Chapter 284: Harvesting Souls

In midsummer, the plateau's sky was a wash of blue, dotted with cotton‑like white clouds; the flat grassland stretched boundlessly, and in the distance the rugged, solitary peaks rose up to touch the heavens, unending.

A zeppelin sped through the high air, occasionally prompting ground‑dwelling creatures to look up.

Lei En sat in the zeppelin's luxurious cabin, his gaze focused, not admiring the beautiful plateau scenery outside the window.

Electric light flickered at his fingertips, his soul force merging with the air's Elements, forming a head‑sized Electric Blast Orb in his hand that crackled with a pop‑snap sound.

The orb did not launch, but remained suspended in his palm, rotating slowly.

The raging thunder Element was miraculously subdued.

A few seconds later, fine strands of lightning burst forth, striking Lei En, or being drawn to the metal objects in the room, emitting longer bolts.

The orb grew increasingly unstable, its surface churning.

Seeing it about to explode in his hand, Lei En hurriedly tossed it out the window; with a boom, the explosion echoed across the plateau sky, carrying far.

"That was close…"

Lei En muttered, but was not very frightened.

The zeppelin had left Hohawen and entered the Sain Plateau for two days; whenever he was idle, he studied his spells.

Half of the Vampire Count's soul, transformed into soul force, was poured into several Arcane Elements: Thorned Electric Armor, Electric Flash Teleport, Static Field, Lightning Arc, Light Blast Art, and Vector Shield, all raised to their current caps; together with previously upgraded Arcane Elements, each spell now sits at four rings!

And some electric charge still remained.

Lei En could only pour it into the "Strength" Element, that bottomless pit, nudging the level‑8 progress bar forward by a small step.

Unwittingly, his repertoire of spells grew, not fewer than the Wizards of the Law Seal school.

But as a student of the Mo Du faction's founder, Lei En naturally specialized in a few spells, selecting three for intensive study: Electric Blast Orb, Rainbow Light Ray, and Flash.

The Electric Blast Orb was his most proficient; under his teacher's guidance, Lei En had mastered the technique of rapid casting.

However, he was still far from instant release, so he spent time practicing each day.

Lei En waited a few seconds, the soul force fluctuations subsided, re‑igniting the Element runes in his soul, and electric light flickered again at his fingertips.

Boom! Boom! Boom…

Every half‑minute, an Electric Blast Orb was tossed out the window, detonating in the high air like rolling thunder, making some ground‑dwelling races or creatures think a storm was coming.

"Here it comes!"

"Brothers, get ready, monsters are coming, ha ha…"

Shouts from the barbarians rose on the deck, each looking excited, rubbing their fists, as if they had been waiting for a while.

Lei En knew the situation well and did not go out to investigate.

Since the zeppelin entered the plateau, it had been attacked many times, all by flying monsters of the plateau.

At first, the zeppelin's crew and Extreme Warriors were nervous; when Lei En had them wield Lambo's Gun, especially the newly joined Extreme Warriors, allowing them to gain machine‑gun experience, they easily shot down all incoming monsters, and the crew gradually relaxed.

Because the electric charge was full and many Elements were hard to raise further, Lei En allocated the absorbed souls to the Extreme Warriors.

They quickly discovered that slaying monsters increased their own strength.

Thus, each one wished monsters would keep attacking the zeppelin, standing on the deck, eyes eagerly awaiting.

Lei En fulfilled their wish, repeatedly practicing the release of Electric Blast Orbs, creating a bit of commotion to attract monsters.

"Ghoul‑Face Vulture!"

"Why another Ghoul‑Face Vulture?" a disappointed Extreme Warrior shouted.

"There aren't many flying monsters on the plateau; the Ghoul‑Face Vulture is the most common, some are decent enough, if you dislike them let me…" another seasoned Extreme Warrior said in a loud voice; halfway through, his tone shifted dramatically, exclaiming, "Jiliman is above! Look!"

"So many Ghoul‑Face Vultures!" cries rang out.

Inside the cabin, Lei En sensed something amiss, stuck his head out the window, and was startled as well.

To the zeppelin's left‑front, a huge flock of birds rushed toward them at high speed.

Their wings were jet‑black, spanning nearly three meters; beneath their bellies were a pair of sharp claws, their bent, drooping necks bore no feathers, skin slack, heads grotesque and terrifying, bald tops resembling human faces, massive pupils filled with ferocity, hooked beaks, and their shrill, unpleasant cries sounded like death‑seeking demons from the Abyss.

These were Ghoul‑Face Vultures; Lei En had seen them many times.

Ghoul‑Face Vultures are classified as birds, favoring carrion and entrails, habitually gregarious, occupying the middle tier of the Sain Plateau food chain. A single adult can easily hunt a normal human, its strength comparable to a newly fused soul‑infused transcendent.

Their greatest advantage is prolific breeding, resulting in massive numbers that appear in hordes.

In the past two days, a few waves of Ghoul‑Face Vultures attacked the zeppelin, but only about twenty each time, being shot down as soon as they approached, posing little threat.

But this time was different.

Lei En's soul eye scanned and roughly estimated at least a thousand Ghoul‑Face Vultures, forming a massive dark cloud that blocked the sky, an awe‑inspiring sight.

Their cries rose and fell without pause for a second, and as they drew nearer, a nauseating, dizzying din enveloped the area.

This is the Ghoul‑Face Vulture's sole Element: a piercing scream.

The piercing scream interferes with a target's Willpower through sound; a normal person would faint after a few cries. Even a transcendent, faced with a flock screaming simultaneously without proper protection, would struggle to resist.

The noise from over a thousand Ghoul‑Face Vultures could overwhelm even a Legend.

Deng— deng— deng…

The zeppelin's captain rushed in in panic, his face full of worry, covering his ears as he shouted, "Lord Count…"

"Got it, no need to worry, you keep piloting the zeppelin."

Lei En reassured the mechanic captain, then walked to the forward deck, where the Extreme Warriors called out, "Boss."

They were unaffected by the piercing scream; a weakened version of the Truth Will granted the Extreme Warriors powerful mental immunity.

However, a few Extreme Warriors still wore tense expressions; they weren't afraid of dying, but worried the zeppelin might be destroyed, its cargo falling and unable to be returned to the tribe.

"All, prepare for battle!"

At Lei En's command, the Extreme Warriors responded in unison, "Yes, boss!"

They quickly equipped Lambo's Gun, split into two squads, positioned on the zeppelin's front and rear armor plates, and assigned each their fire‑coverage directions.

The whole process proceeded orderly, finishing in just a dozen seconds.

Eighteen newly joined Extreme Warriors also mastered the machine‑gun shooting technique. Especially the newly promoted Legend Tairien, whose machine gun perfectly matched his shooting talent; within a few days he devised a mature skill set, surpassing Xikarius and Otto, becoming the top sharpshooter among the Extreme Warriors!

"Everyone, don't be nervous, and don't rush to fire."

Lei En shouted a reminder: "I've told you, you must wait until the target is within three hundred steps before opening fire, let them crowd together; the fire coverage creates greater damage and also saves me bullets."

The Extreme Warrior all nodded in understanding.

This was something Lei En emphasized repeatedly; on the surface it was for the two reasons mentioned, but the deeper reason was that he could only absorb souls within three hundred meters—about three hundred thirty steps—but he simplified it to three hundred steps for convenience.

Lei En didn't state it outright, but a clever Extreme Warrior deduced the truth and kept it as a secret in his heart.

They firmly memorized the distance of three hundred steps.

Straight ahead, ghost‑faced vultures surged like a tide, each black raptor flapping its wings; their cries grew louder, forming a visible sound wave that struck the airship and caused vibrations, while a few mechanics hidden in the control room clutched their ears and cried out in pain.

The flock of ghost‑faced vultures drew nearer, already within the range of Lambo's Gun, but the Extreme Warrior held steady.

A few seconds later, the flock of ghost‑faced vultures suddenly split.

They divided into three groups; the middle group slowed its flight slightly, while the left and right groups changed direction to flank the airship from both sides.

Some also flew upward, evidently to damage the airship's gasbag.

Yisu's figure appeared beside them, frowning, and said, "Aren't you going to act? They might destroy the airship's gasbag."

"No rush, wait a bit longer."

Lei En looked up briefly; the large gasbag above seemed thin and would burst with a poke, but it was actually protected by a rune formation, and the magical steam engine in the airship's power room supplied energy, tougher than iron sheet.

After opening fire, hardly any ghost‑faced vultures had a chance to touch the gasbag.

Soon, the airship was surrounded, its view blocked on all sides by the silhouettes of ghost‑faced vultures; the sky darkened, and the outside scenery was almost invisible.

"Open fire!"

Lei En finally shouted.

Clack‑clack‑clack… the machine gun's roar rang across the sky, flames spewed, invisible death trails swept by, high‑speed whistling bullets pierced the ghost‑faced vultures, Tear their bodies, blood staining the heavens, and their corpses fell.

In just a few seconds, the flock of ghost‑faced vultures suffered a devastating blow.

A rain of blood fell from the sky, drifting feathers everywhere.

Not a single ghost‑faced vulture could get within a hundred steps of the airship; occasionally a few broke through the fire net and flew close, but were quickly gunned down by the Extreme Warrior waiting behind.

This was not a battle, but a one‑sided slaughter.

Yisu had already witnessed the power of a machine gun, yet this scene still left him deeply shocked.

He glanced at Lei En; the young man wore a calm expression, as if all this were natural.

"What a terrifying weapon!"

"The Extreme Warrior Corps he forged, equipped with these machine guns, if it has enough numbers, will surely become the strongest legion in Ai Lun E Si's history!"

Yisu's heart stirred with waves, unable to calm for a long time.

Lei En did not notice the shadow assassin's thoughts.

In his eyes, souls flew in one by one, like moths to flame, being absorbed by him; each ghost‑faced vulture could convert only a little energy, but hundreds together became considerable.

All that energy was allocated to the Extreme Warrior.

Lei En was impartial; to boost the corps' overall strength, he first poured soul power into those ten‑plus newly joined Extreme Warrior, trying to bring each to the ninth‑level pinnacle.

Later, when the chance is right and abundant soul power is obtained, he will help them break through to Legend.

Gunfire roared as the Extreme Warrior frantically harvested souls.

The number of surrounding ghost‑faced vultures dwindled rapidly; during the fight the airship did not slow, the vultures' corpses fell, forming a straight line several miles long on the ground, attracting many beasts to scramble for them.

In less than two minutes, few ghost‑faced vultures remained, the sky cleared.

Only a dozen or so distant ghost‑faced vultures escaped, fleeing in terror without looking back.

"Roar…"

Amid scattered gunfire, Lei En heard a roar.

Even from far away, the roar carried a hint of pressure; he turned his head toward the source, his Soul Eye zoomed in, and instantly a massive fire‑red silhouette filled his view.

Lei En's gaze hardened, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "Red dragon? Or a flying dragon?"

(End of Chapter)