Under the strict constraints of military law, no one dared to go against Zhao Jundu no matter how arrogant they were, or how powerful their background was.
Zhao Jundu had expressed very clearly that he would kill anyone who disobeyed him and add their name to the casualty list. Even if there were arguments afterward, what was the use if the person was already dead? Besides, a commanding general had a quota that he could exercise to maintain discipline. It would involve more than one person if their names were placed in that list.
While displaying his might, Zhao Jundu intercepted over a thousand able-bodied men to add to the defense forces. This sharply increased the strength of the defending army.
The damaged airships eventually left with the heavily injured soldiers. They would return to the main base and then back to the Empire.
Zhao Jundu gazed at the distant Evernight camp, his brows locked in a tight frown.
It was at this moment that a loud cry rang out from the sentry tower. “The dark races! The dark races are here!”
A rolling tide of darkness appeared over the distant horizon. Countless signal flares shot up into the sky as airships took flight and began cruising toward the Imperial base.
One of the generals swallowed hard. “Damn, they’re even using their gunships. That’s quite the investment.”
Zhao Jundu’s brows rose somewhat, but he remained as still as a mountain.
The giant tide that was the dark race army surged toward the foothills and ultimately crashed into the fortress!
Facing the countless charging arachne and vampire soldiers, Zhao Jundu let out a sudden roar. Like a clap of thunder under the clear skies, the sound startled both enemy and friendly soldiers. No one could hear a thing!
Zhao Jundu arched his body and shot toward the dark race vanguard!
In the blink of an eye, countless dark race soldiers were thrown hundreds of meters away. Countless beams of black energy shot out and locked onto some viscounts, bisecting them in the air.
The army of a hundred thousand men came to a brief pause just because of Zhao Jundu’s charge.
After putting a damper on the dark races’ morale, Zhao Jundu flew back to the walls. His body was shrouded in black flames, almost like a demonic god that had descended from the ninth heavens.
It was just that the army had its own rhythm, rules, and chain of command. The soldiers at the front might have been drained of fighting spirit, but the ones at the back surged forward like the tides and pushed their comrades into the defensive fire.
They would die if they didn’t charge through the barrage of bullets, so the soldiers made for the walls with great ferocity.
An intense fight broke out thereafter.
The dark race army was so big that it couldn’t fully spread out at the front of the fortress. Hence, the giant servspiders began to move toward the flanks. Werewolves, vampires, and even demonkin could be seen hanging onto the large creatures for the ride.
These giant spiders stood as tall as four meters, but they were as swift as the wind, moving across any terrain as though it were flat land. They didn’t slow down in the slightest despite the fully equipped passengers on them.
The fortress cannon turrets turned to fire at these servspiders. The creatures possessed sufficient intelligence to run in a zig-zag pattern.
Yet, the fortress was equipped with rapid-fire cannons, not to mention the cannoneers were elites from the Imperial army. The defensive fire was both ruthless and accurate, mowing down one servspider after another and dealing great damage to the soldiers on them.
In the blink of an eye, close to a hundred servspiders in the first wave were slaughtered, and the thousands of soldiers on them quickly became corpses.
The dark race commander seemed to not have expected such fierce firepower from the fortress. Moments later, two more servspider squads rushed the flanks again while the main army bore down on the front. The entire force spread out along the fortress’ outer walls and formed an encirclement.
The rapid-fire cannons in the fortress poured down a barrage of bullets as the second wave arrived. This time, though, the effects were greatly discounted.
The dark races had changed their formation. Every servspider was accompanied by a viscount who would do their utmost to intercept the cannon-fire. Over half of the ammunition was intercepted in this manner, and the rest weakened by their domains. The damage fell sharply as a result.
The ineffective cannon-fire increased the amount of ammunition required to blast a servspider to death. Barely a hundred servspiders had been killed by the time their two units had gathered behind the base.
Another squad made up of nearly a thousand servspiders was circling around the fortress from a good distance, effectively blocking the path from the fortress to the main base. This unit carried a large batch of materials, ready to build defensive structures on the spot.
A general ran over to the wall and said hurriedly, “Sire, they’re planning to lay siege and attack our reinforcements!”
Zhao Jundu had his eyes on the front. He said without even turning back, “Let them go.”
“What?” That general couldn’t believe his ears.
Zhao Jundu turned around. “I said let them do it.”
“Perhaps we should stop them with heavy cannon-fire?”
“Our ammunition is limited, we focus on the front.”
“But…”
“Do you think there’ll be reinforcements?”
The general’s mouth fell wide open, and his expression changed drastically. As a core member, he understood that the war was dire, and that every base could hardly look after themselves.
His expression soon turned resolute. “I understand! Sire, rest assured. Whether there are reinforcements or not, this subordinate will fight the dark races to the bitter end!”
Zhao Jundu said, “Good! But remember that survival comes first, we might not lose this battle.”
The general bowed and ran back to his position.
Zhao Jundu drew his sword and took a step forward, lopping off the head of an arachne that had just scaled the wall. At the same time, he fished out his handgun and fired several rounds into the air. Every shot brought down a flying viscount.
After several bursts, no one was arrogant enough to fly up into the air anymore. All they could do was push forward on the ground.
Zhao Jundu’s innate ability was the bane of aerial targets.
The cannon turrets rained barrage after barrage on the grounded enemies, shaving off the dark races’ assault power. Zhao Jundu had long since charged into the enemy lines, spreading black flames and reaping all life in his wake.
The Imperial soldiers held a single line formation as they clashed against the dark races. Everyone knew that they were doomed if they took a step backward, so even the eyes of the most fearful were bloodshot—they would fight to the death no matter how many slashes they had taken.
Just like that, several thousand Imperial soldiers used their bodies as a fortress to hold the line against an enemy force ten times their number.
No one remembered how long they had been fighting. All they noticed was that the sky was gradually turning dark.
Zhao Jundu suddenly appeared back on the city wall. He cut down some dark race experts as he walked into the base, tossing two heads onto the ground. “Hang them up. A third-rank marquis and a glorious marquis.”
With that, he turned around and charged back into the enemy formation, leaving a trail of black flames around him.
At this point, there was already a long row of heads on the city gates.
When Zhao Jundu returned, there were countless werewolves and arachne outside the gates. A roaring sweep of his sword sent black flames sweeping toward the enemy like a whip, igniting all the dark race soldiers. A general walked out from the gates after the area had been cleared.
Zhao Jundu said with a frown, “How did things get so bad? Where are your men?”
The general pointed behind him. “This is all we have left.”
A dozen or so scattered soldiers followed him out, and all of them were leaning on something to stand. Zhao Jundu remembered that there were close to a hundred defenders when he left. Who would’ve thought only this many were left by the time he was back?
At this time, a series of cannon-fire erupted as flaming streams flew across the sky. A row of warships had spread out over the dark race army, raining destruction upon the fortress turrets.
Both sides sustained damage in the exchange. The turrets were destroyed one after another, while two of the Evernight vessels crashed to the ground, the explosion killing countless dark race soldiers.
Less than half of the defending force remained in the fortress, and there was a thick circle of dark race corpses around the walls.
Zhao Jundu did not need to charge into the enemy lines anymore because there were enemies everywhere on the walls. Many enemy experts charged into the fortress, only to find that the fortifications inside were just as air-tight. The ambushes waiting around every corner plunged them into a nightmarish street fight.
A group of vampire soldiers charged into the barracks to find some humans inside. The two parties froze momentarily, with each side aiming their weapons at the other. Opening fire would end up in mutual destruction.
“What’s there to be afraid of?! They’re a long-lived race, they fear death more than we do!” a soldier cried out as he began sweeping the room with gunfire!
Only a few Imperial soldiers remained after the fierce gunfight.
The man was huffing and puffing, but he was delighted at the outcome. “How’s that? Didn’t I tell you guys they fear death more than us?”
Noticing that the nearby survivors were giving him strange glances, the man looked down to find the lower half of his body missing. He had likely taken a hit from a large caliber firearm.
The man forced out a smile, saying, “This daddy, never cowered… even in death…”
The other soldiers had no time to worry about their comrades’ remains when another group of enemy soldiers rushed in. Another fierce gunfight ensued.
The gunfire hadn’t stopped when a third wave was drawn in. Moments later, the room finally fell quiet, and some dark race soldiers walked out. However, there were only ten of them left out of the three waves.
Similar scenes were playing out in every building; the death toll was on the rise for both sides.
Within the dark race army, a pale demonkin duke was frowning as he gazed at his subordinates entering the fortress, never to be heard of again.
A count ran over and whispered, “Sire, Count Hiller of the vampires refuses to do battle!”
“Is that so?” The duke was surprisingly calm.
The demonkin count hesitated for a moment. “Sire, I think I should remind you about Hiller’s identity.”
“Rather than his status, I think we should be considering our punishment after we return. Get him on the field by any means… words, blades, whatever it takes!”
