Chapter 281 - Yes, Me

The Archangel held nothing back. He unleashed his strongest combat form, summoning Holy Light into a towering greatsword and swinging it down at Han Wu.

Startled by the Archangel’s sudden appearance, the Elder stepped out from the shadows and used his Divine Authority to shield Han Wu.

Han Wu was much faster and activated his Defiance Divine Skill: Defiant Sword and his Death Divine Skill: Pierced. The two Divine Skills easily shattered the holy greatsword with ease and pierced straight through the Archangel’s body.

Just then, the Elder reached the Archangel and struck the corpse away with a single slap. To any onlookers, it appeared as though the Elder had broken the greatsword and slain the Archangel himself. Only the two of them knew the truth.

Fifty kilometers away, Aslai had seen everything. He transmitted the footage to Xue Wei, who seethed as she watched it.

“They actually sent a God to protect him? What a waste of resources. If they can’t afford to risk his life, they shouldn’t have sent him at all,” she grumbled.

Aslai shot her a sharp glare and questioned her sharply, “Did you miss on purpose?”

Xue Wei gave a careless shrug. “What if I did? I hate those from the Divine Civilization. Why should they be the ones sitting on high, untouched by danger, while we’re the ones dying?”

Aslai’s fury boiled over. He lunged forward and wrapped his hand around her neck. “What do you know? If that man had suffered even a scratch, every vampire on the battlefront would’ve paid the price!”

Xue Wei struggled, but Aslai’s grip was too strong. Her face reddened from lack of air. Thankfully, he didn’t mean to kill her and let go before it went too far.

“Come with me and apologize to him,” he said. “If we’re sincere enough, they might let us off.”

“I will not apologize to a weakling,” Xue Wei spat. “Let them report me to our god if they want. He loves me. He’ll understand.”

“You little...!” Aslai clenched his fists, but he didn’t know what to do with her. He’d grown up alongside her and couldn’t bring himself to see her punished. In the end, he turned away and sprinted toward Han Wu, hoping a sincere apology would spare them from punishment.

He transformed into a swarm of bats and shot through the air. When he arrived, he found the Elder already berating Cairn and smacking him around.

“What were you doing? Why did an Archangel suddenly appear?” the Elder snapped. “If anything had happened, we’d all be punished!”

Aslai froze as he watched Cairn pinned to the ground and beaten. Rage simmered in his chest, but he didn’t dare to show it. If he did, he would be executed on the spot—or worse, all the vampires stationed here could be wiped out.

He forced his emotions down and stepped forward. “I’m sorry, Young Master. We’ve made a serious mistake.”

The Elder’s fury didn’t wane. “You’re sorry? You think a single apology is enough to resolve this...?”

Han Wu raised a hand. “That’s alright. Apology accepted. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The Elder stopped and coughed. “Did you hear him? Be careful next time. You’re lucky the Holy Son is merciful. Anyone else would’ve had you executed on the spot.”

Aslai bowed in silence, then carried the battered Cairn to the infirmary. Once Cairn was in safe hands, Aslai returned to the same post, fifty kilometers out, and remained there to personally guard Han Wu.

Han Wu stayed at the base for three full days. During that time, he busied himself with hunting down the Elite Lightchaser Wolves that kept scouting the area. There were plenty of them, and through the repeated battles, he grew more adept with his Divine Skills.

On the other side of the battlefront, within the Light faction’s base, the commander realized that a single troop led by a Demigod Archangel had failed to return. This was a serious matter.

Angels stood as higher-ranking units born as Unique life forms. They only needed to exert a little more effort to become Heroics, and with the favor of their god, they could ascend to Demigods. Yet now, the self-proclaimed elite race had lost one of their own troops.

The commander of this battlefront, a Cherub of the God rank, assumed the despised vampires had ambushed the missing troop. In reality, the opposite was true. Still, this assumption gave the Light faction a reason to retaliate.

By coincidence, a God from the Divine Civilization was visiting this battlefront, accompanied by a large contingent of his core race, the Holy Harpies.

A massive flock of Holy Harpies joined the battlefield and started massacring the Darkness faction’s forces. The vampires suffered devastating losses, with many killed or wounded. Even the Darkness faction’s main base on this battlefront was soon surrounded.

As the base’s commander, Aslai knew he lived and died with it. Yet the overwhelming number of Holy Harpies left little chance of a successful defense.

Desperate to save at least some of his men, Aslai turned to Han Wu for help. Since Han Wu hailed from the Divine Civilization, he held the authority to carry some of the injured vampires away to his divine realm.

However, Han Wu refused the request. As the Holy Son of Death, he lacked the authority to remove units belonging to the Darkness faction. Moreover, he believed the situation was not dire enough to justify a retreat.

Xue Wei, who had accompanied Aslai, overheard the refusal and erupted in fury. “You ungrateful brat! Your actions do not befit someone from the Divine Civilization. You don’t deserve the exquisite powers of the Darkness Aspect with your insignificant strength—”

Before she could finish, the Elder slapped her sharply. “You are but a unit from a mere race whose existence depends on a God! How dare you insult the Holy Son?”

Xue Wei refused to back down. She pressed on with her insults despite the risk of further punishment. “Why? Did I say something wrong? He’s a useless brat who wasted all his energy just to kill the Elite Lightchaser Wolves. I do not recognize him as superior to me!”

The Elder was about to use his Divine Authority to kill her when Han Wu stopped him. He did not want to crush their morale just yet. Aslai had already lost hope, having foreseen the deaths of all his men on this battlefield.

Pain gnawed at Aslai’s heart as he made one final request. “Young Master, please leave the battlefront immediately. Since you refuse to evacuate the injured vampires, we might not be able to protect you in the final fight.”

“Protect me? You must be mistaken,” Han Wu replied calmly. “Besides the reasons I mentioned earlier, I will also join the war later. There is no need for me to bring you away.”

Xue Wei still hadn’t learned her lesson and continued mocking him. “You? You were panting just from killing a few Lightchaser Wolves!”

“Yes, me,” Han Wu replied flatly.

He then opened a gate to his divine realm, and a massive swarm of locusts poured out. They blotted out the sun, darkening the sky with their sheer numbers. Aslai, Xue Wei, and the other vampires stared in stunned silence.