Monarch of Evernight - Chapter 524

Chapter 524

Chapter 524: Pursuers [V6C54 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

The sharp blade tore through his skin, piercing right into his chest and cutting his blood core open before finally stopping at its center . A drop of blood with a golden crystal at its core flowed out along the shining blade and fell into Nighteye’s mouth .

The blood energy around Nighteye immediately grew dense and even formed a faint layer of red mist over her body suffused with specks of golden light . Nighteye’s breathing gradually stabilized after a while, and the frightening scent disappeared .

Qianye inspected her once again and heaved a sigh after seeing that her blood core was, following a significant replenishment of power, already beginning to heal . He glanced around and found an isolated space behind a newly formed gap in the wall . One would need to pass through the great hall and a half-obstructed passage in order to reach it .

Qianye tried to pick Nighteye up, but his face turned pale and his legs gave in before he could even stand up . He planted an elbow to the ground to prevent himself from falling onto Nighteye . He used the other hand to try propping up his body but almost collapsed onto the ground . The body he would always have full control of, even under extreme conditions, felt rather unfamiliar today . It had grown excessively weak .

This was the outcome of a heavily injured blood core . Qianye took a deep breath and waited for the sudden lightheadedness to pass . This movement caused the wound on his chest to burst open, staining his undone jacket in blood .

Qianye coughed hard a couple of times and spat out a good amount of bloody froth as he pressed on the wound with his hand . The dark golden and purple blood energies in his body seemed to have sensed the trauma . They jumped out of their runes and swam around the blood core, spitting out wisps of vitality in a bid to restore the tear on its surface .

Qianye felt slightly better after a while, and the bleeding on his chest had stopped . However, the wound to his blood core wouldn’t heal so easily . He stood up little by little and moved Nighteye into that hidden space .

He laid her down flat in a comfortable position and wiped off the dirt on her face . He gazed at her in silence for a while before picking up East Peak and moving back toward the hall with great difficulty .

Qianye found a dark corner within the serene hall and sat down with his back against the wall . He rummaged through Andruil’s Mysterious Realm and fished out a box of cigarettes . He cut it open with his military knife, added some strong military-use stimulants, and lit it up .

His hands trembled uncontrollably . Even these simple movements were fairly difficult to perform because his weakness hadn’t completely faded away . Presently, Qianye had realized the pain of a wounded blood core . It felt as though he were falling helplessly into a bottomless hole .

Qianye brought the cigarette to his mouth and inhaled deeply . A sharp heat poured into his lungs and made him cough several times, but the excessive amount of stimulants immediately lifted his spirits .

A Perth clan viscount was running along the maze-like passages . He would stop time and again to observe the traces on the wall and ground . He seemed excited as Nigtheye’s tracks increased in number . This meant that her injuries were worsening and that he was closing in on her position .

Nighteye had been badly wounded by Edward . He would already have caught up if not for her ability to pass undetected through the territories of powerful beasts . Being an expert in stealth, the viscount had left the other experts of his race in the dust and, despite his mediocre strength, caught up alone .

He couldn’t help but reveal a cruel grin when he thought about how a great contribution would soon to fall into his lap .

“Bang!” The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground shocked the viscount out of his wits . That was because he actually hadn’t sensed any signs of life at the end of the tunnel . His reactions weren’t slow at all as he halted his steps urgently and dashed into the shadow behind a stone pillar . He then glanced toward the end of the tunnel after hiding himself well .

The area in front was just as dark as the other underground tunnels with only a type of unknown fungus emitting a faint fluorescence . The light was so faint that it made little difference from pitch darkness . Even the vampire viscount, with his innate night vision, found it difficult to see the end of the tunnel clearly .

There was a heavy sword planted at the center of the tunnel and behind it stood a person . At this distance, the viscount could barely make out the silhouette of a man, but he couldn’t see what race he belonged to .

The viscount had maintained stealth the entire way and hidden himself immediately after being alarmed by the sound . According to reason, the other party shouldn’t have found him, and that person's appearance here was likely just a coincidence .

But this tunnel was the end of a winding road, and judging from the distribution of the fluorescent mushrooms, it was a cave hall beyond . This also meant that he had to pass through in order to catch up to Nighteye .

The viscount didn’t want to invite extra problems for himself, but it would seem he had no other choice . He calculated the distance, drew his handgun, and gradually instilled it with origin power .

Qianye lit up a cigarette at the end of the tunnel and said after inhaling deeply, “Stop hiding, I saw you since ages ago . ”

The vampire viscount was momentarily shocked . The other party was speaking in the common language and was likely a human, judging from his accent and word choices . But he shouldn’t have been found out since vampires had greater perception methods in dark environments and their sensory range was also much wider .

The handgun was no longer an effective means now that his movements had been compromised . The viscount simply walked out of the shadows with his sword drawn and returned his gun to the holster . “I wanted to let you die quickly at first, but you decided against it yourself . So, don’t blame me for being cruel . I’ll give you a chance, answer truthfully . A vampire girl with black hair and eyes passed by here just now . Have you seen her?”

Qianye didn’t assume a combat stance even after seeing the viscount approaching fast . He pointed behind while smoking and said, “You mean Nighteye? She’s just over there . ”

The viscount was delighted . “Really? How far? How’s her condition?”

The vampire spewed out a series of questions, but he noticed something was amiss when he saw Qianye’s spurious smile . “You’re a human! How did you know her name? What do you know?”

Qianye inhaled once more . “I also know that you don’t need to know all that . ”

The viscount’s expression sank as he said coldly, “I also think that your last cigarette is taking too long . ”

“Oh, you mean this cigarette? It has a lot of uses . ” Qianye revealed a pure smile .

The viscount’s heart was overwhelmed with a sense of alarm as the faint sounds of crashing waves filled his ears and an inexplicably tremendous pressure descended upon him . With a loud cry, the blood energy around him flickered out of existence and his knees fell to the floor .

Qianye raised East Peak with one hand . The image of a descending sword was reflected within the viscount's terrified eyes, and this very blade soon cleaved him into two .

The sword continued its descent and sunk deep into the ground . Qianye didn’t pull it back out, either . He simply let go of the hilt and arrived beside the corpse with his vampiric blade drawn . Unfortunately, the accurate sword strike had slashed the viscount’s blood core into two . Qianye would only be able to absorb a third of the essence blood at most no matter how quickly he acted .

Qianye shrugged and reminded himself to make some modifications to his sword stance in the future . Even so, this essence blood still alleviated his weakness quite a bit, allowing the dark golden and purple blood energies—that had started slowing down from the overconsumption—to catch their breath . However, he was quite a ways from reaching a state of blood boil .

The cigarette flame in his fingers reached the end at this moment . Qianye flicked away the butt and lit up another one as he leaned on the wall . Each cigarette was a dose of stimulant, keeping his exhausted body in a combat-ready state .

A sudden, raspy voice arrived through the hallway . “What horrible table manners, which clan descendant are you?”

The voice appeared unexpectedly . Its distance was difficult to gauge, and there was no person in sight . However, Qianye didn’t look surprised at all—it was as though he had long since noticed this person hiding on the sidelines .

He was just as calm and collected . Holding the cigarette in his left hand, he spun the vampiric blade around his right hand before returning it to its sheath . He then placed his right hand on East Peak without lifting it up . “It’s good enough that there’s food in this accursed place . Who cares about table manners?”

A stern-looking old man walked out from the shadows . His apparel was spotless despite the long period of combat, and every jeweled button was brightly polished .

This was an old-fashioned vampire . The Perth clan insignia on his collar was built of colored gems, clearly the work of a master craftsman . He looked at Qianye with an eye of disdain, but there was also a hint of apprehension within .

The vampire elder had arrived at just about the same time as that viscount, but the latter naturally couldn’t sense him . He had intended to let the viscount go up first and test the waters, but he had never expected him to be cut down in one strike . He had no time to even lend a hand .

The more the count looked, the more puzzled he became . He had thought at first that Qianye was a human because his sword strike was clearly powered by daybreak origin power . But next, he saw Qianye absorb the viscount’s essence blood with his vampiric blade . He almost thought his perceptions had been warped by this world, but Qianye’s reply confirmed that he had seen correctly .

Then there was only one possibility left . The other party was a halfbreed between a vampire and a human—he had awoken his sacred bloodline, but his daybreak origin power hadn’t been swallowed up just yet . This conjecture increased the disdain in the vampire count’s eyes because halfbreeds had little roles in the vampire society . They might possess some strange abilities, but they were destined never to break through to the rank of count and above .

“I’m Count Robinson of the Perth clan . Who are you and what is your relationship with Nighteye? Hand her over and I’ll grant you a swift death . ”

Qianye broke into a laugh . “The Perth clan people sure love muttering to themselves . ”

“I never joke . ” Robinson’s expression was frosty .

“I don’t like playing around, either . ”

“Tell me where Nighteye is, or else…”

“No need for that, make your move!”

Fury flashed across Robinson’s expression . He produced a scarlet rapier which, with a shake of his hand, began to tremble and emit a resounding chorus .

Qianye smiled as he slowly drew out East Peak and raised its unassuming edge, each movement backed by a might as condensed as the mountains .

An ineffable palpitation emerged once again in Robinson’s heart . He had always been a prudent person and was famous for his intuition . Feeling something odd, he glanced at Qianye’s expression and noticed something hidden within that smile . It seemed as though he was pleased about something .

Robinson immediately halted his steps and stared fixedly at Qianye . “You’re injured . ”

Qianye laughed radiantly . “Anyone can see that . ”

Robinson’s brows locked into a frown as he sneered, “It looks like you want me to attack immediately because you’ll be collapsing on your own after a while . ”

“Then let’s wait it out . ” Qianye was calm and collected .

This, on the contrary, made Robinson lose his confidence . He looked on suspiciously, hesitant on whether he should retreat or advance . In truth, he wanted to stall for time .

Just as he was pondering over what to do, a chill arose from behind Robinson’s back . It was as though a line of ice was climbing up along his spine, all to the way to the back of his head . For a moment, he could hardly tell whether it was a real chill or an illusion born of killing intent .

Robinson turned rapidly and shot a backward glance .