Chapter 1290: Might of Desolate Blaze
In the blink of an eye, the fortress the Moorland werewolves had spent an entire month building was drowned in a sea of fire. A large number of werewolves and laborers could be seen running about in flames.
In truth, over half of the werewolves had managed to escape the fortress, but the blaze raged on and the miserable cries of the dying werewolves could not be suppressed. The will of these bloodthirsty werewolves soon collapsed, and all they wanted now was to flee for their lives.
They wanted to run, but the only exit was the door.
The werewolves made a beeline for the portal, only to find that a steady stream of people was coming out of it. From the looks of it, that was a new squad that just so happened to be entering the new world.
The new werewolves hadn’t even recovered from the discomfort of the spatial tunnel when their senses were filled with fire, heat, and the sound of explosions. They also noticed countless werewolf soldiers rus.h.i.+ng past them and into the door.
That was just the beginning. Chaos befell the “door” in the blink of an eye as soldiers from inside squeezed out and the ones outside started pus.h.i.+ng in.
The worst part was that the chain of command had been entirely paralyzed, and no more orders came from the officers after the first wave. The soldiers who managed to escape only remembered that they had come under a destructive attack. The memory of being slaughtered by the beast army was still fresh on their minds, so much so that they hadn’t realized that the a.s.sailant this time was different.
There were now two parties clas.h.i.+ng at the gate—people on one side were looking to flee, while those on the other could only advance since their orders still hadn’t changed. They kept marching into the door until the path was entirely congested and blocked.
Qianye wasn’t about to let such a good opportunity go. “Prepare the main cannon and load the highest grade anti-personnel shot.”
The cannoneer was a bit surprised. “We only have two of those.”
“Use it!”
Not daring to question Qianye, the cannoneer worked together with a couple of a.s.sistants to load a deep red ballista bolt into the main cannon. The airs.h.i.+p then slowly turned about to face the door. Without even waiting for the cannon to aim, Qianye guided the Earth Dragon’s head toward the routed soldiers outside of the gate.
“Fire!”
At Qianye’s order, the deep red ballista bolt flew out like a bolt of lightning. It exploded a couple of dozen meters above the ground, sending countless misty streams showering down onto the ground.
Some of the braver werewolves reached out to touch the smokey liquid. They were immediately alarmed, but before they could scream, a flame appeared in the air and ignited the misty liquid!
An incomparably big ball of flames appeared outside of the door and slowly rose into the air. It ascended several dozen meters before transforming into a giant black mushroom cloud.
Even the misty region was pushed back for ten meters.
As the flames receded, a land of death spanning hundreds of meters appeared outside of the door. It was filled with charred corpses lying in various grotesque postures. The ball of fire only lasted for a short while, but the weapons in the hands of the deceased had either melted or warped. One could see just how fierce the blaze was.
Some of the werewolf experts with strong vitality were still struggling to move, but it was easy to tell from their entirely charred bodies that they would not survive.
The shot had killed off most of the retreating werewolf soldiers, reaping over ten thousand aggrieved souls. They were simply so congested and unprepared that a single blast had wiped them out.
Qianye could not be more satisfied with the strength of the main cannon.
This “Landsinker” was a weapon he had s.n.a.t.c.hed from Linken back then, along with its specialized ammunition. Despite being a vice-duke, Linken possessed rich resources and deep connections. Her wars.h.i.+p wasn’t all that special in other aspects, but she had invested deeply in this main cannon until it was at the level of a grand-duke’s wars.h.i.+p.
Qianye had asked the aristocratic families to produce special ammunition for the Landsinker, and those old fellows from the Imperial Research Academy gave Qianye some rounds—originally meant for the Imperial guard—in exchange for some holy tree sap.
This deep red “Desolate Blaze” was the work of the research academy.
A sudden shout arrived from nearby, “So it’s His Excellency Qianye! I was wondering who was behind this grand entry.”
Qianye turned around and saw the werewolf vice-duke in the air glaring at him.
His hands clasped behind his back, Qianye said with a smile, “So it’s you! I was just playing around. I didn’t pay any attention to you since you wouldn’t dare attack anyway.”
These words were even more effective than hurling profanities. That vice-duke’s face turned ashen, saying, “You’re just a…”
Qianye said with a spurious smile, “What am I?”
“Y-You…” The vice-duke wanted to say marquis at first, but at a closer glance, he realized that he couldn’t see through Qianye at all.
This was something he had never encountered before. There was no shortage of aura-concealment experts in the Evernight Faction, but none of them could hide their powers completely like Qianye.
Actually, it wasn’t too hard to figure this out; all he needed was to go up and trade a few blows. Yet, the vice-duke felt a powerful sense of foreboding, almost as though the opponent was a colossus from the desolate wilds.
Qianye said in a carefree manner, “Enough, don’t be too nervous. I’m also a vice-duke just like you. You probably don’t dare attack me since we’re in the same realm, and you"re pretty close to the door so I don’t think I can kill you, either. I’ll stay my hand and save myself the trouble if you go back to Moorland.”
That vice-duke stared at Qianye but didn’t make a move. If he were to go back like this, he would lose all face and suffer serious punishment.
Seeing that the enemy wasn’t moving, Qianye said with a serious expression, “It looks like you won’t give up without feeling pain. I might not be able to kill you, but beating you within an inch of death isn’t a problem if I pay a certain price.”
With that, a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye. The vice-duke recalled all the rumors he had heard about Qianye when he saw the four black feathers. Palpitating, he charged toward the door with a startled cry, leaving afterimages along the way. He then dived straight into the mist upon reaching his destination.
Now that the commanding general had fled in a panic, how could the remaining werewolves still have the will to resist? They scattered from the scene and made a beeline for the door. Moorland had obtained concrete information about what had happened, so the incoming stream of troops had stopped. The escaping werewolves were finally able to fight their way in.
“Sire, do we fire another round?” the cannoneer asked.
“No need, Desolate Blaze is highly valuable, we can’t waste any more.”
The Martyr’s Palace didn’t chase after the fleeing troops. Instead, it hovered above the fortress to clear out the werewolves below with its rapid-fire cannons, lowering its alt.i.tude as it did so.
The fortress had been more or less destroyed at this point, and there was no resistance to be seen. The Martyr’s Palace opened one of its side doors, unloading countless werewolf warriors to clean up the battlefield.
Qianye scanned the area below and said with a smile, “As expected of an overlord, that’s quite the investment! All the better for me.”
Several large warehouses on the side of the fortress were opened to reveal mountains of weapons and ammunition, all highly suitable for Qianye’s soldiers. There were so many resources in storage that it took tens of thousands of werewolves an entire hour to load them onto the Martyr’s Palace.
“Call the men back.” Under Qianye’s command, the dragons.h.i.+p emitted three long and one short blares. The werewolf soldiers scattered around the fortress retreated like the tides and climbed up onto the Martyr’s Palace via the ropes hanging from it.
Once the soldiers were gone, Qianye ordered the dragons.h.i.+p to ascend and fly back to base. Something shook him around a hundred kilometers out, prompting him to gaze back.
Only the rolling hills remained at the end of his vision, but something in that direction caused Qianye to palpitate. A true undefeatable expert had appeared therein.
The one who had arrived was, in fact, Overlord Sousa, who had no choice but to come over and take a look at the damage.
This was within his expectations, but he kept the Martyr’s Palace on a steady course without speeding up. As expected, Lord Sousa—who had suffered one setback after another in the new world—didn’t come chasing after him.
This new world was just like the Great Maelstrom. The environment was difficult to grasp and sported completely different laws from the Evernight World. Even a great dark monarch would face great dangers when operating here. The races of Evernight became increasingly cautious after multiple great dark monarchs fell in the Great Maelstrom. Few of them dared to force their way into uncharted territory.
Sousa was no exception. He hadn’t grasped the laws clearly, so he wouldn’t enter carelessly.
This time, Qianye had successfully destroyed Sousa’s main base in the new world. The delay he had brought about wasn’t just a month of progress. It wasn’t easy, even for an overlord, to gather so many resources.
The werewolves’ production rate was far below that of the Empire’s. It was difficult for them to even ama.s.s modular steel plates for the fortress walls. In order for him to build a fortress immediately, Sousa had surely borrowed some from the Summit of Peaks and purchased a large amount from the market.
Now that the structure had been utterly ruined, the plates had to be reforged in the furnace before they could be used again. This undertaking was too great for the werewolves. Their race was now in an awkward position in the Evernight Council, and everyone else was also in the midst of pioneering new land. As such, it was easy to a.s.sume that they wouldn’t be getting much outside help. Necessary defense materials like steel plates had probably all sold out on the market. Qianye had gotten his hands on the necessary resources because of the many aristocratic families backing him.
From a different perspective, these families were increasingly willing to help because Qianye’s expansion was going smoothly.
The Moorland werewolves had been dealt a heavy blow in addition to their late start, so it would only become more and more difficult for them to obtain more strategic resources. They would need to produce everything themselves.
And this was only for the steel plates—they had lost a stash of armament and supplies enough for two hundred thousand werewolves. That wasn’t something they could replace in half a month.
A terrifying storm kicked up behind the Martyr’s Palace! Even from such a distance, Qianye could feel Overlord Sousa’s anger. However, this tempest didn’t expand and was getting farther and farther away.
Everything was within Qianye’s expectations, so he decided to stop thinking about it and kept driving the Martyr’s Palace back to base. The overlord wouldn’t dare to move deeper into the new world anyway.
This world was full of strange things, perhaps even more so than the Great Maelstrom. The stronger experts had to be even more careful because it would be easier for them to die once they were injured to a certain degree. Besides, who could say that there wasn’t a forest with five holy trees? If there was one, then what about six?
At the thought of this, Qianye couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine. He felt quite lucky that the six-armed general in the forest with four holy trees had been asleep back then. Had it been awake, Qianye might not have gotten such a welcome advantage.