On a large sailing ship several kilometers off the coastline, a tall, imposing middle-aged man with a white beard and a stern expression stood on the deck at the stern, gazing at the gradually receding continent. He was Alexander Corvinus, the immortal that Chen Mo had been searching for.
As he looked at the land he was about to leave, a flash of silver suddenly caught his eye.
On the high cliff by the distant sea, a group of silver-armored knights appeared. Among them, the tallest and the only one in a black robe, caught Alexander Corvinus's attention. His eyes were filled with gravity, anger, and deep confusion.
Hundreds of years ago, a plague that swept through Europe awakened the perfect blood within him, making him immune to all diseases and incredibly powerful. Most importantly, he gained immortality!
However, he never felt superior to humans. He always believed that humans were the true masters of this world, and he was always an anomaly.
So, after that, to avoid being discovered, he abandoned his territory and hid himself, pretending to be an ordinary person until his two sons were bitten by a vampire bat and a wild wolf.
Inheriting part of his perfect bloodline, both sons evolved after being injured. However, unlike him, their evolution was more like a mutation. Not only did their appearances change, but their habits and temperaments also underwent significant changes.
Marcus grew long fangs, became afraid of sunlight, but developed an insatiable desire for blood. He drained all the livestock at home, turning them into dried corpses, and was stopped just in time when he tried to attack humans.
William completely turned into a beast, mad, ferocious, and bloodthirsty, not even recognizing his father and trying to attack him in a frenzy.
Alexander Corvinus believed this was divine punishment for possessing powers and abilities that humans should not have.
Although his two sons had become complete anomalies, they were still his flesh and blood. Alexander Corvinus couldn't bring himself to kill them and instead drove them away, leaving them to fend for themselves.
It wasn't until the werewolf disaster began to spread that Alexander realized how destructive his son William was.
Yet, he still couldn't bring himself to harm his son and continued to clean up after them.
But his power was limited. Even with many elite warriors serving him, werewolves still ravaged the European continent.
Even knowing that his son William was the source of all this and that killing or imprisoning him could end it, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He just followed William, trying to control the damage within a certain range until Chen Mo appeared.
When Chen Mo and the knights were ambushed by hundreds of werewolves in the valley, Alexander and his men were hiding further away to avoid Marcus, who was hiding in the woods.
They were too far away to be sensed by Chen Mo and were well hidden, so they weren't discovered.
But they witnessed from afar as Chen Mo unleashed blue lightning, killing all the werewolves in a shocking display of power.
This scene had a profound impact on Alexander. This was the power of a god!
At that moment, he felt that Chen Mo was sent by the heavens to reclaim the abilities that humans should not possess.
But he wasn't willing to surrender. Having grown accustomed to immortality, witnessing countless ordinary humans grow, age, and die around him while he remained unaffected by the passage of time and unafraid of death, he didn't want to become a mortal again.
Even if it was divine will, he wouldn't accept it. If they wanted to reclaim his abilities, they would have to catch him themselves.
So, after Chen Mo led the knights away, Alexander Corvinus didn't care about the departing William and Marcus. Instead, he led his men and left Chen Mo's territory.
After leaving, Alexander Corvinus continued to monitor Chen Mo's movements.
Having operated in Europe for hundreds of years, Alexander Corvinus had his own information channels. He soon learned about Marcus's allegiance and William's imprisonment. He had no other thoughts about it; William had ravaged the land for hundreds of years, killing countless people and destroying villages. Being imprisoned was deserved.
William was his son, and he couldn't bring himself to do it, but if someone else imprisoned or even killed him, he might feel sad but wouldn't stop it. It was what William deserved.
The subsequent large-scale search confirmed his suspicions: Chen Mo was indeed after him. But how did Chen Mo know of his existence? The only person who knew about him was Marcus, but Marcus didn't know he was always following them. How did Chen Mo find out?
If he hadn't had that inexplicable premonition upon seeing Chen Mo and retreated in time, he might have been surrounded by Chen Mo's knights.
Although he was powerful and his warriors were elite, they were no match for Chen Mo's numerous and well-equipped knights.
Fortunately, he had left Chen Mo's territory. Europe was vast, and Chen Mo shouldn't be able to find him again.
But the subsequent developments were completely unexpected.
After the search yielded no results, Chen Mo immediately began expanding his territory. His powerful knights continued to conquer territories across the continent. No matter how strong the lord's forces or how fortified the castles, they couldn't stop Chen Mo's expansion.
Chen Mo's knights, known as the Templar Knights among his people, swept across the land like an unstoppable steel torrent. Wherever their iron hooves tread, they planted the nine-headed dragon flag representing Chen Mo's rule.
To avoid Chen Mo's powerful forces, Alexander Corvinus and his elite warriors kept moving away from Chen Mo's territory, always avoiding direct contact with the knights and never being discovered.
But he never expected Chen Mo's expansion to be so rapid. His territory grew larger and eventually occupied the center of Europe, expanding to the coastlines in the north and south, completely cutting off Europe from east to west.
At that time, Alexander, who was west of Chen Mo's territory, had no room to maneuver. Chen Mo's territory completely occupied the direction of his retreat to the east, with castles, heavily guarded troops, and patrolling knights blocking him in the west.
As Chen Mo's army continued to advance westward, Alexander and his soldiers retreated step by step to the westernmost point of the European continent, Cape Roca.
There, Alexander Corvinus, posing as an exiled noble, joined the local lord's castle, providing him with wealth and helping him fortify the walls and prepare for Chen Mo's attack.
The local lord, who had previously ruled with an iron fist, fell into deep fear and despair upon learning of Chen Mo's treatment of nobles. Given his past actions, he knew he would be executed, so he decided to fight to the death.
Alexander Corvinus, who shared a similar fate but had escaped, strengthened his resolve to resist.
Alexander had experience resisting Chen Mo's attacks and generously gave the lord wealth to strengthen his defenses. The lord was pleased and trusted Alexander.
Alexander indeed helped improve the castle's defenses, boosting the lord's confidence in resisting Chen Mo. But secretly, Alexander began preparing an escape route.
They secretly prepared a large sailing ship and stocked it with enough food and water for the journey. They completed all preparations just before Chen Mo's knights arrived.
As soon as his escape route was ready, Chen Mo's knights arrived outside the castle.
While the lord, whom Alexander used as a shield, was busy resisting Chen Mo, Alexander and his men quietly left the castle. Before Chen Mo completely occupied the last piece of land, they boarded the prepared ship and set sail.
For three years, Alexander Corvinus and his men evaded Chen Mo's relentless pursuit, eventually being forced to leave the European continent.
But now, they had finally escaped Chen Mo's grasp. With the maritime technology of this era, it was impossible to transport large numbers of knights and horses across the sea for battle.
What he feared was Chen Mo's powerful heavy-armored knights.
If Chen Mo dared to bring a group of knights without horses across the sea to chase him, Alexander would show Chen Mo that he was not just a coward who only knew how to hide and run.
He would prove to Chen Mo that he, the first immortal, was not just a name.
These hundreds of years had not been lived in vain!