551 Chapter 551: Neutralizing the Enemy Base (2/2)
It's supereffective!
”What…?”
David's jaw dropped when he saw the acid melt the doors. Saya looked stunned while Jason gaped similarly. Marshall's lips curled into a smile while Kufa began laughing. Rossetti glanced at me, stupefied, and then turned back to the huge serpent.
Serpens had hurled a ball of acid from his jaws – my snake-type Constellation spirit had the ability to secrete acids in their venom glands above their fangs and deliver incredibly toxic attacks. Some of the more potent toxins doubled as highly corrosive acids, and that was what I had ordered Serpens to use to breach the gate.
”How is that possible?!”
”What did the enemy do?!”
”How did they breach the gates?!”
The vampires inside were panicking and screaming, hardly able to believe their eyes at the sight of their melting doors.
”Didn't you know?” I grinned at my comrades. ”The most effective method of neutralizing a base is using acid.”
Marshall cared little for my grandstanding. He wasted no time, raising his hand and swinging it down as he issued an order.
”Attack! Everyone, get into the base and annihilate the enemy! Let none escape! Remember to rescue the hostages!”
”Yes, sir!”
Right before the vampires' horrified eyes, the Federation military and mercenaries of the Midnight Order charged inside the neutralized base, easily overrunning the enemies.
My friends and I followed, Rossetti staying by my side and Kufa hanging close by. However, when Saya split off to chase a different group of vampires, he broke off from our group and joined her instead.
”Oh, come on, Kufa…” Rossetti complained and shook her head.
”Let him,” I told her with a smile. ”Kufa has very little opportunity to fight alongside Saya.”
”So they really are…”
”Not officially. It's sort of…unrequited.”
”Poor Kufa.”
I tried not to roll my eyes while parrying the vicious blood claws of a desperate vampire who was trying to clear his base of invaders. Knocking his blood claws aside, I plunged my blades into his chest before cleaving him apart.
”Before sympathizing with Kufa, you might want to focus on surviving first.”
”Yeah,” Rossetti agreed as she hastily blocked the blood claws of a female vampire, and then unleashed flames from her chakrams to engulf her opponent. While she engaged another vampire, I deflected a blow that was aimed for her back, covering my partner. The two of us whirled around, casting fire and ice spells. Azure and crimson mana swirled around us in a whirlwind of destruction, incinerating several vampires and freezing the rest.
”W…who are these people?!” a survivor cried out, backing away. ”Why are they so powerful?!”
Then he turned into ice, thanks to a spell I cast that spread across the entire chamber. Rossetti and I mopped up the vampires remaining in here, while the soldiers and mercenaries moved ahead to engage the adult vampires and the elders. That was fine. I was glad they left the teenage vampires to us, so we weren't in too much danger.
There was no need for me to describe my umpteenth battle with the bloodsuckers, except that they sucked.
Truthfully, part of the reason why the battle seemed so easy was because I had Rossetti fighting by my side, and our coordinated attacks overwhelmed the vampires of our generation more easily than before. We covered each other's flaws, making sure to protect each other from stray or surprise attacks, while amplifying our spells by resonating our mana. Rossetti's abilities meant that she could buff my spells, and so we were more than the sum of our parts, able to cut through a numerically superior enemy without much difficulty.
They never stood a chance.
”You've got to be kidding me…!”
I could hear one vampire shouting as he fled our enchantments, casting a terrified glance at our advancing forms.
”Those are just two kids! Two kids! How are they so powerful!?”
”Teamwork,” I replied before firing a flaming arrow that not only incinerated him but the scores of running vampires nearby.
”Uh…honestly, this is the first time I work so well with anybody,” Rossetti admitted. ”My teammates usually scold me for not cooperating with them, and trying to do everything myself. I end up hurting them sometimes.”
”Our magic and fighting styles complement each other,” I explained with a shrug. ”I think.”
With that done, we followed the mercenaries and soldiers, who had left a trail of death and destruction in their wake. The adult vampires had chosen to stand and fight instead of run, resisting the adult mages firmly with their blood claws raised. The vampire's stalwart defiance ended in swift, brutal deaths when Marshall and his Midnight Order scythed through them with their gleaming enchanted swords, sending their body parts flying across the wall and carpeted floor.
”Whoa…”
I winced when I saw the carnage. Ouch. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be them. There was so much blood splattered across the walls, ceiling and floor that the scene would normally make vampires happy. If there were any of them still alive to suck the blood, of course.
”How horrifying…”
Rossetti covered her mouth with her hands, forgetting that she had been responsible for incinerating a bunch of young vampires herself just a few minutes earlier. I guess it was because the Midnight Order had left behind a much more gruesome scene, whereas fire and ice killed the vampires in a cleaner and relatively more bloodless manner.
That would just make us hypocrites, though. Killing was killing, no matter what method you used. In the end, we had taken the lives of the vampires, and their blood stained our hands as much as the adult vampires stained the Midnight Order and the Federation military's hands.
Rossetti made to follow the Midnight Order and the soldiers despite the grisly sight, but stopped when she noticed that I wasn't following.
”What's the matter, Richard?”
”Over there.” I pointed toward a chamber of stairs that led downward. ”The basement.”
”Oh…you plan to go down there?” Rossetti nodded. ”Good idea. That's probably where the hostages are.”
”Maybe,” I agreed. ”But he's also there. I can feel it.”
”…who?” Rossetti stared at me, bewildered.
”Xu Wu Cheng,” I replied with a grin. ”It's time to settle things with him once and for all.”