Book 9: Chapter 54: The Final Battle (1)

For many years, as a contracted servant of the Hellsing family, Alucard developed a twisted relationship filled with love and hate with each generation of contract holders. This was most apparent with Integra’s generation because she was the only female head of the family throughout history.

Alucard could allow the souls of ordinary humans to exist within his body in the form of enslaved Necros. If he was willing to release his control, these Necros actually had some level of self-awareness to some extent. This was also the reason why the Vampire fed on cranial blood; he planned to use this method to resurrect Integra.

However, Alucard did not expect that Integra’s soul had long ceased to exist.

When the Hellsing family head was beheaded by Grant, the Joker was still wearing his Human Skin Mask. This mask belonged to the Life-Taking Relic category. Like the Dagger of Sin, it possessed the ability to consume souls. Naturally, Integra’s soul could not escape this fate.

…

“What do we do now?” Grant looked at Qin Lun with a bitter smile.

“Let’s go to a higher place to take a look first. I don’t think it will stay like this forever.” Qin Lun responded with an equally bitter smile.

After disengaging from the fight, the two Serial Killers started making their way back to the Hellsing headquarters, planning to take advantage of the chaos. Their main target was naturally the Christian Relic on Lancelot’s body. However, when they got close to a certain distance, the two realized they had miscalculated one thing.

That was the River of Death summoned by Alucard. At this time, because of Integra’s death, the Vampire abandoned his duty to protect London and recalled all the Necros back to his side.

In fact, ever since Alucard unleashed the River of Death, the number of enslaved Necros had been fluctuating. The Avengers Alliance, the Green Hunters, as well as the Mobile Crusaders and the priest suppression teams, were all actively or passively fighting the Necros.

Top-tier Superhumans like the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Father Anderson were practically the natural enemies of the Necros. Every time they attacked, they would usually clear out large swathes of Necros, because many Necros were just ordinary people when alive and weren’t very strong in combat.

However, by this point in the battle, the River of Death still maintained a huge number, and had even increased somewhat, because far too many civilians had died in London tonight. If Qin Lun hadn’t used the Arid Glacier skill during the first engagement, freezing all the essence and blood of the first wave of summoned undead, the number of Necros would likely have already broken through to millions by now.

Even so, the number of Necros gathered near the Hellsing estate still exceeded six figures. After turning back from the small park, Qin Lun and Grant encountered scattered groups of Necros along the way.

At first, the two didn’t pay much attention. But when they pushed forward to within about one kilometer of the estate, they finally had to stop. From this point on, because there were so many Necros, densely packed and layered together, it was impossible to make out individual forms. It had completely transformed into a state of a River of Death.

Everywhere—the streets, residential houses, power poles, sewers—was covered in sticky pools of blood. In some areas, the blood was even knee-deep, like a flood had occurred. The surface of the River of Death was crowded with the upper bodies of countless Necros. Many even appeared conjoined, like twins. Seeing those distorted, bizarre blood-colored bodies was both terrifying and nauseating.

This situation made Qin Lun and Grant very reluctant to step into it. Most crucially, these Necros still had some level of defensive awareness. Even if Qin Lun and Grant tried to land on the rooftops and terraces of buildings along the street, the Necros would swarm up and instantly surround the two.

After trying a few times, Qin Lun and Grant chose to give up. Unless they used their ultimate moves to carve a path through the River of Death, they could only stay on the periphery of this area.

Fortunately, they were already very close to the Hellsing estate, less than a kilometer away. Using infrared binoculars, they could observe the general situation at the estate. As soon as the River of Death disappeared, they could reach the estate in an instant.

The two had a basis for this judgment, especially Qin Lun, who had fought Alucard once before. He didn’t believe the Vampire could achieve victory under the combined assault of Lancelot and Father Anderson.

Others might have no way to deal with Alucard’s River of Death, but these two clergymen surely had their own methods to handle it.

“I hope they put in more effort. Otherwise, we’ll just have to force our way through!” A cold glint appeared in Grant’s eyes. They had made so many preparations. If Lancelot wasn’t as powerful as imagined, then naturally they wouldn’t need to hold back anymore. Even if they had to charge through the River of Death, they would still reap the final spoils.

Additionally, because the White Giant and Little Red Riding Hood were still tailing them, they couldn’t afford to leisurely spectate forever. If those two shook off the Queen of Sandstorm’s entanglement and the River of Death here still hadn’t disappeared, then they would have no choice but to give up on taking advantage of the chaos.

“Leader, Leader Qin Lun!”

“Lace? How are things on your end?” Qin Lun handed the binoculars to Grant and shifted his attention to the Team Channel.

“Hehe, things are going very smoothly on my end…” Lace’s voice came through intermittently, seeming like she was still in combat. However, Qin Lun’s comprehension was strong, and he quickly grasped the situation.

It turned out that while the two of them were fighting the White Giant, Little Red Riding Hood, and others, the Apostle teams from the inner city had already arrived in North London ahead of time. Unfortunately, they were also blocked outside the River of Death. After a few attempts, the Apostles quickly abandoned this side, because killing Necros yielded no benefits.

As everyone had their own ideas, the Apostles eventually split into two groups of roughly equal numbers. One group headed towards Major Montana’s position. There, they had the Superhumans led by Captain Hans from the Millennium Bug group, as well as Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, and two other Fairy Tale Maidens.

Of course, this group only had a little over twenty people. It was unlikely they could handle all the plot Superhumans, especially top-tier ones like the Incredible Hulk, Captain Hans, and the God of Death Walter. They basically required seven or eight Novice Apostles to cooperate against each one.

However, because the Avengers, Green Hunters, and the Millennium Bug group were all fighting each other in a chaotic mix, there was still a chance to take advantage of the chaos. It just depended on their luck.

As for the other group of Apostles, some belonged to the Church faction. They could still receive battlefield information from the Church at this time.

But these guys weren’t going to help the Church. Because the Main Plotline was already ruined, they were instead using the intelligence to ambush and kill the priest suppression teams of the Papal Chamber and the lower-level Ascetic Monks of the Chamber of Thorns.

After hearing Lace’s report, Qin Lun and Grant couldn’t help but look at each other with bitter smiles. Apostles who could complete their Class Change, even if only Novice rank, were all good at leveraging situations. No one was any less clever than the others.

These people’s strength and tactics might not be as powerful as Qin Lun and the others, but that didn’t stop them from using others’ strength against them. Qin Lun had used the power of the three major Nazi organizations to single-handedly orchestrate tonight’s Battle of London. And these Apostles, after realizing the situation, immediately joined the feast.

If Qin Lun and Grant failed to achieve their final goal, it was hard to say if their gains would definitely be more than the others. Like Lace, for instance—that girl’s spoils might have already surpassed theirs at the moment.

“Regardless, the biggest winners of this battle are the Apostles. Not only did they preserve so much fighting strength, but they also almost completely wiped out the Reincarnators.” Grant spread his hands helplessly and asked, “Qin Lun, do you think Star Void will raise our evaluation rank, considering how much effort we put in?”

“Based on past experience, Star Void generally only cares about the final result and doesn’t pay much attention to the process. Puppet masters behind the scenes like us, who drive the plot, are basically working for free.” Qin Lun sighed.

“Of course, this is the first time I’ve encountered a large-scale external war from the defense side. I don’t know what standards Star Void uses to measure Apostle contributions. But I advise you not to get your hopes up too much, to avoid bigger disappointment.”

After chatting for a bit, the two refocused their attention on the estate. The battle there had already begun. But after watching for a while, expressions of surprise appeared on their faces.

“Qin Lun, Alucard seems much more powerful than you said. This level of combat power is almost reaching High Rank, right? Are you sure he’s just a Vampire species with strong regeneration?” Grant looked at Qin Lun doubtfully.

“He wasn’t this powerful before. It seems that after unleashing the River of Death, not only did he gain countless Necro servants, but his own combat power also increased.” Qin Lun put down his binoculars with a grave expression.

“And what about that Father Anderson? Where did that guy come from?” Grant wore a pained smile. “I remember that dead fatty Montana listed him in the Church’s Superhuman files as just an enhancer, right?”

“He probably has another Christian Relic on him!” Qin Lun pondered for a moment, then a trace of excitement slowly appeared on his face.

“That Apostle couple I saved once told me that the Church deployed several Christian Relics for this campaign. Father Anderson belongs to the Papal Chamber, while Lancelot is an Ascetic Monk from the Chamber of Thorns. The two don’t answer to each other. I didn’t expect the Relics-blessed from the Papal Chamber and the Relics-blessed from the Chamber of Thorns ended up together. Looks like we’re in luck.”

“Luck my foot! We went fishing and hooked a shark. Are you sure we still want to get involved?” Grant looked at his companion, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“Hey, what’s that thing over there? A humanoid mech? An intelligent robot? That shield… Steve Rogers?!” Qin Lun suddenly raised an eyebrow. “Haha, Grant, look quickly, our old friend is here too!”

“What a spectacular show!” Grant’s face darkened and then cleared, and he let out a heavy sigh. “But, your scheme of having that female Vampire swallow Hawkeye actually succeeded. Captain America obviously saw Clint’s Necro form before he couldn’t resist jumping out. He was probably waiting for us to show up earlier!”

At this point in the battle at the estate, the stunningly impressive Alucard eventually fell into a disadvantage under the combined attacks of Lancelot and Anderson. The individual strength of his Necros was weak. In a battle like this, they would turn to dust if even slightly affected, clearly unable to be of much help.

Under these circumstances, the Vampire girl Seras Victoria finally erupted. A smoke-like blood claw appeared behind her. It also possessed traits similar to Alucard’s soul-eyes. The exposed Necro face was unmistakably that of Hawkeye Clint.

Observing all this from the shadows, Captain America finally couldn’t hold back and jumped out. No matter how much he desired to kill Qin Lun, facing the Necro visage of his old friend enslaved by the Vampire, he simply couldn’t remain calm and continue to watch from the sidelines.