Inside the forest, Saber watched the elves from a safe distance. He could feel their senses. Whenever he felt their senses getting close to him, he leaped away from one branch to another. As though nature wanted to add some twist to their situation, dark clouds soon gathered in the sky above the forest. Saber heard the thunder rumbling. The wetness in the air suddenly increased, warning Saber about the upcoming heavy downpour. Everything under the thick canopy rustled. He heard the elves growl. They hated getting their hands dirty. These elves were natured in palaces and mansions. Thus, they hated everything related to dirt. The elves hovered above the ground to avoid stepping on the mud. Saber could pinpoint each and every elf in the forest. They were searching for him alone, which was a big mistake. Watching a lone elf, Saber silently broke a twig. He aimed at the ground a few meters away from the elf and threw it to distract him.

The sudden noise startled the elf. As Saber expected, the elf moved toward where he heard the sound. Because the elves thought Saber was just a Body Strengthening stage cultivator, the elves did not put a defense shield around him. Their pride and arrogance prevented them from doing so. Saber utilized this situation. He slowly flew toward the elf without making a sound. The elf's neck hair stood up as he sensed someone approaching him. But before he could react, Saber grabbed the elf from behind. He squeezed the elf's neck until his skin turned purplish. The elf's body gradually stopped twitching as he lost consciousness. Saber did not waste any second. He immediately jumped into the top of a tree. Saber took out some ropes and tied the elf against the tree.

Saber could have easily taken the elf's life but chose not to. Leaving the elf behind, Saber moved toward his next target. After leaping from tree to tree for a few moments, Saber reached his target. The elf had a deep frown on his face. He did not like to be in the forest at all. Unfortunately for the elf, the sky broke open, pouring water in full force. The big rain droplets rushed through the canopy with an unearthly sound.

"Fuck you rain," The elf cursed the rain. Streaks of lightning decorated the dark sky. Soon, Saber heard an ear-piercing thunder. Saber immediately dashed at the elf to take him out. The elf did not expect someone to jump from above. Before he could react, Saber landed straight on the elf's shoulder. The sheer force of Saber's landing dislocated the elf's shoulder and knocked him out cold. Just like earlier, Saber grabbed the elf, leaped onto the tree, and tied him with ropes. Saber expected the War God to intervene any second, yet to his surprise, the War God just hovered in the sky, getting drenched in the rain. Saber had a strange feeling that the War God was watching him. But if he did, Saber wondered why he wasn't attacking him.

It was strange behavior for a War God. For now, Saber ignored this feeling and continued to hunt down the elves.

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The heavy downpour came with howling wind. Soon, all the trees in the forest started to sway in a single direction. Some trees looked like they were about to get uprooted from the ground. Luckily for Saber, the rain and thunderclaps covered any sound Saber or an elf made. Saber quickly flew to the third elf while keeping an eye on the fourth and final elf. As Saber moved closer, he noticed a faint glow around the elf. The rain droplets vaporized upon hitting the glow around the elf. Hence, the elf remained dry and cozy. But the elf's coziness was short-lived as Saber leaped onto him, breaking the shield with a single punch. The shield exploded at the same time when a thunderclap resonated through the forest. The thunderclap masked the sound of the shield exploding and the elf growling.

Saber did a quick work hiding the unconscious elf just like before. Finally, only one elf remained. Saber wanted something special for the elf because he was the one who punched Saber earlier. As a proud elder vampire and a subordinate of the Dark Lord, it was only natural that Saber would pay back his debt in multiple folds. He was almost tempted to kill the elf. Thinking about what to do with the elf, Saber flew through the forest like a rustling wind.

The elf in the air was in direct eye contact with the War God. Hence, attacking him would be equal to attacking the War God himself.

As the elf was told, he was searching for Saber. Saber intentionally left his flying sword behind when he crashed into the forest earlier. It was to confuse and make the elves look for him on the ground. Since a Body Strengthening stage cultivator could not fly, they didn't bother to look above. Plus, Saber left some blood on the ground for the elves to follow. The elf was following the trail of blood to track down Saber. Little did he know Saber was watching him from behind. The elf was too focused on the train and failed to notice anything around him.

"Did you see him flying away?" Suddenly, the elf shouted as the birds resting in the forest scattered away. The elf didn't bother to lower his voice. Even though they weren't in Gondolin, they acted otherwise. For them, all of Awor belonged to them, the superior race of all. They could conquer all Awor if they wished to because Gondoling had the mightiest army in the world. However, even the dwarves couldn't match the elven might. The dwarves could indeed build hundreds of new contraptions but could never compete with elven rune magic. Moreover, the dwarves were blessed with an innate talent to build but not the talent for cultivation. Hence, they lacked powerful warriors like the War Gods of Gondolin. Of course, some dwarves were an exception to the rule. But they were rare and not enough to defeat the elven kingdoms.

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"No, he is still in there," The elf in the air replied with the same volume. War God Belanor watched the scene with an amused smile. These elves were just there with him to entertain. He felt bored traveling alone to the Aqua auction. So although Belanor cared for them, they weren't his friends. Otherwise, he would be in the forest with them, not watching them getting their asses kicked.

"I am getting closer to him," The elf in the forest shouted. Judging by the blood on the ground, the elf assumed the thief had crawled somewhere and died. Saber slowly moved toward the elf without making a sound. At that moment, he was just a few meters away from the elf's senses. Saber was careful not to alert the elf. It was no fun that way. Eventually, the elf reached the blood trail's end. To the elf's surprise, he didn't find a body as he hit a dead end. The elf looked around. He creased his brows.

"What the hell?" The elf was confused. The blood trail disappeared suddenly. As he was looking around, he heard a cracking sound a few meters away from the blood trail. His elven ears twitched as he followed the sound. It was Saber who broke a couple of twigs with stones. Saber waited for the elf to move away from the blood trail. When the elf reached the place where he saw nothing but some tall and thick bushes under a giant tree, he felt a chill.

His senses detected a life sign near him. The elf immediately reached for his weapon,

"Hello," Saber landed right before him and grabbed his arm. Saber did not knock him out with one punch, although he could do it easily. Instead, Saber punched the elf just like he did. Yet the elf didn't go flying because Saber held his arm. The elf groaned, but the sizzling sound of heavy rain hitting the canopy masked the elf's sound. Saber hit him once again in the face, breaking the elf's nose with a sickening crunch. Blood oozed out of the elf's nose.

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The elf's consciousness slowly slipped off. Despite his Soul Refining cultivation, he couldn't withstand a powerful Fusion Stage vampire's punch filled with rage. He was lucky Saber was ordered not to kill them. The smell of blood tempted Saber to sink his teeth into the elf's neck. Even though the Dark Lord's cure for the vampires cured their lust for blood, it didn't take away their temptation. In other words, a vampire had no need to drink blood, but they could if they wished to.

The Dark Lord didn't order them to stop drinking blood because it would be like asking a human to stop drinking water. But he couldn't let the vampires wreak havoc within kingdoms. Hence, Michael let them give up to their temptation if they found an evil foe. To put it differently, they were ordered not to harm any innocent. Until now, no vampire under the Dark Lord had ever hurt an innocent for blood. They only imagined what would happen if they did.

Judging by the look on the elf's face, Saber realized one more punch might kill him. Because of that, Saber had to stop hitting them though he would like to punch the elf more. Since he was the last elf in the forest, Saber didn't bother to hide him. He just left him on the ground and leaped onto a branch.

"Come out and deal with him too," Suddenly, Saber heard Belanor's voice. It sounded louder than a thunderclap. Saber wasn't surprised as he felt the War God was watching him. A mere forest wouldn't be able to prevent a War God from seeing what was happening to his men. Saber's eyes glistened with excitement. After a long, long time, he was going to battle a worthy opponent. The elf in the air frowned. Unlike Belanor, he had no idea what had transpired within the forest. He was completely stunned when he saw the lowly thief flying through the canopy without a flying sword.

Furthermore, he wasn't harmed at all. The elf couldn't help thinking the worst. He trembled slightly in fear.

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"We should do this alone," said Belanor. To Saber's surprise, he just flicked his wrist as a blast of wind knocked out the elf in a blink of an eye. It was a show of power. Honestly, it really surprised Saber. He knocked out a Soul Refiner with a flick of his wrist.

"Shall we begin?" Belnaor asked after knocking out the elf. Both had no fear in their eyes but glimmering excitement.