ATAPOW Chapter 224
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Chapter 224: The Nightmare Known As Truth
The vampire army was the embodiment of the military might of Setis Duchy. Consisting of battle-hardened elites clad in metallic armor, they were members of the dark imperial knights under the direct command of the Duchess.
Their exceptional combat prowess even allowed them to maintain a kill-death ratio of 5:1 against Satan’s Disaster Legion. Furthermore, their allegiance was reserved solely for the head of house Setis.
Ji Bai was able to comprehensively discern the mysterious vampire army’s origins, just by observing the superficial information presented on their surface.
When he thought back to how the trolls had easily come to an agreement with him earlier, he could roughly piece together the current situation.
“Is… that a vampire army??” Someone had uttered those words amidst the escalating tension, exacerbating the situation even further.
As they saw the scarlet crest on the flags and witnessed the combat might and discipline exhibited by the black-armored knights, the collective weight in everyone’s hearts grew.
“Vampires… Why would the vampire army appear here! Are they going to start a mindless massacre?”
“I don’t know. But I think we should talk things over with them. We can’t fight such a senseless war.” Seeing the overwhelming killing intent surging towards them, Fishbone’s complexion was extremely unsightly.
“Swish!” Just as everyone found themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place, Ji Bai made the first move; He had unsheathed his silver longsword.
“What are you doing, human?! Vampires aren’t savages. They won’t attack us preemptively unless we provoke them. If you have a death wish, don’t drag us along with you!” Upon witnessing his action, Fishbone grew extremely furious and berated him.
Witnessing a nearby group of Asiatic Cat commoners succumbing to a rain of arrows, Ji Bai shot Fishbone a silent glance. Without uttering a word, he advanced towards the vampire army, one step at a time.
“Hmph! Just a low-tiered species determined to dig their own grave.” Seeing Ji Bai’s back disappearing into the distance, Fishbone coldly smiled. He did not forget to ridicule this human who had overestimated his abilities.
“Don’t be reckless, Obscene Middle-aged man. You’re no match for the vampire army!” The sight of the metallic helmet slowly approaching the vampire army did not fail to escape Lil’ Sha’s eyes as she impatiently tried to wriggle her way out of Nael’s embrace.
“Snap out of it and protect your people. Are your weapons just for show?”
The Restoration Society members, mired in a state of panic and confusion, were momentarily caught off-guard by Ji Bai’s words.
“The purpose of an army is to be a sharp sword that protects the people.” Saying which, Ji Bai lengthened his strides and burst into a sprint.
The black imperial knights under House Setis’s command had experienced numerous battles and stood ever-ready to engage any enemy, no matter who they were.
Upon receiving an order, they would attack without hesitation, regardless of age or gender.
Even if their opponent was just a solitary challenger, they would still strike back by thrusting their magic-imbued spears at him.
“Clank!!…” The sound of clashing metal fell incessantly on the ears of everyone on the scene. The relentless barrage of long spears failed to turn the individual concealed beneath a metallic helmet, who dared defy the might of the black imperial knights, into a pincushion as everyone might have expected.
Utilizing his impressive agility and the clever exploitation of angles, the target of their attacks had evaded the long spears approaching from all sides. At the same time, he used his longsword like a great shield, sending sparks flying as the gleaming silvery long spears struck its handguard and blade in succession.
[Gradual Rupture]
“Boom!!” Following an intense collision that sent vibrations throughout the air, the long spears which landed on his handguard and blade were sent soaring into the sky, one after the other.
[Destructive Class— Army Annihilator]
Before they could get a chance to defend, the vampire knights were directly struck by a longsword, one which appeared powerful enough to mow down thousands of soldiers in its path.
However, the black imperial knights, known as the cream of the crop, were ultimately leagues beyond what a troll soldier could ever hope to acieve.
Although they were unable to retract their weapon in time to defend themselves, the well-drilled soldiers’ fast reflexes and muscle memory kicked in, causing them to take a step backwards. This swift movement meant that the silver longsword had only managed to graze their armor.
Although a few vampires failed to evade the lethal blow, their injuries were not severe. Due to their black precious-metal armor effectively mitigating much of the damage, the worst they had to contend with was a slight push-back and some minor wounds, which would swiftly heal in a few minutes.
That momentary shock did not deter the black-armored knights from pressing on with their assault. Like raindrops, a relentless barrage of long spears continued to assault their opponent, who valiantly stood their ground against them.
Over time, numerous wounds began to appear on Ji Bai’s body — All of them scrapes resulting from his close dodges.
Considering the equipment he had at his disposal, the battle was extremely uneven.
If one of those enchanted long spears were to pierce his body, his fighting strength would instantly vanish.
Despite exploiting the weaknesses of this seemingly impenetrable spear wall, he found it hard to injure a single vampire knight.
As the fight raged on, he retreated further, his body accumulating an increasing number of burn marks from the enchanted spears. Despite relying on the movement skills instilled in him by the knight in pitch-black armor, his physical strength was at its limit.
Under the ferocious assault of the black imperial knights, he was ultimately defeated.
“We’re in serious trouble this time…” As they saw Ji Bai being driven back relentlessly, the faces of the restoration society members behind him turned deadly white.
The titanic clash between the two groups had left them utterly gobsmacked. They were completely incapable of making out Ji Bai’s attacks at all.
However, even though that was the case, it remained a daunting challenge for a single person to take on a well-trained army.
When faced with the dense gathering of elite vampire knights, Ji Bai could only briefly hold them off; He was incapable of dealing lethal blows to them.
When confronted with the equipment worn by the sea of vampire elites, the silver longsword he held seemed notably inadequate.
“Clank!” A heavy collision echoed. With a ‘swoosh’, his silvery longsword was sent flying in a clash.
His arms injured, Ji Bai had no choice but to brandish the remaining sword from his waist, which he saw as nothing more than a ‘firestarter’ in his current predicament.
“Thunk!!” The sword hilt struck the neck of a vampire elite with ferocity, momentarily disorienting him. His vision and sense of balance soon began to blur and falter.
The sound of a sharp object cutting through flesh and bones filled the air; The dark and severely dilapidated longsword had managed to pierce through the soldier’s chest armor and was now deep inside his chest.
Dark blood splattered outwards, accompanied by the sound of blood bubbling at the edges of his mouth. His breath had escaped him, and the wound dealt by [Tranquility] showed no signs of recovering.
A sense of slight astonishment washed over the black-armored soldiers. Even Ji Bai himself was no exception. In extreme astonishment, he stared at the black sword in his hand which was devoid of any bloodstain.
So absorbed was he in his thoughts that he completely failed to notice a massive, razor-sharp silver claw approaching him.
“Oh my, I’ve finally stumbled upon someone intriguing. It seems that this mission might not be a complete time waster.” An enthusiastic exclamation echoed in the air, snapping Ji Bai back to reality.
“Clang!!” Taken by surprise, he hastily brought up [Tranquility] in front of him as a shield. A weighty and muffled thud followed and like a kite whose string had been cut, his body was hurled backwards, sending him crashing into a residential house and denting its wall.
Obscene Middle-aged man!” Lil’ Sha hastily broke free from Nael’s hold and speedily rushed towards him.
“Your Highness Sha!…” Nael was briefly surprised. Just as she was about to say something, she realized that Lil’ Sha had already turned around with her back against her.
“Are you alright, Obscene Middle-aged man…” Lil’ Sha attempted to help Ji Bai up. Just as she brushed her hands against his back, she was instantly met with a gruesome scene.
It was a sea of red…
“Uhuhu… Why are you trying to show off?? No matter how capable you are, how could you possibly win against so many vampires alone…”
“I’m fine…” Ji Bai expressed that he was still conscious, at least for the moment.
That said, several of his ribs were already broken. It was quite likely that his heart and lungs had suffered varying degrees of damage from the impact.
“Cough, cough…” Following a few light coughs, blood began to seep out from the seams of his helmet.
“Well, well, well. Would you look at this? I’ve stumbled upon quite the find~” Just then, a series of derisive laughter echoed out from within the vampire army.
Suddenly, the black imperial knights ceased their march, as if they had received some sort of signal. Like a moon protected by a constellation of stars, they respectfully moved to the side, creating a path for a ponytailed girl clad in military attire to slowly make her entrance.
“Golden-white hair, purple pupils… Hey, little Asiatic Cat girl, you look strangely familiar.” The girl had a beaming smile on her face, yet it put Lil’ Sha on guard.
“I don’t recall ever seeing you before, old vampire crone!”
“Crone? Hehe…” The girl lowered her head. “You’re not a smooth talker, aren’t you, young girl?… Did your parents forget to do their duty of instilling some values in you?”
“Instilling values, you say? A race that recklessly invades another country has no right to lecture me about character. Even if you put on an air of righteousness all day, it’s nothing but hollow moral posturing.”
“Hmph! Insolent child. It seems you’ve grown too accustomed to the life of a slave.” Jinxuan’s expression turned completely ice-cold.
The corners of Fishbone’s mouth twitched. He felt he was on the verge of losing his cool.
These self-destructive actions were no different than pushing everyone present into a fire. Did she not realize that her life was still at the mercy of others?
It was fine if the princess refrained from sucking them up. Yet, she had actually aligned herself with that reckless human and stood up against his enemy. They were truly kindred souls…
“Very well. I’d actually love to see what honeyed words your small sweet lips will utter once I get my hands on you!” Jinxuan extended her silver-chained claw toward Lil’ Sha with a frosty expression on her face.
“Royal sister, Mother… Please watch over me.” Lil’ Sha shivered slightly, tightly gripping the gem necklace in her hand while offering a prayer.
As long as she could unleash her [Primordial Vein] once more, she would be able to rescue herself and the ‘obscene middle-aged man’ behind her…
However, reality was like a chilling knife, slowly slicing through Lil’ Sha’s heart and extinguishing her hopes.
Despite the massive wind pressure charging towards her, the necklace had remained unresponsive.
“Your Highness Sha!” Nael and several key figures from the Restoration Society, who were among the first to react, hurriedly ran towards Lil’ Sha one after the other, but it was already too late.
It seemed as if the heavens had already set her fate in stone.
The last thing Lil’ Sha felt before subconsciously closing her eyes was the person behind her enveloping her in his embrace and his hard gauntlets securing their hold around her.
“Clank!” A loud collision sound resounded, ushering in a strange silence that enveloped the ever-silent vampires and the group of Asiatic Cats on the scene.
“Mhm??” Jinxuan narrowed her eyes, her gaze tightly fixed on the dark-silvery armor which had intercepted her metallic claw.
The subdued atmosphere created an unsettling feeling among those present.
Some of the outer members of the Restoration Society were oblivious to the sudden development.
Meanwhile, the pivotal figures within the group, including Nael, took in a deep breath of air with their eyes wide open.
The stark reality known as the truth had unfolded before their eyes, leaving them profoundly shocked and giving rise to the feeling that they had been deceived.
“Uuu… Obscene Middle-aged man, I-I didn’t die, have I? Why has everything become so… Hmm?” When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a pair of dark-silvery gauntlets that seemed oddly familiar to her.
Her eyes instantly widened as she shifted her gaze upwards.
The armor that embraced her had previously appeared in her dream amidst a sea of fire.
The demon who had killed her aunt and trampled on her hometown…
Had she… not awoken from this haunting nightmare yet?