Monarch of Evernight

Chapter 1271: Troops vs Troops

The Storm Duke was clad in a simple robe and turban commonly seen among desert-dwellers. The hems of his robes were somewhat worn, and the leather on his scabbard was covered in a shiny patina, all proof of passing time.

If it wasn’t for the manner in which he had appeared—and the suppressive might covering the entire battlefield—no one would’ve noticed that this unassuming old hunter was the Storm Duke of Fort Continent.

The duke walked step by step toward Qianye. The latter only watched as the werewolf entered within a hundred meters of him, which was the safe distance between divine champions, then thirty meters, which was the assault range for most experts. By the time the Storm Duke came to a stop, the two were almost at an arm’s length.

The duke’s big-jointed fingers moved ever so slightly with each step, the scimitar at his waist humming along to them.

At this distance, either opponent could hurt the other with just an eruption of origin power; there wasn’t even a need to move. One could tell from his name that the Storm Duke specialized in speed and explosive power. At this range, victory and defeat were on a thin line.

Qianye’s lashes didn’t even tremble. “Your men have crossed the border, they have to pay the price.”

“Young man, there was no border here, to begin with. Where my warriors go, that’s where the border is.”

“If what you say is true, then your border just shrank a hundred meters.”

A sharp glint flickered in the Storm Duke’s eyes. “Young man, are you trying to provoke me? Is this a declaration of war?”

Qianye replied, “A fight is inevitable, but after seeing you, I feel that we can discuss how we fight.”

“How?”

“Let our underlings fight on their own, we stay out of it.”

The Storm Duke laughed out loud. “Do you think you’re my match now? Why must I listen to such a silly suggestion?”

Qianye said with a smile, “The Whitebone Duke thought the same, now he’s a corpse.”

“Hmph! Whitebone is a useless madman, how can you compare him to me? Don’t tell me you think you can win against me just because you... Eh?”

The Storm Duke’s expression shifted drastically. He retreated a hundred meters in a flash, almost as quickly as Qianye’s Spatial Flash. In his vision, the essence blood in Qianye’s chest was billowing as a sanguine moon rose up over it! The abrupt increase in power forced him to retreat involuntarily.

“Vice duke!” The Storm Duke’s tone was different

“A bit short of it, but just a tiny bit.”

The Storm Duke narrowed his eyes. “Turns out you killed Whitebone as a glorious marquis.”

“I was somewhat fortunate back then, but now, I’m stronger. It won’t take as much effort to kill him.”

“Whitebone is Whitebone, I am me.”

“I’m not alone, though. I have that.” Qianye pointed at the Martyr’s Palace.

The Storm Duke focused on the Martyr’s Palace and sniffed in that direction. He said with a serious expression, “It’s alive?”

“Just a remnant will. Why not go in with me and see for yourself?”

“Impossible.”

“And I thought you would come without being invited.”

Qianye’s words contained a deeper meaning, and the Storm Duke understood what he meant. After some thought, he said, “I still think my chances are better.”

“You can’t stop me with this airship on my side. I can level all the cities in your territory with relative ease. Well, I can’t stop whatever you do, either, but don’t forget that this isn’t my home.”

The Storm Duke’s eyes shifted about. He had to admit that Qianye had pointed out his weakness. The duke, of course, knew that Qianye was a complete stranger despite having obtained the vast territory and army. This meant that his foundations weren’t here, and neither were his core forces.

This meant that if both sides were to throw away the rules and start a massacre, the Storm Duke would be losing his core interests. Qianye would only need to replenish cannon fodder no matter how steep his losses were. The duke would have to cross continents to the neutral lands to pick a fight.

The Storm Duke said slowly, “If you and your flagship stay out of this, I will as well.”

“Swear to the spirit of your ancestors.”

“I swear to the spirit of my ancestors.”

After both parties had given their pledge, the Storm Duke took one step back and disappeared in the form of a whirlwind.

The werewolf army below didn’t know what to do. They glanced at one another, waiting for the order to either advance or retreat. But Qianye had killed all the chiefs and commanders at the center, leaving only a handful of ordinary experts. The werewolf army had no idea who to listen to, and the experts themselves did not know who among them should take the reins.

Qianye felt somewhat surprised—the situation on the battlefield was a bonus beyond what was promised. He had, at first, thought that the Storm Duke’s tribes would be more organized than the Whitebone Duke’s, but it would seem they were still ways off from the Great Qin’s system.

Following the setback, the aristocratic private armies had already constructed their defensive line. They had brought with them mobile armor plates which they pieced together to form a small steel fortress.

The soldiers sent to Fort Continent were either elites or troublemakers. The latter kind could also be considered elites on their own right since none of them would fear a group of primitive werewolves as long as they had enough cover and ammunition.

Besides, everyone was in high spirits after seeing Qianye force the Storm Duke back. Everyone was shouting, rearing for a good battle.

Of course, they weren’t stupid enough to charge out of the fortifications, no matter how hot-blooded they were. The Storm Duke’s werewolves were leagues apart from the country bumpkins of the Jade Sea. Although their strategy was fairly backward, at least many of them were armored.

The werewolf army finally began to organize after a period of chaos. No longer able to watch from the sidelines, several of the Storm Duke’s aides stepped out to take over command.

There were simply too many werewolves here. Even after suffering attacks from Qianye and the Martyr’s Palace, there were over a hundred thousand of them left. On the other hand, the allied forces of the aristocratic family numbered a mere twenty thousand—that was including the thousands of werewolves Qianye had transferred over. This five-to-one advantage was too enticing for the enemy army.

Hence, after a period of reorganization, a long bugle cry echoed from the army, and squad after squad of soldiers marched toward the allied fortification.

A battle ensued.

The Storm Duke’s werewolves erupted in full force, slamming repeatedly into the fortification as the private soldiers retaliated with all their might. Yet, they soon discovered that there were simply too many enemies, so much so that they couldn’t mow them down fast enough. After several waves, a large number of werewolves managed to break through the defensive line and into the fortification.

The primitive tribal werewolves might not be lacking in equipment, but they were fairly powerful in close quarters combat. The casualty rates would surely increase now that they had closed in. The private soldiers sent to Fort Continent were also brave people; they immediately split off some forces to engage in melee combat. The thousands of werewolves Qianye had dispatched also sallied forth to kill all enemies who had managed to enter the fortification.

Qianye’s werewolves were all well-armored, with shields and axes of far greater quality than the Storm Duke’s men. The latter found themselves unable to penetrate the defenders’ armor. Their weapons and gear, on the other hand, were easily damaged. This batch of well-trained werewolves wasn’t beneath the Storm Duke’s soldiers in terms of strength, so the overwhelming weapons advantage brought them swift victory.

With Qianye’s werewolf elites standing guard, the private soldiers could let loose on the incoming enemy. Their firepower increased abruptly, mowing down the incoming enemies in droves.

Even so, the difference was so great that more and more openings appeared in the make-shift fortress.

It was at this time that a squadron of airships appeared in the distant sky. A concentrated volley of cannon fire immediately swallowed up the Storm Duke’s werewolves. This airship squadron was made up of very different vessels, all kinds of them in fact. There were fairly new warship models among them, as well as cargo ships equipped with a few cannons.

Despite their disuniformity, there were dozens of airships and close to a hundred cannons in this squadron. The weapons weren’t exactly high-caliber armaments, but the firepower was still quite impressive.

In the blink of an eye, the Storm Duke’s werewolves suffered grave casualties and fell into dire straits. They could neither push forward nor retreat.

Howling winds appeared in the sky once more, and with it came the Storm Duke’s angry voice. “Qianye, you broke your promise!”

Qianye replied coldly, “I said my Martyr’s Palace wouldn’t join the battle, I didn’t say the other airships can’t be used. If you feel that it’s not fair, feel free to transfer your airforce as well.”

The Storm Duke said after a moment of silence, “Good, just you wait. I’ll let you know that Fort Continent isn’t a place you can do as you wish.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

A long, mournful bugle-cry echoed throughout the battlefield. The Storm Duke’s werewolves finally started to retreat, unable to withstand the attack from the air and ground.

However, it was too late. Qianye’s fleet latched onto the enemy as they fell back, raining ammunition down on them along the way. During the hunt, some airships even lowered their altitude and began to sweep the ground with their gatling guns. This type of attack was fairly outrageous, but who was to blame for Qianye’s side holding the overwhelming advantage?

Only a small number of airships came from Dark Flame, while most of them were escort vessels from the aristocracy. These families had always prioritized quality over quantity, putting great emphasis on air dominance. Now that a dozen or so of them were working together, they were able to form a small squadron with just three warships from each family.

This kind of rabble was nothing in the face of a regular air force, but they were on Fort Continent. The Storm Duke could hardly boast a handful of presentable airships, nor had they ever brought these vessels to the front line. They weren’t about to call their airships over just to commit suicide.

Additionally, Qianye had killed off all of the commanding officers in the central army. This meant that there were no experts to fight back against aerial attacks, let alone pose a threat.

The allied squadron thus had no fear. They hunted the retreating forces for hundreds of kilometers and only returned when the great enemy army was scattered.

Not only did they manage to take back the territories belonging to the Jade Sea, they even pushed several kilometers into the Storm Duke’s territory. The private armies had no intention of pulling back—they saw one out of every two kilometers gained as their own, so why would they retreat? It was just as the Storm Duke had said, wherever they brought the fight was the border.

Despite the victory, the arrogant private army alliance woke up to the reality of Fort Continent and the reason why Qianye had dispatched five thousand well-equipped melee fighters.

After the battle was over, the first thing the commanding officer of the alliance did wasn’t to sweep the field. Instead, he wrote two letters, one of which was dispatched to the Empire to request more experts. Fear of the Storm Duke’s forces had taken root in his heart, but they also knew that the experts under the duke were a force the alliance could tackle.

The other letter was for Qianye. After a voluminous series of praises, in the beginning, he tactfully requested a couple thousand more armored werewolf warriors and that they would provide more equipment in return.

Qianye had left almost as soon as the Storm Duke had departed and was now back in Cerulean Wave City. He was naturally happy to accept the proposal after reading the letter.

Qianye’s role didn’t seem too big in the fight against the Storm Duke. At the very least, there was no way to foretell the outcome until his fight to the death with the latter. However, it was fine for the allied army to push a hundred or so kilometers into the Storm Duke’s territory. This was a loss the enemy would have to accept.

Qianye jumped to the end of the letter to check the results. Enemy losses: seventy thousand. Most of them were killed in battle, with only a couple thousand captured.

Now this number was rather interesting.