Published at 1st of September 2026 6:02 am

Chapter 1977: Two Places

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After making quick work of the Paladin, Sandra had arrived at the next battlefield, where she silently observed the vampires dealing with Adam and Genevieve.

According to the mission details, only these three vampires had been tasked with abducting the human woman.

However, the vampire king had commanded Sandra to secretly follow the three.

After how easily Adam and Luca had dealt with the ghouls and rescued Genevieve earlier, the vampire king didn’t wish to take any chances.

Not when the ritual was so close to completion.

Luca had given Sandra a mild surprise, given how easily he had killed the vampire.

It had to be known that vampires were generally stronger than humans at the same rank. Not only were they attuned to magic like Magi, but their bodies were also as strong as Paladins.

But nothing could have prepared her for the shock she received upon arriving at Adam’s battlefield.

First was Valerian.

When the beast started to bleed, even someone like her, a vampire at the Mana Seed Rank, was moved. She instinctively wanted to seize Valerian and drain him of all his blood.

The allure of blood was simply too great for a vampire. Not to mention Valerian’s, which was highly magical. The quality of that blood was something Sandra had never seen before.

However, unlike Dorian, she had more control over her actions. But she would be lying if she claimed that she didn’t struggle to reel in her vampiric instincts.

What shocked her even more than Valerian’s mysterious blood was Adam’s battle prowess and his ability to tank damage.

She had witnessed Adam in a berserk state, violently killing Dorian and the other vampire. The latter had tried to retaliate, but Adam had seemed completely unfazed. He simply laughed as he endured the attacks, all the while enacting such brutal acts of slaughter.

Sandra had already deemed Adam someone worth keeping an eye on based on his ability to survive in the Lands of Always War. She had considered him quite the competent Magus, but this was far beyond her expectations.

Once Adam had dealt with the last of the vampires, she knew she had to make her move. The vampire king had commanded her to retrieve Genevieve, and she had no choice but to obey that command.

"Isn’t the moon so lovely?" she said in her beautiful, ethereal voice.

Adam turned toward her with the same smile on his face. That smile unsettled Sandra more than she would like to admit.

"I must admit," she continued. "You are crazy."

In the next moment, she disappeared from her spot, conjured a blade made entirely of blood magic, reappeared behind Adam, then plunged the blade straight through his chest.

All of that happened in the blink of an eye.

Sandra’s facial expression changed imperceptibly. Initially, she had felt the blade pierce through flesh and muscle, but that feeling only lasted a fleeting moment.

Adam’s body dissipated into a kaleidoscope of black and white butterflies.

An illusion, Sandra thought with narrowed eyes.

A finely crafted one.

She spread her senses outward. Finally, her gaze settled on an empty patch of grass. There, the air shimmered like the surface of a calm lake suddenly disturbed by a pebble. There, Adam appeared suddenly, his face pale.

Underneath the wounds caused by the previous vampire’s [Black Crescent Blades], there was a gaping wound caused by Sandra’s attack.

The sound of monsters in the vicinity grew thick and ominous.

Sandra stared at Adam’s vigilant face with an amused smirk. Her lips parted, and she said in a melodious voice, "You’re not the only one who is good at illusion magic."

Even before the last of her words had left her mouth, Adam knew that something was wrong with her. Wrongness, as in, her entire existence seemed fake. It was only belatedly that he realized that he was, in fact, looking at an illusion.

Had it been under any other circumstances, where he was not recovering from the after-effects of the Nerve-Severing Toxin, he would have seen right through the illusion. It was one cast by a being only one arcane level above him, after all. So seeing through the illusion was possible with the help of the Lotus.

And although he had still managed to see through the illusion, he was still late.

Sandra had appeared right behind him. Her one arm casually rested over his shoulder, while the other held a dagger, its blade resting against his neck.

"I really admire you," she whispered.

Adam’s pupils constricted, and he gave a barely visible nod.

Sandra offered a brilliant smile.

Then she slit Adam’s throat.

His jugular vein split open, and a fountain of blood poured from the wound. His hands shot toward his neck, his eyes widening in shock.

Sandra gently pushed Adam’s back, and he fell to the ground, still clutching his throat.

She glanced at his writhing body with a look of pity and murmured, "What a pity."

Then, without casting another look, she walked toward Genevieve. She easily slung the human woman over her shoulder and disappeared through the crimson haze.

The snarls and howls of monsters echoed through the vicinity, growing louder and louder as they drew closer.

A long while after Sandra had departed with the unconscious Genevieve, another sound pierced the night. It was the steady flutter of wings, accompanied by the harsh cawing of crows.

There were several of them. Their cries echoed through the forest as their wings beat against the night air. Slowly, one by one, the sound of their wings faded into the distance.

Adam’s body lay unmoving in the dark woods even though the monsters were drawing near.

Then, suddenly, an unexpected sound echoed in the clearing.

GASP!

Adam’s body suddenly moved, and he shot to his feet, his hands still clutching the gaping wound in his neck. Enormous amounts of mana surged through his body, rapidly accelerating the healing process.

It had taken all of his willpower, and then some more, to lie unmoving on the ground, pretending to be dead. The moment he dropped the act, he quickly spread his senses outward.

The Sphere of Resonance exploded outward in billowing waves, taking note of every tiny detail in the surroundings. It was nighttime, and the woods had become the playground for monsters. This was dangerous territory Adam was wading in.

When he noticed that Genevieve was nowhere around him, he gritted his teeth in fury and helplessness. He felt as though an invisible hand had clenched his heart. A strange feeling, given how short a time he had known her. Still, Adam couldn’t suppress the gnawing pain.

Then he noticed that there were no ravens in the vicinity. He let out a subconscious breath of relief. Finally, he turned toward the direction Luca was in.

He cast an invisibility spell and, within minutes, arrived at Luca’s location, just in time to see a horde of monsters about to pounce on his bloodied and battered body.

Adam made quick work of the monsters. It was easy since, coincidentally, none of the monsters in the vicinity were Rank 1 or above. They were all weak monsters that the injured Adam had no trouble dealing with.

Seeing the injuries on Luca’s body, Adam knew this was Sandra’s handiwork. A conflicting feeling arose when he thought of that vampire. But he quickly suppressed those thoughts.

He cast an invisibility spell on both himself and the unconscious Luca before speeding toward their hideout.

Time was of the essence, and he had to reach the hideout as quickly as possible. He had no idea how many monsters were still prowling the woods.

Along the way, he saw beasts tearing into the corpses of Dorian and the other vampires. His lips curled into a smile at the grotesque sight.

He didn’t waste any time on them. Instead, he climbed into the trees and began leaping from branch to branch, heading toward the cave. Cloaked in invisibility, he reached the hideout a few minutes later.

Fortunately, there weren’t any monsters in the immediate vicinity of the cave. They entered the hideout, and he unceremoniously threw the Paladin to the ground.

"Luca! Luca! The talisman! Where is it?!"

Adam’s fiery words woke up the Paladin for a brief moment.

In a daze, Luca tapped his storage artifact, and the talisman flew out of it before clattering on the cave ground. And then, just like that, he fell unconscious again.

Adam breathed a sigh of relief. The talisman had always been with Luca, and he feared the Paladin wouldn’t wake up. Without him, Adam could not access his storage artifact. Thankfully, it did not come to that.

After hanging the talisman on the wall, Adam finally relaxed. He then quickly activated the concealment and defensive runes that he had engraved earlier. After ensuring that they were completely safe, he plopped to the ground.

Completely drenched in blood and injuries, Adam sat weakly with his back against the wall. Too much had happened in the last hour, and it overwhelmed him.

He recalled how Valerian was beaten.

He recalled how Genevieve was taken away.

And he recalled how, before slitting his throat, Sandra had said to him:

"I can see that you can heal your injuries. Good. After I slit your throat, pretend you’re dead. Move only after the ravens have left. Nod if you understand."

And nod he had.

He reached out with a trembling hand and retrieved a piece of old parchment from inside his tunic.

Sandra had covertly slipped it into his grasp when she had "killed" him.

His lips curled upward subconsciously as he looked at the parchment.

It was a map of the secret plane.

There were two places marked with an X on the map.

One of them was on the other side of the mountains. Adam’s eyes flashed with a peculiar light when he noticed that the other one was a place he had already visited.

The Sun Temple!

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