Chapter 803: Qing Counterattack

Midnight.

West of Point Seven, the dark energy reaction surged skyward.

The earth trembled.

Purple-black mist surged from the fissure.

Within the mist, the new-type legion had assembled.

Hong Taiji stood on the command platform.

His compound eyes scanned the entire army.

Left wing: three thousand corrosion beasts.

Center: five hundred mutated infantry.

Right wing: two thousand abyss piercers.

Rear: three flesh-and-blood siege towers loomed.

"All forces——"

Bone-blade arms raised high.

"Attack!"

Woo——

The dark energy horn sounded in the consciousness.

The legion began to advance.

East of the light curtain.

The watchtower of the ironclad fortress.

Xu Da lowered his telescope.

"The scale exceeds estimates by five times."

"Never seen such new-type units before."

Chang Yuchun stood with hand on sword.

"Shall we fight or not?"

"Execute the third contingency plan."

Xu Da gave the order decisively.

"Abandon the forward outposts."

"All personnel retreat to the fortress."

"Activate the minefield to delay the enemy."

Orders were relayed.

The twelve outposts withdrew swiftly.

The minefield was activated.

Blue-white explosions flashed within the purple-black tide.

The corrosion beasts' exoskeletons shattered.

The infantry's metal legs snapped.

The piercers shattered into fragments.

But the siege towers were too massive.

The mines left only scorch marks.

They advanced steadily.

"Turrets ready!"

The wall commander roared.

The energy turrets charged up.

The crystals shone as bright as daylight.

"Aim at the siege towers!"

"Fire!"

Boom——

Dozens of light beams shot forth.

They struck the first siege tower.

The tower shuddered violently.

The biomass burned, leaving a massive wound.

Purple-black sludge poured down.

At the top, the shamans chanted in unison.

Dark energy surged forth.

The wound healed quickly.

"Keep firing!"

Two more siege towers entered range.

The shaman raised his staff.

Three dark energy lances boomed toward the wall.

"Shields at full!"

The wall's patterns lit up.

The blue-white shield rose.

Boom—

The light pillar collided with the shield.

A tremendous roar shook the heavens.

The shield fluctuated violently.

Energy consumption report!

Shield down by seventeen percent!

Inside the command tower.

Zhang Cheng's face turned pale.

A single attack consumes so much……

Chen Wen stared at the monitoring screen.

In the tactical view, the internal patterns of the three siege towers were clearly visible.

That is an amplified node of the nether energy network.

We must destroy them, otherwise the shield won't last half an hour.

He turned toward Yue Fei.

The Vanguard Battalion sorties.

Target: the three siege towers.

Yue Fei nodded.

Xu Da leads the main force to flank from the side and draw attention.

Chang Yuchun leads an elite squad to storm the tower base.

Zhao Si leads the sniper team to suppress the shamans atop the tower.

Yes!

The three received the order and departed.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked toward Chen Wen.

Chang Yuchun's temperament is too fiery; I'll go to hold the line.

Chen Wen did not intercept this time.

He realized that the bond and joint combat between variables might generate an unexpected Fortune Momentum resonance.

Lord Zhu, be careful.

The will of the Iron Crow Army may descend; do not stray far from the fortress core shield range.

Understood.

The front line.

The shield suffered two more blows.

Energy dropped to fifty-eight percent.

Xu Da led the main force of the Vanguard Battalion out from the flank.

Like splitting bamboo, they thrust straight into the enemy's left wing.

The corrosive beast swarm turned to intercept.

Acidic liquid splashed like rain.

Xu Da shouted loudly.

Scatter the formation, fire the armor-piercing crossbows in unison!

Arrows pierced the acid curtain and pinned into the beast herd.

The mutated walkers turned their cannons.

A barrage of nether energy shots came down.

"Cover fire!" Zhao Si's sniper team opened fire from high ground.

Momentum-powered crossbow bolts precisely struck the walkers' joints.

Three walkers staggered and fell to their knees.

Chang Yuchun led a twenty-man elite squad, taking advantage of the chaos to charge straight at the nearest siege tower.

Zhu Yuanzhang led ten personal guards closely behind, maintaining a supporting distance.

Three hundred paces.

The tower's surface suddenly opened dozens of nether-green eyes.

They all turned to stare at the squad.

"Accelerate!" Chang Yuchun growled low.

The squad's momentum shields fully opened as they launched a charge.

Nether energy beams fell like a net.

Two squad members' shields overloaded and were pierced by the beams.

But the rest had already rushed to within a hundred meters of the tower base.

Zhao Si!

Here!

On high ground, Zhao Si adjusted the crossbow mechanism.

Aim at the third shaman on the upper left of the tower top.

Fire!

Momentum-energy crossbow bolt shattered the air.

The shaman raised his staff to block.

The arrow exploded, and blue-white light interfered with its casting.

"Opportunity!" Chang Yuchun led his troops to surge to within fifty steps of the tower base.

The tower's blood-vessel-like conduits suddenly burst.

Purple-black viscous fluid surged like a waterfall.

It was highly corrosive.

"Unavoidable!" the team members roared.

Chang Yuchun's eyes flashed with a fierce gleam.

"Shield formation!"

The front-line members immediately raised their shields and linked them together.

Momentum-energy shields linked together to form a wall.

The slurry flood struck the shield wall.

The shields flickered violently but did not break.

"Advance!" Chang Yuchun led from the front.

The shield wall withstood the corrosive slurry, advancing step by step.

Thirty steps.

Twenty steps.

At the tower top, two additional shamans simultaneously locked onto the shield formation.

The bone staff pointed downward.

Two streams of nether-energy converged and shot down.

Just then.

Blue-white light erupted from the flank.

Zhu Yuanzhang's personal guard suddenly burst out from the diagonal.

They wielded specially made 'Momentum-Energy Reflective Shields'.

The shields precisely cut into the light beam's path.

The beam was refracted and deflected.

It slammed into the tower's side, blasting a large hole.

"Old Chang, hurry!" Zhu Yuanzhang shouted.

Chang Yuchun seized the opportunity.

He surged forward with all his might, lunging to the tower base.

The purification bomb adhered.

It activated.

"Retreat!"

The squad hastily retreated.

The shaman atop the tower angrily attempted to cast again.

But the suppressing fire from Zhao Si's sniper team came one after another.

Boom——

The purification bomb burst with blue-white light.

It enveloped the tower base.

The tower's markings violently scrambled.

The amplified structure overloaded and collapsed.

The nether-energy light column suddenly extinguished.

The first siege tower failed.

"Success!" Xu Da saw from afar, his spirits greatly lifted.

Chang Yuchun's squad withdrew to the safe zone.

He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and clasped his fists.

"Your Majesty… Lord Zhu, thank you!"

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand.

"You and I are brothers; no need for thanks."

"The second tower must not be risked in this way again."

"Use a new tactic."

At that moment, inside the command tower.

In Chen Wen's regulatory vision, after seeing Chang Yuchun and Zhu Yuanzhang fight together, the 'Flame of Life' on their bodies produced a subtle resonance.

Pale gold intertwined with Chang Yuchun's blazing, fire-like fate-flame, emitting a stronger 'Variable' fluctuation.

Fortune Momentum was quietly growing.

"Synergy between Variables……" he pondered.

"Perhaps it creates greater rule disturbance than solitary action."

He looked toward the monitoring.

The second siege tower had already been entangled by Xu Da's forces.

Pass the order to Xu Da.

Have him coordinate with Chang Yuchun and attempt the Dual Variable Coordinated Strike.

Test the effect.

Yes!

The front line.

Xu Da received the order.

Immediately adjusted the deployment.

Chang Yuchun!

Here!

You lead the squad in a feint attack from the front.

I will launch a real attack from the left side.

Zhao Si, suppress the right-side shaman.

Lord Zhu, please lead the personal guards from the rear to provide support, preventing any accidents.

Understood!

The new tactic unfolds.

Chang Yuchun's squad draws fire head-on.

Xu Da leads the elite forces in a sudden assault from the left flank.

The shamans atop the tower have their attention divided.

Zhao Si's sniper team takes the opportunity to pick off the casters.

Zhu Yuanzhang's personal guard roams the perimeter, using refractive shields to interfere with the nether energy attacks.

The coordination flows like drifting clouds and flowing water.

The second tower's base is quickly exposed.

Install the bomb!

Xu Da personally installs the purification bomb.

Detonate.

The light of the second tower dims.

The amplification function fails.

Only the third siege tower remains.

At this moment, the Central Capital Control Tower.

Huang Taiji's multifaceted data stream surges.

Two siege towers have been destroyed.

Eastern side resistance is unusually tenacious.

Detected high-energy level rule disturbances……multiple variable units synergistic effect……

The will of the void is transmitted.

【Detected primary variable unit (Zhu Yuanzhang) coordinating with multiple variable units in combat】

【Threat level increased】

【Executing final cleanup protocol】

【Authorized to use sixty percent of the Origin Sea reserves】

【Objective: sever the coordination link】

Huang Taiji bowed.

As you command.

The front line.

The third siege tower suddenly stops moving.

The tower's biomass writhes violently.

Ten shamans atop the tower slit their wrists.

Purple-black blood flows into the patterns.

The tower's body swells.

Nether energy rages.

A massive vortex forms atop the tower.

At the vortex's center, darkness coalesces.

A gigantic crow's claw composed purely of nether energy extends outward.

But this time, the crow's claw does not directly press toward the Commander Tower.

Instead—it grabs toward the area where Zhu Yuanzhang and Chang Yuchun are coordinating their attack!

It's targeting the variables! Chen Wen realized instantly.

Extend the shield! Protect Lord Zhu and General Chang! Yue Fei ordered urgently.

Part of the shield's energy quickly extended toward that area.

But the crow's claw is too fast.

It has already reached above their heads.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Chang Yuchun simultaneously felt a terrifying will lock onto them.

Their bodies felt as if plunged into an ice cave, almost unable to move.

"Your Majesty!"

"Lord Zhu!"

Xu Da and Zhao Si's eyes were about to burst, but they couldn't come to the rescue in time.

A hair's breadth from disaster.

Chen Wen, inside the command tower, felt a blue light surge violently in his eyes.

He mobilized the Fortune Momentum that had just grown in the system from coordinated combat.

Combining it with the power of his own deep-blue structure.

He pointed from afar.

"Hold!"

It was not a sound.

It was a command on the level of rules.

The descending momentum of the Crow Claw suddenly stalled.

Although it was only for an instant.

But it was enough.

The 'Variable' marks on Zhu Yuanzhang and Chang Yunchun's bodies spontaneously shone, stimulated by the crisis.

Pale gold and crimson light intertwined, shooting up into the sky.

It actually produced a brief rule-based opposition against the Crow Claw's dark energy.

On the surface of the Crow Claw, faint ripples of disturbance appeared.

"Now!" Chen Wen shouted.

"All turrets, bombard the point where the Crow Claw connects to the vortex!"

"It has not yet stabilized in its descent—interrupt it!"

Twenty turrets overloaded and fired in unison.

A torrent of light beams slammed into the connection node.

The Crow Claw twisted violently.

It emitted a silent screech.

Forcibly breaking free of the rule's restraints, it shrank back into the vortex.

The vortex collapsed.

The third siege tower collapsed with a roar in the backlash.

The descent was interrupted.

A cold, angry wave came from the void.

【Synergistic effect……threat……must be eliminated……】

【Mobilizing……seventy percent……】

Chen Wen panted.

Long-distance rule interference consumes enormously.

But it was worth it.

He looked toward the front line.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Chang Yunchun were completely covered by the shield, safe and sound.

The two looked at each other, their eyes holding the joy of surviving a catastrophe, as well as a deeper fighting spirit.

"Variables working together can indeed cause greater disruption to the Iron Crow Army's will," Chen Wen realized in his heart.

"Their being alive and continuing to resist is the greatest threat to the virus program."

He looked toward the battlefield.

All three siege towers were destroyed.

The enemy formation began to fall into chaos.

"General Yue."

"Here."

"Lead the elite forces straight into the enemy's rear to destroy the regional dark-energy hub."

"Xu Da, Chang Yunchun, press forward on the front to expand our gains."

"In this battle, we want the Iron Crow Army to know——"

"The Variable, not only cannot be killed,"

"but will grow stronger the more it fights."

The order was issued.

The counterattack's horn was blown by the surviving and growing Variables.

Their very existence.

It is the dagger that pierces deepest into the prison.