Two commanders clash

Sand City's moat was six meters wide and three meters deep. Poison had been added to the water; any skin that touched it would rot and dissolve as though splashed with sulfuric acid. An entire person falling in would suffer a truly horrifying fate.

Even this could not stop the soldiers of the Seven Kingdoms. Carrying long ladders and timber, they began building bridges from the bank, trying to create safe crossings over the moat for their army.

Within a few dozen breaths, ladder bridges spanned the moat. Masses of soldiers rushed onto them from the bank, racing toward the other side like grasshoppers strung along a single rope.

Although the knights had exhausted their arrows, they still had plenty of other weapons to throw. Stones, throwing knives, fire pots, and packets of powder rained from the walls, arcing toward the crowded dark figures on the ladder bridges.

Splash! Splash!

Soldiers struck by the projectiles lost their footing and fell into the water, their screams mingling with the splashes.

Ordinary people could not make out the colors in the dark river, but Yetos and Zeng Mu, watching from the walls, saw everything clearly. Red bubbles rose through the gray-green water. A terrified face bobbed on the surface, its skin breaking down and dissolving.

The nose split apart like mud, its nostrils becoming two uneven crescents that exposed red-and-white nasal bone. Holes rotted through both cheeks, revealing gums and the root of the tongue. The opening of the throat widened with each scream, taking the place of the lips. The eyelids vanished, leaving both eyeballs completely exposed. Washed by the churning water, they ruptured, leaking black-and-yellow fluid into the red bubbles.

Fortunately, the soldiers could not see this hideous spectacle. Otherwise, sheer terror would have shattered their resolve and triggered an instinctive retreat. How could they have kept scrambling madly across the ladders as they did now?

Tonight, the towering wall, thirty-three feet high, seemed to have become much lower. Having crossed the ladder bridges as though passing through death's gates, the soldiers of the Seven Kingdoms attacked ferociously with grappling hooks and stacked ladders. Their eyes were bloodshot, their faces twisted, like ravenous wolves driven mad by hunger.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Cold, gleaming hooks shot skyward, flying straight up alongside the wall. With a crack, their claws lodged firmly in the gaps between the stone bricks.

The soldiers tugged, and the ropes snapped taut. Using these ropes, sturdy as steel rods, they planted their feet against the vertical wall as though walking on level ground. Each time they shifted their hands, their waists and legs tensed together, and they drew themselves up with quick, rabbitlike kicks.

But just as they approached the top, the taut ropes in their hands suddenly snapped. With their support gone, they plunged in an instant, crashing into the dark tide piled like a human tower below.

A single pebble triggered an avalanche. Several figures, then a dozen, then dozens tumbled into the moat. Splashes and screams rang out together, adding yet another layer to the already deafening chaos.

Under the upward volleys of the Seven Kingdoms' soldiers, casualties among the knights on the walls continued to mount. Fallen bodies covered the already crowded walkway, forcing the survivors to stand on their comrades while they kept cutting ropes and throwing stones. There were so many dead and wounded that the medical knights could not carry them away. Gradually, they had no choice but to abandon those who no longer moved. To prevent further confusion, they tearfully hurled the bodies from the wall to the ground below.

Thud! Thud! Still clad in remnants of armor, the corpses struck the stone pavement with dull impacts. Like pheasants falling from the sky after losing their wings, they hit the ground with bones shattering and flesh bursting.

Watching the mounting casualties on the walls, the knights below also grew red-eyed. Kanni gripped his sword so hard that the veins on the back of his hand bulged like green bamboo about to split. As he stared toward the gate, his face grew colder and more unfamiliar, until he hardly looked like himself.

On the walls, Zeng Mu, too, seemed to have become a stranger. Experiencing a battle of this scale firsthand for the first time shook him to his core. Feeling the deaths around him and hearing the echoes from below, he repeatedly struggled against the urge to act, to wield that overwhelming power and do his part, to spare even one more life.

As he teetered on the brink of losing his reason, a hand pressed down on his shoulder. His boiling blood seemed to be washed by a stream of water, drawing him out of that hateful state of mind.

Yetos, his face unfamiliar, spoke in an equally unfamiliar, calm voice. "Nameless, remember: you must remain rational under all circumstances. Only then can you use an Elementalist's power properly."

"I just want to do something, for our brothers, for the Holy Temple," Zeng Mu said dazedly.

"Don't rush. The hunt has begun." As the words fell, the hand on his shoulder vanished along with its owner. A moment later, a mass of green light blazed like the sun, appearing conspicuously below the wall.

Within the green glow, a dark figure walked slowly forward. The soldiers could not see his face, but they sensed a danger unlike anything they had ever known. There was no possibility of resisting it. The gulf was greater than that between a white rabbit and a red tiger, so vast and boundless that they could scarcely summon the will to fight.

With his head slightly lowered, Yetos looked up at the men frozen around him and sneered. "Heh. What's wrong? Scared? Too bad. It's too late."

Yetos struck. As he raised his hand, a ball of green light in his palm instantly expanded, filling the vision of dozens of men opposite him.

Whoosh! The ball stretched into a pillar of light, striking like thunder from the highest heavens. Every figure caught within it instantly collapsed. Black smoke rose from their armor, and the smell of flesh, carrying the stench of death, reached the soldiers nearby.

The heavy sword on his back had become a mere ornament. With no weapon in his hands, Yetos commanded that mighty, invisible power, turning it into an irresistible weapon. His unstoppable slaughter blasted anyone who dared approach into pieces.

"All hail the Knight Commander!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"Don't let a single one return alive!"

Excited shouts and cheers immediately erupted along the wall. Those exhilarating, heartening voices also stirred the knights gathered below, waiting. Although they could not see that unforgettable, thrilling spectacle, the joyous cries overhead and the uncontainable radiance of green light told them just how blood-stirring a sight it was.

The instant Yetos attacked, the knights' morale surged. Their bodies seemed injected with a powerful stimulant, filling them with excitement. Their sight, hearing, and smell sharpened slightly, and they threw stones and knives with dramatically greater speed and strength. All this came from one man's intervention, yet they felt as though thousands of troops had arrived to aid them.

Like rowing upstream, they could only advance or be driven back. This was the strength of spirit most desperately sought in battle, and most dreaded by the enemy.

Yetos was an unstoppable god of slaughter. Soon, no soldier dared step forward to confront him. They saw clearly and understood that a single encounter would snuff out their lives like blades of grass. Faced with such an immense gulf in strength, they were engulfed by terror.

The ferocity of the siege eased somewhat. Rather than advance, the soldiers retreated, unsure how to wield their weapons against the bloodthirsty, invincible figure before them.

The battle between two armies seemed to have changed dramatically because of him alone.

In the distance, those watching the green light finally lost patience.

Even from some distance away, Han Ling could feel that cold, razor-edged aura of danger. Wiping cold sweat from his forehead, he spoke to Qin Zihui beside him, his voice trembling slightly. "General, that old bastard Yetos has made his move. From the look of him, his wounds from last time seem fully healed. Our army's morale is plummeting. If we let him keep killing, this siege may end right here."

"That's right, General. Please act quickly. Our vanguard can barely hold on."

"If we delay any longer, the central army's warhorses and siege engines won't even get a chance to be used. This battle will end without achieving anything."

"General Qin! What the hell are you waiting for? The Qi Kingdom's vanguard is almost wiped out!"

Voices joined in one after another, some respectful, others urgent. One general even cast aside his fear of Qin Zihui's rank and strength and swore, urging him to hurry up and take down the enemy commander.

With his eyes gleaming, Qin Zihui nodded calmly. The sharp light flickering in his pupils was complex and ever-changing.

He could have acted the instant Yetos appeared, but forcibly resisting the Elemental Trap earlier had left him wounded by the three streams of elemental power within it. With less than seventy percent of his strength remaining, a rash attack would only put him in danger.

Besides, the two Elementalists who had helped Yetos set the Elemental Trap had yet to appear. How could he dare expose himself before the army so early?

Yet after observing and waiting in the rear for so long without seeing either Elementalist, he had begun to grow suspicious. Could the Elemental Trap have been laid long ago? Are those two not in Sand City right now? Otherwise, how could they stand by and watch their fellow troops suffer such casualties?

As more time passed after Yetos's appearance, that initial suspicion grew increasingly convincing.

He watched with those complicated, gleaming eyes for another half minute before finally speaking. "Six generals, heed my command! Concentrate your forces and storm the city with everything you have! Leave that old bastard Yetos to me!"

"Understood!" As the generals nodded in acknowledgment, Qin Zihui straightened his knees, leaving an afterimage where he had stood.

Meanwhile, Yetos had consumed more than half his elemental power. The green glow had weakened considerably and dimmed, but his frenzied slaughter remained undiminished.

Wind came howling in. The downpour slanted and broke apart, hanging in the air for several seconds before crashing down in columns of water that drenched heads and made it impossible to open one's eyes.

Yetos suddenly planted both feet and stopped his hands.

"Qin Zihui, you cowardly general. Have you finally dared to show yourself?" He tilted his head back, looking at the figure drifting through the air, descending slowly like a fallen leaf.

"Heh heh, Yetos. A commander whose defenses never fail, but whose attacks never succeed. Do you know what they call you on our side?"

"A clumsy, foolish turtle that can only pull in its neck at the first sign of danger and hide motionless in its shell."

"Today, I, Qin Zihui, will not merely break your shell. I will grind it to powder."