Chapter 515: Facing The Enemy [2]
Meanwhile, at the front gate, the slower Nosferatu constructs, undead monsters with monstrous strength, attacked with brute force. This attack allowed the Sanguis and Vespera clan members to sneak into the eastern and western wings using their shadow magic.
"Alexei, Black Bear to the right!" Ivan’s deep voice reverberated like a boom as his figure blurred into a silver flash towards a seven-foot undead monster. "Dare attack our home, you freaks!"
Bang!
His silver claws ripped the jaw from the hulking figure, an undead creature made using necromancy. No pain. No emotions. Only Rage! The monster retaliated with a brutal hammer strike, which knocked Ivan into the air with a bloody nose.
"Know your place!"
Ivan twisted mid-air, silver fur exploding from his skin as he slammed his clawed fist into the construct’s skull. Crack! The blow caved in bone like wet clay, hurling the towering undead back through a crumbling wall.
"Cubs, keep the pressure up. Don’t fear them!" His movements were to help the Volkov soldiers who wavered against the deformed werewolves with mismatched limbs from other monsters stitched onto their bodies. "Don’t let them breach the gate!"
"On it!" Alexei shouted from the left barricade. He vaulted a sandbag wall with a roar. He barreled through several Sanguis mercenaries using his extreme speed.
Then popped their heads with his twin revolvers. BANG! BANG! BANG!
The silver bullets flashed with runes as they detonated inside an undead’s chest, blowing apart rotting flesh and shattered ribs. "Ha! Come on, you rotting bastards, I’ve got plenty more!"
To the right, the ground shook under the massive weight of the werebear Great Elder who had recently joined. Black Bear, Vernan’s skin deflected the silver rounds from the terrified troops.
"Kill it!"
"This damn monster!"
Now in his beast form, he intercepted a charging construct mid-stride, his colossal paw crashing into its chest. The creature skidded back across the snow, leaving a red smear as it collided with a heavy iron pike.
"Sit down!" Vernan bellowed with a savage grin.
He seized the creature’s twitching remains and hurled it into another, both toppling in a heap of shattered limbs and rotting gore.
"Focus on the legs, your bullets will work." Ivan ordered as three more undead lumbered forward, each one plated in crude iron armour and glowing with vile red runes. "Don’t waste shots on the chest, break them down first!" Ivan’s body shimmered and teleported between the weaker groups, protecting and supporting the soldiers struggling.
Dozens of Volkov soldiers followed his words and fought with the support of his actions. No longer hesitating.
A volley of silver-tipped rounds screamed through the air, detonating at the constructs’ knees and hips. One toppled, dragging the others down with it.
"There’s too many of the bastards." Ivan spat, his cheek with a claw mark from one of the enemy monsters.
Because they used a lot of undead creatures and necromancy, they had to destroy the core of the monster. They would regenerate quietly on the ground and then attack again.
But even as they fell, new threats replaced them in seconds. This time, Nosferatu-crafted siege units: hulking abominations of steel and bone, hauling massive autocannons welded to their frames.
Their eyes filled with nothing but rage, and they locked onto the Volkov clansmen.
BRRRRRT-BRRRRRT-BRRRRRT!
A hail of heavy rounds tore through the fortifications. Sandbags burst. Barricades splintered. The powerful rounds sent several werewolves flying with huge holes in their chests.
"Damn it, they brought cannons now?!" Alexei ducked behind a ruined pillar, reloading quickly.
Ivan’s lips pulled back into a wolfish snarl, his silver eyes flashing with predatory fury. "They think they can break us with machines and corpses? Then let’s show them the might of the Volkov bloodline!"
’Damn it. I can hear gunshots from the east... Elizabeth, Nikolai....’
With a deafening howl, he stepped forward. "Argh, you sneaky fuckers!" He was mad. Tonight was special, and with these bastards here, it meant SOMEONE leaked information to the Nosferatu. "I’m sick of you undead bastards attacking my damn family!"
Ivan’s body pulsed, his veins pumping with Celestial blood, his figure swelling and muscles bulging. "It’s been a damn while..." He grunted as his silver flames exploded like a bomb.
The instant he transformed, the battlefield filled with a shockwave, and every creature’s skin covered in tingles.
Seven feet tall of pure silver muscle.
Ivan Volkov’s power wasn’t something he could show often, because the other clans might take it as him declaring war.
Ivan’s body blurred.
BRRRT!
Immediately after the autocannons of the four siege constructs fired at him, decimating the walls and creating a crater in the earth.
There was no other word for it but teleportation.
One heartbeat, he was standing in the ruined gateway, the next, his silver form was nothing but an afterimage streaking across the snow. The ground split where he launched from, shockwaves tearing into the earth as he vanished from sight.
BRRRRRT!
The first siege corpse barely had time to adjust its aim before Ivan appeared at its feet. Its heavy autocannon spat flame, but he was already gone as he slid beneath the barrel, claws dragging deep silver lines across its joint plating.
SHHK!
The monster toppled forward, its knees sliced clean apart. Ivan’s spinning heel kick cracked through its iron skull like a hammer to glass, sending the twisted head spiralling into the snow.
"Too slow!"
The second siege unit swung its cannon around, but Ivan was already mid-air, a silver comet streaking toward it. BOOM!
The autocannon exploded with rapid rounds, carving through the air where he had been an instant before. He twisted mid-leap, crashed onto its back, and tore the runic core from its spine with one brutal rip. A geyser of black blood hissed into the freezing air as the construct convulsed and collapsed.
"Haa...Ha... I’m getting too old for this..."
Ivan’s fur dripped with blood, not the black blood from the constructs but his own... No matter how fast he ran. Some bullets tore through his flesh and bone.
Two down.
"On your left!" Alexei shouted.
’What!?’
The third behemoth rotated, hydraulic servos screaming, and unleashed a volley into the Volkov line. Ivan darted across the battlefield in a zigzag blur, each footstep throwing up sprays of snow and shattered stone. He ricocheted off a fallen wall and slammed his full momentum into the creature’s flank.
CRACK!
The impact crushed its ribcage like porcelain, but Ivan also suffered a backlash, his right arm snapping in the opposite direction.
’Shit!’
Before it could even fall, Ivan was gone again.
He became a silver phantom streaking toward the last siege corpse. It tried to backpedal, massive claws digging trenches into the ground like an anchor.
Ivan was relentless.
He jammed his clawed hand straight into its cannon barrel and tore it apart like a flower.
BOOM!
The weapon detonated from within, flames and shrapnel spewing from its chest cavity. Ivan burst through the explosion, silver fur illuminated in the firelight, and bisected the abomination from sternum to skull.
"Haa...Ha.... I did it honey... are you going to praise me tonight...?" Ivan’s limbs trembled as he stood atop the fourth siege construct, gasping for air with the silver aura around him shrinking greatly.
’To think they merged monster and human weaponry and vehicles... Alucard, what are you thinking?!’
All four constructs lay shattered.
The Nosferatu assault became weaker. Their numbers were high, but the well-trained Volkov werewolves could handle it without Alexei and Vernan, who left craters in the stone.
’I’ll deduct the damage from their paychecks...’
Ivan’s breath steamed in the icy air as his figure shrank. The explosive power and endurance of his werewolf form far below Nikolai’s, but his speed was likely double his son’s.
"There’s too many of these guys!" Alexei complained, his guns tossed aside, now fighting like a beast supporting Vernan.
"Let them come, Oi Alexei, we’re drinking all night after this!" Black Bear bellowed in his deep laughter.
However, for Ivan, his focus was split between this hectic battle and the inner mansion. Ivan ripped his claws free from the last construct’s mangled torso and staggered back a step, panting hard. His muscles screamed, but his silver eyes remained sharp.
More enemies crawled over the broken fortifications, but they were just weak undead with assault rifles and pistols. The main units of the enemy pulled back after he destroyed the siege constructs.
Ivan grinned faintly, his chest heaving. "Keep pushing! They’re breaking formation, so don’t give them time to regroup!"
Then, amidst the chaos, his comm unit crackled sharply in his ear. The maid’s voice echoed while she stood at the gates, sweating, covered in blood and dishevelled.
"Lord Ivan!" a maid’s frantic voice shouted over the distant gunfire. "The young Miss... She’s... she’s gone into labour!"
Ivan froze mid-swipe.
The noise of gunshots and battle faded from his ears as he looked back towards the mansion, his mouth distorting into a massive, full wolfish smile.
"Hah!" His voice bellowed across the field, loud enough for every Volkov warrior to hear. "You hear that, boys? My granddaughters are about to enter this world!"
He slammed his palms together with a silver crackle of lightning. Once again, his muscles and figure grew even despite his exhaustion as his body transformed again.
’Nikolai, my boy... soon you will understand my feelings and how conflicted I felt when choosing to become the patriarch or just being your father.’
Ivan closed his eyes.
’But I will be with you every step of the way, my son.’
Then, with a beast’s grin, he dove into the terrified enemy lines like a wolverine.
"Let’s hurry up and crush these undead bastards! I’ve got pups to meet!"