Chapter 278: The War Begins

Hu Dameng said to the more than ten thousand humans: "Since Meng Yifan will not save you, then go and die."

"Squelch! Squelch!" One by one, the humans were cruelly slaughtered by the Demon Race; blood flowed like a river, and corpses littered the field.

"Great King, we are willing to join the Demon Race and follow you to attack cities and seize territory." Some sturdy humans who did not want to die shouted loudly.

Hu Dameng smiled and said: "Very well. Martial Artists of the First Grade and above who wish to surrender may be spared death; hereafter, you shall be the ghosts under this Great King's command, following our Demon Race army to attack human cities."

There were also many ordinary people who were not Martial Artists who wanted to surrender to the Demon Race, but unfortunately, Hu Dameng did not want them at all. In Hu Dameng's eyes, these ordinary people were too weak to be of any use and were only fit to be food for the Demon Race.

Just like that, over four hundred human Martial Artists surrendered to the Demon Race, and the remaining ten thousand-plus humans were slaughtered on the spot, serving as military rations for the Demon Race.

The scene of over one hundred thousand members of the Demon Race devouring more than ten thousand humans was truly too ghastly to look at.

The people on the city walls, seeing this scene, all had their complexions change drastically in fear; some were even trembling so violently that they could not hold their weapons steady.

"Attack the city!" At Hu Dameng's command, those four hundred-plus human Martial Artists launched the charge first. Having defected to the Demon Race, they could only charge forward if they wanted to survive; behind these humans were dense swarms of Demon Beasts.

"Open fire!" Meng Yifan shouted. Over a hundred cannons on the city walls fired in unison, and dense Shrapnel Shells sprayed out in a fan shape, instantly blasting the human Martial Artists charging at the front into smithereens.

There were also a few Second Grade Martial Artists who utilized defensive techniques like the Iron Cloth Shirt to block the impact of the small iron balls, but the elite shooters of the Imperial Guard Company, shouldering Congreve Rocket Launchers, targeted these experts specifically.

These elite shooters numbered only thirty; they were sharpshooters hand-picked from the best in the entire city. Each person's Shooting Technique had reached the Second Grade. They did not target ordinary enemies, but specifically targeted the enemy's experts of the Second Grade and above.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Rocket projectiles, with their lead calculated, streaked across the sky and accurately struck those few Second Grade Martial Artists.

"Boom! Boom!" The Rockets exploded violently, directly blasting these Martial Artists who had defected to the Demon Race into pieces.

Among the humans who surrendered to the Demon Race, there was a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist whose Lightness Skill was extremely formidable and who was very adept at small-scale dodging. Two Rockets flew toward him, but he managed to dodge them with a mere sway of his body.

This Third Grade Martial Artist rushed to the foot of the city wall, tapped his toes against the wall, and his body lunged forward violently, flipping onto the city wall with ease. He used a three-foot-long short spear, striking like lightning; five nearby defenders had their throats pierced through in an instant.

"Damn it, you all deserve to die! Why didn't you go to save us?" This Third Grade Martial Artist roared while killing, as if to vent the dissatisfaction in his heart.

Just at this moment, Kong Sanqiang swayed his body, blocking the path of the Third Grade Martial Artist, his sharp claws parrying the Third Grade Martial Artist's short spear.

"Clang!" The short spear, forged from refined steel, was unable to pierce Kong Sanqiang's claws.

"What kind of monster is this?" Seeing Kong Sanqiang's curved fangs and sharp claws, the Third Grade Martial Artist was greatly shocked. He did not tangle with Kong Sanqiang, wanting to use his Lightness Skill to bypass him and continue slaughtering other soldiers.

But no matter how the Third Grade Martial Artist dodged, Kong Sanqiang followed like a shadow, easily keeping up with the Martial Artist's speed.

Vampires are most adept at speed; this Third Grade Martial Artist's speed was much faster than others, but compared to Kong Sanqiang, it was not enough.

"Surrendering to the Demon Race and acting as a tiger's accomplice—you deserve to die!" Kong Sanqiang extended a claw and grabbed this fellow's neck.

"Ah! You have so many experts, why didn't you go down to save people? You all deserve to die, you all deserve to die!" The Third Grade Martial Artist roared.

Kong Sanqiang sighed, then exerted force with his right hand, snapping the traitor's neck.

The great battle entered a white-hot state from the very beginning; the AK47s, Flintlocks, and Bird Guns in the hands of the soldiers on the city walls opened fire one after another, and swaths of Demon Beasts fell on their path of charge before even nearing the city walls.

"The firepower is quite fierce." Hu Dameng did not care about the casualties of the Demon Race at all, but stared intently at the weapons and equipment in the hands of the human soldiers on the city walls, especially the AK47, which was immensely powerful and capable of continuous fire, leaving it dumbfounded.

Hu Dameng was a Fourth Grade Beast; naturally, it did not fear weapons like the AK47, but the Demon Race army was primarily composed of Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 Demon Beasts.

Weapons like the AK47 Assault Rifle were great killers against Level 1 and Level 2 Demon Beasts, and even Level 3 Demon Beasts would be injured if hit.

The problem was that the humans using AK47s to inflict massive casualties on the Demon Race army were only First Grade Martial Artists, or even ordinary people who were not even First Grade Martial Artists.

"If humans were to equip AK47s and such weapons on a large scale, then for the Demon Race, it would be a catastrophic disaster."

Hu Dameng's expression was grave; it realized the severity of the problem and also understood that the army Lang Jiao had led back then had likely been defeated by such powerful firepower.

Ten minutes later, the Demon Race army approached the city walls. The able-bodied men on the city walls began throwing stones down; stones weighing dozens of kilograms fell from the sky, instantly smashing the Level 1 Demon Beasts below into pulp.

Over twenty-meter-long battering rams studded with iron nails rolled down from the city walls, instantly impaling dozens of Demon Beasts.

Barrels of boiling Golden Juice were poured down, causing a large number of Demon Beasts to be scalded.

The able-bodied men on the city walls had an even more formidable weapon: quilts soaked in Fire Oil, mixed with gunpowder, ignited, and thrown down from the city walls.

Quilts were inherently flammable, and with the addition of Fire Oil and gunpowder, they mixed together, burning violently and causing explosions.

Clusters of flames splashed out, and a large area of surrounding Demon Beasts were burned, howling and running about in all directions. With flames on their bodies, they ignited the fur of the Demon Beasts behind them, and the scene appeared extremely chaotic.

Eagles, vultures, and other avian Demon Beasts grabbed stones the size of watermelons and threw them toward the city walls, but the city walls Meng Yifan had designed had concrete covers.

Most of the stones thrown down by the avian Demon Beasts were blocked by the covers; only a very small number of stones smashed in through the firing ports on the covers, killing some soldiers.

On the whole, the casualties of the defenders on the city walls were not significant, while the Demon Race army was falling in droves in pools of blood.

The Demon Race army also had long-range attack units; besides the Toads that could spit pus sacs, there were also a large number of spider-type Demon Beasts that could spray spider webs one or two meters long. If the defenders on the city walls were not careful, they would be dragged down by the spider webs.