Chapter 29: Trap [Volume 1 – Between Daybreak and Evernight]

Over two hundred soldiers separately rode two large interplanetary airships as they headed for the mission site.

It had been a while since Qianye felt the minor excitement of heading to battle. One could already tell its level of difficulty by just looking at the supplies distributed for the mission. It was said that there would be more than one Champion ranked expert in that base!

Regarding just physical origin bullets, they had already issued ten per person. Moreover, they weren’t made of ordinary silver; they were made of mithril specially treated with Daybreak origin power. Whether it be daggers or bayonets, they were all switched to special weapons that were plated with a layer of mithril. These were all genuine, high-grade goods!

At the same time, all of the warriors in the expedition changed into the specially made Red Scorpion battle armor.

The insides of these sets of armor were inscribed with special origin arrays, and would form an origin power barrier when activated with origin power. Over a short period of time, the barrier would massively decrease the effectiveness of incoming dark origin power. Usually, this kind of armor was only distributed to officers who at least possessed the rank of Red Scorpion, but every mobilized warrior received one this time around, even Qianye.

The airship would fly for five days straight before finally arriving at the Western Frontier.

After the airship took off, Wei Lishi’s voice immediately echoed out in the personnel cabins via copper pipes, “The mission this time was personally signed and issued by Marshal Lin Xitang. The fact that the dark race base was precisely a stronghold supporting the rebels has already been confirmed. Our mission is to destroy the base at all costs, without letting even a single warrior of the dark races escape!”

All of the warriors involuntarily held their breaths!

To them, Lin Xitang was too powerful of a name; his life itself was already a lengthy legend! Yet to Red Scorpion, his existence had even more of a special significance.

It was because of a large, decisive battle between the Empire and the dark races ten years ago. Red Scorpion was one of the main corps on the battlefront. However, they were met with an unprecedented and utter defeat.

The Empire’s reinforcements were held up in the void by a rarely seen astronomical phenomenon, the “Chaotic Streams of Light,” which appeared only once every hundred years. Yet the North Prefecture Corps led by Lin Xitang circumvented the starpath of death, and miraculously appeared at the battlefield’s strategic site, unwaveringly withstanding the assault of the dark race’s main army which allowed the Empire’s main army of over one hundred thousand strong to swiftly escape without issue.

If not for the miraculous appearance of Lin Xitang on that campaign, the name Red Scorpion Corps might have already been erased from the Empire's army list. Unexpectedly, the mission this time was actually personally signed for by the very same Lin Xitang. It was an unparalleled honor to every single Red Scorpion warrior who could participate in the mission!

Wei Lishi’s voice turned downcast, “I believe that you too understand how difficult the mission is this time. Including me, everyone should be prepared to die in battle. Red Scorpion fears nothing. For the Empire! For Marshal Lin!”

None of the warriors acted overly impassioned and merely repeated in deep voices while wearing solemn expressions, “Red Scorpion fears nothing. For the Empire! For Marshal Lin!”

The two interplanetary airships flew several tens of thousands of kilometers across the vast mountains and lands, and finally arrived at the Empire’s Western Frontier. When they appeared outside the target city, it was already late into the night.

Nighttime was when the dark races were most active, and normally, humans would avoid fighting against them, but in this mission, the timing of the surprise assault was chosen to happen during the deepest time of the night, when the power of the dark races was at its strongest.

Precisely because no one would expect the Empire to launch a surprise attack with this kind of timing, the element of surprise could be achieved. This was the reason why Red Scorpion was chosen. It was because among the five great elite corps of the empire, Red Scorpion was most adept at nocturnal battles.

The airship flew to the airspace above the city, and one after another, the Red Scorpion warriors directly leapt off, landing inside the city. They autonomously split into a dozen squads, scouting and moving forward separately.

The night was deep as a round full moon hung upon the curtains of the sky, pouring its dismal, pale gray moonlight onto the ground below. The city was silent without light nor people, as though it was a dead city without a soul in sight.

Qianye walked down the street, looking at the surroundings with great caution. Yet, the restlessness in his heart only grew increasingly stronger.

According to the Empire’s information network, everything was operating normally inside this city, since it even maintained ordinary dealings with the surrounding cities. However, when personally here, inside the city, even a true rookie could tell that there was definitely something abnormal about this place.

No human-dwelling city would be so deathly still. Moreover, this city was too clean, as though someone were cleaning it every single day. There was no trash nor dust on the streets. It was clean to the point that it simply seemed that there was no one living here.

On the empty street, the sound of Qianye’s footsteps echoed incessantly, and to his surprise, the echoes weren’t dying down in the least. Qianye slightly knitted his brows as he slowed his steps. As a result, the sound of footsteps disappeared. However, the other veterans on the same squad didn’t mind the sound at all, their pace still steady and solid.

By now, all of the warriors knew that the dark races must have already noticed them, and that wanting to attack by surprise was already meaningless, but an entire thirty Red Scorpion ranked soldiers were mobilized this time. Moreover, they were led by Colonel Wei Lishi. That was already enough to fight without reserve, even if they were to confront the dark races directly.

Qianye became more nervous as time progressed. He lightly pulled the bolt of the gun, pressing a mithril bullet into the chamber. This mithril bullet could send a dark race warrior below rank four straight into heaven with one shot. Qianye no longer intended to hold back. He planned on giving the dark races a lightning-fast strike the moment he saw them!

The streets were still deathly silent. Unwittingly, mist had begun to form, and the entire city was shrouded by a hazy fog in the blink of an eye. Through the dense fog, it seemed as though all of the buildings had become alive, twisting their bodies and maliciously staring at the few hundred Scorpions invading their territory.

As Qianye passed by an intersection, he suddenly felt as if something was moving in the alleyway.

Immediately retreating two steps, he looked once again toward the alleyway. This glance caused Qianye’s eyes to instantly open wide!

It was not known when the dense and crowded black shadows had appeared in the alley, because those shadows were currently walking toward them without a sound!

"Dark races!" Qianye shouted loudly while pulling the trigger at the same time without hesitation. A large chunk of origin power inside his body instantly vanished, while the mithril bullet shot into the alley carrying a blinding white light!

In an instant, the entire alleyway was lit up by a radiance of silver. This kind of silver light was very damaging to the dark races, especially the dark races with strong night vision. If they accidentally looked straight at the silver light, it might even instantly burn their eyes out!

The silver light poured down, and a wave of blood-curdling screeches immediately sounded out in the alley. Countless dark races crouched down, covering their faces in pain. The frontmost shadow was directly blasted away by the mithril bullet as its body abruptly ignited with light-silver origin power flames!

This type of silver flame was extremely tenacious, and would violently burn the moment it touched any darkness origin power. In the blink of an eye, the silver flames had already spread to over a dozen black silhouettes, enveloping all of them in a scorching infernal.

The accomplishment of this shot was unbelievably bountiful, but Qianye’s hair was almost standing straight up on his scalp. There were too many, far too many of the dark races! The dense crowd squeezed inside the entire alleyway were all warriors of the dark races. Moreover, there were still countless silhouettes at the end of the alley. It was simply impossible to tell just how many enemies there were!

Qianye yelled loudly, quickly retreating and gaining distance while, at the same time, he pressed another mithril bullet into the chamber. As expected, several strokes of shadows suddenly flew out from the alley and pounced at Qianye like lightning! These were the true dark race warriors; those that were squeezing along in the dense crowd were merely cannon fodder used for impediment and exhausting ammunition.

Qianye incessantly retreated at a quick pace, then suddenly came to a halt, raising his gun and firing it at the same time. Silver light sprayed out from the muzzle as a dark race warrior who was pouncing over in midair instantly was blasted away, flying backward as he screeched miserably from being burned, having already been enveloped by the silver flames before even landing.

There was already no time left for Qianye to press the third bullet into the chamber, but there were still two dark race warriors throwing themselves at him!

At this time, two consecutive rumbles echoed out from behind Qianye. Silver light flew right past Qianye’s body, sending the two dark race warriors flying away.

Qianye turned his head around, and saw two veterans signaling with their hands, telling him to go hide in the back with such intensity that it seemed as though their lives depended on it. No matter how prodigal Qianye was, he was still a rookie. The power of a rank two fighter was an incorrigible disadvantage, and could not compared to these Black Scorpion veterans who were rank five or six in the slightest.

Only after retreating behind the veterans was Qianye finally able to take a breather. He looked around, and found that everywhere he looked was filled with soaring flames as well as silver tracks of origin bullets streaking across the air.

Battle erupted in an instant, and the entire city became a battlefield. The Red Scorpion Corps that had originally believed they brought in superior military strength were instantly submerged by countless dark warriors, being broken up into several dozen positions. Crisis was imminent.

Qianye gasped for air with everything he had. Consecutively shooting two rounds of mithril bullet had used up a major portion of his origin power, so right now, he was like a fish that was thrown offshore, his entire lungs feeling as though they were on fire.

“How could this be! Something’s off here!” a voice in Qianye’s heart screamed with all his might, but his brain seemed to have stagnated for the moment, rendering him unable to think any deeper about just what it was that seemed off.

The battle turned white-hot in the blink of an eye.The light of origin power and fire illuminated the city as though it was daytime.

In the city, several dozen indomitable auras soared to the skies like enormous pillars of smoke. Those were genuine, strong beings who possessed powerful darkness origin power. Meanwhile, the Red Scorpion ranked warriors also released their power, clashing head to head with those mighty opponents.

In a block faraway, rumbles suddenly echoed out incessantly as buildings collapsed one after another. In an instant, the entire block was leveled! From that direction, Wei Lishi’s deafening shout sounded out.

Light surged on the colonel’s body as he suddenly soared over a hundred meters high, straight up into the night sky. Four sinisterly shaped silhouettes followed right behind him and pounced up. The two sides began to fiercely battle in midair!

Qianye saw enemies everywhere, as far as the eye could reach. From the alleyways to the buildings and from the houses to the roofs, innumerable people whose faces wore the expression of madness rushed out without stop.

The complexion of those people’s faces were purple, and aura of darkness encircling their bodies as they threw themselves at the warriors of the Red Scorpion Corps without any regard for their lives. Those were the cannon fodder of dark races, humans who were encroached and assimilated by darkness origin power! True dark race warriors would often hide among the cannon fodder, grasping at opportunities to swiftly strike.

The guns of every single Red Scorpion warrior were erupting with flames, splashing out a screen of metal bullets as fast as possible. The cannon fodder was struck down layer by layer, but more cannon fodder would simply flood out from all directions. Their numbers were endless!

In a flash, Qianye had already emptied all of his magazines. In this kind of environment, his origin gun had also lost its use. Qianye immediately tossed away his automatic rifle, put the origin gun on his back, and then pulled out the mithril plated dagger and spike bayonet.

In the surroundings, many veterans had already begun fighting with the dark races in close combat.

A Red Scorpion squad leader shouted loudly, “It’s a trap!”

“All units retreat, retreat immediately!”

“All Red Scorpion ranked soldiers stay behind and cover the retreat!”