Leia leaned limply against Vlad's chest, her limbs weak, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes glazed with intoxication. Seeing her like this, Vlad felt a headache coming on.
From what he'd learned of her personality over the past few days, he knew this girl wouldn't give up easily.
Sure enough, Leia trembled slightly, her slender, rounded legs shifting restlessly. "Mmm... that felt so good. Sis actually tried to keep this from me—how selfish," she mumbled.
"Brother Vlad, can you suck me again?" she asked, lifting her flushed face and gazing at him with dreamy eyes.
"Ahem… too much of that isn't good for your health," Vlad replied gruffly.
"Ah~ really? That's such a shame."
Vlad gave her a light pat on her slim, flexible waist. "You should head back. If your mother finds out, she'll definitely get the wrong idea."
"Okay then, I'll go for now. But I'll visit again soon."
Watching her walk away, turning back to glance at him every few steps like a little fox sneaking off with a stolen treat, Vlad's brows suddenly furrowed. His gaze shifted to the entrance of the secret realm.
"It's here, isn't it?" he muttered, eyes narrowing.
He took a few more glances, then turned away and started toward the hut—but stopped abruptly after just a few steps.
"What is that?"
His expression changed.
"Isn't this the diamond crystal of the Hellfire Demon King?" A jolt ran through Vlad. He quickly focused his senses on his spiritual sea.
He remembered examining it after waking, believing it had vanished along with his right hand. But now, somehow, the diamond crystal had reappeared—floating calmly at the center of his spiritual sea.
"When did this get inside me?" Vlad stared at it in disbelief, muttering under his breath.
Had he not checked, he would never have known something like this had reentered his body. Perhaps he had subconsciously ignored it.
After all, aside from a strange glowing orb that seemed dormant and useless, there had never been anything worth his attention in his spiritual sea.
Holding his breath instinctively, Vlad focused on the diamond crystal.
After confirming it posed no immediate threat, he relaxed slightly.
Then his gaze shifted back to the glowing orb.
The mysterious system, which had once appeared as a blood-colored ball of light, was now encased in a white cocoon that gave off a faint silver glow. It radiated a quiet, enigmatic power.
Staring at the cocoon, Vlad murmured in disbelief, "Is it... evolving?"
As he examined it more closely, his expression grew strange.
His gaze flicked to the diamond crystal spinning silently in the center of his consciousness.
When he extended his spiritual awareness to the crystal, he found its once overwhelming power had been completely drained.
A bold thought crossed Vlad's mind.
But before he could think further, a thunderous boom erupted near the entrance of the secret realm.
"What now?" Vlad frowned. With a flap of his huge black bat wings, he leapt into the sky and soared upward.
At that moment, Luanna and her daughter heard the noise as well. Grabbing their hunting bows and spears, they rushed out of their home and looked toward the sound.
Seeing Vlad circling overhead, Luanna held back from investigating the secret realm entrance and instead waited for his signal.
At the entrance of the secret realm—
A black-armored army of roughly a thousand soldiers marched in perfect formation, spears in their left hands and shields in their right. Their destination: the heart of the secret realm.
Not far behind them strode a mysterious witch, cloaked head to toe in black.
The earlier explosion had been her doing.
After breaching the entrance and monitoring the nearby centaurs, the black-armored army surged into the secret realm under her command.
To their surprise, they immediately encountered 300 centaur warriors led by Captain Cruz of the garrison.
The black-robed witch, observing from behind, let out a displeased snort.
At her command, the two sides clashed in fierce battle.
Though the black-armored soldiers had greater numbers and superior equipment, the centaurs quickly loosened their formation by hurling volleys of short spears from a distance.
This wasn't just a strategic or equipment-based advantage—the centaurs, as a supernatural race, had physical prowess far beyond human.
From the sky, Vlad watched as wave after wave of deadly black spears rained down on the enemy. Within minutes, the black-armored army had lost at least a third of its troops.
And these weren't just regular soldiers—they were heavily armed infantrymen, immune to most ordinary weapons.
Which only confirmed how overwhelmingly strong the centaurs truly were, especially in raw power and burst strength.
But Vlad wasn't celebrating their success.
Because these soldiers weren't human—at all.
Vlad's expression darkened as he realized this force had no ranged support, no cavalry, and no diversity in tactics or troop types. It was a glaring red flag.
When Cruz led a cavalry charge and broke through large portions of the enemy with ease, Vlad's suspicions deepened.
No real army was composed of only one unit type. That was suicide.
Then he saw it: every black-armored soldier that died shattered into glittering black crystal fragments.
And suddenly, everything made sense.
After briefly explaining the situation to the others on the ground, Vlad transformed into a cloud of ghostly bats and descended rapidly onto the battlefield.
There, he saw firsthand how the black-armored soldiers—completely unafraid of death—fought with a savage ferocity, trading blow for blow. In the chaos, they managed to inflict serious losses on the centaurs.
When Cruz killed several of them and noticed they all disintegrated into black crystals, he quickly realized something was wrong and ordered an immediate retreat.
But by then, the damage was done. For the centaur tribes—whose numbers were already low—these losses were devastating.
By the time Vlad landed, the battle was nearly over.
He picked up a fragment of black crystal from the ground, examining it closely. Sure enough, he detected faint magical energy.
"This looks like a puppet army controlled by a witch. It seems someone's targeting you specifically."
Without looking back, Vlad delivered his judgment to Cruz, who had just walked up behind him.
"A witch!?" Cruz's expression darkened.
He'd heard stories of how terrifying witches could be—but this was his first real encounter. And even without a direct clash, the enemy had caused them serious harm.
The realization left him silent and grim.