Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 54: Minor Victory

Heavy cannons rumbled on, and this time, they contained ordinary shells. Balls of flame erupted amidst the vampire ranks, each of them blasting away a dozen-odd blood thralls.

Although the heavy artillery blasted with great vigor, their actual destructive power was rather limited. Because of humans’ frequent use of cannons in battle, the dark races normally spread themselves out in a scattered formation when charging.

Moreover, blood thralls were purely expendable cannon fodder for consuming enemy ammunition, and the vampires wouldn’t feel distressed no matter how many of them died. But such a wide-coverage barrage was effective against vampire warriors who usually hid among the blood thralls charging toward the enemy camp.

The middle to low-ranking dark race warriors wouldn’t dare take direct cannon fire despite their strong bodies. Their evasive movements were much nimbler than ordinary blood thralls and would usually be spotted by the human race snipers, turning them into firing targets.

At this moment, Viscount Thomas had fallen into a predicament—most of the blood thralls had been immobilized by the star shell just now, and the entire formation could no longer press forward. If he ordered the army to continue their advance, the vampire warriors would be completely exposed before Dark Flame’s cannons, but they would suffer continuous cannon fire if they were to hold their ground.

Even the thinly spread formation wouldn’t last long under the continuous plowing of the artillery barrage. Thomas opened his still-teary eyes and entered a state of complete fury. He pointed forward and roared, “Kill! Kill all those despicable humans!”

This was a signal for an all-out attack. The vampire warriors began to charge under the viscount’s orders—they displayed extreme speed and agility as they rushed toward Dark Flame’s defensive line even faster than a cheetah.

Qianye raised his fist and pointed forward. The order was passed on like a relay, and Dark Flame’s light and heavy weaponry began to blast out in unison, mowing down the first row of vampire warriors like grass.

The vampires began to retaliate at the same time. The characteristic timber of their origin guns reverberated continuously as beams of origin light streaked across the night sky and landed on the defensive position. The quality of the vampire elites came into display at this moment. Very few of them used gunpowder weapons, and their origin bullets almost seemed to trace back along the trajectory of the projectiles fired from Dark Flame guns, seemingly poised to drill into the muzzles.

Dark Flame suffered hundreds of casualties in mere moments.

Qianye’s expression remained unchanged and continued to observe the situation in silence.

Under the provocation of terrifying enemies, Dark Flame’s warriors fired an overflowing torrent of bullets toward the front. The dense barrage of bullets formed a flaming net in the darkness of the night which soon enveloped the vampire warriors.

Vampire warriors fell continuously no matter how they moved or shifted. They were also retaliating, and almost every bullet would find a mark. However, the casualties they were able to inflict grew smaller and smaller.

Snipers like Zhu Wuya and Tu Shiqing were firing with all their might—even high-ranking warriors with lightning-fast agility could hardly escape their shots.

In the end, the vampire warriors still made it past the zone of death and arrived near the battle line. Numerous black shadows were immediately flung into the frontline, followed by a world-shaking explosion. Its might wasn’t at all inferior to Dark Flame’s heavy artillery barrage, and might even be more powerful in certain areas.

Vampire grenades were just that powerful no matter when they were used.

But seeing the few exploding balls of flame, Zhao Yuying spat and jeered, “Just these few toys? As expected of rural vampire bastards, so poor.”

“I’ll have to cry if they’re rich.” Qianye displayed some rare humor.

Hundreds of vampire warriors had rushed up the defensive position in an instant, and the battle quickly turned into a melee. One after another, Dark Flame officers issued battle cries and jumped out to meet the incoming enemy in battle.

Far in the distance, Viscount Thomas let out a shrill cry, whereupon the vampire warriors who had charged into the defensive position split into two. Some vampires held their original positions and engaged the enemy, covering for the others who quickly pushed deeper into the defensive position. It seemed they wanted to create confusion in Dark Flame’s battlefront and also destroy the snipers and heavy cannons that were usually positioned at the back.

However, Dark Flame wasn’t an ordinary unit. This was especially true for the three regiments Qianye had brought this time—the proportion of fighters in them far surpassed ordinary expeditionary army units. The high-ranking vampire warriors who had charged in found themselves surrounded by countless fighters.

Viscount Thomas noticed the multicolored origin power radiance within Dark Flame’s position. Although the enemy ranks weren’t excessively high, they were capable of drowning out his own warriors with numbers alone. Moreover, he had never seen any expeditionary army unit with so many fighters!

At this moment, even ordinary people who knew nothing of warfare could see that the vampire warriors who had rushed in would soon be annihilated.

The viscount looked left and right. His entire force was already engaged in battle, and only his personal guard unit remained around him.

It would be their turn after the completely surrounded vampire warriors were finished off. Thomas hesitated for a moment and then let out a mournful whistle which represented a retreat. He then turned around and ran into the darkness of the night.

In Viscount Thomas’ heart, it wasn’t considered a defeat as long as he himself was alive. As for the warriors and descendants, it wasn’t important no matter how many had died. He could still recover his strength with a bit of time and resources. The blood thralls, on the other hand, weren’t considered a loss at all.

Zhao Yuying suddenly glanced at her side as Thomas began to escape, only to find that Qianye had disappeared at some point.

It was at this time that a vampire warrior staggered past numerous interceptions and arrived before Zhao Yuying. This was a blood knight—he had long since become drenched in blood, and there was a large sinister looking wound across his chest. However, his powerful vampire vitality allowed him to keep on fighting.

His eyes immediately lit up after seeing Zhao Yuying and charged up while waving his sword. Apparently, he wished to drag someone important along with him to the grave.

Unfortunately, Zhao Yuying was too much for him to handle. She didn’t even raise her hand and only spat out in a disgusted manner—the saliva projectile shot through the blood knight's forehead and actually produced a cross-shaped hole amidst a gush of fresh blood.

The blood knight’s eyes immediately lost all spirit, and the body gradually collapsed after taking a few steps forward from the inertia.

All the Dark Flame soldiers around Zhao Yuying revealed expressions of fear and distanced themselves secretly. She had actually spat a desperate and fierce blood knight to death with a mouthful of saliva. They probably wouldn’t believe it had they not seen it with their own eyes.

The fight within the Dark Flame position gradually calmed down after the blood knight fell. Most of the vampires had already died in battle, and a portion of them chose to surrender. There were also a small number who broke through the siege and disappeared into the night, not daring to look back.

Thomas was running quickly through the distant forest, his speed much faster than a high-ranking werewolf. The landscape and darkness posed not as obstructions but were, instead, the best covers for him.

He cursed Dark Flame maliciously in his heart as he ran. He wasn’t that worried about his own safety because he was already safe after running this far. Thomas didn’t believe any human could catch up to him under present conditions.

However, he came to a sudden halt after rushing out of a forest—Qianye was standing quietly not so far in the distance, waiting for his arrival.

Thomas recognized him as the commander of Dark Flame but didn’t know how this person had suddenly appeared here to intercept him. He had seen Qianye issuing instructions in the Dark Flame position just before he set out.

Thomas roared furiously, sped up, and pounced straight toward Qianye. Immediately after moving forth, he drew his origin handgun and blasted straight ahead.

However, he felt a sudden burst of intense pain in his chest just as he was about to pull the trigger. This caused his hand to shake, and the muzzle was raised upward—a beam of origin power shot toward an unknown direction. The viscount endured the pain in his heart and looked up with great difficulty, just in time to find that a double-barreled handgun had appeared in Qianye’s hand and was aimed at his head!

Thomas’ expression grew increasingly fierce as he suddenly let out a resounding scream.

Qianye felt a fit of dizziness as the strong origin power fluctuations in the dark viscount’s cry rushed into his central nervous system. Qianye simply closed his eyes and relied on his instincts to pull the trigger. Thomas’ anguished howl was mixed in with the timber of the Twin Flowers.

The dizziness had subsided when Qianye opened his eyes, but the vampire viscount had already arrived before him. Thomas’ right shoulder and arm were badly mangled, and the wound was charred black as though it had been burned. Apparently, the Twin Flowers had injured the viscount seriously despite the slight deviation.

Thomas had paid a hefty price to draw close to Qianye. He naturally wouldn’t let go of this opportunity and slashed out with the sword in his intact left hand. At the same time, his two blood-sucking fangs emerged, ready to be sunk into Qianye’s body at the first opportunity.

Qianye reached out with his right hand and easily grabbed Thomas’ wrist. The sword stopped immediately mid-air and couldn’t advance a single inch.

Thomas was greatly astonished. How could a mere human possess such strength?!

He noticed Qianye’s left arm move past him and, without thinking, bit down. His two blood-sucking fangs sunk deep into Qianye’s arm!

Thomas stared fixedly at Qianye with a flash of cruel excitement in his eyes. Although this human was strong, he apparently lacked experience fighting against vampires. Ordinary people simply wouldn’t dare engage a vampire in barehanded melee. That was because a human, once bitten, would turn into a blood thrall.

Qianye was undoubtedly a powerful opponent. Thomas couldn’t help but become excited when he thought of the former turning into a blood thrall.

However, he suddenly realized that Qianye’s expression was calm, so calm that it made him feel cold. It was as though the arm that had been bitten wasn’t his own. Thomas sucked forcefully, but he simply couldn’t taste the intoxicating blood. He wanted to inject toxins into Qianye, but the venom wouldn’t flow out as though his fangs were blocked.

At this moment, Qianye’s arm was as hard as a rock, and Thomas’ fangs were sealed in stone.

Qianye sneered and suddenly pulled his left arm away from Thomas’ mouth with the two blood-sucking fangs still nailed on it. Even the flesh at their roots was still wiggling.

Thomas let out a blood-curdling howl of anguish and fell rolling onto the ground. Having one's blood-sucking fangs pulled out wasn’t something a vampire could withstand.

Qianye stepped on Thomas with one leg, drew his Scarlet Edge, and pierced the latter’s blood core.

Thomas stared fixedly at Qianye with a contorted smile. Blood was flowing out of his mouth, but he still managed to speak with great difficulty. “You’ve been bitten and won’t live long. You’ll be burnt to death by those of your race!”

“You’re overthinking,” Qianye replied indifferently. Scarlet Edge’s absorption was suddenly increased, and Thomas’ essence blood flowed out along the blade’s edge.

The viscount’s expression changed drastically as he shouted in great terror, “You! You’re also a descendant of sacred blood?! Why?!”

He never got his answer because the Scarlet Edge had shattered his blood core and drained him of all essence blood. Meanwhile, Qianye had never made it a habit to satisfy the enemy’s curiosity.

He got up and felt as if his body were bathed in warm water. This inexplicably comfortable sensation was a sign of overflowing essence blood. He wouldn’t be able to absorb anymore if he were to meet another powerful enemy.

Qianye glanced at his surroundings and found that it was completely silent. After confirming that no one had slipped by, he picked up Thomas’ body and went back.