The assault of the dark army was exceptionally fierce. According to the original plan, the first line of fortresses should have held for at least a day. However, under the relentless onslaught of the dark army, they had to retreat to the second defensive line within a few hours. Nevertheless, due to Qian Ye’s presence, the number of enemies killed, especially the higher-ranking nobles with titles, far exceeded expectations, dealing a heavy blow to the dark army.
The two lines of fortress defenses were not far apart. In silence, the high-speed warships swiftly arrived at the central fortress on the second line, disembarking the remaining combatants and the powerful warriors. The crossbows from the previous fortress were also left here.
Originally, Song Zining was supposed to evacuate with the seriously wounded, but he strongly requested to stay and took on the role of the fortress commander. This was not an enviable position; according to imperial military law, whoever sat in the highest command post of the entire fortress must hold their ground until officially ordered to retreat.
Several other generals shared the rank of brigadier, but only Song Zining, who served under Zhang Boqian, had the experience to claim this scorching-hot position.
The previous fortress fell too quickly, and the evacuation was swift and decisive. When Qian Ye arrived, the Zhang family’s forces had just recently passed through.
Standing on the fortress wall, Qian Ye watched as the Zhang family’s troops departed into the distance. He suddenly sighed and asked, “Can we win this floating continent battle?”
“Definitely,” Song Zining answered without hesitation.
“Why?” Qian Ye was unsure where Song Zining’s confidence came from. So far, the empire was retreating comprehensively on the floating continent, and it was only a matter of time before the Song family’s territory fell. In outer space, the situation was dire, and it was rumored that the main fleet dared not easily engage in a decisive battle with the Eternal Night fleet.
How could such a situation still be won?
Song Zining pointed to the sky and said, “This battle is planned by Commander Lin and supervised by Commander Zhang. How can we possibly lose?”
Qian Ye was somewhat taken aback, and after a moment, he said, “I never expected you to have such confidence in them. Would you call it…admiration?”
Song Zining shrugged and admitted candidly, “Yes, I guess so.”
Qian Ye scrutinized Song Zining, finding it hard to believe that he, too, could have such a display of admiration.
At this moment, several squads of soldiers emerged from the fortress, beginning to bury something in the surrounding area. Qian Ye asked, “What are they burying?”
“Landmines, I had them set them up.”
Qian Ye was speechless. Landmines, an ancient weapon with a history spanning thousands of years, were now only seen on the most remote and desolate continents like the Eternal Night, and even then, only on peripheral battlefields. A single landmine could not even seriously injure a high-ranking warrior, so they had long been phased out by the imperial army. Even if Song Zining was having a wild idea, where did he get so many landmines from?
In response to Qian Ye’s question, Song Zining smiled and said, “I saw how effectively you used the grenades in the last battle, so I came up with this arrangement. Think of these as large-scale landmines.”
Song Zining ordered a box of these so-called landmines to be brought over. They were, in fact, bundles of artillery shells and grenades, complete with a detonator. These makeshift landmines were indeed powerful, and the soldiers outside the fortress were planting them densely, one every ten meters.
Handing the “landmine” back to the soldier, Song Zining said to Qian Ye, “Your method of throwing grenades isn’t something anyone can do. At least I certainly can’t. So I came up with this clumsy solution. Fortunately, the Zhao family was well-prepared, stocking up on a lot of grenades and artillery shells. I just asked, and they sent an entire ship full of them.”
Looking at the landmine, Qian Ye understood. Song Zining was mimicking his tactics, first heavily damaging the cannon fodder and low-ranking warriors. If a high-ranking warrior was unlucky enough to be in the blast radius, it would be equivalent to being hit by a heavy artillery shell, potentially causing serious injury. This weeding-out strategy would highlight the high-value targets, significantly increasing the kill rate.
At this very moment, on the floating continent, the dark army surged like a tide over hills and valleys. The three fortresses on the first line of defense, like three rocks, were each washed away by the torrential flood. The fortress guarded by Qian Ye and Song Zining faced the greatest pressure, yet it was the last to fall. The losses the dark race suffered in this fortress were greater than the combined losses of the other two.
After arriving at the second line of defense, Qian Ye enjoyed only a few hours of peace before the dark army launched another attack.
The battle was exceptionally grueling, unprecedentedly so.
Even with the willpower Qian Ye had honed in the Netherworld, he felt some wavering in the seemingly endless slaughter. Soon after the defense began, Qian Ye found himself surrounded, and all he could see were dark warriors. Killing had become a bodily instinct, and Qian Ye’s mind seemed to have ceased thinking, relying solely on instinct to dodge, block, attack, and kill.
The fight seemed to have no end.
After what felt like an eternity, Qian Ye suddenly felt the pressure lessen, and the dark warriors around him thinned out. At that moment, the roar of engines sounded overhead. He looked up and saw two long-missed imperial warships circling above the fortress. The doors of the warships’ bellies slowly opened, and they dropped dozens of ropes.
Only then did Qian Ye realize that it was time to retreat again.
Surveying the surroundings, he saw nothing but ruins. The buildings inside the fortress were almost completely destroyed, and corpses, both from the dark race and the imperial warriors, were scattered everywhere, no longer distinguishable.
The warships continued to suppress the dark race with intense firepower. The surviving warriors quickly climbed up the ropes and entered the ships. At the open door, a familiar figure appeared. Zhao Yuying crouched at the door, her hand cannon firing continuously, disregarding her origin power, knocking down high-ranking warriors that the ship’s cannons missed.
As the fortress commander, Song Zining was the last to board the ship as per protocol, but he struggled to grasp the rope, his once clean combat uniform now covered in fresh blood, indicating new injuries.
Qian Ye moved towards the warship, dispatching any remaining enemies along the way. He glanced at Song Zining, who was still struggling to climb, and couldn’t help but frown.
If Qian Ye belonged to the Eternal Night faction, Song Zining would be the perfect target for a snipe. Just as this thought arose, Qian Ye caught a flash of light out of the corner of his eye. In an instant, he recognized it as a powerful origin sniper bullet!
In that split second, Qian Ye’s blood core in his chest expanded and contracted violently, ejecting a surge of blood energy throughout his body, unleashing a tremendous force from every corner of his being!
With a loud bang, the ground beneath Qian Ye cracked and sank, forming a shallow pit. Qian Ye shot up like a cannonball, hurtling towards the turret, colliding with it, and then accelerating again, flying towards Song Zining in the air.
On the warship, Zhao Yuying also spotted the incoming sniper bullet. She put down her hand cannon and reached for the rope supporting Song Zining. But the rope was still too far away, and there was no way she could save him in time.
At this critical moment, Song Zining sensed the danger approaching from behind. But he was utterly exhausted, and merely hanging onto the rope required all his strength; he had no ability to dodge or block. Strangely, he managed a smile, raising his right hand, either to wave at Zhao Yuying or to wipe the blood and dirt from his face, to die with some dignity.
Time seemed to freeze and then abruptly accelerate, returning to normal.
Qian Ye suddenly appeared behind Song Zining, the sniper bullet hitting him in the back and propelling him forcefully into Song Zining. Qian Ye grabbed the rope with one hand and caught Song Zining with the other, pulling him towards the warship.
Zhao Yuying picked up her hand cannon and fired several shots in the direction the sniper bullet had come from, suppressing the fearsome sniper. The warship, having completed its rescue mission, quickly ascended, the door closing slowly as it turned and headed away.
Among the rocks outside the fortress, a mound of earth slowly rose, and a vampire baron emerged. He shook off the dirt and gravel, glaring at the receding warship, his eyes filled with frustration.
As a true superior, he had been lying in wait on the battlefield since the start of the war, biding his time for the perfect opportunity. But he never expected that his lethal strike would be foiled by Qian Ye under impossible circumstances.
On the Eternal Night Parliament’s bounty list, among the empire’s younger generation, Song Zining’s rank was now second only to Zhao Jundu, far surpassing Qian Ye. In the eyes of the parliament’s high-ranking officials, Song Zining, with his remarkable leadership skills and impressive personal strength, was far more valuable than Qian Ye. The Eternal Night Parliament did not want the empire to produce another Lin Xitang-like figure. Lin Xitang alone had already given them enough trouble.
As for Qian Ye, although he had shone in the bloody battles, the upper echelons assessed his potential and resources as limited. Many heirs of great families had bounties higher than Qian Ye, let alone the emerging princes and princesses of the imperial family.
This was a shot he had been preparing for a long time, utilizing his unique ability. Such a powerful shot would leave him unable to fight for days. Missing his intended target and instead hitting Qian Ye, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated. After all, Song Zining’s bounty was so generous that it had made his heart race, and the reward for killing Qian Ye was less than a third of it.
But thinking of Qian Ye’s demon-like instincts and lightning-fast actions, he suddenly shivered. Vaguely, he felt that taking out Qian Ye wasn’t a bad outcome either. If he were to face Qian Ye in a head-to-head battle, the outcome was uncertain. Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but curse the incompetent bureaucrats in the parliament’s administration, who had clearly provided incorrect intelligence and set Qian Ye’s bounty far too low.
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