Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 20: The Second Battle
“A little too much strength?” Wei Bainian’s tone was suspicious. He had seen Qianye exchange pointers with his personal guards before—the standard military combat technique, in Qianye’s hands, wasn’t at all inferior to those from aristocratic families. How could such a person lose control of his own strength? However, he reacted swiftly and sized up Qianye as he said, “You didn’t advance in rank, but it seems your strength has increased.”
“It seems so.” Qianye nodded. Afterwards, his right leg began to itch and ache uncomfortably as if countless ants were crawling within. He couldn’t help but move it a bit. With a crack, the board beneath Qianye’s foot shattered and left a big hole therein.
Wei Bainian responded swiftly—a yellow beam of origin power radiance extended toward Qianye to help stabilize his body. Otherwise, the room might not last under the latter’s staggering.
Wei Bainian’s expression turned somewhat odd as he glanced at his hand. “Just how much did your strength grow?” The outward extension of his origin power was comparable to solid material. Thus, he clearly felt Qianye’s strength after propping him up. This growth within this short period was extremely shocking.
Naturally, Qianye himself had no answer to this. This kind of change was brought about by the dark golden blood energy. Qianye clearly felt the initiation of a new cycle of strengthening in his body after it occupied the eye-ability rune and the process was still ongoing.
Wei Bainian saw Qianye’s confused expression and broke into a laughter while shaking his head. “This is a good thing. Normally, people in the fighter stage will only see an obvious increase in strength when advancing in rank. Only those with exceptional talent or special arts will gain a couple of extra opportunities between levels. Your gift, the Venus Dawn, had always been one to look down on those at the same level, so it isn’t very surprising to see such a benefit. However, you must make use of this time to get some more training done and adapt to this new strength as quickly as possible.”
“Go, the next battle will probably arrive in two or three days,” Wei Bainian gave it some thought before adding, “remember to bring more supporters into battle this time.”
The smallest of mistakes on the battlefield could lead to disastrous outcomes—every decision was a measure of the distance between life and death—even the smallest of mistakes couldn’t be tolerated. It would, on the contrary, cause him great danger if Qianye couldn’t adapt to his strength immediately. [1]
Qianye nodded in acknowledgment. He sensed Wei Bainian’s concern as the elder, but the philosophy of a Yellow Springs Graduate was to nurture one’s combat abilities in combat. No amount of training could compare to an actual battle.
The minor prelude before the battle thus pa.s.sed by. Hundreds of dark race soldiers appeared outside of Black Clay Town three days later. Just as before, there were no cannon fodder. All of them were regular warriors.
The external defensive fortifications had all been reduced to ruins after the previous battle, and the greater half of the structures within the town had also been destroyed. Despite urgent repairs for the past few days, they could only restore the outward appearance.
The original town gate and tower, for instance, had long since been leveled during the fight with Brahms. Presently, they had raised rows of sharpened stakes as a temporary line of defense. Many other segments of the town wall were also damaged, and some places had completely collapsed. They could only use logs to fill in the gaps as a temporary measure.
Hence by the time Sades Soulsplitter emerged from the swamp, what he saw was a broken Black Clay Town that was even inferior to the larger human settlements. To this three-meter tall, dark grey-furred werewolf, these defensive structures couldn’t be considered a fort at all—even calling them roadblocks was somewhat strained.
A certain werewolf lieutenant colonel ran over and saluted at Sades before reporting, “We’ve confirmed that the defending army in the town before us belongs to a formal numbered unit of the human expeditionary army. Additionally, the battlefield is suffused with the scent of blood belonging to Sir Viscount Brahms and his subordinates.”
Sades let out a cold snort and said, “This means that brainless idiot Brahms and his troops were completely wiped out?”
“It should be so. General Sades, should we wait for reinforcements?”
Sades snorted once more and said coldly, “Why should we wait? The superiors haven’t issued any new orders even after the reports were submitted. Additionally, the lord we’re collaborating with is a mighty count of the Monroe family. I’m sure you’re clear about the consequences of a delay.” He pointed toward Black Clay Town and added, “Must I report that I was dragged down here by such a bunch of ragtags?”
The lieutenant colonel involuntarily lowered his head. A fair amount of friction between werewolves and vampires was usual even when working as allies—neither party accepted the other. However, it was different with the Monroes. This family name wasn’t merely one of the 13 great vampire clans, but it was also acknowledged throughout the whole of the dark world. An influential count of the Monroe clan was sufficient to make the arrogant werewolves maintain a level of respect.
“Brahms’ strength is evident despite his lack of intelligence and even I am not so certain I can beat him for sure. This area is merely a third-rate defensive region under the expeditionary army’s jurisdiction and will have, at most, a couple of champions. How can they not have paid a heavy price to kill the former? I reckon they’re just bluffing right now.” At this point, Sades raised his head and let out a long wolf howl!
A circle of dark red fluctuations spread out rapidly with Sades at the center. All the werewolves immediately felt their hair stand on end as a dark red glow of bloodthirst appeared on their bodies.
Sades let out yet another howl after the battle-cry. This was the command to attack.
The hundreds of werewolves howled in unison before crouching down and das.h.i.+ng toward Black Clay Town. With lightning speed, the distance of a few hundred meters was covered within mere moments.
Great b.a.l.l.s of flame suddenly rose amidst the running werewolves as the rumble of heavy artillery reverberated through the air. Dozens of werewolves were thrown into the air and flung backwards. For the two unlucky victims struck directly by the sh.e.l.l, heads and limbs were blown away instead.
However, such casualties were negligible compared to the whole squad. Not only did the werewolves not reduce their speed, they even began to charge. The stronger leaders, on the other hand, reduced their speed and turned their attention to the cannon placement.
When the second volley arrived, the sh.e.l.ls were shot by officers and exploded in midair. Only three of them landed successfully and killed a few werewolf warriors.
Sades finally began to move after seeing the warriors at the van charge into the town. He advanced toward Black Clay Town in large strides. This werewolf general loved to personally dig out the hearts of his enemies.
A certain werewolf captain brazenly leapt onto the town wall. He sent the defending expeditionary army soldier flying with a swipe of his claws before jumping right into the town. He took two hurried steps but came to an urgent halt after seeing Qianye who had just walked out of a house about ten meters away to block this his path.
The werewolf captain quivered and his hair began to stand on end. The young man before him couldn’t be considered strong even by human standards. However, the heavy armor crudely fastened outside of his warrior attire was clearly part of an arachne armor, and the warhammer in his hand was also the type used specifically by arachne officers. Those things were so excessively heavy that even werewolf officers would rarely choose such an outfit.
His subconscious reaction to the scent of incomparable danger dictated the werewolf captain to retrieve the battle-axe from his back. After all, werewolves weren’t beasts—weapons were certainly much more reliable than fangs and claws at a juncture of life and death.
The werewolf captain growled as he charged at Qianye at full speed.
Qianye’s movements seemed somewhat sluggish and even awkward. He simply swung the warhammer and smashed it toward the incoming werewolf captain.
A sudden whistle resounded from the head of the hammer as it pa.s.sed the point in the arc where it was pointed toward the sky. The werewolf captain simply couldn’t believe his ears—it was clearly a blunt weapon—how was it able to produce such a sound made by sharp weapons tearing through the air? The werewolf howled instinctively and waved the battle-axe with all his might to block the incoming blow.
Only half of Qianye’s attention was on the werewolf captain because all of his limbs were still arching and itching unbearably. There was also a feeling of distension and swelling as if he would only feel better after venting the power within. The warhammer, suffused with a scarlet radiance, landed accurately on the werewolf’s battle-axe.
The once incomparably st.u.r.dy grade two battle-axe, at this moment, was as soft as freshly baked bread. It gave away at first contact and was immediately deformed like melted b.u.t.ter while the warhammer continued its un.o.bstructed descent.
Next to deform was the werewolf’s skull and body.
A deep pit appeared on the limestone road as Qianye’s hammer fell. The werewolf captain and his battle-axe had been smashed deep into the hole, transforming into a mixture of metal, flesh, and blood.
Qianye himself was astonished. The combination of pure strength and origin power could result in such might? Although he had been training constantly for the past three days to gain better control over his new strength, the changes in his body hadn’t stopped, and as such, it was difficult to exercise control over his output.
But according to common knowledge, one had to continuously unload this energy and preferably at full capacity. This would allow the body to thoroughly remember the present state and adapt accordingly.
The battlefield was the best of grinding stones.
Qianye hoisted the heavy hammer and began to search for another battle. A number of werewolves were currently engaged in a desperate battle against a squad of expeditionary army warriors. The strongest among them suddenly raised its head and sniffed hard. Hair on end, it cautiously turned toward the left to see Qianye who had just turned around the corner and was approaching with slow and unsteady steps.
The werewolf’s roar became a whimper after seeing Qianye. It suddenly shook off its opponent and fled with a few groans. The remaining werewolves were also alarmed and turned to glance at Qianye at the same time before running away.
Qianye couldn’t help but feel astonished. He checked himself and found nothing special apart from smoke and bloodstains. This was a battlefield and the intense scent of blood was everywhere.
Qianye walked toward the expeditionary army squad and was just about to ask about their situation when he saw some soldiers turn pale with terror reflected within their eyes. Some fell back and pa.s.sed out immediately.
“What’s wrong?” Qianye asked bluntly. Pa.s.sing out in battle was unforgivable for any reason.
A certain captain ground his teeth and stepped out. He was trembling with fear as he said, “Commander Qianye, s-sir… I don’t know why, but we’re all… scared of you.”
Qianye frowned and deliberately withdrew his aura. As expected, the soldiers’ expressions took a turn for the better. At this point, Qianye was extremely puzzled—it seemed the problem was with himself. In terms of suppressive might, he hadn’t even reached the champion level. Neither did he sense any change in the origin power aura emanating from him.
Qianye waved his hand and instructed the soldiers to head over to support another weak area. He, himself, headed toward an arachne in the distance. The rank seven arachne actually took two steps back after turning around to see Qianye approaching.
[1] 差之毫厘失之千里 Lit. An error of one milli-Li (0.5 meters) could result in the loss of a thousand Li (500,000 meters)