Chapter 44: One Hit Kill [Volume 2 – Bloom of the Other Shore Flower]
Qianye balanced the assembled rifle and quickly got a good feel for it. It was not an average origin gun, but rather, it was constructed by the Red Scorpion Corps, a custom-made Red Scorpion gun. It was standard equipment for Red Scorpion soldiers.
The model came from the Empire’s Firebird Group, its speciality being high precision and power. Its origin power conversion rate was almost fifty percent, making it belong to high-grade standard origin guns. However, the Scorpion Needle Custom that the Red Scorpion Corps had constructed had gone through redesign and adjustment in major areas, which increased its accuracy and power at the cost of decreasing its speed.
This suited Red Scorpion’s style: Only move when it’s a one hit kill.
Qianye lightly held the gun’s grip, feeling as if he were meeting an old friend again. Even when he was in need of money the most during his escape, he didn’t sell a single piece of the gun. After settling down in Lighthouse Village, Qianye buried it deep down below the lobby of the bar. It had been a long time since he last saw it.
Now, it was time to use this Scorpion Needle again.
As a former Red Scorpion, Qianye’s target wasn’t average vampires, but the titled, high-ranking vampire.
Qianye carried his Scorpion Needle on his back, and took out his Kohler Pistol to attach a silencer. Then, he left the bar and followed the path he and Nighteye had decided on beforehand.
Soon after, a few vampire soldiers completely covered in black robes appeared outside Lighthouse Village.
One of them sniffed the air, and said in a hoarse voice, “Nighteye already left this place. She is heading west. Quickly, inform Sir Wilde. We will give chase.”
A vampire soldier standing to his side said, “To the west? I remember there was a meeting place for a new gang there. She doesn’t want to go to the new gang’s territory, does she? If this is the case, then this is another thing the Council can use to attack us.”
“We don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff. There will naturally be grand figures who will worry in our place! What we need to do is capture Nighteye and bring her back. If we lose her, however, that will be our responsibility.”
The vampire soldiers began to move westward at a rapid pace. They separated into a huge fan-shaped formation, creating a large net without any holes, and headed in the direction Nighteye ran.
Their running speed was extremely fast, even faster than werewolves in the wilderness. In addition, they were able to maintain this running speed for an entire day and night without rest. This was a vampire soldier. Their race had extremely high talent and were naturally powerful, thus being natural enemies to humans.
At the top of a large tree in the distance, Qianye was holding his tactical scope and looked out over the wasteland under the shroud of night. The scope had a strange, pale-red field of view. Inside the lens, one could see the rapidly moving outlines of raging flames.
This was a multi-purpose tactical scope that Red Scorpions were equipped with. It had a mechanism that specifically targeted vampires and werewolves. When this mechanism was equipped, it could detect vampires’ unique blood power, making them appear in Qianye’s field of view as the red outlines he had seen before.
Qianye quietly counted the number of enemies, “One, two … nine in total! Alright, they really committed a lot of resources to this. The woman who calls herself Nighteye doesn’t seem to be as simple as she claimed! Hunter? Hmph!”
He glanced at the wilderness again, and cautiously changed his scope to werewolf vision, but couldn’t find any other suspicious signs.
Amongst the nine vampire soldiers, he did not see any signs of the titled vampire, which meant that these soldiers were only the vanguard. The main force still remained behind them. Their means of chasing Nighteye was reflected similarly. They did not impatiently chase after her, but separated and slowly began surrounding her position while remaining within tracking range.
This was exactly what Qianye wanted. He had already prepared to fight these scattered, dark-blooded creatures. Qianye put away his tactical scope and jumped down the large tree, disappearing into the boundless night.
Under the night sky, a vampire soldier cautiously walked into a valley. The valley wasn’t big, but its terrain was complex. Spread throughout the valley were bramble bushes and not a small number of caves. Many scavengers made this area their temporary dwelling.
When scavengers camped out, they would habitually create small traps in their surroundings, but when they leave, they often do not clear out their traps. After many years, this valley had become filled with danger at every step, being very difficult to pass through.
Scavengers had an understanding of each other, so they could to see through signs of traps others had laid down. This standard vampire soldier, on the other hand, did not have such an ability. Soon after he entered the valley, he had already been soaked by foul-smelling water and acid, and was injured on his calf by another trap.
He was extremely furious.
A small injury like this did not actually hinder a vampire’s strong body, but the acid and foul-smelling water made him feel extremely disgusted. Every vampire was born with an obsession over cleanliness! However, he had to thoroughly search this valley, because this was the best place for someone to hide. If Nighteye was hiding there and he did not find her, then he could only look forward to the severest of punishments.
That was why the vampire soldier continued searching despite his complaints.
The vampire thought that if he could find a scavenger, that would be great. He definitely wouldn’t suck the dirty blood from someone who had been wandering through garbage, but he would spend time torturing these cunning humans!
While walking, the vampire soldier suddenly came into contact with a thin, black string. Before he had time to move his foot back, the string broke!
The vampire soldier wrinkled his brows, vigilantly scanning his surroundings. He waited for the trap to spring. As long as he noticed them, traps made by scavengers would definitely not overcome him.
However, the moment he opened his eyes to survey the landscape, a silvery flame sprang up a few meters away. In that moment, it released a piercing light!
Seeing such strong light in pitch black darkness of the night, the vampire soldier who naturally had strong night vision screamed and covered his eyes!
He was very experienced in battle, and after receiving this sudden attack, he didn’t even think before he immediately rolled to the side to leave his original spot.
However, when he stood up and prepared to open his eyes to look around, his back chilled. A sharp blade pierced through his back, stabbing deeply into his heart!
When the sharp blade entered his body, the vampire soldier suddenly felt a burning pain inside his chest. He even smelled incineration within his own breath. In that moment, a thought flashed inside his mind, “There is silver on the knife!”
He struggled, but it was futile. He could not even moan lightly, because a powerful hand was gripping his throat.
The vampire soldier finally understood that he had met a strong opponent. Maybe it was that most hateful vampire hunter. Only those with deep understanding of vampires would be able to accurately tear through his heart in one strike and prevent the opposition from even calling for help by clutching his throat. Many humans without experience would cover the vampire’s mouth, then fall to a bite. Even if they killed the vampire in the end, they would still become a blood thrall.
This vampire soldier struggled for a few moments, then collapsed onto the floor, to never move again.
Like a ghost, Qianye appeared from behind him, quietly pulling out his military knife. He then stabbed the body a few more times. He flipped the vampire soldier over and pried open his mouth. There were two complete vampire fangs, a symbol of official members. Any mature vampire would have the strength of at least a rank two Fighter.
Qianye used his knife to pry out the two fangs and threw them in his backpack. Many institutions in the Empire bought these fangs for a high price as a reward for killing vampires. One official vampire soldier’s fangs were worth one imperial gold.
Qianye searched the vampire again and put everything of value inside his bag. He didn’t touch anything else. Weapons used by vampires usually had blood scents that were designed to be tracked, and without suitable methods and tools, destroying the tracking system was very difficult. If one was greedy and took a weapon, then that would essentially be giving all of the vampire’s comrades a clear target.
After using a few minutes to get rid of his tracks, Qianye scurried through the valley in a loop and took out his remaining tin foil bags. These bags were able to create strong flashes of light, making them weapons that could be used to defend against vampires and their extraordinary night vision.
After fulfilling his tasks, Qianye left the valley. In just half an hour, he had already run twenty kilometers and found a hidden cave to conceal himself.
Qianye put on his military gloves and carefully took a bag of liquid silver from his backpack. He forcefully resisted the eruption of his blood and dipped his saber into the liquid for a few moments. He then let it dry and returned it to its sheath, and just like this, he finished preparing for his next battle.
After this, Qianye closed his eyes and began resting. He was soaked in cold sweat after completing just a few of these simple tasks.
In the distance, Nighteye stopped sneaking around. Her left pupil became blood-colored. In her field of view, she saw a chain composed of seventeen pale links of blood energy, connecting her body to something in the distance.
These were Blood Shackles, a secret art possessed only by pure bloods. With multiple vampires cooperating, the Blood Shackles could connect to their target, but it would suppress both sides’ power level.
The more Blood Shackles there were, the more effective the suppression was. However, both sides experienced this power of suppression, and everyone was heavily restrained. The side that owned the Blood Shackles could use them to suppress a genuine expert by sacrificing a lot of cannon fodder.
In addition, after being locked down by Blood Shackles, there was no real way to escape them. The Blood Shackles would inform both parties of their enemy’s location at all times, so unless one killed all the shackled enemies, one would never be able to escape.
At this moment, Nighteye felt her entire body lighten up a little. A blood chain broke and faded, indicating that an enemy soldier had been killed.
Nighteye looked in the direction of the chain’s path. “He actually killed one? Is this good luck?”
To her, Qianye was truly too weak. It was equivalent to a vampire soldier that had just risen from the newborn rank. Humans were truly so weak.
However, humans were extremely cunning and too good at reproducing. It had been told that during the War of Daybreak, an uncountable number of dark race heroes had suffered at the hands of humanity’s Human Wave Tactics.
The vampires on the other side of the Blood Shackles
Chapter 45: Place of the Decisive Battle [Volume 2 – Bloom of the Other Shore Flower]
Inside another valley, Qianye laid hidden inside the underbrush, looking through the gaps of the blades of grass at the advancing vampire warrior that was searching not far away. The vampire warrior snapped a thin thread with his foot, activated the mechanism as the tin foil bag suddenly exploded. Immediately, a bright silver flame began to burn.
This vampire soldier had slightly faster reaction time than the previous. Right when the light flashed, he had already turned around and closed his eyes so that they were not harmed too badly. Moreover, he had quickly backed away before opening his eyes and starting to search for any enemies in hiding.
Yet, Qianye did not give him an opportunity to recover. The moment the vampire soldier began backing away, Qianye had jumped up and threw a tin foil bag. When the vampire soldier opened his eyes, he saw the tin foil bag a few meters in front of him and Qianye pulling a thin string with his hands. Another flash of light illuminated in front of the vampire soldier’s face!
The vampire soldier ultimately suffered. He screamed with pain, and instinctively covered his eyes.
Qianye pulled out his Kohler pistol, clutching it tightly with his two hands. He emptied the seven bullets within his magazine at once despite the massive recoil, which he recovered his aim in time for every following bullet.
Every bullet landed on either one of the vampire soldier’s hands or his face, but not one was able to penetrate the hands that were still covering his eyes. Two bullets were embedded in his chin bone, but were not able to penetrate through bone either.
Qianye felt his heart chill. What a tough body!
At this distance, guns that used gunpowder had no way of penetrating the body of an high rank vampire soldier. That also implied only Black Scorpion veterans were able to fight one! If Qianye met an advanced vampire soldier in a direct confrontation, he definitely would not have any chance at victory.
However, from the strength of his darkness origin power and his reaction time in battle, Qianye could tell that this vampire truly had the strength of a rank two Fighter. Could it be that he had some sort of special innate aptitude? Qianye’s thoughts shifted quickly, his hands pulling the trigger for the last time without any hesitation.
The vampire soldier had been forced back by the barrage of bullets, which caused him to continuously scream even louder. The bullets were all coated in silver. Once they entered his body, they immediately began corroding his flesh. However, Qianye knew that his bullets were only cheap, silver-coated bullets. Silver-coated bullets could only exacerbate the injuries and would not reach the point of lethality, but real silver bullets were controlled by the army, so he had no way of getting them.
Qianye dove forward and passed the vampire soldier’s front in a flash. Like a ghost, he then circled around to the soldier’s back and stabbed him with a knife smeared with liquid silver. The knife cut through the heart in one jab before Qianye speedily retreated.
The vampire soldier let out a mournful cry, struggled for a moment, and then fell over at last.
Qianye finally released his breath as deep-seated fatigue overwhelmed him. This battle took only a short while, but it exhausted almost half of his origin power. He had used every strategy and trick he knew, consecutively setting traps for his opponents before finally deciding the result of this battle.
However, the cries of this vampire soldier had already spread far and wide. The other vampires were definitely alerted and increased their vigilance. To ambush one again so soon would be much more difficult.
Qianye continued searching the body and found a gold badge inside the vampire soldier’s pocket. On it was a symbol of a crescent moon and a scepter, but Qianye had never seen this symbol before. It might perhaps be some ancient family’s insignia.
Qianye pocketed the badge and then similarly took some of the crystal currency generally usable in dark races that the vampire had brought along with him.
Lastly, Qianye pried out the vampire’s fangs.
This time, he examined them carefully. This pair of fangs was slightly longer than those of low rank vampire soldiers that he had fought before. It also had a finer texture and a higher transparency. The openings for sucking blood and injecting venom were also slightly wider. The accumulation of these minor differences confirmed that the vampire wasn’t an ordinary, but an high ranked vampire soldier.
However, as to why a high ranked vampire soldier had experienced a sudden drop in power, a drop from rank six to rank two, must have other reasons. Perhaps, it have had to do with their pursuit of Nighteye.
Qianye pondered for a moment, then decided not to erase his traces and only adjusted a couple of things and before quietly leaving.
Having lost two high ranked soldiers, the titled vampire definitely wouldn’t easily let the killer escape. Thus, these traces could give clues to that vampire big shot and throw him off in analyzing Qianye’s battle strength.
Within the traces also remained some of Qianye’s scent, which any keen vampire could use to easily track him. This was Qianye’s goal. His true target was the boss of those vampires!
Far away, Nighteye was slightly surprised. Another piece of her Blood Shackles had snapped. She now felt that maybe she should raise her opinion of the little guy known as Qianye. Even though his strength was pretty damn weak, he was obviously extremely cunning. Just the ability to consecutively kill two elite vampire soldiers gave him the qualifications to be placed on par with experienced vampire hunters.
About half an hour after Qianye left, a handsome young man was standing inside the valley. He frowned as he looked at the vampire soldier’s body. Behind him stood four other vampire soldiers who were all slightly trembling at this moment.
This man was dressed in a tuxedo. His slim body, coattail, bowtie, and linen blouse, not a single detail wasn’t perfect. He looked as if he was about to attend a banquet. Under the light of the blood moon, his boots seemed especially dazzling.
He turned around to face a middle-aged vampire soldier, coldly smiling as he said, “So these are the elite soldiers you trained? They weren’t able to chase down Nighteye, and two were killed by a weak human instead! From what I see, our house’s dignity has utterly been lost by you lot!”
The vampire soldier spoke in a low voice, “Sir Wilde, their strength had been suppressed by the Blood Shackles.”
Wilde pointed toward the body’s wound on the backside, where the heart should have been, and sneered, “Even if they were suppressed, their strengths would’ve still been rank two! You see this wound? That human also merely had the strength of a rank two. Don’t tell me the elite soldiers you trained for a few decades couldn’t even defeat a human of the same rank! Are you guys trying to say that the kid who opened a small bar in that little town is actually a soldier from the Broken Wings Angel or something? Or perhaps from one of the other elite corps? Such as the Swords of Radiance, the Red Scorpion, or the Arms of War?”
Under this barrage of remarks, the few vampire soldiers were unable to respond at all.
Wilde coldly laughed for a while, then finally said, “This guy must die! However, I don’t have any confidence in relying on you. I will finish him myself!”
The captain of the soldiers was shocked, and hurriedly dissuaded him, “Sir! You still need to deal with Nighteye!”
Wilde arrogantly said, “That’s not a problem, there’s no way for her to escape. Even if she and that guy were waiting for me together, do you actually think that a rank two human can affect the battle situation between me and her?”
Wilde scanned the four vampire soldiers and wanted to say something, but suddenly looked westward. He gradually revealed a twisted smile as he said, “Ah, look what information the wonderful scent of sacred blood had brought us! It is truly unbelievable. That noble and proud lady Nighteye is actually coming in this direction. Does she want to join hands with that brat? Join hands with a rank two human?”
Wilde especially emphasized phrase “rank two”.
The vampire captain summoned up the courage to say, “Sir, please be careful!”
“Be careful?” Wilde’s smile gradually became ferocious. “Even if I don’t catch Nighteye, there’s no way for her to escape. There are still some unlikable, big dogs that will arrive soon. This area is their paradise!”
“Werewolves? Then Lady Nighteye…”
Wilde coldly interrupted the captain, “My orders were to bring Nighteye back, but they didn’t specify whether she had to be dead or alive!”
Wilde didn’t plan on acting alongside the four soldiers. He believed that these guys who were suppressed down two rank two would only hold him back. Despite being a chain on the Blood Shackles, he still had the strength of a rank five soldier, and was well-matched against Nighteye.
During his battle with Nighteye, there was no place for a rank two insect to interfere. However, he had no problem with killing this insect before he fought Nighteye. This would make him joyful whereas Nighteye, not so much.
Just thinking of that little insect laying in a pool of blood and moaning already gave Wilde uncontrollable pleasure.
However, Wilde very quickly found this chase to be unpleasant, very unpleasant.
Wilde followed the scent and chased after it until he stopped in front of an enormous warship skeleton, his expression becoming extremely ugly.
The enormous skeleton of warship was over one hundred meters in height and one thousand meters in length. It was a Colossus-model main force warship of humans after the War of Daybreak. Now that it had fallen here, it was entirely like the ruins of a small city.
This tiny insect was obviously very cunning, or he would have never chosen this place to hide himself.
Seeing the filthy environment and smelling the pungent scent of metal and other materials that had lingered through all these years without fully dissipating, Wilde rubbed his tormented nose and made a bitter smile as he made his way inside a propulsion pipeline.
This Colossus-model warship truly deserved its name. A person could even stoop and walk through its propulsion pipelines.
Wilde bent over and walked through the enormous propulsion tube for a long time before finally coming out on the other side. What he then discovered, was that it was only a piece of fabric from a shirt that lead him here. However, this scent was much fresher than before, so that little punk couldn’t have left more than twenty minutes ago.
Wilde immediately chased this trail. He was so fast that one would almost be unable to see him. He looked like a mirage traversing the wasteland.
A moment later, Wilde suddenly stopped in his tracks, his expression becoming even grimmer. He was able to feel that Qianye was hiding just in front of him. It seemed that this was the place where the little rascal had chosen as grounds of their final battle. Although, in Wilde’s eyes, the correct phrasing would be a chosen burial ground.
Nighteye also arrived at the other side of the battle ground. She and Wilde were both able to feel each other’s presence, but at this moment, her expression was not much better than his.
Qianye’s choice of location for the final battle, was largest ruin and junkyard near Lighthouse Town.
The smell was immensely putrid. Besides the various types of garbage, there were also a few abandoned factories, while gigantic airships skeletons scattered all over the place. This area used to be the graveyard for airships before the Empire withdrew from the region, and a few hundred years, it had gradually accumulated into a mountain range made of garbage of various compositions.
To high vampires who had mysophobia from birth, while also having an extremely sharp sense of smell, this place was worse than hell.
Wilde’s expression was extremely ugly, but there was no way he could give up on killing Qianye. Two high ranked vampire soldiers had already died in his hands, so as their leader, Wilde had the responsibility to expunge this embarrassment.
“Insect, you better hide well! You’d better not let me find you!” Wilde murmured, finally stepping into the junkyard.
were definitely not low rank soldiers. Within the imperial army, rank six Fighters were already Lieutenant Colonels, capable of leading close to a thousand Fighters, but although each of these vampires originally had power equivalent to a rank five or rank six human Fighter, they were suppressed to mere rank two Fighters after being locked by the Blood Shackles.
From Nighteye’s point of view, these advanced soldiers died to a mere rank two Fighter. They likely died with everlasting regret. However, she stopped thinking about this. To her, the fate of those soldiers was not worth spending more time thinking about.
Nighteye continued to sprint forward under the night sky, quickly covering long distances.
Chapter 44: One Hit Kill [Volume 2 – Bloom of the Other Shore Flower]
Qianye balanced the assembled rifle and quickly got a good feel for it. It was not an average origin gun, but rather, it was constructed by the Red Scorpion Corps, a custom-made Red Scorpion gun. It was standard equipment for Red Scorpion soldiers.
The model came from the Empire’s Firebird Group, its speciality being high precision and power. Its origin power conversion rate was almost fifty percent, making it belong to high-grade standard origin guns. However, the Scorpion Needle Custom that the Red Scorpion Corps had constructed had gone through redesign and adjustment in major areas, which increased its accuracy and power at the cost of decreasing its speed.
This suited Red Scorpion’s style: Only move when it’s a one hit kill.
Qianye lightly held the gun’s grip, feeling as if he were meeting an old friend again. Even when he was in need of money the most during his escape, he didn’t sell a single piece of the gun. After settling down in Lighthouse Village, Qianye buried it deep down below the lobby of the bar. It had been a long time since he last saw it.
Now, it was time to use this Scorpion Needle again.
As a former Red Scorpion, Qianye’s target wasn’t average vampires, but the titled, high-ranking vampire.
Qianye carried his Scorpion Needle on his back, and took out his Kohler Pistol to attach a silencer. Then, he left the bar and followed the path he and Nighteye had decided on beforehand.
Soon after, a few vampire soldiers completely covered in black robes appeared outside Lighthouse Village.
One of them sniffed the air, and said in a hoarse voice, “Nighteye already left this place. She is heading west. Quickly, inform Sir Wilde. We will give chase.”
A vampire soldier standing to his side said, “To the west? I remember there was a meeting place for a new gang there. She doesn’t want to go to the new gang’s territory, does she? If this is the case, then this is another thing the Council can use to attack us.”
“We don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff. There will naturally be grand figures who will worry in our place! What we need to do is capture Nighteye and bring her back. If we lose her, however, that will be our responsibility.”
The vampire soldiers began to move westward at a rapid pace. They separated into a huge fan-shaped formation, creating a large net without any holes, and headed in the direction Nighteye ran.
Their running speed was extremely fast, even faster than werewolves in the wilderness. In addition, they were able to maintain this running speed for an entire day and night without rest. This was a vampire soldier. Their race had extremely high talent and were naturally powerful, thus being natural enemies to humans.
At the top of a large tree in the distance, Qianye was holding his tactical scope and looked out over the wasteland under the shroud of night. The scope had a strange, pale-red field of view. Inside the lens, one could see the rapidly moving outlines of raging flames.
This was a multi-purpose tactical scope that Red Scorpions were equipped with. It had a mechanism that specifically targeted vampires and werewolves. When this mechanism was equipped, it could detect vampires’ unique blood power, making them appear in Qianye’s field of view as the red outlines he had seen before.
Qianye quietly counted the number of enemies, “One, two … nine in total! Alright, they really committed a lot of resources to this. The woman who calls herself Nighteye doesn’t seem to be as simple as she claimed! Hunter? Hmph!”
He glanced at the wilderness again, and cautiously changed his scope to werewolf vision, but couldn’t find any other suspicious signs.
Amongst the nine vampire soldiers, he did not see any signs of the titled vampire, which meant that these soldiers were only the vanguard. The main force still remained behind them. Their means of chasing Nighteye was reflected similarly. They did not impatiently chase after her, but separated and slowly began surrounding her position while remaining within tracking range.
This was exactly what Qianye wanted. He had already prepared to fight these scattered, dark-blooded creatures. Qianye put away his tactical scope and jumped down the large tree, disappearing into the boundless night.
Under the night sky, a vampire soldier cautiously walked into a valley. The valley wasn’t big, but its terrain was complex. Spread throughout the valley were bramble bushes and not a small number of caves. Many scavengers made this area their temporary dwelling.
When scavengers camped out, they would habitually create small traps in their surroundings, but when they leave, they often do not clear out their traps. After many years, this valley had become filled with danger at every step, being very difficult to pass through.
Scavengers had an understanding of each other, so they could to see through signs of traps others had laid down. This standard vampire soldier, on the other hand, did not have such an ability. Soon after he entered the valley, he had already been soaked by foul-smelling water and acid, and was injured on his calf by another trap.
He was extremely furious.
A small injury like this did not actually hinder a vampire’s strong body, but the acid and foul-smelling water made him feel extremely disgusted. Every vampire was born with an obsession over cleanliness! However, he had to thoroughly search this valley, because this was the best place for someone to hide. If Nighteye was hiding there and he did not find her, then he could only look forward to the severest of punishments.
That was why the vampire soldier continued searching despite his complaints.
The vampire thought that if he could find a scavenger, that would be great. He definitely wouldn’t suck the dirty blood from someone who had been wandering through garbage, but he would spend time torturing these cunning humans!
While walking, the vampire soldier suddenly came into contact with a thin, black string. Before he had time to move his foot back, the string broke!
The vampire soldier wrinkled his brows, vigilantly scanning his surroundings. He waited for the trap to spring. As long as he noticed them, traps made by scavengers would definitely not overcome him.
However, the moment he opened his eyes to survey the landscape, a silvery flame sprang up a few meters away. In that moment, it released a piercing light!
Seeing such strong light in pitch black darkness of the night, the vampire soldier who naturally had strong night vision screamed and covered his eyes!
He was very experienced in battle, and after receiving this sudden attack, he didn’t even think before he immediately rolled to the side to leave his original spot.
However, when he stood up and prepared to open his eyes to look around, his back chilled. A sharp blade pierced through his back, stabbing deeply into his heart!
When the sharp blade entered his body, the vampire soldier suddenly felt a burning pain inside his chest. He even smelled incineration within his own breath. In that moment, a thought flashed inside his mind, “There is silver on the knife!”
He struggled, but it was futile. He could not even moan lightly, because a powerful hand was gripping his throat.
The vampire soldier finally understood that he had met a strong opponent. Maybe it was that most hateful vampire hunter. Only those with deep understanding of vampires would be able to accurately tear through his heart in one strike and prevent the opposition from even calling for help by clutching his throat. Many humans without experience would cover the vampire’s mouth, then fall to a bite. Even if they killed the vampire in the end, they would still become a blood thrall.
This vampire soldier struggled for a few moments, then collapsed onto the floor, to never move again.
Like a ghost, Qianye appeared from behind him, quietly pulling out his military knife. He then stabbed the body a few more times. He flipped the vampire soldier over and pried open his mouth. There were two complete vampire fangs, a symbol of official members. Any mature vampire would have the strength of at least a rank two Fighter.
Qianye used his knife to pry out the two fangs and threw them in his backpack. Many institutions in the Empire bought these fangs for a high price as a reward for killing vampires. One official vampire soldier’s fangs were worth one imperial gold.
Qianye searched the vampire again and put everything of value inside his bag. He didn’t touch anything else. Weapons used by vampires usually had blood scents that were designed to be tracked, and without suitable methods and tools, destroying the tracking system was very difficult. If one was greedy and took a weapon, then that would essentially be giving all of the vampire’s comrades a clear target.
After using a few minutes to get rid of his tracks, Qianye scurried through the valley in a loop and took out his remaining tin foil bags. These bags were able to create strong flashes of light, making them weapons that could be used to defend against vampires and their extraordinary night vision.
After fulfilling his tasks, Qianye left the valley. In just half an hour, he had already run twenty kilometers and found a hidden cave to conceal himself.
Qianye put on his military gloves and carefully took a bag of liquid silver from his backpack. He forcefully resisted the eruption of his blood and dipped his saber into the liquid for a few moments. He then let it dry and returned it to its sheath, and just like this, he finished preparing for his next battle.
After this, Qianye closed his eyes and began resting. He was soaked in cold sweat after completing just a few of these simple tasks.
In the distance, Nighteye stopped sneaking around. Her left pupil became blood-colored. In her field of view, she saw a chain composed of seventeen pale links of blood energy, connecting her body to something in the distance.
These were Blood Shackles, a secret art possessed only by pure bloods. With multiple vampires cooperating, the Blood Shackles could connect to their target, but it would suppress both sides’ power level.
The more Blood Shackles there were, the more effective the suppression was. However, both sides experienced this power of suppression, and everyone was heavily restrained. The side that owned the Blood Shackles could use them to suppress a genuine expert by sacrificing a lot of cannon fodder.
In addition, after being locked down by Blood Shackles, there was no real way to escape them. The Blood Shackles would inform both parties of their enemy’s location at all times, so unless one killed all the shackled enemies, one would never be able to escape.
At this moment, Nighteye felt her entire body lighten up a little. A blood chain broke and faded, indicating that an enemy soldier had been killed.
Nighteye looked in the direction of the chain’s path. “He actually killed one? Is this good luck?”
To her, Qianye was truly too weak. It was equivalent to a vampire soldier that had just risen from the newborn rank. Humans were truly so weak.
However, humans were extremely cunning and too good at reproducing. It had been told that during the War of Daybreak, an uncountable number of dark race heroes had suffered at the hands of humanity’s Human Wave Tactics.
The vampires on the other side of the Blood Shackles
Chapter 45: Place of the Decisive Battle [Volume 2 – Bloom of the Other Shore Flower]
Inside another valley, Qianye laid hidden inside the underbrush, looking through the gaps of the blades of grass at the advancing vampire warrior that was searching not far away. The vampire warrior snapped a thin thread with his foot, activated the mechanism as the tin foil bag suddenly exploded. Immediately, a bright silver flame began to burn.
This vampire soldier had slightly faster reaction time than the previous. Right when the light flashed, he had already turned around and closed his eyes so that they were not harmed too badly. Moreover, he had quickly backed away before opening his eyes and starting to search for any enemies in hiding.
Yet, Qianye did not give him an opportunity to recover. The moment the vampire soldier began backing away, Qianye had jumped up and threw a tin foil bag. When the vampire soldier opened his eyes, he saw the tin foil bag a few meters in front of him and Qianye pulling a thin string with his hands. Another flash of light illuminated in front of the vampire soldier’s face!
The vampire soldier ultimately suffered. He screamed with pain, and instinctively covered his eyes.
Qianye pulled out his Kohler pistol, clutching it tightly with his two hands. He emptied the seven bullets within his magazine at once despite the massive recoil, which he recovered his aim in time for every following bullet.
Every bullet landed on either one of the vampire soldier’s hands or his face, but not one was able to penetrate the hands that were still covering his eyes. Two bullets were embedded in his chin bone, but were not able to penetrate through bone either.
Qianye felt his heart chill. What a tough body!
At this distance, guns that used gunpowder had no way of penetrating the body of an high rank vampire soldier. That also implied only Black Scorpion veterans were able to fight one! If Qianye met an advanced vampire soldier in a direct confrontation, he definitely would not have any chance at victory.
However, from the strength of his darkness origin power and his reaction time in battle, Qianye could tell that this vampire truly had the strength of a rank two Fighter. Could it be that he had some sort of special innate aptitude? Qianye’s thoughts shifted quickly, his hands pulling the trigger for the last time without any hesitation.
The vampire soldier had been forced back by the barrage of bullets, which caused him to continuously scream even louder. The bullets were all coated in silver. Once they entered his body, they immediately began corroding his flesh. However, Qianye knew that his bullets were only cheap, silver-coated bullets. Silver-coated bullets could only exacerbate the injuries and would not reach the point of lethality, but real silver bullets were controlled by the army, so he had no way of getting them.
Qianye dove forward and passed the vampire soldier’s front in a flash. Like a ghost, he then circled around to the soldier’s back and stabbed him with a knife smeared with liquid silver. The knife cut through the heart in one jab before Qianye speedily retreated.
The vampire soldier let out a mournful cry, struggled for a moment, and then fell over at last.
Qianye finally released his breath as deep-seated fatigue overwhelmed him. This battle took only a short while, but it exhausted almost half of his origin power. He had used every strategy and trick he knew, consecutively setting traps for his opponents before finally deciding the result of this battle.
However, the cries of this vampire soldier had already spread far and wide. The other vampires were definitely alerted and increased their vigilance. To ambush one again so soon would be much more difficult.
Qianye continued searching the body and found a gold badge inside the vampire soldier’s pocket. On it was a symbol of a crescent moon and a scepter, but Qianye had never seen this symbol before. It might perhaps be some ancient family’s insignia.
Qianye pocketed the badge and then similarly took some of the crystal currency generally usable in dark races that the vampire had brought along with him.
Lastly, Qianye pried out the vampire’s fangs.
This time, he examined them carefully. This pair of fangs was slightly longer than those of low rank vampire soldiers that he had fought before. It also had a finer texture and a higher transparency. The openings for sucking blood and injecting venom were also slightly wider. The accumulation of these minor differences confirmed that the vampire wasn’t an ordinary, but an high ranked vampire soldier.
However, as to why a high ranked vampire soldier had experienced a sudden drop in power, a drop from rank six to rank two, must have other reasons. Perhaps, it have had to do with their pursuit of Nighteye.
Qianye pondered for a moment, then decided not to erase his traces and only adjusted a couple of things and before quietly leaving.
Having lost two high ranked soldiers, the titled vampire definitely wouldn’t easily let the killer escape. Thus, these traces could give clues to that vampire big shot and throw him off in analyzing Qianye’s battle strength.
Within the traces also remained some of Qianye’s scent, which any keen vampire could use to easily track him. This was Qianye’s goal. His true target was the boss of those vampires!
Far away, Nighteye was slightly surprised. Another piece of her Blood Shackles had snapped. She now felt that maybe she should raise her opinion of the little guy known as Qianye. Even though his strength was pretty damn weak, he was obviously extremely cunning. Just the ability to consecutively kill two elite vampire soldiers gave him the qualifications to be placed on par with experienced vampire hunters.
About half an hour after Qianye left, a handsome young man was standing inside the valley. He frowned as he looked at the vampire soldier’s body. Behind him stood four other vampire soldiers who were all slightly trembling at this moment.
This man was dressed in a tuxedo. His slim body, coattail, bowtie, and linen blouse, not a single detail wasn’t perfect. He looked as if he was about to attend a banquet. Under the light of the blood moon, his boots seemed especially dazzling.
He turned around to face a middle-aged vampire soldier, coldly smiling as he said, “So these are the elite soldiers you trained? They weren’t able to chase down Nighteye, and two were killed by a weak human instead! From what I see, our house’s dignity has utterly been lost by you lot!”
The vampire soldier spoke in a low voice, “Sir Wilde, their strength had been suppressed by the Blood Shackles.”
Wilde pointed toward the body’s wound on the backside, where the heart should have been, and sneered, “Even if they were suppressed, their strengths would’ve still been rank two! You see this wound? That human also merely had the strength of a rank two. Don’t tell me the elite soldiers you trained for a few decades couldn’t even defeat a human of the same rank! Are you guys trying to say that the kid who opened a small bar in that little town is actually a soldier from the Broken Wings Angel or something? Or perhaps from one of the other elite corps? Such as the Swords of Radiance, the Red Scorpion, or the Arms of War?”
Under this barrage of remarks, the few vampire soldiers were unable to respond at all.
Wilde coldly laughed for a while, then finally said, “This guy must die! However, I don’t have any confidence in relying on you. I will finish him myself!”
The captain of the soldiers was shocked, and hurriedly dissuaded him, “Sir! You still need to deal with Nighteye!”
Wilde arrogantly said, “That’s not a problem, there’s no way for her to escape. Even if she and that guy were waiting for me together, do you actually think that a rank two human can affect the battle situation between me and her?”
Wilde scanned the four vampire soldiers and wanted to say something, but suddenly looked westward. He gradually revealed a twisted smile as he said, “Ah, look what information the wonderful scent of sacred blood had brought us! It is truly unbelievable. That noble and proud lady Nighteye is actually coming in this direction. Does she want to join hands with that brat? Join hands with a rank two human?”
Wilde especially emphasized phrase “rank two”.
The vampire captain summoned up the courage to say, “Sir, please be careful!”
“Be careful?” Wilde’s smile gradually became ferocious. “Even if I don’t catch Nighteye, there’s no way for her to escape. There are still some unlikable, big dogs that will arrive soon. This area is their paradise!”
“Werewolves? Then Lady Nighteye…”
Wilde coldly interrupted the captain, “My orders were to bring Nighteye back, but they didn’t specify whether she had to be dead or alive!”
Wilde didn’t plan on acting alongside the four soldiers. He believed that these guys who were suppressed down two rank two would only hold him back. Despite being a chain on the Blood Shackles, he still had the strength of a rank five soldier, and was well-matched against Nighteye.
During his battle with Nighteye, there was no place for a rank two insect to interfere. However, he had no problem with killing this insect before he fought Nighteye. This would make him joyful whereas Nighteye, not so much.
Just thinking of that little insect laying in a pool of blood and moaning already gave Wilde uncontrollable pleasure.
However, Wilde very quickly found this chase to be unpleasant, very unpleasant.
Wilde followed the scent and chased after it until he stopped in front of an enormous warship skeleton, his expression becoming extremely ugly.
The enormous skeleton of warship was over one hundred meters in height and one thousand meters in length. It was a Colossus-model main force warship of humans after the War of Daybreak. Now that it had fallen here, it was entirely like the ruins of a small city.
This tiny insect was obviously very cunning, or he would have never chosen this place to hide himself.
Seeing the filthy environment and smelling the pungent scent of metal and other materials that had lingered through all these years without fully dissipating, Wilde rubbed his tormented nose and made a bitter smile as he made his way inside a propulsion pipeline.
This Colossus-model warship truly deserved its name. A person could even stoop and walk through its propulsion pipelines.
Wilde bent over and walked through the enormous propulsion tube for a long time before finally coming out on the other side. What he then discovered, was that it was only a piece of fabric from a shirt that lead him here. However, this scent was much fresher than before, so that little punk couldn’t have left more than twenty minutes ago.
Wilde immediately chased this trail. He was so fast that one would almost be unable to see him. He looked like a mirage traversing the wasteland.
A moment later, Wilde suddenly stopped in his tracks, his expression becoming even grimmer. He was able to feel that Qianye was hiding just in front of him. It seemed that this was the place where the little rascal had chosen as grounds of their final battle. Although, in Wilde’s eyes, the correct phrasing would be a chosen burial ground.
Nighteye also arrived at the other side of the battle ground. She and Wilde were both able to feel each other’s presence, but at this moment, her expression was not much better than his.
Qianye’s choice of location for the final battle, was largest ruin and junkyard near Lighthouse Town.
The smell was immensely putrid. Besides the various types of garbage, there were also a few abandoned factories, while gigantic airships skeletons scattered all over the place. This area used to be the graveyard for airships before the Empire withdrew from the region, and a few hundred years, it had gradually accumulated into a mountain range made of garbage of various compositions.
To high vampires who had mysophobia from birth, while also having an extremely sharp sense of smell, this place was worse than hell.
Wilde’s expression was extremely ugly, but there was no way he could give up on killing Qianye. Two high ranked vampire soldiers had already died in his hands, so as their leader, Wilde had the responsibility to expunge this embarrassment.
“Insect, you better hide well! You’d better not let me find you!” Wilde murmured, finally stepping into the junkyard.
were definitely not low rank soldiers. Within the imperial army, rank six Fighters were already Lieutenant Colonels, capable of leading close to a thousand Fighters, but although each of these vampires originally had power equivalent to a rank five or rank six human Fighter, they were suppressed to mere rank two Fighters after being locked by the Blood Shackles.
From Nighteye’s point of view, these advanced soldiers died to a mere rank two Fighter. They likely died with everlasting regret. However, she stopped thinking about this. To her, the fate of those soldiers was not worth spending more time thinking about.
Nighteye continued to sprint forward under the night sky, quickly covering long distances.
