creature immediately within seconds.

"Pierce thy nemesis trapped in my magic and lead them to the path of no return," He whispered again.

And just like the giant goat with four horns at the entrance of the second mountain, huge and extremely sharp icicles formed inside the ice that trapped the giant bird and pierced it to death.

Blood tainted the clear ice and everyone who watched the scene all trembled in fear at the stranger's powers.

"That was quick," Pier spoke as he watched the bird die while being frozen.

Ciaran, Hex, Clone, and the members of Nightfall all felt fear once more at the display of Pier's power.

"Hey, chief, you can start now," Pier called out to Ciaran who stood on top of a tree like a statue.

He flinched when he heard Pier's voice but commanded the entire vampire troops of Nightfall.

"Follow the plan, eliminate the remaining monsters!" He ordered and everyone dispersed.

Pier took out another apple from the pocket of his cloak and bit into it. The sweet and juicy taste of the fruit made him happy in the process.

An entire day passed, and Nightfall was able to win the third mountain as their new home.

---

"What... is this?" Gideon spoke in horror as he watched the frozen carcass of a goat-like monster at the entrance of the second mountain.

Snow neighed in fear at the sight of the bloodied corpse.

"Is this... dead?" He asked himself and he clarified it once he saw the sharp icicles piercing through the frozen monster inside.

"Who in the world did this?" He was terrified of the scene.

If there was a creature that was able to freeze the monster and wield magic, it would be extremely powerful.

Powerful enough that Gideon instantly knew he could not defeat.

Gideon and Snow both passed through the giant frozen corpse silently and wished the monster a happy rest because they both knew how it must have suffered to death.

"I'm being hypocritical after killing all the monsters on the first mountain." He chuckled as they went on their way.