Monarch of Evernight (Web Novel)

[Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach]

A number of sharp nails sprang out of the lady’s fingertips with which she sliced open the mountain crocodile’s stony carapace as though it were thin paper. She checked the insides of the injury and, as expected, found that the flesh within had dried up.

She then poked at the smooth injury near the mountain crocodile’s vital area. “Vampiric blade? It’s becoming more and more interesting. Could it be the primo who’s even stronger than Nighteye?”

As the lady stood up to glance at the surroundings, her eyes fell on the body of another mountain crocodile, then another. She stood there without moving at all, but it seemed as though her vision was completely unobstructed, as though it could pierce through the mountains and forests at will and find whatever she wanted to see.

Moments later, her gaze turned toward Viscount Brudo’s territory. Her entire being grew blurry, and she soon vanished completely amidst a gust of mountain wind.

The mountainous woods extending toward the viscount’s castle had retained a fairly primitive appearance. There was only a single run-down passage leading toward the pass, but this didn’t mean there weren’t any residents nearby.

After forging ahead for a while, Qianye discovered that there were numerous small werewolf tribes scattered on the road to the castle. The warriors from those tribes served to guard the castle’s vicinity and were obstructions on Qianye’s path.

An inexplicable sensation emerged in Qianye’s heart as though he had overlooked something. He simply halted his steps, leapt onto a fir tree growing straight into the clouds, and gazed at the werewolf viscount’s core region unraveling before his eyes.

Werewolves... brave warriors... so it was actually like this! Qianye suddenly realized that an assassination was probably not the best way. Killing Brudo would get rid of the werewolves’ most powerful military asset, but he would have to spend a lot of effort suppressing the resistance if he wanted to fully occupy the territory afterwards.

Perhaps there was another choice.

The werewolves in the area held primitive valor in high esteem, and as the viscount, Brudo was no doubt the most powerful warrior in the area. Since he was the most powerful, he would be the one to charge at the fore and accept any direct challenge in accordance with werewolf traditions.

Qianye decided to change his strategy in the upcoming battle.

Moments later, a sharp wolf howl suddenly rang out in the depths of the forest. The sound spread far into the distance and soon received a response in the form of several howls. This was a warning—the entire forest was alarmed in a flash and angry growls were heard repeatedly.

After responding with a long howl, a young werewolf warrior rushed toward the direction of his companion’s first warning. But he hadn’t run far when the figure of a human youth appeared in front of him.

The werewolf warrior pounced forward instantly and bit toward the opponent’s throat. He had imagined himself snapping the invader’s neck bone with a single bite.

However, the human only stretched his hand casually, and the young werewolf found himself being clutched by the throat. The other party’s hand felt as though it were cast from steel and refused to loosen no matter how he struggled.

Qianye had little interest in the young werewolf in his grasp. Although the other party was already rank-five, he was only fighting instinctively and had not undergone any systematic and professional combat training. Warriors of such standards were useless against Qianye no matter how many of them there were.

It seemed these werewolves weren’t aware of this fact at all, but Qianye would soon make them understand the disparity.

Qianye increased the force of his grip ever so slightly and snapped the young werewolf’s neck bone. He then loosened his grip and let the werewolf slide to the ground. The latter hadn’t died yet, but would soon stop breathing without urgent treatment.

Qianye started running through the forest once again. The complex landscape of the mountainous woods was the werewolves’ home ground, but it was also Qianye’s home ground. He suddenly sped up, quickly catching up to a werewolf patrol squad and running alongside them.

The sudden appearance of a human figure shocked the werewolves out of their wits. The warriors confirmed that it was a human only after a moment of confusion. A black-furred werewolf immediately roared, “Intruder! Lowly human! Tear him apart and devour him!”

Numerous werewolves pounced forth in response. However, Qianye took a step forward, shot through the numerous werewolves at lightning speed, and appeared before the black-furred werewolf. A simple horizontal sweep of East Peak cut the werewolf into two—Qianye had no habit of showing mercy to an enemy who planned on eating him.

The black-furred werewolf, probably the captain of this small unit, was much stronger and sturdier than the other werewolves. Yet, he couldn’t even block a single move under Qianye’s sword. But the other werewolf warriors showed no signs of fear and continued their warning howls. At the same time, they pounced dauntlessly toward Qianye.

Qianye raised East Peak horizontally and, with a shake of his wrist, numerous sword images materialized from the blade’s edge. Within moments, all the werewolves were struck in the abdomen and collapsed amidst mournful wails—none of them could stand up again.

Qianye slowly put away East Peak and left a word for the collapsed werewolves, “Brudo would come and meet me in battle if he were a true warrior. Stop sending useless trash to die.”

With that, Qianye walked through the werewolves unhurriedly and vanished into the depths of the forest.

Before long, a burly brown-furred werewolf appeared at the scene to whom the injured werewolves relayed Qianye’s message. He was first astonished, then suddenly became enraged and let out a long howl toward the sky.

Qianye hadn’t gone very far when he heard the meaningful howl. He laughed coldly and turned back to meet the enemy in battle.

Moments later, the brown-furred werewolf’s entire body had sunk into a tree-trunk with his long tongue drooping to one side—he hadn’t even the strength left to draw it back in. His two hands were completely deformed, and countless bones in his body had been broken. At this moment, the vicious gleam in his eyes had been replaced by deep fear.

Qianye stood before him and said indifferently, “The time it takes to fight isn’t as long as the time it takes to travel.”

With that, Qianye withdrew East Peak from the werewolf’s neck and turned to leave.

But for some reason, Qianye felt somewhat uneasy as though a pair of eyes were staring at him from somewhere. He subconsciously used True Sight to scan his surroundings but only saw some faint darkness origin power reactions in the distance—the somewhat fierce auras probably belonged to the werewolf warriors rushing toward this area.

The wisp of peculiar sensation had died down within an instant and could no longer be captured.

Qianye delayed no longer. He ran several kilometers and toppled yet another squad of werewolf warriors before drifting away into the distance.

As casualties stacked up, the werewolves began to notice that the vast mountainous wood they were based in had become a natural hunting ground. It was just that the usual predator and prey had switched roles—the human who had suddenly appeared was now the hunter, and the werewolves in the viscount’s territory had all become prey.

In the hall of the viscount’s castle, Brudo was pacing back and forth with a continuous growl of anger. A table and several of chairs had already been torn to shreds under his claws.

“That wretched human actually dares humiliate me like so. He insults the most valiant warrior in this territory!”

The werewolves in the hall were all apprehensive and no one dared persuade the angry viscount. Only the human lady who had been sitting in the shadows said, “Brudo, calm down! You’re not just a valiant warrior, but also a farsighted leader. Anger won’t solve problems.”

Her voice was very soft, but the werewolf viscount still heard it amidst his fury. He snorted several times in succession before he finally managed to suppress his wrath.

Brudo suddenly turned back to stare at the woman and said word by word, “But he’s provoking me? He’s issuing a challenge on our traditional hunting grounds! How can I not go to battle?!”

“As a warrior, you should fight. But as a leader, you mustn't fall into his trap. Hasn’t the werewolf honor been manipulated enough by the vampires? Why would you be enraged by a human?”

“Then what should I do?!”

“Dispatch a group of your most elite warriors into the forest. Have them kill him or capture him. Since he’s a human, his constitution will surely be his weakest link, and you have the advantage in numbers. There’s no need to fear sacrifice. Drag him to death!”

Brudo’s expression was gloomy, and the breath from his nose almost seemed as though it would burst into flames. But he began to ponder over her words.

Gazing out from the window in front of him, he could see several hundred werewolf warriors had gathered atop a nearby hill. A tall werewolf stood in front of the group, waving his arms and shouting loudly.

That werewolf had revealed his primitive form—his tall and sturdy body was covered in lustrous brown hair and was more valiant than most of the others at the scene.

At this moment, he revealed the large scars on his body as he roared at the warriors below. “We are the descendants of the wolf god. Every drop of blood in our veins is for the sake of battle! The lowly, treacherous, and weak humans are only fit to serve as food! Now, there’s actually a human who dares provoke us. Brothers! This is our chance to restore our ancient glory and traditions. Follow me! We shall capture him, tear him apart, and serve him at the dinner table!”

The brown-haired werewolf’s voice instilled bloodlust in the warriors who then began to howl excitedly as they materialized their wolf-forms in quick succession.

Brudo’s expression was still gloomy. The brown-haired werewolf was his uncle, a long-term fanatic of Ancient Glory.

Ancient Glory was one of the most radical factions among the werewolves who advocated the restoration the Wolf God’s rule over the Seven Holy-Land Continents—just as it was during the legendary era—and destroy the other continents that were outside of the glory of God.

Not only did they view humans as food, but also saw the vampires as incoexistable enemies. At the same time, they regarded the demonkin as treacherous, and the arachne as a race with incomplete evolution. As for the other minor races outside of the four major ones, they were all classified as mixed breeds. All in all, in the eyes of Ancient Glory, the entire world was their enemy, and even werewolves from other factions might join the list.

Even Brudo, who followed traditions strictly, found this kind of radical ideology unacceptable. But Ancient Glory garnered increasing support from werewolves of the lower social strata.

Brudo couldn’t help but frown after seeing the brown-furred werewolf ignite the young werewolves’ emotions and wanted to go out and stop them.

But his arm was suddenly pulled back—the woman had arrived beside him at one point and was also glancing out. “Isn’t this a good outcome? The sacrifice won’t be your responsibility.”

Brudo struggled within his heart, but he didn’t remove the lady’s hand.

Qianye hid in the luxuriant crown of an ancient tree, watching the roaring brown-haired werewolf through his scope. Although they were quite a distance apart, the wind just happened to be blowing in this direction. The werewolf’s shouts echoed through the mountainous region and entered Qianye’s ears intermittently.

“Tear all human livestock apart. Devour the wolf god. Conquer the world.”

The brown-furred werewolf was speaking in the common dark race language for the most part, but some of the most intense nouns sounded like wolf howls and was likely the werewolf tribal language. Qianye revealed a mocking expression after finally guessing the meaning of the frequently repeated words—it turned out that they were part of Ancient Glory.

He slowly pulled the trigger. The unique timbre of the Eagleshot tore through the skies as the brown werewolf collapsed.

Qianye jumped onto the top of the tree and unhurriedly shifted the sniper rifle to his back. He then raised a middle finger at the werewolves who were almost boiling in anger before jumping down and vanishing into the forest.

The werewolf viscount stood before the window and felt his body tremble. Qianye’s middle finger was clearly aimed at him, and he couldn’t cower in front of so many warriors.