Apocalypse Gachapon - Chapter 1748: Night Blood (1)
The sound of gunfire erupted in rapid succession.
Crisp and deadly.
With each gunshot, the Holy City’s makeshift air force began to plummet from the sky.
They knew this was the enemy’s attack—they even knew what kind of weapon was being used—yet they simply couldn’t defend against it.
Because it was too fast. Too powerful. Before they could react, the bullets had already pierced the vital parts of their mounts.
Yes, these bullets—fired from unknown firearms—rarely targeted the riders themselves. Instead, they focused almost entirely on the flying creatures.
At first, many of the Holy City’s air force soldiers had assumed that the initial gunshot was just an accident—an isolated case. Based on their post-apocalyptic experience, firearms capable of hitting them at such heights had such stringent requirements that they couldn’t possibly exist in large numbers!
Unfortunately for them, they had encountered Cloud Peak. Even more unfortunately, they had no idea what kind of person the King of Cloud Peak truly was.
If this had happened in the Chinese region—especially among those familiar with Cloud Peak—no one would have made such a foolish mistake.
The Holy City’s air force wasn’t entirely wrong in their assumptions. Weapons capable of hitting them at such altitudes with lethal precision had to be of extremely high grade, and the ammunition had to be top-tier. The only thing they miscalculated was that Cloud Peak’s firearms didn’t even require specialized gun skills.
Because these guns were of a higher grade than they had imagined. The bullets were even better than they expected.
These firearms were all blue-grade. The bullets? Green-grade.
This unit was a unique and specialized force within Cloud Peak, led by a man named Li Qiang.
After Ye Zhongming evolved to level nine, his improvements manifested in multiple areas—including his crafting jobs.
As mentioned before, Ye Zhongming’s smith job had already reached its peak. To advance further, he needed to evolve himself.
Now that he had become a level-nine evolved, his Glory Smith job had truly reached its pinnacle.
This didn’t mean there was no room for further improvement—just that it would be extremely difficult, requiring exceptionally rare and specialized items.
In the days following his ascension to level nine, Ye Zhongming and Cloud Peak had formulated the Western Offensive plan. But they didn’t launch it immediately—preparation was key.
Strictly speaking, this was Cloud Peak’s first large-scale assault on a heavily fortified human stronghold. The King of Cloud Peak wanted victory, but he also wanted minimal losses.
These firearms, these bullets—they were just one part of the preparations.
As Sister Hong, who had watched Ye Zhongming craft for a while, put it: “That Little Ye is basically a human-shaped manufacturing machine.”
Not only was his speed terrifying, but his success rate was also absurdly high. For blue-grade equipment, his failure rate didn’t exceed 10%.
That was a statistic that became more horrifying the longer you thought about it.
Thus, Li Qiang and his ranged assault unit became one of the biggest beneficiaries.
The Holy City’s air force had randomly chosen the western side as their main attack direction. Their luck couldn’t have been worse.
This was where Li Qiang was stationed.
His current force of 3,000 was divided among the four gates, with only 300+ here. But precisely because the numbers were smaller, this group had no archers or other ranged-weapon specialists—only elite marksmen.
Every one of them wielded a blue-grade sniper rifle personally crafted by Ye Zhongming.
The design philosophy was derived from Ye Zhongming’s beloved firearm. The bullets were either made by Ye Zhongming himself or precision-engineered micro-engraved rounds produced by Le Dayuan’s lab after his modifications.
With 300+ blue-grade firearms and green-grade bullets, how could they possibly miss?
While Cloud Peak’s air force was still in the process of being fully assembled, these few hundred marksmen were the core of their mobile anti-air defense.
Each of them fired only a few shots before the Holy City’s air force completely collapsed.
Screaming, they yanked their mounts into sharp turns, climbed desperately for altitude—some even leaped off outright, using whatever abilities they had to flee the battlefield as fast as possible.
Their only goal? Get away from these flying creatures.
This kind of disorderly assault posed no threat to Cloud Peak—they were nothing but live targets. The retreat was no different. None of Cloud Peak’s other units even needed to act. Li Qiang and his few hundred marksmen alone had shattered the Holy City’s most renowned aerial force in mere minutes.
A handful managed to escape, but their numbers were pitiful. When they landed at the base they had taken off from just moments ago, the survivors knew one thing for certain:
The Holy City’s air force was finished.
Even if they ultimately won this siege, rebuilding the air force to its former strength would take at least two to three years.
When City Lord Ahmad received this news, his face darkened to the point that it seemed like water could be wrung from it. He had never imagined that what should have been a guaranteed victory would instead result in a devastating defeat.
“Your Majesty, they’re attacking again!”
Outside, the roar of missiles and rockets resumed. The Thousand Defender shouted while rotating the square barrel in his hands, continuously launching those firework-like interceptors. Beads of sweat had already begun forming on his forehead.
“Prepare mental energy potions and stamina potions. Administer them to him soon.”
Even in his fury, Ahmad hadn’t neglected the Thousand Defender. Noticing his exhaustion, he immediately ordered potions prepared.
“The west gate, Your Majesty! They’re focusing their attack on the west gate!”
Many in the room stiffened in alarm.
They all realized why Cloud Peak was concentrating their assault there—because the air force had just suffered a crushing defeat. The chaos and plummeting morale among the defenders made it the perfect opportunity to strike.
“Dispatch the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Royal Guard to reinforce that position.”
Ahmad issued the command calmly.
“Your Majesty, isn’t it too early to deploy the Royal Guard?” A subordinate voiced concern.
Compared to their previous humiliating defeat against Cloud Peak, the Holy City had made significant progress. Though there were still only two Royal Guards, the 1st Royal Guard—tasked with protecting the royal family—numbered around 10,000. The 2nd Royal Guard was even larger, second only to the city defense forces and the slave army, with over 50,000 members divided into five brigades of 10,000 each.
In other words, the City Lord was sending a full 10,000 troops to counter a single enemy assault.
This would give many in the Holy City the impression that the situation was dire.
But was it really?
No. Not even close.
Ahmad smiled. “It’s fine. At dawn, we’ll have 150,000 slave troops ready for deployment—plus Sayyid. So what if we use the 2nd Royal Guard tonight? Hell, even if we deploy the 1st Royal Guard, what does it matter?”
His gaze swept past the city’s structures, settling on the towering walls in the distance.
“Though… I suppose they must be feeling quite pleased with themselves right now. That displeases me.”
Ahmad’s eyes shifted back, landing on Suhail.
“Suhail. Go personally. Tell my child… to visit the west gate.”
The subordinates in the room collectively stiffened.
Your Majesty… you’re deploying that already?!
