Real Mount and Blade Game

The resonant pulse of the "harp seat" echoed deep within the ancestral tomb, like a stone thrown into a stagnant pool, instantly breaking the solidified stalemate.

The pulsation of the abyss core suddenly stopped, and the filthy black mist connected to it twisted violently. The massive bodies of the abyssal gnolls, who were frantically surging into the battlefield, dripping corrosive slime from their fangs, suddenly stiffened, their movements fatally halted, and a brief moment of confusion and bewilderment appeared in their scarlet pupils.

The new wave of abyssal wreckage surging out from the crack in the ancestral tomb was thrown into disarray.

However, this precious pause, this tactical window that Shen Mu meticulously calculated and forcibly tore open with the "harp seat," was fleeting.

"Roar--!!!"

Originating from the depths of the abyss's black core, a roar brimming with blasphemy and endless resentment, like the wailing of billions of souls being crushed mixed with the fury of an ancient beast, suddenly exploded!
The sound wave carried a substantial impact, causing the ancestral tomb's massive stones to shed dust. Even with the faint protection of the "Thorn Garden," the human alliance soldiers felt a stinging pain in their eardrums and their blood churning.

The condensed air was completely ignited.

Within that black mist, the countless grotesque gnoll-men pseudo-gods and monsters—mountains of flesh piled high with blood and blood, giant worms with many legs and bone spurs, tyrants with towering fangs, monsters with pustules on their backs spewing poisonous rain—lost their confusion in their pupils, replaced by a more ferocious, almost insane, destructive desire stimulated by the "Harp Seat."

Their target was clearly locked behind the thorny barrier that exuded a strong sense of life and the light of order, and on the human commander who stood at the command node, radiating a cold aura!

Shen Mu.

"They're here! Hold on!" Commander Bandak's hoarse roar exploded in the [Tallinn] network, instantly spreading throughout the entire army.

Without probing or adjusting formations, the Abyss's attack, like a filthy torrent bursting its banks, carried a nauseating stench and soul-polluting howls, crashing headlong into the human alliance's defenses in the most primal and savage mass charge!
"Boom! Boom boom boom—!"

The front-line, flesh-mountain-type pseudo-god abominations, like out-of-control chariots, ignored the icy arrows hastily fired by the Vaegir archers and crashed headfirst into the tower shield wall hastily erected by the Swadian heavy infantry.

The deafening impact was accompanied by the groaning of the twisted shield and the muffled thud of bones shattering.

The immense impact struck the front-line soldiers as if they had been hit by a heavy hammer, sending them flying backward, spitting out blood. The sturdy tower shield array was instantly dented and cracked.

Closely following behind were the multi-legged bone worms, pseudo-divine abominations, which emerged like ghosts from the gaps or sides of the mountain of flesh, their sharp bone spikes carrying a filthy black light, fiercely piercing the gaps in the soldiers' armor.

The succubus with pustules on its back spewed out large amounts of corrosive poisonous rain from behind, which landed on the shield and the ground with a terrifying "sizzling" sound and billowing smoke.

The fanged tyrant wielded its massive bone blade, each swing sending up a storm of blood and gore. Centipede-like pseudo-gods emitted piercing, soul-piercing screams, attempting to confuse the soldiers' minds.

The fierce battle instantly reached its climax! The power, speed, and corrosive influence of the Abyssal False God Abomination on life and order far surpassed those of ordinary Abyssal wretches. The roars of human soldiers, the screams of the dying, the clang of clashing weapons, the cracking of bones, the roar of energy explosions... all intertwined in an instant into a symphony of death.

The defensive line shook violently under the onslaught, as if it were about to collapse completely at any moment.

"Spear Formation—! Steel Thorns, Stand Firm!" Shen Mu's icy voice pierced through the battlefield's clamor, precisely imprinting itself in the minds of every soldier involved through the [Tallinn] network.

The Swadian heavy infantry and the veteran Rhodok spearmen, who had already spontaneously retreated and converged towards the center during the fierce fighting, moved upon receiving the order!

This is an instinct formed through countless bloody battles, and it is also a manifestation of absolute trust in the commander.

"Ho!" With a deafening shout, the surviving Swadian soldiers suddenly closed the gaps in their shields, slamming the tower shields into the blood-soaked soil. The tenons on the edges of the shields clicked shut, instantly forming a tighter, outward-sloping steel wall.

In the gaps and behind this "Wall of Sighs," the Rhodok spearmen displayed their unparalleled "spear-fighting" skills!
It wasn't a chaotic, disorganized thrust, but a precise, mechanical coordination. The spearmen in the front ranks crouched, steadily thrusting their four-meter-long, heavy armor-piercing spears, their tips gleaming with purifying runes, at nearly a forty-five-degree angle through pre-drilled holes in the shields or gaps between the shields!

The spears in the second and third rows advance in succession, with the angles gradually increasing.

In the blink of an eye, in front of the crumbling infantry defense line, a "steel thorn jungle" composed of densely packed, gleaming spear tips suddenly took shape!
The rules of the "Bitter Garden" were activated to their fullest extent at this moment! Visible pale golden energy veins flowed and converged along the soldiers' armor and weapons, eventually wrapping around the forest of spear tips.

Each spear seemed to come alive, spewing forth incomparably sharp and purifying blades, forming a death zone covering a fan-shaped area in front.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft—!"

The false god abominations charging at the forefront, whether they were the flesh mountain trying to smash through the shield wall with their immense strength, the bone worms trying to exploit the gaps with their speed, or the tyrant wielding bone blades, all crashed headlong into this deadly "steel thorns" without any warning!
The armor-piercing spear, imbued with the power of "root purification," easily tore through the tough, filthy skin and corrupted muscles of the abyss monsters.

The power of purification surged wildly into the wound, like a scalding iron being plunged into grease, emitting a sizzling sound. Foul-smelling black smoke rose into the sky along with the shrill howl of the false god.

A multi-legged bone worm was pierced by seven or eight spears at the same time, pinned to the ground, its filthy bodily fluids splattering. It struggled but could not break free, and could only be repeatedly pierced by the tips of subsequent spears.

A tyrant attempting to leap over the front shield wall was precisely pierced through the waist and abdomen by a spear thrust from the side, its massive body crashing down and crushing its brethren beneath it.

This "steel jungle" is not static.

It was like a living millstone, its angle subtly shifting with the intensity of the pseudo-divine abominations' impact under Shen Mu's precise micro-management of the [Tallinn] network. The front-line soldiers gritted their teeth, bracing their shields against the immense force of the impact; the rear-line spearmen, like cold killing machines, followed commands, thrusting out, retracting, and thrusting out again in perfect unison!

Each synchronized thrust was accompanied by the fall or severe injury of a group of abyssal monsters.

The spear formation acted like a giant flesh and blood filter, forcibly slowing down, shredding, and filtering the surging torrent of filth, buying precious time for the rear ranged strike forces to regroup and deliver their attacks.

The roar of the Rhodok Heavy Radiant Burst Crossbows rang out once more, this time targeting the cluster of pseudo-divine abominations that had been slowed and squeezed together by the spear formation.

Purifying Arrows explode in dense enemy ranks, amplifying their effect! The Vaegir Archer's Frost Arrows precisely target agile targets attempting to disrupt the gun formation from the flanks or rear.

After paying a heavy price, the pressure on the main battlefield was finally barely contained by this tenacious "steel thorns".

The soldiers' armor was already covered in blood and bits of flesh, their feet sinking into sticky, bloody mud. Every breath carried a heavy stench of gunpowder and grime, yet their eyes remained cold, their arms gripping their weapons so tightly that veins bulged. This was a battle of will against steel, humanity's last bulge built with flesh and blood amidst the raging tide of the abyss.

Just as the human spear formations and the abyssal pseudo-gods were locked in a fierce battle amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, a new anomaly occurred in the tunnel area behind the human allied forces' defensive line, which had been sealed off by the gray mist of the Seventh Dynasty.

The surging, lead-gray necromantic mist did not dissipate; instead, it continued to condense and compress deep within the tunnel behind.

From within the gray fog, countless skeletal warriors and archers rose anew from the shattered earth and ashes. Instead of charging frantically at the human defenses as before, they silently and mechanically arranged themselves into formation.

There were no roars, no howls, only the teeth-grinding "crack" of bones rubbing together.

Under the shroud of gray fog, a massive square formation made of stark white bones slowly took shape behind the human alliance.

Skeleton warriors led the way, wielding rusted swords and tattered bone shields, while skeletal archers followed behind, carrying bone bows that exuded a decaying aura.

Gray mist swirled above them, forming a huge, blurry silhouette of a skeletal giant. Its cold gaze pierced through the mist, calmly "watching" the life-or-death struggle between humanity and the abyss ahead.

There was no camaraderie in that gaze, only an eternal, unchanging coldness originating from death itself.

A kind of indifference...waiting to be harvested.

This scene was clearly transmitted to the hearts of every human commander and soldier through the [Tallinn] network and the soldiers' peripheral vision.

"My lord! Rear! Undead...undead phalanx!" A Khergit scout responsible for guarding the rear shouted over the comms, his voice trembling slightly.

The fear of being attacked from both sides instantly spread a crack in the hearts of the exhausted soldiers.

"They're waiting! Just like we watched them being swallowed by the abyss! These treacherous skeletons!" Major Kalanzo's voice was filled with rage, the purifying light of the Holy Tree Knights surging around him, evaporating an Abyssal wretched that lunged at him. The gazes of the generals, including Bandak and Legolas, also sharpened instantly, looking towards the silent, ominous gray mist formation behind them.

The situation instantly became extremely perilous—ahead lay a raging torrent of abyssal pseudo-gods, while behind them lurked an unknown, menacing army of undead. The human alliance was caught in the middle, facing the constant threat of being crushed by these two destructive forces.

Just as this suffocating sense of despair began to quietly grow, and the soldiers were both furious and chilled by the "breach of promise" by the dead, Shen Mu, in the command center, curled up a clearly visible, icy, and piercing smile.

There was no anger or surprise in that smile, only a contemptuous look that suggested he had already seen through everything and was manipulating his opponent.

His gaze didn't linger on the skeletal formation behind him for even a second longer, as if it were just an eyesore of garbage.

A clear, mocking laugh echoed through the [Tallinn] network, reaching the ears of all the human generals. The sound, like an ice pick, instantly pierced the pervasive panic.

Immediately following, Shen Mu's cold and decisive command, like a clarion call of judgment, resounded across the battlefield:
"Heavy cavalry group—target, the undead phalanx behind!"

"Swadian Knights, Holy Tree Knights, Swadian Heavy Cavalry—a clustered cone-shaped assault formation!"

"Target: Core node of the Bone Array!"

"Charge! Crush them! Now!"

The moment the order was given, the entire battlefield seemed to freeze for a moment.

The skeletal warriors standing guard in the rear seemed to flicker with the soul fire in their eye sockets, conveying a signal of doubt—they were still waiting for the abyss to break through the human defenses, or for the humans to be exhausted before launching a fatal blow. They had no idea that the humans would, while enduring the abyss's main force's fierce attack, turn their most elite striking force directly at them!

The heavy cavalry unit that was specifically ordered by Shen Mu did not hesitate at all!

This unit had been on standby and resting on the flank of the battlefield; it was Shen Mu's last and sharpest reserve force.

The Swadian knights are clad in the heaviest plate armor, and even their warhorses are adorned with gleaming horse armor; they are the embodiment of steel and discipline.

The Holy Tree Knights were enveloped in a soft, purifying holy light, their weapons and armor inscribed with restraining runes. The Swadian heavy cavalry followed closely behind, equally armed to the teeth, like mobile steel fortresses.

"For order! Purify the filth!" The roar of the Holy Tree Knight, Kalanzo, became a battle horn. He raised his longsword, burning with holy flames, and led the Holy Tree Knights to the very tip of the cone formation!

"Swadia—Forward!" the commander of the Swadia Knights roared like thunder.

“Rumble——!!!”

The horses' hooves pounded the earth, a mixture of flesh and bone, producing a dull, thunderous roar.

With the Holy Tree Knights as the spearhead, the Swadian Knights as the flanks, and the Swadian heavy cavalry as the solid foundation, a massive heavy cavalry force erupted like a dormant volcano, coalescing into an unstoppable torrent of steel in the narrow passageway!

With an indomitable spirit, they stirred up a whirlwind of death, their target being the seemingly orderly but actually composed of low-level skeletal warriors in the rear!
The skeletal formation clearly had not anticipated such a swift and decisive attack.

As the deafening sound of iron hooves approached in an instant, and as the array of lances, gleaming with holy light and the cold glint of steel, pointed at them like a spear of judgment, the colossal skeletal figures in the gray mist seemed to tremble violently.

The skeletal archers hastily drew their bone bows and fired scattered bone arrows, each imbued with a weakening curse.

However, when these bone arrows struck the thick tower shields or fine full plate armor of the Swadian knights, they mostly only sparked a few fireballs or made a crisp "clinking" sound before being deflected, and could not penetrate at all!
The few bone arrows that struck the horses were either blocked by the horse armor or caused only minor damage, failing to slow down the terrifying charge in the slightest.

The skeletal warriors instinctively raised their tattered bone shields, attempting to form a bone wall.

But when faced with the Purifying Edge of the Holy Tree Knights led by Kalanzo, this bone wall was as fragile as paper!
"Holy Light - Judgment!"

The Holy Tree Knights at the forefront roared in unison, their lances or longswords bursting forth with dazzling purifying light, like red-hot irons piercing the snow!
"laugh--!!!"

There were no violent collisions, only a chilling sound of dissolving. The purifying holy light, imbued with the power of the very essence of order, possessed near-absolute restraint over the death energy that constituted the skeletal warriors!
The bone shields of the skeletal warriors began to crumble and vaporize the moment the holy light touched them!
Their sturdy bones were like rotten wood before the Holy Light Lance, easily pierced and crushed!
The Holy Tree Knights, as the tip of the cone, melted into the front row of the skeleton formation without any hindrance, like a hot knife cutting through butter!

The Swadian knights who followed closely behind displayed pure, physical destructive power.

The heavily armored warhorse, carrying terrifying impact energy, slammed into the gap torn open by the holy light.

"Bang! Crack—!"

The skeletal warriors' formation collapsed completely in the face of the steel torrent.

The heavy warhorses, like battering rams, smashed swarms of skeletal warriors to pieces, their iron hooves mercilessly trampling the broken bones on the ground.

The Swadian knights held their sharp lances level, using the momentum of their horses to easily pierce and send the skeletal warriors in front of them flying like skewers of candied hawthorns!
Even if their spears broke, they would immediately draw their heavy two-handed knight's swords or maces and slash left and right, each swing accompanied by large pieces of bone shattering!
The Swadian heavy cavalry followed closely behind, crushing the positions torn apart by the vanguard like steamrollers, utterly pulverizing any skeletons that attempted to reassemble.

The Khergit veteran horse archers darted swiftly along the flanks, their precise arrows striking the high-ranking undead nodes in the gray mist that were attempting to reassemble their skeletons or command them, completely severing any possibility of the skeleton army regrouping.

Massacre! A one-sided massacre!

The phalanx, mainly composed of low-level skeletal warriors and archers, was utterly powerless against the mass charge of humanity's most elite and heaviest heavy cavalry.

They lack the terrifying power and resistance to filth of the Abyssal False Gods, and they lack flexible and varied tactics; they are only vulnerable to being crushed by absolute power.

The cracking sound of bones shattering became the main theme at the rear of the battlefield, as the leaden gray necromantic mist was torn apart by the soaring holy light and the torrent of steel.

The suspended, gigantic skeletal shadow thinned amidst its silent roars of anger and resentment, eventually dissipating temporarily.

Shen Mu stood at the command node, coldly watching the undead formation behind him rapidly collapse and turn into a pile of broken bones and ashes, his eyes showing no fluctuation.

What kind of alliance is this?

From the moment the Black Emperor attempted to exploit the undead for personal gain, he was already seen by Shen Mu as a piece of waste paper that could be torn up at any time.

Now, he not only tore it apart, but also crushed it completely into the filth and ashes of the abyss with his iron hooves!

The threat from the rear was temporarily eliminated with overwhelming force.

Shen Mu's gaze turned coldly once again to the abyssal pseudo-god monstrous tide that was still frantically crashing and tearing at the "steel thorns" ahead.

"Long-range strike, cover fire! Target: Energy node behind the Pseudo-God Abomination cluster! Infantry phalanx, advance steadily and squeeze! Holy Tree Knights reserve, prepare for purification and penetration!"

The cold, precise command rang out again, as if the bloody backstab had never happened.

After paying a heavy price and clearing their retreat, the human alliance's iron torrent once again directed all its forces without reservation at the filthy black core deep within the ancestral tomb, which was throbbing more violently and emanating ominous divine fluctuations.

The blade of final judgment, honed by the blood of both sides, shone even brighter, pointing straight at the heart of the abyss! Deep within the tunnel, the pulsating core of darkness, as if sensing a deadly threat, emitted a dull and furious rhythm. (End of Chapter)