Chapter 761: Vasuki
As a divine champion who had been associated with the Earth Dragon for several decades, Su Dingqian was naturally aware of the terrors of this terrifying subterranean void colossus. Back then, he had suffered greatly while trying to sound it out and didn’t even get very far under the ground. Since then, he no longer dared to provoke the dragon.
Liu Daoming seized the opportunity to say, “We can fight schemes with schemes and let them have this place. They will need marquis-level people to explore the secrets of the Earth Dragon. We can kill our way back after they’ve suffered a loss and maybe even finish off some famous bastards. At that time, their internal situation will also fall into instability, and they'll have no choice but to negotiate with us.”
The glow in Su Dingqian’s eyes flickered as he paced about. In the end, he made up his mind and said, “Fine, we’ll do it that way! But we must defend for a length of time no matter what. Otherwise, it’ll be too easy for them if we run without a fight, the other party might suspect a scheme.”
Everyone felt relieved upon seeing that Su Dingqian had decided to leave. At this point, Su Yueyuan recalled something. “We might as well dispatch all those outsiders for the defensive battle. They’ve received a lot of rewards, so it’s only right that they should die for Port City.”
Su Dingqian gave it some thought before saying, “Fine!”
At this moment, Qianye had just finished handing in his contributions at the city guard headquarters. The logistics officer was tongue-tied after checking the proofs of contribution. “A viscount and twenty-one high-ranking soldiers! It’s only been a couple of days, Sir Zhao, you really shocked me. The intelligence you brought back is also a part of your contributions.”
“I’m more proficient in sniping, as you know. That’s how things are in this phase of the battle.” Qianye smiled.
There were only scouting parties in the wilderness during the early phases of battle. This was when snipers found it easiest to harvest contributions. The officer said with a nod, “That’s true, the battle to come won’t be that easy to fight, sigh!”
“Any news?” Qianye inquired.
The logistics officer glanced around and said in a whisper, “I heard that the enemies have formed a coalition! The big army you saw must be their combined forces!”
Qianye was startled. He had long since suspected this, but it had finally been proved. Despite the mediocre position, logistics officers were privy to quite a bit of secret information.
“Then, what do we do? This city won’t hold,” Qianye probed.
The officer smiled wryly. “How should I know? Small characters like us can only hand our fate to the heavens. City lords will surely use us to do the heavy-lifting, I can only hope it won’t be too bad.”
Qianye nodded sympathetically.
It was at this time that a low-pitched bugle echoed throughout the city, a signal for all officers to assemble. Moments later, following a mournful alarm, the city gates slowly closed up. Those who hadn’t left the city at this point could only remain within. In truth, the fate of those who had just left wasn’t that great, either. They would soon be run down by the pursuing cavalry before they could run very far.
Qianye rushed toward the city lord residence, with many others joining the march in quick succession. These were the independent experts whom Su Dingqian had recruited to fight for Port City. Many of them, however, seemed to be in a bad mood after receiving word of the situation. There were also some whose faces were overcome with bloodthirst, likely fierce characters who wanted to take this opportunity to earn a fortune.
Moments later, the group had gathered in the plaza outside of the city lord’s mansion. The entirety of the city guard and law enforcement unit had also assembled here. Su Dingqian rose into the air above the main building and stared down at the crowd, his divine-champion might overflowing like the tides. The suppression stifled everyone, so much so that some of the weaker warriors found their knees trembling and their footing, unstable. Fortunately, Su Dingqian was quite appropriate in his behavior, holding his power at a precise level where no one would be humiliated.
The city lord scanned the scene and said in a clear voice, “The enemy soldiers are at the walls. They look powerful but are actually quite weak at the core. I’ll forego the empty words and only hope everyone will defend the city with me in this battle to the death! Port City has never fallen for thirty years, and it will not fall today. Untalented as I may be, I’m willing to fight to the last moment alongside you and will never be the one to leave first!”
These words were resolute and decisive, immediately causing everyone’s blood to boil. Many people broke out into a battle-cry!
Seeing that the present morale was still feasible, Su Dingqian nodded in secret. Liu Daoming immediately stood forward and began assigning people their defensive duties.
Qianye followed a small group of city guard soldiers to his designated zone. As someone who had received the most rewards, he was naturally assigned to the most dangerous area, one that would sustain the direct impact of the incoming army.
At this moment, Qianye was calm, collected, and unmoved by Su Dingqian’s encouragement. He had seen no small number of divine champions in his life and even traded blows with one. He knew very clearly that, despite those vehement words, Su Dingqian could easily break through the siege and escape even after everyone else had fallen.
As a land surrounded by enemies and war, the city guards here were actually quite powerful and organized in their mobilization. Within moments, the entire warzone had been manned and the armory at the back, opened wide. A small mountain of munitions and arms were being delivered to the critical areas in a timely fashion.
By imperial and Evernight standards, all citizens of the ands were soldiers. Anyone willing to aid in the defense would receive weapons and supplies. In this manner, an army of ten thousand suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Yet, this was quite a bleed to Su Dingqian’s treasury, enough to exhaust his accumulations for the past ten years.
The military supply department was packed full of people, many of whom were rushing toward the city walls after receiving their equipment. The logistics officer was drenched in sweat. Although he had summoned a dozen or so men to help him out, he was still desperate to grow another pair of arms.
A young lady appeared before him at this busy time. She was shrouded in a cloak, revealing only a pair of eyes. She passed the logistics officer a list which shocked the man out of his wits. However, he didn’t dare inquire further since the papers had the city lord’s seal on them. He quickly ran back to the warehouse and, with the help of two assistants, brought back a large crate.
There was a multi-barreled vulcan cannon atop the crate—its barrels were one size thicker than the norm, and the muzzles were equipped with specialized cooling and stabilization arrays. The body of the firearm itself was filled with origin patterns. Weighing several hundred kilograms, this cannon was made for use by powerful experts and only two of such weapons existed in Port City.
The considerate logistics officer fixed the gun onto the crate and glanced about in search of the girl’s followers as he placed the load in front of her. Just as he was about to ask, the young girl grabbed the gun and ammunition crate with her right hand and left. She was so at ease that it looked like she was carrying a basket of vegetables.
The logistics officer’s mouth fell open, and he could hardly believe his eyes. The crate of ammunition was even heavier than the vulcan, a couple of tons at least. The contrast was really too great to see that frail young girl carrying all of that away.
Only after the girl had left did the logistics officer recall that her body ratio was somewhat off, yet he couldn’t quite put his finger on how so.
Bluemoon walked out of the supply depot and tossed the crate and gun onto a heavy truck. Just as she was about to board the vehicle, a certain lady appeared in her field of vision.
This woman wasn’t beautiful but possessed a perfect body structure. The odd thing was that no one noticed her as she walked through the street, almost as though she were nonexistent. Bluemoon blinked, and as expected, the woman completely vanished from her senses once she had closed her eyes. Only when she opened her eyes could she see this person walking.
Bluemoon had discovered her existence because there was an extremely mild scent that caught her attention. The fragrance was beyond faint, but it was also extremely familiar—it was the scent of desire.
“Dreameater Bug!” Some fluctuations appeared in Bluemoon’s eyes.
As though noticing someone’s eyes on her, the lady shot a glance at Bluemoon. Then, she proceeded toward the military supply area, almost as though the latter were just an unassuming, ordinary person.
The logistics officer hadn’t yet recovered from his shock at this point. He had remained in a daze and only came to when he saw a hand waving in front of him.
In front of him was an ordinary young girl whose facial features could barely be considered pretty. However, the officer suddenly felt interested because his instincts told him that this girl would bring him a surprise. Just like that Bluemoon, this kind of conversational topic would allow him to brag until he was a senile old man.
“I want a sniper rifle,” said Nighteye.
“Sniper rifle? Okay, what grade?”
“Any grade is fine.”
The logistics officer gave it some thought, and then went back to the warehouse briefly. Afterward, he returned with a sniper rifle built in a typical neutral-land style and placed it in front of her. “What about this one?”
The assistant beside him was shocked. “Sir, this…”
The officer waved his hand. “You lot, shut up!”
This sniper rifle was actually grade-seven. Because it had originated in the neutral lands, its firepower was much greater than those of grade-seven weapons from the continent. Perhaps only a grade-eight continental rifle might be comparable to the current one. The Carol of Shadows she had in hand was much inferior since Nighteye had to use blood energy to drive the weapon instead of demonic energy.
The rifle’s barrel was exceptionally long, and the python-decoration coiled around it looked fairly vivid and lifelike. This giant python wasn’t there just for show. In truth, there was a cleverly designed array inside used to stabilize and accelerate the shots. The metallic body was well-worn and shiny from many years of use.
The weapon was overflowing with killing intent just by sitting there on its own, instilling fear in all beholders.
“This… does it have a name?” Nighteye placed her hand on the rifle and murmured softly.
“Vasuki! Nice name, right? It’s yours if you can use it.” The officer’s tone was rather heroic.
The subordinates around him felt relieved after hearing this. All of them had been observing Nighteye—she was but an ordinary woman, someone people would quickly forget. Hence, no one raised any objections to the logistics officer’s decision.