Blood Clan

By the time S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier arrived at the Hall of Eternal Night, the vampire extermination operation had officially begun.

The Helicarrier flew directly above the Hall of Eternal Night, its deck carrying dozens of high-powered Ultraviolet Irradiation Lamps.

Ultraviolet rays poured down, shrouding the Hall of Eternal Night and all nearby buildings.

Outside the Hall of Eternal Night, the vampires were caught completely off guard by the sudden attack.

Thousands of vampires turned to ash beneath the Ultraviolet Light.

Only a handful of quick-reacting Half-Blood Vampires and Pure-Blood Vampires with greater resistance to ultraviolet rays managed to survive by hurriedly taking shelter in nearby buildings.

Drones activated one after another, continuously spraying concentrated Garlic Extract Liquid below.

Upon hitting the ground, the Garlic Extract Liquid rapidly atomized and seeped into the buildings.

The vampires' agonized screams rose from within the buildings, one after another.

The pain of having one's internal organs corroded was not something an ordinary person could endure.

Garlic Extract Gas was not enough to kill vampires, but it could temporarily rob them of their ability to move.

Some vampires wearing protective suits and garlic-filtering masks tried to escape, only to be gunned down by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents using Silver Bullets.

As for the very few vampires who either possessed extraordinary strength or had been favored by the Goddess of Luck enough to break through the hail of gunfire, they would face their final judgment—a single arrow.

It was the man with a one-hundred-percent win rate whenever he joined the fight.

Hawkeye, Clint Francis Barton.

Russell noticed that while Clint was picking off elite vampires, he also found time to fire specially made arrows into the buildings where the vampires hid from all kinds of tricky angles.

As expected of an ADC. His damage output was brutal.

But if this kept up, wouldn't I just be here to make up the numbers?

Why were these vampires so useless? They knew their species' weaknesses and knew they couldn't fight head-on, so why hadn't they dug tunnels and waged guerrilla warfare?

"Tony, Gwen, Russell." Hill's voice came through the comm channel.

"You're highly mobile. If any vampires emerge from the tunnels, provide support immediately. I've sent the terrain scan to J.A.R.V.I.S. All exits have been marked."

"Received." x3.

At last, there was something for him to do.

Playing whack-a-mole really was a relaxing and enjoyable job.

With Russell's powerful senses, the vampires' footsteps in the tunnels were crystal clear.

One, two, three.

For a time, S.H.I.E.L.D. held a major advantage outside the Hall of Eternal Night.

But Russell knew it would not be that simple.

The Blood God's power was still continuously pouring into the Hall of Eternal Night.

At that moment, a handsome figure burst out of the Hall of Eternal Night and sprinted toward the blockade.

Bathed in ultraviolet light and breathing air saturated with garlic extract, he remained completely unharmed.

Even the specially made Silver Bullets could do nothing to him.

Clint drew his bow and nocked an arrow, but when he saw who it was, he lowered it again.

This handsome guy was Blade, who had escaped from the altar at the center of the Hall of Eternal Night.

"I have critical intelligence."

With those words, Blade drew everyone's attention.

"Inside the Hall of Eternal Night, the Blood God Descent ritual is still continuing. Hundreds of vampires have already transformed into Blood Clan, and several thousand more are undergoing the transformation.

"The Blood Clan are stronger, faster, and more physically powerful than vampires.

"They also fear neither silver, garlic extract, nor ultraviolet light.

"They possess extreme regenerative abilities. When injured, their limbs dissolve into blood before rapidly reforming.

"Their only weakness is Anticoagulant."

"The vampires outside were all sacrifices, meant to distract us?" Hill frowned. As the commander, she quickly grasped Deacon Frost's strategy.

"Director Fury, I request a full firepower bombardment to destroy the Hall of Eternal Night. Also, transport a batch of Anticoagulant."

Although they had tried their best to keep the scale of the battle contained, once the fighting began, more than a dozen media outlets had still rushed toward the scene by helicopter or car, only to be intercepted.

A large-scale military operation was taking place on the outskirts of New York, and high-yield missiles had even been deployed.

Nick Fury could already imagine how New York's media would report this tomorrow.

It was not an easy decision to make.

"Approved."

Unable to worry about the consequences any longer, Nick Fury agreed to Hill's proposal.

They would flatten the Hall of Eternal Night with artillery fire and test the Blood Clan's true capabilities while they were at it.

As for the New York media's reaction, they could deal with that later.

If the Blood Clan were truly as Blade had described, there might not even be a New York left after tonight.

A missile launched from the Helicarrier, heading straight for the Hall of Eternal Night.

A Jericho Missile!

Tony recognized it immediately. It was a Jericho Missile produced by Stark Industries.

"Get down!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A Shockwave swept across the area, followed by clouds of dust and smoke.

As the smoke cleared, the ruins of the Hall of Eternal Night came into view.

Having lost the Hall of Eternal Night's protection, the thousands of vampires who had yet to transform were exposed beneath the ultraviolet floodlights.

They let out miserable wails and slowly turned to ash.

The Jericho Missile's power had lived up to expectations.

But another sight was even more chilling.

Nearly a thousand vampires—no, Blood Clan—had survived.

Many of them had lost arms and legs in the explosion, while some had been left with barely half their bodies.

Yet without exception, all of them were rapidly regenerating.

A clump of bloody pulp gathered together, and severed limbs re-formed from nothing, returning to normal in just over ten seconds.

"Good news. At least we didn't see anyone recover after being blown into paste."

Tony cracked a cold joke. Everyone only felt cold, not amused.

Except Russell.

"It really is good news."

Energy Absorption could draw energy from bloody pulp.

Although the distance was too great and the absorption rate was low, there were plenty of them.

The several hundred injured Blood Clan had just provided more than four hundred Attribute Points in total.

Could I directly absorb the Blood God's energy? I'll try it later.

"Do you see? This is the Blood Clan! This is the power our god has bestowed upon us! Human weapons are completely useless against us."

Deacon Frost stepped forward from the crowd, raised a hand to point at New York behind the S.H.I.E.L.D. forces, then brought it down sharply.

"Now, kill them all and drink their blood."

"Then offer New York to my god."

"Charge!"

Nearly a thousand Blood Clan rushed toward S.H.I.E.L.D.'s blockade like phantoms. Bullets could only leave fleeting holes in their bodies.

"Helicarrier, provide artillery cover. Ground personnel, get in the vehicles and withdraw."

Seeing that their prepared weapons were ineffective against the Blood Clan, Hill swiftly gave the order for a covered retreat.

Hill had no intention of using the lives of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to briefly slow the Blood Clan's advance.

Their most urgent priority was Anticoagulant and discovering the Blood Clan's other weaknesses.

As the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel withdrew, Russell, Gwen, and Tony moved against the flow.

When Gwen used her webbing to trip the Blood Clan and hinder their pursuit, she discovered that they could not break free immediately.

Gwen immediately shared the information over the combat channel.

"Russell, Mr. Stark, let's weave them a big net."

"Huh? Russell, where are you?"

"Why did you charge in like that?!"