Published at 22nd of September 2026 7:21 am

Chapter 2036: Pecking Order

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Although the stranger displayed no reaction to Adam’s taunt, the same could not be said about the burly vampire, Holstein.

The mountain of a vampire rose to his feet angrily and roared, "How dare you disrespect Lord Kayne?!"

Adam, who languidly crouched atop the statue, quirked his eyebrow in response to Holstein.

"Oh? What’s this? The Vampire King’s Generals aren’t equals? Hmm, interesting. I suppose there’s a pecking order everywhere."

Though Adam appeared calm on the outside, he was grim inwardly. Despite seeing the second vampire, Kayne, in his vision, he could hardly sense him!

It was as though Kayne was invisible if one didn’t look at him.

What a strange presence, Adam exclaimed inwardly.

If it wasn’t for me sensing the faint bloodlust he was releasing, I wouldn’t have sensed him at all!

"Watch what you say, human!" Holstein growled.

It was strange to see him behave in such a manner. Considering he had been calm and composed throughout the battle — except for that one brief instance that Adam had capitalised on — it was more than a little surprising.

"Ah, apologies, apologies." Adam smiled remorselessly.

Just as Holstein was about to attack, Kayne’s voice drifted in the cold air.

"Such sharp senses for a human," he said.

He took a step forward, as though he was planning to leap off the terrace. Just as his foot landed, his figure disappeared. In less than a blink of an eye, he appeared beside Holstein.

Adam’s eyes narrowed, and his lips involuntarily curled into a smile.

Fast!

He’s faster than me!

His lips curled even wider, twisting his face in the process as Adam displayed a savage grin.

"This is going to be an interesting fight," he said. "A Paladin who specialises in power. Another who specialises in speed. You probably have assassin-like abilities, don’t you?"

His question was directed at Kayne.

"What a peculiar human you are," Kayne murmured, his crimson eyes flashing with intrigue. "Others would have fled. Yet here you are, not only afraid, but utterly excited at the prospect of fighting my servant and me."

Servant? Adam thought.

Perhaps... they shared a master-servant relationship before becoming a vampire?

I don’t see how else someone so powerful as Holstein would be so subservient to this twink.

As Adam was thinking about the pair’s relationship, Kayne and Holstein were deeply studying him. The only difference was that Kayne was rational, while Holstein’s gaze was more of a glare.

"Holstein."

"Yes, my lord."

"Why have you not killed him yet?" Kayne asked flatly.

"I apologize, my lord." Holstein humbly lowered his head.

"His arcane station is at the Mana Seed Rank," the burly vampire continued. "Surprisingly, his physique is equivalent to a Cavalier Paladin. But more importantly, he seems to possess vast fighting experience."

Holstein paused for a moment, his eyes flickering with hesitation. He finally concluded, "As much as I hate to admit it, I cannot kill him in single combat. I believe he hasn’t shown us all of his cards.

"Until now, he has only used hand-to-hand combat, wind magic, and earth magic. His blood is also... strange. It returns to him every time he’s injured."

"Oh?" Kayne’s eyes narrowed. "It returns to him?"

"Interesting," he murmured after a brief pause. "As for his magic, he must have already run out of most, if not all, of the material components. If he’s an Invoker, the only magic he can cast is wind, water, and earth. Unfortunately for him, there are no water sources nearby."

Kayne’s analysis was almost on the mark.

With the lack of material components, Adam’s magical abilities were severely restricted. Not to mention, he was a Summoner. Trapped inside a secret plane was akin to a fish out of water — minus the actual threat to his life.

But this is where Kayne was wrong...

Adam had the Eternal Soul Lotus. He could use this divine artifact as the focus to cast spells from the spiritual aspect of magic.

In other words, he could use the Lotus as the material component to cast spells from the School of Illusion, Divination, Summoning, and Necromancy!

And the best part? The Lotus would be inexhaustible. Meaning, unlike other material components which were immediately expended after spell-casting, the Lotus would never go through that conversion.

Of course, even then, Adam was severely restricted. He could not summon the serpents. Additionally, he could not summon any undead. Not that he would have summoned undead in the first place, given how much he loathed this School of Magic.

So Adam could use spells from the School of Illusion and Divination. And he was planning to cast illusions and catch them off guard, hopefully killing both of them swiftly.

Not to mention, he still hadn’t used the Morning Star!

Still, this was going to be a tough match-up for him. Holstein was a powerful opponent on his own. And now he had to face Kayne as well.

He wanted to keep the Morning Star hidden for as long as possible. After all, the ravens were spying on him presently, recording the battle. Adam didn’t want the Vampire King to get wind of the existence of an artifact that could potentially harm him or even kill him.

"Judging by the traces of battle in the woods, he seems to have used wind and earth magic there as well," Kayne said.

"I see." Holstein appeared much more confident now.

So he was studying the battlefield while we fought, Adam thought to himself.

No wonder I couldn’t sense him. No. Even now I can’t sense him if I close my eyes.

What the hell kind of ability is this?

"We’ve wasted enough time." Kayne sighed.

Adam instantly felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Let’s bring his head back to His Majesty." Even before the last of Kayne’s words escaped his lips, he had already disappeared.

Adam’s eyes widened, and just in the nick of time, he cast a defensive spell.

[Mana Barrie—

CLANG!!!

Adam was still a split-second late in erecting the barrier behind him.

Before the spell could fully materialize, Kayne’s shadowy dagger had already pierced through it, shattering it in the process.

That had caused the dagger to veer slightly off-course, allowing Adam to lean to the side and narrowly evade the attack.

However, Holstein had already arrived before him, his gigantic fist coming down on the exact spot Adam was leaning toward.

BAM!

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