The wind howled, and the warhorses neighed.
Several torrents of steel, branching off from Black Earth City, left trails of alarming black dust across the icy plains.
Before noon, scouts Tuer City felt a violent tremor coming from the north.
Dele lord of Tuer City, stood atop the twenty-meter-high city wall, clad in heavy steel armor, his face ashen as he gazed at the distant horizon. There, eighteen hundred elite Black Stone warriors, clad in heavy armor, advanced in a disciplined square formation. At the very front of the formation, a ferocious giant, well over two and a half meters tall, with muscles bulging like granite, strode forward with incredible speed, wielding a massive black axe weighing several thousand kilograms upside down.
The Undying Warrior, the Second Brother Ankh!
"Lord City Lord, they only have less than two thousand men, and they didn't even bring siege ladders or battering rams!" the garrison officer beside him said in a trembling voice. "But... that madman leading them is said to be one of the five newly emerged War Gods of Blackstone City!"
"What's the panic!" Dele shouted sternly. "We have three thousand defenders, the walls are strong, and we have plenty of arrows! Even Peak of the Eighth Level warrior would be riddled with arrows if he charged to the city gates! Fire arrows! Fire logs and stones!"
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh--!!"
A dense, piercing whistling sound tore through the air as thousands of iron-feathered arrows rained down from the city walls like a torrential downpour.
However, facing the rain of arrows, Ankh didn't even raise his head. His level nine Undying Battle-qi surged and roared within him, and a layer of bluish-gray protective qi faintly emanated from his body. Most of the arrows struck his heavy armor and protective qi wave, making a clanging sound as they broke and bounced away!
"Those who block my way shall die! Open the way!!"
A thunderous roar erupted from Ankh's throat, causing the mortar on the entire city wall to tremble and fall.
Ankh stomped his feet on the frozen ground, his body leaping across dozens of meters of ravine like an arrow released from a bow. He raised the 5,300-pound mountain-splitting axe in both hands and, with the mysterious " Wielding Heavy Weapons as Though They Were Light of lifting heavy objects" passed down in the Baruch Clan, lightly imprinted it on the heavy city gate covered with thick iron!
"Buzz--! Boom!!"
Without a loud crash, the sturdy city gate trembled violently the instant it touched the axe blade. The internal structure was instantly shattered into wood chips and dust by the terrifying shockwave! Immediately afterward, a storm of broken iron and wood rained down on the gate. Dozens of heavy shield soldiers guarding the gate didn't even have time to scream before they were blasted dozens of meters away, armor and all, by the shattered gate panels!
One axe blow, and the door is broken down!
"The city gates have been breached! The demons have stormed in!!"
The defenders of Tuer City were terrified. When Ankh strode into the city like a whirlwind, casually swinging his giant axe, he cleaved several knights and their horses in two as they tried to stop him. The defenders on the city walls finally broke down.
"We surrender! We surrender!!"
Almost simultaneously, outside Waga City and Coldwater City, the third brother Hazer and the fourth brother Boone, relying on their unparalleled individual combat strength, forcibly smashed the fortress gates with incredible speed.
Proclamations to reassure the people and decrees granting a three-year tax exemption were quickly posted throughout the city. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary civilians and soldiers, who had been waiting to die in despair, erupted in thunderous cheers of welcome after their initial shock. Within just two hours, all three small towns guarding the northern border had changed hands and garrisons!
Meanwhile, beneath the Mote Prefectural City, the true nexus of the northern Chaotic Territory.
A chilling wind swept across the wilderness, and the pungent smell of blood filled the air.
The Mote Prefectural City had initially relied on the wide plains outside its walls, deploying 20,000 elite cavalry and infantry in a state of high alert. However, under the direct assault of the Blackstone main force led by Barker and Gates, their seemingly formidable defensive line proved as fragile as paper.
Gates, like a tireless humanoid bear, charged through the enemy ranks with a giant axe, leaving men and horses sprawling and limbs flying everywhere he went. Barker, on the other hand, was as still as a mountain, his massive blade sweeping across the enemy's elite cavalry, cutting off their charge!
The majority of the 20,000-strong field army was routed, tens of thousands were taken prisoner, and the remaining remnants fled back to the city in disarray. The Mote City, his face ashen, shouted in a panic, "Close the city gates! Close the city gates now! Drop the Dragon Stone!!"
"Boom!!"
Inside the city, the winch spun rapidly. In addition to the heavy iron gate, half a meter thick, slamming shut, a massive black granite boulder, ten meters thick and weighing hundreds of thousands of kilograms, crashed down along a sturdy chute directly above the gate, sealing the entire gateway completely!
This is the ultimate defense measure at the county city level. Even if Ninth-level Warrior bombards it for several hours, they will not be able to shake this ten-meter-thick mountain boulder in the slightest!
On the city wall, Mote City wiped the cold sweat from his brow, gritting his teeth as he looked down at the city below. "Madmen! No matter how powerful you are, without heavy siege equipment, don't even think about setting foot in Mote City! I have already sent an urgent report to the Radiant Temple in the south. The temple's Judgment Knights and the provincial army will arrive within three days, and then you will all die without a burial place!"
At the front of the army formation, Barker and Gates arrived at the perfectly sealed Dragon Stone.
Gates mustered all his strength, and with a whooshing gust of wind, he slammed the giant axe into the stone surface.
"Boom!!"
Debris flew everywhere, and stone dust splattered. However, the boulder was simply too deep. Even a giant axe weighing over 5,000 kilograms could only create a shallow crater half a meter deep, which was negligible compared to the ten-meter-thick barrier.
"Damn it, this turtle shell is tough!" Gates spat, his large, round eyes gleaming with malice.
"No need to waste your energy."
A calm, deep voice slowly rose from behind.
Linley, dressed in a moon-white robe, stepped calmly out of the army formation. On his shoulder, Bebe licked its paw listlessly; behind Linley, Black Haeru the size of an ordinary war leopard, slowly followed, its dark golden eyes gleaming with chilling killing intent.
Mote City, perched atop the city wall, spotted Linley at a glance. Though he sensed Linley's unfathomable aura, he still grinned maliciously. "Young man, don't dream! This is ten meters thick divine iron granite. Even if the entire city guard tried to dig it down for three days and three nights with pickaxes, they wouldn't be able to break through!"
Linley remained calm and composed, without even drawing the Black Jade Heavy Sword from behind him.
The Chaotic Territory only recognizes absolute iron will and authority. To completely subdue the entire northern land, the most devastating and despair-inducing brutal methods must be used to crush all their hopes!
" Haeru, Linley said calmly, 'Smash it open.'"
"Roar--!!"
A ferocious roar, as loud as the collapse of the heavens and the earth, suddenly tore through the clouds!
The breaths of the tens of thousands of defenders on the city wall came to a sudden halt at that moment.
Suddenly, the previously unremarkable black war leopard erupted with a terrifying dark storm and destructive death energy! Amidst the churning, violent energy, Haeru's body swelled against the wind, its bones emitting a dense, Leiming sound—
Three meters! Five meters! Ten meters!!
In the blink of an eye, a colossal beast, nearly ten meters tall and over twenty meters long, resembling a moving black mountain, suddenly appeared directly in front of the army!
Its claws, as thick as pillars, were deeply embedded in the frozen earth. Its entire body was covered in jet-black, hard leopard-print armor. Its two pairs of fangs were as white as swords, and the black barbs on its back gleamed with a chilling light in the sunlight. The overwhelming pressure of the Saint Realm Domain crashed down on the entire Mote Prefectural City like a raging torrent!
"A Saint... Saint Realm Demonic Beast?!"
Mote City, perched atop the city wall, bulged his eyes, his knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, his throat emitting a dying convulsion like a rooster being strangled.
The sword in the hands of the city's garrison officer clattered to the ground. Countless archers were terrified by the pure Saint Realm power that was capable of destroying the heavens and the earth, their bodies trembling like leaves, and they were completely drained of the strength to stand!
"Boom!!"
Haeru pushed off the ground with all four limbs, and the earth instantly collapsed, creating a huge crater tens of meters in diameter. The massive black mountain body transformed into a black lightning bolt that tore through the void, carrying an indestructible and violent vortex, and with the most savage and pure physical destructive power, it crashed into the ten-meter-thick dragon-severing boulder at the city gate!
"Crack--Boom!!"
A deafeningly sharp explosion resounded throughout the heavens and earth!
The ten-meter-tall granite boulder, which the Mott garrison considered an absolute impassable barrier, shattered instantly into pieces like a fragile, dry biscuit under the fierce impact of the Peak Saint Realm physical body!
Countless stones, each weighing thousands of kilograms, were transformed into terrifying cannonballs and shot into the city. The sturdy and thick inner gate barbican was smashed through and collapsed. Smoke and rubble shot into the sky, tearing a huge, thirty-meter-wide gap in the ruins directly through the seemingly indestructible city gate tower!
The smoke and dust cleared.
A ten-meter-tall Black-Striped Cloud Leopard stood proudly atop the ruins of the collapsed city gate, its massive claws crushing the city lord's banner, its dark golden eyes looking down upon the 20,000 garrison soldiers who were completely stunned within the city.
"We surrender... we surrender!!"
It's unclear who was the first to throw down their weapon and kneel on the ground.
Immediately afterwards, the crisp sound of weapons hitting the ground was like a continuous rain. The entire 20,000 garrison troops, thousands of noble knights, and even the city lord who was paralyzed on the ground, all knelt down facing the gap in the ruins, their bodies trembling like leaves in the wind, their eyes filled with endless fear and submission to that god-like behemoth!
The army marched in, its banners obscuring the sky.
Linley walked slowly through the ruins and rubble into this majestic northern city.
Barker and Gates followed closely behind, and the Black Stone Legion's armored torrent quickly took over the four gates and defenses. The doors of the large temple inside the city, which symbolized the secret control of the Radiant Church, were tightly shut. The grey-robed deacons and Inquisition spies inside had already fled in panic through the secret passage the moment Haeru displayed his Saint Realm power.
Sessler's ghost swept swiftly across the city, dragging out and suppressing the remnants of the Radiant Church one by one; the political officials and grain convoys sent by Jenny arrived one after another, and notices announcing the opening of granaries, the distribution of grain, and the exemption of taxes to reassure the people were quickly posted on the main roads.
It has only been a day and a night since the troops were dispatched from Black Earth City.
All four fortresses and one core county town were pacified, and the population under its jurisdiction surged to nearly ten million, forming an impregnable iron wall along the northern border!
Linley gazed into the distance from the highest observation tower in the city.
The first rays of dawn pierced through the clouds, illuminating his cold, handsome face. The Purple Blood Soft Sword at his waist gleamed faintly, while Bebe perched on his shoulder basked comfortably in the gentle breeze.
In the south, endless, desolate plains stretch to the horizon.
That place is the truly fertile and prosperous core of the Chaotic Territory Realm, comprised of forty-eight duchies, and also the fertile ground of faith that the Radiant Church has held for thousands of years, treating it as its own private domain.
Linley raised his hand and placed it on the cold battlements.
The nascent Baruch Duchy has already begun to emerge on this wild and untamed land. And the deep-seated blood feud between him and the Radiant Church, which has been brewing for thousands of years, will, with the rolling southward hooves, ignite a prairie fire that will spread across the entire continent!