Real Mount and Blade Game

In an instant, Yang Di felt as if he had been completely drained.

It wasn't just physical strength, but also the severed connection between his soul and this burning land.

He could see the cracked lord core at the center of the twisted ancient tree suddenly darken, and all the immense green energy it contained, like an out-of-control river overflowing, did not flow into the ancient tree, but instead, through the void spiritual link, surged wildly into his own spiritual consciousness!
The immense power of his mind, like a savage invader, assaulted his already collapsing spiritual core, bringing a soul-tearing pain!
"Uhhhhh-!"

Yang Di screamed in agony as his body convulsed under the impact of the energy.

At the same time, an unprecedentedly dazzling green light burst forth from between his eyebrows!
An extremely weak mental signal, amplified by the power of a berserk mind, was launched wildly towards the Wood Elf plane in the darkness!

"found it!"

An almost uncontrollable surge of ecstasy welled up in the elder's mind!

However, just as the light of the spiritual beacon reached its peak, Yang Di was horrified to discover that he could no longer move!

It's not exhaustion, not weakness, but an absolute confinement deeply rooted in the soul!
It was as if he had opened not a beacon, but a "lock" that bound his entire body!
A chilling fear instantly froze his blood, a fear more profound than all the despair he had felt before combined!
"No! Elder! I can't move! What... what's going on? The passage..." Yang Di cried out silently and in extreme terror from the depths of his soul.

"A passage?" The last thing the elder heard in his mind was a chilling, undisguised contempt and mockery: "Fool... this isn't a passage to guide you... this is a harvesting mark... and coordinates!"

The next moment! A sudden change occurred!

A dazzling beam of light, its color indescribable, deeper than green and more eerie than black, carrying energy far exceeding the limits of the dimensional barrier, suddenly tore through the heavy fog and night sky above the Twilight Realm of Balihe!

This beam of light did not come from the sky, but pierced through the dimensional barrier with perfect precision, as if it had forcibly torn open an irregular, huge black hole in the space above!
Like a divine spear of punishment, it ignored spatial distance and precisely enveloped the ancient war tree that was still roaring, struggling, burning, and twisting under the long-range firepower of the Deherim Legion!

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Where the beam of light swept, the ancient war tree's massive, mountain-like wooden trunk, its gnarled and mutated fleshy roots, its wildly burning bark, and even the scorched earth within a certain radius around it... were all wiped away as if by an invisible giant hand!

There was no process, no resistance, only instantaneous disappearance!
The terrifying being that was spewing flames and wielding giant claws just a second ago has vanished without a trace the next second!

The entire core of the burning ruins on which it stood was "dug out," leaving behind a huge, bottomless pit with smooth, charred edges!

The remaining embers and dust, swept up by the powerful airflow, seemed like a lament for this eerie disappearance!

The beam of light appeared briefly and then vanished, as if it had never existed.

The "black hole" that had torn the sky closed up quickly, leaving only a deathly silence on the battlefield below.

In the Deherim Legion's lines, whether it was the cold-blooded commander Fatis, the soldier reprimanding Rezarit who was surrounding the prisoners, the sweating Bandak fiddling with the ballista, or Betuhir who had just fired a rocket, everyone froze the moment the beam of light appeared.

It was a power far beyond human comprehension, carrying a chilling aura of plunder.

Shen Mu's pupils suddenly contracted, and the playful mockery on his face instantly froze, transforming into the deepest fear. The veins on the back of his hand, gripping the reins tightly, bulged.

Even he was stunned by this sudden and unreasonable "harvest"!
And in the ruins located at the edge of the core enveloped by the pillar of light—

Pfft!
A dull thud broke the momentary silence.

Yang Di, covered in blood and looking like a rag doll, was not taken away by the beam of light!

He felt the powerful binding force around him instantly dissipate as the pillar of light disappeared, but his body completely lost all support.

The immense mental power forcibly extracted from his body was like a flood being drained, leaving only a desolate wasteland, indescribable weakness, and excruciating pain as if his limbs were being torn apart.

He fell heavily and without any cushioning from the edge of the pillar of light, from the scorched earth cliff that was ten meters high!

"Pfft—" The violent impact with the ground caused Yang Di's vision to go completely black, and his internal organs seemed to have shifted.

He lay paralyzed on the scalding, blood-soaked, and ashes-covered ground like a dying worm, unable to even groan, only breathing shallowly and exhaling rapidly.

The smoke and dust settled slowly.

At the edge of Yang Di's blurred, out-of-focus, blood-stained vision, he saw—

Not far from where he fell, in a shallow pit almost buried under rubble, lay a mangled, bloodied figure.

On the man's chest, a huge, horrific wound, pierced by a sharp weapon, was still slowly oozing thick, black blood.

Yang Di recognized that face, smeared with blood and as pale as a dead man's, until his death.

It was Zhang Bo, who had been stabbed in the chest by his own hand and should have been dead long ago!

Zhang Bo was clearly also affected by the earth-shattering event just now, being thrown away by the shockwave or hit by falling rocks. His breath was as weak as a candle in the wind, yet miraculously...

It still had its last breath.

Zhang Bo's one eye was covered by a scab of blood, but his other eye was slightly open, filled with an infinite emptiness and the numbness of impending death, as he silently gazed at Yang Di, who had fallen from mid-air and landed not far from him.

There was no resentment, no anger, and not even any focus.

I just...saw it.

The air twisted in the burning embers.

Two former core members of the Green Leaf Group, one ruthlessly abandoned after being completely exploited and betrayed, fell heavily to the ground, near death.

A child, abandoned after having his heart pierced without hesitation by his master, witnesses in despair the same fate of the traitor who was also abandoned.

Separated by only a few meters, on the burning wasteland of the apocalypse, under the shocked and wary gazes of the Deherim Legion, they both fell into the boundless shadow of death.

Zhang Bo's still-focusing, faint gaze became the last sight Yang Di saw before being swallowed by darkness.

The way Yang Di fell like a dead dog was also deeply imprinted in Zhang Bo's last moments of clarity.

Only in the distance, the huge crater left behind after the ancient war tree disappeared, like a hideous wound, silently tells the story of the plunder that just happened, a plunder that transcends mortal comprehension.

A deathly silence hung over the battlefield.

The shock left by that terrifying beam of light that appeared out of nowhere and then vanished just as suddenly struck the hearts of every Deherim soldier like a heavy hammer.

The embers and dust falling from the sky seemed to be singing a silent elegy for this extraordinary scene.

The massive crater's edges were charred and gleaming, smooth as a mirror, as if devoured by an invisible, gigantic maw, silently testifying to the horrifying fact that the ancient tree of war and its foothold had been instantly harvested. The sacred tree steed paced restlessly, snorting loudly.

The relaxed and confident expressions on the faces of Fatis, Bandak, Lezarit, and Bestur had long since frozen and shattered, replaced by a deep-seated horror and solemnity.

Even those who had been through countless battles and were used to life and death had never seen or even imagined such an unreasonable force that disregarded the material world!

Shen Mu remained motionless atop his horse, but deep within his pupils, the shock suddenly ignited by the beam of light was like a flame beneath the ice, instantly bursting forth and then rapidly freezing into the deepest apprehension.

His knuckles, gripping the reins, were white from excessive force, almost embedded in the tough leather.

That power... cold, precise, efficient, and ruthless!
It wasn't for support, nor for revenge, it was solely for... plunder!
With a clear objective, they seized the ancient tree of war and even took away a large area of ​​its surrounding material foundation!

This form of power, this absolute dominion over space and matter, has exceeded his understanding of the rules of the current world.

"Then...what the hell is that?!"

Bandak's voice broke the silence, hoarse and trembling with lingering fear, as he stared intently at the enormous, bottomless pit in front of him, as if the black hole could open again at any moment to devour everything.

Cold sweat seeped from the gaps in Rezarit's heavy armor, and he used all his willpower to suppress the trembling in his voice: "Power beyond the norm... it's definitely not a wood elf! No, it might not even come from any plane or being we know of!"

He had witnessed the power of mages and the sheer scale of the necromantic calamity, but none of them possessed the characteristic of "erasing" something by ignoring all physical rules and directly targeting the essence of the target.

"Lord Lord!"

Bestur's voice carried the characteristic vigilance of the Khergit as he pointed to the spot in the sky where the pillar of light had vanished: "That 'hole'... that tearing sensation! It's definitely not just a simple passage! We..."

"Alert! High alert!"

Shen Mu's icy voice, like a polar wind, instantly cut off the shocked whispers of all the generals.

All eyes—those of surprise, lingering fear, and tension—instantly converged on him.

Shen Mu's gaze, like the sharpest probe, had completely shifted from the initial shock, becoming as sharp as a hawk's, locking onto two locations outside the beam of light's reach but at its edge—two pools of "trash" lying amidst charred blood and wreckage.

Below a cliff at the edge of a deep pit.

Yang Di lay there like a tattered rag, covered in blood and grime, his limbs twisted grotesquely, with only faint, intermittent twitches indicating that he was still clinging to his last breath.

His only remaining focus was in his eyes, the pupils of which were unfocused, filled with utter bewilderment and a sense of complete abandonment.

The beam of light took away all his struggles, his prized trump cards, and even the last vestige of his power as a lord, leaving only a broken, drained shell.

In another location, a little further away, was Zhang Bo, his chest a bloody mess.

He lay on his side amidst rubble and ashes, the wound on his chest a horrific sight, further compounded by the shockwave of the explosion.

His last vestige of consciousness, like a candle in the wind, blurred his vision and landed precisely in the direction where Yang Di had fallen.

There was no anger, no resentment, only a deathly emptiness. Yang Di's falling posture, like a dead dog, became the last blurry image he saw before his consciousness sank into darkness.

irony!

A deadly irony!
A person betrayed by themselves, who pierced their own heart and then abandoned them.

A being ruthlessly drained and abandoned by the plane to which one serves, treated as a pawn.

Two figures who once stirred up the storm in Balihe, now at the end of their lives, separated by a small patch of burning ruins, silently witness each other's final and most complete defeat.

"call--"

A gust of scorching night wind swept by, carrying with it a heavy stench of blood and burnt flesh, and an indescribable, cold, hollow feeling of lingering space.

"My lord?" Fatis asked in a low voice, his right hand still gripping the hilt of his sword. Under his silent command, the elite of the Holy Tree Knights had quietly formed a tighter semi-circle, completely protecting Shen Mu in the center.

The Holy Tree Knights no longer looked wary of the wood elves or undead, but instead scanned the sky with a solemn expression, as if guarding against divine punishment that might descend again at any moment.

"Bandak!"

Shen Mu's voice regained absolute control, but it was colder and harder than before, like quenched iron.

"Yes, sir!" Bandak straightened up abruptly, trying to suppress the shock in his heart.

"Move forward immediately! Thoroughly search the area around the beam of light, especially those two things!"

Shen Mu slightly raised his chin, pointing in the direction of Yang Di and Zhang Bo, his tone devoid of any warmth: "Confirm whether they still have a breath left! Especially Zhang Bo, who is lying in the pile of rubble! I want him alive! Even if he only has a sliver of breath left, keep him alive!"

“Understood!” Bandak replied.

He turned, his rough roar tearing through the silence: "Get those two bastards out of there! Medic! Grab your weapons and follow them!"

"Rezarit!"

"grown ups!"

"Maintain maximum alert! All ranged units, nock your crossbows, load your ballistae and prepare to fire! Do not attack the pit without my order!"

Shen Mu's order was firm and decisive: "Notify the rear reserve teams, especially all spellcaster units! Immediately move towards the core of the battlefield! I need them to conduct the most thorough detection and analysis of the energy residue from earlier! Don't overlook any clues!"

"Yes! Lord Lord!"

“Bestur!” Shen Mu’s gaze turned to the Kujit man.

“My lord! Bestur is at your service at any time!” Bestur bowed, pressing his hand to his chest.

"Your mounted archers, double their patrol range! Closely monitor all areas surrounding the village! Any unusual distortions, light and shadows, or unknown fluctuations in energy, no matter how slight, sound the alarm immediately! Remember, the highest level of alarm!"

“Yes, sir! My eyes and my scimitar will clear away all unknown threats for you!” Bestur’s eyes were sharp, and with a wave of his hand, the Khergit scattered like arrows.

A series of commands meshed like cold gears, and the Deherime war machine quickly resumed operation from its shock, but the atmosphere was now completely different. (End of Chapter)