Death by a Thousand Cuts in the Mud

A heavy roar suddenly tore through the Gray Fog in front of the defensive line.

A Third Tier Ironback Horned Rhino, its size comparable to a battering ram and shrouded in a thick stench of blood, savagely burst through the fog.

Its entire body was covered in thick, iron-like keratin, and hot white steam constantly spewed from its thick nostrils.

This heavily armored behemoth, capable of smashing through the Inner Fortress gates head-on, pressed straight down into the lower trenches.

The defensive matrix of Blackpine Fief quickly intercepted its charge.

The moment the Horned Rhino stepped onto the First Ring of reverse ice slope, its enormous weight instantly transformed into uncontrollable sliding force.

The unicorn and its four hooves suddenly slid across the hard ice, its originally straight momentum abruptly veered off course by the slope.

"Boom--!"

With a deafening roar that sent shivers down one's spine, the massive body of the Horned Rhino slammed headfirst into the Second Ring the Groundspike Formation.

The dense pile of Pig Iron spikes struck the mutated heavy armor, and sparks flew everywhere.

Several sharp iron spikes even slid in along the curve of the armor plates, piercing deep into the joint gaps in its thick armor.

And so this steel monster, which had been charging recklessly, got stuck in the narrow trench between the first and second ring roads, unable to push forward or back down.

Even so, the stench of the wind mixed with the roar of the giant beast sent shivers down the spines of the nearby remaining squads.

The soldiers who were separated from their units turned pale and instinctively tried to shrink back.

Kyle leaped into the air, his heavy Ironbound Oak Shield, infused with Platinum Battle Aura, slamming it into the face of a fleeing soldier who was trying to retreat.

After a muffled thud, the man, helmet and all, tumbled into the blood and couldn't get up for a long time.

"Stand still! Anyone who dares to back down, I'll chop them down first!"

With this ruthless move, Kyle seized command of the four remaining squads in the vicinity.

They gathered the twenty-four shield bearers, sickle bearers, spearmen, and heavy axemen who were still alive in the trenches back together.

The Fang-Splitting Formation, designed to counter agile Magic Creature, was dismantled, and the formation was directly changed to the Bear-Surround Formation, specifically designed to deal with large, heavily armored targets.

The hook-and-scythe soldiers and spearmen who were originally positioned on the flanks to strangle the leaping Magic Creature were temporarily reassigned to the front and side front, forming a three-layer strangulation position.

The shield bearers no longer lined up in a straight shield column to block the attack, but instead cut diagonally into the front of the trench, specifically to deflect the force of these large men.

This wasn't something Kyle improvised on the spot; this formation was originally a variant of the Fang-Splitting Formation modified by Shien, and they had been forced to practice it repeatedly before the Blood Moon Season.

How to break formations in narrow terrain, how to transform a formation meant to deal with small squads into a strangulation formation to kill heavily armored Magic Creature in a matter of seconds—these were training exercises that made everyone vomit more than once.

Privately, some people complained that the drills were too much trouble, but when the time came, they were all incredibly grateful to Shien, and took their place as soon as they heard the commands.

"Shieldbearer! Cut into the blind spots and deflect its force!"

Kyle personally led the charge, with several shield bearers leaning against the mud wall, their Ironbound Oak Shield arranged diagonally in a V-formation.

The edge of the shield cut into the Horned Rhino's charge with extreme cunning, using the inclined surface to forcefully deflect its force, gradually diverting the horn and its forward momentum, forcing it to slide along the shield surface and crash heavily into the earthen wall on one side.

"Hold on to the left! Don't let the corner come in!"

The Horned Rhino, enraged, swung its head, its single horn scraping against the edge of the shield, sending sparks flying.

The shield bearer on the far left groaned as his hand split open, blood streaming down the wooden handle, but he still gritted his teeth and held on.

At the same time, the hook-and-sickle man inserted several Pig Iron hooks and forks into the gap from the side, wedging them tightly into the knee of the Horned Rhino's foreleg and the vulnerable seam exposed at the base of the horn.

Several soldiers slammed their feet into the mud, pressed their backs against the trench wall, and used leverage to press down desperately, slowly pulling the giant beast's raised head down, not giving it a chance to recharge.

"It's stuck! Poke its belly!"

The spearmen simultaneously changed their angle, crouching low against the trench wall like a row of fangs buried in the mud.

The silver-plated spear tip didn't touch the hard armor on the front, but waited for the slight opening exposed when the Horned Rhino struggled. As soon as the soft flesh was exposed, the spear tip would immediately plunge in hard, then withdraw, not giving it a chance to break the spear shaft.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

Several bloody gashes burst open simultaneously, and dark red, almost black, beast blood gushed out from the seams of the abdominal armor.

The Horned Rhino in pain, its massive body arching violently in the trench, causing half of the Frozen Tundra wall to collapse.

The longsword and heavy axemen at the rear stared with bloodshot eyes at its hind limbs, which were stuck in the mud.

With each inch the monster lifted its hoof, the heavy axe and broadsword whistled down, striking its ankles and Achilles tendons, desperately dismantling the support beneath its massive body.

"Hit legs! Keep chopping!"

"Don't stop! It's about to kneel!"

The axe blade cleaved into the flesh and bones with a snap, Horned Rhino's hind legs to buckle and its entire body to sink. The shield bearers in front were jolted back half a step, but their formation held firm.

The Horned Rhino violently swung its head, simultaneously tightening the hooks and forks embedded in its horn and knees, bending the wooden pole into a full crescent shape.

Thus, this Third Tier- tier behemoth ultimately failed to breach the battle line in one fell swoop.

The two-meter-wide, narrow trench was like an iron clamp that had been opened beforehand, clamping its massive body tightly inside.

"Switch!" Kyle roared, and the front group of shield bearers immediately retreated.

As soon as the two soldiers, whose arms were numb from the shockwave, retreated, the second group rushed in diagonally, shields in hand, their movements so fast that there was no gap between them.

The outward-facing sliding grooves closed again, and the single horn slid open, scraping against the shield surface and leaving a trail of piercing sparks along the edge of the iron casing.

The third group squatted at the back, panting against the mud wall, shaking their arms, loosening their numb shoulders and elbows, waiting for the next round to top.

With each charge, the Horned Rhino would create another bloody hole under its armpit from the spear, and with each leg it lifted, its knee and ankle would be torn apart by the heavy axemen and broadsword warriors.

That ridiculously thick mutated heavy armor did block most of the frontal attacks, but it wasn't made from a single piece of iron after all.

Thick, black beast blood gushed out continuously, splashing onto the mud walls and armor plates, steaming and emitting foul-smelling white smoke, turning the entire trench into a scalding pool of blood.

Time dragged on, little by little.

The speed at which the Horned Rhino swung its head slowed down, and the force from its horn was not as strong as before. Its left foreleg tried to straighten several times, but the knee kept trembling, as if something was leaking out of the wound.

"It's about to collapse! Don't let it rise!"

Kyle, at the very front, stared intently at it. Through the gaps in the shield, the Third Tier behemoth was pressing down on half of its body, its front legs sinking inch by inch.

It was still roaring, but the sound had dissipated, losing the ferocity that had previously sent chills down one's spine.

A thought suddenly popped into Kyle's head, "Maybe we really can grind it down bit by bit ourselves, without waiting for reinforcements."

But the Blood Moon Law is cruel, and things didn't go as Kyle had predicted.