Published at 24th of September 2026 6:50 am

Chapter 2045: Highly Risky

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As he witnessed his trusted servant’s head explode from the attack, for a brief moment Kayne’s eyes flashed with fury.

But the very next moment, that feeling was replaced by cold logic and disappointment.

"Ah, Holstein," he murmured. "What a waste of a good pawn."

Holstein’s headless body collapsed to the ground, some of his fingers still twitching as if desperately trying to cling to the last vestiges of consciousness.

In front of him, Adam’s body also lay motionless.

Kayne’s cold gaze turned to the human. He hesitated about whether to step forward, but in the end, he did not. Instead, he stood at a distance and willed the dark magic in his shadowy dagger to unravel.

Boom!

The dagger had been lodged deep into the base of Adam’s neck, barely missing the spine. With a simple command from Kayne, the shadows swirling around the strange dagger dug into Adam’s flesh. The shadows entered his body, assimilating with his bloodstream and slowly killing him from inside.

Needless to say, the shadows were full of poison.

Adam, who had been lying motionless all this while, suddenly stiffened. He let out a blood-curdling scream as the poison wreaked havoc inside his body.

Watching him writhe in excruciating pain, the corners of Kayne’s lips curled into a cold smile.

"Heh." He sneered. "I knew you were playing dead."

The poison was extremely lethal. Throughout the fight, Kayne hadn’t been able to wound the human with his dagger. But now, he finally had. And it had been the killing strike.

As Kayne watched Adam’s flesh flare with black and purple veins, he couldn’t help but wonder:

You had been so careful throughout the fight.

Why did you take such drastic measures to kill Holstein?

Kayne knew that if Adam hadn’t been so hell-bent on killing Holstein in that last exchange, he would have certainly avoided the dagger to the neck.

He just couldn’t understand Adam’s actions.

Perhaps you wanted to take one of us down with you? he thought.

Kayne shook his head, unable to understand Adam’s thought process.

As the poison did a number on Adam’s body, he slowly walked around Holstein’s corpse. He was still very cautious of any last-ditch attempt made by the formidable human.

He cast gravity magic in that final exchange, Kayne thought with a frown.

What a troublesome man he was.

As he circled the two figures, Kayne finally caught a glimpse of Adam’s fist — the one he had used to blow up Holstein’s head.

As I thought...

Adam’s left hand was utterly mangled. The fingers had twisted in bizarre shapes, with the bones jutting out. The wrist was shattered, and the muscles in the forearms were torn apart.

It made sense considering how much force Adam had applied to his final attack. Not to mention, his physique was that of a Cavalier, whereas Holstein was a proper Templar Paladin.

Invocation, Alteration, and Illusion, Kayne thought with a dark frown.

Truly a troublesome man!

He waited for several minutes for the poison to finish its job. Adam’s squirming body gradually turned motionless once again. His pupils dilated, and his breathing stopped.

Kayne focused on his hearing and confirmed that Adam’s heartbeat was gradually subsiding. Until finally... silence.

At last, he exhaled a breath of relief.

Inwardly, he was stunned by that action.

Relieved? Me?

He was enraged by his own subconscious action! To think that he would feel such a thing! Unacceptable!

Kayne gritted his teeth and stepped forward to take Adam’s head. The Vampire King had ordered him to do so, after all.

Just to be sure, he focused mana in his eyes to see if there were no illusions or traps left behind by the human. After confirming that it was safe to proceed, Kayne finally approached Adam’s corpse.

The vampire crouched down beside Adam and reached out to retrieve the dagger.

Suddenly, his heightened hearing picked up on a sound that he had not expected at all.

BA-DUMP!

Kayne’s eyes widened.

He abruptly turned to look at Adam’s face, only to see him staring back at him!!

A beautiful geometric flower pattern bloomed in Adam’s tenebrous eyes. The moment Kayne met Adam’s eyes, he faced a similar situation Holstein had just moments before his death.

A chill crept down Kayne’s spine as he felt his senses turn sluggish and his vision blurry. To him, it had only been a split-second.

But in reality, a couple of seconds had already passed!

That short period of time was all Adam needed to grab Kayne’s dagger from his neck, swing the weapon in a clean arc, and decapitate the vampire who was so close to him.

When Kayne snapped back to his senses, he noticed the world around him spinning. A chill unlike anything he had experienced before, colder than the winds of undeath, filled his consciousness.

Thud!

His severed head fell to the ground, right beside his servant’s corpse.

Kayne glanced at Adam, who now slowly sat back up, and thought with immense regret:

I... underestimated... you...

With that, the fourth General of the Vampire King was killed within the same night.

Adam clutched at his chest and breathed heavily. He expended a large amount of mana to neutralize the venom inside his body, heal his left hand, as well as the gaping injury to the base of his neck.

He gritted his teeth as his body slowly healed. Feeling his heartbeat return to normal, he sighed with great relief.

"Dragonshit," he cursed quietly.

Although he had experimented a lot with the Faceless Mask in the past, like controlling his heartbeat and making it go completely still, doing so in a life-and-death battle was still very nerve-wracking.

With the help of the Mask, he could make his heart stop for a few minutes. The Mask gave him supreme control over every body part, so he could do something as ridiculous as stopping his heart and then restarting it again.

Still, it was highly risky!

Adam breathed heavily as he glanced at Holstein and Kayne’s corpses. He shook his head, thinking to himself:

Once again... I survived through deceit.

Regardless, he would take this win.

After all, he had decided to not reveal all his cards, lest the Vampire King become aware of all his abilities.

He spread his senses outward and, as expected, noticed several ravens watching him. Several more had already flapped their wings and flown east.

Adam sighed again. There was nothing he could do about that.

After taking a moment to gather himself, he rose to his feet and stretched.

"Ugh, that was intense!"

He swiped his hands, and Kayne and Holstein’s corpses were sucked into his sleeves.

I’ll put your corpses to good use, he said to himself.

Adam cast one final glance at the fleeting ravens.

Then he disappeared from the woods.

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