Real Mount and Blade Game

The white light of conflicting rules stubbornly spread and connected across the scorched, cracked earth. It was no longer a series of scattered sparks, but a continuous mass, like a pale path forged by human will in filthy lava. Shen Mu stood at the center of the [Tallinn] spiritual network, sensing this faint miracle of order, his cold commands precisely delivered to every combat unit:
"All troops! With the Holy Tree Knights' 'Root Erosion' as the spearhead, Swadian heavy infantry and Rhodok veteran spearmen stabilize the flanks, and Vaegir ice wind archers and Rhodok heavy ballistae provide tiered fire support! Target—the Black Core Mountains ahead, advance!"

"For Order! For Judgment!" Kalanzo's roar reverberated through the mental network, and the Holy Tree Knights' ranks erupted with an unprecedentedly brilliant green light. Their purifying auras expanded to resonate with the white light of the rules. The knights raised their runic lances high, the tips of which gathered purifying power, transforming into a forward-moving blade of light that ruthlessly cleaved through the profane black mist ahead, purifying the ground with every step they took. In the purified areas, the scorched earth briefly lost its nauseating writhing sensation, and the white light of the rules stabilized slightly.

Swadian heavy infantry followed closely behind, their thick tower shields tightly linked, forming a moving "wall of sighs." The spears of seasoned Rhodok spearmen darted out from between the shields like venomous snakes, their gleaming cold. They traversed the path purified by the Holy Tree Knights, their steps heavy yet resolute, building an impregnable barrier of steel and flesh. With each step, the shield wall bore the crushing weight of filth pressing in from all directions; each impact produced a dull thud. The shield-bearers' arms trembled under the immense force, their hands splitting open, blood staining the shield lining, yet no one retreated.

"Vegia! Three rapid fires, target—the left flank swarm of Profane Aberrations!" Shen Mu's voice was completely flat. The Vaegia Icewind Archers coldly carried out the order, their bowstrings humming as a dense barrage of ice arrows whistled through the air. The arrows landed precisely among a group of contorted Profane Aberrations crawling out of lava fissures. The ice arrows exploded, instantly freezing and brittle them with frigid air. Immediately afterward, the spears of the "Iron Thorns" phalanx rained down, shattering the frozen aberrations to pieces.

"Rhodok! Cluster Burst! Target—Right-wing Tumor Proliferation Point!" Rhodok's heavy Radiant Burst Ballista roared, its specially designed purifying bolts trailing blinding light as they slammed into several swollen tumor nodes in the distance, spewing out small, corrupted gnolls. The violent explosion, accompanied by the purification of holy flames, vaporized the tumors along with the newly formed inferior remains. The shockwave even briefly dispelled the surrounding foul odors, creating space for the extension of the regular white light.

The Khergit veteran horse archers and steppe scouts moved like nimble falcons, swiftly maneuvering and weaving around the outer perimeter of the main force. The veteran archers' arrows were unerring, precisely eliminating any stray blasphemous creatures attempting to bypass the front, infiltrate from the flanks, or rear. The scouts, using their speed advantage, hurled specially crafted alchemical incendiary bottles and incendiary arrows, igniting the spreading, re-coalescing nodes of ash mist and preventing the recycling and re-aggregation of corrupted energy. Each successful raid relieved some of the pressure on the main force, stabilizing the arduous path of "order" forward.

However, the pulsation of the Black Core Mountains suddenly intensified!
"Thump—thump—thump!!!"

Like a dying behemoth's final, frantic struggle, each throbbing caused the earth to tremble violently. The cracked, scorched ground began to writhe as if alive, and countless enormous tentacles made of filthy flesh and blood suddenly burst forth from the cracks! These tentacles were covered in sticky pus and writhing eyeballs, their ends splitting open to reveal sucking mouthparts full of fangs.

"Blasphemy Decree - Eternal Calamity of the Filthy Vein - Activation!" Shen Mu's pupils contracted slightly, and he immediately issued a warning, "All units on alert! Abyss activated tentacles! Ranged units, prioritize attacking the energy nodes at the root of the tentacles! Infantry phalanx, solidify your defenses, spearmen, intercept!"

The moment the order was given, dozens of fleshy tentacles lashed out at the allied forces' formation with devastating force!
“Boom!” “Crack!”

A giant, serpentine tentacle slammed heavily onto the shield wall of the Swadian heavy infantry. The immense force sent several soldiers in the front ranks flying, shield and all, and the sturdy tower shields instantly twisted and deformed. Soldiers nearby screamed for cover, but a dent was clearly visible in the shield wall. Another tentacle cunningly swept across the Rhodok spear phalanx. The spearmen fought back desperately, their sharp spear tips piercing flesh but failing to sever the tentacle completely. The tentacle, still carrying immense momentum, swept across, entangling several spearmen around the waist. Horrifying sucking mouthparts instantly covered the soldiers' heads and upper bodies. A sickening chewing and sucking sound accompanied the soldiers' short, piercing screams. Blood and fragments of internal organs spurted from the gaps in the tentacle, staining the horrified and enraged faces of the surrounding soldiers.

"Icewind Archers! Freeze it!" a Vaegir officer roared. A barrage of ice arrows immediately rained down on the rampaging tentacle. Extreme cold spread across its surface, and the tentacle's movements visibly stiffened and slowed. Seizing this fleeting opportunity, the nearby Rhodok spearmen roared in fury, and a dozen spears thrust simultaneously, piercing and tearing through the frozen portion!
"Ballistas! Focus fire! Target—the largest fissure on the ground ahead!" Commander Rhodok roared as well. Several Radiant Burst Ballistae adjusted their angles, their thick, purifying bolts like spears of light, plunging fiercely into the fissure from which more tentacles were constantly emerging. The holy explosion ripped away the activated rock layers at the edge of the fissure, and the surging, foul flesh inside sizzled and screamed in the flames. Several tentacles were severed at the base and lay limp and powerless.

The Holy Tree Knights' purifying aura was currently suppressing the ground's tendency to become active. Kalanzo and his elite knights wielded their rune-infused lances like windmills, each swing carrying a powerful purifying force that severed or purified any approaching tentacles into ashes. Their holy light intertwined with the white light of the rules, barely managing to contain the activation in most areas.

"The cost is too high!" A Swadian centurion looked at the square formation around him that had been wiped out in an instant, his eyes bloodshot beneath his helmet.

Just then, at the summit of Black Core Mountain, the core, resembling a rotting heart, suddenly contracted and then spewed outwards! No longer a torrent of filth, but a churning, twisting, and constantly merging mass of profane matter. Like a massive, living meteorite, carrying an overwhelming pressure, it slammed into the heart of the allied advance—the very location of Shen Mu's command post and heavy cavalry reserves!
"Abyssal Titan Abomination - Desecrator!" Shen Mu's voice carried a hint of solemnity for the first time, but it was instantly replaced by absolute coldness. "Heavy cavalry! Holy Tree Knights, Swadian Knights! 'Spear of Final Purification' ready! Target—the Fallen Core! The rest of the units, provide covering fire and weaken its impact at all costs!"

Time seemed to freeze. The distorted, profane substance rapidly shaped in the air, and countless gnoll heads, claws, and twisted limbs could be vaguely seen howling and struggling on its surface. In the end, it formed an enormous, amorphous, terrifying behemoth covered with savage teeth, gaping maws, and writhing tentacles. Its core emanated a purer abyssal malice than the Black Core Mountain itself, and its target was Shen Mu!

"For the Sacred Tree! End—Purification!" Kalanzo roared with the burning power of his life, and the purifying power of the entire Sacred Tree Knights condensed like never before, forming in his hand a huge spear of light that pierced through the heavens and earth, made purely of the light of order! This was the sublimation of "Martyrdom Judgment", the ultimate blow that cost the very essence of life!
At the same time, all available ranged firepower—Vegia's Ice Arrow Storm, Rhodok's Heavy Bursting Crossbows, and Khergit Horse Archers' Burning Arrow Rain—pouring out like a waterfall against the current towards the falling core!
"Boom!!!"

The Defiler crashed to the ground, unleashing a terrifying shockwave and a tsunami of foul energy! The front-line Swadian heavy infantry shield wall was torn apart and flung away like paper, the soldiers instantly reduced to blood and gore! The Rhodok spear phalanx was severed in half by the shockwave! The violent tremors caused several Rhodok heavy ballistae to lose their balance, and one even overloaded and exploded, its operator engulfed in flames!

However, just as this devastating impact was about to completely engulf the formation, Kalanzo hurled the "Spear of Purification of the End"!
The spear of light silently tore through the raging torrent of foul energy, piercing with unparalleled precision into the core of the blasphemous devourer's countless howling maws. There was no explosion, only the annihilation of extreme light and darkness. A blindingly bright light of purification erupted from within the devourer, instantly engulfing its massive body! Countless twisted limbs screamed and vaporized in the light, the terrifying pressure dissipating rapidly like a punctured balloon. The power of the purifying spear even surged upwards, slamming fiercely into the surface of its black core from which it had just spewed forth!
"Pfft!" Kalanzo was struck as if by a heavy blow. Along with the dozens of his most elite Holy Tree Knights, their armor shattered, and they spat out blood tinged with holy golden light. Their auras instantly weakened, their life force flickering like a candle in the wind. This was the price of the ultimate form of the "Mark of the Martyr"! In that fatal moment, as the old and new powers transitioned and the Abyss Core briefly stagnated due to the backlash from the Purifying Spear, Shen Mu moved!
He no longer commanded through [Tallinn], but acted directly. He slammed his hand on the core node of [Tallinn]—a crystal floating before him, covered in thorny mithril patterns. His spiritual power surged forth like a burst dam, pouring into it without reservation, even at the cost of tearing apart his own spiritual essence!
"With my spirit as the guide, with the fading light of order as the blade, and with the will of the Allied Forces as the hammer... [Tallinn] Overload—'Wedge of Order'!!!"

[Tallinn] The network groaned under the strain, and cracks instantly appeared on the surface of the crystal. But an unprecedented, extremely condensed, and perfectly ordered white light was forcibly extracted, compressed, and shaped! It was no longer a covering film or band of light, but condensed into a pale beam of light only as thick as an arm, yet radiating a light that pierced through the very essence of chaos!

Shen Mu's face instantly lost all color, blood slowly seeping from his seven orifices, his entire body trembling violently as if he were about to collapse at any moment. But his eyes shone with an astonishing light, locked onto the top of the Black Core Mountain, at the core that had just been bombarded by the "Spear of Purification of the End," its surface energy fluctuating violently, and a very fine crack appearing!

"It's now!"

He grasped the "Wedge of Order," which contained the overloaded energy of the [Tallinn] network, the last will of the Allied Forces, and his own nearly shattered mental power, with both hands, and hurled it fiercely toward the tiny crack in the black core!

There was no earth-shattering noise. The pale "Wedge of Order" moved like a pebble thrown into water, silently piercing through the filthy force field left by the collapsing blasphemous devourer, ignoring the protective black tide churning on the surface of the Black Core Mountain, and with perfect precision... it approached the crack!

"laugh--!"

A sound like a scorching hot iron being pressed onto rotting flesh rang out. Time seemed to stand still for a moment throughout the entire Molten Core Domain.

Immediately afterwards——

"Awoooo ...

A piercing scream, powerful enough to tear apart the soul and mixed with the agonizing cries of billions of living beings, erupted from within the Black Core! It was not the roar of the gnolls, but the agonizing scream of the Abyss's primordial core as it was directly invaded by the forces of order, causing violent internal conflict and collapse!

The entire Black Core Mountain range convulsed, expanded, and contracted violently! Under immense internal pressure, the hard, obsidian-like rock layers on the mountain's surface began to spread terrifying, spiderweb-like cracks along the fissure driven in by the "Wedge of Order"!
Within the cracks, there was no longer pure darkness, but rather a deeper, more chaotic light, as if countless filthy colors were mixed and churning... the light of the abyss's origin! A destructive aura, more primal and chaotic than any previous blasphemous decree, seeped out from the cracks like volcanic lava about to erupt.

The moment Shen Mu threw the "Wedge of Order," his body swayed violently, unable to support himself any longer. He collapsed to his knees, blood gushing from his mouth and nose, staining his chest. With his last shred of willpower, he maintained the unbroken link to [Tallinn], his voice weak yet clear, reaching the consciousness of every soldier:
"The Black Core Defense... has been breached... the core has been exposed... advance... to the rift... the final judgment... will be... carried out... by your own hands..." His words carried a sense of relief and weariness, yet contained an undeniable will to bring about the end.

Looking at the Black Core Mountain ahead, riddled with terrifying cracks, crumbling like a broken eggshell, and emanating a chaotic, primal light from within, and sensing the impending aura of ultimate destruction, the surviving human allied soldiers—whether the heavily wounded Kalanzo, the heavy infantry with shattered shields, the archers who had run out of arrows, or the knights whose warhorses had collapsed—felt no fear in their eyes, only a frenzied fighting spirit burning to the very end.

The final, and most devastating, charge horn, roared from countless hoarse throats beneath the crimson sky of the Molten Core, drowning out the agonizing howls of the Abyss's core. A torrent of steel, trampling over the corpses of comrades and enemies, ignoring the impending eruption of destructive light, launched its final, desperate assault on the shattered core that symbolized the source of the Abyss!

The blade of final judgment hangs over the dark heart of the abyss; the moment of its fall is imminent! (End of Chapter)