Chapter 83: The Unyielding Shield

This entity seemed to be endless, more appearing even after countless were slain. Qian Ye’s heart surged with a killing intent as he strode forward.

Qing Yue, who was nearby, couldn’t help but gasp in shock and called out, “What are you doing? Have you gone mad?”

The ironclad warriors swarmed like a black tide, rushing towards Qian Ye. At first glance, their momentum seemed to swallow the sky!

But Qian Ye’s combat skills were nearly perfected. His steps, fast and slow, deftly threaded through the gaps between the front-line ironclad warriors, placing him at their center. For a brief moment, all the ironclad warriors’ movements froze, but for powerhouses like Qian Ye and Qing Yue, this fleeting instant was enough to do many things. The heavy sword in Qian Ye’s hand suddenly became weightless, dancing erratically, and in a blink, had severed seven or eight legs around him.

Qian Ye’s leg-slaying was meticulous, severing only one leg from each warrior. As a result, though the ironclad warriors could still fight, their combat power plummeted, less than half of their original strength. Even the city guards could now handle them by overwhelming numbers.

On the other side of the battlefield, Qing Yue’s eyes turned cold. She immediately adjusted the cannon, aiming at the enemy’s frontline, and began to sweep.

Her side was facing the armies under the command of Spider Emperor and Wolf King. Although there were many, most were ordinary level one or two soldiers. For them, Qing Yue’s multi-barreled Vulcan cannon became an unstoppable weapon of mass destruction.

As the barrels reached the predetermined speed, a deafening roar filled the air, and streams of metal coalesced into a fire dragon, sweeping across the entire offensive line of the enemy. Everything in the path of the fiery stream, whether buildings or flesh and blood, was flattened and shattered!

In moments, the barrels of the Vulcan cannon turned red. Though Qing Yue was reluctant, she had to stop firing. In front of her, what was once a chaotic shantytown was now a barren plain, with broken wood, bricks, and mangled bodies forming a macabre new ground.

The Vulcan cannon in Qing Yue’s hands was a special model, even more powerful than the ship-mounted version. A single shot from it would turn any low-level soldier to dust, leaving no trace of a whole body.

The enemy’s offensive line had been decimated, and in just one round of firing, hundreds of soldiers lay dead. While the cannon’s power was a factor, Qing Yue’s exceptional marksmanship was the main reason.

Instantly, the enemy’s morale plummeted to its lowest point. The survivors either stood dumbfounded or turned and fled, halting the offensive.

After venting her fury, Qing Yue felt a bit proud and turned to look at Qian Ye, only to see his retreating figure. In the place where he had stood, ironclad warriors lay strewn, all missing a leg and struggling to move, colliding with each other and falling over.

To Qing Yue, these were sitting ducks, perfect targets for the Vulcan cannon. Yet, she felt no joy. The multitude of ironclad warriors that had driven her back were effortlessly defeated by Qian Ye, not even forcing him to show his true strength. Moreover, slaughtering these half-disabled foes was far from satisfying.

“Damn it! In your eyes, am I only good for dealing with these cripples? If not for this accursed place, how could you think so little of me!” Qing Yue gritted her teeth.

At that moment, Su Yueyuan’s voice rang out, “Lady Qing Yue, I’m here to assist you!”

Su Yueyuan landed beside Qing Yue and scanned the battlefield, instantly shocked. With his strength, the casualties among the low-ranking soldiers did not surprise him. What truly astonished him was the group of ironclad warriors still struggling to get up.

“Who did this?” Su Yueyuan’s face grew serious. Having watched the battle, he knew the ironclad warriors were tough, even he couldn’t take down so many in one go.

“I don’t know!” Qing Yue clearly didn’t want to answer, and her Vulcan cannon roared again, mercilessly cutting down the half-disabled ironclad warriors.

Su Yueyuan, taking the hint, ceased his questioning, raised his spear, and systematically killed the fallen ironclad warriors. By the time he finished, he was slightly breathless. These hulking creatures had incredible defense and vitality, making them difficult to kill even when down. Unaware of their weak points, Su Yueyuan often needed two or three spears to finish off one, and even a dozen was a strain on him.

Qing Yue had already exhausted her ammunition, and the followers quickly replaced the barrels and ammunition. Using this rare respite, Su Yueyuan looked at the pile of ironclad warrior corpses and sighed, “I wonder who could be so formidable, crippling so many ironclad warriors.”

“I don’t know.” Qing Yue replied tersely.

At that moment, the masked man slapped the armrest, and the Spider Emperor’s throne crumbled to dust, even the floor beneath him shattered. The masked man, unaffected, floated in the air, maintaining his upright posture.

One by one, the spider demons, blood clan, and others in the command cabin fell, cowed by his rage and murderous intent. Only a few of the strongest remained standing.

“How could so many puppet warriors be lost!?”

A trembling blood clan member replied, “Please calm down, my lord! I don’t know. But we’ve lost contact with at least seven hundred.”

“Could it be Su Dingqian’s secret maneuver?”

The masked man snorted, coldly saying, “Not him. He wouldn’t have hidden it from me.”

“Then it must be Liu Daoming. That old fox is always cunning, possibly hiding some formidable means.”

The masked man fell silent, then said, “If so, let all the strong ones advance!”

Though it wasn’t the best time for the strong to strike, with the city in chaos, Su Dingqian’s familiarity with the terrain, and the presence of the Divine General, any slight advantage could tip the scales. Some of the uniquely powerful figures were yet to act. Those entering the city were mostly cannon fodder and desperate souls.

However, the heavy losses of the ironclad puppet warriors had obviously worn thin on the masked man’s patience, and he sent all the available strong ones to the battlefield. No one dared to dissuade him, fearing his wrath.

Soon, the command cabin was nearly empty. The crystal spider’s eyes glowed again, and the Spider Emperor’s consciousness crossed over, saying, “Mask, don’t be rash.”

The masked man snorted, coldly replying, “I want to visit Lian Gang City.”

“Now isn’t the time to show our cards. On the contrary, we can’t force Su Dingqian to show his. We need to make him believe that holding Lian Gang City is temporary, that he has a chance to reclaim it. If we slaughter his subordinates and children, it will only provoke a crazed Divine General, to our detriment.”

“But the loss of the ironclad puppet warriors…”

The Spider Emperor spoke meaningfully, “Any loss, no matter how great, is limited. Even if they’re all destroyed, it’s nothing compared to our grand plan. Don’t forget, this is about our advancement. Once we cross this threshold, the sky will be boundless.”

The masked man seemed moved, snorting and slowly sitting down. The chair and floor beneath him were shattered, but a chill surged, coalescing into dark ice, forming an icy throne.

The Spider Emperor breathed a sigh of relief, saying, “Let’s send my war beasts too, to put more pressure on him and prevent any unforeseen changes.”

The masked man nodded slowly.

Under the night sky, the mighty war beasts’ roars echoed again, and the earth trembled with their footsteps. Countless floating boats, risking destruction, landed near the city walls, and a flood of soldiers rushed out, charging towards Lian Gang City.

The city’s defenses were on the brink of collapse, and Qian Ye, fighting in the inner city, felt the pressure increase. Looking towards the outskirts, he could faintly see the heads of the two war beasts.

“Sending out the war beasts again?” Qian Ye felt a dark foreboding, knowing the enemy was launching a full-scale assault to capture Lian Gang City in one go.

Qian Ye leaped, charging towards a group of ironclad warriors. The ironclad warriors, unable to distinguish friend from foe, left a vast area open. Additionally, these war machines were clearly the enemy’s main force. From experience, Qian Ye could tell they were costly. If Su Dingqian didn’t intervene, Lian Gang City was doomed, and amidst the chaos, he had to kill more to lighten the future burden.

Qian Ye dealt with the ironclad warriors with ease. With his domain, a single swing of Dongyue could sever a cluster of legs, incapacitating them faster than individual kills. Handling these half-crippled war puppets afterward was also problematic.

In moments, Qian Ye had dispatched dozens more ironclad warriors. As he charged towards the next battlefield, he suddenly halted, his upper body bizarrely tilting back, narrowly dodging a sniper bullet enveloped in gray mist.

Before Qian Ye, the heavily armored knight appeared again. He stared at Qian Ye, coldly saying, “Enjoying the killing, are we?”

Qian Ye glanced in the direction of the sniper bullet, unsurprisingly not seeing the gray shadow. The gray shadow’s sniping skills were top-notch, and his concealment was even more gifted; he wouldn’t be easily discovered. However, he must have chosen a new vantage point, waiting for Qian Ye to make a mistake.

“Don’t bother looking, he won’t be found. You haven’t answered my question. Enjoying the killing tonight, are you?”

“Of course,” Qian Ye replied.

The knight glanced at the struggling ironclad warriors, his anger evident even without seeing his expression: “Good. It seems most of the puppet warriors fell to you. Since that’s the case, you won’t leave alive tonight. Unbreakable Shield!”

The primal shield reappeared, and the knight held it, immovable as a mountain. Yet, he felt a twinge of confusion as Qian Ye did not wield the powerful seventh-grade gun, but instead, lifted a seemingly ordinary longsword.