Green Wolf Valley, front wall.
Qin Lie and Wu Jun stood atop the wall with long sabers in hand, corpses strewn haphazardly at their feet.
Blood ran down the wall's bricks, gathering into thin streams that wound through the gaps.
The air was thick with the bloody smell of blood, mingled with gunpowder smoke and sweat, so pungent it stung their eyes shut.
More soldiers were climbing over the wall.
Ladders were raised one after another, soldiers scrambling up with both hands and feet as their armor clanged sharply against itself.
Qin Lie wiped the blood from his face and looked past the wall at the mass of dark figures before the second line of defense.
Zhao Jun's personal guard battalion.
Two hundred Tier 2 Elites, all arranged in a dense square formation, blocking the only route to the mine.
The front row consisted of heavy shield-bearers, each holding an iron shield half a man tall.
The shields fit tightly together, forming a wall of steel.
The second row was made up of spearmen. Their Spear Shafts were as thick as a child's arm, while spear tips protruded through the gaps between the shields in dense rows, like the spines of a bristling hedgehog.
The third row consisted of axemen, each carrying a heavy-backed saber whose edge glinted coldly in the firelight.
Farther back stood several rows of Archers, arrows nocked and aimed toward the wall.
The entire formation was silent and imposing, like a crouching beast of steel, ready at any moment to tear apart whoever charged at it.
Standing atop the wall, Qin Lie looked at the dense forest of spear tips and shields below, his brow slightly furrowed.
A frontal assault was not impossible, but the casualties would be severe.
Qin Lie took a deep breath and