Chapter 92: The Charge and the End

Chapter 92: The Charge and the End

Seeing the situation here with Li Tianhua, Li Hongshen could immediately imagine what was happening on Li Zhong’s side. With the northern wolf pack scattering, conditions on both fronts were likely much the same; perhaps even Li Li in the north had been relieved of some of his pressure by the wolves’ arrival.

Watching the dire wolves and grassland jackals here, Li Hongshen could see them dragging one another down. He did not even need Li Tianhua to clear away the beast corpses; they would haul away each other’s dead on their own, then swallow them into their own bellies to replenish the strength they had spent.

After waiting nearly an hour, Li Hongshen saw that no other beast hordes were arriving. Only the dire wolves and the grassland jackals continued their assault on the city.

After another inspection of the walls, Li Hongshen came down from the ramparts, donned a full suit of armor, and rode Great Black to the front of a formation.

This formation was not large, only about two hundred men in all, but every one of them wore armor and rode a battle wolf or a tiger beast.

All of them were silent, making no sound, as they watched Li Hongshen come to the head of the formation.

"Now it is our turn. Remember this: stay close behind me. Once we are out, we will first carve out a safe clearing so the city gates can be shut securely. Then we will pick up speed and begin the slaughter. After circling the city three times, we will return."

This group of warriors was the tiger-wolf cavalry Li Hongshen had prepared, true riders mounted on tiger-wolves. Their equipment was forged entirely from refined iron, with a great many shamanic runes engraved within it.

From the basic runes for steady warmth and protection, to the enhancement runes that bolstered stamina and strength, and then to the special runes for sharpness, toughness, and relentless bleeding, Li Hongshen had layered them all onto the armor.

If measured in price, these warriors were forged from blood crystals from head to toe. The results of such ruthless layering had made them terrifying war machines.

At the very least, during test engagements, no beast horde had ever been able to withstand their charge. Once they collided with them, the final outcome was always to be pierced through again and again, split into pieces, and then annihilated.

The leader of this unit was Ke, not one of the four gate commanders on the walls. It was not that those four lacked martial ability.

Rather, Li Hongshen regarded them more as commanders of strategy. As for Ke, after years of observation, Li Hongshen found that he was better suited to be a battlefield general, or perhaps a bodyguard at Li Hongshen’s side.

Indeed, this unit could actually be considered Li Hongshen’s personal guard corps, or even the precursor to what would one day be known as the imperial guard. That was why Li Hongshen had spared no expense in building them up.

As the gates opened, before the beasts outside could even burst through, Li Hongshen led the tiger-wolf cavalry in driving them back.

Once the cavalry had charged out through the gates and cut a wide clearing through the mass of beasts, the gates closed once more.

Then, with Li Hongshen at the spearhead, the formation began its swift advance, weaving through the horde beneath the walls.

Though Li Hongshen’s frame was not as imposing as Li Li’s and the others, as a lord he received many blessings and enhancements.

Moreover, he had never abandoned his daily training. He always set aside time to temper his martial skill, never becoming like some lords who could only point and command from the rear.

His true martial prowess was among the very best in the tribe. And if one did not adapt to such fighting in the Endless Wasteland, then trying to do so later would exact an even greater cost.

Thus, even though he disliked it, Li Hongshen forced himself to adapt.

Behind the iron face guard, Li Hongshen wore a stern expression. His eyes moved nimbly, surveying the surroundings. As the arrowhead of the formation, he had to find the right path for the unit and clear away every obstacle in its way.

The iron spear thrust before him under the force of his powerful arms, dense and unbroken like a curtain of rain. Great Black ran with its body lowered, not using its full speed, only matching the pace of the formation.

Under Li Hongshen’s lead, the tiger-wolf cavalry seemed like a paper cutter blade, slicing the dense beast horde cleanly into two.

The warriors in the formation constantly shifted positions during the charge. Those on the flanks took turns rotating with the warriors inside the formation, yet they never lost speed because of it.

Little by little, amid the slaughter, a feverish fervor rose within the unit. The warriors fixed their blazing eyes on Li Hongshen at the front, controlling their battle mounts to stay tightly behind him, their spears flashing ceaselessly as the formation pressed onward through the beast horde.

By then, bloodshot veins had spread across Li Hongshen’s eyes, creeping toward his pupils. Under the constant circulation of energy within his body, the crystals in his eyes reflected a scarlet glow. As the formation moved at high speed, two trails of light were drawn through the air, dazzling and fierce to behold.

Slowly, even Li Hongshen himself no longer knew how many beasts he had slain. A sidelong glance at Great Black beneath him revealed that even its originally snow-white fur had been stained crimson.

The beast hordes that had once thrown themselves madly against the city now yielded at the mere sight of this tiger-wolf cavalry. Even the desolate beasts retreated hastily, avoiding the cavalry’s charge.

At last, after Li Hongshen emerged from his state of slaughter, he once again led the unit in clearing a space before the gates and brought the formation back into the city.

Anyone observing from a distance could clearly see the thick aura of blood enveloping the formation, as though the entire unit were wrapped in a cloud of gore.

This blood cloud came from the warriors’ refined-iron armor. The armor, originally a dark black, had now turned a vivid red. It was the blood left behind by the beasts after close combat, a murderous aura rising from the iron plates under the high-speed flow of energy within the warriors’ bodies.

Such a sight filled the beasts beneath the walls with awe and fear. They dared not obstruct the charge of this unit, lest they become one of the fallen among their own kind.

After Li Hongshen led the charge, the intensity of the beast assault dropped markedly. Partly it was due to the chaos and momentum left behind by the slaughter, and partly because their own exertion had left them short of strength.

Some beasts driven by hunger had already begun to tear at the corpses of their fallen kin, making the assault below even more chaotic.

After returning to the city for a period of rest and replenishment, Li Hongshen went to the south gate. Once the tiger-wolf cavalry had been strengthened by Mammoth Shaman’s powerful support, they charged out again. It was not until dusk that the formation finally returned inside the city.

As night fell, countless electric lamps were lit atop the walls, and the watchtowers cast three towering beams of light that swept back and forth beneath the ramparts.

The defenders were exhausted and weary as well, yet no one went in to rest. They remained tense, vigilant against the beasts climbing the walls.

Fortunately, the warriors under Li Fuzhen’s command came to help, allowing the defenders at least to drink some water and eat a meal, granting them a little time to catch their breath.

That night passed amid the dragging sounds of beasts below the walls, the tearing and biting, the swallowing, and the constant sweeping motion of the great beams of light atop the towers.

By the time dawn came the next day, all the beast hordes that had once attacked the city had vanished, leaving only the many corpses of beasts behind.

The end of this chapter.