159: The idea that everyone guards together

The brutal flames of war raged across the land of Longguo like a spreading plague.

From the Ice City in the far north to the Pearl of the Southern Frontier, from the Demon City on the East Sea coast to Bashu on the western plateau, every base city became a meat grinder.

The surviving soldiers, whether from the City Defense Force, the Professional Association legions, or spontaneously organized teams of ordinary combat professionals, now roared to the heavens, charging into enemies several times their number like moths to a flame, launching desperate counter-offensives!

“For Longguo! For our homeland!”

“City Defense Force! Fight to the death, no retreat!”

“Association Legions! Follow me!”

Various slogans mixed with roars echoed through the sky.

This was their common belief, the backbone that sustained them in this hell!

Boom!

Boom! Boom!

The light of self-detonations rose and fell, like blood-colored fireworks blooming under a desperate night sky!

That was the final choice of warriors whose psionic energy was about to run out, or who were severely wounded and could no longer fight!

They laughed wildly, filled with resolve, throwing themselves into the densest enemy groups, detonating all the remaining psionic energy within their bodies!

Violent explosions often took out several times their number of enemies, buying a moment of respite for their comrades and delaying the collapse of a tottering defense line by a second.

On the shattered riverside defense line of Demon City, a young City Defense Force soldier, his legs dissolved by corrosive fluid, clung desperately to the tentacles of an “Abyssal Stalker” that had rushed onto the breakwater, using his last strength to pull the pin on the high-explosive psionic grenade on his chest!

A blaze of fire engulfed him and the grotesque monster, simultaneously collapsing a section of the dike and temporarily stopping the subsequent surge of marine monsters.

“Old Zhang!!”

“Er Gouzi!!”

Calls of grief and indignation echoed across every battlefield, but were quickly drowned out by even more intense sounds of slaughter.

No one retreated, because behind them was their last home, with nowhere to go!

Near the heavily battered city gate of Bashu Base City, the Professional Association's “Bedrock Legion” had formed a tight defensive formation.

They were generally only at Silver Tier 3 or 4, appearing so small against the charge of several “Earth-Cracking Barbarian Bulls” with their thick hides and terrifying strength.

Shields groaned excruciatingly under the barbarian bulls' impacts, and the shield-bearing soldiers bled from their mouths and noses, their arm bones shattered, yet they held firm, refusing to yield an inch!

Archers and elemental mages in the rear poured psionic arrows, fireballs, and ice cones onto the barbarian bulls' relatively vulnerable joints and eyes, attempting to slow their charge.

Each stomp of a barbarian bull was accompanied by flying flesh and blood, but The Fallen gaps were immediately filled by roaring individuals from behind!

They built a great wall of steel with their flesh and blood, solely to protect the evacuation tunnel leading to the underground fortress behind them.

Meanwhile, at a breached street entrance, a group of non-combat professionals in chef, cleaner, and clerk uniforms were being escorted by a temporary guard team composed of low-tier professionals, retreating to deeper shelters.

Their faces were filled with fear, but their eyes also burned with unwillingness.

“Damn it! Even if I’m a cook, I’m not a coward!”

An old man with graying hair watched as a young guard nearby was tackled and torn apart by several swift-moving insects, his eyes splitting with rage.

He suddenly broke free from the guard holding him, grabbed a broken metal water pipe nearby, and roared as he charged forward, smashing it fiercely against the head of a swift-moving insect!

“Get lost! Beast!”

His action ignited a fuse; several other non-combat personnel, similarly fueled by surging bloodlust, also charged forward, attacking the approaching insects frantically with everything they could find—wrenches, fire axes, even stones.

On the freezing streets of Ice City, a “life-skill” professional in a thick cotton coat—Auntie Wang, the tailor—waved two large tailoring scissors, screaming as she stabbed at the eyes of a Frost Giant Lizard trying to pounce on a child!

Her attack might have been insignificant, but it carried a tragic determination to perish together!

This was no longer the fear of onlookers, but the ferocity erupting from the depths of every ordinary Longguo person's bloodline when their homeland was destroyed!

Even more unexpectedly, in the most chaotic and dangerous areas at the edge of the battlefield, several figures exuding a chilling, degenerate aura appeared.

The Fallen of the Dark Council!

Unlike other Transcendent-level individuals who shouted slogans of protection, they carried an offended anger and a bloodthirsty excitement.

But their appearance became a strange yet undeniable “aid” in this desperate war.

In a deserted factory area in Demon City, occupied by a swarm of “Void Floaters,” a dark mage, cloaked in black robes and holding a bone staff, cursed hoarsely.

“Damn insects! How dare you destroy my carefully arranged altar! And steal my shadow energy! I will make you pay!”

He waved his staff, and large swathes of dark green poisonous mist, with strong corrosive and soul-draining effects, surged out like living creatures, enveloping a small group of “Gold-Eating Beetles” that were gnawing on the factory's metal structures.

The insects inside emitted piercing screeches, their hard carapaces rapidly dissolving, their bodies shriveling and withering.

But this poisonous mist made no distinction between friend and foe; several nearby low-tier monsters controlled by the insect swarm's minds and two ordinary Professional Association soldiers, caught in a struggle with the beetles and unable to dodge in time, also screamed and fell, turning into withered bones.

The dark mage paid no attention to this, merely greedily absorbing the pure negative energy and soul fragments feedback from the poisonous mist.

“Hehehe… Fresh souls, and tough insect body materials… All good stuff!”

Another burly figure, with unhealthy greenish-gray skin and tusks, a Fallen warrior, laughed wildly in the dense forest at the edge of the Bashu battlefield.

Wielding a huge, spiked flail, he charged into a group of “Blade Hunters” attempting to outflank the human forces, like a human meat grinder.

The heavy flail, whistling through the air, smashed several charging Blade Hunters, their carapaces bursting, juices splattering, instantly turning them into a pulp of flesh!

While slaughtering frantically, he greedily opened his mouth, and the bloodlust, fear, and death energy emanating from the battlefield surged into his body as if attracted, making his muscles bulge and his greenish-gray skin glow with an eerie red light.

He was not there to protect, but to plunder the “feast” of the battlefield, but objectively, his violent assault indeed tore a huge opening in the flank of the insect swarm, temporarily curbing their momentum to encircle the human main force.

“These madmen… but they’re helping a bit!”

A military Transcendent-level expert, struggling to resist the charge of a Transcendent-level monster, the Frost Giant Lizard, on the outer defense line of Ice City, glanced at a Fallen warrior battling a group of “Ice Soul Spiders” not far away, his eyes complex.

The Fallen warrior was covered in blood, with icicles hanging from his body, yet he fought with increasing ferocity, clearly drawing strength from the slaughter.

The military Transcendent-level took a deep breath, pouring all his strength into the massive shield in his hand.

“Immovable as a mountain”!

The shield surface erupted with dazzling golden light, firmly withstanding the Frost Giant Lizard's icy breath and the subsequent violent charge!

The frozen earth beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, ice shards flew, but his burly body stood unmoving like a true mountain!

He could not retreat; behind him were countless ordinary soldiers fighting in a bloody battle and civilians struggling to evacuate, and the last dignity of this city, forged of ice and snow, yet flowing with hot blood!

On the battlefield, beliefs varied, and goals differed.

Noble sacrifice and vile plunder coexisted, while bright protection and dark desires intertwined.

But at this moment, in this desperate situation concerning the survival of all Longguo and human civilization, all people and “non-humans” on this scorched earth were forced into this bloody vortex with the invaders from another world.

The City Defense Force's desperate charge, the Professional Association legions' steel bulwark, the tragic resistance of ordinary professionals, and even the predatory, insane slaughter of The Fallen… Regardless of their initial intentions, their actions objectively formed barriers, some solid, some fragile, some twisted, collectively resisting the destructive torrent that surged like a tide.

For survival, for this land called “Longguo,” even the deepest darkness was forced to temporarily fight alongside the light.

This, in itself, was the most cruel and shocking footnote to this doomsday war. Tattered banners fluttered in the smoke of gunpowder, soaked with the blood-colored belief of countless sons and daughters of Longguo, sharing life and death!