Chapter 2723

Border battlefield, northern sector.

The setting sun on the horizon bled crimson, over ten thousand heavily armored infantry formed ranks, the front line soldiers holding metallic kite shields—round at the top, pointed at the bottom—reducing burden while offering solid defense.

Amidst the soldiers' protective circle, Hypoc, contractor of the Genesis Paradise, hesitated; for no reason, he suddenly felt something was wrong, as the enemy, facing this situation, didn't think of fleeing but drew their blades instead.

"Withdraw..."

Just as Hypoc was about to give the order, his adjutant beside him bellowed loudly.

"Full charge!"

After that roar rang out came the synchronized clang of armor colliding.

"Wait."

Hypoc tried to stop him, but his adjutant ignored him completely; the reason: this adjutant didn't want to die, even if it meant offending his superior, today's battle had to be fought.

Over ten thousand imperial soldiers, encountering just a few hundred gray beastmen, didn't annihilate the enemy but retreated—this makes no sense; it's dereliction of duty, fleeing without battle, and if truly investigated, it's a grave crime.

The battlefield is no playground; once you step in, there's sometimes no choice—this adjutant knew this well.

"Kill!"

In Hypoc's astonished gaze, soldiers surged past him from both sides; seeing this, he looked at his adjutant.

"My lord, dereliction of duty is a grave crime."

"This... well, you did well."

Hypoc, who had never commanded soldiers, realized what was happening; after commanding ten thousand troops, he subconsciously treated these ten thousand-plus soldiers as his temporary summoned beasts.

He forgot there were still supervisory units above, legion commanders, and the Multifact Empire—ultimately, these ten thousand soldiers belonged to the Multifact Empire's armed forces.

Metallic boots stomped the ground; the sight of ten thousand soldiers charging head-on was magnificent, but Su Xiao showed no great emotional turbulence from this spectacle, for he had participated in cold-weapon battles many times and had been besieged by endless undead; the hardest ordeal was being surrounded by terrestrial species, whose individual combat strength was not weak, and their numbers were terrifying.

Azure-blue electric arcs surged across the Dragon-Slaying Flash; Su Xiao's left hand stroked the blade of the Dragon-Slaying Flash, 'Moon Blade' successfully enchanted, increasing weapon sharpness by 107 points, attack power by 12–20 points (lower~upper limit).

Boom—

The ground beneath Su Xiao's feet began to tremble; battle cries came head-on; faces of soldiers filled his vision.

Muscles tensed on the soldiers' faces; in their resolute gaze, little killing intent showed—for them, killing the enemy had nearly become habit, unrelated to personal grudges, merely due to orders.

'Blade Dao Saber·Azure Demon.'

Su Xiao slashed three times; three massive azure-blue sword beams flew out.

With a swish, a large number of metallic kite shields were cleaved in two; soldiers behind also didn't escape—their armor offered no defense; on armor as thick as a finger, the cuts were clean.

Three Azure Demon Slashes plunged into the mass of soldiers; the advancing soldiers could be described as men and horses overturned, but once the full charge began, stopping was difficult.

"It's over."

Hypoc, observing from the rear, upon seeing the power of the three Azure Demons, knew it was over—this time he'd encountered a madman from the Cycle Paradise, strong to an absurd degree.

Hypoc hesitated not; he urged his war beast beneath him to flee backward; compared to dying here, fleeing in battle meant nothing to him, for he wasn't a native of this world—at most he'd hide and mine, scraping by in this world was still no problem.

A breaking wind sound came at him; Hypoc only felt numbness at the back of his neck, then lost his sense of balance; the ring and pendant on his hand shattered simultaneously—these were two items of Spirit-Saint quality.

"Close call."

Bahah appeared over ten meters away, its claws stained with blood; if not for the Spirit-Saint grade equipment protecting him, Bahah could have directly pulled Hypoc's spine from his body—indeed, Bahah's fighting style was just that ferocious.

Compared to Bahah versus Hypoc's fight, Su Xiao's side was even more magnificent.

"Assault formation!"

Amidst the mass of soldiers, a soldier shouted loudly; a soldier commander is no minor rank—when war breaks out, battlefield command relies entirely on them; a soldier commander must not only fight well but also possess excellent command ability; in the Multifact Empire army, soldier commanders are precious talents, extremely hard to cultivate.

With that command, the soldier commander changed the formation of all surrounding soldiers, triggering a chain reaction; all soldiers' charge formations gradually became conical; the three frontmost soldiers, their bodies enveloped by technique energy, were nearly forming a forward-charging giant conical spear.

Su Xiao suddenly vanished from his spot; the speed difference decided many things.

Thud!

Su Xiao fell like a cannonball into the center of the soldiers' battle formation; a shockwave spread, nearby soldiers uncontrollably retreating or flying backward.

Just landing, Su Xiao lowered his body, sheathed his long blade, and assumed the draw-and-slash stance.

'Blade Dao Saber·Super·Ring Sever.'

Clang!

The ring-shaped sword beam spread, fresh blood splattered around Su Xiao; all soldiers within two hundred meters of him were cleaved in two—nearly eight hundred soldiers lay sideways and upside down around him.

Suddenly, the battle cries fell silent; the peripheral soldiers were for a moment somewhat dazed.

"Kill!"

The wounded soldier commander roared, his order giving the dazed soldiers a backbone; these were veterans who had fought year-round on the front lines; though everyone fears death, the order let them suppress inner fear—this is the cultivation from long training, the resulting quality.

Soldiers around stepped on their comrades' corpses, rushing at Su Xiao from all directions; heavy crossbows flew from gaps in the crowd toward him.

Clank, clank, clank...

Sparks flew; Su Xiao slashed the incoming heavy crossbows to pieces with a few strokes, simultaneously dispelling the crystal layer behind him.

The sound of breaking wind and a roar came simultaneously from behind—a soldier gripping a cross-sword had reached Su Xiao's rear and swung a blade at his spine.

As Su Xiao sidestepped, his long blade flipped in hand—from forward grip to reverse grip—and he thrust backward, piercing the skull of this imperial soldier; the metal helmet on the opponent's head was directly pierced through by the Dragon-Slaying Flash.

As Su Xiao drew his blade, he stabbed the long blade into the ground.

'Blade Dao Saber·Time.'

Thoom~

A shockwave spread; the incoming battle axes, heavy cavalry swords, and thrusting spears all slowed down.

The Dragon-Slaying Flash turned in Su Xiao's hand; he gripped it forward and slashed several times, killing all nearby soldiers.

With a bang, a lance broke through the shockwave, piercing Su Xiao's face—this was a soldier whose armor bore inscribed techniques.

Su Xiao slightly lowered his body and kicked straight out.

Boom!

An air blast exploded; the soldier before Su Xiao shattered directly, his flesh and blood scattering like shotgun pellets, piercing the bodies of a large group of soldiers behind him; these soldiers, blown to shreds, fell amid the clashing of armor.

"Blade Dao·Super·Ring Break."

Another Ring Break, still not finished, crystal layers condensed around Su Xiao, his hands pushed outward, these crystal layers all exploded, flying outward.

Soon, these shattered crystals stopped, faintly forming a large circle around, with exile fragments mixed in, these shattered crystals rapidly built into a shattered blade form.

At the center, Su Xiao's hand grasped emptily, blue light flickered in his eyes, the crystal shards around gathered, like a ring-shaped knife net closing in.

Blood flew sideways, the soldiers surrounding Su Xiao nearby fell in large numbers again.

"Kill!"

The shouts of the gray beasts came, those several hundred gray beasts did not flee, but instead charged into the Imperial army's formation.

Not because they were so loyal, but after seeing Su Xiao's strength, they realized this small-scale war might not necessarily be lost, but rather likely won.

If they fled during this, once Su Xiao won, they would be in bad shape, the War Demon is not known for mercy.

After 37 minutes of battle began, the Imperial army fighting Su Xiao collapsed and fled, leaving behind vast corpses.

Standing on not-so-high corpse pile, Su Xiao flicked off the blood traces on his throwing knife.

【Hint: You gained 7059 battle merits.】

【Battle merit ranking: currently third.】