In the moment the monsters stepped into the range of the firelight, flames burst up on their bodies, accompanied by billowing black dust.
They continued to advance towards the Sword Pass, engulfed in black smoke and flames.
This was Rode's first time participating in the formal war between Thalorian and the darkness.
Although they were only thirteen people, when they stood on the towering city walls and saw the endless horde of monsters charging towards them, a strange feeling arose in their hearts.
Bang, bang, bang.
Three loud sounds.
Three giant arrows flew through the air, piercing through the bodies of dozens of monsters.
Beowood, Raisin, and Annabel operated the winch, pulling thick steel cables as thick as a thigh, loading giant arrows as thick as two people, adjusting the angle of the bed crossbow as big as half a house, aiming at the monsters.
Abundant spiritual energy surged within their bodies, allowing them to manipulate these steel giants that were much larger than themselves.
Especially Annabel, her petite figure stood beside these cold steel giants like a small flower, yet she operated the bed crossbow as cleanly and efficiently as the two burly men.
With the second round of shots, a huge rift was torn open in the horde of monsters.
In Rode's line of sight, he could clearly see the souls of the monsters dissipating into the air as their bodies shattered, and a large amount of black smoke rose up like thick smoke, only to dissipate in mid-air.
These monsters were far weaker than the Corruptor.
Their soul waves were very gentle, and the true names formed by the vibrations of their souls were clearly visible.
"Cowardly Soul Demon."
"Cannibal Ghoul."
All the monsters were of these two types.
They were short in stature, hunched over, covered in black fur, with long claws and terrifying teeth. Their faces were ferocious, and their murky eyes flickered with red light, showing no reaction to the raging flames on their bodies.
Their rank was not high, and the spiritual energy permeating their bodies was relatively weak, unable to withstand the impact of the giant arrows.
Their only advantage was their large numbers, but within the range of the Guardian Fire, they burned in groups, and their numbers did not have much effect.
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The monsters charged towards the Sword Pass, but were blocked by the solidified spiritual energy of the giant wall, causing them to go into a frenzy and attack.
However, unlike the Corruptor, the city walls remained motionless, far from reaching the limit of the spiritual energy generator's load.
On the city walls, the students used various means to attack the monsters from a high vantage point.
Some used bows and arrows, some threw spears, some opened their five fingers and continuously fired energy bullets, and some waved their hands to create huge wind blades, cutting through groups of monsters.
There were also those who crazily used silver bullets and threw thunderstones as if they were free.
Darkleaf couldn't help but remind, "Rode, silver bullets are not reimbursed, and thunderstones are also not reimbursed except for the city defense army."
Rode replied unhappily, "I know, I have money."
Darknight sighed, "Alright, don't waste too much, resources are limited."
Rode couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him, loading and shooting with one hand, charging the energy in the gray bag with one hand, and throwing thunderstones with one hand.
As a single young man, his one-handed skills were extremely proficient.
However, perhaps due to the chaotic situation on the battlefield, Rode hardly obtained any complete souls, almost all of them were soul fragments and soulless souls.
Why was this?
Rode frowned and recalled the text about the "Dark Devourer".
Its star ability was "Soul Erosion".
Could it be that I didn't cause enough "erosion"?
Or is it that I can only obtain complete souls from the monsters I personally kill?
This could indeed explain it, but the Corruptor was definitely hit head-on, and I definitely delivered the final blow.
Why do I only have soulless souls?
Rode couldn't figure out this question for now, so he put it aside and focused on hunting the monsters.
The battle did not last too long.
Soon, the flying monsters seen earlier landed on the city walls.
Rode saw their names:
"Blade Demon".
These monsters were huge and bloated, covered in black stones, and their hands were two giant stone blades.
However, flames still burned on the stones, continuously turning a part of their bodies into black dust, rising up with the dancing flames, like withered images caught on fire.
Darkleaf shouted, "Close combat, protect the bed crossbow. Beowood, Raisin, Annabel, keep shooting."
Under his lead, the students turned to engage in combat with the "Blade Demons".
"Be careful, Blade Demons are intermediate-level monsters, demon type, devil race. They have high defense and strong melee abilities. Don't surround them all at once! Disperse and use long-range means to wear them down."
Although he said that, Darkleaf took the lead and caught the heavy slash of the Blade Demon with his bare hands, then followed up with a forward elbow strike.
With one strike, he pierced through its body.Rode clearly saw that the spiritual energy of the monster was shattered, and its soul was also hit with a big hole. The remains of the Blade Demon fell down, turning into countless black dust, leaving only a pile of ashes.
The instructor is really strong.
I thought he was weak when I saw him being chased by the Corruptor earlier.
It seems that the Corruptor is really powerful.
With these thoughts passing through his mind, Rode quickly joined the battle.
His way of fighting was completely different from Instructor Anye or anyone else.
He didn't approach the enemy cautiously as taught in any combat or warfare tutorial. Instead, he walked over with many flaws and no defense, suddenly took out his gun, and with a bang, the Blade Demon trembled and fell to the ground.
At some point, his semi-transparent right hand suddenly plunged into the monster's body, and the moment it was pulled out, the entire body of the monster collapsed like a broken frame and turned into a cloud of black dust.
Clean, swift, and fierce.
Not only the students, but even Anye was shocked.
But in the intense battle, no one had time to talk.
The huge Blade Demons kept falling from the sky, and the empty city walls were soon filled with monsters.
Intermediate-level monsters already had strong killing power. They had always been the main force in the group of monsters and caused the most casualties to the combat personnel.
Although the members of the Secret Branch were all elite, their experience was still shallow, and their cooperation with each other was not proficient enough. Soon, there were casualties.
The command center promptly dispatched the emergency team. Chief of Defense, Steel Hand, led dozens of combat personnel to join the battlefield, and the situation quickly turned around.
An hour later, everyone finally eliminated all the Blade Demons on the city walls.
The empty city walls were filled with the ashes of the monsters, and the injured combat personnel were taken to the medical room for treatment by the logistics personnel.
Since Jian Guan did not have professional medical personnel, they could only use ordinary methods for treatment.
Kalaman was a field medic and usually did not enter the medical room.
Most of the monsters below Jian Guan were burned to ashes by the Guardian Flames.
However, although the Guardian Flames that fell on the ground had a stable field, the intensity was still reduced due to the large number of monsters, and the range of the firelight visibly shrank.
The spiritual energy generator also suffered significant damage. According to Mina's report, the generator had consumed more than 70% of its energy, and the reserves of the main energy supply, the Black Crystal, were not abundant.
Steel Hand looked worried. Although the monsters were eliminated, the Black Tide was far from over.
This was just the beginning, and they had already suffered such great losses, which was completely different from what they had expected.
Anye, Beowood, and Raisin walked over together.
"Chief Steel Hand, something is not right," Anye said with a gloomy expression.
"Our losses are too great. In just one battle, twelve combat personnel were lightly injured, and three were seriously injured. If it weren't for some unexpected factors among us, the losses could have been unimaginable."
Beowood said in a deep voice, "Although I have never participated in guarding against the Black Tide before, my father has told me about their battle experiences. According to our customs, Li Guang Fortress, which is right in front of us, is the main battlefield. The monsters that they can't handle will overflow and reach us. The first wave of overflowing monsters is already so strong, which is obviously abnormal."
Raisin nodded, "The personnel guarding on the city walls should be stronger."
Steel Hand looked very troubled, "But our total combat power is not much, and the supplies are not abundant."
Anye said, "We can only find a way to save. The bed crossbow is the most cost-effective weapon. The materials for the giant arrows are all ordinary and very cheap. We should make more use of them to kill the enemy."
"Yes, we should use our own strength to eliminate the monsters."
The three of them discussed on the city walls, while the logistics personnel quickly collected the monster ashes left on the city walls and the battlefield.
Cleaning up the battlefield was a necessary task, as the monster ashes contained residual power and had many uses.
There were personnel in the royal city specifically assigned to collect them, and they were called Collectors.
After each battle, the Collectors would go to clean up the battlefield and collect the remnants.
Rode watched as they put the clumps of monster ashes into special ash boxes and swept away the useless ashes. He took a look at the intact power of the Blade Demon he had obtained and thought to himself that he would ask them for two pieces later. He still had two Sun Stones, which could be used to make two Soul Ashes.
This thing looks quite powerful.
Rode had confirmed that the monsters he killed with his own hands did not have the same situation as before.
The only exception was the Corruptor, but this might be because the "Quartet of Spiritual Energy" was too strong.
The amount of monster souls obtained should be related to the degree of erosion by the "Dark Devourer".
Of course, Rode was still not very clear about how it worked.
The income from this battle was quite good. The No-Spirit Soul skyrocketed from 700 to 21,100, and there were also a large number of soul fragments and intact souls.
Now it seems that the sewer is really just a sewer."Damn it, I'm never going there again.
Your King of the Sewers has turned traitor!
——
After the discussion, Steelhand and his team quickly adjusted their defense mode, strengthening the combat personnel on the city wall, but the support and emergency teams had to correspondingly reduce their personnel.
They also optimized the combat configuration to ensure that there was at least one mid-to-high-level combatant on the city wall at any time.
But even so, there was no significant improvement.
The intensity of the following battles exceeded expectations, and the types of monsters became more diverse. Some monsters with strong destructive power also appeared.
The damage they caused to Sword Fort was very high, and they were tough and hard to kill.
The energy of the psychic generator was consumed very quickly, the black crystals were consumed too fast, and the stock was about to run out. Everyone was as anxious as ants on a hot pot. Steelhand sent continuous messages to the Giant Fort requesting supplies, but received no response.
Only when Rode learned about the situation, he exclaimed, "You guys are here again?"
As soon as these words came out, all eyes in the basement turned to him, staring at him blankly.
Staring at his wide sleeves.
——
Sorry, the timer was wrong. Ashan is very sorry, decided to ask for a float (~_,~)
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