Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 67: A Bitter Struggle (Part 1)
Zhao Yuying had just tossed out another grenade, but she made a sharp turn and circled back after seeing that Stuka intended to intercept Qianye.
To her surprise, however, Qianye escaped without a hitch, and the arachne count revealed his true form in anger. The javelin enshrouded in dark green mist whistled toward her—even Zhao Yuying didn’t dare take on such a momentous attack by force. She immediately shifted out of the way with all her might, causing the javelin to brush past her left arm.
Without waiting for Zhao Yuying to adjust her breathing, another sharp whistle rang out as the second javelin closed in! Zhao Yuying had no more room for evasion. She drew her combat knife, roared loudly, and hacked forth with all her might—the extremely risky strike actually landed on the javelin’s sharp point.
A muffled bang rang out. Zhao Yuying was struck flying from the impact and only stabilized herself after taking several large steps backward.
Stuka was fairly surprised—he hadn’t expected that a mere human lady would be able to block his all-out attack. But he sneered right afterward and said in a sinister tone, “Doesn’t taste good, does it?”
A layer of hazy green appeared on Zhao Yuying’s countenance. Stuka’s spider poison was extremely powerful and could penetrate the body merely from the contamination of his origin power.
However, Zhao Yuying didn’t suffer from the full effects of the poison as Stuka had imagined. A dark purple origin power seeped out of her body and, like infernal flames, ignited with great intensity. Zhao Yuying slashed her wrist open with a wave of her blade—the arrow of blood which shot out was actually dark green!
The gloomy shade of green on Zhao Yuying’s face was reduced significantly after the blood spurted out. “You think this mommy here will go down because of this little poison?”
Stuka felt his cheeks twitch as he stared fixedly at Zhao Yuying’s origin power radiance, a mixture of purple and swirling black mist. He said with some uncertainty, “Violet qi? The West Pole Qi?! You’re a member of the Zhao clan?”
Zhao Yuying spat in an unrestrained manner and curled her fingers at Stuka. “This old spider seems to be quite experienced and knowledgeable. But come over if you want to fight! What do you care who I am?”
Count Stuka’s expression was austere. He made a grasping motion midair, shooting out numerous spiderwebs and bringing a battleaxe and origin gun into his hands. His massive body was actually floating slightly above the ground while his eight moving limbs propelled him forward as if he were a boat in water. He charged toward Zhao Yuying at great speeds and hacked down with his axe.
Zhao Yuying brandished her blade to block the attack. Her entire body was immediately shaken from the impact, and her face was drained of all color.
A fierce battle had begun.
Origin power surged wildly within the plaza, and the exchanges would cause small explosions from time to time. The air was soon filled with flying dust and debris, making it difficult for the weaker people to even breathe.
Stuka, in his complete combat form, was able to truly bring out a dark count’s combat strength—he definitely wasn’t as weak and feeble as the rumors had claimed. With the two experts exchanging blows, the dark race soldiers no longer dared to linger nearby. All of them had moved to the border of the mining zone to form a large perimeter.
Although Zhao Yuying was just as strong as Qianye, she was far from being a match to an arachne count and quickly fell at a disadvantage in melee combat. However, she was able to bring out numerous secret techniques which made it impossible for Count Stuka to defeat her immediately.
At this moment, Qianye had run all the way to a mine shaft to the East and tossed a grenade into the mining tram car. His expression changed after hearing the concentrated collision of origin power behind him. He glanced back and, as expected, found Zhao Yuying and Stuka facing off against one another.
He threw down the bag of grenades within Andruil’s Mysterious Realm and drew out East Peak. However, a massive shadow enveloped Qianye, and the ground quaked slightly as an arachne viscount in combat form appeared in front of him.
This arachne was clad in azure-colored heavy armor and only one meter shorter than Stuka. Brandishing the combat axe with both hands, he said with a cold voice, “Little fellow, I shall be your opponent.”
This was Count Stuka’s guard captain who was previously out patrolling the surroundings. He had rushed back only after hearing the alarm and happened to arrive just in time for this battle.
A deep ocean-blue color emerged in Qianye’s eyes as True Vision swept past. This was a third-rank viscount, and the density of his darkness origin power could only be greater compared to Duras and the other two vampires he had killed.
Qianye squinted his eyes and waved East Peak disdainfully at the arachne.
The guard captain was enraged—he let out a thunderous roar and began to rumble forward like a tank. He lowered his body, and his eight limbs struck the ground rhythmically like steel rods. The battleaxe in his hand tore through the air with a sharp whistle and hacked straight at Qianye.
Qianye stood where he was and met the incoming enemy attentively with East Peak in hand. The scenery in his eyes shifted—the world turned black and white—and only circular ripples of darkness origin power extended in all directions with the guard captain’s battleaxe as their center.
He inhaled deeply. East Peak shot up, pressed against the battleaxe with great precision, and flicked lightly upward, causing the massive weapon to draw a wondrous arc through the air as though it were weightless.
The battleaxe in the guard captain’s hand pulsed violently and almost flew out. He was greatly astonished and grabbed at the axe with all his might. His eight limbs stomped about in disarray and only managed to stabilize his body after some time.
The sword technique Qianye had used just now was one of the final moves tempered by the Book of Darkness. The blade had cut into the gap between the guard captain’s swinging battleaxe. That last flick involved no strength at all, and the method was based on inciting a darkness origin power resonance instead—even an arachne viscount couldn’t stand the two moves stacked together.
After the flick, Qianye pulled back immediately. His right hand was still on East Peak, but an origin grenade had appeared in his left, which he flung out close to the ground.
The guard captain had just stabilized his footing when he suddenly spied the rolling origin grenade through the corner of his eyes. But as it happened, that was a blind spot for his massive arachne body—he could neither evade nor deflect it.
The grenade exploded almost directly under the arachne’s body. The intense shockwaves sent the guard captain flying into the air and revealed his weak abdomen.
Qianye had withdrawn East Peak at this point. He whipped out the Twin Flowers at great speed and fired two shots in close succession, each striking the center of the arachne's spider abdomen. The viscount’s abdomen was revealed as the blinding radiance receded, a mess of mangled flesh and blood.
Although he didn’t have time to add special effects to the two shots, he had used Mithril Bullets of Exorcism. The pain sent the guard captain into a maddened rage as large amounts of mithril entered his body. He fell heavily to the ground with his spider limbs in the air and couldn’t flip over for a moment. The sharp limbs, swinging wildly about, injured several of the count’s guards who had come to assist him.
Qianye moved as fast as lightning and ran around the injured guard captain, firing continuously with his Twin Flowers and sending Mithril Bullets of Exorcism into the viscount’s abdomen one after another. With so much mithril entering his body, it was enough to corrode most of the arachne’s internal organs, and he was certain to be crippled whether he lived or died.
The count’s personal guards formed a combat unit once again to block Qianye but failed to catch up to the latter’s speed. Qianye paid them no heed and continued firing as he ran.
On the contrary, it was the guard captain, who had become their greatest threat. The arachne viscount’s central nervous system had been destroyed by the pain and mithril, causing him to lose all rationality and flail about with his sharp limbs and battleaxe. But with the eventual drain in his vitality, the captain’s movements gradually turned sluggish, and his attacks grew progressively weaker.
Seeing that the time was just about right, Qianye holstered the Twin Flowers and made a beeline for the dying arachne viscount, directly knocking away a guard who had moved to obstruct him.
Qianye leapt up and threw himself onto the arachne’s mountainous body. The already staggering guard captain collapsed with a boom, and his razor-sharp limbs began to slash about madly in the air, preventing the count’s guards from approaching.
Meanwhile, Qianye drew his Scarlet Edge and plunged it into the arachne’s heart.
A torrent of hot essence blood rolled into his body through the dagger, and Qianye’s spirits rose as his exhausted body began to recover at a noticeable speed.
The guard captain’s struggles grew weaker and weaker until his limbs trembled unconsciously and his body spasmed on the verge of death. Only then did Qianye pull out the Scarlet Edge and stand up slowly.
The count’s dauntless guards roared and pounced toward Qianye. They only saw the heavy sword East Peak appear out of thin air and land in Qianye’s grip before the latter spun around and sent a circle of sword radiance extending in every direction.
The guards froze midway as though they had turned into statues and didn’t dare move. Terror surfaced on their countenance as they slowly looked down at their own bodies, at the thin line of blood which had appeared at their waist. Then, their lower bodies eventually staggered and fell away—they had been cut apart at the waist with a single slash!
Qianye lifted East Peak and two origin grenades appeared in his hand as he shot a glance at the dark race warriors who had surrounded him from a dozen or so steps away. The warriors who had previously experienced the pain shivered. Many of them slowed down and began to retreat instead of pressing forward.
Qianye tossed the grenades in his hand up and down before hurling them with great force. His target wasn’t the dark race warriors in the front.
The two grenades flew backward to his right and, one after another, landed precisely within the origin law array.
The arachne viscount guarding the array let out a furious howl but had no choice other than to run back and intercept the grenades. He was originally charging over in Qianye’s direction after seeing that the guard captain had died.
Qianye turned and charged toward Stuka with East Peak in tow.
Stuka was battling Zhao Yuying contentedly. The two green stripes on the arachne count’s body were dazzling, and wherever he passed would be suffused by a lingering faint green mist. Even dark race warriors would lose their lives on the spot if they were accidentally enveloped in it.
Zhao Yuying’s entire body was gushing with dark purple origin power as if she were clad in a full suit of armor, and this allowed her to move freely within the poisonous mist. However, a hazy jade color had once again emerged on her face. Her movements weren’t as smooth as when the fight began and seemed to be in a perilous situation.
She held the Mountain Splitter in her left hand and the combat knife in her right as she fought a desperate battle against Count Stuka. Mountain Splitter’s muzzle had been surging with light all this time, but she had never found the right opportunity to fire.
Zhao Yuying had fired two shots at the very beginning, and one of them had blasted off half a spider limb. Although this couldn’t be considered a major wound, Count Stuka had come to realize this human lady’s strength from this. He responded with extreme caution thereafter and denied Zhao Yuying another chance.
Zhao Yuying wasn’t having an easy time either. Mountain Splitter’s consumption rate was astonishing, and she could only fire so many shots in total. Thus, she had to focus on conserving origin power so that she could give the old spider a vicious blow when the chance arose. At this moment, she had already loaded that exceptionally valuable ammo and was just waiting for the right opportunity.
But Count Stuka was, after all, a count who had experienced countless battles throughout his long lifetime. He was currently closing in step by step, swinging his battleaxe and firing continuously from his handgun. Zhao Yuying’s room for evasion was shrinking little by little.
It was at this time that a sense of alarm emerged in Stuka’s heart, and he couldn’t help but divert his attention to glance back amidst the intense battle. What he saw was the human bug, whom he had thought was already dead, walking toward him while dragging an unremarkable black sword.