Monarch of Evernight - Chapter 508

Chapter 508

Chapter 508: The Silhouette Through the Scope [V6C38 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

“Armas? This… is truly unfortunate . ”

Armas was one of the elites who had been sent by the Monroe clan to support Nighteye . Although he was only a second-rank viscount, his sword arts were extremely powerful and greatly suited for operating under the suppression of the colossus’ will .

However, all groups were dispersed once they entered this world from Giant’s Repose . It was just that Eden and Nighteye were located quite close, and were thus able to meet up on the second day . They had been taking their time to roam the surrounding areas without rushing toward the colossus’ remains because they wanted to rendezvous with their teammates . They would be qualified to seize the ancient essence fragment only after accumulating a certain amount of military strength .

Unexpectedly, Armas had fallen here without even a corpse remaining . Eden quickly observed the surroundings—being able to finish Armas off without signs of an intense battle proved that the opponent was powerful . It might even be one of the empire’s twin stars, and Eden didn’t wish to bump into them at all before reaching the ancient essence fragment .

Nighteye collected Armas’ items without a word and continued onward .

…

Meanwhile, Qianye was also roaming the area, and an increasing number of dark race members had died in his wake as he gradually approached the colossus’ remains . The closer he came to the inner circle, the more dangerous things became, and the greater his chances of encountering the other faction’s experts .

Qianye hadn’t seen Zhao Jundu yet up to this point . He had, however, bumped into a couple of experts from the imperial noble families . But Qianye liked to move alone so he merely got in touch for a simple exchange of intelligence and parted ways with them .

It was at this time that Qianye’s ears moved ever so slightly . He quickly leapt onto the closest tree and glanced into the distance, from whence came a long, resounding howl .

This wolf howl had come from at least a kilometer away . This was nothing in the outside world where even the sound of an ordinary beast howling to the moon could travel several kilometers . However, it was truly out of the ordinary in a world protected of the colossus’ will . A howl reaching over a kilometer in range despite the suppression proved how powerful this werewolf was .

Qianye’s expression turned odd because he seemed to recognize this sound . Was that . . . William?

Apparently, he was in a fierce battle with someone nearby and had unleashed such a roar at the height of his battle intent .

Qianye hesitated for a moment but still made his way toward the direction of that howl . However, he maintained a state of bloodline concealment throughout the journey and seemed to have no intention of letting either party discover him .

Qianye had always felt a good impression toward William’s attitude . Since sharing food with him in that unknown cave in the wilderness, William had treated him more like a friend and less like an enemy . Regardless of his true intentions, it was a fact that he had helped Qianye several times . Thus, he could hardly ignore the werewolf’s kindness despite his natural vigilance against the dark races .

But William was still a werewolf who belonged to the Evernight faction, so they would naturally be on opposite sides if they were to meet under the present circumstances .

One kilometer wasn’t far at all, but it became a rather long trek with his perception limited to within a couple hundred meters . As he arrived near the scene, Qianye saw the ground virtually overturned and a dozen or so giant trees leaning at odd angles .

The fight had already ended and William was nowhere to be seen . What surprised Qianye was that William’s enemy was neither an imperial soldier or a vampire . Instead, they were peculiar men the size of a three-year-old child . They possessed large eyes, small limbs, wrinkled brown skin, and were wielding wooden stakes in their hands .

There were dozens of such small corpses, and most of them had traces of claws or bites upon them .

Qianye’s eyes froze at this point . Had William been fighting in his werewolf combat form? Qianye had never seen William’s true combat form at this point . There was only that one time on the Western Continent where the latter had changed into a giant wolf to intercept him . The transformation then had doubled his suppressive might, a testament to how powerful his combat form was . This also meant that these odd little men were definitely not as simple as they seemed on the surface .

Qianye drew East Peak and stabbed one of the corpses on the ground . Qianye was surprised to find that there was actually some resistance at the tip before it went into the body . East Peak, at this point, had reached a whole new level after being reforged at the Zhao clan . It was just a casual stab, but the sword almost failing to pierce through went to show just how shocking their natural defenses were .

He picked up one of the short wooden spears and observed it carefully, whereupon an almond-like smell of bitterness wafted into his nose . As soon as he had inhaled this smell, Qianye felt a constant sting on his skin, and the hand holding the spear turned somewhat numb .

Clearly, this was poison—and an unfathomable venom at that .

Basically, Qianye’s present constitution and auric flame blood afforded him immunity to most toxins . Even the special anti-vampire poisons used by the empire were ineffective on him . Who would’ve thought that this unassuming short spear in front of him was actually carrying such a terrifying poison?

No wonder William had revealed his combat form . He needed to wipe out these little men with reinforced speed, lest he got stabbed by their poisoned spears . This was also an indirect proof that even William’s count-level defenses weren’t completely invincible against their attacks .

Qianye learned nothing more after a period of research . He was no biological specialist, so he could only judge the combat strength and style of these little men from his past experience . This yielded limited results .

Qianye picked up a couple of those spears, wrapped them tightly with beast skin, and placed them into Andruil’s Mysterious Realm for later research .

These corpses would soon be devoured and disintegrated by the purple substance, never to appear again . The forest seemed unchanged, but the appearance of these little creatures proved that this world was much more dangerous than they had previously anticipated . Moreover, where had they even come from?

Qianye suddenly recalled the beehive-like structure in the crowns of those large trees and that there were certain things being gestated in them .

A puzzled Qianye continued his investigation . Moreover, he kept his True Sight active at all times and didn’t dare relax . Judging from the clues at the scene, William had clearly been ambushed and attacked from all sides by those little men .

After advancing for some time, Qianye suddenly noticed a certain part of the ground substance bulging up abnormally . He rapidly rushed over and slashed it open with East Peak .

This time, Qianye had added blood energy to the blade’s edge, preventing the cut edges from repairing themselves . The blood energy eroded swiftly through the substance and revealed two partially-devoured corpses underneath . Their identities could still be discerned because the ornaments on them were mostly intact . Both of them were aristocratic family experts—one was from the Kong family, and the other was from a certain middle-ranked family .

The flesh on their chests had been eroded quite a bit . Qianye flicked an air bullet which quickly broke through their damaged chest bones and revealed their internal organs . As expected, their internal organs had all been shattered .

Qianye’s gaze became solemn, knowing that he was already closing in on this mysterious opponent . Judging from the state of those corpses, it had been less than two hours since that person’s departure . Two hours was enough to go quite far, but not to the point where he couldn’t catch up .

Qianye flipped through the dead man’s backpack and fished out two boxes of exorcism bullets, then left with hastened steps .

About an hour later, Qianye poked his head out from behind a large tree-trunk . He seemed to have discovered an abnormality in the crown of a tree at the extremes of his vision .

Qianye shrunk back behind the tree and climbed upward with the trunk as cover . He then climbed into the spherical treetop and slowly peered out . He moved with such caution that the treetop wasn’t swaying at all .

That opponent’s ability was simply too strange, so Qianye wasn’t willing to let them gain the initiative . The best way to deal with this kind of opponent was to snipe from stealth and not give the opponent any opportunity to use their abilities .

There was indeed something strange about the treetop across from him . Qianye couldn’t see anything, but his True Sight had outlined the hazy silhouette of a hiding person .

The long sniper rifle stretched out inch by inch from beneath Qianye . The weapon had been covered with a layer of purple substance for camouflage, but even moving it into firing position took him several minutes .

Qianye was fairly patient, an attribute he had gained after experiencing countless battles . At this moment, the distance between the two parties had reached the limit of Qianye’s vision . He was still fairly cautious even though he had never encountered an enemy who could see farther than him .

The Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang in his rifle chamber would strike the target as soon as he could confirm that the other party was a dark race expert . By then, the enemy would be gravely injured if not dead .

Qianye slowly adjusted the scope . Finally, the image of a treetop came into view .

At the center of his crosshair was a deep, serene rifle scope!

It was a scope decorated fully with a vampire flair and aimed right at Qianye . There was no need for a second glance—Qianye knew that the opponent’s crosshairs were also on his scope .

Qianye held his breath!

He knew not whether he had been discovered or if the other party just happened to be aiming in this direction . For an ordinary person, the only thing in his scope should be a patch of hazy white mist .

However, Qianye knew she also possessed superior vision . He never saw her face clearly, but merely from that pony-tail and raven-black hair—just from that hazy silhouette—he knew it had to be Nighteye, that person most deeply entangled with his life .

But, had she also seen him?

Qianye didn’t move . His line of vision passed through the two crosshairs to reach Nighteye .

However, that was only an illusion . He couldn’t see Nighteye’s eyes, just as Nighteye couldn’t see his . The crosshairs acted as a bridge for one to see the other, yet they also became a wall preventing them from true eye-contact .

After recognizing Nighteye, Qianye realized that the mysterious opponent he had been chasing after was her . Only her eye ability would possess such powers of penetration capable of piercing the defenses of ordinary champions .

“Crack!” A light sound shattered the silence of the forest . It turned out that Qianye had unknowingly exerted enough force to break the solid bark of that tree . Fortunately, no ordinary person could catch this minuscule sound at such a distance .

However, the scenery around Nighteye fluctuated ever so slightly—Qianye immediately realized there was someone beside her .