Tonight, Fight to the Death Without Retreat!
The third night came sooner than anyone expected.
The searchlights on the western flank had barely swept across the edge of the ice field when the Abyss's first assault began.
The ice cracked open from the inside, and then countless dark shadows surged out of the cracks, rushing along the ground.
Their outlines were extremely chaotic; some resembled humans, while others looked like crushed beasts. Their entire bodies were shrouded in a layer of gray-black deathly aura, and wherever they passed, the ice surface quickly lost its luster, turning into an extremely dark gray-white.
"East section! They're coming up from the east section!" The sentry's shout was almost torn apart by the wind.
The soul-guiding barrier lit up at the same time, and three ice-blue light curtains rose from the snow, protecting the main valley entrance from behind.
But those Abyss creatures were not afraid at all.
They crashed into it row by row; the first wave smashed to pieces, and the second wave continued, stepping over the wreckage.
The blue light on the barrier was rapidly depleting, turning everyone's faces on the position a ghostly blue.
Long Tianwu stood at the very front, followed by a squad of soldiers.
There were no further words exchanged between the two sides.
As soon as the first Abyss creature passed through the gap in the barrier, Long Tianwu went to meet it.
The blade flashed like lightning, cleaving it in two, head and shoulder in two.
Black blood splattered on the snow, making a "sizzling" sound.
When Tang Wulin and Xu Xiaoyan arrived, the scene on the west side could no longer be described as a "battle".
The defense line looked like it had been gnawed in half.
A dozen soldiers were still pushing forward, their feet piled high with the remains of Abyss creatures, but many more were crawling out from under the snow.
Xu Xiaoyan's face was pale, but her movements were perfectly composed. She tapped her Star Staff repeatedly, and dozens of Starwheel Light Blades flew out, drawing extremely thin lines of light in the night sky.
The light blade sliced into the shadows, blasting out clouds of icy mist.
Tang Wulin gave a low shout, and the Blue Silver Grass spread out like a tide, each strand binding the charging enemies.
The Golden Dragon's violent Soul Power exploded along the blades of grass, turning a patch of Abyss creatures directly in front of it into black snow.
"Wulin! To the left!" Xu Xiaoyan shouted.
Tang Wulin didn't have time to turn around; he simply raised his right fist.
Just as a Abyssal Blackscale Python pounced into the air, he smashed it away with a single punch.
But his own hand was also split open, and blood was flowing down his wrist.
He gritted his teeth, took half a step back, and shielded Xu Xiaoyan behind him.
The two had been fighting here for half the night.
Xu Xiaoyan's Stellar Power was greatly depleted, and her complexion was getting worse.
Tang Wulin's own Blue Silver Grass was also almost completely destroyed.
But we cannot lose the western flank.
Just then, a very faint buzzing sound suddenly rang out in the sky above the battlefield.
The sound seemed to emerge from the deepest part of the ice, growing louder and louder as it approached, until it finally drowned out the sounds of battle on the entire battlefield.
Everyone unconsciously looked up.
In the southern night sky, a dark gray "cloud" was pressing down on us.
That's not a cloud, it's Destruction Bee!
Thousands upon thousands, densely packed, each about the length of a forearm, their wings flapping to create faint purple arcs of electricity.
They were overwhelming, and behind them, a colossal bee-shaped Emperor slowly rose from the ice crevice.
It is half-human and half-insect, covered in a purple-gold carapace, with sixteen pairs of transparent, thin wings spread to their maximum size on its back.
That is the Bee Emperor, the lord of the Abyssal Eighth Layer, who commands an endless swarm of bees.
"Air defense--!" Long Tianwu roared, his voice almost swallowed up by the deafening buzzing of the swarm of bees.
The Soul Guidance Cannon all turned around, and dense beams of light shot into the sky.
The Destruction Bee fell in swarms, like a black rain.
But the number of bees behind them didn't decrease at all.
They pierced through the artillery fire, rushed towards the position, stabbed soldiers in the neck with their tail stingers, and blasted gaps in the soul-guiding barrier with electric arcs.
One by one, the taxi drivers of the Blood God Legion fell, some even before they could scream, their bodies going numb, and they were torn apart by the Abyss creatures that pounced on them.
"Damn! How come there are so many of these things?!"
Blood Three was covered in blood, swinging his double axes like a windmill, cutting down one swarm of Destruction Bee after another, but he couldn't kill them all.
His left shoulder was pierced by a bee sting, and half of his body was numb.
Blood One, Cao Dezhi, rushed over, sliced the bee stinger in half with a single stroke, and pulled the man back. "Don't go crazy! As long as the Bee Emperor lives, these bees will never be wiped out!"
"Then kill the Bee Emperor first!" Blood Three roared, his eyes blazing red.
"Can you kill him?" Zhang Huanyun's voice came from the front.
His voice was cold. "The Bee Emperor is Quasi-God; without divine artifacts, one cannot get close to it."
Before the words were finished, a sharp, piercing screech suddenly rang out from the eastern side of the ice field.
All the Abyss creatures paused for a moment, and then a huge, grayish-white shadow swept out from the crack.
It wasn't standing on the ground, but rather half-suspended in the air.
Its body was extremely thin, like an elongated human skeleton, with a huge scythe attached to the end of each arm, the blades curved and the edges shining with a cold white light.
Several pebbles blown by the wind were pulverized by an invisible force before they even got close.
"The Scythe Emperor." Someone in the Blood God Camp whispered.
The master of the fifth level specializes in speed and spatial manipulation.
Legend has it that wherever it appears, the place will be cut into pieces.
The Scythe Emperor didn't attack anyone; he simply turned his head slowly.
It had no eyes, yet everyone felt as if a blade was pressed against their throat.
The next second, it disappeared, and when it reappeared, it was already standing on a Soul Guidance Cannon.
The turret split in the middle, breaking in two along with the three gunners inside.
At the same time, an even heavier aura pressed down from beneath the ice.
The entire ice field shook, and the ice surface began to change color.
Countless blood-red beetles emerged from the cracks, like a boiling red lava field.
Where they crawled, the ice layer vaporized directly.
A red mist spread out, carrying an extremely strong corrosive effect.
Before the Blood God Legion taxi drivers could retreat, their armor hissed in the red mist, and they slumped down as if drained of all their strength.
Behind the red mist, an Emperor slowly rose.
It resembles a giant scorpion, with a completely red body, two front pincers as large as boat planks, and three eyes on its forehead, each spewing out red mist.
Scorpion Emperor, the master of the eighteenth floor, is extremely aggressive.
Four Emperor.
No, five.
The Black Empress emerged from the final crack.
Its body was like a solidified mass of darkness, with countless eyes open simultaneously within it.
The Black Clan warriors prostrated themselves at its feet, advancing silently like a tide.
The Black Empress made no sound.
But wherever it passed, all the corpses—whether from the Blood God Legion or from the Abyss itself—slowly withered away, their last bit of energy drained away.
That was Devourer, the Black Empress, the Lord of the Ninth Layer.
"Five Emperor." Zhang Huanyun clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white.
The auras of the five Emperor merged into one, causing the entire Blood God Legion's position to seem to sink downwards.
The ordinary soldiers' knees buckled, and they could barely stand. The Blood God Camp also stopped fighting.
It's not that they don't want to fight; it's obvious to everyone that tonight's battle is no longer just about attacking the camp.
The simultaneous appearance of all five figures signifies their intention to completely annihilate the Blood God Legion.
"General, shall we retreat or not?" Blood One low voice.
Zhang Huanyun did not turn around.
He watched the five Emperor approaching, and slowly plunged his longsword into the ice.
He raised his head, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant, or as if he had transformed back into the old marshal who had held out in the Far North for decades.
"We can't retreat."
He said, "Once we withdraw, the gates to the Far North will be opened. There won't be any survivors in the cities beyond."
"Then they'll all die here." Blood Three suddenly laughed.
He pulled out his two axes, his teeth covered in blood. "I've had enough of living."
Tang Wulin stood to the side, his chest heaving violently.
The Blue Silver Grass was mostly broken, Xu Xiaoyan leaned against his back, both of them trembling.
Upon hearing Blood Three's words, he suddenly stopped trembling.
He turned around, took Xu Xiaoyan's hand, and whispered, "I'll rush over there in a bit, you run towards the main camp."
"I'm not leaving," Xu Xiaoyan said.
Her face was frighteningly pale, but her voice was extremely steady.
Tang Wulin didn't try to persuade him any further.
He released her hand, took two steps forward, and walked to the side of the Blood God Camp.
The Blue Silver Grass on his body lit up again, and golden dragon patterns spread along the grass leaves, burning his entire body into a ball of golden fire.
The Blood God Camp members turned to look at him, and Zhang Huanyun also looked over.
Tang Wulin only said, "I can hold them off for a little longer."
Zhang Huanyun stared at him for a second, then suddenly smiled.
Very light, very hoarse.
For the first time in years, I feel that dying here tonight wouldn't be a disgrace to the Blood God Legion.
"Okay," he said, "Then let's do it together."
The icy plains were boiling; the five Emperor moved simultaneously.
The Destruction Swarm launched the first attack.
The crimson mist followed closely behind, Scythe Emperor transformed into a streak of gray light, heading straight for Zhang Huanyun.
The Black Empress's Devouring Domain surged up like a tidal wave.
From the Serpent Emperor's third eye, a blood-red beam of light shot out, as if to wipe the entire main camp off the ground.
Tang Wulin was the first to go forward.
The Blue Silver Grass formed twelve barriers in front of him, and all the golden dragon patterns ignited.
He was going to use his body to block the Serpent Emperor's attack.
Xu Xiaoyan unleashed all the Stellar Power from behind.
The Blood God Camp also moved, without any formation or holding back.
Only forward, only a fight to the death.