Chapter 399: Conflict [V5C106 – A Distance Within Reach]
Qianye only stopped the Eye of Truth when the daybreak origin power gradually dispersed. Several meters away, Porter’s shoulder had been blasted into oblivion—there was almost nothing but a layer of skin attaching his arm to his torso, and the wound was still flowing with incandescent refined silver.
Qianye pounced over instantaneously and stabbed at Porter’s heart.
The arachne viscount let out a pained roar and, with all his might, swung the intact left arm at Qianye’s shoulder. However, Qianye didn’t evade and forcefully endured this assault as he absorbed essence blood via the Scarlet Edge.
Porter’s movements quickly turned weak as his massive body collapsed with a boom, never to move again.
Only at this point did the dark race warriors recover their vision, but what awaited them was only Porter’s corpse.
The atmosphere suddenly became rather complicated. But Qianye’s injuries were obviously not light either, not to mention he had used his most powerful Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang and the Nirvanic Rend.
Although these arachne had no idea what Qianye’s two powerful moves were, they could easily imagine that an attack capable of heavily injuring a first-rank viscount probably couldn’t be pulled off continuously.
If they swarmed over him right now and pay a certain price, they might perhaps be able to slaughter this human ambusher on the spot.
Qianye also understood this reasoning, but he showed not the slightest sign of being flustered. Instead, he calmly produced an entire box of Mithril Bullets of Exorcism and pressed two of them into the Twin Flowers. Everyone could clearly see that there were eight bullets left in the box.
The arachne were momentarily hesitant. The Mithril Bullet of Exorcism was something they were very familiar with. Most of them had even suffered its effects before and knew that it was indeed unpleasant. The arachne possessed naturally large bodies, and a single bullet might not be lethal to them. However, it was common to be left with an unhealable injury or even become handicapped after getting struck by it.
With the ruthlessness Qianye had displayed just now, the arachne soldiers knew that the first ones to charge would die without a doubt. Qianye, on the other hand, still had so many mithril bullets left. The soldiers reckoned half of them would have to die before they could take him down.
Qianye spun the Twin Flowers in his hand. He then glanced at the hesitant arachne soldiers and sneered, “Who wants to try first? Let’s see if your waists can take a shot!”
The arachne were shocked. Before complete human transformation, the waist between the arachne’s human upper body and arachnid abdomen was one of their weaknesses. A blast there from a Mithril Bullet of Exorcism would leave a perpetual injury, resulting in a precipitous decrease in their combat strength and agility.
In the Dark Nation where rankings were strict and strength was honored above all, a fall in strength meant a certain fall in status. Moreover, the slide in status was usually much faster—such a conclusion, to most arachne warriors, was even more difficult to accept than dying in battle.
“Don’t listen to his nonsense. Humans are the craftiest species!” an arachne knight cried loudly.
“Bang!” Qianye pulled the trigger without the slightest bit of hesitation. The arachne knight let out a cry of extremely agony as blood burst forth from the bowl-sized injury at his waist, accompanied by a stream of green fumes.
Qianye gravely injuring this knight intimidated the other arachne. Afterward, he produced yet another box of mithril bullets and said indifferently, “I’ve ample supply of these things. I guarantee everyone will get his share.”
The arachne warriors finally began to show some cowardice. The strongest baron among them whispered, “He must be from a major human clan. Let’s retreat!”
Although the arachne took delight in slaughter, they weren’t stupid. The arachne of Evernight Continent were considered rural villagers in the Dark Nation. They were no match for the empire’s aristocratic scions both in terms of combat strength and armaments. Now that Porter had died, the most important thing at present was to return and decide how to split the benefits. Those heavily wounded right now would be eliminated when it was time to cut up the fatty meat.
Qianye finally heaved a sigh of relief as he watched the arachne soldiers retreat. He had never imagined that he would be able to escape the perilous situation so easily. He felt that his luck was pretty good since he was expecting to sustain more injuries before being able to break out of this encirclement.
Qianye retrieved Porter’s arachnid crystal and returned swiftly to Silverflow Fjord without seeking more battles.
Silverflow Fjord wasn’t affected by the bloody battle and was still fairly peaceful. Qianye recuperated some time and dealt with the injuries on his body before setting out. He drove the motorcycle over the vast wilderness and hurried back to Blackflow City.
The interior of Blackflow was just as Qianye had left it. The atmosphere was somewhat tense, but things were still relatively peaceful. There were many adventurers, mercenaries, and soldiers in the city, and most were here for the high military contribution rewards, prepared to fight risking life and limb. Those fortunate enough might be left with a sizeable fortune after this battle and never again have to worry about food and lodgings for life.
A large batch of people had escaped the Iron Curtain when it first appeared. Now, however, there were more people arriving in Blackflow than those who had left. The bloody battle had just begun, so a supply base like Blackflow was a godsend.
The adventurers and mercenaries naturally weren’t easy to deal with, but few dared to stir up trouble in Blackflow City. Their eyes were extremely fierce—they had long since discovered that there were more soldiers inside Blackflow than in any other city. At this moment, the reinforcements from the nearby divisions had already arrived, bringing Dark Flame’s regular soldier count to one and a half times that of an ordinary independent division.
Moreover, the Dark Flame soldiers patrolling the entire city were clad in superior equipment almost comparable to the imperial regular army. Barring for those who were too blind, none of the mercenaries dared cause a ruckus under such circumstances.
There were also aristocratic combat units passing through the city, but the surprised men quickly retracted their pride after hearing that the division commander was actually Duke You’s granddaughter, Zhao Yuying.
After returning to Blackflow City, Qianye assembled the high-ranking officers to inquire about the present situation and found out that everything was normal. Regarding defense, three out of the four stronghold cannons had already been modified. The last one was half done and should be completed in three more days. Blackflow City’s defenses would reach new heights after the four stronghold cannons were completely remodeled. At the very least, it would not be inferior to an imperial border city.
Qianye felt somewhat relieved after listening to the reports. At this moment, he heard a series of rumbling sounds outside. He got up to the window and peered out to find several heavy combat vehicles and armored military trucks loaded with soldiers leaving the camp in a single file.
“What’s going on?” Qianye inquired.
Free hunting was the main theme among the many expert participants of this bloody battle. Troops without an expert to oversee them had little impact, and it was almost equal to sending them to their deaths—just like how Qianye had entered Black Nest on his own and killed all the guards there.
Song Hu replied from the side, “The caravan dispatched by the Seventh Young Master has arrived and will enter the Iron Curtain soon. This unit is heading out to receive them.”
“The materials have arrived?”
“Yes, the materials this time are quite important since they include components for the stronghold walls and a small kinetic tower. Seventh Young Master has already dispatched his most powerful guards, but the situation inside the Iron Curtain is difficult to ascertain. That’s why I acted on my own in dispatching an armored unit to support them,” Song Hu explained.
Qianye nodded. Song Zining had given him a surprise at the critical moment—these materials were originally due to arrive several months later—he hadn’t expected the latter to ship the goods at lightning speed. It seemed Song Zining had made use of some major connections in order to achieve this.
Qianye was now free since there was nothing major in Blackflow City. He thus drove a jeep alone toward the Trinity River County capital in order to hand in his military contributions.
The county capital, at this moment, was incomparably lively. There were busy craftsmen all over the walls, and new cannon towers had sprung up one after another. Its four main gates were wide open, and the flow of people continued day and night without rest.
The empire had established a tallying center for military contributions here. As such, the city had become a gathering place for all the hunting parties in the surrounding battlefields—no less than tens of thousands of mercenaries and adventurers had converged therein.
Unless they were completely crazy, the weaker dark race combat units would steer clear of this region.
Qianye saw a crowd at the city gates as he arrived at the county capital on his jeep. The crowd leaving and entering the city was in chaos and refused to make way for one another. There were sounds of quarrel mixed in with the sound of fists striking flesh. The expeditionary army guards only watched the show from one side and seemed to have no intention of interfering. They were even commenting on the developments with laughter.
Qianye was also blocked within the stream of people amidst the chaotic scene and couldn’t move his car for quite a while.
Qianye jumped down from the vehicle with a cold expression and pushed past the crowd to arrive at the scene of conflict. The parties in contention were a mercenary band and an aristocratic combat unit. Judging from their family crest, this so-called nobility was merely a landowning household. The squad’s strength was also rather mediocre, and there was nothing to praise about them apart from their uniform equipment.
The landowning household squad was shouting loudly, repeating their noble rank and family name as though they themselves were the nobles. But this was Evernight—the major clans and families from other continents might have some deterring effect, but a small landowning household held no weight at all. Their name wasn’t even as useful as that of a current expeditionary army officer.
Regardless of location, mercenaries and adventurers who earned a living with their lives on the line were always cruel and untamed. They would, at most, need to hide away in the wilderness or go to a new city after committing a crime. This landowning household squad was only equal to the mercenaries in strength, so how could they force the other party into submission?
The two parties had already progressed from spewing out curses to the verge of actual fighting. They were currently hitting each other with fists, but weapons would soon be drawn if this dragged on.
The city gates became even more obstructed as more and more people came to watch the liveliness. Qianye had no time to waste here. He shouted with a heavy expression, “Go to the side if you guys want to fight. Don’t block the road!”
Qianye’s voice wasn’t high, but everyone heard him clearly. Moreover, everyone felt their hearts beat faster and their chests began to tighten as though a big rock were pressing over it.
The mercenaries knew who they could and could not afford to provoke. Qianye’s shout clearly displayed his deep and resounding origin power. After seeing the expeditionary army insignia on Qianye’s uniform, they immediately withdrew from the conflict with apprehensive expressions.
These mercenaries were clear that, with Qianye’s strength, his position in the expeditionary army must be fairly high. The expeditionary army was the local tyrant of Evernight Continent, an entity they were most unwilling to offend.
However, the landowning household squad didn’t care about such things. They became furious after seeing the mercenaries give way and started to give chase with punches and kicks. It seemed these people actually had no intention of letting the other party go, even after victory.