Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 16: The Finis.h.i.+ng Blow
Qianye emerged from the fortifications after a moment of rest and observed from the edge of the champions’ battlefield. Several high-ranking arachne and werewolves were currently tangled in a melee with Wei Bainian’s personal guards. Apparently, those dark race warriors had also come to provide a.s.sistance, but they were firmly blocked by the prepared personal guards.
Wei Bainian had stationed all the warriors of the 7th division’s main force here and thus possessed an advantage over the dark race army’s vanguard of a few hundred. Although the dark race vanguard was led by a champion like Brahms whose attacks could only be fended off by Wei Bainian, the latter’s subordinates could kill off all the dark race warriors first and ultimately focus their fire on Brahms.
This was a rather conservative tactic, but judging from the progress of expeditionary army in Black Clay Town, it was quite effective. From his somewhat extreme strategy of contracting the whole frontline to concentrate a ma.s.sive military force on one corner of the theater, it was obvious that this famous general of the Wei clan was a genuine leader despite his not-so-remarkable individual strength. It was no wonder he could occupy a position near Marquis Wei.
Both alone and in cooperation with his comrades, Qianye once again killed off a fair number of arachne and werewolves. He then silently approached Brahms and Wei Bainian’s battlefield once again.
The bitter fight between the two champions had gone on for quite some time at this point and both of them were showing signs of weariness. The arachne viscount used to have eight spider limbs, but the effects of losing a single appendage were becoming more and more evident.
Qianye withdrew his aura and circulated his concealed bloodline ability before approaching Brahms’ rear flank with a heavy hammer in hand.
Wei Bainian clearly saw Qianye’s movements from the front, but the latter actually vanished from his senses after withdrawing his aura. Even someone as calm as Wei Bainian couldn’t help but feel astonished.
However, the surprise lasted mere moments. With Wei Bainian’s rich combat experience, how could he miss such a great opportunity? After changing his posture a couple of times, he let out an explosive shout and rammed into Brahms’ body. He poured his full strength into this attack—the Thousand Mountains erupted with radiance as he knocked the arachne viscount back repeatedly.
Qianye finally found the opportunity he was looking for. The Combatant Formula he had been maintaining at 20-odd cycles suddenly surged as he abruptly pushed all of his origin power into the warhammer. The weapon’s surface was enshrouded in rapidly intensifying scarlet glow as though poised to condense into a sanguineous light!
The warhammer ruthlessly smashed one of Brahm’s rear limbs, kicking up fierce winds in the process. The thick and st.u.r.dy sh.e.l.l immediately collapsed into an almost penetrative depression as fluids gushed out from between the cracks.
Qianye hadn’t the slightest bit of hesitation—he took advantage of the short moment before Brahms could react to swing the warhammer at the previously damaged area with full strength!
Brahms let out an ear-piercing howl of agony as one of his limbs fractured with a loud crack.
Qianye abandoned the deformed hammer, leapt up and aimed the Twin Flowers at Brahm’s head. The arachne viscount turned back just in time to see two origin bullets explode in his face with a loud boom.
Qianye landed on the side and immediately fled with no regard for the outcome of the battle. The grade four Twin Flowers were unable to do any considerable damage to Brahms and probably couldn’t even blast through the origin power defenses covering his vital areas. But two origin power bullets exploding in his face sent him into a daze. His face was covered in fresh blood and he couldn’t see clearly for some time.
Wei Bainian had long since arrived in position with a few movements. The s.h.i.+eld in his hand emitted an intense radiance akin to an origin power cannon sh.e.l.l as it struck Brahm’s abdomen with great force.
This blow was incomparably heavy and caused a huge dent in Brahm’s abdominal armor. The sh.e.l.l beneath the armor didn’t shatter and was only deformed, but judging from the m.u.f.fled sound of surging fluids within, it seemed a large area of flesh within the sh.e.l.l was shattered from the impact. This immediately wounded Brahms badly.
The arachne viscount’s halberd swept toward the retreating Wei Bainian, who only had enough time to block the most lethal edge with his s.h.i.+eld. The two powerful forces collided with a loud boom. From the midst of which, Wei Bainian was sent flying with fresh blood spurting out of his mouth and crackling sounds coming from his body. Apparently, he had suffered some fractures.
However, the Thousand Mountains was widely known for its toughness. Upon landing, Wei Bainian spat out another mouthful of blood and got up as if nothing had happened. Brahms, on the other hand, could no longer adapt after fracturing two of his spider limbs and was finding it difficult to balance himself. Furthermore, Wei Bainian’s s.h.i.+eld was the most suitable for dealing with such heavily armored fellows. The injury caused by the s.h.i.+eld bash was comparable to or even worse than a blow from a hammer of similar size.
At this moment, the sound of an Eagleshot rang out once again. A middle-aged senior officer with a solemn countenance had stationed himself on an elevated position hundreds of meters away. Surprisingly, he had fired the Eagleshot from a half-kneeling position. Like the Twin Flowers, the Eagleshot couldn’t do much damage to a champion, but it could greatly impair Brahms senses when aimed at the head, hence creating an opening for Wei Bainian.
But such an opportunity would only be available after the majority of high ranking dark race warriors were disabled. Otherwise, with the dark races’ tradition of rus.h.i.+ng for the human snipers as soon as the battle began, it would only be placing the auxiliary combat team in peril.
Qianye ducked into the ruins of a house and, with a blood crystal in each hand, began to rapidly circulate his fresh blood power to absorb the energy within. Qianye had almost exhausted all of his origin power during the few seconds he had fought with Brahms. It was practically a suicidal behavior to attack a champion, and it was impossible for him to withstand a frontal attack from the arachne viscount even with his current physical strength. Any one of Brahms spider limbs could easily punch a hole through him.
Qianye rushed out from the ruins once again after resting for a couple of minutes and recovering his origin power. He rushed in close pursuit of a werewolf who had just run past him. This lycanthrope hadn’t discovered Qianye at all and was completely focused on a frantically escaping expeditionary army major. It was just about to launch an attack when it suddenly fell to the ground in a cloud of dust as if a rhinoceros had trampled on its back. Following which, the werewolf felt a chill from its back as all of its energy was sapped within moments.
Qianye’s blade was extremely accurate. He was certain he had pierced through the werewolf’s heart. The strand of warm and dense blood energy transmitted from the Radiant Edge and the fresh darkness origin power therein immediately roused Qianye’s senses.
But then he laughed ruefully in his heart. He had vaguely discovered Radiant Edge’s other function back during the battle at the Far East Heavy Industries mining zone, and now the feeling had become especially distinct after this stab. Not only the three blood energies in Qianye’s body but the Radiant Edge itself could also absorb blood energy from his victims.
Qianye leapt onto an elevated structure after killing the werewolf and swept his eyes over the whole battlefield. Battles were becoming spa.r.s.e everywhere. Most of the dark race forces had been killed and only a few were resisting obstinately. Very few of them escaped because their leader, the arachne viscount, hadn’t issued the order to retreat and their desperate counterattacks on the verge of death were still incisive and deadly. As such, the expeditionary army had also become quite cautious with their encirclement.
In the distance, Brahms and Wei Bainian were still locked in battle but their momentums were no longer as great as when the battle began.
Qianye immediately headed toward them. Now was the time to encircle and kill the arachne viscount. Killing Brahms would deal a huge blow to the dark races, but if he was allowed to escape, the impact of this battle would be cut in half even if all the dark race warriors were eradicated.
The battle between the two warriors was already approaching its end by the time Qianye arrived. At this moment, Wei Bainian was focusing on defense and would only launch a fierce attack when the arachne viscount showed signs of movement or revealed an opening. Two of Brahm’s limbs were broken and movement wasn’t convenient for him. However, the large swamp was close by—it would be extremely troublesome if he escaped into it.
Flames and origin power explosions erupted continuously on Brahm’s body as more and more high ranking expeditionary army officers joined the encirclement. Most of them dared not approach and could only fire from afar.Those who had exhausted their origin power and could no longer use origin guns would simply pick up large caliber gunpowder weapons. This kind of weapon probably couldn’t even pierce through the skin of the arachne viscount’s human upper body but would be quite annoying when they were completely unloaded onto his face.
The wounds on Brahm’s body were increasing by the minute, and his roar was gradually becoming lower. Although the officers’ attacks merely caused disruption and minor wounds, a qualitative change would follow when acc.u.mulated in great numbers.
Qianye didn’t act at all and kept on running about dozens of meters away from Brahms, waiting patiently for an opportunity and helping comrades escape the energy shockwaves from the arachne viscount’s attacks from time to time.
However, Qianye didn’t find many openings this time. Wei Bainian suddenly let out a long whistle as a yellow glow surged from his body. At this time, he was holding nothing back and had thrown everything into an all-out attack, even suffering a couple of counterattacks from Brahms. Wei Bainian directly smashed Brahm’s defenses after a violent series of fierce and thunderous attacks. This a.s.sault also deprived the latter of his last chance at survival.
A dazzling yellow ma.s.s of light swept through the skies as Wei Bainian swung his s.h.i.+eld horizontally at full strength and actually slapped the arachne viscount flying dozens of meters into the distance. Brahms’ mountain-like body slid ten-odd meters on the ground and landed not far from Qianye’s position.
Brahms, at this moment, had collapsed onto the ground and could no longer get up. Only a few of his limbs were moving feebly.
Wei Bainian gestured towards Qianye and shouted, “Qianye, finish it!”
This was an extreme honor on the battlefield. It was also Wei Bainian’s acknowledgement toward Qianye. Neither the high ranking officers from the expeditionary army nor Wei Bainian’s personal guards had any objection. Qianye had ambushed Brahms twice, breaking the latter’s limb each time. This had affected the battle significantly.
Furthermore, Qianye’s performance on the battlefield was witnessed by everyone and no one could compare to him in terms of battle accomplishments. He had confronted the enemy head on almost every time without any support teams—he himself was a strong combat unit. No dark race warrior was able to stand up again after three to five attacks from Qianye, a display of true power.
The supportive attacks he provided the other combat units along the way were also quite beautiful. Whether he was cooperating with sniping squads or melee teams, he had proven his holistic capabilities with great results.
To soldiers, only strength on the battlefield could thoroughly convince them.
“Qianye, finish it off!” Wei Bainian urged.
Qianye no longer hesitated. He leapt onto Brahms’ body and pierced the Radiant Edge deep into the spider’s heart.
All the patterns on Radiant Edge immediately lit up the moment it punctured Brahm’s heart as if it was agitated by the warm blood therein. Among them were a number of dark violet lines Qianye had never seen before. He suddenly discovered blood energy pouring through the Radiant Edge like a powerful flood into his body. Within moments, the abundant energy had filled every corner of his being and was still increasing continuously!