Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 82: The Nameless Dancer
The young werewolf warriors felt their blood boiling as they followed their leader into the forest.
Brudo weaved through the forest like a bolt of lightning and had soon left the other werewolves far behind. The werewolf viscount didn’t really care because, as the most powerful warrior in the territory, he felt guards were unnecessary.
However, Brudo’s already heavy heart was soon covered in dark clouds after running several kilometers.
That human had left no aura whatsoever—this meant that he had come prepared and applied a medicine targeted at werewolves. This was the most common trick used by the cunning humans when ambushing werewolves, and it was fairly effective against ordinary warriors. But it had little effect against dark race champions because they would quickly perceive the abnormality in their sense of smell and investigate the source of the problem.
Take the present situation for instance—although there was no scent to guide the way, Brudo was still able to follow that wisp of peculiar intuition and pursue the target closely. What puzzled him was why the other party had come in secret and then provoked him so openly? This was poles apart from the normal behavior of the human race.
There was still no trace of Qianye in front of him, and there were no werewolves who could catch up behind. Although Brudo was certain that he was chasing in the right direction, his heart was gradually filled with uneasiness.
Werewolves were the kings of the mountainous regions and only vampires could match them in terms of speed. The other party was a mere human, so why hadn’t he caught up yet?
All of a sudden, Brudo found that he had charged into an open space, and there, at its center, was the human youth. And it seemed as though the latter had been waiting for him.
Qianye said indifferently, “You’re so slow.”
“Human, you’re humiliating the most powerful warrior in this land!” A low and threatening growl escaped from Brudo’s throat.
Qianye broke into a laughter. “The most powerful warrior in the land? From now on, that is no longer the case.”
Brudo was enraged to the extreme. His disheveled fur stood up, and his sharp claws, dancing with a cold gleam, stretched out from his fingers. On the other side, Qianye raised his blade and launched a straight thrust.
The sword strike was neither fast nor slow, but Brudo was overcome by a misconception that it was impossible to avoid. With a loud roar, the werewolf viscount brandished his claws and slapped ferociously upon the blade’s edge. For a split second, it felt as though he had crashed into a mountain.
In the end, East Peak was still deflected to one side, but the steel gauntlet on Brudo’s hand was also torn into pieces.
Qianye took a step forward and seized the opportunity to drag East Peak horizontally toward Brudo’s waist.
Brudo slapped at East Peak once again, but this time, a laceration appeared on the back of his hand and blood began to seep out. The werewolf viscount could hardly believe it—that unassuming heavy sword was actually able to break his defenses.
In the blink of an eye, East Peak had changed directions and slashed down once again.
Brudo held back no longer and went all-out in battle.
In Qianye’s True Sight, blazing darkness origin power was rising over the werewolf viscount’s body. Every wing of his fist possessed the explosive force of an origin cannon, and the origin power in the vicinity would aggregate on his claws with every swipe, strong enough to tear open the sturdiest of armors.
East Peak drew several sword arcs in the air with no specific stance. It looked as though he was swinging randomly with nimble movements. But only Brudo, who was engaging him head-on, could feel pressure therein—every slash felt as though a mountain peak was pressing down at his face.
The werewolf viscount felt that his defenses were being cut open at their weakest point, and the resounding energy accompanying the heavy blade seemed as though it would devour everything. In Brudo’s memory, he hadn’t felt so helpless even while contending against the powerful Count Stuka; it felt as though he had fallen into the deep ocean.
Just as Brudo was finding it increasingly difficult to endure, Qianye took several steps back all of a sudden. He slowly raised East Peak and said unhurriedly, “The final sword.”
This sword stance was average, unimpressive, and felt no different from the ones before. But an intense sensation of danger arose in Brudo’s heart as though the entire world was shaken. The werewolf viscount felt, with incomparable clarity, that the source of his vigorous power, the darkness origin power of the earth, was trembling wildly.
Brudo’s hair stood on end as he let out a frantic howl and erupted with his full strength. Visible black flames appeared around the viscount as though the darkness origin power near him had been ignited.
At this time, Qianye’s strike arrived—the dark heavy sword slashed open the void, stained with an indistinct radiance of indescribable color.
Brudo’s darkness origin power defense, one so strong that it could be considered a second set of armor, was shattered like an avalanche. The werewolf viscount was sent flying backward and smashed heavily onto the ground. The thick armor on his body split apart as he struggled to clamber up, and a bloody line appeared at the center of his body.
Brudo’s hands trembled as he glanced down at the wound. The strike, were it even slightly more forceful, would’ve cut open his abdomen. He glanced up to find that Qianye had stuck East Peak into the ground and now had a gun aimed at him.
“Fire.” Brudo was exceptionally calm. This wasn’t the first time he had had his defenses broken, but he hadn’t felt so powerless even when he was defeated by the count. The strike just now had shattered not only the viscount’s protective origin power, but also his connection with nature. This made him feel exceptionally weak, and the regenerative abilities the werewolves were so proud of had also been rendered ineffective.
“I don’t want your corpse. I want submission. I think I made that very clear in the letter I sent to you.”
Brudo replied in a downcast voice, “Werewolves will not surrender.”
“Perhaps you can take a look at this and reconsider.” Qianye tossed him the insignia of the Summit of Peaks.
Brudo caught the heavy token, and his expression changed ever so slightly. His expression fluctuated as he brought the insignia to his nose and sniffed it a couple of times. “You should know that we who pursue the ancestral path walk a different path compared to those from the summit. The difference has grown wider and wider over the years, so I won’t obey their orders.”
“The Summit of Peaks hasn’t issued any order at all. I’m just telling you that I’m not an absolute enemy of the werewolves.” With that, Qianye smiled and said, “Naturally, we can’t be friends. But you may lead your tribe and continue living on my territory as long as you fulfill your obligations. It’ll be the same with how you treat Stuka.”
“This is our land!” Brudo roared.
Qianye sneered, “Dead men have no land, and dead wolves have no lair.”
Brudo’s vigor gradually weakened. He suddenly sniffed hard in Qianye’s direction, and his expression changed drastically. “An extremely hateful stench! You have the scent of fresh blood on your body!”
The werewolf viscount became agitated once again, and a red glow emerged within his eyes.
Qianye replied calmly, “I’m a human.”
Brudo glanced at Qianye suspiciously, and at the same time, he was also baffled. Those bloodsucking vampires would rarely insist themselves to be human no matter what schemes they were plotting.
“Strength begets reverence and submission. Is this not your creed?” Qianye spoke. “I’ve replaced Stuka and obtained his territory. In other words, I’m now in power unless you plan to fight to the death or move your tribe away.”
These words seemed very logical. In fact, if only Qianye wasn’t a human and, instead, a dark race noble, even the werewolf viscount himself would agree to his rights as the victor.
Brudo was hesitant. “What benefits will I gain from submission?”
“You can maintain your present lives. I don’t mind a werewolf tribe living in my domain as long as you fulfill your obligations as a vassal. Furthermore, you might be able to live even better if you offer more service.”
A low growl rolled through Brudo’s throat, but then he calmed down and said, “It seems I have little choice.”
“You would have more options if I were the one lying on the ground.”
Brudo spoke only after a moment of silence, “I need some time to think this over.”
“Fine. But you only have one day. I hope you understand that since I can win you in a fair fight, I have no fear of you going back to muster troops. I have even fewer qualms about killing more werewolves.”
Brudo nodded, moved back gradually, and turned around to enter the forest.
Qianye also turned to leave. Moments later, he sat atop a tall, ancient tree and surveyed his surroundings. Since both parties had agreed on the time, Qianye would wait for a full twenty-four hours.
Qianye wasn’t worried that the viscount would change his mind after going back because, under that violent exterior, Brudo had a meticulous heart. Clever people would always think more, and this was a good thing. It was precisely because they thought so much that clever people were afraid of dying and making unnecessary sacrifices. Qianye suddenly discovered that he was beginning to like intelligent people.
Qianye was prepared to visit Green Peak Mountain since he had the time to kill and “visit” the Sharp Fang chief in passing. The totems erected at the mountain pass defensive line indicated the small tribes on Brudo’s territory, but there was none belonging to the Sharp Fang Tribe. This was, perhaps, already a clear indication of the chief’s stance.
Qianye leapt off the ten-meter tree and shot straight into the forest below. Along the way, he pulled on a thick branch in front of him, snapping it at the base. However, this movement transformed Qianye’s descending momentum into a horizontal movement as he flew toward the distant Green Peak Mountain.
It was at this time that Qianye spied something unusual through the corner of his eyes. He immediately landed on a tree branch with an “eh?”, and scanned a certain direction with his binoculars.
Through the lens, he saw an unimaginable scene.
The giant round moon was slowly rising in that direction as though a bright, shining border had been drawn on the night sky. And before this majestic and mysterious silver curtain was a dancing girl.
The light of the full moon blurred out the details, and only her silhouette could be made out. But it was precisely because of this that her astonishingly perfect figure was magnified.
She danced wildly, full of primitive unruliness. Her chest, her waist, her legs, all of them were shaking and trembling at an inconceivable frequency. Although the world within the lens was soundless, Qianye felt as though he could hear the sounds of an ancient drum beside his ears.
She seemed in search of something. She seemed happy, yet distressed. All forms of intense emotions were being expressed vividly and silently via her dancing movements.
Her limbs were, at times, unimaginably soft and, at times, full of powerful flexibility. Every swing of her hips, every twist of her waist, every kick of her legs, and every spring of her chest was like the powerful beat of a drum which made Qianye’s heart beat along with its rhythm.
Qianye watched silently for a while before putting away the scope. With the East Peak in his right hand and the Mystic Spider Lily in his left, he stood unmoving as he waited for this mysterious woman’s follow-up actions.
He knew that genuine trouble had arrived.
Qianye didn’t believe that he would happen to witness this scene after raising his scope so randomly. Attracting his attention at the right moment and appearing within his lens—this was a type of unfathomable special ability.
It was her intention to let Qianye see her.
Before this mysterious woman, he would be courting death by running away. He might perhaps have a slim hope at survival if he stayed calm and engaged in battle.
Qianye stood for a while just like that, but nothing happened. Just as he was starting to suspect whether or not it was an illusion, an alluring voice rang out beside his ears. The speaker seemed to be panting ever so slightly.
“Were you waiting for me?”