The gunship fell down into the fortress. This was an air-to-ground gunship that had been reinforced in the neutral lands, but it couldn’t take a single hit from the fortress' main cannon. The projectile merely brushed the airship, but the impact took away half the vessel.

Fortunately, the main cannon began turning around without firing the next shot. The downed airship crew scattered in all directions while the battlecruiser’s main cannon began firing at the fortress’ turrets. The other gunships also fired with all their might, quickly overwhelming the counterattack from below.

The werewolves had probably never faced such a fierce aerial assault. The firing range and angle of their cannons were somewhat limited. They could pose a threat to the gunships but couldn’t even reach the battlecruiser. Within moments, they were reduced to a miserable burning state.

Qianye cleared out all the werewolves on the surface level of the main cannon tower. However, the massive turret was actually half-buried in the base structure. This so-called base was a big fortification in and of itself.

Qianye found the entrance leading in. The steel doors had been bolted shut from the inside, but that was no problem for him. The door was immediately warped as he grabbed the handles and pulled hard on them, tearing them off entirely.

Qianye then reached into the opening and exerted force once again. Following a shout, strength poured out of his body as he dragged the steel door from the wall—one that was several tons in weight—revealing the dark passage beyond.

A faint screen of light lit up around him as he walked into the passage.

Soon after turning a corner, several werewolves suddenly appeared and began firing at Qianye.

The sheer amount of origin bullets fired at him from such a close distance was on par with the force of an origin cannon. However, the dozens of bullets only dimmed his defensive barrier somewhat and couldn’t break it.

While the werewolf knights were stunned, Qianye passed through their midst and headed deeper into the fort. The werewolf knights fell down clasping their necks; they didn’t even know how the enemy had attacked.

Qianye walked along the passage, investigating every room along the way until he had visited the energy room, machine room, ammunition room, etc. By the time he could no longer find any more enemies, the entire base structure had gone quiet.

Qianye walked into a large hall at the bottom where one of its roller-shutter doors led to an opening in the fortress. Through it, he could see dark race soldiers running about frantically, occasionally flung into the air by a cannon shell.

Qianye walked casually through the fortress with his hands behind his back, almost as though he was taking a stroll in his backyard. He was no longer interested in interfering with fights between ordinary soldiers. All he did was save his mercenaries in passing if they were in danger.

The current battle was an overwhelming victory for them. The dark races were greater in number, but their equipment was more than just a few generations older compared to the decked-out elite squads. Additionally, most dark race soldiers were dying from the bombardment. They were probably never trained to fight against air raids since their evasion was often ineffective and, at times, even hastened their demise. The small number of experts who did counterattack failed to do so properly.

Qianye wasn’t just roaming aimlessly. He would move in whichever direction he could sense the aura of an expert. In the blink of an eye, one viscount and three barons had fallen to his blade.

The dark races were numerous, and there were stray bullets flying everywhere. Even Qianye’s origin barrier would ripple from time to time, let alone ordinary soldiers. Yet another titled expert collapsed before Qianye. He had killed the enemy barehanded without releasing his domain, but for a split second, he could sense the enemy’s willpower drop sharply. The decline was so sudden that it felt abnormal. This gave him an idea—he released his suppressive might without holding back in the slightest, drowning half the fortress with the terrifying aura of a glorious marquis.

Countless dark race soldiers, regardless of race or rank, were overcome by a deep sense of fear from the depths of their bloodline. That was terror born of the darkness origins, an instinct every dark race member was born with.

In the blink of an eye, all resistance disappeared from half the fortress. Almost all dark race soldiers lost the will to fight, throwing down their weapons and scattering in all directions.

This feeling wasn’t bad at all. Qianye stood firmly, enjoying the taste of complete dominance, when he felt a sharp pain from the back of his head.

He turned around at lightning speed to find a physical bullet flying quietly toward his forehead!

At that very moment, Qianye saw the intricate structure of the projectile and the mottled black color mixed into its grey. This was an origin bullet containing a large amount of black titanium, a powerful weapon for killing human experts.

The origin bullet blasted Qianye’s origin barrier, causing the shield to erupt with light! The bullet forced the origin barrier to shrink steadily but simply couldn’t get through it.

It was at this moment that the bullet exploded, its outer shell breaking into paper-thin shards that cut through the barrier. The core originally hidden inside the shell penetrated the barrier and made straight for Qianye’s forehead.

This was an armor-piercing round made specifically to penetrate origin power defenses and barriers. The design and craftsmanship were worthy of praise. Its price was probably extraordinary, and only elite snipers would be able to master its use.

The bullet became reflected in Qianye’s eyes, and soon afterward, its trajectory shifted away. The projectile barely brushed past his cheek when he reached out to grab it.

The bullet was so sharp and heavy that his palm was cut open slightly after catching it, and a drop of blood seeped out. With how poisonous black titanium was, the hand should’ve been crippled once there was a cut. Yet Qianye’s dark golden blood energy was far above black titanium in grade. There was no way it would fear the substance. After circulating his blood energy, a drop of grey blood squeezed out of the wound and he was fine thereafter.

Qianye tossed the bullet away and shook his head. He had just unleashed the aura of an ancient vampire, but this sniper was trying to use black titanium against him. Perhaps the sharpshooter couldn’t react quickly enough, or maybe he didn’t have any other bullet of the same grade. Then again, werewolves would have mithril bullets at best; there was no way they would have the human race’s extreme yang bullets.

Qianye was somewhat curious about this sniper since they were the first proper opponent since the assault began.

He looked up in the direction of the bullet and disappeared with a flicker. In his True Sight, he noticed a faint darkness origin power still lingering in the air.

Qianye appeared several hundred meters away, where he could see the street block down below. The sniper had fired from this location. The person should still be in the vicinity unless he had fled immediately without checking the results of his attack.

Snipers at this level were usually quite confident and most of them would want to witness the results of their shot. If this person possessed the same weakness, he would be startled after seeing Qianye’s strength as he caught the bullet. This momentary delay made it impossible for the sharpshooter to escape Qianye’s coverage. The street block below was a chaotic mess packed full of fleeing dark race soldiers. Not far away, two small mercenary squads were covering one another as they advanced through the buildings. Every tactical movement they made highlighted their teamwork and combat discipline. Such small squads would usually produce great results on the battlefield even if their individual strength was mediocre.

The mercenaries joining the ground battle added to the chaos. Adding to all that, Qianye had released his expert’s aura, but no one from the dark race side had stepped up to meet the challenge. Almost all dark race soldiers lost the will to fight—most of them were focused on fleeing for their lives, and only a small number offered actual resistance.

Qianye’s gaze landed on a certain dark race soldier—one that looked fairly mediocre in every way—pushing his way through the ordinary soldiers and toward the next street block.

Qianye landed right behind him and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Good disguise, but doesn’t this come as a blow to your dignity?”

The dark race soldier turned back, his expression full of terror and shock. He pulled out his dagger and tried to stab Qianye in the abdomen. The attack looked extremely weak, no different from a rank-three fighter.

In Qianye’s eyes, however, he could see an extremely faint wisp of origin power dancing about in an erratic trajectory. If Qianye were to doubt his own judgment and become momentarily distracted, this mobile origin power would give the enemy a chance to escape.

“It’s no use.” Qianye strengthened his grip. An indefensible pressure bore down upon the soldier, causing his knees to go weak and forcing him to the ground.

As the pressure came down onto him, the soldier finally cast away his disguise and resisted with great strength. How was a virtuous count to withstand Qianye’s slap? He still ended up slamming into the ground.

He said with a bitter expression, “Since you’ve discovered me, just do it. To die in the hands of a glorious marquis from a famed vampire clan is not a dishonor to my tribe.”

“It’s good that you can think that way.” Qianye raised his right hand with a nod, ready to end the sniper’s life.

A virtuous count sniper was too dangerous; even a marquis of ordinary strength might fall prey if he were careless. This person could not be left alive.

“Wait!” The sniper’s eyes were finally filled with terror.

Qianye’s palm hovered above the man’s head. “What do you have to say? Don’t tell me you want to surrender?”

The sniper smiled wryly, “Sire, we’re both nobles of Evernight. Why would you lead the humans to fight us? Even if that’s the case, in a war for the glory of darkness, captives are usually allowed to submit or pay ransom. This is the norm on Fort Continent. Even on the higher continents, similar rules apply if there’s no blood feud between the two parties. There’s never been anyone like you who kills without even an explanation.”

Qianye chuckled. “Look closely, I’m no Evernight noble!”

With that, a flame lit up at the tip of Qianye’s finger. The power of Venus Dawn produced a scorching effect as it illuminated the werewolf count’s face.

“Daybreak origin power!” The sniper was shocked out of his wits.