173: Chapter 173 God of War

Yan Yue stood on the high platform of the city gate, his eyes fixed intently on Lin Mo. There was no expression on his face, but his hand gripping his blade was trembling slightly.

Han Xiao sat in his wheelchair, saying nothing.

Lin Mo dropped from mid-air back onto the city wall, as if he had only done something trivial.

He glanced at the residual light rain on the horizon and said indifferently, "When is the next one coming? This kind of stuff is actually quite handy to fight against."

Before news of the orbital strike being shattered could spread across the city wall, the formation of the West Federation vanguard army shifted.

Over a dozen silver-gray mechs broke away from the main formation on the flank, quickly maneuvering along a low-lying area covered by scorched earth, heading straight for the breach in the eastern city barrier.

Shen Yi's gaze remained fixed on that direction.

"Sector 3, coordinates 4-7-2, two scout mechs."

Yan Yue frowned and was about to speak, but Shen Yi continued.

"Sector 5, coordinates 9-3-1, three heavy assault mechs, carrying fortress-breaking grade energy cores."

"Sector 7 on the flank, one mobile command vehicle, currently releasing drone relay signals; it's a communication node."

She reported the coordinates at an extremely fast pace, with almost no hesitation, as if the enemy movements hidden in the smoke and scorched earth were a map laid out before her eyes.

Yan Yue was stunned.

He had fought in Ironwall City for so many years and had never seen anyone make judgments at such speed on the battlefield, as if she were stating facts that had already occurred.

"How do you—"

"Sector 6, coordinates—" Shen Yi paused abruptly, her pupils contracting. "No, the command vehicle changed positions. Sector 8, it's moving to Sector 8."

Yan Yue was still hesitating.

Lin Mo's voice came from the front of the city wall, only three words: "Listen to her."

Yan Yue gritted his teeth, turned his head, and roared: "All batteries, follow the coordinates she reported and fire!"

After three rounds of salvo fire, the flank assault route of the West Federation vanguard army was blasted into a sea of fire.

Two scout mechs were totaled on the spot, and the energy core of one heavy mech was hit, exploding into a mushroom cloud.

The communication command vehicle was overturned by the shockwave, and the drone relay signal was instantly cut off.

Thunderous cheers erupted on the city wall.

Shen Yi stood where she was, not smiling, just exhaling softly as if confirming something. Ji Wuchen patted her shoulder: "Well done."

Yan Yue turned back, looked at Shen Yi, and his lips moved.

"Little girl," his voice was much softer than before, "where did you learn all this?"

Shen Yi glanced at him and said indifferently, "I was born with it."

Yan Yue glanced at the back figure in front of the city wall scanning the battlefield and suddenly felt there was no need to ask.

The West Federation vanguard army's formation was completely disrupted by Shen Yi's predictions, and their frontal offensive fell into brief chaos.

Lin Mo was waiting for this exact moment.

He leaped off the city wall, his figure like lightning, killing his way straight into the densest central area of the enemy formation.

Dragonborn Form activated again. Wherever the blade light passed, mechs were sliced in two, exoskeleton soldiers were blasted backward by lightning, and he tore a gap in the steel torrent all by himself.

The most terrifying thing on the battlefield is not a master, but a master who doesn't fear death.

And it wasn't that Lin Mo didn't fear death; it was that he simply couldn't die.

The defense granted by his Dragonborn Form made him comparable to a humanoid Gundam. Unless hit head-on by a weapon like an orbital cannon, it was impossible for him to be injured.

After killing his way through the enemy formation, he turned his body, flashing with Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps, and circled back to the city wall from the flank.

He happened to pass by the command platform where Han Xiao was located.

He did not stop.

But when passing by Han Xiao, his footsteps slowed for an instant, and one hand rested casually on Han Xiao's knee.

The movement was too fast, so fast that the people around didn't see it clearly at all.

Yan Yue only saw Lin Mo pass by Han Xiao and then continue walking forward.

But Han Xiao saw it clearly.

Because the moment Lin Mo's hand pressed down, a warm force poured from his palm into his knee, penetrating the meridians and seeping into the bone marrow.

Something that had been deposited for too long, a black toxin that had blocked his meridians for years, was forcibly dispersed, swept up, and then steamed out from his pores by that force.

His toes twitched.

Below the knee, that part of his body which had been sentenced to death and destined to be in a wheelchair for a lifetime, felt a faint but clear sensation.

Han Xiao suddenly raised his head, staring intensely at Lin Mo's back.

Lin Mo did not look back.

After walking a few steps, he tilted his head and said in a voice only the two of them could hear: "The legs are good legs. The poison is cleared. Whether you can stand up again depends on yourself."

Then he continued walking forward, as if nothing had happened.

Han Xiao sat in his wheelchair, gripping the armrests tightly until his knuckles turned white. He didn't speak, but his eyes were red.

Yan Yue noticed something unusual, walked over, and asked in a low voice: "What's wrong?"

Han Xiao was silent for a long time before speaking in a hoarse voice: "That person... he just..."

He didn't finish.

Because he didn't know how to say it.

A person you blocked outside the city, mocking him as a "young man who hasn't seen blood," had casually healed your legs on the way back from killing through the enemy formation.

Han Xiao lowered his head and suddenly let out a laugh.

In that laughter, there was self-deprecation, shock, and a complex feeling of having been slapped hard in the face yet being willing to accept it.

Three hours of bloody battle, Ironwall City had not fallen, but it was already on its knees.

The eastern wall was torn open with three gaps, the widest one being twenty zhang, as if it had been forcibly clawed open by some giant beast.

Three crystal energy turrets were silenced, seventeen array patterns of the defensive barrier were broken, and the remaining light screen flickered, each flash like the city gasping its last breath.

The casualty figures for the garrison had not yet been calculated, but the stretchers being carried down from the wall had never stopped.

Yan Yue stood in front of the gate tower, leaning on half a battle blade. The armor on his left shoulder had been melted into a fist-sized hole by an energy shell, and the flesh inside was charred black.

He didn't bandage it, nor did he sit down; he just stared intently at the reassembling tide of steel at the end of the wasteland.

The West Federation vanguard army was like a beast that had been hurt; after licking its wounds and baring its fangs, it prepared to bite through the prey's throat with the next strike.

"The third defensive line has fallen."

The voice coming through the communicator was hoarse and calm, the kind of numbness that comes after shouting until one loses their voice.

"The seventh battery is out of ammunition."

"The eastern city barrier array core... repair failed."

Han Xiao sat in his wheelchair, his hands gripping the armrests tightly.

He listened to these reports, saying nothing.

The garrison on the wall was loading the last box of energy blocks into the crystal energy cannons. Some were leaning against the battlements, gasping for air; others were holding their blades, the edges pressing against the ground, their hands trembling.

No one shouted to retreat.

Because there was nowhere to retreat.

At the end of the wasteland, the reorganization of the West Federation vanguard army was complete.

Three heavy assault mechs advanced in a triangle formation, twelve scout mechs flanked them, and in the rear were the command vehicle and drone relay platform.

Their formation was denser than three hours ago, their advance slower, but their killing intent was even stronger.

In the sky, a delta-wing command plane swept by at low altitude, and the energy scanner under its belly illuminated every defensive loophole in Ironwall City clearly.

Then, the voice of the West Federation commander rang out in the communication channel, calm and cold, as if reading a death warrant that had already been signed:

"Garrison of Ironwall City, this is your final warning: disable your defenses. Otherwise, this attack will no longer distinguish between military targets and civilian facilities."

As the voice fell, someone on the wall cursed aloud, someone spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, and someone just closed their eyes, lips moving as if saying final words to the god they believed in.

Yan Yue did not give the order.

Because he had no orders to give.

Not enough ammunition, unstable barriers, too many wounded, and the enemy still had at least one more round of salvo fire.

This city had fought to the bitter end.

Then, Lin Mo walked out from the breach in the city wall, carrying his blade, walking step by step from the stone stairs that had been half-blasted away, toward the scorched earth outside the city.

"Lin Mo—!"

Ji Wuchen was the first to cry out.

She instinctively wanted to chase after him, but was stopped by Shen Yi raising her hand.

"Don't stop him." Shen Yi's voice was very low, low enough that only two people could hear it. "Haven't you noticed? He has been waiting for this moment."

Ji Wuchen was stunned.

Yes.

Three hours of fierce battle, Lin Mo had been filling defensive gaps all over the city wall, going wherever there was a breach. He hadn't complained of fatigue once, nor had he asked to launch an attack.

She had originally thought he was conserving his strength.

Now she finally understood, what he was waiting for was the enemy to commit all their trump cards at the last moment.

Because only when the enemy is at their most confident, stabbing a blade in is the most lethal.

The wind stopped.

All the sounds on the battlefield seemed to be pressed down by an invisible hand.

The West Federation mech group was still advancing, the roar of the tracks still ringing, but everyone on the wall felt that the world had suddenly gone quiet.

The wind swept scorched ash past Lin Mo's side, making his robes flap loudly.

Dragon scale patterns spread silently from his neck to his arms, and golden-red vertical pupils lit up in the twilight like two ignited lamps.

"What does he want to do..."

Yan Yue's voice squeezed out from his throat.

Han Xiao did not answer.

Because he already saw it.

That person was not going to meet the enemy.

He was going to hunt.

In the West Federation vanguard formation, a command mech stopped abruptly.

The pilot saw a high-speed approaching heat source signal on the scanner—.

But that movement speed should not appear on infantry at all.

"All units, attention—high-energy reaction directly ahead—!"

The commander's warning only got halfway through.

Because the other half was cut off at the waist by a golden-red blade light.

Boom—!!!

The speed at which Lin Mo crashed into the mech group was too fast, too fast for any energy locking system to respond in time.

His first strike hit the command mech's energy core, directly slicing that five-zhang tall steel body in two from the waist.

The explosion's firelight hadn't even shot into the sky when he used the wreckage to push off, flashing with Void-Treading Cloud-Scaling Steps, his whole body like refracted lightning, appearing the next second in the center of the three scout mechs on the right flank.

A horizontal sweep of his blade.

Three cuts.

The knee joints of the three scout mechs shattered simultaneously, like three iron bulls with their front hooves cut off, crashing thunderously into the scorched earth with no chance to get up.

"Left flank, flank them! Fast—!"

The West Federation's frontline commander was still roaring, but Lin Mo was no longer on the right flank.

He stepped on the collapsed mech wreckage and soared into the air, flipping his body in mid-air, Dragonborn Form fully activated, his entire person turning into a golden-red meteorite diving down, crashing squarely into the middle of the five scout mechs that were dispersing their formation on the left flank.

Boom!!!

The shockwave sent the scorched earth for dozens of zhang around into the air.

When the smoke and dust dispersed, all five scout mechs had fallen, each with a blade mark deep enough to see the core embedded in their vital points.

The cuts were as neat as if measured with a ruler; there wasn't a single superfluous strike.

He walked out of the wreckage, lightning still coiling around his body, his vertical pupils glowing brightly in the smoke and dust, like a fierce god rising from the ruins.

On the city wall, someone gasped.

Someone covered their mouth.

Someone clenched their fists so hard they didn't even feel their nails digging into their flesh.

From the moment Lin Mo walked outside the city until now, it hadn't been thirty breaths.

Three heavy mechs, eight scout mechs, all lost combat capability.

Yan Yue's hand gripping his blade was trembling; the despair and anger suppressed for three hours were torn to shreds in the instant he witnessed this scene.

Only one thought remained in his mind—

He had actually stopped this person from going to the battlefield before.

The West Federation vanguard army's center formation had already begun to descend into chaos.

After the scout mech group was torn apart, the heavy mechs lost their flank protection; their bulky bodies were just huge living targets in front of Lin Mo.

Lin Mo did not linger in the fight; he went straight through the center, like a red-hot knife cutting into frozen oil, heading straight for the high ground at the very back, toward that delta-wing command plane that was turning around to flee.

The command plane had accelerated to its limit, and the energy shields at the tail were fully deployed.

The pilot was frantically calling for help in the channel, his voice distorted: "He caught up—he's chasing me—he's—!"

Suddenly, only harsh static remained in the channel.

Because Lin Mo had leaped onto the back of the command plane.

He knelt on one knee on the fuselage, left hand gripping the edge of the casing to stabilize himself, right hand holding the long blade in a reverse grip, tip pointing downward.

Golden-red vertical pupils looked down at the metal casing beneath his feet, then he raised his hand and stabbed down with the blade.

The blade pierced through the energy shield, armor layer, circuit board, and energy core.

It pierced through all the technology and design this command plane was proud of.

And it pierced through the West Federation vanguard army's final command node.

Boom—!

The command plane exploded into a fireball in the air.

Lin Mo flipped down using the shockwave of the explosion, landing steadily beside the half-destroyed stone monument in front of the city gate.

His robes were stained with scorched machine oil, the dragon scale patterns slowly faded back beneath his skin, and his vertical pupils returned to their original color.

He shook the debris off his blade, sheathed it, and then turned to walk toward the city gate.

On the wasteland, the West Federation vanguard army's formation completely collapsed.

No command, no flanks, no one wanted to charge anymore.

The surviving soldiers and mech pilots dragged their broken troops and fled into the depths of the wasteland like the receding tide.

They didn't look back, and no one shouted to retreat, because they were afraid that if they shouted, they would draw that person over again.

Ironwall City was dead silent.

The blood-covered garrison on the wall, those who were waiting for death just a moment ago, were all standing now.

No one gave an order, and no one made a sound.

They just stood there, watching the figure walking step by step toward the city gate below.

The broken blade in Yan Yue's hand finally fell to the ground, making a crisp clinking sound.

He didn't look down to pick it up, nor did he look at the blade.

He just looked at Lin Mo, his lips moving several times, but he couldn't say a single word.

Han Xiao lowered his head, looking at his pair of legs that had been deemed ruined, and then he used all his strength, hands pressing on the wheelchair armrests, and stood up bit by bit, trembling.

It was the leg whose poison Lin Mo had cleared that was supporting his entire weight.

He didn't stand completely straight, but he had stood up. The nearby guards instinctively moved to support him, but he stopped them with a raised hand.

Then, Han Xiao gave a military salute toward the young man walking back to the city gate.

Then, Yan Yue also raised his hand.

Then the garrison on the wall followed.

One after another, row after row. Those who could stand did so straight to salute; those who couldn't stand steady saluted by propping themselves up with their arms; those who had lost an arm used the other.

No one shouted slogans, no one applauded. They just silently raised their hands, silently watching him go.

The setting sun leaked in through the gaps in the broken city wall, gilding the ruins of the city with a bloody golden edge.

On the distant wasteland, the setting sun was like a brand slowly sinking into the horizon, illuminating the battlefield strewn with mech wreckage until it looked like a burning sea.

Muffled thunder finally rolled across the horizon, and the wind picked up, carrying the smell of scorched ash and blood into this battered Ironwall City.

On the city wall, some soldier covered in wounds gritted his teeth and squeezed two words from his throat, hoarse like sandpaper rubbing against sheet metal—

"God of War!!!"