Monarch of Evernight (Web Novel)
chapter-69

[Volume 2 - Bloom of the Other Shore Flower]

With a light, overhead flip, Qianye landed on the ground ten meters away as he stared coldly at the werewolf that was struggling madly where it stood in hopes of dealing one final blow before dying. However, its nervous system had been completely damaged, and it stumbled and swayed sideways with every move it made. It couldn’t hit Qianye at all, and after struggling for a moment, it collapsed on the ground and no longer got up.

Qianye slowly walked back and picked up his Ambusher. He then continued to walk deeper into the cave, but he only took a few steps before coming to an abrupt stop and shuddering. He suddenly recalled that that wasn’t his usual style of combat at all!

He tore apart flesh and blood with his own, bare hands just now! This was obviously the preferred method of slaughtering werewolves to an elite vampire!

Qianye suddenly shuddered from the bottom of his soul.

At this moment, Qianye felt an unprecedented level of panic. He found it a little difficult whether to identify himself as a human or a vampire. If he had to become a vampire one day, then he would rather just end his life right now.

He hadn’t been this afraid even when he was tainted by the black blood and at the edge of death.

This had nothing to do with interest. It was a matter of faith.

After pausing for a moment, Qianye continued going deeper into the werewolf cave. Regardless of whether he would transform into a true vampire, he had to finish this mission first.

The were more and more dead ends ahead. The cave was like a maze. However, Qianye’s charge was as lightning fast as ever, neither hesitant nor slowed at all. He had participated in almost ten operations to annihilate werewolves back at the Red Scorpions, so he was most familiar with the layout of such caves. He could identify the right route with just a little clue to aid him.

He had taken out a few more werewolves along the way.

When he saw these humanoid lifeforms baring their fur and displaying their combat form, Qianye still could not help but charge forward and tear them apart with his bare hands. After a couple of times of the same method, he gave up resisting and completely obeyed his combat instincts to end the battle in the swiftest and most effective way possible.

By now, Qianye noticed that Yu Yingnan’s information on this wolf den was a little inaccurate. The clan’s warriors were a little stronger than initially estimated. If he was delayed for even a moment, it would no longer be an ambush but rather a suicide attempt.

Suddenly, Qianye charged into a hall.

This place was wider than any of the caves he passed through earlier. There was an altar at the center of the hall, and there was a wooden totem entangled with heavy, black energy placed above it.

Several old werewolves surrounded the altar.

Right now, the hall was filled with faint-yellow mist. It was the origin drug spread through the tunnels or air vents. Although the mist was a lot thinner and spread out than before, its effect obviously hadn’t faded just yet. Several elder werewolves were sneezing continuously through the mist, looking rather discomforted by it. However, they did not plan on leaving the place at all.

Qianye’s sudden appearance in the hall caused all four werewolf elders to turn their heads in surprise. The two fastest among them had already acted, and pounced at him. However, the faint-yellow mist disrupted their movements and generated just a little unnecessary movement in their breathing.

When it was a matter of life and death, the tiniest bit of a mistake could be fatal.

Maintaining his high speed, Qianye calmly leaped into the air, drawing a light arc across half the room before landing close enough to become extremely dangerous to the elder werewolves beside him. He had switched his form in midair, and when he landed, he was already in a half-crouching posture, lifting Ambusher evenly and pulling the trigger.

An origin bullet made by Qianye himself escaped the chamber and ripped a werewolf elder’s head to shreds.

Qianye pushed his origin power madly, causing Ambusher’s gun chamber to shine with a yellow light that almost penetrated the metallic gunbarrel itself. It was a sign of the gun’s origin array being pushed to its limit. A second origin bullet escaped the chamber, and a yellow light, mingled with a single wisp of red, struck heavily onto the charging werewolf elder’s left shoulder and chest area..

Although he still had an origin bullet in his gun, it was already too late to fire it. The third werewolf elder had already pounced to above Qianye’s head. Qianye wasn’t afraid of his current inferior positioning at all as he pushed the ground with his left hand and launched himself into the air, ramming at full force into the werewolf elder as they fell some distance away.

While still in the air, Qianye shot out the spike bayonet he got from Nighteye and plunged it into the fourth werewolf elder.

At first, the werewolf elder who had been shot by an imaginary origin bullet and the one struck by the spike simply shrugged off the minor injury. One of them had even activated their wolf-shape combat form. However, they had charged only a few steps before they abruptly collapsed on the floor and spasmed non-stop. They were actually incapable of climbing onto their feet.

Qianye calmed down greatly. It seemed that the blood energy inside his handmade origin bullet was especially harmful to the werewolves. This was great news considering that the poison on Nighteye’s spike was especially effective against werewolves as well. It was only unfortunate that after this one usage, the poison on the thorn was more or less gone.

This time, it was the werewolf elder who had been sent flying by Qianye who shook its head and swiftly recovered from its stunned state. It let out a couple of low growls and bared its fangs, charging at Qianye’s once more.

Qianye grabbed his Ambusher and swiftly filled it with energy. Then, he calmly fired off his last origin bullet.

The werewolf elder’s sharp claws were just about to strike Qianye’s temples when the origin bullet hit its stomach and instantly sent it flying backwards.

The shot was not fatal, but it was enough to immobilize it for a moment.

Qianye pulled the gun bolt. He had used up all of the origin bullets he had handmade, so he reloaded with Yu Yingnan’s origin bullets. However, instead of securing the kill on the werewolf elder, he grabbed the totem and escaped immediately.

The werewolf elders howled on the top of their lungs and looked extremely saddened. However, Qianye had no sympathy for their feelings as he swiftly withdrew from the path he came from. When he heard rapid footsteps following behind him, he turned a corner and threw two hand grenades mixed with origin drugs behind him.

Faint-yellow mist immediately covered the passage behind Qianye, and since it was twice the number it was twice as effective. The werewolves who heard the commotion and chased after him realised the trap only after the turned the corner, and since they couldn’t halt in time, they ran head-first into the mist. They immediately let out extremely pained howls as they rolled all over the ground. The agent was simply too destructive against a werewolf’s nose especially in such a narrow environment.

Right now, outside the wolf den, at the three fork road closest to the road leading outside, Yu Yingnan, Yang Tian and Li Lunzhe were fighting back to back against the werewolves that continuously charged out of the cave.

There were more than a dozen werewolf bodies padding their feet already, and although they seemed to be fighting well, they’d expended all of their physical and origin bullets. Whatever remained of their origin power was now used to fight in close quarters, and they’d all switched to close quarter weapons as well.

Yu Yingnan wore a glove with sharp needles on it, and her knee and elbow armor were installed with sharp needles as well. Her combat style was open and pure brute force. Meanwhile, Yang Tianxun held a short dagger in his hand, and his combat style was very careful and meticulous. However, every time he charged, blood would spill from a werewolf’s body. Li Lunzhe’s combat style could only be considered average.

“Gas grenade!” Yu Yingnan roared loudly. Her technique was the most brutal and forceful of them all, and since she held back most of the werewolves by herself, the greatest pressure was on her.

Yang Tianxun swiftly tossed out a gas grenade before yelling, “This is the last one!”

“God dammit! We can’t hold out for much longer. Why is that Qianye not out yet?” Li Lunzhe couldn’t help but cry out.

“He had just gotten in, and judging from the info we got, he probably hasn’t reached the altar hall yet! It will take at least another ten or so minutes before he finishes exploring the wolf den and comes out. We must hold on for another ten minutes, or he’ll be dead for sure!” Yang Tianxun answered.

He was the werewolf expert among them, but his direct combat abilities were a little weak.

“Ten minutes! It’ll be a miracle if we can hold out for another five!” Li Lunzhe roared.

“We must wait for Qianye’s return! Even if we are to fight to our deaths, we must wait for him to arrive!” Yu Yingnan’s forceful attitude ended the argument.

A light of ruthless determination flashed across Li Lunzhe’s eyes. He vented all of his frustrations onto the werewolf before him, but he couldn’t help but look at Yu Yingnan’s vitals from the corner of his eye.

Li Lunzhe suddenly exploded and stabbed repeatedly into a werewolf’s chest while roaring madly! Blood spilled over his entire head, and amidst the werewolf’s dying howls, Li Lunzhe’s eyes turned bloodshot as he chanted repeatedly in his heart, where no one could hear, “If I can’t get you, then no one else will!”

Li Lunzhe let go of the werewolf’s body and leaped to his feet. Suddenly, he stumbled on his feet and collapsed in Yu Yingnan’s direction.

Yu Yingnan noticed Li Lunzhe’s abnormal condition and hastily retreated backwards to support him with her back. She asked anxiously, “Are you okay?”

“I-” Li Lunzhe panted as if he had been hurt, but his hand clenched the knife in his hands tightly!

It was at this moment that Qianye ran out of the wolf den like the wind. Without pausing for even a millisecond, he charged towars the exit and cried loudly, “I got the totem! Let’s go!”

His voice rumbled and resonated far through the cave walls.

Yang Tian exclaimed, “This quick? He shouldn’t have even reached the altar hall yet!”

Right now, Qianye charged right to the exit and did not bother fighting with the werewolves who attempted to block him at all. With his running speed and brute force, he knocked the gray-skinned fellows directly out of the way and charged out of the wolf den in an instant!

Qianye flipped in midair and threw his last gas grenade down at the cave entrance.

Amidst the spreading smoke, a few pursuing werewolves collapsed and rolled out of the cave as Qianye fired continuously with his origin rifle, and with three origin bullets and one mithril bullet, he took out four werewolves. While running sideways, Qianye then refilled his Ambusher with origin power and fired another two shots.

This time, he had ran out of luck, as he was unable to push blood energy into the origin bullets. Naturally, the power of a normal origin bullet was a lot weaker, but it was still enough to hurt the last werewolf.

Qianye tossed the Ambusher’s strap over his shoulders and charged towards this last werewolf like the wind or thunder. He had already taken out his handaxe while he was charging midway.

When the hurt werewolf finally put on a combat stance, Qianye had already rammed into it with his entire body. The werewolf stumbled backwards like a small hill that was ran over by a giant rock, and its head split apart as the combat axe fell right into its head!

When he killed this werewolf, Qianye felt so tired that all he wanted was to collapse on the ground and sleep. He knew that this was a sign that he had used too much strength, and he immediately took out a syringe from his pocket, pulled off the casing, and stabbed it into his neck, pressing all of the medicine into his body.

As the medicine dripped into his body, a fiery warmth swiftly spread through his entire body as he immediately regained his spirit. The syringe was a military-use stimulant. Of course, he had made it himself, and the effects of the stimulant would last for half an hour, just enough to help Qianye escape his current predicament. However, after the duration was over, he would feel the aftereffects and fall into a weakened state.

When Qianye converged with Yu Yingnan and the others, they immediately charged out of the valley, following the tracks they’d set up along the valley. Werewolves repeatedly charged out of the wolf den behind them, and chased after them.