Chapter 1270: The Storm Duke
The region of unrest to the west of the Jade Sea boiled over when squadron after squadron of wars.h.i.+ps arrived.
These airs.h.i.+ps landed on the vast plains, unloading a steady stream of fully-equipped human warriors. These troops were even better outfitted than Dark Flame’s mercenaries. The lineup almost seemed fit to fight a small war, but the many different colors made them look a bit messy.
These people were the private armies of the Imperial aristocracy. At first, they were positioned in Expansive, but now, they had been transferred to the west.
A big, bearded general gazed into the distance and saw smoke rising over the horizon. He said with a wave of his hand, “You, bring a couple dozen men and take a look.”
The aide responded to the order, then drove away with some of the family’s warriors. Several other off-road vehicles also set out in the same direction.
That bearded general spat. “d.a.m.ned lot, fighting for such minor contributions!”
As the vehicles grouped up, they saw a group of werewolves running in their direction. One of the private soldiers grabbed the mounted gun out of habit and opened fire, the stream of bullets quickly approaching the werewolf at the front.
“Halt! Hold your fire!” One of the werewolf warriors shouted, but the private soldier paid him no heed.
That warrior slammed the machine gun operator away, turned the gun at the surrounding jeeps, and began firing. The gunfire struck the soil near the cars, sending dust and gravel all over the vehicles. This startled the private soldiers, causing them to turn around.
Seeing that he had forced the machine gunners to stop, he shouted, “These are our tribesmen, Sire Qianye’s subjects! Are you outsiders planning to betray him?”
“What a joke! When did Sire Qianye become a werewolf? We’re the outsiders?” The private army soldiers mocked the werewolf, but they stopped firing.
A fierce-looking veteran pointed his spear at the werewolf, saying, “I don’t care about all that c.r.a.p, but I will kill you if you aim your gun at me again! Sire Qianye will not protect a wild dog who fires at his allies.”
The werewolf soldier put down the machine gun and said, “You won’t last long, either, if you ma.s.sacre our tribesmen. Don’t forget about your wife and children, don’t make them collect your corpse.”
While the two parties were facing off, one of the private soldiers shouted, “Werewolves! A lot of them!”
Everyone turned around to see a cloud of dust rising over the horizon, converging into the shape of a dragon as it rolled over the land. As for how many werewolves were running in that formation, no one knew.
This time, that werewolf soldier’s expression changed. He shouted, “Those are the Storm Duke’s men! We have to stop them!”
“Are you crazy!? How do we stop them with this small group?”
The fierce veteran said, “He’s right. Our brethren at the rear just landed and haven’t gathered up. No one will survive if the enemy charges them!”
An officer jumped out from one of the cars at this moment. “Who’s the youngest here? Step forward. Drive one of the cars back to report the situation here. Everyone else, a.s.sume defensive positions, we fight to the death! Don’t think about dying with an intact corpse if we fall into those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds’ hands.”
At this point, he turned toward that werewolf soldier and said, “Sorry, I wasn’t talking about you.”
The werewolf replied, “It’s fine, we’ll get eaten up all the same if we’re captured.”
The officer was somewhat surprised. At this point, the soldiers were already moving out according to their orders. The officer picked a position and lay p.r.o.ne on the ground, then said while taking aim, “I thought werewolves didn’t eat their kind.”
“I heard that’s the case on the upper continents, but here, we might starve if we don’t.”
The officer wanted to ask if the werewolf had eaten his kind before, but he ultimately stopped short of it.
The werewolf warrior seemed to have guessed his thoughts. “Most werewolves would rather die in battle or in the mountains than touch their kind. I am the same.”
At this point, the veteran said, “I wouldn’t mind having a werewolf friend if we survive.”
The werewolf laughed. “I already have quite a few human comrades.”
The officer shook his head, saying, “We can discuss that in our next lives. None of us will live today.” His expression was calm, almost as though he was complaining about the food.
Everyone became quiet. The dozens of soldiers a.s.sumed a scattered formation and waited for the werewolf army to arrive.
A shade of light yellow appeared in the dust cloud, quickly increasing in number until they formed a deluge of yellow. Countless werewolves in light yellow armor charged out of the dragon-shaped dust cloud and charged at the airs.h.i.+ps landing in the distance.
The airs.h.i.+p sentries had already noticed the situation, and the fleet was starting to panic. Some of the airs.h.i.+ps halfway in descent hovered in the air, not knowing whether they should continue landing. The forces that had emerged from the airs.h.i.+p charged forward to try and build a temporary defensive line.
All experienced officers felt despair upon seeing the scale of the incoming army.
At the very front, the veteran swallowed hard despite having prepared for death. “So G.o.dd.a.m.n many!”
The officer said, “Makes no difference, we’ll die either way.”
The veteran muttered, “This isn’t the first time, but this daddy still feels afraid.”
The officer said, “So do I.”
The veteran was surprised. “I thought you were never afraid of anything.”
“I just didn’t say it. That is why I’m a major and you’re a second lieutenant.”
“Isn’t it because of your cultivation?”
“… That’s why you’re still a second lieutenant.”
The torrent of yellow arrived, the werewolves’ footsteps shaking the ground as they ran. Those lying p.r.o.ne on the ground could hardly keep their guns steady. Instead of shooting in a rush, the soldiers waited patiently until the werewolves were in a certain firing range before opening fire.
Every soldier poured out every bit of origin power and ammunition they had. However, their firepower was simply too weak compared to the werewolf army, so weak that they couldn’t even slow down the enemy’s charge.
The solemn officer shot to his feet and fired a final round from his hand cannon. The moment that origin sh.e.l.l left the chamber, his face went pale and he could no longer stand firm. Even so, his right hand reached for the dagger at his waist.
The cannon sh.e.l.l flew into the werewolf army and erupted in an earth-shattering blast. The explosion sent dust and gravel hundreds of meters into the air, along with countless werewolves. The army’s momentum faltered for a moment!
The officer was dumbfounded. He hadn’t imagined that a single shot from his cannon would be so terrifying. That wasn’t like a hand cannon at all but rather a concentrated fire from ten heavy cannons. Even a volley like that might not produce such an effect.
He gazed at the enemy, then at his hand cannon, puzzled as to what had happened.
It was at this moment that a second earth-shattering explosion began, the shockwave throwing countless werewolves into the air. The charging vanguard had taken yet another head-on blow.
The officer looked up as a ma.s.sive shadow flew past his head, only to see an unimaginably large wars.h.i.+p appear in the sky. That ma.s.sive thousand-meter vessel was almost like a floating city.
“The Martyr’s Palace!” someone cried out. The fame of Qianye’s airs.h.i.+p had long since shaken the world. The gigantic wars.h.i.+p body and its void-colossus-like appearance became the topic of fervent discussions. Despite not having seen it before, some were immediately able to recognize this legendary war vessel.
The officer finally realized that the two ma.s.sive explosions had nothing to do with his hand cannon. They were actually attacks from the Martyr’s Palace.
The Martyr’s Palace slowly lowered its alt.i.tude and opened its side cannon ports, weaving a terrifying net of firepower over the werewolf vanguard battalion. The entire area was turned into a land of death.
The Storm Duke’s forces were numerous yet scantily equipped. They might be a bit stronger than the Jade Sea werewolves, but not to any significant extent. This kind of primitive force lacked strategic nodes and was easily ma.s.sacred by the Martyr’s Palace and its sub-fleet-level firepower.
Even the bravest of warriors wouldn’t be willing to throw away their lives for nothing. The Storm Duke’s werewolf army finally came to halt, most soldiers gazing at the zone of death in terror.
The Martyr’s Palace slowed down its barrage and finally stopped firing. At this point, soldiers with good eyesight seemed to notice someone standing atop the Earth Dragon’s head.
Under the flag of the werewolf army, dozens of werewolf experts were drawn to that silhouette. They craned their necks in hopes of figuring out what exactly it was, but when the smoke finally dispersed, there was nothing on the Earth Dragon’s head.
“Where is that person? Where did they go?” an impatient chief asked.
A gentle voice rang out in the ears of all the werewolf experts. “I’m here.”
They turned back in shock to find Qianye standing a couple of meters behind them.
“You!” Most werewolf experts didn’t even have the time to react before an unbearable heat washed over them. Their bodies were racked with scorching pain as their vision turned a dark red color and the scenery around them began to distort. It was as though they had fallen into an apocalyptic h.e.l.l. They wanted to struggle, but their bodies felt inexplicably heavy, so much so that even running was a distant dream. The weaker ones were even pressed down to the ground.
This pressure also contained an aura that filled them with dread. This was a fear that came from the depths of their bloodline, an inherent trepidation in the face of an expert who was close to the darkness origins. This fear caused the werewolves to turn limp, reducing their fighting power to sixty percent of their capacity.
“How can this be?” The werewolves had yet to finish digesting their fear when countless intersecting threads of blood appeared in their vision.
The standard of the werewolf army slowly collapsed.
The werewolf soldiers did not continue their charge after the Martyr’s Palace stopped firing. Instead, they gazed at the central command, waiting for their next order. Only when the flag had fallen did they realize that no one within a hundred meters of the central command was standing.
Those werewolf experts and leaders had all turned into corpses.
The wind grew stronger as a powerful suppressive might covered the battlefield. A gigantic voice boomed, “Your Excellency Qianye, treating these tribal warriors in such a way, do you not fear that your name will be tarnished?
Qianye replied calmly, “They have offended me, so that is the fate they deserve. You wouldn’t have appeared if I didn’t punish them, or would you, Storm Duke?”
A whirlwind appeared before Qianye and walking out from it was a tall werewolf elder. His eyes were mysterious, and his creased face was filled with traces of aging. The elder arrived near Qianye and said, “I have appeared.”