Chapter 804: Fortress Attack and Defense

The dust from the collapsed third siege tower has not yet settled.

The Qing State Army's offensive has not ceased.

Having lost the siege tower's yin energy amplification support, the shamans switched to dispersed command.

Under orders, the corrosive beast swarm began to spew acid at the base of the city wall.

The purplish-black acid corroded the wall base cast from strange-metal alloy, emitting a horrible "sizzle".

"Wall base shield activated!"

The energy patterns at the city wall's base lit up.

A thinner blue-white light film covered the wall base, resisting the acid's corrosion.

But the acid continued unabated, and the shield's energy slowly but steadily decreased.

The aberrant walkers regrouped, forming teams of four, taking turns to fire yin energy cannon strikes at specific areas of the city wall.

The shells exploded on the shield, creating purplish-black ripples.

"They're concentrating fire, trying to blast a breach!" the lookout post reported.

"Cannon towers counterattack! Prioritize eliminating the walkers!" Xu Da commanded from the walltop.

The energy cannon towers swiveled, and beams rained down on the walker clusters like rain.

Several walkers were hit repeatedly and exploded with a bang.

But more walkers scattered their formation and continued the bombardment.

The abyssal piercers, meanwhile, climbed the city wall like ghosts.

Their sharp bone spurs could lodge into the wall's seams, allowing them to climb swiftly upward.

"Rolling stones! Boiling oil!" the city-defense commander roared.

A huge rolling stone wrapped in strange metal was pushed down.

Scalding oil mixed with special powder poured down.

The piercers in the midst of climbing were struck down and burned, emitting sharp hisses.

Yet a few still managed to get onto the walltop.

Greeting them were gleaming energy battle blades.

Chang Yuchun personally led the sword-and-axe troops in patrolling the walltop.

One blow split the piercer that had just shown its head in half.

"One comes up, one gets cut down!"

He was drenched in blood, raging like a mad tiger.

Inside the command tower.

Chen Wen stared at the enemy-disposition sand table.

"Although the enemy lost their siege tower, their forces still hold absolute superiority."

"They are wearing us down."

"How long can the shield energy hold out?"

Zhang Cheng quickly calculated.

"The wall base shield can last at most two hours."

"Under continuous bombardment, the main shield is expected to hold for three hours."

"But the energy reserves... are only forty percent left."

"Three hours..." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the sand table.

"General Yue Fei's surprise troops need time."

"We must hold out."

"The key is to disrupt their consumption rhythm." Chen Wen pointed to several points on the sand table.

"The enemy's command nodes are here, here, and here."

"Those are the high-level shamans."

"They have taken over the siege tower's command function."

"\"Capture the bandit, capture the king? \" Xu Da's voice came over the communicator."

"No." Chen Wen shook his head.

"The shamans have yin energy body protection; a forced assault would incur too great a loss."

"Moreover, killing them might cause the Iron Crow Army to directly descend with even greater will, raising the risk."

"What we need is... interference."

He looked toward Zhao Lao Nian and Gongsun Sheng.

"Is the device prepared by the Heavenly Works Academy ready to use?"

Zhao Lao Nian nodded.

"The first batch of energy disturbance shells is already in place."

"But its range is only three hundred steps, requiring a catapult to launch."

Gongsun Sheng added.

"The principle of the disturbance shell is to use a specific frequency of energy fluctuation to interfere with information transmission in the yin energy network."

"In theory, it can scramble the shamans' command signals."

"But its effect is unknown, and its duration is also short."

"\"Use it. \" Chen Wen gave the decisive order.

"\"Target, these three command node areas. \""

Not seeking to kill or wound, only to disrupt their coordination.

Yes!

The order was given.

Behind the city wall, three modified trebuchets were ready.

What was placed in the ammunition nests was not stone, but metal spheres the size of watermelons, their surfaces covered in patterns.

Load!

Fire!

The trigger released.

The spheres arced through the air, falling toward the enemy formation.

The shamans sensed something amiss and tried to intercept with spirit-energy barriers.

But the spheres exploded prematurely in midair.

There was no flame.

Only an invisible force-wave rippled outward like ripples.

The wave swept over the area where the shamans were.

In an instant, the shamans felt their connection to the spirit-energy network turn sluggish.

The commands they issued suffered delays and confusion.

The acid spray of the corrosion beasts became uncoordinated.

The walking beasts' barrage rhythm was disrupted.

Pressure on the city wall suddenly eased.

"Effective!" the defenders' morale soared.

"But the effect lasts only a quarter of an hour," Zhang Cheng said, watching the monitoring data.

"The energy of the disruption shells is rapidly decaying."

"Enough," Chen Wen said.

"Order Xu Da and Chang Yuchun."

"While the enemy's command is in disarray, organize a counter‑assault."

"Target: destroy the thirty walking beasts gathered on the left flank."

"To ease the pressure of the frontal barrage."

"Received!"

Xu Da and Chang Yuchun quickly mustered three hundred elite troops.

Taking advantage of a gap in the acid spray, they sallied out from the side gate.

Like a tiger bursting from its cage, they charged straight at the left‑flank cluster of walking beasts.

The shamans tried to adjust their commands, but signal transmission was impeded.

The walking beasts reacted half a beat slower.

Xu Da led his forces to close in.

"Break their legs!"

The soldiers specifically attacked the joints of the walking beasts.

The spirit‑energy blades severed the metal legs.

The walking beasts crashed to the ground.

Chang Yuchun, meanwhile, led his men to strike at the beasts' vital torsos.

In less than a quarter of an hour, all thirty walking beasts were destroyed.

"Withdraw!"

The troops swiftly retreated back into the city.

The effect of the disruption shells also ended at that moment.

The shamans restored command, their fury unbounded.

The acid spray and barrage grew more fierce.

But with the left‑wing threat eliminated, pressure on the wall became more evenly distributed.

"Well done," Zhu Yuanzhang praised from within the command tower.

Chen Wen, however, frowned tightly.

"The master of the Iron Crow Army will not stand idly by."

"Its process of drawing seventy percent of the Origin Sea's reserves is likely still continuing."

"The next attack will only be more violent."

As if to confirm his words,

Above the battlefield, the dark‑red canopy suddenly began to spin.

Forming a massive vortex that covered dozens of li.

At the vortex's center, a verdant spirit‑light pulsed like a heartbeat.

An ineffable pressure weighed down over the entire battlefield.

All spirit‑energy units lifted their heads in unison and emitted a wail.

The shamans knelt in prayer, their bodies swelling as energy was infused.

"Is it… going to directly infuse power?" Zhang Cheng's voice trembled.

"No." Chen Wen fully deployed his regular vision.

He saw the Yuneng Network operating with unprecedented efficiency.

Vast amounts of energy were drawn from the Origin Sea, passed through network nodes, and directly injected into every Yuneng unit on the front line.

"It is strengthening the battlefield."

"It aims to create a…… an unstoppable surge of charge."

Indeed.

The Corrosion Beast's size began to swell.

Its exoskeleton thickened, and the acid fluid turned dark purple.

The Walker's gun muzzle glowed brighter with Yuneng light.

Its firing rate noticeably increased.

The Abyss Piercer's speed doubled, and the edges of its bone spikes glowed with a Yuneng-green gleam.

The most terrifying thing was that, behind the legion, the earth split open.

Dozens of thick Yuneng conduits protruded like tentacles, plunging directly into the ground.

They began to continuously transmit energy.

"They're setting up a temporary supply line!" Liu Ji exclaimed.

"If this continues, we'll be drained to death!"

"We must cut those conduits." Zhu Yuanzhang said firmly.

"Otherwise, the energy will be endless."

"Where are General Yue's troops?" Chen Wen asked.

Zhang Cheng checked the communications.

"They've already penetrated twenty li behind enemy lines."

"They are now approaching the suspected area hub."

"But they encountered strong resistance, and progress is slow."

"I can't wait any longer." Chen Wen watched the enemy forces growing stronger on the battlefield.

"We need another special force."

He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Lord Zhu, I recall that among the Ming army remnants you brought, there is an engineering battalion skilled in civil work?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up.

"Yes."

"The leader is my old subordinate, Fu Youde."

"He excels at digging tunnels and setting traps."

"Good." Chen Wen pointed to the sand table.

"Let Fu Youde lead the engineering battalion out from the fortress underground secret passage."

"Dig several tunnels beneath the battlefield."

"Target: those Yuneng transport conduits."

"No need to destroy them completely; just cause structural damage to trigger an energy leak."

"An energy leak will disrupt network stability and may even cause a local overload."

"But be careful." Gongsun Sheng reminded.

"The underground may already be contaminated with Yuneng Pollution."

"Moreover, the vibrations from digging will be detected."

"So we need ground forces to cooperate." Chen Wen said.

"Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, organize another counter‑assault."

"Make it big, to draw the enemy's full attention."

"To buy time for the underground operation."

"Understood!"

The new tactics were swiftly deployed.

Xu Da and Chang Yuchun led five hundred death squads out from the main gate.

They launched a desperate charge.

The Corrosion Beast horde was forcibly torn open a gap.

The Walkers concentrated fire to cover.

The Abyss Piercers swarmed in.

The ground battle was brutal.

Underground, Fu Youde's engineering battalion dug silently.

Using specially made strange-iron drills and potential-energy silencers.

Advancing toward the conduit location.

One shichen.

Above ground, the death squads suffered over half casualties, but they firmly held the enemy's main force.

Underground, the first tunnel reached its designated position.

"Conduit found!"

"Install the vibration rune!"

"Detonate!"

A slight tremor came from underground.

A crack appeared on the surface of a dark energy conduit.

Purplish-black energy surged forth like blood.

The dark energy units around the conduit immediately showed signs of instability.

"One succeeded!"

"Continue!"

"Second, third,..."

"Five conduits were destroyed in succession."

"The dark energy supply on the battlefield began to fluctuate."

"The shamans had to divert their attention to stabilize the network."

"The offensive came to a brief halt."

"Now!" Chen Wen seized the opportunity.

"All turrets, overload and fire together, bombard the enemy's densest area!"

"Disrupt their rhythm of re-forming ranks!"

The turrets' light merged into a sheet.

The beams poured down like a violent rainstorm.

The Qing forces fell into brief chaos under the unstable energy supply and the barrage of artillery fire.

"Retreat inside the city!" Xu Da ordered decisively.

"The remnants of the death squad withdrew."

"The city gates were shut tight."

"On the battlefield, the purplish-black tide temporarily retreated to regroup."

"But the vortex in the sky did not dissipate."

"On the contrary, it grew deeper."

"The will of the Iron Crow Army's master still loomed in cold observation."

"We've bought ourselves time." Chen Wen gasped.

"But the next wave of attack will come soon."

"And it will be even more fierce."

"How much longer does General Yue need over there?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"At least another two hours." Zhang Cheng said.

"Then we'll hold for another two hours." Chang Yuchun said, binding his wound with a grin.

"Let's see what other tricks they can pull."

The war had entered its most brutal stalemate.

Every moment, blood and energy are being consumed.

Yet the banner of the Breach-the-Wall Alliance still fluttered above the Iron Bastion Fortress.

"Meanwhile, Yue Fei far behind enemy lines was leading his troops in a desperate charge toward the core of the dark energy hub."

"The balance of victory still wavered slightly."