Monarch of Evernight Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict - Chapter 26: Intuition

Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 26: Intuition
The young lady was holding a standard dagger in her left hand, but in her right was actually a morning star. She lunged at the blood esquire from the back—although she wasn’t fast enough and her movements weren’t exactly efficient, she was able to grasp the perfect moment.
The blood esquire had just parried a heavy blow from his opponent and his reaction was somewhat delayed by the impact when the girl swung the morning star toward him at a sharp angle.
It was during this extremely short moment that the lady’s morning star ruthlessly smashed through the blood esquire’s back armor and into his spine. It was an astonishing accomplishment. She was able to break through both the blood esquire’s defense and armor in a single strike. Obviously, the young lady possessed a strength unfitting of her external build.
The blood esquire let out a miserable cry and soon lost the ability to move. His opponent grasped this opportunity—a sword pierced into the blood esquire’s heart and completely ended his life. However, Qianye clearly saw, through his scope, that the final blow was already unnecessary. The blow from the morning star had already done the blood esquire in.
The young lady seemed only 13 or 14 years of age and was almost a full head shorter than the other warriors. She possessed pink lips, large dark eyes, and a small chest which protruded ever so slightly. The ends of her long hair contained wavy curls, granting her the semblance of an enlarged doll.
However, this cute little girl’s combat style made one feel a certain chill. She constantly roamed about the battlefield and would, like a phantom, appear from the most unexpected of places. Moments later, she successfully ambushed another blood esquire, completely crushing his ankle as a result. Dragging a wounded leg through this kind of intense battle, his death was just a matter of time.
Qianye discovered, after a period of observation, that the girl was displaying incomparable combat instincts. She could grasp even the smallest of opportunities while each and every one of her attacks came from extremely ruthless angles. The person on the receiving end would suffer injuries to vital areas even if he didn’t die immediately.
The more Qianye observed, the more he felt an odd sense of familiarity. He felt as if he had seen this girl somewhere. His heart was jolted as a number of almost-forgotten memories began to emerge.
On the night that completely changed his fate, something actually happened right before he met Lin Xitang. He vaguely remembered sharing his food with a small girl after which she had returned with a group of older boys and tried to take his life repeatedly.
He had never expected to meet her again after so many years.
The girl appeared even younger than him by a couple of years. It was unknown whether she was naturally built this way or if she had failed to mature properly during her growing period. Children who grew up in the junkyard were usually malnourished due to the lack of food.
Qianye’s thoughts were somewhat complicated. He slowly shifted the Eagleshot in his hands and locked the crosshairs onto the back of the girls head.
On the battlefield, the girl was, once again, making her way toward another rank-five vampire. She had just raised her morning star when she suddenly turned back as if she had sensed something!
Through the sniper scope, their gazes met once again after so many years.
The young girl suddenly opened her small mouth, disbelief and shock written all over her face.
Qianye calmly pulled the trigger. He was baffled because the girl's expression didn’t look quite like someone who had discovered an enemy ambush. Could it be that she had recognized him?
A sanguineous glow was reflected within the girl’s eyes as the image of an origin power bullet rapidly enlarged within them! Both her mind and body were completely frozen. A certain emptiness akin to a loss of awareness rose within her eyes. This was an inherent self-defense mechanism which had activated on the verge of death.
The red radiance virtually brushed past the girls face with only a finger’s breadth between them. Some strands of hair flew into the air while a red mark also appeared on her skin. This was a swelling caused by the remnant fluctuations of the origin bullet—her skin wasn’t actually torn.
A gush of warm blood splashed out from behind and spilled onto the girl's neck and back, causing her to shiver.
The girl turned back and found that her previous target vampire had already become a headless corpse which slowly collapsed.
Qianye’s shot blasted the vampire warrior’s head without the slightest deviation. His Eagleshot, after being enhanced by the Resounding Strike, possessed great power and could kill any warrior below rank six in a single shot. This rank-five vampire received a headshot which immediately shattered his skull.
The sound of the Eagleshot immediately alarmed both parties on the battlefield.
Without waiting for everyone to respond, the Eagleshot rang out once again. A certain rank eight arachne’s leg was broken in response to this timbre. The young lady appeared behind the arachne at almost the same time and, with a ruthless swing of her morning star, smashed another of the arachne’s legs.
Qianye was somewhat startled. He hadn’t expected that the two of them would select the same enemy and even attack the same part. His combat instincts were half innate, but the other half was obtained by virtue of the extremely harsh training he had gone through in Yellow Springs. This girl’s, on the other hand, was almost completely innate.
The allegiances had become obvious at this point. The human race side was naturally overcome with joy at the arrival of a strong reinforcement. Meanwhile, the dark race made a prompt decision to form a small squad. They wanted to rush over and kill the newly arrived sniper. How could the private army allow the enemy to have their way? At almost the same time, a group of melee experts moved forth to block the other party.
The dark race was already at a disadvantage before. Now, after seeing the battle situation lean further toward the other side, they swiftly reorganized and retreated while fighting back.
Qianye finally removed the sight from the girl’s head, upon which the swiftness of her movements was restored. She seemed to have reached a tacit understanding of Qianye’s unexpressed intentions—whatever she had to say should wait until after the dark races were killed. After laying down the burden, the girl once again became a deadly threat on the battlefield. Every time she attacked, the target would either die or become crippled.
The battle rapidly developed into an overwhelming situation. The dark races began to disperse and retreat after seeing that their momentum had been lost. This was supposed to be the correct strategy. However, they hadn’t expected that the number of times Qianye could fire the Eagleshot each battle was twice that of the average soldier.
The wide and empty valley provided Qianye with the best sniping vision. The Eagleshot rumbled constantly as the escaping warriors fell one by one. The girl also flung the dagger and morning star in her hands, putting down two more opponents. Unfortunately, the two rank-nine vampire barons still broke through the encirclement and escaped.
After the battle ended, a middle-aged man walked out from the crowd and saluted Qianye. “This lowly one is Bai Lun. I have an insignificant connection to the Bai clan. We greatly appreciate your timely help in this battle. Otherwise, we really might have to expend a lot more effort.”
Qianye swept his eyes over the soldiers behind Bai Lun and muttered, “These people probably have more than just some insignificant connection to the Bai Clan.”
Bai Lun was slightly taken aback. Following which, he replied with a calm smile, “Young Master’s perception is indeed like a burning torch. Since you already know, it will be inappropriate for this lowly one to incur your ridicule by hiding things. We are indeed part of the Bai clan’s main branch. How should I address young master?”
Qianye smiled without replying.
Bai Lun summoned a subordinate and gave him some instructions in a whisper. Moments later, this soldier delivered a small bag with an origin array attached to it. There were two pieces of black crystal within.
Bai Lun advanced a couple of steps, stuffed the bag into Qianye’s hand with a smile, and said, “This is just a small token of our gratitude. It’s insufficient to fully represent our respect, but we hope Young Master will kindly accept it. We originally intended to split the spoils of war with you, but, due to certain reasons, the items on these dark race warriors happen to be things we require. So, please do not decline this gift.”
Qianye frowned. He naturally knew how many dark race warriors were captured or killed. The value of these two black crystals had far surpassed his potential share of the loot.
However, after seeing Bai Lun’s insistence, Qianye decided to not decline after some thought. His gaze momentarily paused at the girl before saying to Bai Lun, “I was only passing by this area. I have important business to take care of, so I’ll be taking my leave. Let us meet again later if we have the opportunity.”
Bai Lun’s expression immediately relaxed quite a bit after seeing that Qianye was willing to leave. He said goodbye to Qianye with an even more courteous attitude.
When Qianye had gone further away, a puzzled Bai clan soldier asked, “Master Bai, why were you so polite toward that little brat? He’s merely rank six.”
Only then did Bai Lun reveal a dignified expression and reply with a snort, “What do you know? That Eagleshot’s firepower is unusually powerful and his firing frequency during the battle also far surpassed the norm. I might be causing extra problems if I don’t treat such a person politely. Fortunately, he is quite tactful and might really be a passerby. Otherwise, it will be quite troublesome.”
Bai Lun then instructed his subordinates to clean up the battlefield, collect all the carcasses in one place, and search them in detail. It seemed the aim of this battle was to find a certain person.
At this time, the lady suddenly spoke, “I’m leaving for a while.”
“That, Miss Kong Zhao…” Bai Lun hadn’t even finished forming his words when the girl had already sped into the distance. It just happened to be the direction in which Qianye had left.
These Bai clan soldiers didn’t dare to comment rashly about this lady. They had fought alongside her in many battles in the recent days and were astonished by her killing methods. When all was said and done, they were afraid of her.
The girl swiftly moved through the mountainous area. The way she ran was like a wild animal. She relied more on her own physical instincts and did not appear like someone who had cultivated a secret art.
While running, she came to a sudden halt!
Qianye’s voice rang out from behind her. “I knew you’d come. I’ve already been waiting for quite some time.”
The girl slowly turned around and saw Qianye under a large tree over ten meters away. However, she hadn’t sensed even a strand of his aura previously.
Qianye’s posture was rather casual. He was leaning against the tree with his arms folded in front of his chest.
The girl’s gaze landed first on the Twin Flowers and Radiant Edge at Qianye’s waist, then on the Eagleshot behind his back. She glanced at Qianye’s hand with due seriousness after checking out his weapons before looking into his eyes. By the time their lines of sight made contact, a strand of fear finally emerged on her usually undisturbed countenance.
Qianye felt somewhat surprised and asked, “What are you afraid of?” His dagger and guns were still at his waist—the weapons were sheathed and the Eagleshot wasn’t something useable at such a distance.
“I am not!” The girl immediately shook her head.
However, her expression was simply too fake. Even a dumb person could see that she wasn’t being truthful. This little fellow, despite still retaining her childish features, was already becoming a remarkable beauty—her scared and restless demeanor added a certain allure to her charm, which would likely induce certain inappropriate thoughts in people’s hearts.
Qianye squinted his eyes and raised his head slightly without changing his posture. He simply sized her up from top to bottom with great confidence.
The two parties were thus locked in place for a moment.
It was still Qianye who took the initiative to break the silence. “Why are you following me?”