Chapter 271: Ultimate Blade

Dawn did not bring light; instead, it was as if an invisible giant hand had choked the throat, dragging heaven and earth into deeper gloom.

Lead-gray clouds hung low, almost within reach; the air was thick with moisture and a lingering bloody smell.

A heart-pounding silence enveloped Jin Prefecture inside and out, making even the neighing of warhorses and the clashing of armor seem especially oppressive.

Chen Wen stood on the watchtower, his gaze sweeping like a hawk over the silent enemy camp opposite.

The fortune momentum vortex within him continued to spin slowly and firmly.

But compared to last night's soaring resonance, now there was an added heaviness, like a drawn bow not yet released.

The growth progress bar held steady above ninety percent, and the scorching sensation had not faded.

Instead, it was like a volcano about to erupt, accumulating destructive power in the silence.

He could clearly "see" deep within the enemy camp opposite, that icy core of will.

Like ice frozen for ten thousand ages, it exuded absolute stillness and killing intent.

Dozens of high-brightness nether energy nodes, including the fifty dark light points representing the Nether Bone, had all moved to the forefront of the allied army formation.

They were no longer restless, but displayed an unsettling, absolute stillness.

Like the last breath of still air before a storm.

"Your Majesty!"

Li Wu's voice carried a barely perceptible dryness as he pointed toward the enemy camp.

"Look there."

Without his reminder, Chen Wen and all the Chen Army soldiers standing ready saw that horrifying sight.

The enemy camp's gate stood wide open.

First to surge out were not the Northern Han soldiers clad in armor.

But rather, groups of ragged refugees with vacant, numb eyes!

They seemed driven by an invisible whip, their steps staggering, like a tide surging toward the Chen Army's defense line.

Among these refugees were mixed some twisted figures, stiff in motion, their eyes flashing with unstable blue light—the "Medicine Persons."

They snarled, shoving the crowd ahead, like sheepdogs driving a flock.

"Using the people as meat shields… the Iron Crow Army truly has no humanity!"

Chen Wen's fist clenched suddenly, his knuckles whitening from the force.

His heart sank.

This move was extremely vicious, not only to drain the Chen Army's arrows and stamina.

It was also to strike at the Chen Army's morale, testing the resilience of their will to protect.

Yet this was only the beginning.

Behind those driven refugees and Medicine Persons, the Northern Han army's regular troops began to form ranks.

Sword-and-shield troops, spearmen, and crossbowmen formed neat ranks, bristling with killing intent.

But unlike before, within the gaps of the Northern Han soldiers' formation and ahead of their ranks appeared some even more bizarre entities.

They were neither human nor the known Nether Bone.

Their forms varied—some like scorpions enlarged many times over, their carapaces flashing with a bluish metallic sheen;

others like multi-legged monsters crudely assembled from countless pallid bones;

and even rolling energy masses that constantly dripped corrosive slime.

Their common trait was that they emanated strong ominous nether energy fluctuations and a pure destructive desire that utterly rejected life.

"These are monsters spawned by the Nether Energy Crystal Ore!"

Zhao Lao Nian had somehow also climbed onto the watchtower, his voice heavy with unprecedented gravity.

"Your Majesty, their aura… is even more chaotic and violent than the Nether Bone!"

"Like forcibly catalyzed defective products, but precisely because of that, they are even more uncontrollable and dangerous!"

Chen Wen's eyes were icy.

He saw that, after the torrent of monsters, fifty Nether Bone stood like black boulders, silent and unmoving.

They formed the spearhead of the second wave of attack.

And further back, faintly visible were some clad in dark cloaks, faces unseen—the core members of the Iron Crow Army.

They held various peculiar crystal devices, seemingly guiding and enhancing the monsters' power.

That icy will, like an invisible spiderweb, shrouded the entire battlefield.

It turned the allied army, the monsters, and even the driven refugees into cold pawns on its board.

"Woo—hum—"

A low, desolate horn call finally sounded from deep within the enemy camp.

That sound was not of this world, carrying a chill that pierced the soul.

The moment the horn call ended, the whole battlefield seemed to have been hit with a start button.

"Kill!"

The driven refugees, in despair and stimulated by the drugs, let out discordant howls.

Like a flood bursting a dike, they surged toward the Chen Army's solid fortifications.

Behind them, the Medicine Persons let out inhuman roars, their blue eyes locked fixedly on the front line.

The Northern Han soldiers shouted in unison, treading heavy steps, closely following behind.

And those crystal ore monsters emitted various piercing screeches and scraping sounds.

At speeds far beyond human, they lunged like phantoms!

The earth trembled, the air wailed.

Ultimate Blade, finally descends!

Archers and crossbowmen! Ready——

The frontline commander's voice was hoarse yet firm, as he raised high the signal flag in his hand.

All Chen army archers and crossbowmen pulled their bowstrings taut.

The icy volley of arrows was aimed at the surging tide that mixed innocence and evil.

Their fingers trembled slightly from the exertion, but their gazes were exceedingly resolute.

Release!

The signal flag was swung down fiercely.

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh——!

Clang—clang—clang——!

The dense sound of piercing the air instantly tore through the atmosphere!

Like a swarm of locusts, the arrows, bearing death's shrill cry, poured onto the charging enemy ranks!

The refugees and medicine people at the very front fell like cut wheat, collapsing in swathes.

Blood instantly dyed the ground red, and wails rose and fell one after another.

Yet, the following crowds and monsters, stepping on their companions' corpses, still surged forward frenziedly!

The arrows had limited effect against the thick-skinned crystal ore monsters.

They could only leave faint marks on the monsters' shells or energy bodies, or slightly slow their speed.

Boulders! Rolling logs!

The new order was swiftly issued.

Huge stones and rolling logs were forcefully pushed down from behind the fortifications.

They rumbled down the steep slope, carving bloody, mangled passages through the dense enemy ranks.

But this still could not stop the frenzied assault.

The crystal ore monsters had already charged to beneath the fortifications!

The gigantic azure scorpion swung its tail hook, flashing with cold light, and slammed it hard into the wooden palisade, instantly sending wood chips flying!

The multi-legged bone beast used its sharp bone claws to frenziedly tear at the defenses.

The corrosive slime monster spat out its slime, which landed on shields and palisades, emitting a 'hiss' and giving off pungent white smoke!

Spearmen! Hold fast!

Blade-and-shield fighters, follow me up!

The grassroots commanders and captains shouted hoarsely, leading the soldiers into a brutal melee with the monsters and enemy troops that had closed in.

Cries of slaughter, clashing weapons, death‑rattles, and monster roars… instantly echoed through the heavens!

From the outset, the battle plunged into its most brutal and bloody stage.

Chen Wen's gaze swept over the entire battlefield, his brows furrowed tightly.

The pressure on the defensive line exceeded imagination.

Especially those crystal ore monsters, whose strength and defense were astonishing.

Often it took several, even a dozen elite soldiers sacrificing their lives to barely exchange for one of them.

At this rate of consumption, the line will eventually be breached.

We can't wait any longer.

Chen Wen drew a deep breath, his eyes suddenly turning sharp.

The power within him began to surge, and the Growth Progress Bar in his sea of consciousness warmed slightly.

Li Wu!

The subordinate is here!

Issue orders to the left-wing Arrowhead Formation: target, fifty paces straight ahead, that giant scorpion monster and the surrounding enemy troops——

Chen Wen's voice was calm and powerful, carrying an undeniable resolve.

Confer——sixteenfold!

An invisible wave of power emanated from Chen Wen as its center, instantly spreading out to precisely envelop a unit of about three hundred elite infantry on the left wing!

This unit had been desperately grappling with that scorpion monster and the surrounding Northern Han soldiers, suffering heavy casualties.

But in the instant that warm, mighty power infused their whole bodies, all fatigue and fear vanished at once!

Roar!

The leading commander felt an explosive force surge from his limbs, making his formerly heavy saber feel as light as nothing!

He let out a roar, his body trailing an afterimage, and actually charged straight toward the sweeping scorpion tail hook!

Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere!

The commander's saber, with speed and strength far beyond ordinary, forcibly blocked that tail hook capable of splitting stone!

Although his tiger's mouth split and blood poured forth, he indeed managed to block it!

At the same time, the soldiers behind him likewise surged in momentum!

Their movements were as fast as lightning, their strength astonishingly great, and their coordination instantly became flawless!

In the flash of blade light, the monsters' carapaces, normally hard to cleave, were easily torn apart!

Spear thrusts, like venomous dragons emerging from their lairs, precisely pierced the throats of the Northern Han soldiers!

The three hundred men seemed to turn into an efficient killing machine, visible to the naked eye, grinding and clearing the monsters and enemy troops before them!

That invincible giant scorpion monster, under the assault of several soldiers endowed with sixteenfold strength——

The hard carapace was violently torn open, azure-blue blood spattered, emitting a piercing wail, and finally it was hacked to pieces by chaotic blades!

"Right wing, cone formation, target, bone monster swarm—wide-area granting, eightfold!"

Chen Wen's command rang out again.

Another wave of power swept over a unit of about a thousand on the right wing.

Although the boost was not as great as "focused granting," the coverage was broader.

This unit's overall combat power instantly rose a tier, like a red-hot dagger slicing into butter, quickly dividing, encircling, and annihilating several rampaging bone monsters and the enemy troops around them!

"Middle lane, crossbow formation—ultra-wide-area granting, fourfold!"

The third order was issued.

Nearly two thousand crossbowmen in the central army simultaneously felt their own changes.

Their gaze became sharper, their arms steadier, and their shooting speed and precision suddenly increased!

Crystal ore monsters that originally required two or three volleys to effectively wound now often, with a single precise volley, can find their energy core or joint weak point and inflict considerable damage!

The arrow rain became even more deadly, as if it had grown eyes, focusing on the most threatening energy nodes and monster leaders!

Chen Wen stood on the watchtower, his face slightly pale.

Frequently and intensely using "Ability Granting," especially the high-consumption "Focused Granting" mode, was a great trial for his spirit and stamina.

Even with the boost of Fortune Momentum, that fatigue emanating from deep within the soul continued to slowly accumulate.

But he could not stop.

He was like a firefighter: wherever the front line was tight, wherever a powerful energy node appeared, his "Ability Granting" had to immediately cover it.

Under his precise dispatch and powerful support, the Chen army's originally wavering defense miraculously withstood the enemy's first wave of fierce assault, as violent as a storm!

Before the camp, corpses lay piled, blood flowed like rivers.

There were refugees, medicine people, Northern Han soldiers, crystal ore monsters, and of course many Chen army warriors.

The battle temporarily entered a brief stalemate, with soldiers from both sides panting amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, their bloodshot eyes locked on each other, preparing for the next round of even more brutal combat.

Chen Wen panted slightly, his gaze once again turned toward the depths of the enemy camp.

That icy will did not waver in the slightest despite this offensive being thwarted.

On the contrary, that frenzied killing intent grew even stronger.

He clearly felt that the originally motionless "Nether Bone" units, the soul fire in their eyes began to beat violently.

Their bodies, covered in black bone armor, slightly lowered, assuming a charging posture.

The true test is about to arrive.

Chen Wen took a deep breath, suppressed his bodily fatigue, and his eyes regained firmness and sharpness.

The power within him began to gather again.

The light on the Growth Progress Bar seemed to flicker forward a bit due to the recent high-intensity use of power.

"Come on," he murmured to himself, as if speaking to himself and also to that deep darkness.

"Let me see, how many tricks do you still have?"