187: Chapter 187 Gru's Escape

"Loose arrows!"

"Mages, saturation attack!"

As the battle began, Lin Tian did not hesitate, once again unleashing his simple, brutal, yet tried-and-true "three-axe routine."

Following his cold command, the sky, which had long been primed for action, was once again shrouded by a dark cloud of death.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Arrows blotting out the sky mixed with blazing fireballs, like a world-ending catastrophe brought down by the wrath of a Heavenly God.

They slammed down squarely upon the Minotaur army, which had just formed ranks and had not yet fully recovered from the shock of the disparity in military strength!

There was no probing, no holding back; from the very start, it was the most vicious saturation fire coverage!

Although Minotaur warriors were generally thick-skinned and sturdy, under such dense, all-encompassing ranged attacks, their originally tight formation was instantly torn open with countless gaps.

Screams, roars, and explosions merged into a chaotic din, while dust mixed with gunpowder smoke and the stench of blood rose into the sky.

Many Minotaur warriors were nailed through by arrows or blown to pieces by Spells before they could even see what the enemy looked like.

The absolute advantage in military strength became the driving force of the cruelest meat grinder at this moment.

When the rain of arrows and the roar of Spells temporarily ceased, Lin Tian's million-strong army, like four torrents of steel, launched a full-scale charge from the front and both flanks against the Minotaur army, whose formation was already in chaos!

Five hundred thousand against nearly two million; on average, every single Minotaur warrior had to face the siege of three or four human soldiers!

From the very beginning, the battle showed a one-sided crushing trend.

The well-trained human soldiers formed battle formations of various sizes, coordinating with each other; long spears stabbed like a forest, blades and axes slashed and chopped, while arrows and Spells continued to pick off targets with precision at close range.

Although the Minotaur warriors were individually brave, after losing their formation advantage and falling into the quagmire of fighting on their own...

Two fists are no match for four hands; often, just as they parried a spear thrust from the front, attacks from the flanks and rear had already arrived.

In just a few short minutes, the Silver-tier soldiers in the Minotaur vanguard fell in droves like harvested wheat, and their casualties quickly climbed to nearly ten thousand!

Blood dyed the wasteland red, and corpses piled up into small hills.

After half an hour of fierce fighting, the scales of victory had completely tipped in favor of Lin Tian's side.

The Minotaur army formation was cut apart and scattered, with small units fighting on their own being continuously overwhelmed and wiped out.

The casualty numbers snowballed, with over one hundred thousand Minotaur warriors falling forever on this unfamiliar plain, and this number was jumping crazily every second.

"Clang!"

With another hard clash, Gru's mountain-splitting battle-axe once again caused the Scarlet Sun Avatar to vibrate violently, its light dimming slightly.

However, the counterattack from the avatar also made his Qi and blood churn, forcing him to use the recoil to retreat dozens of meters backward.

He stole a glance at the battlefield below, and his heart immediately sank to the bottom of the valley.

Defeated! A complete and utter defeat!

What he saw was a scene of rout and his own soldiers being continuously divided and swallowed up.

It was the dozen or so Platinum-tier general combat groups that were tightly entangled by human battle formations, unable to escape despite charging left and right, with several already having their auras extinguished!

He couldn't drag this out any longer!

If he dragged it out any longer, not to mention avenging the kingdom, his own five hundred thousand troops, along with him, a newly promoted diamond rank general, would likely all be buried here!

"Pass the order! The whole army is to retreat! Head towards the mountainous region in the southwest, cover each other, retreat!"

Taking advantage of a gap after repelling Lin Feng, Gru used all his strength to roar hoarsely at several adjutants in the distance who were in equally precarious situations, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible panic.

The order to retreat was like a final death warrant, causing the already crumbling morale of the Minotaurs to collapse completely.

Soldiers who could still move surged backward like madmen, trampling over each other, just wanting to get further away from this Hell of death.

However, wanting to retreat while besieged by over a million enemy troops, how easy could that be?

Lin Tian's soldiers were like sharks that had smelled blood, pursuing, dividing, and intercepting!

Especially those slower, injured Silver-tier Minotaur warriors, who almost became abandoned pawns, left behind and annihilated in organized units.

Gru's eyes were bloodshot, and he almost bit through his teeth. Risking taking a direct hit from Lin Feng's flame Spear Glow, he erupted with all his diamond rank power, only then barely managing to carve a bloody path through the chaotic army.

He gathered over ten thousand remnants. They were basically all Gold-tier and above officers and personal guards who were the quickest to react, the strongest, and closest to him.

As for those dozen or so Platinum-tier generals, in the end, only five or six followed him out, all injured and with withered auras, while the rest had all fallen.

Lin Tian sat on the back of Chi Yan, standing on a slightly elevated slope, calmly overlooking the entire battlefield.

He saw Gru leading that elite "arrowhead," like a wounded beast, desperately tearing open the encirclement and fleeing in a sorry state toward the southwest, his figure rapidly shrinking.

Beside him, a general urgently requested: "Lord! The enemy chief is fleeing in defeat, please allow this subordinate to lead the Dragon cavalry in pursuit, I will surely cut off his head!"

Lin Tian, however, slowly raised his hand, stopping his impulsive subordinate.

With a profound gaze, he looked in the direction where Gru had disappeared and shook his head.

"Do not pursue a desperate enemy, especially... an enemy that hasn't been driven to absolute desperation yet."

He analyzed in a calm voice, "Those who are fleeing are all Gold-tier and above elites; if pushed too hard, they might bite back, and our losses would not be small. Besides... that Gru, a 1-star diamond rank, is truly tough."

"Lin Feng used the power of his Battle Soul to repel him several times, but was unable to deal a heavy blow. If we really force him to abandon his troops and make a desperate counterattack or a last-stand strike, Lin Feng, having consumed too much, might not be able to stop him, leading to unexpected trouble."

He glanced at Lin Feng beside him, whose face was pale as paper, his aura unstable, and who was being supported by his personal guards.

Maintaining such a massive Battle Soul to clash head-on with a diamond rank powerhouse for half an hour was a huge burden on Lin Feng; he was already at the end of his tether.

Pursuing now, in case of a counterattack, would not be worth the loss.

"Clean up the battlefield, collect the remains of the fallen soldiers, take all valuable spoils of war, and we... are going home."

Lin Tian finally gave the order, his tone carrying the calmness of victory, as well as a trace of imperceptible fatigue.

The horn for withdrawing troops sounded across the battlefield.

The soldiers began to silently clean up this bloody slaughterhouse, carefully collecting the remains of their comrades and gathering the equipment of the Minotaur officers, as well as the scattered weapons and armor.

The air was filled with the thick, lingering stench of blood and a sense of gloom from having survived a disaster.

On the way back, the atmosphere was not particularly jubilant.

It was a great victory, without a doubt. But when tallying the gains and losses, Lin Tian calculated the account in his heart clearly.

"We still suffered from a lack of high-end combat power."

He rode Chi Yan, walking in the middle of the troop, silently pondering.

A single diamond rank Gru required Lin Feng to exhaust all his strength and borrow the Battle Intent of one hundred thousand soldiers to barely hold him off.

If the opponent had one more diamond rank, or if Gru were a little stronger, the outcome of the battle would likely have been rewritten.