Monarch of Evernight

Volume 3 – The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 3: Fighting in Close Combat

“Looks like you didn’t keep what I said in mind,” Yu Renyan said slowly. “I told you… the next time we met, I would kill you.”

Qianye wrinkled his brow, slowly taking off his bag and smoothly throwing it to the side. He then put his assault rifle at his feet and firmly stood up before speaking to Yu Renyan. “I never thought you would be this impatient.”

“I was just passing by. However, since we’ve encountered each other, there’s no way to pretend I never saw you. Therefore, this is fate. Do you want a few minutes to write a will?”

“Will has never been in my dictionary. Maybe you’ll use it.” Qianye then pulled out his army knife from the sheath strapped behind his waist. The blade flashed with silver light. The liquid silver he had used against the vampires a few nights ago had not been depleted.

Yu Renyan looked at the blade and exposed a smile that made one’s hair stand on end.

“Using this blade… you’re not afraid of hurting yourself?” he asked.

“Thanks for the reminder.” Qianye took out a pair of tactical gloves, put them on, then gripped his sword.

“If you’re willing to return with me—”

Qianye immediately interrupted, “Not a chance!”

“I don’t recommend that either. Now then, let’s fight!” Yu Renyan shook his arms and two slim handleless knives slid out of his sleeves and into his hands.

Qianye took a deep breath, retreating half a step. His left foot hit the ground with a thump and the entire alleyway seemed to shake. Beneath Qianye’s foot, cracks filled the ground and constantly spreading further and further.

Yu Renyan’s eyes flashed with surprise, acquiring a new understanding of Qianye’s level of origin power. He quickly dodged and dove forward, attempting to gain initiative. His hands smashed down heavily and flashed with cold light, stabbing at the side of Qianye’s neck.

After Qianye’s step struck the ground, he didn’t move from his spot. Instead, he lifted his right arm to block the strike, then used the army knife in his right hand to stab at Yu Renyan faster than lightning.

This was a method that would cause both sides to suffer. Yu Renyan’s tall figure suddenly bent at an unthinkable angle, almost as if he had no bones in his body. He retreated a meters outward with just one step and let Qianye’s counter pass. Rather than pursue him, Qianye stood at his original spot and calmly waited.

Yu Renyan stopped for a moment, then rushed forward like lightning, retreating then attacking.

With rapid movements, the two drew close and then separated over and over. Yu Renyan’s movements were extremely swift and uncanny. His long limbs made him seem like a giant spider. His attacks naturally had a range advantage.

In contrast, Qianye’s legs were slightly spread apart, one in front of the other, giving him a steady stance. He seemed to be waiting for his opponent to exhaust himself, and did not take initiative to attack. However, when Yu Renyan dove forward, he countered with attacks that would heavily injure both sides.

The two would sometimes fight each other head on, but now they were mostly evenly matched. This was an even greater shock to Yu Renyan.

Yu Renyan suddenly flew in circles around Qianye like wind, his knives dancing in his palms. One could only see the reflection of a figure in the pointed blades, striking a target like a sky full of butterflies. In the blink of an eye, dozens of wounds of varying sizes appeared on Qianye’s body! The more Yu Renyan fought, the more excited he became, subconsciously letting out harsh cries.

In contrast, Qianye was silent and had no expression on his face. It was as if his body hadn’t been wounded. He kept a consistent rhythm with his counterattacks, striking quickly, accurately, and viciously each time and using no extraneous movements. This was the culmination of his training. Fighting only focused on being faster, more accurate, and more vicious. When one was able to do so, losing would be a difficult task.

As long as graduates of the Yellow Springs Training Camp had yet to fall, it was possible for them to kill their opponent in one strike.

Yu Renyan struck Qianye ten times in a row, but Qianye only slashed twice. One of Qianye’s strikes pierced Yu Renyan’s abdomen, and the other almost cut off his left hand.

The fight in the alleyway drew the attention of many people. A few mercenaries came close to the alleyway’s entrance to watch and saw Yu Renyan and Qianye in the middle of a fierce battle. They laughed and pointed, clearly somewhat drunk.

Yu Reynyan’s pupils took on their dangerous vertical shape once more, and he suddenly left Qianye. He rushed into the mercenaries’ midst as quick as wind, his blades slashing like a tornado. One could see a light expanding and shrinking, sucking all of the mercenaries into it!

Huge amounts of blood, broken bits of flesh, and amputated limbs flew out of the tornado. In the time it took to take a single breath, Yu Renyan actually killed all of those mercenaries!

Everyone on the street was shocked and quickly fled. Two rank two Fighters had been among those mercenaries, but they were cut apart in the blink of an eye! If Yu Renyan didn’t like the way someone looked, who could stop him?

Yu Renyan had cut a few people to pieces, so his mood improved. He flicked pieces of flesh from his knives, turned around, and walked toward Qianye again. Qianye took out the Butcher with his left hand.

“Is a gun even useful in this kind of battle?” Yu Renyan grinned coldly.

Yet, soon enough, he was no longer able to smile. Qianye didn’t actually fire at this distance, and the two of them engaged in close quarters combat again. When the battle grew intense, Qianye moved his wrist, and the Butcher roared, spitting out a flash of yellow light. The light struck Yu Renyan’s thigh and him slow down by thirty percent.

Yu Renyan was also skilled at using guns in close quarters, but this battle made him learn that he actually could not compare to Qianye. Qianye controlled the origin gun perfectly. He could swing or stab with it, and every time he was about to fire it, he would suddenly withdraw his origin power.

Qianye was like an extremely tough spring. The stronger the pressure, the stronger he would rebound. In addition to that, their difference in combat skill had finally begun to slowly reveal itself.

Qianye always stayed calm and steady. No matter how many wounds he suffered, his fighting power remained the same. Whenever Yu Renyan suffered injuries, his movements would begin to deteriorate. This shown in his legs and arms the most.

“Do you not even feel pain?” Yu Renyan couldn’t resist from shouting.

“I only act as if this body isn’t mine,” Qianye responded curtly. He suddenly unleashed a backhand strike, almost clipping the tip of Yu Renyan’s nose. Yu Renyan was already in the middle changing his position, but it still almost struck him.

“You’re insane! You lunatic!” Yu Renyan knew exactly how many wounds Qianye had suffered, so he couldn’t resist commenting.

“Thanks for the praise,” Qianye responded sincerely. Then he suddenly bent forward and picked up his assault rifle. Using it like a steel rod, he almost hit Yu Renyan in the back of his head.

Yu Renyan and Qianye exchanged two more wounds. Yu Renyan quickly backed off and widened the distance between them. He lowered his head and looked at his abdomen. It held two large knife wounds, one of which had gone deep body and cut his intestines. Yu Renyan sucked in a deep breath and flexed the muscles in his abdomen, temporarily closing the wounds.

He stared at Qianye deeply and said, “You won’t be this lucky next time.”

“There will be a next time?” Qianye furrowed his brow as he spoke.

“Of course! This is a command, and I am a soldier.” The moment he finished saying this, Yu Renyan turned around and left..

Qianye still stood in the same place. He did not move as he watched Yu Renyan leave.

Upon leaving the alleyway, Yu Renyan withdrew his hands and his knives went back into their sleeves. Two new army knives appeared in his hands, dancing between his fingers as if they were living creatures.

As the knives moved, they flashed with intense silver light. They were mithril weapons! If he had used these against Qianye in their fight, then Qianye’s vampiric body definitely would not have been able to last so long.

Similarly, if Qianye shook or twisted his knife when he stabbed into Yu Renyan’s abdomen, it would have torn through half of Yu Renyan’s intestines. The wound Yu Renyan had received from that quick stab was not considered a heavy injury to a rank six Fighter like him.

It was almost as if the two of them shared a certain kind of understanding. Even though it was a deathmatch, both sides still held back. However, no one could tell how their next encounter would turn out. Since Qianye favored ultra-long-range sniping, and Yu Renyan favored tracking and ambushing, they should never have engaged in close quarters combat.

It was just as Yu Renyan said. He was a soldier. He had been given a command. Qianye used to be a soldier and thus was able to understand the weight of that.

Qianye calmly stood where he was for a moment, flexing his muscles to compress all of the wounds on his body, then picked up his bag and assault rifle and slowly walked out of the alleyway.

When he emerged, a mercenary suddenly reached out and stopped Qianye, shouting, “Stop right there!”

Qianye turned to look at him and saw a number of mercenaries gathered at the alleyway’s entrance. Off in the distance, ten to twenty mercenaries with similar equipment were hurrying over. The one that stopped him was a rank three Fighter.

“Is there a problem?” Qianye responded coldly.

“Speak! Does the guy who killed a few of us have anything to do with you?” the mercenary shouted. Seeing the number of people with him increase, he grew bolder. In any case, Qianye only seemed to have ignited three of his nodes, making them the same rank.

Qianye couldn’t help but be surprised. After seeing Yu Renyan fight like that, these mercenaries were actually still bold enough to try and cause him trouble? Rank six Fighters like Yu Renyan could be Lieutenant Colonels of the expeditionary army at the very least. Just this kind of background alone was enough to crush these mercenaries to death.

However, after seeing the appearances of these mercenaries, Qianye suddenly understood the situation. They were staring at Qianye’s assault rifle and Butcher, each and every one of them burning with greedy gazes.

Qianye suddenly took out the Butcher, turned it around, and held it out, saying, “I think that guy used this gun.”

The mercenary never thought Qianye would give in so easily. He extended his hand to take the gun and said, “I’ll first take this and examine it! We, the White Bear Mercenary Group, trample—”

The mercenary didn’t finish his sentence and wasn’t able to touch the Butcher.

Qianye flicked his wrist, and the Butcher’s steel grip viciously struck the mercenary’s face!

The crisp sound of bones breaking echoed through the air as half the mercenary’s face caved inward. He fell down face up without uttering a sound.

The Butcher spun in Qianye’s hands, its barrel reorienting toward the crowd of mercenaries.

Qianye coldly said, “Does anyone else want to come forward?”

The mercenaries in the sights of the clearly loaded Butcher wore hopeless expressions. At a distance of just a few meters, the Butcher’s power was enough to rip all of them to pieces one by one. In any case, their team leader, who was a rank three Fighter, had actually been struck down in a single hit, and nobody even knew if he was alive or not. What could they, as rank one and rank two Fighters, do?

However, since they had an absolute advantage in numbers, they refused to give up. They slowly surrounded Qianye, blocking his escape routes. The Butcher was powerful, but it could not be fired consecutively. Once it was fired once, it would basically become useless and no different from a blunt weapon.

The rank three Butcher, the rank two assault rifle, and the bulging bag on Qianye’s back had already filled the minds of these mercenaries. They were mercenaries in the city. After leaving the city, they could also become robbers or bandits depending on the situation. However, if they carried a rank three origin gun, they could also become robbers while inside the city.

But what these mercenaries didn’t know was, that in that moment, Qianye’s heart was beating extremely fast. It had already beat over three hundred times in a minute! The intense throbbing caused Qianye’s mouth to heat up and become dry. His mood intensified, as if there were a beast within his body roaring with all of its might, wanting to break free from its imprisonment and return to the world.

The blood and body parts of the mercenaries that Yu Renyan had sliced to pieces lay nearby. Thick blood energy swirled around Qianye’s nostrils like a beautiful woman teasing a sex-starved pervert. Qianye’s breathing grew a bit heavier and his fingers trembled imperceptibly. These were extremely small changes, but students of the Yellow Springs Training Camp that had known Qianye for a long time would know how hard it was to make him lose even this much of his composure before a battle.

Qianye looked at these mercenaries as if they were a herd of lambs. He was extremely hungry. His throat wasn’t the only thing experiencing scorching pain, he could feel it throughout every inch of his body. Qianye felt the urge to pin these people down and suck out all of their blood.

—He wanted to show them true pain and hopelessness!