All I can say is, brothers, you've really come through.
Here's a big 4,000-character chapter.
Let's keep pushing. Also, keep the review section buzzing. There'll be a huge giveaway of featured comments next week.
Chambord City.
Piercing battle cries shook heaven and earth.
Attackers and defenders alike were locked in a fight to the death, and the battle had reached a fever pitch.
Unknown enemies in black light armor poured up the siege ladders and onto the gate tower like an endless tide. The three enormous ladders were like monstrous war beasts, their vicious hooks clamped tightly onto the wall's crenellations, preventing Chambord City's soldiers from pushing them away for the moment. Twenty or thirty powerful black-armored soldiers stood beside them, desperately defending the ladders with their swords.
As time passed, more and more men in black appeared on the wall.
The situation was growing increasingly unfavorable for Chambord City. The enemy had dozens of times as many troops.
"Pierce? Pierce... where the hell are you, you son of a bitch?" In the middle of the gate tower, a towering, black-haired brute over two meters tall and clad from head to toe in chain mail cut down the enemy before him. He turned and roared, "Pierce, take a few of the strongest soldiers and push those fucking siege ladders down... quickly! Hurry!"
"Got it, leave it to me, boss!"
Not far away, Pierce, his short white hair and body covered in blood, heard him and waved a massive hand. Leading his equally blood-soaked comrades, he charged at the black-armored soldiers guarding the ladders and roared, "Kill! Brothers, take out these black-clad sons of bitches and smash those three ladders!"
White-haired Pierce was a renowned strongman among Chambord City's soldiers.
His blood surged as he swung the two steel war hammers in his hands, each as large as a basketball. He was as fierce as a troll driven into a legendary frenzy, his might unmatched as he charged ahead to clear the way.
Pierce was unstoppable. Swinging his massive hammers as though swatting flies, he sent every black-armored soldier in his path flying. He carved out a bloody path and advanced rapidly, leading dozens of equally fierce soldiers behind him.
The black-armored soldiers guarding the siege ladders clearly noticed the disturbance.
"Watch out, straight ahead... semicircle sword formation!"
The tall leader of the black-armored soldiers roared.
With a succession of soft swishes and flashes of cold light, more than thirty armored soldiers formed a semicircle on the wall, shielding the three siege ladders behind them. Their white sword tips, dripping with blood, pointed outward like the raised spines of an iron hedgehog as they braced for battle, bristling with killing intent.
These black-armored soldiers were clearly far better trained than Chambord City's militiamen.
Ten meters...
Six meters...
Three meters...
One meter...
The distance between the two sides closed rapidly.
Finally-
"Roar! Die, damn you!"
White-haired Pierce suddenly let out an earthshaking roar. He swung the hammer in his left hand in a wide arc and hurled it like a javelin.
The bloodstained black hammer and its handle traced an arc of death through the air. Carrying a devastating force like a thunderbolt, it crashed into the black-armored soldiers' sword formation with a deafening boom.
Boom!
Blood splattered in an instant, and broken blades and severed limbs flew through the air...
The black-armored soldiers clearly hadn't expected this. Pierce's hammer, like a falling star bearing destructive force, had smashed a bloody gap in their sword formation.
Pierce and his comrades roared as they charged into the formation.
Destroying the three siege ladders would stop the enemies outside from climbing the wall. As long as they killed all the men in black already on the wall, they could hold their defensive position, and Chambord City would be safe for the moment... otherwise, when the city fell, their parents, wives, sons, and daughters behind them would suffer the most tragic humiliation and become lowly slaves for all eternity.
The mere thought of it set the defending soldiers' blood ablaze!
They absolutely could not let these black-clad bastards break in.
Even if they died in battle, they would not retreat a single step!
"Kill!"
"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!"
Eyes red, the soldiers followed Pierce, roaring as they charged the black-armored soldiers.
Once inside, white-haired Pierce took the lead. Using the immense momentum of his charge, he swept the hammer in his right hand across the enemy, sending several black-armored soldiers staggering back, spitting blood...
The thunderous clash of metal rang out, shaking everyone to the core.
Blood sprayed and limbs flew, a hellish scene like the end of the world!
Boom!
Pierce smashed the opponent before him and his sword to pieces with one blow. Looking up, he spotted a siege ladder hooked onto the wall. With a tiger-like roar, he swept his hammer around with the force of a thunderbolt, driving back the enemies swarming toward him. He seized the chance to stride over and bring his hammer down with a series of clangs, smashing off every iron hook on one ladder.
"Get the hell down!"
Pierce kicked the wooden frame jutting above the crenellations. Terrified screams rose from outside the city as the ladder toppled outward. The black-clad soldiers clinging to it fell like dumplings dropped into a pot, smashing into bloody heaps of pulp...
"Beautifully done!"
The eyes of the two-meter-tall, black-haired giant lit up in the distance.
"Pierce, you fucking nailed it! Two more-get rid of them all, and I'll buy you the best malt ale in Chambord City tonight! And the best whore in Chambord City!" As he spoke, his two-handed broadsword flashed repeatedly, clashing more than a dozen times with the sword of a thin black-armored soldier beside him. The thin man was powerful enough to fight him, a squadron commander, to a standstill.
"Ha ha, Boss Brook, you're buying me that drink for sure! Watch me!"
White-haired Pierce laughed wildly in reply. His hammer was as fast as lightning and as heavy as thunder. Several fierce blows sent the black-armored soldiers surrounding him flying. Amid the spray of blood, he struck three times with a clang, smashing off the iron hooks of the second siege ladder.
Pierce was just about to repeat his trick and kick the ladder down...
Suddenly-
"White-haired brat, you're courting death!"
A black shadow suddenly shot up from outside the wall. The gleaming knight's rapier in his hand burst into dazzling flashes of cold light as he stabbed straight at Pierce.
Caught off guard, Pierce only had time to raise his hammer in front of him.
A rapid series of clinks rang out, sending sparks flying.
Every one of the shadow's thrusts struck precisely at the center of Pierce's hammerhead.
An immense, irresistible force surged through it.
Even with white-haired Pierce's natural strength, he couldn't withstand it. He staggered back several steps, the skin between his thumb and forefinger splitting and spurting blood. He nearly lost his grip on the handle...
"An expert!"
Pierce's heart jolted.
But the shadow veered away from him after that thrust and did not pursue. Points of cold light burst from the sword in his hand, and screams rang out in an instant. More than a dozen soldiers who had followed Pierce fell like cut wheat. On closer inspection, every one of them had been pierced through the forehead, red and white brain matter streaming out as they died violent deaths!
"Bande, Good, Ptolemy... my brothers!"
At the sight, Pierce's vision went dark and his heart felt as if it were being torn apart.
His cry of "my brothers" sounded like a sob of grief. These comrades had been drinking and talking about women with him the day before; a moment ago, they had been shielding him from enemy swords amid the bloody fighting; a second ago, they had trusted him with their backs. Now they had died right before his eyes. Pierce felt as if the sky had collapsed...
"Demon, die!"
With a roar, Pierce ignored the blood spurting from his wounds and fixed his gaze on the shadow. Abandoning all defense, he let the swords of the black-armored soldiers surrounding him slice into his flesh. He simply swung his hammer and charged the demon-like shadow without turning back.
"Heh heh, you overestimate yourself. You're courting death!"
The shadow gave a sinister laugh, his voice like a night owl's. Unconcerned, he sent another burst of sword light toward Pierce's face.
The sword thrust was swift and unstoppable.
Pierce turned slightly, but seemingly couldn't dodge in time. The shadow's sword pierced his right shoulder with ease. The shadow snorted contemptuously and tried to pull it free and strike again, intending to end the white-haired brute's life with one thrust...
But-
To his surprise, he couldn't pull the sword out?!
Blood spurted uncontrollably from the corner of Pierce's mouth,
but the white-haired strongman grinned.
His smile was one of utter delight.
The shadow froze, suddenly sensing that something was wrong.
But he had no time to react.
White-haired Pierce had seized the knight's rapier embedded in his body with both hands. As though he felt no pain, he let the sword pierce all the way through him and slammed into the shadow with a fierce, savage grin. Caught off guard, the shadow staggered backward...
In the blink of an eye, the two had reached the edge of the wall.
One more step back, and he would fall from the wall, more than sixty meters high. No matter how powerful the shadow was, a fall from that height would mean certain death.
"Courting death!"
The shadow raged, but could only let go of his sword.
As a one-star warrior, he felt utterly humiliated that a lowly soldier far weaker than himself had forced him to abandon his beloved weapon.
After releasing the hilt, the shadow's body flashed red.
Waves of scorching energy followed his palms as he struck Pierce hard across the back. He wanted nothing more than to smash the white-haired strongman before him into meat paste...
"Pfft... ha ha ha ha ha... ptui! Bastard, I won!"
The blows made Pierce spit blood, but he laughed triumphantly.
He suddenly left the shadow behind and charged at the parapet, slamming his shoulder into the exposed wooden frame of the second siege ladder. He had already smashed off its iron hooks, and with a crash, it toppled outward. The black-armored soldiers who had yet to reach the top screamed as they fell like dumplings into a pot...
"Damn it! Lowly serf, I swear I'll bathe the entire city in blood!"
The shadow flew into a rage. Only now did he understand that the white-haired strongman had never intended to push him off the wall; from the start, he had only wanted to topple the siege ladder... and he had actually fallen for it!
Blinded by rage, the shadow snatched a two-handed broadsword from someone beside him. Screeching furiously like a night owl, he slashed at Pierce, who had collapsed unconscious against the parapet.
"Damn it... watch out!"
The black-haired squadron commander shouted anxiously from afar, but his opponent had him pinned down, and he couldn't break free.
By now, the siege had lasted nearly a full day. The enemy commander had already observed exactly how many experts Chambord City had among its defenders and assigned someone to tie each of them down. In the distance, even Frank Lampard, captain of the royal guard, who possessed the formidable strength of a three-star warrior, was being held back by another expert in black.
At that moment, no one could spare a hand to save the white-haired warrior Pierce.
The shadow's sword glowed red, less than two or three centimeters from the back of Pierce's neck...
Just as the iron-blooded warrior, unyielding as steel, was about to die beneath the blade, something unexpected happened-
"Wah-yah-yah-yah! You there, black-clad thief, taste Grandpa's super invincible heaven-and-earth thunderbolt hidden weapon!"
An imposing voice rang out from afar. Before the furious shadow could make out what his opponent had said, he felt a powerful gust hurtling toward the back of his head. Its force and momentum were fearsome, as though a towering mountain were crashing down on him.
Startled, he could no longer spare a thought for killing Pierce and swung his sword backward.
Pfft!
The "hidden weapon" split in two, and a spray of red liquid rained down on him.
The shadow was startled. "Damn it, what kind of strange and vicious hidden weapon is this?"
Frightened, he whirled his sword in an impenetrable defense to keep the liquid off him and hurriedly jumped aside. When he looked closely, he was so angry that his ears seemed to spout fire and his mouth smoke.
It was one of his own black-armored soldiers, seized alive and thrown through the air by someone. His sword had cut the man in two, and blood sprayed like rain amid the man's screams.
"Wah ha ha ha! Scared? Blackie, have another taste of Grandpa's axe!"
A strange, gloating laugh came from ahead, followed by a rumbling racket and a constant clang of metal, as though a metal monster were charging toward him.
The shadow looked up.
A figure wore a completely enclosed suit of heavy knight's armor, with his entire body, including his eyes and mouth, protected inside. Armed like a man of metal, he reflected white light in the setting sun and looked extraordinarily imposing.
The fellow ran at great speed, charging recklessly like a "metal monster." Wherever he passed, black-clad soldiers on the shadow's side were sent flying like chaff in a hurricane, screaming nonstop.
The "metal monster" carried a dark, unsharpened giant axe in his hand and wore a smug, lecherous grin. His target was none other than the shadow himself.
"Fool, you're courting death!"
At the sight, the shadow paused, then gave a sinister smile.
Heavy knight's armor was a valuable asset for cavalry charges on the plains, but who wore fifty or sixty jin of knight's armor to fight in a siege defense? Besides, the fellow made a tremendous rumble as he ran, and his steps were unsteady. One look was enough to tell he had no warrior's training at all. He was clearly a fool with nothing but astonishing brute strength. The shadow was confident in dealing with such a clumsy bear. Even though the fellow wore protective metal armor, he needed only one thrust to end the fool's life.
"Go laugh with the god of death, idiot!"
The shadow circulated all his Dou Qi. Faint red flames flickered around him, and the two-handed greatsword he had picked up trembled slightly as he thrust it at the charging "clumsy bear."
Thank you, brothers, for your support and for making the supporter rankings for "Long Live the King" shine. Thank you, everyone. Xiaodao will remember it.
And to everyone from Qidian and my old friends from Zongheng, thank you. I've read all your messages in the review section, and I'm deeply moved. Xiaodao has been working hard writing and building up a stockpile of chapters, so I haven't had time to reply. Sorry about that.
A new journey has begun, and Xiaodao hopes to grow alongside you.