551 Chapter 551: Neutralizing the Enemy Base

He nodded at me when he saw that I was awake.

"They are here."

I knew who he was referring to. The Midnight Order and the Federation military. Even half-asleep, I could sense their presences as they attempted to stealthily make their way through the forest. They came out of the gloom, a myriad of weapons clutched tightly in their hands.

"Sir." Kufa saluted when a middle-aged guy with a stubble and glasses approached him. He grinned and nodded, a cigarette in his mouth. Despite having traversed through the forest, his black military uniform was immaculate and unblemished. A few medals gleamed in the darkness, and I could see a black cross emblazoned across a white, metallic surface. The heraldry of the Midnight Order, if I wasn't mistaken.

"Kufa. Good to see you. How are you guys holding up?"

"I'm all right." Kufa nodded and stepped back to gesture us forward. "These are my friends. Richard Huang and Rossetti Picket. Guys, this is Commander Michael Marshall. He is the commander of the Midnight Order."

"We've worked together in the past." David showed up, surprising us. Jason and Saya joined us shortly, the latter in her sailor uniform and holding a katana. She nodded at me and Kufa, but remained silent as always.

"Good. I'll be looking forward to fighting alongside you guys then." Marshall smiled in approval. He then glanced back and waved his hand. More soldiers, clad in midnight black, crept out of the shadows, their swords glowing. "We have the base surrounded."

"Should we move now?" David asked. More men in suits came out, as well as soldiers from the Federation military. They were wielding conventional rifles, but a good number of them held melee weapons such as swords, axes, hammers, spears and staffs.

"Yeah." Marshall raised his smartphone. "Attack!"

The soldiers and mercenaries charged out of the forest and toward the fortress. They must have been quite the terrifying sight to behold, for the two vampire sentries ogled at them in shock before they screamed in panic.

"Sound the alarm! Close the gates!"

"Wait! Let us get back inside before you close the gates!"

The two vampires snapped out of their stupor and scrambled into the interior of their base, hurtling past the closing double doors, which swung shut and locked electronically. The soldiers opened fire, unleashing hundreds of spells that illuminated the dark night, pelting the reinforced walls of the huge structure.

"What the hell are the gates made of? Titanium alloy?"

Ice spells froze the walls, but despite the layer of frost that expanded across its surface, the metal held firm. Fire spells attempted to melt the gates with sheer heat, but they showed no sign of faltering. Lightning struck and merely left superficial scars. Wood spells battered futilely against the metal, and wind blades dissipated harmlessly against the reinforced material.

The security cameras turned to film our fruitless efforts, apparently mocking us, until they got blown up by a few errant fireballs.

Maybe they weren't errant. I had the feeling that the mercenaries had been ruffled by the security cameras and aimed at them on purpose.

"How do we break through those walls? They're really tough!" Jason sounded frustrated as he launched an earth spike at the fortress, only to see the stone break apart.

"Cut through them," Saya slashed at the gates with her katana, but failed. She gnashed her teeth in annoyance, but continued hacking away without much success.

Crimson mana flared up all of a sudden and blasted her away. Kufa was quick to catch hold of her before she could get too far away. He grunted, but managed to dig his feet in to halt their momentum. Saya nodded her thanks and dropped back onto the ground.

"Those two…could it be?"

Rossetti's eyes widened and she smiled mischievously. Even in this situation, a maiden like her was still interested in gossiping about romance. I tried not to roll my eyes.

"Damn it…! They have a reflective field too!" David cursed as he fired at the gates. His bullets smashed into the field of crimson mana, but were flattened before they could do anything.

"It's a blood barrier." Saya spat a wad of blood from her mouth and wiped at the corner of her lips. "How troublesome."

"So what do we do?" Jason asked, grimacing when his earth spikes bounced off again.

"Keep attacking," Marshall instructed, his features grim. "They don't have infinite mana. Just keep wearing the blood barrier down. It will crumble eventually."

"If I may…" I began. The commanders glanced at me. I shrugged, and then summoned Serpens. Several of the mercenaries and soldiers stopped slinging their spells and turned to stare at my gigantic serpent.

"You plan to break through the gates by force?" Marshall asked. I shook my head.

"No."

I mean, I could nuke the base with Scorpio's Antares spell…but obviously I had no intention of doing that. Nan Gong Zhao Yan and a bunch of the abducted students were stuck in there, held as hostages. My goal was to rescue them, not to slaughter them along with the insidious vampires. I was never one to take the easy way out…but think about it. If I was the one kidnapped and held hostage by the vampires, I wouldn't be very happy if my supposed rescuers decided to nuke me along with my captors.

"I can neutralize the base."

"How?" Saya demanded, her voice incredulous. "Are you going to use your legendary spells of mass destruction?"

"Why do you know about that?" I asked, surprised. David chuckled and shook his head.

"My young friend, you're pretty famous for it."

"I would advise you not to do that," Marshall said. "I would like to remind you that the hostages are still…"

"Don't worry, I won't," I interrupted him. "Serpens doesn't have that sort of spell. Just watch."

"Really?" Marshall was staring at my massive Constellation spirit. "I don't see how your soul beast can smash through the blood barrier and fortress when our spells can't."

"Then let me ask you a question. How do you neutralize a base?"

"That's what I'm asking…"

"No, I mean in chemistry terms. What sort of compounds react with a base to produce water and a salt compound? The process of neutralization, as you will."

"Chemistry?" Kufa repeated, puzzled. "If you want to neutralize a base, you need to use an acid."

Then his eyes widened and he struck his fist into his palm.

"Of course! So that's why a gigantic snake…!"

"Huh? What's going on?" Rossetti looked puzzled, as did David, Jason and Saya. Marshall, on the other hand, remained impassive, his eyes unreadable behind his glasses.

"Serpens, acid attack!"

Serpens used Acid!

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."