Chapter 221: Showdown

[Volume 4 - Perpetual Conflict]

After ten-odd days of urgent work, Black Clay Town had completely turned into a fully armed fort.

The original townspeople had been completely evacuated and settled in Blackflow City, while the scavengers had been herded into the wilderness. In any case, the dangers in the wilderness couldn't be greater than Black Clay Swamp on the eve of war. There would be no other use for them here except to become food for the dark races.

At dawn, a peculiar smell suddenly emerged from the winds blowing in from the direction of the swamp. An experienced hunter would immediately know that this was due to the gathering of a large number of arachne and werewolves.

The soldiers from the expeditionary army and Dark Flame Mercenary Corps were all in position. As the wind carried toward them a shiver-inducing aura, both veterans and rookies unconsciously gripped their weapons tighter, their hearts beating like drums.

Gradually, dancing shadows began to appear from the dense marshland mist.

Gazing from a distance, those moderately tall figures made even the most experienced of veterans shiver and become wary. The orderly formation of werewolf warriors indicated that they weren't random soldiers from a small tribe but from the dark race regular army.

The reason why their figures appeared small was because there were other especially tall warriors in their ranks. The three to four meter-tall silhouettes were the nightmare of many an expeditionary army hero.

These weren't servspiders but true arachne. The giant servspiders, possessing almost the same combat power, stood behind the squad.

The less powerful human warriors subconsciously held their breath as the dark race formation made up of several hundred regular warriors walked out clearly from the swamp with an invisible momentum capable of crushing every obstacle in their path.

The higher the warrior's rank, the more he was able to understand the oppressive feeling before the storm. Standing on the city wall, Qianye felt the chill even more deeply.

He vaguely sensed the center of the black clouds bearing down on the city and a supremely terrifying aura gradually moving closer like a gigantic tornado connecting the heaven and earth. All creatures appeared extremely insignificant before the powerful consciousness that could contend with the might of the heaven and earth.

Qianye's abundant combat experience told him this was just an illusion, an instinctual reaction caused by the suppression from the party's powerful spirit. However, being able to invoke such an aura indicated that there was an outstanding expert in the other camp. He couldn't help but glance at Wei Bainian who was standing to his front left.

Sensing Qianye's gaze, Wei Bainian turned to smile at him before patting his shoulder. The commander's calmness rapidly infected the expeditionary army officers around them. This effectively calmed the initial unease.

Qianye realized this was why champion level experts were irreplaceable on the frontlines. In the present battle, for instance, it was imperative for Wei Bainian to block the other expert when the two armies began to clash. If he failed to block the latter or if he was holed up and refused to do battle, the enemy champion would forcefully break through and collapse the defenses regardless of geographical and troop strength advantage.

He was still a rookie back at the Red Scorpion. Although someone had explained this principle to him back then, it didn't leave as clear and deep an impression compared to the current personal experience. Back then, due to his rank and characteristics as a sniper, he had always been posted far from the center of the battle. Now, however, he had the qualifications to stand beside a champion as a core member of the fighting force.

Wei Bainian stood on the wall with his hands behind his back. He still hadn't released his aura, but it was precisely this calmness and unperturbed demeanor that gave people confidence.

The land suddenly began to tremble. A figure as large as a hill appeared in the mist behind the enemy formation! Qianye's heart skipped a beat after seeing that black shadow almost seven to eight meters tall.

What an enormous body! Could the dark races have mobilized a giant battle beast? But how did a giant battle beast pass through the swamp?

At this time, the small hill exited the dense mist and was gradually approaching them. What appeared before everyone's eyes was an incomparably large arachne. Its naked upper body was a tangle of bulging muscles, and its azure skin was actually sparkling with a metallic luster. The vital parts of its body were covered in black armor. Unlike the coarse armor on most arachne, every piece of its armor was decorated with golden vein patterns. Its craftsmanship was exquisite and its shape was graceful.

The dark race army spread out like a tide and made way for the arachne to advance on its own. Each and every one of its steps seemed to be trampling on the people's hearts.

It advanced continuously and stopped only 100 meters short of the newly constructed barricade. The arachne shouted with its arms across its chest, "I am Viscount Brahms! Lowly humans, do you plan to impede the great army of the sacred blooded race with such rubble?"

Brahm's voice was like thunder. It sent all the expeditionary army soldiers directly in front of him into a daze. Some ordinary soldiers, who weren't fighters, suddenly let out a miserable cry and collapsed with blood rushing out of their ears.

Everyone from the expeditionary army was momentarily shocked!

Wei Bainian let out a cold laugh. He undid his overcoat with a raise of his hand and passed it to one of his guards, revealing a full dark yellow battle armor. Some guards carried over a giant shield almost as tall as Wei Bainian and a hands-breadth in thickness. One could only imagine its defensive power and weight.

The seemingly lean Wei Bainian lifted the shield with one hand and casually waved it in the air a few times. Such an enormous object actually seemed as light as a feather in his hands.

Wei Bainian exhaled and let loose his voice, which resounded like thunder and rumbled across the battlefield. It actually almost suppressed the arachne's volume.

"Brahms! Today, not just these dark blooded bastards, but you yourself will also fall beneath these town walls!"

Brahms let out a world-shaking roar, "Puny humans, let me see how you'll block my footsteps!"

Brahms retrieved, from his back, a gigantic origin gun befitting his own size. Judging merely from its basin-sized muzzle, it would perhaps be more suitable to call it a cannon.

The muzzle of the handheld origin cannon gradually lit up with origin power radiance. The cannon charging so slowly even with the arachne's strength indicated just how powerful the fired shell would be.

Wei Bainian's figure gradually rose into the air. At the same time, he gestured for his attendants to retreat.

Some expeditionary army officers rapidly fled from the outward-protruding observation tower. Wei Bainian's guards were somewhat hesitant but could only comply when the former's stern gaze swept past them. An empty space was soon cleared out upon the town wall.

Wei Bainian stood hovering in the air with the giant shield positioned before him as if on solid ground. He extended his left hand and curled his finger in a provocative gesture.

The arachne roared loudly after seeing this provocation. He activated the origin power hand cannon with all his might—a deep azure beam of light suddenly shot out from the muzzle and blasted ruthlessly toward Wei Bainian!

Wei Bainian let out a clear hiss which broke through the arachne's thunderous roar without being suppressed in the least. At the same time, a dazzling yellow radiance surged from his body and immediately enveloped an area dozens of meters around him. The light barrier was filled with images of towering mountains, steep ridges, and perilous precipices.

This was the true secret art of the Wei clan, the Thousand Mountains!

The dark azure beam and the Thousand Mountains collided and immediately caused a worldshaking origin power explosion. Rolling waves of energy fluctuations assailed everyone's face. Origin radiances of various colors lit up from Qianye and the other officers. Their group was still able to stand straight without moving, but the weaker soldiers behind them were all swaying from side to side and some even lost their footing and fell back.

This was an all-out collision between opposing champions!

Brahms had slid back several meters as the origin power explosion gradually calmed down, his limbs drawing several deep scars on the ground. The origin gun in his hand was spitting out a continuous stream of sparks with the occasional small explosions. It had already been ruined after bearing Brahm's full-powered attack.

Directly in front of Brahms, only a solitary stone tower was left of the Black Clay Town's walls—the surroundings had become a pile of rubble and ruins—the might of Brahms' hand cannon had actually leveled a whole section of the town wall.

However, Wei Bainian's figure appeared as the wall of dust clouds calmed down. He stood calmly on the stone tower with the heavy shield in his hand and was completely unharmed.

Loud cheers suddenly erupted from Black Clay Town. At this moment, all the expeditionary army warriors were high in morale. The dark race ranks, on the other hand, were apparently no longer as spirited as they were when they marched out from the swamp despite the continuing war cries.

At this time, a crisp sound was suddenly heard from the giant shield in Wei Bainian's hand. Cracks began to appear throughout its surface, on which the origin array patterns hadn't completely dissipated. Following which, it broke into pieces and was completely shattered.

The expeditionary army's cries were suddenly lowered somewhat.

Wei Bainian nonchalantly tossed away the fragments in his hand and shouted, "Shield!"

A number of guards appeared carrying a new giant shield which they worked together to throw high into the air amidst loud cries. Wei Bainian extended his hand with great dexterity and caught it firmly. He produced a short and unremarkable black hammer from his waist. After the injection of origin power, both head and body of the hammer lit up with flickering symbols.

Wei Bainian struck the surface of the shield with a swing of this short hammer and laughed disdainfully at Brahms. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"

Brahms had already been triggered into a furious state by Wei Bainian's actions. The former drew the giant axe from his back and swung it around his head before pointing it at Wei Bainian. "Charge! Kill all those humans!"

Hundreds of dark race warriors let out bloodthirsty howls and pounced toward Black Clay Town.

Werewolves and arachne rushed past Brahms like the tide while he himself stood there without moving, only staring fixedly at Wei Bainian. The latter also stood straight at his original spot, unmoving like the mountains. Those dark race warriors were fairly well coordinated—none of them charged toward Wei Bainian.

They knew this person was Viscount Brahm's opponent. If they were to interfere in a battle of such major characters, they might be torn to shreds by Brahms first before even arriving in position.

Qianye, on the contrary, felt relieved after seeing the charging dark race army. Wei Bainian had succeeded in provoking Brahms, who sent all of his troops charging toward the expeditionary army's line of defense. This was undoubtedly advantageous for the heavily fortified expeditionary army. However, this didn't mean the battle would be an easy one. The crux of this whole battle still depended on the showdown between Brahms and Wei Bainian.

Brahms, who had arrived in command of the dark race army, was indeed very strong. He was only a viscount because of his half-arachne state, but he might directly reach the threshold of a count if he could completely cast off his arachnid body and take on a human form.

At this moment, Qianye had occupied a temporary bunker built on top of the town wall. He was watching as the werewolves leapt over the wall and rushed into town one after another.

He didn't move at all. Only when a large arachne began to climb up the town wall did he raise the fully loaded multi-barreled Vulcan machine gun and walk out of the bunker.