Chapter 207: We Are the Fourth Calamity! We Are Endless!

Don't look at the battlefield as if it's evenly matched right now; in reality, the truly cruel battle has just begun.

The first line of defense, composed of two thousand-plus, nearly three thousand players, needs to face about one thousand Undead Legion soldiers.

Siege warfare has always favored the defensive side absolutely, but this comes with a prerequisite: the city walls must be good enough and high enough; ones like these, made of ruins, can only be described as better than nothing.

Undead Legion soldiers underwent long-term training while alive, and in their struggles against the former Abyss, their martial arts were honed to an extremely profound level.

On the battlefield, this profoundness manifests in a rather plain and unadorned way.

The moment the first row of soldiers rushed onto the wall, the players in the front row were directly pierced through the body by the short spears and swords in their hands, exploding into a mass of ashes.

The attack points of these soldiers landed precisely on the gaps in the Armor, such as the less-than-a-finger-wide gap exposed between the Helmet and the upper body armor during movement, minimizing the defensive effect of the Armor.

Thor held a long blade, slashing left and right, forcing back all three soldiers who had rushed up in front of him single-handedly; this war awakened his memories of campaigning far and wide with the Asgardian army.

"Bastards! Let me show you the might of Asgard!"

Thor roared and took the initiative to attack, using the Round Shield on his left arm to deflect a short spear from the side, and he ducked his waist to dive into the triangular formation formed by the three soldiers.

【Flurry!】

The soldier on the right holding a short spear activated a skill, the short spear in his hand tracing a soul-stirring silver light in the air.

Thor ignored everything; one against three, he had to reduce the enemy's numbers as quickly as possible. Once 【Battle Continuation】 was activated, adding a buff to himself that reduced the impact of injuries on combat power and mobility, Thor lunged forward two steps, his right-hand long blade swinging down to collide directly with the soldier holding a short sword in front.

At the moment the blades clashed, Thor's combat instincts had completely revived; he lowered his head and turned to dodge the attack from behind, while simultaneously adding a flicking force to the downward swing of his long blade, causing the trajectory of the short sword to shift continuously under the constant suppression.

Finally, the short-sword soldier's center was wide open!

Thor took a quick step forward, his long blade hacking directly into the soldier's body; this close-range strike completely destroyed the opponent's center of gravity. As the opponent fell backward, Thor swung with force, the blade hacking into the neck and directly severing half of it.

Even when the long blade was stuck in the bone, Thor dared not stop his steps; there were still two short-spear soldiers closely following behind him.

Releasing his right hand from the long blade, Thor used his right hand to grab the corpse of the soldier in front, using him as a human shield, and turned around.

Puchi! Puchi!

Two bloody holes were opened in the corpse's chest; Thor took the opportunity to pull out his long blade, faced the short-spear soldiers, and retreated two steps in succession.

The viscous blood on the long blade dripped onto the ground; Thor bared his teeth and shook his arm. His back hurt terribly, and every time his muscles moved, blood kept flowing out.

At least three holes had been opened in his back this time!

Thor stared fixedly at the other two short-spear soldiers in front of him. He had already fought one against three, so now, one against two, as long as 【Battle Continuation】 hadn't ended, the difficulty of the battle had dropped several levels compared to the start.

Forty seconds later, the two short-spear soldier corpses were kicked off the city wall by Thor; he had finally cleared the enemies that had come up at this corner.

Thor leaned against the wall and looked at other areas; not bad, the number of friendly forces was slightly higher than the enemy forces...

Wait, damn it, two thousand-plus people fighting one thousand, and now the numbers are almost even?!

Thor was a bit stunned; having fought wars in Asgard for so many years, he had never encountered such a thing.

It took Thor less than two minutes to kill the three soldiers who came up in front of him; in such a short time, the first line of defense had turned out like this?!

Even more shocked than Thor was the temporary commander; as the commander, he could receive more data.

In fact, the current situation was even worse than Thor had expected.

Now, there were only eight hundred-plus players left on the first line of defense, and the enemy force was about the same number.

Therefore, the Undead Legion had achieved a combat record of over eighteen hundred with a loss of only one hundred-plus.

The combat loss ratio was close to 1:15; this was simply the combat record of elite soldiers against militia!

No! The first line of defense cannot be held! The battle line is stretched too thin, and every Undead Legion soldier has enough space to attack; we can't fight like this!

"Listen to my orders! All respawning players stop heading to the first battle line and retreat to defend the second line of defense!"

The commander immediately adjusted the tactics; if this turned into a war of attrition, the combat loss ratio would have room to increase, and it might even head toward 1:30!

"All remaining players on the first line of defense retreat!"

"Fire support squads one, two, and three, provide fire suppression to cover the retreat!"

Soul Arrows began to dance in the air; this was where the players' advantage came out—they weren't afraid of hurting friendly forces, and at worst, they would just come back to respawn! Just treat it as a quick return!

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The rapidly falling Soul Arrows carved out a vacant area on the battlefield; the players in front of the vacancy were directly abandoned, while those behind the vacancy could retreat.

This was not an explicit order, but the scene "commanded" all the engaged players; the sacrificed soldiers would only die under their own people's attacks if they retreated, so they might as well rush forward and get some contribution.

Under the commander's on-the-spot reaction, when the first line of defense was completely occupied by the enemy, over three hundred players ran back, including some elites who were guarding against the boss. They did not attack; they had to wait for the opponent's boss to appear to conduct a more cruel exchange of forces.

Thor panted heavily, returned to the second line of defense, and someone immediately handed him a potion bottle, pulling Thor's status from severely injured toward slightly injured.

"The retreated players form an independent squad! Check equipment! Replace damaged Armor! Prepare for battle!"

Thor listened to the commander's voice, took off the Armor that had been beaten to ruin, and put on a new set of Armor.

When he raised his head again, Thor quickly estimated the number of people on the second line of defense: nearly four thousand.

After a pause, Thor came back to his senses; although the friendly players' combat power was lackluster, they could respawn, and there were many of them!

We are the Fourth Calamity; we have nothing else, but we are endless. We'll let you kill until your hands go soft. And more importantly, there is no such thing as a morale problem. If this were a real army, they would have collapsed long ago after dying in such numbers, but players? Fear? What a joke, that doesn't exist at all.

Also, with the death penalty weakened, if calculated based on an average of ten respawns per person, this combat loss is actually acceptable; after all, the opponent also lost over two hundred soldiers.

Moreover, the total number of players is more than double that of the Undead Legion; the outcome of this war is not yet clear!

The second line of defense is more like street fighting compared to the first; broken houses isolate the space in front of the defense line very sharply, and the fallen large stones and some temporarily moved debris constitute the base wall of this defense line.

The dead players bought some time for the construction of this defense line; at least, traps were buried in some areas.

In addition, on the road from the first line of defense to the second, not considering the flying back and forth, there are only two or three roads that can accommodate large-scale soldiers passing through quickly.

If the opponent charges hard, Thor and the others only need to withstand the first wave of impact, and the fire support troops in the rear can teach the Undead Legion soldiers a good lesson.

Also, with the contraction of the defense line, the Undead Legion's formation is difficult to spread out in this area; after all, they are a legion that focuses on melee combat, and they need enough space to exert their combat power.

A few minutes later, all Undead Legion soldiers crossed the first line of defense; the commander focused all his attention on the opponent's movements, ready to adjust the formation at any time.

Facing a buffer zone of about four hundred meters, the soldiers on the flanks of the Undead Legion began to move toward the two wings of the players, as if a hand were gradually opening, attempting to wrap around the players' side.

"What do they want to do? The middle area is full of broken buildings; won't they be disconnected from front to back if they charge like this?"

The commander looked at the opponent's movement and was a bit confused about the situation.

Thor, on the contrary, understood a little, "Frank! The enemy definitely has obstacle-clearing troops!"

When facing this kind of situation, Asgard would generally have heavy-armored troops bring along crushing-type magic to charge in; after all, as long as the obstacles are cleared, the offensive side's advantage can be brought into play.

The commander couldn't think of this because he automatically brought the battlefield into a medieval war, where such obstacle-clearing troops didn't exist in legions because it wasn't realistic, but magic exists in this world!

The development of events was the same as Thor had anticipated; spells like 【Giantism】, 【Iron Skin】, 【Enhanced Deflection Magic Shield】, and 【Living Weapon】 were cast onto over a dozen Undead Legion soldiers.

In an instant, over a dozen giants over five meters tall were created, carrying equipment that was also enlarged, and with brand-new magic shields, they began to accelerate under the eyes of all the players; the spiked giant shields held in their hands were like bulldozers, breaking through all obstacles in front of them.

Behind these giants followed squads of Undead Legion soldiers ready for battle; their coordination now was somewhat similar to tank-infantry cooperation on Earth, only the "tanks" in front wouldn't fire cannons, they would only clear obstacles.

"Elite Third Troop! Intercept these elite monsters for me!" the commander shouted orders.

"Second Defense Line, Squad 456, enter the battlefield and intercept the enemy soldiers!"

"Fire Support Troop squad, prepare for bombardment, suppress with fire!"

Rhodes poured the Broken Magic Blade oil onto his weapon, slammed his faceplate down with a clatter, and flipped over the makeshift city wall, "Frank, I'll handle the armor-breaking, you handle the follow-up attacks!"

Frank, following behind Rhodes, nodded, his muzzle turning from the giants to the soldiers behind them; they might be able to touch elite monsters, but if they also brought a bunch of lackeys, then there would be no way to fight at all. Fortunately, they also had friendly forces clearing the small fry following the "tanks," but even so, the twenty or so people from the Third Troop who set out this time were all prepared to die repeatedly.

The number of people on Rhodes' side was the smallest; after all, one was the highest-level player, and the other was a famous superhero. If the two of them were in a team, there wouldn't be enough people left to split into other elite squads.

【Deterrence!】 【War Roar!】

Rhodes used a skill directly on the giant in front of him, slowing his speed down a little; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to withstand the impact.

He pulled a giant shield over two meters tall from his backpack, though this giant shield still looked a bit mini in front of the giant before him.

Rhodes stood there, activated 【Hold Ground】, and directly resisted the bulldozer head-on.

Boom!

The huge impact sent Rhodes flying, but the bulldozer also almost came to a stop. Before it could restart, the ordinary players following behind Rhodes and Frank began to attack, using their lives to block the Undead Legion soldiers behind the bulldozer and entangle the giant.

Rhodes, who had been knocked to the ground and stopped, felt that his arm was already fractured, and the shield beside him had also turned into a piece of scrap metal without any curve.

But it wasn't a big problem; he slapped 【Battle Continuation】 on himself, and Rhodes' combat power recovered by seventy or eighty percent. This skill was simply a god-tier skill; every player who played melee would at least put a point into it.

Rhodes, having climbed back up, pulled out his enchanted Broken Armor Blade and charged at the giant again.

The giant was said to be a defensive unit, but his terrifying strength combined with the damage caused by that spiked shield was also quite considerable; at least if an ordinary player was hit once, they could basically go back and wait to respawn.

After Rhodes got close, he didn't say a word and struck the glowing magic shield with his Broken Armor Blade and Broken Magic Blade. With this strike, the magic shield dimmed quite a bit.

The giant soldier shifted his attention to Rhodes, but he was heavily armored and extremely clumsy, and the Undead Legion soldiers behind him were entangled by players, so how could he possibly catch Rhodes?

After a flurry of futile efforts, the magic shield shattered.

"Frank!" Rhodes shouted, running toward the enemy's direction. The intercepting players had already been more than half wiped out, and he had to continue buying time for Frank.

"Received!" It was time for Frank to perform.

Holy Light Bullets lit up in the air again, and every one that hit the shield could create a dent.

The giant soldier tucked his head behind the shield and, relying on his own armor, slowly continued to push forward.

Frank made a side-step, moving to the side of the giant soldier, and continuous shooting made the armor red-hot, but it still failed to penetrate the armor directly.

There was a gap of a fraction of a second in the firing of the Holy Light Bullets, and since the giant soldier was already prepared, Frank couldn't manage to land multiple consecutive shots on one point to force a armor break. As long as the giant soldier lightly turned the shield in his hand, he could block Frank's line of fire.

Seeing that the effect wasn't good, Frank performed a slide, stepped on the spikes on the giant shield, and climbed directly to the top of the shield, aiming his muzzle at the giant's helmet, 【Piercing Light!】

With a crack, the giant lost his footing and took two steps back.

Frank was relentless, continuing to shoot at the opponent's helmet; a few more hits, and this giant would die right here.

"Frank!" Rhodes' loud roar made Frank lift his head.

He saw a rapidly spinning javelin breaking through the air and shooting over; this was an attack made by the enemy general seeing Frank being so arrogant.

Seeing that even Relentless Pursuit wouldn't be enough to dodge, Frank simply activated 【Holy Light Baptism】 on the spot and started firing.

Rhodes had already jumped up while shouting, flipped in the air, and blocked in front of the javelin.

【Shield Bash!】

Switching the weapon in his hand to a shield, Rhodes slammed it down fiercely.

Crack! The javelin easily pierced through the shield and stabbed into Rhodes' body, but fortunately, Rhodes had finally changed the angle of the javelin a little. The javelin pinned Rhodes to the ground nearby, and Rhodes exploded into a pile of ashes.

Falling at the same time as Rhodes was the giant in front of Frank; its head had already disappeared under the Holy Light Baptism, and only air remained on its neck.

After Rhodes died, the Undead Legion soldiers rushed directly toward Frank, and the javelins in their hands were also raised.

A thought flashed through Frank's mind; he didn't retreat, but continued to channel 【Holy Light Baptism】 while turning his muzzle toward the direction of the other giant soldiers.

The swaying Holy Light Bullets shot out a sea of light on the battlefield, and Frank also died in the subsequent attack by the Undead Legion soldiers.

But Frank's attack helped other elites take down several giant soldiers.

As the giant soldiers got closer and closer to the makeshift city wall, the attacks they endured became more and more intense. Not only the elite troops, but ordinary players were outputting with their lives; people could die, but they had to put out whatever damage they could before dying.

The last giant soldier died eighty meters from the city wall, and the Undead Legion soldiers following behind also died in the siege.

The Undead Legion lost 13 giant soldiers and 104 ordinary soldiers, with about forty percent of the obstacles cleared.

Ordinary player deaths totaled 599; every member of the elite troops had died at least once, with the maximum number of deaths being three. A level 28 warrior was now almost down to level twenty.

The combat loss ratio was still unwatchable, but that didn't matter, because the number of players currently unable to log in and respawn was zero, and there were less than 2,500 Undead Legion left.

The continuous fire suppression still managed to achieve some effect; after all, the most basic Soul Arrow magic was enough to be fatal.