Volume 3 – The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 41: Close Combat
Qiqi jumped off the jeep and walked to the front of the convoy. Peering with the borrowed snowy bright light of the lamp, she could see nine silhouettes further ahead in the wasteland, lined up in a neat row, blocking the advance of the entirety of the convoy.
They were all wearing the traditional pitch-black of the vampires, wearing their high collars and pale, beautiful faces, that set off their dignity and charm. Each of them also had a blood colored Datura flower that almost stabbed into the eyes of all of the 60th Division’s commanders, and it suddenly seemed as if the entirety of the wasteland was incredibly dangerous.
The roaring winds swept across the wasteland with a howl, and the short hair of the young lady in the line fluttered. She had black hair and eyes, rarely seen amongst the vampires—but from where she stood, she was the most respected among the nine, and on her collar, was a pale gold Datura flower.
There were only nine vampires standing there in a row on the plains, but their oppressive aura was a mountain that suffocated anyone who looked at them! They were facing the entirety of the 60th Division’s elite, nearly four hundred Fighter ranked soldiers, as well as two Champion ranked experts. But just by standing there, those vampires caused the 60th Division’s soldiers to all feel fear.
A burly veteran walked to beside Qiqi, and spoke in a low voice. “Miss, that’s the Golden Datura!”
“What does that mean?”
The veteran’s face was a little bitter as he explained. “The Golden Datura is a sign that can only be worn by those who are direct blood relations of Grand Prince Monroe or those who are of sufficient status. That is to say, not even considering if we could win this battle, but if we were to kill her, from now on we’d have to face a vampire grand prince’s unending vengeance!”
Qiqi nodded as if it was nothing. “And so?”
The veteran was lost for words with which to continue. He evidently couldn’t say that this kind of enemy was far beyond their little expeditionary army to handle. He carefully ventured. “Miss, should we reschedule the move?”
Qiqi stared pointedly towards the girl that they faced, and their gazes were like daggers, having crossed swords god-knows-how-many times in the air between them. Qiqi didn’t even turn back to reply. “Why, is the 60th Division trying to escape without fighting?”
This burly veteran was the 60th Division’s brigadier general, and he’d already figured out that the opposing vampires were here to just block their way, and they weren’t really looking for a fight either. Under these circumstances, the best course of action was indeed to retreat, and then rapidly report the presence of a high-ranking member of the Monroe clan, and let the Ministry of Military Affairs take over. If they were to fight, even before considering victory or defeat, if the scion of the Yin clan were to get injured or get into an incident, the consequences might well be several hundred times greater than just losing.
But it looked as if Miss Qiqi wasn’t going to take that explanation. The brigadier general’s face became even more exasperated as he spoke quietly. “It’s not that we’re running without a fight, but just that picking another time would be better. We’re not prepared.”
“You can retreat now, but you won’t need to worry about the vengeance of the vampire grand prince. You can just worry about the vengeance of our Yin clan.”
Although Qiqi spoke in a carefree tone, the old man’s face had a bitter smile. No matter how deep the enmity with the dark races, they could solve them on the battlefield, whereas offending the Yin clan, could result in the complete destruction of one’s family.
The 60th Division’s elite all dismounted from their vehicles. Forming themselves into a battle formation behind the division commander, they confronted the Monroe vampires.
It was only at this point, that the statuesque vampires began to move. Among them, Nighteye raised her hand, and Surrey who was on her right stepped forward, speaking with a silky-smooth feminine voice, “Return now, and we’ll spare your lives today.”
He wasn’t particularly loud, but across the hundred-meter distance, everyone heard him clearly.
Qiqi’s eyes crept upwards slightly, and while this would usually bring out a certain amount of coy charm, but now, it had the severity of an arrow being nocked onto a bow.
Nighteye’s eyebrows twitched slightly upwards, and her unfocused-looking eyes suddenly became clear, and reflected the image of Qiqi!
Qiqi suddenly felt a pair of giant invisible hands grasping her, and an enormous force that felt as if it was going to grind all of her bones to dust! A boom sounded around her, and with a surge of sea blue and milky-white light, as if the sky itself had landed onto the ground, her suffocated face, flushed with red, gently loosened.
Nighteye’s beautiful face very slightly revealed a cold smile, and the dim light swimming in her black eyes became even deeper. Surrey and the other vampire that was nearest to her had terrified expressions on their faces as they each backed a few steps away, instinctively bending over. If it weren’t for the atmosphere and where they were, they looked as if they were bowing deeply to her.
At this point, the waves of light around Qiqi became incredibly messy, as if it would collapse at any moment!
An old man with long, droopy eyebrows that followed the curvature of his eyes suddenly stepped forward, reaching out his hand as he chopped the air in front of her! With a bang, the old man’s hand suddenly ignited with a ferocious inferno, and it was only with this that the invisible power that was strangling Qiqi broke.
The old man looked at Nighteye, his gaze sharp as daggers. But Nighteye was still as calm as still water, without a single hint of the effects of having her power rebound on her, as what he expected. The old man’s expression immediately turned grim, and after taking a deep look at Nighteye, he returned to Qiqi’s side.
Qiqi violently coughed, and pointing a finger towards Nighteye, she called out. “BOMB HER!”
Several siege engine cars raised their mortars, and with a loud boom, the massive shells drew a parabola in the air, accurately smashing towards Nighteye in the center.
The vampires on Nighteye’s left and right all grunted with exertion. With raised hands, they gripped the air and all of the mortar rounds stopped in midair, before blowing themselves up!
Nighteye finally opened her mouth for a single sentence. “Kill them.”
The eight Monroe vampires all had different expressions; some with worry, some with manic delight, some with bloodlust, and some with insanity. They suddenly moved, and with streaks of afterimages after them, they crossed the hundred-odd meter distance in an instant, and rushed directly into the midst of the formations of the 60th Division, causing blood to spurt up into the sky!
The two Champions of the 60th Division blocked Viscount Surrey, while two of the old men behind Qiqi suddenly exploded forth with an astounding strength, blocking the other, older Viscount.
But Nighteye turned around and left, disappearing into the wasteland in the blink of an eye.
Qiqi’s side had four Champions, and she had only brought two, but Nighteye seemed to be completely unworried about the way the battle was going.
In Earth Castle, a new battle was about to begin.
The battle was going horrifically, and several fortunate men from the expeditionary army were already spent arrows; their origin powers had been depleted, their physical strength sapped to nothing, but they still charged in howling, fighting against the dark warriors who were far beyond them in strength in this bloody battle. Occasionally, one would hear the dull boom of an explosion, and that was the sound of the expeditionary army blowing themselves up with the hand grenades, taking their enemies with them unto death!
Qianye was still burrowing through the trash heap like a ghost, and a rank five vampire warrior suddenly appeared in front of him. The vampire saw Qianye, and upon seeing the Twin Flowers in his hand, his eyes went blood red, and he roared in fury. “So the one that dared to challenge Marquis Ross was you!”
“And so?” Qianye smiled coldly. The Twin Flower emitted a unique chord that bloomed in the heart of the vampire warrior.
The vampire warrior had already aimed his gun at Qianye, but his movements were too slow. He hadn’t charged up the gun enough to trigger it and never got a chance after that.
Outside of Earth Castle, Baron Mike was in a panic, pacing back and forth in the tent.
All of the vampire warriors were all holding themselves in a dead silence, not a single one daring to make a sound. One of the poor saps had accidentally angered the baron, becoming the target of his ire and got all of his blood instantly sucked dry. But instead of calming down, the baron had become even more panicked after that.
The baron was still waiting for the sound of the Eagleshot. When the gunfire started, it meant that a high level warrior was now a corpse. But now that the Eagleshot was silent, it gave him even more pressure. Who knew when the Eagleshot would suddenly boom, and who it would be aimed at.
The baron himself wasn’t that afraid of the Eagleshot, and taking a shot wouldn’t kill him, but once he thought of it shooting the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism, Mike’s face couldn’t help but pale.
Her Highness Nighteye had already left along with her bodyguards to block off the 60th Division. Just before she’d left, her orders were to quickly take Earth Castle, and then to regroup, so as to prevent the human special forces teams from engaging in guerrilla warfare here in the Dongling Mountain Area.
But now, the battle inside Earth Castle still hadn’t subsided! The baron just couldn’t understand how this could be. With that little garrison, with so little battle power, how could the battle have dragged on up till now? These humans, their vitality was stubborn to the point of being a werewolf, and their resilience was as terrible as that of the arachne! Even now, they still hadn’t taken a single prisoner of war.
This tiny little Earth Castle defence point had already caused the baron to invest a full two-thirds of his forces. This was an unimaginable loss for him! He could already imagine that even if he could take Earth Castle, what awaited him would only be shouting and punishment.
And there was that person! It was definitely because of that person! That arrogant human!
The blood roaring inside of him made Mike really tempted to rush into Earth Castle himself, but a strange premonition of danger kept him at bay. Mike had the nagging feeling that there was an expert nearby that was just waiting for the opportunity to kill him. This was the innate talent of his clan, and it had saved his life numerous times. Hence, the baron held a deep trust towards his instincts.
Even for him, he absolutely wanted to avoid taking a hit from the Eagleshot at close range.
Suddenly, from outside the tent came Nighteye’s voice. “Your current expression, is rather unsuited to that of being a baron.”
Mike panicked. “Your Highness! You’ve returned?”
Nighteye walked into the tent with large strides, and sat herself down on the baron’s lavish high-backed chair. Several vampires followed her into the tent, all of them emanating strong dark origin power. These vampires were all wearing a castle insignia on their chests, and even though they weren’t movers and shakers of the dark world unlike the Datura flower, they were a big name as well.
That was the insignia of Marquis Ross, and around the insignia was a red band, signifying that they were his direct descendants.
Nighteye quietly contemplated Mike, and in her eyes his image was already being reflected. The baron didn’t dare at all to even lift his head as he shivered.
It was a long time before Nighteye spoke up mildly. “It was only after the marquis’ descendants found me, that I knew that not only had the human hunters killed one of his descendants, and snatched away the marquis’ famous Twin Flower, but that that hunter had then used the Twin Flowers in battle. Do you know what that means?”
Mike shivered even more violently, and he spoke quaveringly. “I understand.”
“Is this human in Earth Castle?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you not say this earlier?”
“I, too, only knew of it just now.”
In Nighteyes’ eyes, the silhouette of the baron gradually vanished, and her icy-cold killing intent gradually receded. Mike nearly collapsed there on the floor, and if he could, he would long have imitated the other vampire warriors around him and crept away on his knees.
She spoke placidly. “On account of your many years of merit, I’ll let it go this time. I will personally see to this. Capture that arrogant human, and see how capable he is, to be using Ross’ Twin Flowers to battle.”
Nighteye stood and left the tent with Marquis Ross’ descendants behind her. They gradually accelerated, and in an instant, they had sped past the battlefield, entering Earth Castle.
Qianye was currently pulling out his longsword from the body of a vampire warrior. He suddenly stopped himself, and gazed in a particular direction. A series of palpitations that he had never experienced suddenly wrapped his body!
Qianye dropped his sword. Pulling out the Twin Flowers, he started up the Combatant Formula with unprecedented speed, not even sparing a thought for his internal organs that were being deeply savaged by the overwhelming origin power as it rushed past, causing deep injuries. The inscriptions on Twin Flower began to light, and in an instant, it was as if two very different flowers had blossomed in the air.
Qianye aimed his gun towards a space that was seemingly empty and then slowly retreated.
Just at this moment, a silhouette seemingly shrouded in black fire walked into the street!