Chapter 320: Chapter 20: Battle for the Giant Wall, The Blood Hunters’ Abnormality (Part 2)

Six breeding grounds. Though they were small farming cities on the frontier, Blood Hunter Captain Abi estimated they must hold at least a thousand Lower-Rank members of the Blood Race.

Furthermore, six small farming cities also meant the presence of at least six Baron Level members of the Blood Race.

But that wasn’t the most critical issue. The most critical issue was that these farming cities, located in the direction of Brighton City, were almost all within the sphere of influence of the Benitez family, a Count Level Blood Race clan.

Therefore, according to the intelligence gathered by the Blood Hunters, Brighton City would have to face an attack from at least two Viscount Level members of the Blood Race this time.

Did Brighton City have any Blood Hunters with power comparable to a Viscount?

Naturally, it did.

But unfortunately, that Blood Hunter had been killed in yesterday’s assault.

Thus, the situation in Brighton City was, in fact, incredibly grim.

But what did it matter if things were grim? After all, they had no path of retreat.

And if the Blood Hunter squad captains were willing to fight to the death, they should have a fighting chance even against a Viscount Level member of the Blood Race.

Besides, the Empire’s reinforcements were already on their way. This war was, without a doubt, going to be a bloodbath!

With a heavy heart, Abi arrived at the section of the Giant Wall’s defenses where his squad was stationed.

"Captain Abi!"

"Captain!"

Though the faces of the eleven young men and women in his squad showed fear, they also showed determination.

They greeted him one after another, their gazes fixed firmly on him.

In response, Abi simply nodded to each of them without any unnecessary words.

After all, every member of the squad had been briefed on the situation last night.

The battlefield was no place for sentimentality.

"Get ready!"

"This battle will be your crucible, the one that forges you into something new. But how many of you survive is entirely up to you!"

"Don’t worry, Captain. We understand!"

"..."

——————

"KILL!!!"

"Jane, get back!!!"

"AHHH, I’LL KILL YOU DAMNED VAMPIRES!!! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!!!!"

"..."

The siege had begun!!!

The first wave of over one hundred members of the Blood Race crossed the artillery-blasted no-man’s-land and began their charge.

At that same moment, the entire towering height of the Giant Wall was shrouded in a dense blood mist.

Of course, this blood mist was not created by the hundred-odd Lower-Rank members of the Blood Race themselves.

After all, the Giant Wall was enormous. It would be impossible for a mere hundred members of the Blood Race to create enough blood mist to cover it without dispersing, even if they worked themselves to death.

The true source of the blood mist was the horrific scene unfolding at the foot of the Giant Wall, created by the Blood Beasts that hurled themselves against the ramparts until they died.

These Blood Beasts fearlessly slammed themselves into the Giant Wall until they died.

At the moment of death, however, their blood did not return to the earth. Instead, it instantly condensed inside their bodies into orbs of blood that then exploded across the face of the Giant Wall.

This blood mist was highly corrosive and even had a mind-disorienting effect.

Thus, once the Blood Beasts had shrouded the Giant Wall in mist, the ordinary human defenders were forced to fall back, leaving only the Blood Hunters behind.

The Human Race had long experience in fighting the Blood Race. Just behind the Giant Wall, several large, mobile structures resembling siege towers were quickly erected.

The regular soldiers moved onto these towers and aimed into the blood mist, beginning the tense process of consciously seeking out the figures of the Blood Race for precision shots.

At this point, some of the soldiers had already switched to ’Ghost Hunting Bullets’.

The principle behind these Ghost Hunting Bullets was the same as the source of a Blood Hunter’s Extraordinary Power, making them the only weapon available to regular soldiers that could harm the Blood Race.

These bullets were not produced in large quantities; in fact, they could be described as rare.

Therefore, their use was only authorized when the war reached its most critical junctures.

Furthermore, only Snipers were qualified to use them.

But finding members of the Blood Race within the blood mist and landing a precision shot was incredibly difficult.

This required the cooperation of the Blood Hunters, who had to repeatedly lure the enemy to the edge of the mist so the Snipers could take their shots.

But the Blood Race wasn’t foolish.

So, during the battle, many of them actively avoided being lured—or even knocked—out of the mist by the Blood Hunters.

Therefore, the human Blood Hunters faced an incredibly difficult situation during this charge by the Blood Race.

But, thankfully, there were no Noble Level members present in the first wave of the assault.

Thus, after nearly an hour of fierce fighting, when the blood mist finally dispersed, everyone realized that Brighton City had successfully defended against the first assault.

Not only had they held the line, but incredibly, not a single Blood Hunter had been killed in action!

That’s right!!!

It was like a miracle.

In this battle, out of the ninety-eight members comprising the seven Blood Hunter squads, not one had fallen.

There were only a dozen or so members with minor injuries, and two with serious ones!

"Jane??? You’re not dead!!!"

The moment the blood mist cleared from the top of the wall, the Blood Hunter Aaron spotted his comrade, Jane, lying by the ramparts. He cried out in joyful surprise and ran over to her.

"COUGH, COUGH... I thought I was a goner, too!"

"But as you can see, I somehow, miraculously, survived!"

"By His Majesty the Emperor, you’re not going to believe this, Aaron, but in my daze, I think I saw that Blood Race member run himself right onto my blade!"

Hearing his comrade’s words, Aaron was stunned.

A look of confusion crossed his face. Just then, another young woman to the side spoke up hesitantly.

"Now that you mention it, I felt like the battle was strange for me, too!"

"The member of the Blood Race who was clearly overwhelming me... we brushed past each other, and in that instant, he just ran himself right onto the barrel of my gun..."

"And I’m sure I should have several horrific wounds, but as you can see, aside from my torn clothes, I just have a few scratches."