Battle of the Cornered Beast

Inside Wolf Howl Valley, flames soared into the sky, burning half of the night into a bizarre, fiery orange.

Thousands of Xiongnu soldiers, like an enraged wolf pack, had Wei Zhe and his twenty brothers surrounded tightly between the sea of fire and a wall of men, leaving them no escape.

"Kill them! Chop these Qin Army rats into meat paste!"

The Xiongnu Chieftain drew his cleaver-like saber, pointed it at Wei Zhe and his men, and let out a hysterical roar. The destroyed provisions were his inescapable responsibility; only by presenting these men's heads to the Right Wise King could he lessen his guilt.

"Roar!"

The Xiongnu soldiers, eyes red, brandished their weapons and surged forward like a tide.

"Back against the fire wall, form a circle!" Wei Zhe's voice, amidst the earth-shattering shouts, remained clear and calm. "Use glaives on the outside, short blades on the inside! Conserve energy, focus on the lower body and throat!"

His command, like a stabilizing anchor, instantly bolstered morale.

The twenty-one men quickly contracted, forming a tight, impenetrable small defensive formation. Hu Lei and Qian Hu, leading the veterans, held the outermost positions, using sturdy shields and glaives to forcefully withstand the first, most ferocious wave of the assault.

"Thwack!"

A new recruit, seizing the moment, thrust his three-edged Armor-Piercing Awl through a gap in the shields like lightning, accurately piercing a Xiongnu soldier's thigh.

The Xiongnu soldier cried out and fell to the ground, immediately being trampled into a bloody pulp by those behind him.

"It's effective! This short blade is effective!" the new recruit shouted excitedly.

The Armor-Piercing Awls Wei Zhe had crafted for them proved more deadly than glaives in this narrow, chaotic melee. They were shorter, more agile, and better suited for close-quarters combat.

Wei Zhe himself did not stay within the formation. He moved like a ghostly assassin along the formation's edge, alternating between his glaive and the Armor-Piercing Awl at his waist. Each strike inevitably felled a Xiongnu soldier.

The invisible killing aura emanating from his "Hundred-Man Slayer" title made all enemies who approached him feel a jolt of fear, their movements involuntarily slowing by half a beat. And this half-beat hesitation, before Wei Zhe, was the distance between life and death.

"Ding, killed one Xiongnu soldier, gained 10 Tempering Points."

"Ding, killed one Xiongnu Squad Leader, gained 30 Tempering Points."

His Tempering Points surged rapidly, and his killing skills became increasingly proficient through actual combat.

However, the enemy's numbers were simply too great.

Despite their desperate resistance, the defensive circle was being compressed bit by bit. Team members were constantly struck by weapons. Although the Heart Guard Armor protected them from death, the immense impact force caused their Blood Essence to churn and their arms to go numb.

"Squad Leader, they have too many men, we can't hold on much longer!" Qian Hu's forehead was cut open, blood streaming down, he shouted hoarsely.

"Hold on a little longer!" Wei Zhe's gaze was like ice. He knew that if this continued, they would eventually be worn down and killed.

Strike the king to capture the bandits!

His gaze cut through the layers of crowds, locking onto the Xiongnu Chieftain directing the battle from the rear.

To break this stalemate, the enemy leader had to be slain!

"Hu Lei, Qian Hu, clear a path for me!" Wei Zhe roared, unleashing the recently strengthened internal energy within him without reservation!

"Yes!"

Hu Lei and Qian Hu exchanged glances, seeing the resolve in each other's eyes.

"Brothers, clear the way for our Squad Leader!" Hu Lei roared, abandoning defense and pushing his shield forward. Like a maddened bull, he charged headlong into the most densely packed area of the crowd!

"Kill!"

The remaining eighteen members also exerted their strength simultaneously, concentrating all attacks on a single point, forcefully tearing open a fleeting gap in the encirclement.

Now!

Wei Zhe's figure moved. He tapped his foot on the ground, his entire body like a soaring roc, leaping out of the gap with extreme speed!

"Stop him!"

The Xiongnu Chieftain's face changed drastically. He hadn't expected the opponent to be so fierce.

However, Wei Zhe's speed was simply too fast. The Xiongnu soldiers who tried to block him only saw a blur before their eyes as a dark figure swept past. A chill ran down their throats, and they immediately lost all consciousness.

In just a few breaths, Wei Zhe had killed seven men and reached the Chieftain!

"Die!"

The Chieftain, shocked and enraged, was after all a seasoned warrior. His reaction was extremely fast. The massive saber in his hand drew a bizarre arc, carrying a sharp whistling sound, and slashed towards Wei Zhe's waist.

This strike was enough to cut a person in half!

Wei Zhe's eyes narrowed. The glaive in his hand swept down in response. The spike at the tail of the glaive precisely struck the back of the enemy's saber.

"Clang!"

With a loud noise, the Chieftain's saber was deflected, slashing fiercely into empty space.

Before he could change his move, Wei Zhe's spear technique was like a surging river, continuous and relentless.

Wind Piercing Spear Technique -- Spear thrusts like a dragon!

The glaive in his hand seemed to come alive, transforming into a sky full of spear shadows, enveloping all of the Chieftain's vital points.

The Chieftain was terrified. He could only desperately swing his saber to block, but was forced to retreat repeatedly by the lightning-fast spear shadows, quickly sustaining several deep, bone-revealing wounds.

"Wh-what spear technique is this!" he thought, filled with fear.

His proud saber skills and strength seemed clumsy and laughable before this opponent.

"Pfft!"

With another failed block, Wei Zhe's glaive finally found its opening. Like a viper's tongue, it pierced through his shoulder blade at an unbelievable angle, pinning him firmly to the ground!

"Argh--!"

The Chieftain let out a piercing scream.

Wei Zhe gave him no chance, stepping forward, drawing the Armor-Piercing Awl from his waist, and with a backhand swing, a noble head flew through the air.

"Ding! Killed one Xiongnu Chieftain, gained 500 Tempering Points!"

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for achieving the 'Slaying Enemy General in Formation' achievement, gaining an additional reward: 1000 Tempering Points!"

Wei Zhe grabbed the still-dripping head and raised it high, roaring with all his might:

"The enemy general is dead! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

His voice, amplified by internal energy, spread through Wolf Howl Valley like rolling thunder.

All the Xiongnu soldiers who were surrounding them instinctively stopped. When they saw the head belonging to their Chieftain, despair and fear appeared on everyone's faces.

Their main general was dead, and their grain supplies were burned.

Their morale collapsed completely at that moment!

"Run!"

Someone shouted it first, and all the Xiongnu soldiers threw down their weapons, fleeing in all directions like headless flies, wishing their parents had given them more legs.

The encirclement broke without a fight.

"We... we won?"

Hu Lei, Qian Hu, and the others stared at the unbelievable scene before them, frozen in place as if dreaming.

Twenty-one men, breaking an enemy force of five thousand, and slaying the enemy's main general in formation!

This was a miracle worthy of being recorded in history!

And the one who created this miracle stood covered in blood, holding the enemy general's head, like a true demon god of the battlefield.

"Stop gawking!" Wei Zhe's voice pulled them back to reality. "Clear the battlefield, collect the warhorses and weapons! We're going home!"