Among the Vampires, the Brujah clan was the most skilled in combat, followed by the Gangrel, who possessed the blood of beasts. In contrast, the Lasombra, who looked down on the Ventrue—the de facto leaders of the Vampires—and constantly schemed to usurp them, were not particularly adept at fighting.

Although a Second Generation Vampire’s power could crush most enemies with ease, when faced with opponents of comparable strength, their lack of combat prowess became an infinitely magnified weakness.

This was especially true when those enemies were the Elf Queen, capable of wielding all forms of nature magic, and a Wolf Race elder whose close combat skills were nearly on par with the Brujah clan.

Facing multiple opponents, Edeli’s defeat was inevitable.

A new, earth-shaking tremor erupted as orange flames collided with a thick, bloody mist. Edeli seized the opportunity to break free from the werewolf who had been relentlessly tangling with him and retreated in a flash. The Vampires who had come with Edeli followed suit, withdrawing without any desire to prolong the fight.

Edeli had already retreated beyond the range of magical attacks. Olivia’s hand, holding her staff, paused for a moment before she put it away and expressionlessly drew a pale green longbow.

Just as Edeli’s Blood Domain couldn’t restrain them, they naturally couldn’t stop a Second Generation Vampire determined to flee. Besides, killing a Second Generation Vampire was no easy task, unless it was a battle where both sides were resolved to risk everything from the very beginning.

However, even if she couldn’t kill Edeli, Olivia had no intention of letting him go so easily.

By “sending” him back to the Blood Domain to recuperate, the Sitatul Continent could enjoy a few more days of peace.

A hurricane lifted Olivia into the air. A pale green arrow rapidly materialized on the bowstring. She stared at Edeli’s fleeing back, the sharp arrowhead locked firmly on the spot over his heart.

A dangerous aura approached. Edeli glanced back, his expression as dark as water.

A streak of pale green light tore through space, flying toward Edeli. In an instant, it was just a few hundred meters from him. The immense pressure forced the other Vampires to mobilize their Power of Darkness to resist.

The surging Power of Nature enveloped Edeli, his body feeling a sharp, cutting pain. With a grave expression, he raised his hand, and a mass of blood-red flame condensed into a shield to block the arrow’s assault.

The Power of Nature and the Power of Darkness confronted each other, devouring and purifying, yet neither could completely dissolve the other. In this standoff, time itself seemed to stand still.

Suddenly, a golden light shot forth like a meteor and slammed directly into the shield Edeli had formed. The blood-red shield shattered instantly, and the arrow pierced through the bloody flames, plunging into Edeli’s chest.

Edeli opened his mouth and spat out a large mouthful of blood. His pale hand gripped the arrow tightly. Another inch forward and it would have pierced his heart, but the arrow trembled slightly, unable to advance any further.

A cloud of black mist suddenly appeared behind Edeli. Inside, a dark figure holding a bone staff was chanting a spell in a low voice. Black chains forced back the charging werewolves. Edeli glanced at the figure in the mist, expressionlessly pulled the arrow from his chest, and then leaped into the black mist with the other Vampires. The mist enveloped them and vanished without a trace.

After breaking free of the dark chains, the werewolves pursued them to where the black mist had dissipated. A Wolf Race elder sniffed the lingering scent in the air, wanting to continue the chase, but Joanna stopped them.

Joanna shook her arm, which was still bleeding profusely. She glanced over at Olivia and Helen and said flatly, “Stop the pursuit. Edeli was rescued by Sethite wizards.”

Besides the Second Generation Vampire Edeli, he had also brought many Third Generation Vampires. Although they were ultimately victorious, the werewolves had also sustained serious injuries.

After Joanna gave the order to retreat, the werewolves ran back one by one, each finding a quiet place to heal themselves.

After destroying the dark array inside the temple, Cynthia had returned here without delay. She arrived just in time to see Edeli confronting Olivia’s arrow and raised her staff to lend a hand.

But she hadn’t expected the Sethite wizards to interfere. Before Cynthia’s second Light Magic spell was ready, Edeli had already been rescued. She could only dissipate the half-formed spell and scan her surroundings for Olivia.

Hanni, afraid of being discovered by Joanna for sneaking over, had disappeared somewhere after dropping Cynthia off. Avira had also vanished. By the time Cynthia made her way through the crowd of werewolves to find Olivia, Olivia had just been lowered from the sky by the hurricane.

Her strength had never been at its peak due to her need to sustain the Tree of Life. Although Cynthia had been using Light Magic to help her recover, the battle with Edeli had still consumed too much of her Nature Power and mental energy.

That final arrow, in particular, had drained the color from her face the moment she released it, leaving her as pale as a sheet of paper.

“You’re pushing yourself too hard,” Helen said, walking over from the side. Sensing the instability in Olivia’s aura, her tone was filled with disapproval.

Olivia put away her longbow. Seeing Cynthia walking toward her, she lowered her voice and said to Helen, “I’m fine.”

Helen’s brow furrowed tightly. She wanted to say something more, but in the end, she just sighed.

If she hadn’t been injured, if she weren’t in her current state, she wouldn’t have had to just stand by and wait while Olivia fought Edeli.

After Cynthia arrived, Helen made an excuse and left. Although Olivia appeared to have no visible injuries, her excessively pale face and fluctuating aura told Cynthia otherwise.

She reached out and grasped Olivia’s wrist. The icy temperature her fingertips touched made Cynthia’s brow furrow. “You’ve expended too much Nature Power. You’ll need to rest well for a while.”

As she spoke, she silently chanted a spell. A golden light enveloped Olivia, easing her mental fatigue.

After casting several Healing Spells on Olivia and seeing some color return to her face, Cynthia stopped. However, her hand remained on Olivia’s wrist, her fingertips gently rubbing the skin as if trying to warm it.

The sensation on her wrist made Olivia very uncomfortable, but seeing Cynthia’s earnest expression, she hesitated and didn’t pull her hand away.

She tried not to look at her own hand, her pale green eyes fixed on Cynthia’s face as she asked, “Did you encounter any danger in the temple?”

Cynthia was silent for a moment before slowly shaking her head. “I ran into some Sethite wizards, but it wasn’t what I’d call dangerous.”

Although Cynthia seemed normal, Olivia could tell she was somewhat distracted. She frowned and asked, “Did something else happen?”

Otherwise, why would she look so preoccupied?

Cynthia looked up and met Olivia’s gaze. Seeing the concern on her face, the corners of her lips turned up involuntarily. She said softly, “Something did happen, but it wasn’t dangerous. Don’t worry.”

Without waiting for Olivia to ask, she recounted the vision she had seen through the statue, but she concealed her own origin, changing the part about the Goddess of Light creating “her” to creating the God Race.

After hearing Cynthia’s account, Olivia fell silent. The conversation between the Giant God and the silver-haired woman in the vision was certainly astonishing, but the fact that Cynthia could read the memories of a statue left her at a loss for words.

Could this be related to a God Race talent? Olivia couldn’t think of any other reason.

“The silver-haired woman who appeared with the lightning you mentioned might be the God of Thunder,” Olivia said in a low voice, searching her mind for memories about the gods. “According to legend, she is a subordinate of the Earth Mother.”

“The Earth Mother is the main god who detests monsters the most. She and her subordinates are almost constantly at war with them, so what the God of Thunder said is likely true.”

That the gods could no longer control the monsters—this news was unbelievable even to Olivia.

Could it be that the gods left the Sitatul Continent because they truly intended to abandon it?

Then why did the God of Darkness create the Dark World and capture countless monsters to throw inside before she left?

It contradicted what the God of Thunder had said about not being able to control the monsters.

During the era of the gods, the Wolf Race and the Elf Race were treated the same as humans. The gods were high and mighty, not beings they could casually approach.

Therefore, the stories about the gods passed down among the Elves were only the most superficial of tales.

An aura was approaching them. Cynthia and Olivia exchanged a look and turned their heads simultaneously. Joanna emerged from the darkness and said to them apologetically, “I’m here to see Cynthia.”

The faint scent of blood spread through the air. The sleeve of her arm was soaked with blood. A wound, deep enough to reveal bone, ran from her shoulder to her elbow. The flesh was torn open, oozing blackish-red blood, and even the white bone had been corroded black by the Power of Darkness.

Her arm was nearly ruined, yet Joanna seemed to feel no pain. She glanced at the wound casually and smiled at Cynthia. “I’ve heard the God Race’s Healing Spell is very effective against wounds caused by the Power of Darkness, so I was hoping you could help me heal this.”

If the Power of Darkness wasn’t cleansed, it would take some time for the wound to fully heal with the Wolf Race’s self-healing ability alone.

“Although Edeli has fled, we don’t know if he’ll suddenly return. I still have to protect Clan Leader Helen, so I have no choice but to trouble you.”

The moment Joanna approached, Olivia had pulled her hand from Cynthia’s grasp. She glanced at Joanna’s arm and said flatly, “I’ll go find Helen.”

With that, she turned and left.

Joanna watched Olivia’s back until it disappeared before retracting her gaze. The arm, which had been numb with pain, was suddenly enveloped in a warm aura. She looked down, but her attention was drawn to the Light Crystal at the top of Cynthia’s staff. “This light gemstone looks quite rare.”

While concentrating the Power of Light to flush out Joanna’s wound, Cynthia replied casually, “Is that so? It’s just an ordinary gemstone.”

“The God Race has a type of gemstone called a Divine Stone. Now that is truly rare.”

Joanna knew Cynthia was changing the subject, so she just smiled and tactfully dropped the matter of the gemstone.

“The God Race surprises me time and time again.” Joanna stared at her gradually healing wound, her eyes deepening, but her voice was as gentle as water. “Just how many secrets do you hold?”

“That’s hardly a secret.” Cynthia withdrew her staff, casually tucking a strand of silver hair behind her ear. She gave Joanna a slight smile and said nonchalantly, “Everything the God Race has is thanks to the grace of the Goddess of Light.”

This was the first time Joanna had heard a member of the God Race mention the Goddess of Light without finding it laughable.

Regardless of whether it was truly a gift from the Goddess of Light, the God Race was indeed a fortunate one.

From nothing to something, from prey to predator, the development of this race to this day had made her feel… threatened.