Chapter 466: Hammered to Death

The Eagle Song Hunter's seven arrows were linked together in a string.

The first ice arrow shot into the stagnant force field, its speed suddenly dropping as if seized by an invisible hand, pausing for an instant; the second arrow followed closely, striking the tail of the first.

Then came the third and fourth…

With each additional arrow impact, they advanced a step within the field, and when the fifth arrow struck, a violent explosion erupted.

Bang!

The chain of arrows burst into countless streaks of light; the massive shockwave generated in an instant actually cancelled the temporal‑spatial binding, shattering the stagnant force field. The next two arrows, unimpeded, adjusted their trajectories in high‑speed flight—one arcing upward, the other veering right—aiming at Lei En's head and back respectively.

Lei En sensed a hint of danger, but he could no longer pay attention to it.

Prince Di Lan's massive axe had already swung down before him.

The Giant Deer Warrior had also mastered Blood Frenzy, and its effect surpassed his own; his body swelled to two and a half meters, yet his speed remained unchanged, and his Soul Eye saw his swiftness also at level seven.

After activating Blood Frenzy, Prince Di Lan's power reached exactly level ten!

The massive axe in his hand was no ordinary weapon, at least of epic grade; after infusing it with soul energy, sharp vortices sliced from the blade, sparks flying as it cut his own body, and the ground was carved into intersecting deep trenches, making him resemble a humanoid meat grinder.

"Die!"

Prince Di Lan let out a thunderous roar, exhaling a breath that mixed gale and lightning.

Lei En felt the oncoming pressure; any legendary would probably not choose to clash head‑on with Prince Di Lan, but he would!

During the charge he raised his hand to cast, instantly granting himself Wind‑Thunder Wings, a pair of dazzling lightning wings sprouting from his back.

His running speed surged again, and he slammed into the storm carved by the massive axe.

Puff!

Prince Di Lan, seasoned by countless battles, was unperturbed by Lei En's sudden acceleration; he slightly lowered the axe's angle, making Lei En seem as if offered up, and a single swing struck Lei En's shoulder.

However, before he could rejoice, the recoil force from the axe handle nearly made him lose his grip.

This Storm Slayer weighed a staggering fifteen hundred pounds, requiring both hands to wield, and its blade was razor‑sharp; since Prince Di Lan inherited it, he had never encountered anything it could not cut through, let alone a human body.

The Storm Slayer indeed struck Lei En, but it penetrated less than an inch before muscle halted it, as if cutting into a piece of refined gold, unable to go any further.

"Not good…"

Prince Di Lan's complexion changed dramatically, but it was already too late.

In the next instant, countless lightning erupted before his eyes, excruciating pain surged in his chest and abdomen; his level‑nine Toughness combined with level‑seven Giant Deer Skin—defense that even a dragon could not bite through—was shattered by a single hammer blow, the thick fat turning to mush.

A terrifying force pierced flesh and blood, reaching the organs, and a bowl‑shaped blood wound burst open in his back.

Prince Di Lan was blasted into the air, rolling down the hilltop.

Lei En hadn't had time to retract his war hammer when a sword‑wielding whoosh sounded behind him; Duke Feishe emerged from a portal, slashing at the two arrows with a single stroke.

The sword light unfolded like a stream of water.

Snap!

Duke Feishe's expression shifted slightly; the arrows were too fast, and he managed to cut only one.

The other arrow missed by mere millimetres, striking Lei En's back; a layer of dragon scales surfaced, the arrow shattered into powder upon impact, yet an extremely sharp ice beam pierced the scales, breaching even a steel body, driving beneath the skin, and the contained chill erupted fully.

Lei En let out a muted hum, ice forming around his body, freezing him into an ice statue.

"Luo Na*Ai Ti Si!"

Duke Feishe flashed forward to stand before Lei En, his voice deep: "You can still surrender now; otherwise, today is your death."

"Do you think everyone is as disgraceful as you?" the legendary Eagle Song Hunter said with a scornful face; his figure darted at high speed, his voice wavering, and whenever eyes followed, only the arrows he fired could be seen, his true form invisible.

On the hilltop stood three legendary transcendants of the Laoberdil family.

They withstood the thunder‑strike lightning, attacking from different directions; Duke Feishe's Thousand Rivers Blade swept out a sword flash like a waterfall, engulfing all three, the blade flash forming a wall of water that blocked the incoming arrows.

Four legends combined in a siege, and Duke Feishe instantly found himself at a disadvantage.

Crack!

The ice statue formed by Lei En lasted only a few seconds before cracking, the shards falling; the shoulder wounded by the massive axe had already healed, appearing unscathed.

"This is impossible!"

Luo Na*Ai Ti Si shouted in terror.

The arrow just now seemed insignificant, but it actually condensed thirty percent of his own soul energy, originally prepared for a giant dragon; not only could it pierce dragon scales, but the embedded icy power could freeze a dragon for at least half a minute, causing it to fall dead from the sky.

This was his peak arrow; he could not fire a second one in such a short time.

Lei En shook off the ice flakes from his body, his gaze landing on the legendary Eagle Song Hunter, and he smiled faintly: "You are the first who could breach my defense with bow and arrow; that's something to brag about for a lifetime, but your life is probably already at its end."

Luo Na*Ai Ti Si felt a chill run through his whole body upon hearing that.

The strongest arrow merely breached a defense, leaving not even a wound; even Legendary High-rank Prince Di Lan was struck by a hammer, his fate unknown…

"Run!"

He turned without hesitation and sprinted straight toward the forest.

As long as he fled into the forest and used the terrain—his own stronghold—the enemy could not possibly catch up.

Luo Na*Ai Ti Si turned into a black shadow, instantly reaching the forest's edge; Duke Feishe attempted to stop him but lacked speed, and was entangled by the three legendary transcendants, anxiously shouting: "Honorable Chairman, we cannot let him escape into the forest."

"He cannot escape."

As Lei En's words fell, a gray‑white silhouette descended from the sky.

The silhouette resembled a massive maze, square, each side over a hundred meters, enveloping the fleeing Luo Na*Ai Ti Si; then the maze contracted like a net, shrinking rapidly, and his body shrank with it, disappearing into the void in an instant.

Such a bizarre sight terrified the three legendary transcendants besieging Duke Feishe to the point of half‑death; as they were about to flee, a voice suddenly sounded at their ears:

"Hold."

The voice sounded youthful, tinged with mystery and ethereality.

The three legends found their bodies a hundred times heavier, as if a mountain rested on their shoulders; even a single step became agonizingly difficult, and despair immediately flashed across their faces.

Duke Feishe's Thousand Rivers Blade swung horizontally, cleanly slicing off two enemies' heads.

Only the third legend, whose strength was near Mid-stage, unleashed a burst of soul energy at the hair‑breadth moment; though he couldn't break the temporal‑spatial bind, he stepped back half a step and tucked his neck, luckily evading the decapitating strike.

Duke, I surrender!

He hurriedly raised his voice in pleading: "Please don't kill me! I am the lord of the Smowood family, Count Lukuya, and I am willing to swear fealty to Her Majesty the Queen!"

Duke Feishe's Thousand River Blade hovered at his throat; a further push would decapitate him, causing cold sweat to bead on his forehead and his whole body to tremble involuntarily.

"Spare his life," Lei En nodded.

This legendary Transcendent is a vassal lord of the Labordil family; keeping him should be useful.

Duke Feishe did not wish to cause excessive slaughter, so the Thousand River Blade changed direction and slashed downward, wounding the opponent gravely but not killing him, to prevent a captive from later turning against them.

Count Lukuya's chest bled profusely, feeling both pain and joy—he had survived!

He looked toward the hilltop strewn with corpses.

All the vassal lords of the Labordil family fought this time—fourteen houses in total. Apart from a few who rushed to the front, they were all here, but aside from himself, everyone else died beneath the terrifying lightning just now.

No!

Someone is playing dead!

Count Lukuya discovered that among the corpses some were still alive—at least seven or eight—wearing magical protective items that shielded part of the lightning damage. They hadn't died, but now lay motionless.

"These shameless scoundrels!"

Count Lukuya cursed inwardly but did not expose them; among the feigning dead were several vassal lords of the Labordil family, like himself, with whom he had previously been on good terms.

"Watch them closely."

Lei En gave Duke Feishe a brief order and walked to the spot where Rona Etis had vanished.

The gray phantom earlier was Speaker Kaidejia's Eight‑Ring Maze Technique, which exiled the Legendary Eagle Song Hunter to the Ethereal Plane, trapping him in a maze forged of Arcane. The maze's effect resembles exile, but is incomparably superior; an enemy lacking sufficient knowledge or familiarity with the Ethereal Plane would remain trapped in the maze until death.

Speaker Kaidejia acted from the shadows, never revealing himself.

He, like Lei En, was guarding against a possibly existing Legendary High‑rank Caster, so he held back during the battle.

Strangely, the opponent was nowhere to be seen.

Lei En's Truth Willpower and Soul Eye remained constant, always aware that Kaidejia was concealed half a meter above his head, less than a hundred meters away, yet he could not locate the enemy caster.

"Could they have already retreated?"

Lei En speculated, "After Speaker Kaidejia acted, the opponent is even less likely to emerge."

He gave a slight nod; an Arcane ripple flashed, and the Legendary Eagle Song Hunter Rona Etis was thrown out of the maze, returning from the Ethereal Plane.

The maze technique is not without lethality, and the Ethereal Plane is unsafe.

Rona Etis was besieged by a horde of ghostly beings; he had never faced such bizarre foes—intangible, with limited damage from icy arrows—leaving him battered and disheveled. Suddenly he was sent back to the Prime Material Plane; the cross‑plane travel scrambled his mind, slowing his reactions.

When he saw Lei En standing before him, he snapped to attention, his ghostly soul trembling, and shouted:

"No…"

The desperate cry was cut short as his head was smashed by a hammer.

Duke Feishe and Count Lukuya, upon witnessing the scene, felt a chill in their hearts.

Rona Etis, in Kangjiatuo, was renowned throughout the kingdom—a Mid‑stage Legendary Eagle Song Hunter, second only to the leader of the Snow Eagle Guard, the third figure of the Etis family. He had roamed the kingdom for a century, once leading the Snow Eagle Guard to slay the giant dragon of the Zuo Gengbao family, and now met his end here.

And he died so cleanly; Lei En gave him no chance at all.

In the sky, over a hundred snow eagles circling overhead witnessed their leader's gruesome death and let out mournful cries. They obeyed Rona Etis's pre‑death command to fly higher and farther, retreating immediately if the situation worsened.

Yet some Eagle Song Hunters could not resist, urging their snow eagles to dive and draw their bows.

"Don't go!"

"Run quickly, revenge for Deputy Captain Rona…"

The other Eagle Song Hunters hurriedly warned, but before they could catch up to stop them, a terrifying gunshot rang in their ears.

Clack clack clack clack…

Countless bullets formed sweeping fire lines; turning his head, he saw an Extreme Warrior suddenly riding a flame dragon, closing in and firing from at least six or seven hundred paces away—far beyond the range of his bows—yet the enemy's firepower remained terrifyingly fierce.

In just a few breaths, seven or eight snow eagles diving toward the ground were shredded by bullets, blood and feathers raining down like droplets.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

The Eagle Song Hunters no longer dared to linger in battle, frantically urging their snow eagles, wishing they could sprout an extra pair of wings to fly faster.

As they fled in panic, glancing back, the flame dragon's wings ignited, accelerating its flight faster than their snow eagles; the gap between them shrank rapidly. The Extreme Warrior kept firing, killing roughly one snow eagle per second.

At this rate, within minutes everyone would fall to gunfire.

"Scatter and run! Quickly, scatter!"

The Eagle Song Hunters shouted, and their orderly formation instantly broke, with over a hundred snow eagles scattering in all directions.

The flame dragon roared on, continuing its pursuit; amid the dense gunfire, snow eagle corpses occasionally fell.

Lei En did not watch the aerial combat above; he opened a portal and stepped through.

A few seconds later, when he emerged from the portal back onto the hilltop, he was carrying the massive Prince Dilan in his arms. The legendary Giant Deer Warrior was gravely wounded, his face drenched in blood yet not unconscious; his blood‑shot eyes stared at Lei En as if to kill the enemy with a glance.

Lei En grasped his armor and lifted him, letting him see the battle situation below the mountain.

The Labordil family's Transcendents had already broken into disarray; the Gunwing Knights and Wizards swept bombarding from the air, while Centaurs, the River Bay Legion, and thousands of the Feishe family's Transcendent army surrounded all of the Labordil clan in the forest, conducting a one‑sided slaughter.

Countless drops of blood stained the earth red, and the forest fire painted the sky crimson.

Between heaven and earth roared the dragons, alongside the dying cries of the Labordil family's Transcendents.

Prince Dilan closed his eyes in agony.

Lei En's voice rang in his ear: "I give you two choices: watch your family's army be slaughtered while I smash your head with a hammer like I did to Rona Etis; or submit to Empress Emillise, sparing their lives—including the surviving Giant Deer Warriors and vassal lords—and you will become the new Duke of Labordil."

(End of Chapter)