[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-black-dragon-necromancer":3,"chapter-black-dragon-necromancer-black-dragon-necromancer-chapter-88":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Black Dragon Necromancer",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2312848,4521,"Chapter 88: The Fractured Line","black-dragon-necromancer-chapter-88",88,"\u003Cp>What is that fool Akuilong doing?! Igro’s nostrils spat searing sparks, his roar shaking the walls of the war council chamber—only three days! In just three days! The lizardmen lost one hundred twenty thousand, the fishmen thirty thousand!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fishmen are an inferior race; their deaths mean nothing but numbers—but lizardmen are our vital assets! If he keeps wasting them like this, how many more days can this line hold?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Calm yourself, Irogr. Akuilong has already repelled the demons’ first assault wave. Recon shows the enemy needs at least five days to regroup for the next. More importantly, the first line still remains in our hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With this advantage, holding for another fifteen days should be feasible—and we only need twenty days to fully evacuate the Bohe Plains,』 Verna said slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sulede: “Verna, your plan requires more careful assessment. Once the enemy reaches the Bohe Plains, the Claw Hills will be exposed. Our goblin mobile corps excel at ambushes, but they cannot stop demonic infiltration.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Excessive casualties won’t just weaken our mobile forces—they’ll inflict irreversible damage on the hill regions. This is a long-term impact we must consider. We won’t just lose land—we’ll lose our capacity to fight and our future war potential!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Verna: “What are these costs? The true core has already been secured—in the dwarves’ mountain fortress. What remains there now is merely a doomed ‘tail’.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Past decisions are irrelevant.” Sakavi cut in coldly, snapping everyone back to reality. “The real trial has only just begun. We must prepare fully for the next wave. The demons will come crashing down with greater force. The Saltwater Marshes line will face true bloodshed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No probing. No wave of low-tier demons. The abyssal rift tore open like a festering wound—and in the next instant, disaster descended upon the defenders with direct, violent fury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gloomy sky over the Saltwater Marshes was ripped apart by countless dark red meteors trailing long fiery tails. These were not meteorites—they were Ba’lo Fire Demons, each twenty feet tall, abyssal harbingers of doom, hurled like stones from a planar catapult, wreathed in brimstone and destruction, striking the second line with pinpoint precision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deafening impacts merged into one continuous roar; the earth trembled violently. Each Ba’lo Fire Demon’s landing triggered a miniature apocalypse. The fire shockwaves expanded in rings, instantly vaporizing the repaired wooden fortresses, ramparts, and the soldiers within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blackened craters replaced the fortifications; hellfire burned within, boiling away the marsh’s moisture and turning soil into glassy crystalline slag.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The arrival of the Ba’lo Fire Demons was merely the overture. Then, from deep within the rift, several terrifying wills locked onto the line below. Legendary demon lords, too proud to appear on the front, unleashed mass annihilation magic across the dimensional rift.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the spell’s radius, wood, stone, metal, and flesh alike disintegrated, decayed, and vanished before the eyes. The first line, at that moment, truly ceased to exist—as if it had never been.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the profane magical radiance had fully faded, the Ba’lo Fire Demons rose from their craters, unleashing victory roars that shook the planes. And from the rift, a new, even vaster tide of demons surged forward, stepping onto the unobstructed shore like a tide of death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the command center, Akuilong’s bronze vertical pupils burned with cold, anticipated light. “Execute ‘Broken Blade Protocol.’” His order was brief, clear, and instantly echoed across the remnants of the second line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the surviving, specially reinforced arrow towers and fortresses, massive ballistae covered by heavy canvas were violently unveiled. Their arms and bases were inscribed with Order-Wrecking Runes specifically designed to counter abyssal creatures, especially flame and demonic energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They swiftly loaded the slats with giant anti-magic bolts, each etched with the same runes. The bolt tips were forged from holy exorcism wood and inlaid with elemental magic crystals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aim! Fire!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the command, the silent giants roared. The runes activated the instant the bolts left the strings, leaving behind trails of cyan-blue light—like Nixing  meteors—striking precisely at the Ba’lo Fire Demons who were whipping their flame whips and causing chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These specialized bolts were not meant to kill outright, but to neutralize and disrupt. Some detonated upon hitting the demons’ flame shields, unleashing fields of elemental stasis that temporarily snuffed out their protective magic flames. Others pierced their bodies directly; the Order Runes spread like poison through the demons’ flesh, disrupting their control over demonic energy, inflicting agony and paralysis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most effective were those fired directly into the gaping maws of demons as they prepared to roar—exploding inside, causing fatal interruption and devastating internal implosions. The moment the anti-magic bolts disrupted or wounded the Ba’lo Fire Demons, the second wave of counterattack surged forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lizardmen, attack!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The elite hunter squads—composed of high-rankers from the legions—emerged like phantoms from ruins, trenches, and still-standing fortresses. They moved in agile squads, rushing toward the Ba’lo Fire Demons temporarily marked and weakened by the bolts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heavily armored shield guards charged ahead, bearing massive tower shields engraved with anti-magic arrays, braving the lingering hellfire, using their shields to slam and crush the demons’ lower limbs, restricting their movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind them came armor-piercing warriors, wielding heavy, enchanted axes and great hammers imbued with ice or holy power, targeting the demons’ joints, wing roots, and other vulnerable spots with brutal strikes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lizardman sorcerers provided critical support from afar, chanting binding and weakening spells. Abyssal chains emerged from the void, coiling around the demons’ limbs. Terrifying soul shrieks struck their chaotic mental cores. Earthbind spells rooted them in place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the lizardman hunter squads became locked in bloody combat with the Ba’lo Fire Demons, the battle teetering on a fragile balance, a terrifying tremor erupted from deep underground—suddenly, several titanic earth giants burst violently from the ground behind the line!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thick rock layers shattered like rotten wood beneath their claws capable of tearing the earth apart. The seemingly sturdy foundations and walls of the warehouses were instantly ripped open and collapsed. Inside, the specially crafted anti-magic bolts, spare ballista components, enchanted weapons, and vast quantities of alchemical supplies were crushed into flying shards and debris.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The enemy beneath the earth had patiently waited for the Ba’lo Fire Demons to draw and pin down the defenders’ elite forces and full attention—then struck at the deadliest moment, severing the logistical lifeline that sustained their ability to fight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The collapse of the warehouse didn’t just tear a massive gash through Akuilong’s meticulously constructed decapitation system designed to counter high-tier demons. But as a bronze dragon renowned for wisdom, Akuilong had no intention of abandoning the second line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Anvil Camp, crush them! Nolakan, you have six hundred heartbeats to eliminate these underground vermin—or you and your minotaurs will return to the wastelands. I don’t keep trash in my ranks!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akuilong’s command echoed through the air, but no verbal reply followed. Instead, the camp commander Nolakan unleashed a battlefield-shaking, guttural roar. He slammed his custom steel helm onto his head, massive battle-axe already in hand, charging forward like an erupting volcano toward the demons bursting from the earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind him, the minotaur warriors answered with action—silently gripping their door-sized engraved battle-axes, the special runes along their blades flickering to life with cold, murderous intent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These powerful high-rank minotaur warriors, like living siege rams, slammed into the underground demons’ ranks. The moment the subterranean worms thrust their slimy, grotesque heads above ground, the axes fell with crushing force, cleaving them cleanly in two, their foul blood cascading like waterfalls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some earth giants tried to block with their rocky bodies, but the axes, infused with armor-piercing runes, easily split through their thick shells, severing limbs and shattering cores.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was an undeniable slaughter. Before the minotaur warriors’ absolute strength and brutal combat techniques, the underground threat was swiftly and violently purged. In moments, those once-arrogant demons were reduced to shattered remains, tossed into the wasteland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the entire second line was now riddled with holes, unable to withstand the incoming demonic tide. With the first line fallen and the trench system destroyed, there was no time left for repair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet now, the entire second line was a shattered shield, riddled with holes, utterly incapable of halting the tide of destruction. From the moment the first line fell and the trenches turned to ash, the time for repair and reorganization had vanished completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lizardmen Second, Third, and Fourth Legions, march immediately! Form battle lines five miles beyond the camp! Shadowclaw, you command. I give you ten hours—if even one demon crosses the line, your head will hang on the walls of Agrik as a symbol of incompetence!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No need to trouble yourself, Lord Akuilong. If any demon crosses the line, you won’t find my head intact anywhere.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said no more, turned, and strode with unwavering steps toward the blood-soaked, fire-blackened wasteland, his silhouette as unyielding as iron, to write his own bloody finale to this desperate defense.\u003C\u002Fp>",1478,"2026-06-20T13:10:04.638Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","7f782baf8fbc376a4170b54c34d1bc9330ee84bf5e70a31def402fb79f3968cc","black-dragon-necromancer-chapter-89","black-dragon-necromancer-chapter-87",145,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fblack-dragon-necromancer-cover.jpg"]