Chapter 1279: Painful Victory
The forward base outside of the forest with four holy trees was small, but its firepower was fierce. There were actually two mobile kinetic towers supporting eight airs.h.i.+p cannons.
The twenty thousand werewolves were so tightly packed that there was no s.p.a.ce for them to pitch tents. The soldiers could only sleep while lined up on the ground, but fortunately, it rarely rained in the new world, so it wasn’t all that bad.
Small squads of beasts would sometimes emerge from the forest. The base was already quite far from the rear lines, so the s.h.i.+pping of construction materials and supplies would take at least a day’s time. Add to that the construction-work that was underway, it was definitely better to have more comrades than not. There was really no need to think.
That was why none of the soldiers complained about the living conditions. They simply split themselves into two halves and rotated between ch.o.r.es and standing guard. Standing guard was equal to resting.
After Qianye’s return, the entire base went into high alert. The mobile kinetic towers and turrets all powered up, and the ammunition was stacked up.
They didn’t have to wait for all that long before the first wave of the beast army arrived. First to appear were the flying-type beasts and swift-ground-types. Such beasts that would usually take up scouting roles could do nothing against the defensive force.
The strengthened anti-air fire proved its effectiveness as the enemy air attackers fell like rain.
The second wave of heavy-troops arrived half an hour after the first wave was destroyed. Without the support of other land and air units, however, these slow-moving troops were little more than living targets.
Most of them were mowed down before reaching the walls, and the rest were laid to rest at the barricades. Qianye didn’t even need to take action himself. The consumption of ammunition, however, was so shocking that the supply officer’s face turned green.
The third wave of the army, made up of several terror beasts, arrived quite late. Now, this was a fairly complete army corps—the faster troop types among them were moving at a snail’s pace to accommodate the terror beast’s speed.
This was the only unit that possessed any semblance of an army. The lapse in cooperation between the previous two was as wide as the distance between two continents.
Apparently, the six-armed creatures possessed a single weakness whether they were asleep or awake. Even though the six-armed creature was wide awake, its ability to command was sharply reduced after the throne was destroyed.
The squad that this six-armed creature could control directly was barely over ten thousand. Any troops beyond this number, he could only guide them in a certain direction and have them arrive in the form of an army. It was impossible to have them work together or a.s.sign roles to different troop types.
Qianye calmed down quite a bit because the beast army was the strongest in numbers. This small unit of ten thousand was fairly limited in fighting power and had little hope of winning against the firepower of twenty thousand defenders.
Qianye also managed to pinpoint the six-armed commander at the rear. The creature this time wasn’t hiding within the body of a beast, perhaps because he was in an active state. Instead, he was marching with a small escort unit at the rear.
Seeing that the commander could actually move about freely outside of the forest, Qianye immediately charged out after issuing the order to attack.
A battle broke out on the ground and in the sky.
Qianye was fairly experienced in fighting these creatures, but he had always claimed victory by taking advantage of their overprotectiveness toward the holy tree. This was the first real face-to-face battle.
The six-armed general attacked at lightning speed, its six-arms swinging different weapons from all angles. Each of his blows was so powerful that Qianye felt numb after blocking a couple of them.
He was already a vice-duke by ancient vampire standards—it could be said that there were no weaknesses at all after being remodeled by the newfound blood energy. He had also become much stronger, yet he was still suppressed by the opponent in this respect. Even in speed, he didn’t hold that much of an advantage.
Qianye knew that the enemy had taken two Shots of Inception, so he wouldn’t last long with these injuries. This was the reason why Qianye kept holding on without running away, only using Spatial Flash to evade. As for those escort troops, they had been wiped out by his Venus Dawn domain and Life Plunder.
The battle between experts today was a contest of who could last longer. If Qianye failed to slay the six-armed general under such an advantage, he would have to pay a much higher price once the creature had fully recovered and returned with even more troops.
This six-armed creature was extremely powerful, and his strength almost seemed boundless. He fought with Qianye for over half a day, through the air and on the ground—much to the surprise of the soldiers in the fortress.
The beast horde was utterly destroyed soon after Qianye took to the field. Facing absolute suppression in firepower and a numbers disadvantage, these creatures were no match for the well-trained soldiers despite a degree of air-ground cooperation.
None of them could interfere with the fight that followed, so they could only observe from the fortress.
Drawing on the essence blood stored in the Book of Darkness and the occasional bloodboil, Qianye fought with increasing ferocity and showed no signs of fatigue. The six-armed general’s combat techniques were a far cry from Qianye’s, so his consumption was much greater. At around dusk, Qianye finally found an opening and managed to fire a Shot of Inception into his forehead.
The six-armed general fell to the ground, clutching his head. The acc.u.mulated injuries flared up at the same time, causing his aura to decline rapidly from the duke-level to that of a marquis. Qianye didn’t dare act carelessly even then. He unfurled his wings and fired the last, lethal shot he was capable of unleas.h.i.+ng.
Having taken two consecutive shots, the six-armed general realized that it was the end of the road for him. He shot up from the ground and flew straight toward Qianye. There was no way the latter would be caught in such a clumsy attack; he immediately used Spatial Flash to evade to the side.
The general glared ferociously at Qianye, then shot down toward the newly constructed fortress like a meteor!
Qianye was alarmed, but it was too late to stop the creature now. His spatial flash was still recovering and would need a breath’s time for subsequent activation. He could only watch as the general’s large body fell into the fortress and blew up in an earth-shattering explosion!
A cloud of dust filled the air, covering the entirety of the fortress. The kinetic towers were sent flying, and the cannon towers—originally standing above the dust—slowly collapsed. Countless werewolf and human soldiers were blasted into the air, their bodies evidently disfigured.
By the time the dust had settled, most of the fortress was gone, and the land a thousand meters around them was littered with machine parts, debris, and bodies. A pit ten meters in depth had appeared at the center of the fortress, its walls crystallized from the shocking heat.
Ignoring his utter exhaustion, Qianye landed on the ground to save the survivors.
Things only settled down a bit after an entire night’s work. Over half of the twenty thousand soldiers had been killed by the blast, with the remainder injured. Four thousand of them were in a critical state and no longer fit for battle. One of the kinetic towers had been completely destroyed, and the other one was in need of repair.
The loss of these towers meant that the turrets and airs.h.i.+p cannons were now useless. The large number of airs.h.i.+p cannons was an important link in Qianye’s defensive system. Without them, they would not be able to mow down the weaker beast squads, not to mention the casualty rate would rise sharply.
Fortunately, a new batch of supplies arrived at dawn, and with them came over ten thousand reinforcements. Only then were they able to clear the rubble and restore the fortress somewhat. Qianye instructed the transports to bring the injured soldiers and damaged kinetic towers back to base. He himself went back to Evernight World ahead of the pack.
Having sustained such damage, Qianye had no intention of provoking the other forest until the base had been completely stabilized.
Qianye could not endure another self-detonation if the other commander was also wide awake and in a bad mood. He was pretty much on par with the enemy in terms of overall combat strength, so defeating the enemy head-on was still too difficult. It would be almost impossible for him to stop the creature from detonating.
Qianye thought back to the battles since entering the door and secretly shook his head. There was no telling how bad things would go if he hadn’t crippled them in one go and deprived them of the ability to command. Just looking at the state of the latest fortress, it was only natural that the casualty rates would involve terrifying numbers.
The matter of utmost importance at the moment was to secure greater firepower. Such an endeavor required Qianye to head out personally.
After returning to Cerulean Wave City, the first thing Qianye did was summon the aristocracy to a conference. The hall that could fit over a hundred people was filled to the brim, so much so that most of the attendees had to stand. Qianye glanced at the crowd and saw many new faces among them.
Without waiting for Qianye to ask, Yin Qiqi stood up and said, “Mr. Shang is a manager of the Taixing Trading Company, the biggest merchant group in the Empire. Mr. Sun is from the Longyu Trading Company. They arrived on Fort Continent by order of their superiors and wish to express their goodwill in your endeavors. The two merchant groups have expressed great sincerity, this is the list of gifts. I took it upon myself to bring them to see you.”
Qianye took the list and saw that it was full of weapons and armor, resources he needed urgently. “I thank the two of you.”
The two managers bowed deeply, saying, “These are products from our humble companies, just a small token of respect.”
Seeing that Yin Qiqi had taken the initiative, the Kong family’s representative wasn’t willing to be left behind. “Sire Qianye, this Mr. Ji represents the Wugong Workshop, one of the top three arms manufacturers in the Empire. He also comes in good faith.”
The list was filled with all kinds of cannons, sh.e.l.ls, and ballista bolts, but the level of sincerity was slightly inferior to the other two.
Qianye had heard of the Wugong Workshop before. It was one of the Empire’s main weapons suppliers. Who would’ve thought that they would also dispatch a representative to Fort Continent? Judging from Mr. Ji’s head ornament, he was probably ranked third or fourth among the executives. His arrival proved how much importance they attached to this trip.
The three merchant groups had done their homework. They knew exactly what Qianye required and what they could offer him. Having the Kong and Yin families do the introductions proved the complicated relations.h.i.+ps between them.
Qianye liked this kind of straightforward business. He waved the gift-list and said, “Since all of you are here, I’ll just be straightforward about it. I need weapons and ammunition at the moment. The amount for the first batch will be ten times on these lists. What do you think?”
The three managers exchanged glances, then replied in great delight, “No problem at all!”
Manager Ji said, “Our workshop can lower the price by twenty percent from the market price!”
Since even the Wugong Workshop had said so, the other two trading companies could not fall behind. Counting the gifts they had forked out, this deal was closed at more or less a thirty percent discount.
Both parties were satisfied with the deal. At this point, the other families began introducing their contacts—some were merchants, while others were members of the n.o.bility, people who wanted a slice of the cake on Fort Continent. With so many people here, it was only natural that all kinds of people would be present.
Qianye didn’t say much. Song Hui took a step forward and said, “Friends, you must all remember some rules if you wish to do business with our commander.”
“Please tell us, we will surely comply.”
Song Hui said with a smile, “First, all resources will be paid for upon delivery. Secondly, we will pay in the form of produce and ore from Fort Continent or the new world.”
Everyone replied happily, “That’s only natural!”
“Rest a.s.sured, we will find a way to s.h.i.+p everything back. There’s no need for you to worry.”
Song Hui said, “Thirdly, the battlefield is no place for jokes. If your resources do not reach our standards, you will be asked to take them back. Those found pumping up numbers with inferior goods will be punished by military law; do not expect me to consider friends.h.i.+p and sentiments. The families who recommended them will also be removed from Fort Continent.”
Everyone was frozen stiff, and many of them saw their expressions change drastically.