Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 37: The Last Bullet
Qianye began to think about how he should escape his current predicament. He hadn’t expected this vampire viscount to actually ignore his current business and pursue him so fervently.
In any case, the final solution would be to escape into human territory. It would inevitably draw the attention and interference of human experts if a dark race champion were to recklessly enter Zhao clan territory.
But it was easier said than done—one would have to cross over thousands of kilometers of ridges and peaks in order to reach the nearest Zhao clan city.
In front of him was a lush mountain ridge overgrown with intersecting shrubs and large trees. Meanwhile, that pursuing consciousness was becoming clearer and clearer to the point where Qianye could feel the ferocity and killing intent.
Qianye decided to take the risk. He leapt up onto a mound and stopped there. He picked up a dried branch in passing and sharpened it using his dagger. After puncturing his finger, Qianye dripped some of his fresh blood onto the branch.
The blood which flowed out was no longer a dazzling bright red and suffused with a bizarre luster. Instead, it had a certain condensed and restrained flavor within. The color was also much darker but the flavor of the blood was now richer and more intense.
The fresh blood seeped into the shriveled branch and was soon absorbed completely.
Qianye then ran toward a previously selected shrub and carefully placed the branch within it. He tried his best to make it seem as if the branch broke naturally and fell down. Afterwards, he tied together the two vampire hand grenades he had on him and buried them in a good spot nearby before setting up some small trigger mechanisms. He then wiped traces of human activity.
Finally, Qianye climbed a small highland to the southeast and swiftly set up his sniping position. He assembled the Eagleshot and then camouflaged himself, aiming the muzzle toward the distant shrub.
He slowed down his breathing—threads of origin power gradually flowed into the Eagleshot with a powerful rhythm and gradually formed an origin bullet within the chamber. Presently, the origin power which Qianye had injected into the Eagleshot was purified daybreak origin power. The condensed origin bullet was milky white and possessed a gentle luster akin to high-quality jade.
Blood colored vein patterns began to appear on the surface of the gradually forming origin bullet. There were several bizarre purple lines between them as well as a golden stripe so thin that it was almost undetectable.
A hazy origin power glow arose from the origin bullet after it was completely formed. Its size expanded significantly, indicating the activation of Heavy Caliber.
Finally, Qianye activated the nail-sized Resounding Strike and raised the remodeled Eagleshot’s firepower by a level.
After completing all preparations, he silently waited for an opportunity.
During this time of complete concentration, Qianye was suddenly overcome by a wonderful sensation. The origin bullet within the rifle chamber seemed to have formed a vague strand of connection with him. Afterwards, a scarlet layer of semi-translucent mist emerged on the surface of the bullet. This would serve to greatly reduce the sonic boom.
Qianye wasn’t made to wait very long.
The faint mist of twilight had shrouded the mountainous region akin to a layer of muslin. A dark specter-like shadow rose up as viscount Zalen appeared. He silently flitted across the treetops and rocky peaks like an illusion and entered the range of Qianye’s Eagleshot in the blink of an eye.
At first, Zalen had already leapt up once again and would have glided at least dozens of meters before landing. However, he came to a sudden and urgent halt mid-air and immediately turned around like a stringed puppet. This completely defied the logical trajectory of his flight. The viscount rapidly retraced his steps and landed exactly, without the slightest deviation, at the point from where he had leapt forward.
The corners of Qianye’s eyes twitched after seeing Zalen’s bizarre movements. It was fortunate that he hadn’t lost his calm after seeing the vampire viscount walk past the trap. Otherwise, he would have probably missed the shot.
Zalen returned to his original position, raised his head, and inhaled deeply. His nostrils opened and closed continuously. Afterwards, he turned to stare at a certain dark green bush and no longer took his eyes off of it.
With his powerful perception, the viscount immediately saw the single bloodstained branch among the hundreds of branches of leaves in the shrub. The sweet scent being emitted from it almost made Zalen somewhat absent-minded.
The situation was similar to when the blood energy of pure-blooded vampire nobles made Qianye momentarily lose self-control. Qianye’s fresh blood contained multiple types of blood energy. This strong and complex power was a poison to their vitality as well as an irresistible allure.
Zalen’s eyes turned red as he immediately revealed an expression of fanaticism and avarice. The blood in his whole body was heating up and had almost reached a state of blood boil. He extended his hand to reach for the branch, but his hand abruptly paused midway. Zalen was, after all, a viscount of the Byrne clan. He had entered a state of confusion just now but he immediately woke up. Following which, a sense of intense danger enveloped his sharp senses.
Zalen had already leapt up like a bolt of lightning the moment Qianye pulled the trigger. The viscount’s figure immediately broke away from the crosshairs. Behind the scope, Qianye forcefully resisted the urge to shift the muzzle and, instead, pulled the trigger completely.
This time, the Eagleshot didn’t erupt with a thunderous rumble but only a muffled pfft. The milky white origin bullet with bloody patterns upon it shot out silently like a fish swimming through the sea, crossing the thousand meters with incomparable swiftness.
Zalen leapt ten meters into the air and, just as before, hovered and fell back to his previous position with a similarly bizarre motion. It was as if time itself had been reversed. This special ability had allowed him to escape countless ambushes in the past, but this time, it had caused him to voluntarily return toward the trap.
Zalen turned around and found, to his great astonishment, that the origin bullet was already very close.
The distance was already too close for him to evade. The only thing he could do was to cross his arms in front to cover up his head and face. Blood energy gushed out frantically and began to form the silhouette of a shield in front of him.
With a loud boom, Zalen was forced back two steps by the origin bullet which had undergone multiple augmentations. The armguards on his forearms were shattered, but at this moment, blood energy was continuously pouring out of his body with increasing intensity to block the fierce origin power explosion.
Zalen frowned and shook his left hand where a bloody line had appeared on the palm. A fully powered blast from the Eagleshot was completely blocked by him, however, the fierce origin power explosion still tore the webs of his fingers, and two minor wounds had even appeared on the back of his hand.
Qianye calmed himself down after witnessing the strength of this dark race warrior from an ancient clan. He swiftly fired off another round, but Zalen was already on guard against him. The latter spat out a mass of dense blood energy and actually struck the origin bullet midair.
A dazzling origin power radiance erupted in the air as the blood energy and origin bullet were destroyed at the same time.
Qianye’s expression shifted slightly. He violently broke the Eagleshot in tow, retrieved the Resounding Strike crystal from within, and immediately fled.
Zalen had also noticed Qianye on the high ground a thousand meters away from him. The corners of his mouth turned into a cruel smile as he calmly tidied up his somewhat messy coat. Only then did he step forward to give chase.
In his eyes, Qianye possessed the strength of a mere esquire. It made no difference if the distance between them was 300 meters or 3000 meters. Since the other party had already exposed his whereabouts, chasing him down was only a matter of time.
Zalen had only taken a few steps when he was suddenly overcome by a sense of foreboding. Immediately afterwards, the huge explosive power from the vampire grenades completely engulfed him within!
By the time the origin power storm had passed, the surrounding shrubbery was completely razed, and a 30-meter crater had appeared on the mountaintop. Zalen was actually standing at the center and seemed none the worse for wear.
It was just that his whole person seemed tattered—he was riddled with wounds and dark stains from the blood and smoke. The Qin Empire military uniform he was using as disguise had been completely obliterated. Even the custom-made grandmaster level armor inside was torn in some places.
As intense blood energy gushed out of Zalen’s body, the small visible wounds were rapidly healed, while the larger ones began to close up and stop bleeding. The viscount’s eyes turned completely red akin to two scarlet gems.
He stared fixedly at Qianye’s receding figure and ground his teeth. “You’ve infuriated me. You’ve completely infuriated me. You’ll regret doing this very soon and you’ll be regretting it for a very very long time!”
Qianye’s running speed this time actually wasn’t very fast. Zalen easily caught up and was already within 100 meters even before ten minutes had passed. Qianye never looked back all this time for he knew that the viscount would catch up very soon. Suddenly, he erupted with strength and suddenly sped up, almost reaching Zalen’s speed in the blink of an eye.
Zalen laughed coldly inside. He did want to see how long this little blood esquire can maintain this explosive state.
Qianye frantically ran while waiting patiently. That strike from the Eagleshot couldn’t cause a champion level expert any significant damage, but Qianye clearly saw tiny open wounds on Zalen’s hand. Furthermore, the furious viscount didn’t pay immediate attention to the two small openings.
Even under his explosive state, Qianye’s speed was still slightly inferior to Zalen. The distance between the two continuously closed in from 100 meters all the way to 50, then 30 meters.
Zalen could’ve caught up to Qianye in the blink of an eye if he activated his blood energy ignition at the risk of some short-term damage to his body. But as a noble viscount, how could he use such a desperate method as igniting his blood energy just to capture a mere blood esquire? If news of this were to spread, he might become a laughingstock in the clan. Not to mention the fact that he had to maintain his prestige at all costs before this descendant of the Dracula clan.
Just as Zalen was calculating how he should torture this little esquire in order to vent his anger, his whole body suddenly trembled and almost collapsed on the ground. He felt an indescribably uncomfortable and sticky moisture around his mouth and face. He extended his hand to wipe it off, only to suddenly realize that his palm was covered in putrid black blood.
At this moment, Zalen was extremely shocked—he felt something beginning to burn within this body as waves of scorching pain were transmitted to his sensory system. His arms immediately swelled up.
In front, the keen Qianye sensed the abnormality in Zalen’s footsteps. He turned back and, as expected, found that the poison had begun to take effect. He immediately drew the Twin Flowers, rapidly loaded them, and fired continuously. He then reloaded and fired again.
The Twin Flowers continuously rumbled. Enchanting red and white flowers bloomed through the air as several origin bullets landed on Zalen’s body.
However, the violent barrage had little effect on the enemy apart from forcing him several steps back. Although the greater half of Zalen’s armor was now torn and his blood energy barrier was flickering on and off under the relentless onslaught, those were merely superficial wounds to him—if only he didn’t have to struggle against the blood poison within his body.
Qianye was still surprised despite having already expected such an outcome. Only in a head-on battle was he able to truly experience the frightening strength of a champion. The previously unbeatable Eagleshot and Twin Flowers almost seemed to lose all effectiveness. Perhaps only the Radiant Edge would be able to break through his opponent’s defenses, but Qianye absolutely wouldn’t fight with a vampire viscount in melee.
Within the blink of an eye, Qianye had exhausted his supply of origin bullets. Only a single metallic bullet case remained in his pocket. He instinctively opened the iron box and let the origin bullet drop into his palm. After which, he loaded it into one of the Twin Flowers and pulled the trigger.