21: Gru surrenders, wolf riders charge

On the west side of Sunset Plain, the dust raised by three hundred wasteland riderss was like an earthen dragon, crashing hard into the flank of the Goblin Camp.

“For Infinite City!” Huo Jun charged at the front, his curved blade drawn, its cold light sharp.

Horse hooves easily shattered the crude defensive works, and the cavalry, like a red-hot iron searing into butter, instantly tore open a gap. However, before they could expand their gains, Gelu’s furious roar came from deep within the camp.

“Stop them! No retreating!”

Gelu reacted extremely quickly, immediately dispatching nearly two hundred Big Goblins to form a thick defensive line, forcefully blocking the cavalry’s path. These Big Goblins possessed astonishing strength, wielding their heavy weapons, fearlessly charging towards the attacking warhorses.

“Pfft!”

Curved blades cut into leather armor, bringing forth green blood, but at the same time, heavy iron hammers also struck horse legs or riders, and screams and the neighing of warhorses rang out.

Although the wasteland riderss were elite, they were, after all, only Black Iron-tier units and not high-level. Facing these Big Goblins, who had an advantage in physique and strength, along with some ordinary Goblins assisting them, the momentum of their charge was directly stifled.

Huo Jun fought desperately, slaying several enemies, but the Goblins on the flank grew more numerous. His cavalry began to suffer casualties, and the plan to break through the enemy formation was clearly about to fail.

On the main battlefield, Stone Rock’s shield wall and Mu Yang’s Halberd Warriors were also tightly entangled by the main Goblin force. Although the human soldiers were better equipped and coordinated, the enemy, relying on their numerical advantage, even with the archers led by Zhui Yun providing continuous output from the rear, found it difficult to gain an advantage for a time, and the battle became a stalemate.

Su Jin observed clearly from the high platform, his brow slightly furrowed. They couldn’t drag this out any longer; the Goblins still held a numerical advantage, and the longer it dragged on, the greater their own casualties would be.

His gaze fell upon Bai Xiao, who stood silently below the high platform.

“Bai Xiao.”

“Here.” Bai Xiao’s voice was as concise as ever.

“Deal with that big guy.” Su Jin pointed at Gelu, who was roaring and commanding in the Goblin formation, standing out most prominently.

“Yes.”

Bai Xiao responded, his figure sliding down the side of the high platform like a ghost. With a few flashes, he plunged into the chaotic battlefield. He didn’t charge directly at Gelu but instead headed towards the center of the battlefield first.

“Mind Unleashed!”

The next moment, at the center of the battlefield, a scorching and oppressive aura suddenly erupted with Bai Xiao as its epicenter!

Pale green spiritual pressure flames instantly coiled around Bai Xiao’s entire body, surging and boiling! In a flash, they outlined and condensed on his body, forming a cyan-blue battle armor with a metallic luster and jade-like texture.

Almost at the same moment the battle armor formed, a visible pale white halo, with Bai Xiao at its center, silently rippled outwards, quickly sweeping across the entire battlefield.

This was Bai Xiao’s unique halo ability as a hero unit—the Ashen Extinction Ring!

An invisible, violent spiritual pressure shockwave also swept outwards with the edge of the halo!

“Pfft—!”

“Ugh ah!”

The Big Goblins closest to Bai Xiao, without even seeing what happened, were directly hit by this brutal shockwave! Their sturdy bodies were sent flying backward uncontrollably, as if struck by a battering ram!

Their bodies twisted and tumbled in mid-air, the crunching sound of bones breaking echoed, and finally, they crashed heavily to the ground like broken sacks, twitching twice before falling silent.

The other Goblins nearby, whether ordinary Goblins or Big Goblins, were startled by this sudden turn of events, their movements freezing, and fear showing in their eyes.

Immediately following, the true effect of the Ashen Extinction Ring began to manifest.

The Infinite City soldiers swept by the halo, whether Heavy Shield Guards, Tie Jia Bu Bing (Iron Armor Infantry), or Halberd Warriors, all felt a strange power surge into them.

“Buzz…”

The weapons in their hands—the edges of tower shields, the longswords of infantry, the halberd blades of Halberdiers—all simultaneously lit up with a faint, pale white flame.

“It’s Lord Bai Xiao!” Someone reacted, realizing this was the powerful ability they had witnessed during the previous city defense!

Morale was instantly ignited!

“How is this possible… How is this possible!?” Gelu, the Commander from Greystone Keep, his fierce expression already replaced by disbelieving horror, stared fixedly at Bai Xiao, who was enveloped in cyan-blue battle armor and a pale halo in the center of the battlefield, his voice trembling slightly.

“A hero… How could humans possibly have a ‘hero’ unit? This is impossible!”

He muttered to himself, his eyes filled with fear and a sense of absurdity.

How many resources had the Goblin race poured in, how many years had passed, to give birth to a true hero like King Bashaka? Yet these humans, who appeared from who knows what remote corner, actually possessed such an existence?

Was this the kind of monster the Supervisor had sent him to deal with? A feeling of despair began to spread in his heart.

Bai Xiao, with his halo unleashed, had cold eyes, and the longsword in his hand hummed softly. The next moment, he cut into the densest concentration of Big Goblins.

The longsword, wreathed in spiritual pressure flames, traced a deadly trajectory.

“Soul Cry Slash!”

A condensed, crescent-shaped shockwave shot from the sword, instantly bisecting three Big Goblins in its path! Green blood and internal organs exploded, instantly charred and vaporized by the high temperature.

The shockwave continued unabated, engulfing and tearing apart seven or eight ordinary Goblins who couldn’t dodge in time, leaving behind a ground littered with charred limbs.

Then, like a cyan lightning bolt, he moved at high speed through the enemy formation. Ordinary Goblins couldn’t even get within three meters of him before being scorched by the high temperature accompanying Mind Unleashed, and even the strong Big Goblins were as fragile as paper in the face of his ghostly speed and incomparably sharp sword blade.

“Stop him! Quickly stop him!” Gelu’s voice already carried an almost imperceptible tremor. He stared fixedly at the cyan-blue figure constantly advancing towards him, swinging his giant axe, pushing the still-stunned Goblins around him forward to their deaths, while his own feet subtly shifted backward in the chaos.

Bai Xiao’s steps didn’t falter. Facing the Big Goblins attempting to intercept him, his figure suddenly became blurred in the chaotic battlefield, leaving a pale cyan afterimage in his original spot.

Residual Soul Substitute!

“What?!” A warning bell rang loudly in the secretly retreating Gelu’s heart, and a chill shot straight to his scalp!

He didn’t even have time to fully turn around, only relying on combat instinct to violently twist his thick waist to the side and back, simultaneously swinging his heavy giant axe behind him, attempting to block or force back any potential attack.

The desire for survival made him burst out with a reaction speed far exceeding his usual.

But, all of this was in vain.

Bai Xiao’s figure had already solidified behind him, and the longsword in his hand, its blade wreathed in pale cyan spiritual pressure flames, emitted a low hum as it silently thrust forward. The target was precisely the gap in the neck where the thick leather armor connected, exposed as Gelu twisted his body.

Gelu’s eyes widened, and the corner of his eye only caught a dazzling flash of cyan light, and that stern, expressionless face.

“Chii—!”

A faint whooshing sound clearly entered Gelu’s ears.

The sword tip passed through his body!

Gelu’s fierce and enraged expression instantly froze, his massive body stiffened abruptly, and the heavy giant axe slipped from his grasp, falling to the ground with a clang. The last spark in his eyes rapidly dimmed, leaving only horror and disbelief. Then, his enormous body swayed, and he crashed forward onto the ground with a thud, kicking up a large cloud of dust, utterly silent.

At the same time, at the rear of the battlefield, a hawk swooped down, circling above a Spirit Pivot Sword Servant. The Sword Servant quickly raised his hand, catching the small message tube dropped by the hawk, quickly opened it and glanced at it, then turned, leaped a few times to the edge of the high platform, and reported to Su Jin, who stood with his hands behind his back: “Lord! Three kilometers west, a small group of Wolf Cavalry, about one hundred in number, has been spotted approaching our battlefield!”