Chapter 786

The high-temperature steam on the fortress dissipated completely.

Woo, woo, woo~

The war horn sounded. For this kind of high-slope battle, seizing the highland formed by the fortress was the most important thing.

The Imperial army rushed up the slope like a tide, with a mixed formation of rows of heavy shield-bearers and spear-halberdiers in the front. No matter what terrain they were charging on, this formation was applicable.

On the other end of the fortress, the tribal army also began to charge. This time, their force was also over two hundred thousand.

Under normal circumstances, the same number of tribal troops were no match for the Imperial army, but this time it was different. These two hundred thousand tribal troops were elite units, not the ragtag army from the previous battle.

Most of the tribal army's front were Orcs, but standing at the very front were not Orcs, but dwarves holding one-meter-high heavy shields.

These heavy shield-bearing dwarves were in two rows, and behind them was a row of Goblins. That's right, those cowardly Goblins.

These Goblins carried no weapons, their bodies covered in bottles of "Small Green Phosphorus Fire Incendiary Bottles."

Both armies stepped onto the slopes on both sides of the fortress without distinction of front or back. The momentum of hundreds of thousands of troops charging simultaneously was astonishing.

If one looked down from a high vantage point, one would see the Empire and the tribal side rushing toward each other like two monstrous waves.

The two "waves" rushed over the slopes and finally collided at the top of the Black Soil Fortress.

The crisp sound of clashing merged into one, followed by screams and the sound of "Green Phosphorus Fire Incendiary Bottles" shattering.

The Imperial army still used its consistent strategy: heavy shield-bearers in front, spear-halberdiers in the back, with spears and halberds poking out from the gaps beside the shields, piercing the soldiers in the front row of the tribal army.

This tactic, which had never failed, hit a snag today. The dwarf heavy shield-bearers in front of the tribal army raised their shields. That one-meter-high shield was clearly a joke, but what if two shields were connected top to bottom?

A two-meter-high shield wall appeared in front of the Imperial army. The spears and halberds in the hands of the spear-halberdiers struck the shields, numbing their hands, and some spears even snapped.

The dwarf heavy shield-bearers successfully resisted the Imperial army's shield-spear charge formation. The Goblin throwers behind the dwarf heavy shield-bearers hid behind the shields and began to throw "Small Green Phosphorus Fire Incendiary Bottles" at the Imperial army.

Splat, splat...

The green phosphorus fire formed a line of fire, and the shield-spear soldier combination at the very front of the Imperial army suffered heavy casualties.

The green phosphorus fire soon dissipated, and the second wave of the Imperial army's charge arrived. These Imperial soldiers each carried a long-handled war hammer, swinging it at the double-layered shields in front of them.

Bang, bang, bang...

On the battlefield, it was like blacksmithing, and a large number of dwarf heavy shield-bearers were shaken into vomiting blood and retreating.

Whoosh~

The Elven arrow rain streaked across the sky, heading straight for the most densely packed positions of the tribal army.

Hum~

The bolt-reamers met the arrow rain. This time, the tribal army fighting the Imperial army was an elite unit, equipped with a large number of "Fortress-Guarding Heavy Wheel Crossbows." Although this thing was bulky and expensive, the Mountain Dwarf King personally guarded the Black Soil Fortress, so how could his army not be equipped with it? Furthermore, the trolls had solved the disadvantage of this thing being difficult to transport. As for the high cost, the dwarves had no choice, so they could only equip the elite units.

The bolt-reamers shredded the arrow rain into a sky full of debris. Carlos, who had already killed dozens of enemies, saw this scene and felt helpless. This time, the opponent was different from the past; even with the same force, he couldn't guarantee a steady victory.

At the rear, Su Xiao was charging forward with the army, surrounded by roaring Imperial soldiers, which severely affected his ability to sense the situation around him.

On the fortress, the two armies collided like a hot iron and a block of ice. The soldiers at the very front of the battle line fell rapidly, and the soldiers behind immediately filled in. The intensity was beyond imagination.

Now it depended on who could knock the other side back. The side that was knocked back would lose the Black Soil Fortress.

In about ten minutes, Su Xiao finally arrived in front of the solidified lava slope. It wasn't that his speed wasn't good, but that the fortress couldn't hold hundreds of thousands of soldiers; he had to wait for a batch to die before the soldiers behind could move forward.

As soon as Su Xiao stepped onto the lava slope, he immediately felt a warmth coming from under his feet; this thing hadn't cooled yet.

Not only that, but Su Xiao also felt that his feet were a bit slippery. Looking down, the solidified lava slope was scorching red, and red liquid flowed down like a shallow red river. This red liquid was blood—the blood of the soldiers who had died on top of the fortress.

A river of blood was what it looked like now; Su Xiao was walking onto the fortress by stepping on the blood of his own soldiers.

Top of the fortress.

"For the tribe!"

An Orc soldier covered in wounds jumped up, his curved blade hacking toward a human soldier.

That human soldier met him with red eyes. The enemy's conviction was strong, but his conviction was equally powerful. He was fighting for the Empire, for his family, and to ensure his descendants could thrive on fertile land.

Splat!

Blood splattered as the weapons in the hands of both the Orc and the human soldier hacked into each other's necks. Both sides roared and cut downward, blood spraying wildly. A moment later, both fell onto the pile of corpses at their feet.

At this moment, the obsidian ground of the Black Soil Fortress could no longer be seen. The soldiers of both sides died rapidly and piled up into corpses; both sides were fighting on top of the pile of corpses.

The dead Orc soldier's cry of "For the tribe" made other nearby tribal soldiers' eyes turn red. They only saw the enemy in their eyes, and their only conviction was to kill the other side.

There was no emotion on the battlefield unrelated to killing the enemy; tearing the other side apart was the only thought of the soldiers on both sides.

The shouts of battle reached the sky. The morning sun didn't rise; perhaps even the heavens couldn't bear to see this inhumane battle. Dark clouds covered the sky, and rolls of muffled thunder sounded.

Su Xiao didn't charge to the top of the Black Soil Fortress; he was squeezed up by the soldiers in front and behind him, caught in the middle. The crowd was too dense.

Walking quickly onto the towering pile of corpses in front, Su Xiao finally saw the tribal soldiers.

A 500-point strength Counter-Attack Shield appeared around Su Xiao. With the Soul Eater talent, he could consume mana to his heart's content on the battlefield, meaning he could exert his full combat power.

An Orc soldier met Su Xiao. This Orc soldier was significantly stronger than the Orc soldiers from the previous battle and wore full metal armor, even wearing a battle helmet.

Looking at this Orc soldier's attire, Su Xiao realized that these Orcs were different from the Orcs in the previous battle.

The Orc soldier roared and charged forward. In the eyes of ordinary people, this Orc soldier was as fast as a ghost, but in Su Xiao's eyes, the opponent was too slow.

The heavy sword in the Orc soldier's hand, stained with flesh, hacked toward Su Xiao's neck. Su Xiao didn't dodge or evade.

Ding!

The Orc soldier's palm went numb, and he stumbled backward. A flash of blade light occupied his vision.

"Wor..."

Checking Zhan Long Shan broke through the air and slashed onto the Orc's armor. The armor forged of refined steel was easily cut open, and the blade broke through muscle, bone, and internal organs without any resistance.

Splat.

Checking Zhan Long Shan slashed open the armor on the Orc soldier's back from the inside, the blade bringing up a streak of blood. The Orc soldier was slashed into two sections from the chest.

Falling down, the Orc soldier's severed corpse fell onto the pile of corpses.

Su Xiao didn't look at the opponent. Checking Zhan Long Shan's sharpness of up to 32 points easily slashed through the enemy's defense and flesh, but Su Xiao sensed a trace of resistance. Don't underestimate this trace of resistance; assuming he consumed 0.1 stamina to kill an ordinary Orc, killing this kind of Orc would consume about 0.2 to 0.3 stamina.

Of course, this value was just an assumption. Su Xiao's conclusion was that this battle was not in the same league as the last one.

Su Xiao stepped on the pile of corpses at his feet and charged straight toward the tribal side. Ordinary soldiers doing this would be seeking death, but Su Xiao could kill more enemies.

Ring Break.

Clang!

A ring-shaped blade aura spread out, and a large number of tribal troops fell to the ground with their bodies slashed in two. As for Su Xiao, he had already charged into the denser tribal army.

Blade aura crisscrossed, and severed limbs flew. With sufficient mana, Su Xiao was as brave as if he had opened a "Musou" mode. No tribal soldier could block his blade. He would sense the strength of the enemy's aura; if the aura was strong, he would activate Green Steel Shadow the moment he swung his blade, and deactivate it immediately after killing the enemy.

A few minutes later, Su Xiao had killed his way to the slope on the opposite side of the Black Soil Fortress. The surroundings were full of tribal troops. With the help of the path he had killed, dozens of Imperial soldiers killed their way to the slope on the opposite side of the Black Soil Fortress with him, but in just over twenty seconds, those Imperial soldiers were hacked to death by the overwhelming tribal troops around them.

The Counter-Attack Shield around Su Xiao didn't know how many blades it had taken. With a crack, it shattered. The moment the Counter-Attack Shield shattered, a new one appeared. Being on the battlefield, the thing he lacked the least was mana.