Real Mount and Blade Game

With a deafening roar and the dust and smoke from the shattering of boulders, the last giant gate of the Gnoll ancestral tomb, carved with blasphemous totems, finally collapsed under the bombardment of the "Sacred Tree End Array" and the desperate charge of Swadian heavy infantry and Rhodok spearmen.

Behind the door was not the sanctuary everyone had imagined, but rather an unprecedentedly dense and foul black mist that suddenly erupted!
The black mist was as thick as ink, carrying a strong stench of blood and rotting flesh. Its concentration far exceeded that of any other place in the passageway, as if the abyssal filth accumulated over thousands of years in the ancestral mausoleum had suddenly burst forth. The black mist churned and roared, surging towards the allied forces that had just stepped into the core area like a living thing. Wherever it passed, even the hard black stone ground of the ancestral mausoleum emitted a "sizzling" corrosive sound.

"Thorn Barrier, maximum power! 'Root Vein Erosion' activated simultaneously!" Shen Mu's icy voice resounded through the [Tallinn] network into the souls of every soldier without the slightest hesitation.

Exhausted but with unwavering will, the Holy Tree Knights immediately pushed the purification barrier to its limit. The leaden-gray thorny barrier solidified instantly, colliding violently with the surging, foul black mist, producing a teeth-grinding hissing sound. The barrier trembled violently, and even fine cracks began to appear at its edges. At the same time, intricate purification runes lit up beneath the knights' feet, and golden, root-like light spread along the ground, striving to purify the decaying earth that was encroaching upon it.

However, this dense, impenetrable black fog was merely a prelude. Deep within the fog, around the filthy black core that throbbed like a giant, rotting heart and radiated an ominous black light, a scene that sent chills down one's spine appeared.

As if sensing a deadly threat, the tainted black core's pulsation suddenly accelerated, each pulse like a roar from the abyss.

From the writhing swamp of flesh and blood on the surface of the black core, and from the ground fissures in the core area of ​​the ancestral tomb, countless twisted and deformed figures struggled to crawl out, stand up, and merge!
They are no longer the single pseudo-divine abominations or abyssal wrecks we encountered before, but terrifying aggregates forcibly pieced together, proliferated, and mutated from the corpses, broken bones, rotting entrails, and even rusted weapons of countless gnolls under the brutal fusion of the filthy power of the abyss!

The bizarre forms of these newly formed "fused pseudo-divine abominations" far surpass those of the past:

Some resembled a writhing mountain of flesh, with dozens of gnoll heads howling and tearing at its surface, while their bodies fused together to form a massive base, wielding enormous bone clubs or rusted giant axes made from several fused leg bones, each movement causing the earth to tremble.

Some resemble centipedes, formed by dozens of gnoll corpses joined end to end. Each segment of the "body" sprouts several twisted arms, gripping rusty scimitars, spears, or broken shields. When charging, these countless arms flank wildly, forming a deadly jungle of blades.

Some even barely maintained a human form, but their bodies were stretched or thickened several times over, with extra gnoll limbs or heads, still dripping black blood, growing on their backs, shoulders, and armpits, like a moving limb shelf, each gripping a different weapon and wildly swinging and slashing.

Even worse, some parts of the body mutate into structures resembling siege weapons, such as the ends of the arms fusing into huge bone hammers, or the chest cavity splitting open, spewing out highly corrosive and filthy pus.

These fused pseudo-divine abominations seemed to be endless in number. Under the cover of black mist, they charged like a raging torrent of filth, accompanied by blasphemous roars and the shrieks of countless gnoll souls, towards the human alliance that had just gained a foothold!

Their steps were heavy and chaotic, yet they carried a mad will to destroy everything, with only one goal—to tear the intruders apart and devour them completely!
"Hold on!" the Swadian heavy infantry centurions roared hoarsely. Their voices, though small in the chaos of the battlefield, carried an iron will. Faced with this unimaginably terrifying tide, the allied forces displayed a resilience honed through countless trials.

"Rhodok, area coverage! Vaegir, focus on eliminating energy nodes!" Shen Mu's command was concise and deadly. In the back row, the Rhodok crossbowmen endured the suffocating feeling brought by the black mist and the stinging pain of the pollution on the soul level, as the thick crossbow arms opened again amidst the groans of the winches.

This time, they no longer pursued single-target lethality, but instead adjusted to a coverage-wide scattering pattern.

"Release!" the commander roared.

hum!
A "meteor shower" of blazing white, exploding crossbow bolts whistled past the heads of the front-line soldiers and slammed into the middle and rear of the fused pseudo-god abomination charge group.

A series of explosions lit up the sky, and the purifying energy frantically cleansed away the filth. Large swaths of fused limbs were blasted to pieces, carbonized, and dissolved, causing the charging torrent to slow down and buying the front ranks precious breathing room and time to form ranks.

Almost simultaneously with the deafening explosion, the Vaegir Icewind Archers' ruthless arrows had already left their bows.

Their target wasn't the massive mountains of flesh, but rather the grotesque heads—the writhing, abyssal nodes—that emanated intense abyssal energy and resembled command centers within the fused pseudo-god abominations. Magical arrows imbued with frigid chill were fired precisely, instantly spreading ice crystals at their impact points, freezing flesh, slowing movement, and even directly shattering some fragile energy cores. A web of death silently wove itself amidst the roaring tide of abominations.

The moment the long-range strike took effect, the "steel jungle" composed of Swadian heavy infantry and Rhodok veteran spearmen had already taken solid shape!
"Shield Wall—!" The Swadian soldiers roared, their heavy tower shields held firmly together by their shoulders and arms, forming a wall of sighs that instantly stretched across the front lines. The shields, enhanced by the Thorn Barrier and the Holy Tree Knights, shimmered with a faint glow of leaden gray and gold, resisting the erosion of the black mist and physical impact.

"Gunfire—!" The experienced Rhodok spearmen followed closely behind, their movements perfectly synchronized. Their long, steel spears shot out like venomous snakes from the gaps above the tower shield and the openings on the sides!

They no longer used simple thrusts, but employed the "spear forest" technique, their spear tips tracing deadly arcs, precisely aiming for the twisted joints, proliferating heads, and claws of the fused pseudo-divine abominations, or those attempting to climb the shield wall. Each thrust was accompanied by the muffled thud of tearing flesh and the agonizing howls of the monsters.

The spear formation was like a precisely operating slaughtering machine, efficiently and cruelly reaping the lives that crashed into it, piling up a bloody ramp in front of the formation with the corpses of the fused pseudo-divine abominations.

However, the number and frenzy of the fused pseudo-god abominations far exceeded expectations. Fearless of death, they trampled over the corpses of their own kind, violently ramming the shield wall with their massive bodies and proliferating bone hammers and giant axes.

Each impact caused the heavy infantrymen's blood to surge, their hands to crack, and the sturdy tower shields to groan under the strain, even showing obvious dents and cracks.

The corrosive pus spewed by the Wall of Flesh splashed onto the shield, making a sizzling sound and constantly weakening the defense.

The centipede-like monsters attempted to dismantle the gaps in the shield wall with countless waving blades, or to entangle and squeeze it with their massive bodies.

The pressure on the front line has increased dramatically, and it is on the verge of collapse!
At this critical moment, a cold glint flashed in Shen Mu's eyes, and the heavy cavalry group, which had been poised to attack, received the order to strike.

"Knights of the Holy Tree, purify the left flank! Swadian Knights, heavy cavalry, wedge attack—break through the center!" The command was like a thunderclap.

"In the name of the Holy Light, purify the filth!" Grand Master of the Holy Tree Knights, Kalanzo, raised his warhammer, which burned with the holy flames of purification, and took the lead.

The Holy Tree Knights once again rallied into a sharp assault formation, their bodies ablaze with brilliant purifying flames that formed a dazzling torrent of light that crashed into the left flank of the fused pseudo-divine abominations!
Wherever the holy light touched, the thick black mist melted away like snow being poured on boiling water. The bodies of the fused pseudo-gods, composed of rotten flesh and blood, reacted as if encountering their nemesis, emitting shrill screams as their limbs rapidly carbonized and disintegrated in the holy flames. The Holy Tree Knights forcefully tore open a massive wound burning with golden flames amidst the filthy torrent. The instant the breach appeared, the Swadian Knights and their massive heavy cavalry, already at their peak, unleashed their power with a thunderous roar!
They formed the sharpest cone-shaped assault formation, their heavy hooves trampling the purified or still-burning monster remains, carrying terrifying kinetic energy that could crush everything, like a steel torrent flowing through the wounds torn open by the Holy Tree Knights, and fiercely penetrating into the core of the fused pseudo-god abomination cluster!

boom--!
It was as if a giant hammer had smashed into mud. The impact of the heavy cavalry formation was devastating. The warhorses, encased in heavy runic steel armor, were themselves terrifying charging weapons. The knights' level lances pierced through several layers of fused flesh upon contact, then snapped under the immense force of the impact.

Immediately afterwards, heavy knight's swords, warhammers, and maces were swung around, mercilessly smashing and hacking at the surrounding pseudo-divine monsters that were in chaos. The sounds of bones cracking, flesh exploding, and the dying screams of monsters mingled with the deep battle roars of the knights, creating the most violent charge symphony.

The entire mid-lane, which had merged with the cluster of pseudo-divine beings, was completely disrupted and scattered by this steel tide!
"Infantry phalanx—advance! Squeeze! Crush them!" Shen Mu's command was like a death knell.

The Swadian heavy infantry and Rhodok spearmen, who were under immense pressure, saw the enemy formation being turned upside down by the heavy cavalry and their pressure suddenly eased. They immediately erupted in a roar that had been building up for a long time.

"Forward! For our homeland! For order!" They trudged through the sticky flesh and bones beneath their feet, using their battered tower shields to hold back the chaotic enemy in front of them. The spearmen in the rear thrust their spears even more fiercely, and together with the pressure from the shields, they stubbornly pushed the front line inch by inch toward the filthy black core of the ancestral tomb!
The entire allied forces' formation resembled a massive and intricate grinding wheel of flesh and blood, engulfing the chaotic remnants of the fused pseudo-gods and mercilessly crushing them.

Meanwhile, experienced Khergit horse archers and steppe scouts moved like ghosts along the flanks of the battlefield.

Their horsebows never stopped, their radiant arrows flying like locusts, accurately striking the scattered fused monsters that were trying to flank the infantry squares or launch a surprise attack on the rear of the heavy cavalry, as well as the gray mist nodes that were appearing and disappearing in the black mist and trying to re-coalesce.

The scimitar, speeding along, drew a deadly arc, severing deformed limbs.

Burning arrows pierced the depths of the gray fog, preventing any potential follow-up threats.

Their mission was to ensure the safety of the main force's flanks and rear, and to perfectly execute Shen Mu's tactical intentions in every corner.

With the precise coordination of the Tallinn network and the tenacious support of the "Thorn Garden" domain, the human alliance managed to withstand the first and most frenzied counterattack of the fused abyss erupting from the tainted black core.

Every step forward was soaked in blood and sacrifice, with mountains of monster remains and a few fallen comrades beneath their feet.

The armor of the allied soldiers was already covered in filth and bits of flesh, and their physical and mental strength were nearing their limits, but their eyes were becoming more and more determined, because they had clearly seen their target—the most deep part of the ancestral tomb, in the center of the blasphemous altar made of huge, decaying gnoll skeletons, and the filthy black core that looked like the eye of the abyss!

Its throbbing frequency was no longer simply anger, but also carried a hint of urgency and... panic?
Shen Mu stood in the center of the formation, his gaze piercing through the pervasive blood and black mist, locking onto the pulsating black core.

He could clearly sense that the rule spike he had previously driven into the black core was causing intense conflict and collapse at the fundamental level within the black core.

The purging power of the undead order and the filthy origin of the abyss fiercely clashed at the core, which was the root cause of the Black Core's forced fusion of pseudo-divine abominations and its instability.

"It can't hold on much longer! All troops, target the Black Core—Final Judgment Array, advance!" Shen Mu's voice, carrying a chilling decisiveness that pierced through weakness, ignited the last flame in the hearts of all soldiers through the [Tallinn] network.

The allied forces shifted their formation once more, tightening their grip even further. The Knights of the Holy Tree returned from the flanks, joining the elite Swadian heavy infantry at the forefront as the vanguard, their purifying light shining brightly, dispelling the increasingly dense black fog and mental pollution near the core area.

Rhodok spearmen followed closely behind, their spears forming a forest, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment. Ranged units were protected in the center, providing continuous suppressive fire.

The heavy cavalry groups regrouped after sweeping the flanks, like a sword hanging overhead, ready for the next thunderous charge.

"Roar--!!!"

Seemingly sensing the impending doom, the filthy black core unleashed an unprecedented roar, a roar imbued with the resentment of billions of gnolls and the will of the abyss!

The entire core area of ​​the ancestral mausoleum trembled with this roar. Its final trump card was revealed:

Several cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the black core, and instead of spewing out black mist, several streams of filthy, viscous black energy, like asphalt, shot out!
These energy torrents did not directly attack the allied forces, but were precisely injected into the largest, not yet completely destroyed, remains of the fused pseudo-god abominations at the edge of the battlefield!

A nauseating sound of flesh and blood multiplying filled the air. Those enormous mountains of flesh and the remains of centipedes, infused with black energy, expanded, twisted, and mutated wildly, like inflating balloons!
Their broken limbs forcibly glued together, even merging with more nearby corpses and weapons, instantly expanding several times in size, transforming into even more indescribable and terrifying behemoths—black energy flowed across their bodies, forming energy armor; enormous siege hammers and earth-shattering hammers made of filthy energy condensed at the ends of their proliferating limbs; and pure abyssal black flames burned in their hollow eye sockets.

They became the last tangible guardians of the Black Core's will, carrying an aura of despair that threatened to destroy everything, and marching with steps that could shatter the earth as they crushed the approaching human alliance!

This is the "Abyssal Giant Abomination" born from the filthy black core's forced overdraft of its origin under the erosion of the Thorns of Rules. Every step it takes exudes a terrifying pressure that distorts space itself.

The true moment of final judgment arrived before this profane altar, blocked by the last and strongest abyssal giant, Abomination.

Shen Mu took a deep breath, gripped his weapon tightly, and the light of the [Tallinn] network shone brightly in his eyes. He prepared to personally guide this final blow to end all darkness… (End of Chapter)