The knight swung his weapon, charging repeatedly at the massive figure clad in armor similar to his own. His battle axe shattered into pieces several times, only to be reformed from the soil—he was clearly not a match for his enemy, yet he kept crawling out of the rubble as if he were indestructible.Even Erin was taken aback. While controlling her mass-produced army to continuously diminish the monsters gradually taking over the sky, she stared wide-eyed in the knight's direction, exclaiming loudly near Yu Sheng's ear, "Oh my—this guy's ability is to withstand a beating?!"
Expecting kind words from this feisty little red-eyed dwarf was an impossibility, so Yu Sheng ignored Erin's shouting by his ear. He grasped the fur on Hu Li's back with one hand while raising the blood needle launcher on his arm with the other, firing a volley at the enormous figure wielding a flaming battle axe: "Go help!"
Hu Li let out a howl and fired two Fox Radish Missiles that way. She then lowered her head and made a dash, crushing any monster in her path, regardless of species, into pieces under the sharp fangs and claws of the Giant Nine-tailed Fox, turning them into black smoke.
And in the wake of the demon fox's charge, the ghostly blue foxfire formed an ever-expanding path, connecting with multiple fire sources on the battlefield to gradually section off the monsters emerging from the high walls.
A blade shadow undetectable to the naked eye flashed by, and a tall skeleton enveloped in black flames shattered into pieces. Luna stepped forth from the swirling dust, and beside her, in the air, a knight order composed entirely of spiritual bodies wielded gleaming giant swords, clearing out the advancing enemies.
Luna slightly turned her head, noticing several blurry figures appearing nearby; these were the Saintess Squad led by Shilude.
"Commander, the reserves are in place."
Luna nodded slightly, holding a rune card in her hand that was faintly glowing red.
The next second, the card silently shattered in her hand, and the power originating from the "World Bridge" began to spread. The twelve spiritual body knights standing behind her resonated with this power, and a space rift larger than usual opened within the array formed by the knights.
More Artificial Saintesses and the Guard Knight Order passed through the rift, crossing the star sea to arrive.
And this was not all—as the passage continued to expand, a rumbling sound suddenly emanated from deep within the rift, and after a series of distorted lights and shadows, more than a dozen heavy drones roared through the teleportation gate.
After a brief delay and friend-or-foe identification, the particle cannons mounted on the drones began roaring. One drone slightly lowered its altitude, and a familiar voice came from the loudspeaker: "Into the fray! Boss!"
"Second-hand scientist!" Erin instantly became excited, shouting up at the drone, "Why are you here joining the fun?"
"I happen to be by the production facilities on Pasture Star, studying the production lines left by the Hidden Monastery," the voice from the drone's loudspeaker was slightly distorted, "Heard there's a fight over on your end, sending some good stuff your way—won't say much, once the teleportation gate closes, my remote control signal might cut off, passing drone control over to Luna, its communication protocol is compatible with Hidden Monastery's "~"
"Boom!"
Another explosion erupted under the high wall. The fox girl fired a missile right at what was once the "Minstrel," whose over three-meter-tall body was blasted backward in the explosion, crashing with a terrifying boom against the Lodaxim High Wall.
Black flames erupted and burned, as Yu Sheng witnessed the minstrel's armor being torn to shreds in the blast, the black flame within swelling nearly double its size, only to then collapse inward violently, as if about to annihilate and dissipate in the next moment.
Yet within only a few breaths, that seemingly out-of-control black flame stabilized rapidly, reforming into a human shape. The tattered and aged armor emerged from the flames, once again covering the "Minstrel."
And this process had actually repeated multiple times already.
Meanwhile, amidst the rubble near the explosion site, the heavily scarred "Knight" wobbled to his feet once more. His armor was tattered, revealing the hollow darkness inside, and the rusty battle axe was broken in two, the remaining haft covered in cracks.
The knight silently discarded the axe handle, bent down, and grabbed a handful of soil from the ground, which again transformed into the shape of a battle axe.
This process too had repeated multiple times.
"This can't be right… Is it truly possible to have an endlessly resurrecting dung heap?!" Erin couldn't help but shout upon witnessing this situation, brandishing a frying pan in exasperation, "This thing is indestructible, and that knight brother next to it is also indestructible… Let's just leave them here to fight in a loop…"
Yu Sheng: "Can you think of something reliable?"
Erin thought for a moment: "How about Yu Sheng, you go and get killed as well? Then use your extensive experience to win them over…"
Yu Sheng simply ignored this little creature's nonsense, instead quickly scanning the surroundings with a furrowed brow.
The second batch of brick-wielding puppets Erin summoned had joined the battle, and with the support of heavy drones sent by Luo, they had now largely cleared the enemies from the sky. Occasionally, a few Stone Gargoyles and flying demons that climbed over the high wall were promptly shot down.
On Luna's side, the reinforced Valhalla troops had stabilized the front line. Artificial Saintesses and their Guard Knight Order were speeding up the clearing of enemies separated by the foxfire.
And the magnificent "Lodaxim High Wall" still stands on this chaotic battleground, firmly blocking the knights' path home like a silent curtain.
"Ultimately, we can't cross this high wall... neither can you..." A hoarse, hollow voice echoed before the wall, "The body of the 'Minstrel' once fell but reformed in the flames, 'He doesn't want us to go back... This world is going to extinguish, and afterward, only darkness endures—leave, never return...'
A large group of dark-haired, red-eyed mass-produced puppets jumped down from the sky, instantly crawling all over the giant's body. The puppets swung the bricks in their hands, fiercely and chaotically smashing!
At the same time, a small golden figure quickly jumped off the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's back, darting across the battlefield like a swift light—
In a blink, Erin ran to the giant's feet, swinging the frying pan in her hand and mercilessly smashing its toes, all the while cursing loudly: "You think we wanted to come here, huh! You guys came out of nowhere, smashing everything and everyone in our home, breaking everything! And damn Lodaxim High Wall, high wall my ass! It was all gone until you spoke up and conjured it again, so you opened this thing, right?! I'm gonna knock you out, knock you out, knock you out..."
The "Minstrel" transformed into a giant collapsed once more, this time dying from severe sudden paronychia, and within the collapsing black flames, he seemed to briefly regain some sanity, even recognizing Erin: "Ah... Miss Short..."
Erin ran back crying.
Yu Sheng frowned tightly, watching the giant fall, and then rise again as before, the pitch-black flames reshaping it repeatedly. Its existence was evidently not simply "human" or "physical."
What is it now? Another knight? A ghost locked in its homeland? A mass of chaotic information in this collapsing kingdom? Or something else...
The "Blood Needle" previously shot into the black flames returned an empty howl, a vague link seemingly coming from all directions, from the land beneath, from the high wall, and even from the vast world behind the wall.
Monsters on the wilderness gathered once more, and more stone gargoyle figures appeared atop the wall.
Suddenly, a flash appeared in Yu Sheng's mind.
The mist hovering in his thoughts was dispersed by this flash, and Yu Sheng suddenly came up with a guess.
In the next second, his intention turned into a call within the Soul Wilderness.
At the highest point of Valhalla, atop the magnificent black Great Cathedral, the Crystal Giant Tree overlooked the city, and light flowed between its canopy. A sacred, pure white figure stood atop the giant tree, watching the procession of souls heading to the battlefield on the Crystal Long Bridge—the invisible wind swept through the canopy, and Freyia suddenly raised her head, as if hearing some sound.
In the next second, a brilliant smile spread across her face.
Miss Angel hoisted her giant sword onto her shoulder, turning to jump right off the tree, directly onto the Lodaxim High Wall.
A light appeared on the chaotic battlefield, falling from the sky as if to cleave open the curtain shrouding the kingdom.
Erin gasped in surprise, looking up to see a jump slash crashing down from the Lodaxim High Wall.
Like a Holy Light sunwheel descending from the sky, Freyia, radiating brilliance from head to toe, holding her great sword, with an extremely radiant smile, jumped off the wall, and wherever she struck, whether stone gargoyle or undead skeleton, all evaporated instantly into nothing, and her direction of attack was exactly towards the recently resurrected "Minstrel."
As if sensing the rapidly approaching heat, the "Minstrel" raised his head in bewilderment, the black flames on his neck swelling uncontrollably. Before the light devoured everything, his hollow, hoarse voice suddenly had warmth again, even tinged with a trace of joy—
"Ah, so bright..."
"Boom!!"
Thunderous claps shook the high walls, the pitch-black flames annihilated in the Holy Light, and before the surging brightness, Yu Sheng saw countless thin black cracks briefly appear, centered around the Minstrel. These cracks connected to the high walls, to the continually emerging monsters surrounding, and even to the air and earth.
And then everything vanished in the tidal wave of pure white light.
Yu Sheng, riding on the Nine-Tailed Fox's back, instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes from the intense light, and in the storm of Holy Light, he vaguely saw something drifting over and reached out to grab it.
It was a somewhat tattered piece of paper, with a childish stroke drawing a campfire and a little figure grilling at its side.
Yu Sheng flipped the paper, deciphering the text upon it, only to see short, simple words—
"Don't go back."