Why can't humans do it too?

"No one knows how long that battle lasted. Even the entire planet wept because of their battle. In the end, the highest peak overlooking the world, where the Dragon King had lived, was destroyed by the aftershocks of the battle, turning into the world's largest crater. He himself died at the hands of the God of War... That's how it's recorded in the book," Xin Ke recalled the records in the books she had read. Only by witnessing this magnificent scene with her own eyes could she understand how pale the history recorded in words really was.

“Really? That’s quite lucky,” Suer said, carefully jumping down the steps as he listened to Xinke’s story. “If they were fighting in this day and age, the aftershocks alone would probably be enough to kill 80 or 90 percent of life today.”

These battlefield marks, forged by extraordinary power, do not resemble the naturally eroded canyons that Suer remembered. Instead, they are like giant quartz columns, neatly hexagonal in shape. Except for the edges, which have been worn down over the long years, they still stand here, uneven in layers, one after another.

"Who knows?" Sul swayed on his back. As their position gradually decreased, the sound of the sea crashing against the rocks from the bottom of the strait grew louder and louder. Xin Ke kept looking down. "The dead won't come back to life. There's no point in saying such things."

“…I told you not to sway back and forth like that,” Su Er suddenly stopped and turned his head away speechlessly, because Xin Ke’s restless movements had almost caused him to lose his balance and fall.

“Ah~, definitely next time,” Xin Ke replied with a smile. “Speaking of which, it’s quite surprising that the monkeys built a safe spot in such a dangerous place.”

"It can't really be called construction; it's just a lucky discovery," Su'er replied, panting, after struggling to push Xinke up. He then climbed up himself.

Downhill is always easier than uphill. Carrying Xinke on his back, Suer quickly descended to about halfway down the strait. He only needed to climb onto this platform to enter a naturally formed underground cavern through the crevice.

It is a very well hidden little crack, protected by natural formations. If you look directly at it from the front, you will only see that it is a continuous stone wall. Only when you look at it from the side at close range can you see a black hole.

This safe house was specifically found in this environment, where there are countless crevices in the rocks, large and small, on Suer's previous advice.

Suer retrieved a piece of ore from the crack in the cave entrance to use as a light source. He then dripped some water he carried onto it. Although the light was not as bright as when it was directly immersed in water and did not last long, it was enough to see.

"I almost forgot," Suer suddenly remembered something, turned around and walked back to the cave entrance. He used his dagger to make a white mark on the corner of the edge of the platform where the two of them had just climbed up, indicating that their own people had used the safe house once. This way, Riku would not have any bad associations or panic later.

Some dried meat, as hard as a rock after drying, and plant root cakes that, after being ground into powder and mixed with water, clump together. Holding these prepared supplies in his hands, Suer was filled with nostalgia... Even though it had only been a few weeks, holding these familiar foods again made his eyes well up with tears.

Beside him, Xin Ke was curiously looking around at everything under the light, and everything was new and exciting to her.

He took out the nearly full book from his pocket, stared at it for a moment, added a few more lines, and then placed it on top of the stone bed next to him.

Hopefully, this notebook, which records a lot of information that was previously impossible to obtain, can be successfully retrieved by Riku.

Suer prayed silently in his heart.

"Let's go," Suer said briefly, after fetching two brand-new robes and helping Xinke put them on.

With goblin pursuers possibly still lurking behind them, it was best for the two of them not to linger in one place for too long. Suer was quite worried that the steel contraption on Xinke's ankles would be detected by the goblin spirit armor, as well as Xinke's elves...

They weren't dispersed into the air; instead, they were gathered together. These dazzling elves were like beacons to the predatory races. The only way for them was to desperately move westward before anything bad happened, until they found a second forest elf.

With the burqas protecting them, the two of them, unless they were unlucky enough to not find a cave to hide in when the storm of death came, did not have to worry about the black ash falling from the sky, and their time to move around was greatly extended.

Previously, all he had to do was jump down lightly, but on the way back, Suer found himself in trouble. He had to support Xinke on his back with both hands. His legs had not yet evolved to the point where he could jump several meters high while carrying a heavy load. He could only push Xinke up first and then climb upwards with great difficulty. There were just too many pillars. To be honest, just looking up made Suer feel dizzy.

“…I really should have put you up there before coming down,” Su Er said, half-jokingly and half-seriously, as he sat on the ground, panting heavily. If he were alone, he could have quickly grabbed the things and climbed back up. The only problem was that Xin Ke, who had lost her mobility, might have been reduced to a mangled wreck by the time he came up.

Somewhat strangely, Suer heard Suer's disdainful words. Based on Suer's understanding of Xin Ke, this Flower Crown Lady should have returned with a smile and sarcastic remarks, but at this moment she was silent, frowning and constantly observing her surroundings.

Suer wouldn't think that Xinke had a problem; he would only think that Xinke had noticed something he hadn't.

"What's wrong? Are there enemies?" Suer asked in a low voice, quickly rolling over on the ground and looking alert.

“…Something’s not right,” Xin Ke thought seriously, and replied in a low voice, “Do you remember how far you climbed?”

Unable to use her spirit powers, Xin Ke could only rely on her experience and eyesight to judge. She vaguely sensed that something had been changed, but she couldn't see the truth.

Chapter Ninety-Five Manifestation

How far did you climb?

Suer paused for a moment, then turned back to look at the safe spot and compared it with the distance above the strait—something was wrong.

A sudden chill ran down his back. Su Er clearly remembered that he and Xin Ke should have climbed at least seven stone pillars, so why was he still on the second stone pillar outside the safe zone?

The most incomprehensible thing is—why didn't either Xin Ke or him notice this before? It's as if they were forced to deliberately ignore it.

"...Can you tell me what race they are?" Suer swallowed and asked Xin Ke in a low voice.

“I don’t know. Many races can do this. After all, I’m too easily deceived in my current state,” Xin Ke took a deep breath and reached out her hand to Su Er. “Let’s try to go up again.”

Does that mean we need to observe more?

Nodding seriously, this time, Suer deliberately slowed down his movements and gently sent Xinke up, while constantly turning his head to scan the distance between himself and the safe point.

Nothing has changed, nothing has changed, nothing has changed, nothing... Hmm?

Surprisingly, he realized that although he had been far away from the crevice and the distance was indeed increasing, when he climbed up the stone pillar above, he found himself still on the edge of the second stone pillar, as if the space at the edge of this stone pillar was connected end to end, forming a never-ending circle.

A sudden chill ran through her, and Su Er hesitated before asking Xin Ke, "Should we continue? My stamina can't handle too many more attempts."

If this is truly an infinite loop, then with the physical exertion from constantly climbing, even if Xin Ke eventually discovers the problem, he probably won't have enough strength to help the two of them escape.

Knowing this as well, Xin Ke bit her lower lip and did not give an answer immediately. Instead, she tried to prop herself up and swayed as she looked around, while Su Er took the opportunity to rest.

The stones thrown in all directions flew freely outward along parabolic trajectories, and the stones thrown upward also successfully reached the top of another stone pillar. There was no situation where a stone thrown forward flew back from behind and hit you.

This contradicts the previous assumption that it's a cyclical space. Or did the person who trapped them here release the stone separately, just to confuse them further?

Or perhaps it's all just a hallucination for both of them?

He pinched his thigh hard, and the pain didn't linger for a moment. Su Er quickly thought to himself, then suddenly stood up and started climbing again. Now that he didn't have to carry Xin Ke up with him, his movements were much faster.

After a brief run-up, he jumped and grabbed the edge, but when Suer managed to push himself up, his expression and all his movements froze—Xin Ke, who should have been on the stone pillar behind him, was sitting on the stone pillar in front of him, watching him.

Despite his efforts to suppress it, the panic and tension inevitably rose within him. Su Er pursed his lips and climbed up without saying a word. Undoubtedly, his attempt had failed.

"Have you found anything?" Su'er's voice grew even lower.

“…No, I watched you climb up, but then I realized you came up from where we came from. It all felt very natural, and I didn’t feel any disconnect. It was as if you were supposed to come up from there,” Xin Ke simply recounted her feelings.

“It shouldn’t be a spatial ability,” Xin Ke muttered to herself, biting her fingertip. “Aside from the top races, the Skywing races are the most adept at using space. But given their power, they wouldn’t stoop to such a pointless game. Simply wiping us out would be something only a brainless bunch like them would do…”

Time ticked by... No, Suer wasn't even sure if his sense of time was accurate. He looked up and around. There was nothing in the air. He could hear Xin Ke's subconscious analysis as she thought quickly. Suer leaned over the edge of the stone pillar and looked down at the deep black water at the bottom of the strait—could he escape his current predicament by jumping off here?

This was indeed a backup plan prepared when the safe point was set up here. According to the history told by Xin Ke, the God of War's attack left a deep wound on the planet's surface. After being filled with seawater, there was no need to worry about not being deep enough to fall to one's death. The only thing to pay attention to was the posture when entering the water.

I swam down there to confirm it before.

"...Thinking about it this way, you can confirm what kind of boring guy he is."

Xin Ke's voice suddenly rose, and Su Er turned around sharply to look at her.

Ignoring Suer, Xinke simply looked around and said in a tone that was both confirming and mocking, "Right? An unknown vampire?"

Silence reigned, with only the endless sound of waves crashing against the rocks below echoing back and forth in the strait.

"Still not coming out?" Xin Ke continued with a smile, "Ah~, it's not that I can't understand. After all, creating such a clumsy illusion, comparable to a one-year-old child's clay model, is indeed something to be ashamed of. But it's okay, okay? As a vampire, it's already quite commendable. You can be a little more confident~"

Suer sighed silently. Even though he couldn't use his spirit and was physically injured, Xinke's speech ability was not affected in the slightest.

But... a vampire?

He quickly tried to recall knowledge about vampires, but could only remember a few. This race was considered mysterious even in various records. In fact, Suer's impression of them was based on their name and the movies and novels he had seen in his previous life... vampires?

"Hahahahaha," laughter echoed from the air, seemingly coming from nowhere, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. "He can only move so awkwardly with the help of monkeys, and he still hasn't seen through this illusion, yet he speaks with such confidence?"

Perhaps feeling that speaking so erratically and indistinctly is also a sign of insecurity is like having an invisible eraser rubbing back and forth in the air, until the owner of the voice finally reveals himself little by little in the air.

A golden-haired... vampire.

Chapter Ninety-Six: Psychosis

A little girl whose gender is ambiguous...?

His voice sounded like a girl's, but also somewhat like a boy's. His gender was indistinguishable from his appearance alone. Despite being less than half the height of Suer, he wore the smile of a strong person on his playful face. Compared to the simply dressed races like the forest elves, this suddenly appearing vampire was dressed neatly, with everything from a shirt to a coat, and small, bat-like wings flapping constantly on his back.

With short golden hair and red eyes, he exuded the aura of a predator. Just being stared at by those eyes made Suer feel that his life was directly threatened. It wasn't just a sense of crisis when one's life is threatened, but rather that he was regarded as the most direct food... bread.

A vampire... Is he coveting my blood?

Suer suddenly realized this.

Isn't that just asking for death?

No, perhaps he was coveting the blood of the forest elves. After all, compared to himself, who was simply regarded as an ordinary monkey, the forest elves, whose blood contained the essence of elves, should be his primary target. At this moment, Xin Ke, who was powerless to fight back, was like a loaf of bread without any protection.

Subconsciously glancing at the sky, Sull was searching for a sun that would harm vampires, but the next second he suddenly realized that there was no such thing as a sun in this world, and even whether the vampires in this world would be afraid of the sun was still unknown.

Something terrible has happened.

Suer didn't even know how to escape from this vampire who could use magic at will, and how Xinke could survive... If there was a fresh cake in front of her, no one would eat a dry, hard bun that had been sitting for days, right?

"Hey, do you know how much I was trying to hold back my laughter just now?" The blond vampire even exaggeratedly lay down in the air, clutching his stomach and laughing out loud, his legs swinging wildly. "It was like two big idiots crawling around in place, hahaha! Hey! That's too funny! You guys are marine species, right? Haha, tell me you're actually marine species!"

Although it's unclear what the sea creatures did to become equivalent to "idiot" or "fool" in the vampire language, it's obvious that Xin Ke can't stand hearing this. The murderous intent in this woman's eyes is overflowing, even though she still has a smile on her lips.

"Ah~, and it was pushed up from below by a monkey with such force... Pfft hahaha," the golden-haired vampire suddenly sat cross-legged in the air again, trying to suppress his laughter but failing. "If your forest gods saw that they had such an embarrassing creation, they would probably be so angry that they would kill you on the spot, right? Hahahaha, what do you forest elves say again? Use it as fertilizer?"

They mocked him without restraint.

“How about this?” The exaggeratedly licentious demeanor suddenly vanished, and the blond vampire’s expression turned serious. He raised a finger to his lips and slowly said, “Rather than living such a shameful and disgraceful life relying on a monkey, why not offer me your blood and spirit right here… how about it?”

His scarlet eyes swept over Xin Ke's body with undisguised greed, especially the wounds that were now bandaged.

"I can smell it already~", the golden-haired vampire said, gently closing her eyes and clutching her shoulders tightly, trembling. "What a sweet fragrance, overflowing with the scent of elves..."

Like a psychopath at the deepest level of illness, the blond vampire took a deep breath, inhaling a scent that Sull could not even imagine.

That's insane, absolutely insane.

More than the instinct to die as food, what made Suer uneasy was the behavior of this androgynous vampire, which was abnormal from beginning to end.

“I can feel your pure soul just from the fragrance of this lingering blood. How perfect…” The golden-haired vampire opened his eyes and stared intently at Xin Ke. “Your soul and blood, combined with my soul, will surely give birth to an assassin who will shock even the gods.”

The psychopath's gaze was like a burning flame, full of longing.

"Having gained your power, I can finally shed this immature state and successfully become an adult... Heh~, how about it~", the golden-haired vampire stood up from the air and stretched out his hands, "Ditch this shameful appearance and merge with the noble me—still fantasizing about running away?"

Tense in his mind and gripping the dagger tightly, Suer moved closer to Xinke. Although he noticed the monkey's strange behavior, the vampire didn't take the harmless beast seriously at all.

'Should I cut my hand?'

Suer quickly made a judgment in his mind.

The wounds he had sustained in the past had been healed when the goblin god Okan pulled him into that strange space in the city, so the blond vampire didn't notice that his blood hadn't shown any unusual characteristics.

When Sull's blood flows, will this vampire feel threatened? Will it flee in panic? Or will it relentlessly pursue his blood?

Not knowing what would happen, Suer wanted to get some hints from Xinke—he noticed that Xinke seemed to shake her head slightly at him.

If the two who suddenly encountered danger still had any cards left to play, then the flesh and soul of Sul, which even the gods feared, was Xinke's most powerful trump card. For the vampires, who had a thirst for blood far exceeding that of other races, it might be the most crucial blow.

An ace must be able to remain hidden until the very last moment to truly be considered an ace.

This is the philosophy that Xinke has always believed in.