Sixth Hundred and Twenty-Third Chapter: A Fight to the Death

Under the bombardment of artillery fire, the Church's army fell into disarray. Their orderly ranks gradually broke apart. The God's Punishment Warriors, unaffected by external forces, began to sprint forward, leaving the Judgment Army behind.

Just then, Lightning noticed a peculiar sight.

A rider dressed as a priest was rapidly traversing the ravaged mountain path from the rear, a conspicuous yellow light emanating from his body. Wherever the yellow light touched, the Judgment Army, which had been on the verge of collapse, regained its stability and advanced forward under the rider's guidance. This time, they no longer marched in orderly ranks but spread out, preventing subsequent榴弹 from achieving the same fruitful results as the initial volleys.

It was a Pure One!

As she prepared to call in two cannons to strike the area the Church's Pure One was about to pass through, Maisie's exclamation reached her ears.

"Careful, goo!"

Lightning reflexively elevated her altitude, ascending abruptly by more than ten meters. A swarm of locusts swept past beneath her, like a gray-brown cloud.

Having missed their target, the insects twisted together, forming a vague human shape. "Degenerate wild things, daring to oppose the Church! You are courting death!"

"Maisie, continue guiding the cannons!" Lightning pulled down her goggles and aimed her sniper rifle at the swarm. "Does murdering your own kind make you feel so glorious? You are the ones who deserve to die!"

...

The enemy's figures entered Danny's field of vision. Unlike the last time, their numbers were several times greater. The dim, gray mountain wilderness was filled with the glint of shimmering armor. The God's Punishment Warriors no longer adopted the tactic of slow, shielded advance but instead entered a full sprint from the very beginning.

Looking at the enemies charging from all over the mountain, he felt a surge of overwhelming force. Fine beads of sweat broke out on his palms, making the grip of the rifle stock feel sticky. He had only seen such a sight on the walls of the Impassable Moon—thousands of demon beasts disregarding life and death, charging the walls as if possessed, mercilessly tearing apart anything in their path. And now, the First Army was facing an enemy far more powerful than the demon beasts.

But Danny felt no fear. The demon beasts could not break through the low stone wall because of the militia fighting bloodily upon it—and now, the Church's army would be similarly blocked by the First Army's line of flesh and blood!

Moreover, the woman he wanted to protect was behind the lines.

As he stepped into the trench that morning, Danny saw that familiar emerald-green figure. She turned her head and gave him a slight smile. Although he knew it was just a polite greeting, that smile was like a blooming bud taking root in his heart.

He hadn't expected her to come to this battlefield with Roland.

In any case, he would not allow the enemy to break through the lines.

Unfortunately, after violating military discipline, Iron Axe had removed him from the sharpshooter squad, and the weapon in his hands had been switched back to the revolver buqiang. Otherwise, he would have given these God's Punishment Warriors a taste of their own medicine.

"They've crossed the three-hundred-meter line!" Malt reported the target's distance as he had done when serving as a protector. "Watch out for enemy javelins!"

"I can see them," Danny patted the little guy's head. "Take care of yourself."

Malt was someone who had been implicated by him. After his injuries had healed, the commander-in-chief demoted Malt back to an ordinary musketeer for failing to dissuade the shooter from violating discipline. However, as an accessory, the little guy was not fined a month's salary, and he was spared the ordeal of confinement.

It must be said that this time the enemy's offensive was too rapid. The four jiqiang fortresses had failed to completely suppress the God's Punishment Warriors' charge, and the dust raised from the ground and the smoke from the field guns created several gaps in the interwoven network of fire.

The God's Punishment Warriors at the front crossed the musketeers' warning line.

"Two-hundred-meter line, javelins!"

"Get down!"

"Everybody down!"

Cries rose and fell in the trench. Danny emptied five bullets in one breath, then fell to the ground, not forgetting to reload a new cylinder. After waiting for the javelins to pass, he got up and pulled the trigger at the nearest enemy—

At this distance, the power of the revolver buqiang was not much lower than the new weapon. Danny could almost see the God's Punishment Warrior's face, which was devoid of expression, as if the surrounding炮火 and gunfire were completely irrelevant to him. It wasn't until the bullet pierced his chest and neck, blowing his entire head off, that he stopped trembling, staggered, and fell down, spraying blue blood.

More and more enemies crossed the line of fire. Danny quickly emptied three pre-loaded cylinders. According to the plan, he picked up his rifle and retreated to the second trench.

Just as he followed his teammates into the entrance of the communication trench, a black shadow fell from the sky—a God's Punishment Warrior leaped high, jumped over the barbed wire in front of the trench, and swung his greatsword at him!

"Run—" He grabbed Malt behind him and pulled him into his arms.

A loud crash!

Danny immediately felt a lightness in his hands and rolled backwards several times.

When he opened his eyes, only half of the person in his arms remained.

Malt looked at him and opened his mouth, but only a few mouthfuls of blood gushed out, and he could no longer say anything.

Danny felt a buzzing in his head. He screamed, raised his buqiang, but the God's Punishment Warrior had already pounced on him, severing both his arms with a single sweep, then slashing towards his face.

At that moment, Danny could even see the rough, uneven blade stained with blood.

Just as he thought he was about to die, another flash of cold light passed from the corner of his eye, intersecting with the greatsword from below, sparking a series of flashes. The force of this blow was so great that it knocked the God's Punishment Warrior's weapon flying!

A woman appeared above the tunnel. Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail that reached her waist, and her eyes shone with a golden light, like an insurmountable mountain.

The God's Punishment Warrior, having lost his greatsword, did not retreat but instead punched her with his bare hands.

The latter cleanly knocked him to the ground, then walked to the helpless enemy and crushed his head with one foot.

A mixture of blue and white splattered on Danny's face.

"Go."

She glanced at the shocked soldiers with a sidelong glance and uttered a cold word, then engaged in a fierce fight with two other God's Punishment Warriors who had rushed up.

"This guy's injured!"

"Quick, carry him away!"

"Take Malt with you—" Danny said hoarsely, wanting to hug the little guy in his arms, but his bare arms could not hold onto anything.

"He's already dead!" someone yelled. "Do you want to kill us all?"

The teammates who followed picked up his severed hands, tucked them into their arms, and carried him to the rear trench, and the lifeless Malt gradually disappeared from Danny's sight.

...

Lightning accelerated to the limit, once again circling behind the swarm and pulling the trigger.

She had already figured out her opponent's weaknesses. The swarm seemed to have no substance, but killing each insect would cause the Pure One to lose some of his magical power, especially when Maisie transformed into the swarm's natural enemy—a barn swallow—constantly swooping through the swarm, forcing it into a ball. Then, blasting it with the sniper rifle would cause the opponent to utter vicious curses and roars.

He couldn't hold on for long.

Just as Lightning pulled away, preparing to reload, the locusts suddenly changed direction and charged towards the ground.

"Maisie!"

The little girl called out.

"Aww—!"

The eagle folded its wings and swooped down in a dive, and then a bloody maw suddenly appeared below the swarm.

"Wh-what is this? Im-impossible!" The sound of the locusts flapping their wings turned into a cry of alarm, trying to turn and flee, but it was too late.

Maisie effortlessly swallowed the insects in one gulp, chewed a couple of times, and said, "Umm... doesn't taste good, aww."

Lightning shrugged and stowed the sniper rifle in her belt. "Because you didn't roast it over a fire or add seasonings."

It wasn't until this moment that she noticed several more bloody welts on her body. In the initial probing, she had been grazed by the swarm several times. The teeth of these locusts were like hard files. If it were an ordinary person, it would be difficult to avoid this agile attack method.

Looking at the slope, which was already covered with shell craters and corpses, Lightning took a deep breath. "There's no need for artillery guidance here anymore. Let's go support His Majesty."

"Aww!"