50: Chapter 50 The Town Falls

"Hold your ground, all of you! They're just a bunch of withered skeletons, what is there to fear!"

Atop the town walls, a burly man clad in fine iron armor forcefully suppressed the churning fear in his heart. His voice boomed like a giant bell as he roared angrily, instantly snapping the panicked defending troops around him back to their senses.

This person was none other than Guardian Brunn Locke, the magistrate of this frontier town.

At this critical juncture, he exerted force in both arms, tightly gripping a thousand-jin longbow. The bowstring was abruptly pulled to its limit, and his entire body's pure battle qi was poured completely into the arrowhead, bursting with silver light and a terrifying momentum.

"Swish——!"

The sharp sound of splitting wind tore through the open sky, and the massive arrow carrying boundless battle qi shot forward like a bamboo being split right down the middle, piercing straight through the skeletal bodies of more than a dozen Undead Retainers in the front row.

"Bang!"

Following several muffled sounds in succession, more than a dozen undead skeletons shattered upon impact, crashing heavily to the ground and scattering fragments of dead bones everywhere.

Seeing this scene, wild joy instantly burst from the depths of Guardian Brunn Locke's eyes, and his tightly strung heartstrings suddenly relaxed as he shouted to encourage everyone: "Did you see that! These undead are just all show, looking terrifying but actually hollow inside! Counterattack with all your might!"

This arrow acted like a reassuring pill, completely dispersing the fear in the defenders' hearts.

Everyone gritted their teeth to calm down, drawing their bows and nocking arrows. A dense rain of arrows poured out as if they cost nothing, covering the Undead Army in a dark swarm.

Yet the next second, everyone's expressions completely froze.

The arrows filling the sky landed on the Undead Retainers, mostly just grazing out tiny sparks and chipping off a bit of bone dust, utterly failing to cause fatal damage.

Especially when faint grayish-black mists rose around the various undead, condensing into heavy skeletal barriers, the defenders' arrows were like scratching an itch, unable to even break through the opponent's defense.

At this time, they had not yet discovered that the dozen or so undead skeletons that had just been pierced by the giant arrow, shattered, and fallen to the ground were rapidly splicing and reorganizing their broken bones under the gathering shroud of deathly aura. Skeleton after skeleton slowly stood up, soul fires flickering within their empty eye sockets.

Immortal and indestructible, growing stronger with every battle!

At the rear of the Undead Army, Su Ming walked forward slowly with a leisurely pace and a calm expression.

Sensing the boundless battle qi and precise force contained in that arrow just now, a trace of faint surprise flashed across the depths of his eyes.

"I didn't expect this frontier town to actually conceal a Seventh-Rank Knight."

Immediately afterward, he regained his composure, shook his head slightly, and spoke in an indifferent tone: "Unfortunately, mere Seventh-Rank strength attempting to block my Undead Army is ultimately a pipe dream."

Beneath demigods, all are mere ants!

As long as today's Undead Army doesn't encounter a demigod, it's impossible for anyone to be their match.

Su Ming didn't care at all, but Wawan and the others by his side had other ideas.

At this moment, Xuankui took the lead and stepped forward: "Lord God, this subordinate has yet to achieve any decent military merit to this day. Leave this miscreant to this subordinate to deal with!"

Su Ming nodded casually and instructed indifferently: "Very well. Spare his life; I want to pry more secret intelligence about this world from his mouth."

"This subordinate obeys the command!"

The instant Xuankui acknowledged the order, his figure abruptly broke through the air, transforming into a pitch-black afterimage that flashed into the high altitude in an instant. His towering corpse body floated in the dome of heaven, and a biting cold pressure suddenly enveloped the entire town.

"What is that in the sky?!"

The defenders on the city wall noticed the anomaly in the dome of heaven at the very first moment. Looking up to see that pitch-black figure overlooking all living beings, their souls instantly fled in terror as they shrieked in horror.

Guardian Brunn Locke's pupils shrank sharply, a chilling coldness piercing to the core of his heart, and a fear stemming from biological instinct swept through his entire body.

He could clearly perceive that the aura of the figure in the high altitude was cryptic and unfathomable, far beyond what he could contend against.

Yet as the magistrate of this town, if even he harbored cowardice and showed fear, the defending troops under his command would surely see their morale completely collapse and scatter without a fight, leaving not a shred of possibility for the town to be held.

Guardian Brunn Locke forcefully suppressed the monstrous fear in his heart, gritted his teeth, raised his arms, and roared: "Everyone, do not panic! The opponent is merely a single person. Gather the strength of the entire army and shoot him down from the dome of heaven!"

Before his words even faded, he pulled the longbow to its limit once again, pouring half of his battle qi to the absolute maximum. The silver light was brilliant, the arrowhead vibrated, and carrying the momentum of tearing through the air, it shot straight toward Xuankui!

Facing the approaching fatal arrow, Xuankui stood tall in the high altitude with his robes fluttering. In the depths of his eyes, there remained only extreme indifference and disdain, and he actually refused to dodge or evade, letting the arrow strike him.

Seeing this, wild joy instantly ignited in Guardian Brunn Locke's eyes: "Could this monster lack intelligence and not know how to dodge?"

Yet the next second, a scene that subverted his cognition suddenly played out.

Xuankui slowly raised his rough, dark right hand, his five fingers gently clenching to accurately and flawlessly snap onto the racing giant arrow of battle qi.

"Crack!"

The incomparably hard fine iron longbow arrow was like crisp paper in his hands, instantly shattering and snapping. The battle qi light collapsed in response, failing to stir up even a shred of ripple.

"How is that possible!!!"

Guardian Brunn Locke's eyes widened round, his face full of horror. The blood throughout his body nearly stagnated, and his heart was filled with disbelief.

That arrow just now had half of his battle qi poured into it, enough power to heavily injure an Eighth-Rank Knight; even a Ninth-Rank Knight would need to block it with caution. Yet at this moment, it was crushed by the opponent with bare hands, casually and without the slightest effort!

High above in the sky, Xuankui lowered his gaze to look at the shattered arrow in his palm, a cold sneer hooking the corner of his mouth as his hoarse voice shook the four fields: "With just this bit of meager trickery, you delusional wretch attempt to harm me?"

As his words fell, he casually tossed it, the shattered arrow shaft carrying remaining momentum like a shooting star falling to the ground, whistling and diving straight down.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

Three muffled sounds rang out in succession. The falling arrow shaft pierced through the bodies of three defending soldiers who failed to dodge in time, fiercely nailing into the ground as the scent of blood instantly filled the city wall.

Guardian Brunn Locke's complexion was ashen, his face so gloomy that water could drip from it.

He understood clearly that the opponent's move was by no means a slip of the hand, but rather a naked provocation and an overwhelming humiliation.

The next instant, Xuankui's figure flashed, landing heavily and stepping steadily onto the pinnacle of the city wall.

Although the surrounding defenders were filled with fear, they still gritted their teeth to fight to the death, holding blades, spears, swords, and halberds as they shrieked and charged toward Xuankui to kill.

The depths of Xuankui's eyes were as calm as an ancient well, treating the charging soldiers around him as nothing. From beginning to end, there was only Guardian Brunn Locke alone in his eyes.

Deathly aura lingered around his entire body, and the gray fog spread wantonly.

Any defending soldier whose weapon touched his body instantly felt a bone-piercing, malicious deathly aura invade their flesh, causing their skin and flesh to rot, their battle qi to scatter, and their souls to be continuously eroded.

In a mere few breaths, the hundreds of defenders surrounding Xuankui all collapsed to the ground wailing, losing their combat effectiveness. Corpses littered the city wall, and the tragic state was terrifying.

"All of you, fall back! You are definitely not his match!"

Seeing the heavy casualties of his subordinates, Guardian Brunn Locke felt his heart bleed as he hurriedly shouted to make everyone retreat. He stepped forward to face Xuankui directly, running his battle qi to the fullest while his whole body tensed up with extreme vigilance.

Suppressing his fear, he spoke in a deep voice, attempting to buy time and probe the truth: "I am Guardian Brunn Locke, the magistrate of Taoyuan Town! I wonder why Your Excellency has invaded Taoyuan Town without cause?"

Xuankui couldn't be bothered to say much, curling his lips in disdain as his figure suddenly charged forward violently. His pitch-black sharp claws, carrying towering deathly aura, lunged straight at Guardian Brunn Locke!

"Bang!"

A heavy sound of collision exploded across the city wall.

Guardian Brunn Locke had been prepared for a long time, crossing his arms to block with all his might as thick battle qi burst forth to resist, but the two forces were simply not on the same tier.

A violent and barbaric huge force suddenly struck, instantly driving him to retreat repeatedly. His soles scraped two deep gullies on the stone wall, his arms went numb, the webbing between his thumb and index finger cracked, and blood dripped down the gaps of his fingers.

"What terrifying physical strength!"

Guardian Brunn Locke's heart trembled violently, and the terror in the depths of his heart grew even more intense.

He could clearly perceive that the opponent's realm might not necessarily surpass his own, but the physical hardness and explosive power crushed him by several tiers.

What was even more terrifying was that every attack from the opponent carried a curse that invaded his meridians and corroded his battle qi. Even if he dispelled it with all his might, it still required a massive expenditure of energy, dragging out the battle.

The more they fought, the more despairing Guardian Brunn Locke felt. His own attacks were like a mere scraper, while each of the opponent's lunges made his blood churn and worsened his injuries. He was firmly suppressed throughout the entire process, like a punching bag taking a passive beating without any ability to fight back.