In an instant, soldiers' cries of alarm, the wounded's screams, officers' shouts, and the clash and snap of metal rang out beneath Chambord City. Countless shrill, grating sounds that chilled the soul formed a symphony of death, spraying blood and sparks as it shattered the stillness of the world.
At that moment, an irrepressible cheer erupted from the walls of Chambord City.
All their worry and fear turned into the loudest of cries.
That axe blow, as though it could split heaven and earth, had struck the tower-shield and lance formation, but it had also struck the heart of every citizen of Chambord City. Like a flame suddenly kindled in the darkness, it effortlessly set their blood and souls ablaze.
Everyone on the walls knew who had swung that axe. Everyone knew what face lay beneath the armor at the very front.
Every one of them had watched their young, brave king resolutely slide down the cable to the foot of the city, then stand firm in front of all his companions, leaving his back to his followers.
And what he faced was the cruelest of enemies.
Every soldier and commoner on the walls was in tears. They roared wildly, waving their arms without realizing it, shouting and leaping in a frenzy, as though doing so could give strength to their comrades who had charged into the enemy ranks below, as though they were fighting alongside their king.
Across the Zuli River.
Atop a gently rising hill.
The Silver-Masked Man's face was grim. His earlier look of confidence as he waited for a good show had long since vanished. He looked like a ravenous wolf that had opened wide and bitten down, only to discover that what it had bitten was not a tender, juicy piece of flesh, but a hard rock that broke its teeth.
When that earth-shattering axe blow had struck, his heart had jolted, and he had immediately known things had gone wrong.
The tower-shield formation he had always prided himself on had not held for even a second before the enemy smashed it to pieces and easily charged into its ranks... It was a resounding slap in his face.
And the terrifying power contained in that blow made him feel threatened for the first time.
It was simply beyond human strength.
There had not been the slightest fluctuation of Dou Qi. What kind of power was that?
"Black Knight, pass on my orders. Change to the [lock formation], cut off and abandon the disordered ranks at the front, and surround those men. Keep the lances raised, maintain your distance, and don't meet them head-on..."
The Silver-Masked Man quickly regained his composure, displaying the adaptability expected of a commander.
His gaze was sharp as lightning. He quickly saw that the twenty-odd enemies charging desperately at them were not warriors and had no Dou Qi. They were fighting with nothing but their natural strength. Given enough time, they would inevitably run out of steam, and then they could be killed easily.
But the Silver-Masked Man did not want to wait any longer.
Although he had always been required to keep his emotions from showing and had been taught countless principles of warfare and reading people's hearts, these repeated, unexpected setbacks at the hands of an opponent he had thought as weak as an ant made him feel he had lost face. The Silver-Masked Man finally refused to endure it any longer. He resolved to crush the enemy with the most forceful, thunderous measures and take Chambord City in one stroke.
He pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said coldly, "Send orders to Langde, the Three-Star Warrior. Tell him to stop guarding the boulder thrower for now and get to the front immediately. Working with a hundred tower-shield soldiers, he is to eliminate those enemies as quickly as possible... Have the entire army prepare to attack the city at once."
The Silver-Masked Man issued two ruthless military orders in succession, then thought them over. Only after making sure every countermeasure was foolproof did he wave his riding whip, signaling the Black Knight behind him to hurry and deliver the orders.
At the bridgehead.
The fierce battle continued.
With an earth-shattering swing of his axe, Sun Fei had used the unparalleled, savage physical strength of a level 12 Barbarian to smash a gap in the black-armored soldiers' tightly sealed tower-shield and lance formation. More than twenty strongmen seized the opening and followed close behind him, cutting into the heart of the enemy formation in an instant like an unparalleled treasured blade.
The tower-shield and lance formation's frontal defense was astonishing. Even charging heavy cavalry would have struggled to break through it. But once an enemy broke in, the soldiers behind the tower shields wore only soft leather armor, with no heavy steel plate to protect them. They were helpless to do anything but be slaughtered.
White-haired powerhouse Pierce and the burly, long-haired Drogba followed close behind Sun Fei. Both were powerhouses born with divine strength, and their giant hammer and great axe carried the force of thunder. After they charged into the enemy ranks, the giant hammer and long blade flew up and down. The black-armored soldiers died if struck and were wounded at a touch, utterly unable to resist.
A rain of blood flew across the narrow stone bridge, which descended into chaos.
Because of the terrain, the black-armored soldiers could not effectively surround Sun Fei and his men despite their superior numbers. At most, a dozen or so men could stand abreast on the bridge. Unable to make full use of their numerical advantage, they immediately fell into a disadvantage.
Amid the chaos, an officer of the black-armored soldiers whose strength was close to that of a One-Star Warrior saw that the metal-armored man in the opposing ranks, who had delivered that astonishing axe blow and miraculously smashed through the tower-shield and lance formation, no longer had a weapon in his hands. His eyes darted around, and he rejoiced. Planning to take advantage of the opening, he quietly picked up half a broken lance from the ground, held it in both hands, and circulated his Dou Qi at full force. Spotting his chance, he suddenly thrust it forward.
Though it was only half a lance, it still weighed at least fifty or sixty jin, and the thrust carried tremendous force. Its tip gleamed coldly in the sunlight, baring a bloodthirsty menace. Driven by the officer's near-One-Star Dou Qi, it left an afterimage as it stabbed toward Sun Fei's chest.
"Die!"
The black-armored officer grinned viciously.
He could almost see his opponent pierced by the lance, blood spraying everywhere. Without question, killing this man who was as strong as a monster would earn him tremendous military merit. A promotion would be within reach.
But-
The officer's vicious grin quickly froze on his face.
In its place was a pale face twisted out of shape by fear.
An unbelievable sight was reflected in his pupils-
After noticing the sneak attack, the weaponless man showed no sign of panic. Quite the opposite: a cold sneer, full of cunning and disdain, appeared in his eyes beneath the slits of his silver helmet. He drew his hands lightly apart in the air, and a white glimmer flashed. As if by magic, a terrifyingly huge axe, its exaggerated shape like the Grim Reaper's vicious grin, appeared impossibly out of thin air in his hands.
Clang!
An axe came chopping straight at him.
It struck the lance tip head-on, sending sparks flying amid the screech of colliding metal.
In the black-armored officer's eyes, the axe blade became a thin white line. Like an unparalleled treasured blade slicing effortlessly into a soft milk cake, it came down toward him at a terrifying speed too fast to react to, splitting the lance of refined iron in his hands in two from its tip. Without losing momentum, it swept through his body...
Then came an icy sensation.
The lance, the black armor, the officer...
After that single blow, all were cleanly split down the middle. They paused for a moment, then suddenly fell apart into two halves with a clatter.
Blood burst out in an unstoppable torrent.
Bright red entrails, severed limbs with white bone protruding, and steaming fragments of the lance scattered across the ground.
Drops of blood flying through the air splashed onto one broken half of the lance, which had grown hot and red from the high-speed friction as the axe split it. With a hiss, the blood turned into bright red vapor. A foul stench spread, and a bloody mist filled the air, turning even the air red.
"Aaaah..."
Several black-armored soldiers beside the officer saw this and were scared out of their wits. They broke down on the spot. Even the refined-iron lance had been split in two. What devilish power was this? It was far too vicious! Someone turned and fled screaming, only to accidentally run into the lances of the formation in the second row. Skewered by his own comrades, he screamed without stopping, his limbs twitching.
Sun Fei had summoned the level 12 Barbarian's magically enhanced great axe, which was incomparably sharp. After chopping down the officer who had ambushed him, he swung it in a wide arc and struck again with a backhand blow. Cold light flashed, and several black-armored soldiers who had not had time to flee were sliced in two along with their weapons.
Behind him, the strongmen, their bodies thoroughly protected by armor, seized the opportunity to slaughter the enemy amid the chaos.
Their sturdy steel armor allowed them to ignore the black-armored soldiers' swords and blades, while the enormously oversized axes, hammers, and cleavers in their hands freely harvested their enemies' lives. Blades flashed and axes swept through the air. Often, even when an opponent managed to react and block an axe or hammer blow, the terrifying force would smash the black-armored soldier and his weapon to pieces. The tremendous power could even send the soldiers flying clean off the ground with ease.
This was the power of the savage strongmen in close combat.
After drinking water mixed with diluted [Stamina Potion], the strongmen could possess inexhaustible endurance for a time and make full use of their strengths. Their heavy armor and huge, unwieldy weapons caused them no trouble at all. Instead, they became their enemies' nightmare. Their defenses were impervious to blades and spears, and their attacks could break through anything. They were like a pack of invincible war beasts straight out of hell.
The twenty-three men were like twenty-three tigers armed to the teeth charging into a flock of newborn lambs, unstoppable.
King Alexander was at the very front of the wedge formation. Not a single black-armored soldier could stand against him for even one exchange. Advancing almost at a run, he threw the front of the hundred-man tower-shield and lance formation into utter disarray.
The black-armored soldiers farther back tried to steady their formation.
But the soldiers breaking at the front, faced with that group of devils, only wished their parents had given them two more legs. Scared out of their wits, they turned and fled. They had been through many battles, but never such a one-sided slaughter. They did not even have a chance to fight back, so how could they keep fighting?
Even though every one of them was a well-trained elite soldier, at that moment there was only one thing on their minds-
Run!
Run as far away as possible!
Get away from those unkillable devils.
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