Seeing Lin Xuan charge at him like a rabid dog, Zhang Guangmu found it somewhat difficult to understand.
The man had become famous at a young age and held a high position. He had power and influence, yet he actually cherished his life so little?
Even from a distance, Lin Xuan could feel a scorching aura rushing toward him from Zhang Guangmu.
The other man was surrounded by waves of nearly tangible madness, like an invisible, formless giant axe capable of splitting mountains. Lin Xuan felt as though someone had cleaved his face with an axe.
He instinctively wanted to retreat, but forcibly stopped himself and steadied his feet.
"Don't run!"
"I'm everyone's backbone!"
"If I show weakness and fear, everyone will immediately collapse!"
At that critical moment, Lin Xuan's mind became unusually clear instead. His thoughts felt many times sharper than before.
At this point, he also realized that his earlier speech had been rather foolish.
When he spoke, he had only thought about winning over the Wolf Riders and hinting that Vice Fortress Lord Tian Guang valued the Flame Artifact Users, trying to sow discord between them. He had overlooked one thing...
He himself was the leader of a faction!
Leaving aside how things usually were, at the very least, before the two armies clashed, he absolutely could not show the slightest hint of fear or hesitation!
There was no doubt that such a performance would deal a devastating blow to his side's morale!
Coming back to himself, Lin Xuan plunged both hands into the specially prepared "flame juice" at his waist and immediately spread his arms.
"Don't panic! Although we're being attacked from both sides, we still have the numbers advantage!"
This "although-but" statement immediately revealed Lin Xuan's immaturity and shortcomings as a commander.
The moment the words left his mouth, he realized that his rallying cry had no force at all. He wanted nothing more than to slap himself.
But words could not be taken back, and the battlefield gave Lin Xuan no time to reflect.
He could only make up for his mistake through concrete action.
Thus, Lin Xuan advanced instead of retreating and took the initiative to charge toward Zhang Guangmu. His eyes were veined with blood, and a ferocious expression surfaced on his face.
"Kill them all!"
As for the poison and antidote, he could no longer worry about them!
Surely he could not say something like, "Tian Guang has the antidote. We need to capture him alive, not kill him," at a time like this?
Even if he could not beat the other side in terms of momentum, he could not lose by too much!
Although Lin Xuan looked as though he was charging, he was actually moving slowly, fighting under the protection of two Cub Wolf Guards and the mutated Flame Wolf King Hong Tan.
He specifically sought out easy targets and quietly avoided powerful opponents. He appeared to be fighting desperately in a bloody battle, but in reality, he was slacking off like crazy.
That could not be entirely blamed on him.
Lin Xuan had originally intended to kill the enemy leader with his own hands and crush the enemy's morale.
After all, with the mutated Flame Wolf King Hong Tan present, as long as he could reach Young Fortress Lord "Tian Guang," the other side's Flame Wolves would immediately lose all ability to fight. Their legs would go weak on the spot, and they would collapse to the ground.
But...
For the vast majority of Flame Artifact Users, being able to protect themselves against Flame Wolves and avoid being killed instantly was already quite impressive.
Awooo!
Awooo~
In stark contrast, ordinary Flame Wolves were like chickens and clay dogs before Zhang Guangmu, completely unable to withstand a single blow!
Those Flame Wolves would let out miserable cries the moment they brushed past Zhang Guangmu.
They were clearly all Flame Artifact Users, and Zhang Guangmu's equipment was not particularly better than theirs. Yet once they truly fought, he was like a heavenly god descending to earth, slaughtering everything in his path and sweeping all before him. He practically had no opponent who could withstand even one exchange!
A man like that was practically the Wolf King among the Flame Wolves. His individual combat strength was absurdly powerful!
How should such a person be described?
The Human King?
Lin Xuan shook his head and reluctantly gathered his thoughts.
In truth, compared with the formidable strength displayed by Vice Fortress Lord "Tian Guang," what Lin Xuan found even harder to accept was...
The Flame Artifact inventor "Blood Thorn" from his own side, who should have been fighting beside him, had also displayed terrifying combat strength!
That girl disguised as a man was unforgettable to Lin Xuan!
Because she had foolishly rejected him, he had treated her as a rebel and sent her on a suicidal mission as cannon fodder. Yet she had fought her way through and successfully assassinated quite a few of Lin Xuan's brothers and sisters.
Lin Xuan had long known that "Blood Thorn" was not weak, but he had never taken her too seriously.
Whenever he thought of that beautiful girl, aside from his irritation, what he felt more than anything was complacency. Men his age rarely resisted the temptation of beauty, yet because he pursued loftier goals, he regarded beautiful women as ordinary things—having them was fine, and not having them was fine too.
Now that he had come to his senses, Lin Xuan suddenly realized...
He seemed to have underestimated "Blood Thorn" far too much.
How could her individual combat strength be described merely as "not weak"?
Calling it formidable would not be an exaggeration in the slightest!
Combined with the Flame Artifact, she could practically cut through an entire army alone. On the battlefield, she was a dazzling and demonic harbinger of death!
At this moment, "Blood Thorn" guarded Vice Fortress Lord "Tian Guang's" side. She treated killing enemies as a secondary task, concentrating most of her strength on protecting Tian Guang.
Under these circumstances, completing a decapitation operation was practically impossible.
Lin Xuan looked fearless and valiant on the surface, but inside, he was panicking terribly.
He had no desire to risk his life against two humanoid monsters like these. His mind buzzed, and he felt that things should never have developed to this extent.
The struggle for power was many times more brutal than he had anticipated.
Fortunately, the mutated Flame Wolf King Hong Tan was present. No Flame Wolf could maintain its fighting spirit before it. They could only stand still and quietly await death. This suppression of status came from their bloodline and was not affected by the will of any elite Flame Wolf.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Flames spewed, and blood sprayed everywhere!
"Ah!~"
"Awooo!~"
The lives of humans and Flame Wolves were like weeds on the battlefield, rapidly reaped by the sickle of death.
The smell of sulfur mixed with the stench of blood, gradually growing thicker as it spread across the battlefield.
The nauseating stench and the severed limbs scattered across the ground suddenly made Lin Xuan feel like vomiting.
Bzz...
His face went deathly pale. He forced himself not to vomit on the spot as a burst of flames grazed his face, and the ringing in his ears seemed to grow increasingly severe.
Deep within Lin Xuan's consciousness, it was as if two pieces of metal were scraping against each other at high frequency, producing a horrifying sound he could barely endure.
Everything before his eyes gradually blurred.
It was as though dirty raindrops had fallen into his eyes on a rainy day, making everything impossible to see clearly.
Strangely, there was only one thing Lin Xuan could see with exceptional clarity.
He noticed...
Several Wolf Riders from his own side were lying on the ground. Their bodies were intact, and they did not even have much blood on them, yet they remained with their eyes tightly shut.
They...
Were pretending to be dead!
Lin Xuan could confirm this with absolute certainty.
At the boundary between life and death, some of his senses had become highly focused. On a battlefield filled with earth-shaking battle cries, he could clearly detect the breathing of those pretending to be dead through his Sixth Sense.
How dare they?
Their Flame Wolves were still fighting!
If they could not fight alongside their partners, what kind of Wolf Riders were they?
Perhaps because of that momentary distraction, Lin Xuan's left hand was torn off by a serrated wheel of flames.
Splurt!
Blood sprayed through the air along with fragments of charred flesh and bone.
Lin Xuan raised his left arm and looked at his bare wrist. He felt that the thing looked terribly ugly after being scorched black by the flames.
His entire left hand had been severed, yet Lin Xuan could still clearly feel that it was there.
He even instinctively wanted to move the five fingers of his left hand.
"I... I'm crippled?"
Strangely, although he had been injured, Lin Xuan did not feel any pain for the time being. Instead, he bizarrely experienced something resembling an epiphany.
Amid the deafening cries of battle, his gaze passed over the countless corpses and the tirelessly fighting warriors on both sides before focusing on Zhang Guangmu.
"We've lost."
Lin Xuan's voice was barely louder than a mosquito's buzz.
This battle appeared evenly matched, but in reality, he had already lost from the very beginning.
The struggle between the Young Fortress Lord and the Vice Fortress Lord...
Whether in strategy or martial prowess, he was far inferior to "Tian Guang."
"While there are green hills, there will never be a shortage of firewood!"
Lin Xuan told himself this as he turned around without hesitation and immediately broke into a full sprint. "I lost this time, but I'll win it back next time! I have to win it back!"
As he ran, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Where are the Cub Wolf Guards? Protect me! Protect me!"
Perhaps because he had turned around too quickly, the Wolf Bone Mask that had been hanging halfway on Lin Xuan's face fell to the ground and was trampled into the mud.
He had no time to care about that.
He had to live!
As long as he survived, there was still hope of turning things around!
After all, he was the rider of the mutated Flame Wolf King Hong Tan and possessed the Flame Artifact Blueprint. Even if he escaped Wolf Fortress, he might still be able to make a comeback!
As for the Ten-Day Death Potion...
He could think about that later!
If he did not run now and died on the battlefield, there would be no need to think about anything!
Seeing Lin Xuan flee in panic, even his trusted Cub Wolf Guards were stunned, let alone the group of Wolf Riders he had temporarily gathered through his status, reputation, and benefits.
"Run! Run! The Young Fortress Lord has fled! We can't stay here and throw our lives away!"
"I surrender! I surrender! Don't kill me!"
"Spare me! Ah!"
Some tried to flee, some knelt and begged for mercy, and some had gone berserk with bloodlust and only knew to charge forward.
But the battle had reached this point. The victor had already been completely decided.
Zhang Guangmu, who had gone berserk with slaughter, punched away a Wolf Rider charging forward to seek death. His scorching flames erupted at full power, nearly roasting the opponent alive on the spot.
Only then did he realize that this was the last enemy.
"Those who kneel and surrender will not be killed!"
Zhang Guangmu made the announcement.
The area around Wolf Fortress was open wilderness, with no terrain suitable for hiding. The roads were rough, uneven, muddy, and many times worse than those around Changhe Survivor Base.
After losing, Lin Xuan still wanted to flee...
It could only be said that he was indulging in a fool's dream.
Relying on his years of watching movies, Zhang Guangmu was certain that Lin Xuan could not escape!
Li Xiaoxiao, who had been guarding Zhang Guangmu's side all along, was covered in blood at this moment, with quite a few charred wounds on his body.
Yet this time, he did not cry.
Perhaps because he had killed to his heart's content, the secretion of adrenaline and endorphins temporarily allowed him to ignore the pain.
Upon hearing Zhang Guangmu's words, Li Xiaoxiao immediately repeated them at the top of his voice. "I am Blood Thorn! Everyone, listen carefully! Fort Master Tian Guang has ordered that those who kneel and surrender will not be killed!"
The people below followed suit, repeating Zhang Guangmu's order in voices that were nearly screams.
What else could those standing on Young Fortress Lord Lin Xuan's side do?
Their leader had already fled, and those who chose to follow him in his escape were caught and killed one after another.
If they did not surrender now, when would they?
Thud! Thud! Thud...
The defeated showed no concern for their knees as they fell to the ground one after another. They tucked their heads down like partridges and trembled in fear.
Some of them even began to give off a foul, fishy odor.
Clearly, either they had drunk too much water before the battle, or they had been so cowardly that they had wet their pants in terror.
Zhang Guangmu felt that he ought to deliver a victory speech, but having won so overwhelmingly, he could not think of a line with enough style for the moment.
Thus, Zhang Guangmu decided to wait until the warriors below captured Lin Xuan and brought him back before putting on a proper show before the Plot Protagonist!
No, that was not right!
It was called "Show Off"!
The Xiao Bai Group floating in the air gradually realized that the dust had settled on the battle. At the same time, this meant that Wolf Fortress's part in the story had officially entered its final wrap-up stage.
About six thousand six hundred words today! Hehe~
Thanks to Meteor Fire Ying for the 2,100-point tip~
Thanks to Chen Mu Nan Cheng for the 1,500-point tip~
Thanks to Still Fan Good for the 999-point tip~
Thanks to Where is my dried fish for rewarding Zhang Guangmu with a chicken drumstick worth 100 points~
Thanks to The Way of the Dragon for the 100-point tip~
Thanks to Supreme Heavenly God Demon for the 100-point tip~
Thanks to Green Wind Like Bath for the 100-point tip~
Thanks to Tun Nai Tian Peng Marshal for the 100-point tip~
Thanks for the support!
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Friends, see you tomorrow!
Before you continue