Qianye knew he couldn’t hope for the Attawa to have any knowledge of war. The holy mountain was more like a religion to them, and there was little room for negotiation when it came to religion. Even the blessing he had received from the holy spirit did little to change this fact.

Qianye discarded any thoughts of contracting the frontlines to near the holy land, but he wasn’t about to ignore the Attawa’s lousy tactics. It was too late to rush over now—a couple hundred Attawa and their giant wargods would not last against the Lightless Monarch.

Hence, Qianye grabbed the elder and practically roared into his ears, “Listen to me if you don’t want your soldiers dying for nothing. Only I can handle that black demon of destruction, understand?”

The elder stared at Qianye for a moment. “I don’t trust you, but I trust the holy spirit.”

“I don’t need your trust, either, if not for that black demon.” Qianye felt tired, having to deal with such stubborn and primitive people. He had just gone through an eternal parting with Andruil, so he wasn’t in a great mood.

Perhaps realizing his inadequacy or maybe due to the heavy losses from the battle before, the elder’s tone relaxed a bit. “We’ll listen to you for this battle, but remember that the Attawa are not afraid of sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice and throwing away one’s life are two different things.” The meaning behind these words was probably too complicated for the elder.

Having obtained the authority of command, Qianye immediately reorganized all combat-ready forces into one unit. He also appointed a new commanding officer. This time, there were a total of five hundred soldiers and three giant wargods. Only the old and the sick would remain in the holy land after this squad left.

Facing this organized unit, Qianye hesitated for a while before saying, “Those with crystals, stand out.”

Roughly a hundred soldiers stepped out. “You know what to do when the battle begins, right?”

“Rush toward the black demon and weaken his defenses,” the leader shouted loudly. He sounded as though he were repeating an ordinary strategy and not one that would require his entire unit to lay down their lives.

Qianye nodded, then proceeded to do an equipment check. There wasn’t much to do in that regard since the Attawa wore very simple gear. They couldn’t really develop anything new, either, in this short period of time.

Having completed the battle preparations, Qianye ordered the army to move toward the battlefield. He did restrict their speed of advancement, just enough so that they would meet the enemy forces in a relatively complicated landscape.

Far off in the distance, the Lightless Monarch was hovering over a swathe of corpses. Two lifeless giant wargods remained fixated in a combat position, having fought to their very last breath. They had died a fairly miserable death with missing limbs and body parts.

Medanzo’s vampire subordinates started sweeping the battlefield while the monarch was lost in thought. He came to after a while and said, “There can’t be anything good on these natives, stop searching and let’s just set out.”

The vampires of course didn’t question the order, but an arachne marquis said, “Your Majesty, these natives possess considerable power, the bodies themselves are quite valuable.”

Medanzo raised his brows. “Are you questioning my order?”

“I wouldn’t dare. This is just a suggestion.”

A dangerous glint flickered in the depths of Medanzo’s eyes as his voice became noticeably gentle. “Don’t forget that the Queen of the Night is still the most important pillar after we establish the new world order. The arachne race still isn’t qualified to reign above the vampires, let alone a tiny marquis like you. It’s very possible and likely that you’ll fall in battle here.”

The marquis wasn’t afraid. “I’m a direct descendant of the Spider Queen.”

Medanzo said with a strange expression, “Looks like inferior beings will always be inferior. You don’t seem to understand, possessing the Spider Queen’s bloodline won’t keep you safe. It’ll only make you tastier.”

The arachne marquis’ expression shifted drastically. He was just about to flee when Medanzo’s figure blurred out and disappeared. A sword appeared through the marquis’ chest almost immediately afterward.

A downward movement of the monarch’s wrist split the arachne into two, spraying blood all over Medanzo. The latter remained still with his eyes narrowed, seemingly enjoying the sensation. He opened his eyes after a while, saying, “As expected, the Spider Queen’s taste is matchless.”

All vampires went about minding their own business, almost as though they were deaf and dumb. No one saw or heard anything.

Medanzo let out a sudden laugh. “No need to fear or worry. The arachne have been a lowly race since ancient times, they simply cannot be compared to a noble race like ours. In fact, you guys don’t understand the foundations and history of the vampire race, nor do you know how many powerful entities the River of Blood has produced. Even the demonkin can only become our servants in the future.”

The vampire subordinates below nodded repeatedly as though they were greatly honored. What they were actually thinking, though, was an entirely different matter. At the very least, these vampires were those who had surrendered back on the Twilight Continent. Such an action couldn’t be considered noble by any measure.

As capable experts, they did have a modicum of self-realization. They understood pretty well that even if the vampire race rose to power in the future, it would have nothing to do with them.

The Lightless Monarch didn’t force things, either. A wave of dark purple origin power swirled around him as he absorbed the blood on his body.

He gazed in the direction of the holy mountain with a fervent expression. “You guys will never know that the vampire race had two supremes at one point! You will never know…”

The vampire subordinates began heading out to scout the path, keeping their distance from Medanzo. They were just small characters and had no idea what the relationship was between the Queen of the Night and the Lightless Monarch, nor did they know where he had gotten the confidence to kill the Spider Queen’s descendant. As members of a long-lived race—and people who had surrendered before the war even began—all they wanted was to leave this damn place alive.

“No need to search, we set out now. I think we will run into more natives as we advance.” With that, Medanzo continued forward slowly, and the soldiers followed hurriedly from behind.

Immediately after taking the first step, he stopped all of a sudden and fired several blades of dark purple blood energy at the nearby trees.

“Haven’t you watched enough?” Medanzo sneered.

The vampires didn’t know what Medanzo was saying. They merely followed from behind, trembling and afraid to glance around.

Far in the distance, Qianye’s consciousness was connected to the mother tree as he gazed coldly at Medanzo. The image darkened in several areas as the trees were cut down, but it was repaired very quickly. Medanzo would never be able to escape this surveillance unless he could cut down every tree.