Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Natasha also understood how much she had benefited from carrying the Fire Keeper on her journey out of kindness. She explained to Clint in a low voice the series of crises she had encountered, yet always managed to survive.

Such a shocking blessing made Clint's eyes widen as he looked at his family. Even with the wolf badge Geralt had given him, anything more would have been wonderful.

But the number of enemies to kill was a hundred, which made Clint worry. But thinking about what had just happened, Clint said, "Um, I just killed a vampire, and Natasha killed two. Can we count that?"

Chapter 179: The Vanishing Blade

"When I went to pick up my family, I encountered three unique vampires. They could actually appear in the sunlight, and their skin would shimmer like diamonds..."

Clint explained the battle that had just taken place to Geralt, detailing everything until he returned to the Control Center.

After hearing about the battle, Geralt asked, "Clint, did you cut off their heads and then burn their bodies?"

"Huh? I only chopped off the head of one of them, setting it ablaze with my flaming sword. The other two were torn apart by the wolves summoned by Natasha."

Geralt shook his head, causing Clint's heart to skip a beat.

Geralt explained, "You still have a lot to learn, Clint. Hunters always have to deal with these dark creatures. You have to be extremely careful. You have to cut off their heads and watch them turn to ashes."

"What happened? I saw them torn to pieces, and their limbs didn't heal quickly even after being cut off..."

"Even humans are different, let alone the blood-sucking trash that was created. Ordinary vampires are indeed as you said, and they can even turn to ashes when exposed to the sun, but some of them evolved a long time ago."

They no longer fear the sunlight; their bodies simply crystallize under it. Similarly, they lose the ability to heal quickly, but they do not die from it. Only by cutting off their heads and burning their bodies can they be truly killed.

So you can only be considered to have killed one; the remaining two definitely escaped after you left.

Geralt's explanation opened a new door for Clint: not having experienced such an event meant a lack of experience.

However, Geralt added, "But this time I can give you some important information. Let's see what good stuff we can get from Ash. Oh, and here you go."

Geralt tossed a bunch of keys to Clint and said, "This is a residence within the Bureau of Control. You can temporarily settle your family here. Don't worry, there are several people inside the Bureau of Control that I can't beat, so it's absolutely safe."

After saying that, Geralt hurriedly left, and judging from the direction he was heading, he was indeed going to find Ash.

Clint, holding the key, shrugged and said to his family in a seemingly casual tone, "Looks like I only need to kill ninety-nine enemies to exchange for a blessing for you."

On Ash's side, the instant he spoke with Clint, he knew that a new enemy had appeared: vampires that could shine like diamonds in the sunlight, which were definitely those guys from Twilight.

Inside the war room, Ash waited for Geralt to appear and bring the new information to the others.

In the current situation room, there are Gunslinger Roland, Wolverine Logan, Blade and his mentor Whistler, as well as Frank and Ghost, the representatives of the combat forces.

The Ghost's appearance here was entirely Sheffield's way of shirking responsibility. Since the withdrawal of troops, his Task Force 141 had become a mere formality. Under pressure from the Pentagon's disarmament order, Sheffield handed the team over to Ash, and devoted himself to preparing his private shadow army.

Meanwhile, Ross provided a large batch of soon-to-be-retired equipment and acquired several laboratories to enhance Ashe's image.

When Geralt arrived, Ash introduced the hired professional to everyone.

Upon hearing Geralt's news, Whistler, the vampire hunter expert, seemed to have thought of something and hurriedly brought out a document.

Flipping through the documents, Whistler finally stopped at a photocopy and showed it to everyone.

"There is a Bible among vampires called the Book of Erebus, which records a dark sacrificial ritual that can make vampires new blood gods, possessing all the abilities of vampire clans and having no weaknesses."

The book describes this sacrificial ritual, which requires a large amount of fresh blood, as well as blood from other clans, and also…

Whistler looked at Blade and whispered the last few words, "And then there's the Daywalker."

Everyone present knew each other and knew who Whistler was referring to as the Daywalker. At this moment, all eyes were on Blade.

The silent Blade just stared at Whistler's file, lost in thought, while the others began to discuss based on the intelligence.

"Let's find a place to protect Blade, and then take down this Frost guy!"

"Just go straight for the attack and bombard them. I don't believe these guys can withstand AGM missiles."

"They're in the city. All you want to do is bomb the city? Guantanamo has rooms ready for you."

"Then we'll send out a commando team. We have silver bullets, and didn't that great inventor say he'd provide new weapons?"

"I heard someone talking about the great Stark!"

Amid the discussion, a boastful remark was heard, and it was then discovered that Stark was standing at the door of the Situation Room.

As Stark approached, he said, "It's worth mentioning that Stark Industries has shut down its weapons division. What I'm providing isn't really a weapon in a sense, just some ultraviolet emitters. They won't cause any harm to people. Even if someone uses them to shine on themselves and gets skin cancer and dies, it's still not a weapon."

Stark walked to the table, stood still, looked at Whistler's jumble of paper notes, and then looked away.

"I have already instructed my departments to start production. Tonight, all combat troops will be fully armed, ensuring that each person has at least one ultraviolet emitter weapon attachment. As for other garlic-flavored bombs, they have already been made and we just need to fill them."

"I also brought a batch of ultraviolet emitters from the warehouse. All your mechanics need to do is install them on the searchlights. Although the lifespan is a bit short, the searchlights can keep burning for several nights to cope with this kind of battle."

The news brought by Stark revitalized everyone.

Vampires, if prepared in advance, can be killed with just a single ultraviolet lamp. Although other clans among them have special abilities, none of them can survive the barrage of bombs and silver bullets.

There's almost no garlic extract left in the nearby markets; Ash has bought it all up. This morning there were only two tankers of garlic extract, and now they're emptying the spare oil depot.

Ash, who had suddenly come up with a brilliant idea, said to Anderson, who was sitting next to him acting as a clerk, "Anderson, go to the nearby fire station and borrow a few fire trucks."

Fire trucks can also be used as sprayers in emergencies. Ash doesn't believe any vampire would dare to attack while being sprayed with garlic essence.

Everything is ready; we're just waiting for the opportunity to wage war against the vampires.

Gunslinger Roland was also loading silver bullets into his body; among everyone present, only his bullets were specially made.

Roland's physical attributes allowed him to utilize the powerful recoil of a piercing rifle, and the revolver he used was not suitable for using nitrocellulose propellants.

He served as a shooting instructor in the army for a while, and other laboratories also developed and provided him with other special ammunition tailored to his physical attributes.

These bullets used by Roland individually were filled with other nitro compounds, giving the bullets a greater initial velocity and explosive force.

At this moment, Roland was carefully removing the silver bullets that Ash had issued to him and installing them on the special ammunition he had brought.

Apart from Ash and Stark, everyone else had their own things to do, including Geralt, who was diligently drinking the Water of Life so as not to cause trouble for others.

After trading the weapons production line with Stark, Ash ordered several tons of industrial silver for himself, all of which he gave to the vampire hunter Whistler.

Most of Blade's equipment was designed and manufactured by Whistler, a self-taught vampire hunter who designed all sorts of strange weapons, including Blade's longsword, which no one else could lift.

Now that Ash brought the silver and there were various manufacturing workshops in the base, Whistler went to the workshops to start his work right after the meeting.

Despite having access to high-tech weaponry from a major player like Stark, Whistler still wanted to contribute his own efforts to develop some unconventional weapons of his own.

However, not long after, Stark's intelligence alerts went off.

Before the war, Jarvis had been sifting through information online, marking all the potentially threatening and unsettling factors.

But this time it's news? A news report from the NY Times about a missing child.

All I saw on the news was a Black mother, tearfully calling out her child's name, begging him to come to her location so that she could reunite with him.

This is the news story that Jarvis selected.

Having just attended the meeting and not recognizing the names of the people, Roland was somewhat confused. He asked the name his mother had been calling out on the news, "Who is Eric Brooks? Why are you so nervous?"

"That cool guy who was dressed all in black just like you, his nickname is Blade, and his real name is Eric Brooks."

"So, his missing mother is looking for him?"

"No, according to him, his mother was captured by vampires before he was born. He underwent vampire transformation during conception, which created his unique identity as a Daywalker."

At this point, everyone knew that this was an open conspiracy, a despicable tactic used by vampires to target the Daywalker.

Ash ordered Frank, "Go find Blade. We must pinpoint his location immediately."

Frank hurriedly left to confirm Blade's location. Similarly, at Ash's signal, Ghost made other preparations and began to assemble his forces.

However, Frank's report did not improve the situation, and Blade left Whistler's workshop after spending some time with him.

Whistler, who had received the news, still maintained his faith in Blade.

"I believe in the child I raised. He is a vampire hunter, he was, he is, and he always will be."

Stark retorted with a hint of sarcasm, "But now his mother, whom he's never met, is calling him. Whatever decision he makes wouldn't be surprising. The worst thing that could happen to us is facing a… what?"

"Blood God".

"Yes, Blood God. Does anyone know what weaknesses this Blood God has? How should we deal with it?"

Whistler, influenced by Stark's words, also began to feel insecure, but he maintained his composure and introduced Stark to the Blood God from the intelligence.

"It is immortal, immune to silver, and unaffected by the sun. Anyone who comes into contact with it or appears in front of it will have their blood drained."

"How did you know?"

That's what it says in the book!

"How is that handled in the book?"

"That's all it records; no one has actually summoned the Blood God!"

"So this is fake? Unverified information is not reliable."

Stark and Whistler's back-and-forth questioning and somewhat bickering perfectly illustrated the frustration of everyone present.

In the end, it was Ash who made the decision.

"Alright, now listen to me. Ghost, begin pre-battle preparations. Frank, prepare to lead a team to guide the air attack at close range, just in case. Roland, Geralt, and I, prepare for the assault."

Chapter 180: May the Holy Light Deceive You

Ashe's arrangements excluded Stark, who was standing by wanting to help. This displeased Stark, but he didn't show any objection when Ashe gave orders to the others.

While everyone else was getting ready, Stark asked, "What about me? I don't believe you've forgotten me?"

“Stark, you’re a civilian. Roland can at least withstand one attack. Geralt is a hunter; they’re good at fighting these things. The rest are soldiers; they just need to obey orders.”

"I'm the consultant you hired, remember!"

“Stark, are you really ready? This isn’t like before.”

Ash's words seemed to have a hidden meaning, but Stark fell silent.

Stark understood what Ash meant. He had just shut down his weapons division and displayed his armor in the current SHIELD situation without any problems, since they were the intelligence department and could keep it secret.

However, if this happens during an upcoming battle, Stark will be the subject of countless cover stories and all sorts of media suppression.

Stark even came up with headlines for these news reporters: "Shocking! Stark's New Weapon," "Stark Re-leads the Arms Race," "Besides Stark, who is the number one weapons designer?"

“I was prepared long ago. From the moment I died, I was thinking about what contribution I would make to this world. It was nothing more than causing one explosion and another more violent one. I want to be myself, a new self. After all, I don’t want the greatest creation my father talked about now and in the future to become something that only creates explosions.”

Upon hearing this, Ashe could only pat Stark on the shoulder and say, "Since you've made up your mind, then go and prepare. This battle might not be so easy."