Free Web NovelChapter 465: Treading a Path of Ashes Where None Have Gone Before
3 days passed in a flash. At dusk on the Maginot Line, Joy Stick was warming up in preparation for the upcoming high-speed flight and dive bombing maneuvers.
Not far behind him, Thirty-Year-Old Tobacco Mulberry, who would serve as the “bombing guide” tonight, was explaining the specific operations for this mission to the gathered vampire players.
Around them was a circle of vampire NPCs under the Shadow Intelligence Bureau. While Lady Adele wasn’t present, her descendant Dana was listening very attentively.
Although the Blood Vulture Clan had shifted towards recruiting players as its core strength, a game faction couldn’t possibly consist of only players. Just handling tedious diplomatic matters with other vampire clans alone was something players couldn’t manage.
Even if you brought in true RP enthusiasts, just learning those thousand-year-old ancient etiquettes and each family’s taboos would probably drive them crazy.
This kind of thing still needed to be handled by locals.
Therefore, after the Blood Vulture Clan’s reconstruction, although done secretly, the clan’s membership continued to steadily increase. Currently, there were nearly 100 vampires under Grand Duchess Tris’s command, and every one of them was carefully selected.
Most came from hopelessly fanatical Blood Servants, and each had to undergo strict background checks by the Shadow Intelligence Bureau before receiving the Embrace.
This was a joint order from Tris and Murphy that Adele dared not neglect.
However, tonight’s operation carried risks, so Tobacco Mulberry hadn’t arranged for these NPCs to join the dive bombing raids, only assigning them escort duties.
This was also a crucial component.
Tonight’s bombing would start from the Maginot Line, sweeping across the northern and southern regions before finally ending at the camp in the western direction. They couldn’t rest during the journey and had to complete the bombing at maximum speed to achieve the goal of destroying the gnolls’ second and third defense lines in one strike.
Embarrassingly, although Brother Stick and the other guild leaders had given tonight’s operation the very chuunibyou name of “Path of Ashes” strategy, they were still quite short on the number of “LeMay Joy Bombs” they currently possessed.
Even with the workers at Brother Loyalty’s armament factory working until their screwdrivers were smoking hot, they still couldn’t meet the quantity needed for this operation.
After reduction after reduction, they now only had just over 200 incendiary bombs available for use, not even enough for a second bombing run. This was even with Lady Tris, the young miss, and all their alchemist apprentices working around the clock to join in the bombs’ production.
“But the good news is, while quantity is low, quality is high!” said Tobacco Mulberry, playing with a dwarf pipe while standing next to his beloved Wind Griffin, wearing WWII pilot goggles on his head.
Puffing smoke rings proudly, he said:
“The LeMay Joy Bombs used for tonight’s bombing all have Combustion Gold Catalyst added. This used up all of Lady Tris’s gold catalyst stores, enough to guarantee these things will create huge explosions wherever they land!
Plus, the Thorn Clan’s Nightwalkers haven’t been slacking off lately. They’ve already marked out the most worthwhile bombing zones for us.
While we definitely won’t be able to burn all the skeleton armies in the swamp to death, it’s enough to tear open gaps in three battle lines. If all goes well, everyone can gather outside Plague Town the day after tomorrow to participate in the grand event.”
“But if we can’t kill those guys, it’ll just let the uncontrolled undead armies spread throughout the swamp,” said Sister Pomegranate while doing pre-flight warmups.
“Looking at the long term, these guys wandering everywhere will still make the swamp crisis-ridden. We’re not afraid, but this road will lead to the Dark Mountains in the future. Who can stand having undead constantly jumping out to rob travelers while walking along it?”
“Sister Pomegranate, that question is really meaningless,” said Gugu Chicken with a grimace while trying to move the aerial bomb beside her.
“As you said, this road will lead to the Dark Mountains in the future. Who doesn’t know that place’s ‘good reputation’ across the continent? What normal person would take a stroll there when they have nothing better to do?
Those who dare step on this road are either warriors brave enough to fight the gnolls to the death, or merchants harboring sinister intentions planning to use this road for illegal business.
The only thing they have in common is neither fears random undead jumping out.
By the way, did you really expect to turn this road into Transia’s ‘tourist attraction’?”
“You have a point. Seems I overthought it,” Sister Pomegranate nodded and said no more.
The Foul Swamp was originally a hellish place. As Gugu Chicken said, any locals with a brain wouldn’t go near here. As for how this place would develop in the future, it wasn’t something she needed to worry about.
Little Ashina took an even more open-minded view on this matter.
While worriedly looking at the thick and large aerial bomb on the ground, she said:
“Hog’s taking care of the skeletons in the swamp. That guy has long had his eye on the Foul Swamp’s feng shui treasure ground. While humans see this as a hellhole, the gnolls absolutely love the swamp environment.
Blood Claw Clan’s migration here not only allows their territory to expand, but the swamp’s environment is enough to let them raise more clan members. Although moving here means that once the frontline situation becomes unfavorable, Hog will have to directly face pressure from the Dark Mountain gnolls, but I guess that guy has probably already prepared for this.
If it wants to lead its clan to become true heirs of King Gnawbone, it must pay the price in blood and tears. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Ah, this aerial bomb is too heavy!
My small frame can’t carry it at all! What should I do?”
Little Ashina tried several times but couldn’t lift the heavy aerial bomb.
Because Transia lacked true air knights, tonight’s bombing required vampires to carry these things for dive bombing. Little Ashina’s inability to carry the aerial bomb meant she would miss out on this interesting bombing run.
This made her very disappointed.
“Aiya, don’t cry now, come come, your Uncle Loyalty specially made small-sized aerial bombs for you,” Tobacco Mulberry walked over and said casually.
“Look, those over there are all for you, definitely suitable for your small frame. Those things aren’t just incendiary bombs but also have directional indicator functions, so you’ll need to be in the vanguard later.
You and I need to drop the first bombs to ensure the brothers following won’t throw their aerial bombs to grandmother’s house.”
“Yay!” Little Ashina excitedly spun around in the air, but she quickly caught herself and crossed her arms angrily, saying:
“I sense full malice from Uncle Loyalty, why do I have to carry the small ones? Aren’t there white phosphorus bombs too? I’ll carry those!
Those are lighter.”
“Uh, you can try if you really want to,” Ah Yuen approached with evil intent and said:
“But I heard Brother Loyalty’s craftsmanship for white phosphorus bombs isn’t very good. Those things have a certain probability of exploding spontaneously when impacted or even for no reason at all without impact.
I guess you haven’t seen the terrifying sight of white phosphorus bombs burning while stuck to something. Earlier Old Qin and the others used those things to burn many skeletons to death.
Tsk tsk, even I felt scared watching it.
With your delicate skin, if you accidentally get some on you, we’d have to figure out how to dig you out of the remains with a spoon.”
“Don’t scare people, if I die I’ll just turn into light, why would you need to dig me out with spoons?” Little Ashina shrank her neck in fear.
She knew Ah Yuen was deliberately creating fear, but as a girl, she was still a bit scared. In the end, under Brother Stick’s command, she obediently carried the specially made small aerial bomb and stood together with the other vampires who were ready to go, forming into loose flight formations.
The scene was extremely “imposing” at this moment.
All of the current 200+ vampire players in the game were here, everyone arranged in many rows by size.
Each row of 10 people wore leather clothes for heat insulation and flight goggles, just like pilots preparing for battle, but each person had their tonight’s “attack weapons” firmly secured to their backs with special leather straps.
Those large and thick black incendiary or white phosphorus bombs reflected dark light in the dusk, with the “gear skull” logo of Transia’s First National Armament Factory so eye-catching on them, indicating their ominous purpose.
Some more flamboyant folks, like Cheche and Ah Yuen, even used their kindergarten bully-level painting skills to draw weird things on their aerial bombs.
Pigeon wrote a sentence in crooked Transian on his bomb:
“Doorman Old Qin invites you for hotpot”
Uh, malicious in every aspect.
To allow these aerial bombs to be carried by vampires in flight, Brother Loyalty specially adjusted the weight, but to ensure bombing effectiveness the amount of explosives and flammables filled inside still couldn’t be too light.
Fortunately every vampire was Black Iron rank. Although it was very heavy after being carried, it wasn’t to the point where they couldn’t fly.
But vampires’ racial talents weren’t meant to be “heavy bombers” after all. Their pair of blood wings weren’t created for carrying heavy aerial bombs. Therefore after carrying these things, even the strongest Niuniu’s flight speed would be reduced to only one-third of normal.
If gnoll sorcerers caught this opportunity to cast a flame strike or large-scale anti-air slow, this bombing squadron would probably be wiped out tonight.
However, everyone who came here knew tonight’s battle’s risks. Each person was fearless, their expressions could even be described as pervertedly excited, just like serial killers who found victims, eager to begin.
This metaphor was somewhat vivid, because normal people couldn’t possibly still smile in this situation.
“Brothers! No need for many words,” Tobacco Mulberry mounted his loyal Wind Griffin which also carried small aerial bombs, pulling down his goggles and shouting:
“Wishing everyone victory tonight! May our lines never fall! May Transia’s military fortunes prosper! May the goddess of fate smile upon us tonight.”
“Hey, that declaration is so un-vampire-like!” Little Ashina in the first row put on her cool windproof goggles, hands on hips shouting:
“You should pray for the Night Mother to bless our safe return!”
Laughter erupted from the crowd, while the NPC vampires on escort duty nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Although everyone knew vampires had no deity of their own, such a large-scale and important operation indeed needed some auspicious words.
“Then may the Night Mother bless us all,” Murphy, disguised as an ordinary vampire hiding at the back of the crowd, said in an affected manner.
He also carried a large aerial bomb, with three more in his specially made Spirit Bag.
As he said, he didn’t want to miss tonight’s grand occasion. Leading a group of undying heroic spirits from another world across hundreds of kilometers under midnight, summoning otherworldly fire to burn away evil and establish victory…
Listen to that!
Savor it, how exciting is that! What normal administrator could resist such temptation?
“Move out!” Tobacco Mulberry did a final quick headcount.
He surprisingly found there seemed to be a few more people than when they started, but now wasn’t the time to discuss this.
The scheduled time had arrived. Tobacco Mulberry was the first to take off on his Wind Griffin.
As the only player with real-life “bombing” experience among all players, he naturally became tonight’s flight squadron vanguard.
Of course, Tobacco Mulberry’s so-called “bombing experience” referred to his experience spraying pesticides while piloting special aircraft in the Great Northwest. Although it lacked that bit of coolness and masculine spirit compared to bombing, the operational thinking was at least the same for both.
Both needed to calculate lead time, both needed diving, both needed maintaining stability.
Rounding up, wasn’t this basically a professional “bomber pilot”?
“Forward air route clear! No stars or moon tonight! Wishing everyone victory from the start!” The Tiger Leopard Rider brothers on the ground shouted in unison, then amid the howling wind raised by hundreds of vampires simultaneously beating their wings, rows and rows of vampire bombers took off in succession. Meow King’s team with flying mounts was already waiting above the swamp and had scouted ahead for their bombing target areas.
“F**k! Didn’t feel it while standing on the ground, but flying with these aerial bombs really is tiring!” After ascending for several minutes, Cheche’s complaints rang out from the black mass of the “flight squadron”, but before he could complain much, he was scolded by the athlete Shrimp Catcher beside him:
“Shut up! This is executing a military mission, be serious kid, if problems occur you’ll face court martial.”
“Tch, you think I’m afraid? Court martial? How many divisions does it have?” Cheche rolled his eyes, but he still stopped complaining.
As one of the first batch of old players to enter the game, he knew to maintain his dignity no matter how uncomfortable he was.
Cheche was already quite good. He had been steeped in Black Iron rank for a long time. Although he was a Spirit Mage and always complained about his potential release being stuck at 30% and not going up, in Murphy’s eyes Cheche and vampires like him already belonged to qualified clan elites.
Although they were inferior to NPC vampires in attributes, their fearless style and ability to learn from experience meant their actual combat power wasn’t much worse than Black Iron rank vampires.
“Entering enemy occupied northern front zone! Seven minutes until first bombing zone, First Squadron prepare to drop bombs!” Tobacco Mulberry’s deep voice echoed in the temporary team framework as he commanded:
“Everyone follow me after the formation changes later, maintain about 500 meters distance from me. After my dropped marker incendiary bombs light up the ground, everyone maintain steady flight speed and mentally count five seconds then dive bomb around the marker bombs!
This is your first time doing this kind of operation, don’t think about precise bombing.
We’re pursuing area damage.
Final reminder!
The safe explosion height for gold catalyst incendiary bombs is around 150 meters, climb immediately after completing bomb drop! Everyone understand?”
“Understood!” All players’ responses rang strong and clear in the night, while Murphy following at the very back leisurely carried his aerial bomb looking left and right. Just 30 seconds before reaching the bombing zone, Murphy suddenly discovered a sneaky figure also hiding in the crowd.
“!!!” The vampire lord moved closer, carefully identifying then exclaiming in shock:
“Little Sharon? What are you doing here?”
“Murphy?” The Countess Seicomere called out was also startled.
She was currently maintaining a transformation illusion making herself appear as an unremarkable vampire. She looked at Murphy who was also in disguise with surprise, saying:
“I just came to support them. What about you? Why are you here?”
“Same as you, came to support,” the vampire lord said in a drawn out voice.
“Just watching the excitement, why so secretive?”
“Tch” Little Countess Sharon pursed her lips, firmly refusing to admit she had already become a qualified fun-seeker under the little players’ enticement.
She moved her shoulders, watching Tobacco Mulberry already starting to dive in front with the first group of vampire bombers following close behind also decreasing altitude. She reached up to adjust her goggles, saying:
“I just want to see how destructive the things I made with my own hands are, that’s all.”
“Alright alright.” Murphy shrugged, very casually descending in the air. While searching for targets on the ground, he said:
“Let’s catch a few Corpse Mages in the chaos?”
“Huh?” Little Sharon looked at Murphy, then heard the vampire lord explain:
“I heard earlier my warriors almost caught General Baldwin’s ancestor who died over 300 years ago, which made me realize there might really be some quite ‘valuable’ targets among the dead disturbed by the gnoll sorcerers.
We’ll definitely take Plague Town, but how to handle these sensitive identity figures is something we must start considering now.
Let’s catch some Corpse Mages back first for interrogation, hopefully we can make a list.”
“Mm, good idea.” Little Sharon also began a standard death dive.
While descending from nearly a thousand meters all the way down to hundreds of meters, head pointing downward, she twisted the lock at her waist. At this height she could even see the Corpse Mages below raising their staves at her, but the aerial bomb released from her back continuously accelerated under accumulated kinetic energy and Mother Earth’s call, carrying sharp ominous screams as it thundered toward the dark ground below that had already started blooming with flames.
Murphy beside her similarly completed a precise and perfect dive bombing.
But his chosen target was more valuable. He saw Corpse Mages trying to teleport away and Netherworld Knights charging in all directions on the skeleton army’s positions being ignited below. He delivered his “gift” to them as well.
“Boom”
The massive vibration raised dazzling fireballs’ explosions amid the uneasy darkness of night and rising and falling deadly screams all around, engulfing everything in Murphy’s sight in fierce flames.
In the illuminated sky he could hear the little players’ wild shouts and howling screams, exactly like a group of devils from another realm dancing above the burning ruins.
So Murphy also started laughing.
Looking at this swamp below that no one had ever conquered, he said:
“Well then, Foul Swamp, welcome to the Transia family! Regarding my invitation, if you don’t answer I’ll take that as agreement.
Hmph, just honestly serve Lord Murphy’s great cause. One day…
You’ll also become a land of legend.”
