Chapter 608: Tiezhu
The outer walls of Blood Nest No. 1 are no longer recognizable as their original color.
For three whole days, the army of Fenghuo Territory surged like a tide, wave after wave crashing against the blood-soaked fortress.
Beneath the western city wall, corpses lay piled upon piles, Qin warriors and Qin garrison soldiers lying together, some still in the posture of charging forward.
The moat had long been filled with corpses and rubble, making it impossible to discern its original depth.
The wrecked Three Fiends Cloud Piercing Ballista lay askew below the city, its axle broken, and unfired arrows still stuck in the crossbow slots.
But the soldiers of Fenghuoling were still pouring in from behind.
They stepped over the wrecked ballistae, trampled over the corpses of their comrades, and, under the cover of the still-usable Three Fiends Piercing Clouds ballistae, charged back towards the city wall.
Arrows rained down from the city walls, striking their raised shields with a clanging sound.
Someone had just been shot and fallen when someone else took his place.
"Don't stop! If you stop, you'll be a sitting duck!" a centurion yelled, his voice breaking amidst the shouts of battle.
The ladder truck was pushed to the base of the wall and slammed against the battlements with a "bang".
Just as a soldier put his sword in his mouth and stepped onto the ladder, a huge rock crashed down from the city wall.
The ladder shattered, and he fell to the base of the wall along with it, but the ladder truck behind him kept pushing forward, and new ladders were continuously erected on the city wall.
Soldiers surged in from behind, wave after wave, as if they would never be killed.
Above the sky, the number of Icewing Griffins has dwindled from the initial 2,500 to less than 1,500.
Of the five hundred generals, more than half were killed in action, and only sixty or so captains and commanders remained.
But the situation wasn't much better on the other side; Mo Lingyuan's numbers were reduced from 1,300 to less than 500.
Of the 378 grandmasters, only a little over 190 remain.
Even so, the two air forces continued to fight each other repeatedly below the clouds.
An ice-winged griffin, pierced through the abdomen by the Blood Fist, plummeted from a height of three hundred meters with a mournful cry. The thousand men on its back clung tightly to the reins, but ultimately crashed into the army on the ground, beast and all.
boom!
The sounds of flesh and armor shattering were swallowed up by the clamor of the battlefield.
The soldiers charging around them did not stop; the front-line garrison soldiers crossed the spot where the griffin had fallen and continued to advance.
No one looked back, because the ground battle was far more brutal than the one in the air.
"Charge! Charge! Charge!"
Zhao Tiezhu roared, his legs already numb.
He was an ordinary infantryman in the 37th Battalion of the Beacon Fire Guard.
Three days ago, when he first saw Blood Nest No. 1, he thought it was just an ordinary city.
Now he feels that it is the entrance to hell.
Six waves of attacking troops, rotating every four hours, day and night.
This was the third time he had rushed up. The first two times, he was carried down once and fell off the ladder once, but luckily there were bodies underneath him, so he didn't die.
He survived twice, but Zhao Tiezhu himself didn't know if he could survive a third time.
"Crossbow carts, provide cover!"
A roar came from behind.
Three working crossbow carts fired simultaneously, their nine thick iron spears tearing through the air and crashing into the city wall with a piercing shriek.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several large holes were blasted open in the city wall, and rubble flew everywhere. Several disciples of the Blood Abyss Demon Sect were pierced by iron spears and fell from the city wall with screams.
"Flying Tiger Rope!"
Someone below the city waved a command flag, and three Flying Tiger grappling hooks simultaneously launched their grappling hooks.
The hook, forged from black iron, shot into the sky, dragging a hundred-meter-long winch. With a clang, it pierced half a meter below the battlement, and the winch instantly taut, buzzing in the wind.
"Jump!"
Zhao Tiezhu followed the veteran in front and grabbed the noose.
He took a deep breath, fastened the round shield to his left arm, gripped the bronze sword tightly in his right hand, and slammed his foot onto the noose.
The veteran in front had already darted five or six meters ahead, moving forward as if he were on the ground.
Zhao Tiezhu gritted his teeth and followed behind him. Every time his foot stepped on the rope, the rope would sink slightly and then quickly spring back.
He dared not look at his feet, only staring at the back of the veteran in front of him.
The wind whistled past my ears, and all around me were densely packed comrades, like a string of black dots racing wildly on the noose, one layer higher than the next, as if they were going to cover the entire city wall.
"Whoosh!"
A streak of crimson energy shot down from the city wall.
A soldier next to Zhao Tiezhu was struck squarely in the chest, instantly burning a fist-sized hole in his chest.
The man didn't even utter a sound before his body swayed and he fell off the noose, disappearing into the crowd below.
"Don't look! Keep running!" the veteran in front shouted without turning his head.
Zhao Tiezhu thrust his shield forward and moved even faster.
The veteran soldier was the first to leap onto the city wall. He pushed off with one foot at the end of the noose, and his whole body soared into the air. Before he even landed, his leg swept out, kicking the nearest demonic sect disciple to the ground.
Zhao Tiezhu jumped up right after him.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he was so shocked by the sight before him that his pupils contracted sharply.
The city walls were covered in blood, corpses, and people tangled together, their eyes bloodshot from the bloodshed.
A disciple of the Demonic Sect raised his hand and pointed a finger. The red light of the 【Blood Qi Finger】 pierced through the armor of a Qin warrior, melting a fist-sized hole in the armor and flesh together.
Another demonic sect disciple used his five hook-like fingers to tear open the shoulder armor of a warrior with his 【Blood Coagulation Claw】. Bloodlust energy seeped into the wound, and the man's face turned deathly pale instantly, with blood seeping out uncontrollably.
"Don't stand there! Stay close to me!" The veteran's voice, mixed with the shouts of battle, pulled Zhao Tiezhu back like a rope.
He quickly raised his shield and followed, but the next second, a blood-red blade slammed into the shield, sending sparks flying.
Zhao Tiezhu's arm went numb, and he was forced back two steps by the blow. Looking down, he saw a charred knife mark on the shield.
"kill!"
He swung his sword backhand and stabbed at the nearest disciple of the Demonic Sect.
The sword tip pierced three inches into the opponent's ribs, but the man only glanced down before unleashing a 【Blood Coagulation Claw】 strike at his wrist.
Zhao Tiezhu felt as if his wrist bone was being clamped by an iron clamp, and his entire right arm instantly lost its strength. His long sword slipped from his hand and fell into a pool of blood.
Before he could react, the demonic sect disciple's knee had already slammed into his abdomen, causing him to bend forward like a shrimp.
Then, a 【Bone-Crushing Whip Kick】 swept in.
The kick struck the side of his knee, the hidden force penetrating deep into his bone.
Zhao Tiezhu heard a cracking sound from his leg bone, and felt a piercing pain below his knee, as if someone had smashed it from the inside.
He groaned and fell backward.
"Is that all you've got? You dare to charge up here?"
The demonic sect disciple strode up and struck him in the chest with a palm.
Zhao Tiezhu crashed into the battlement like a tattered sack, his head hitting the back of the wall with a "buzz," and his vision filled with golden sparks.
His breastplate was dented, and several ribs were broken at the same time. The pain was so intense that even breathing felt like swallowing razor blades.
With his mouth full of blood, he used his last bit of strength to prop himself up and lunge at the waist of the demonic sect disciple.
【Blood Shadow Step】
The demonic sect disciple appeared behind him like a line of blood.
"Still not dead?"
A heavy elbow struck Zhao Tiezhu on the back of the neck.
His vision went black, and he fell to his knees. The next moment, a foot stepped on his back, pressing him firmly against the battlement.
The cold city bricks pressed against half of his face, and he heard another crack on the back of his neck.
"In your next life, don't come and attack my city."
The demonic sect disciple finished speaking expressionlessly and was about to exert force with his feet.
Zhao Tiezhu's vision was beginning to blur.
The last thing he saw was the ice-winged griffins still falling from the sky, like silver fireballs.
On the city wall, soldiers from the Beacon Fire Territory continued to pour up, as if they could never be killed off.
"Damn it, you just wait."
He grinned, and then darkness descended.