Chapter 213: The Lone Blade at Dusk
The five third-tier scaled beasts did not rush forward all at once.
They seemed to understand how to toy with this sole remaining obstacle. Scattering their positions, they sealed off every possible escape route in the narrow chokepoint. Their low, rumbling growls echoed back and forth between the rock walls, and their hot, foul-smelling breath sprayed directly onto Old Zhou's face. Their dark red vertical pupils were locked firmly onto him. They took small, continuous steps, searching for the flaws that would inevitably appear once he was completely exhausted.
Every wound on Old Zhou's body was burning. The severe blood loss had long since left his limbs freezing cold and his fingertips numb. The palm of his hand, gripping the short blade, trembled continuously from the sustained exertion. The blunted knife looked laughably insignificant in the face of the five behemoths. He knew very well that he could not hold out for much longer, and that he could not even inflict fatal wounds on these scaled beasts. Yet, he did not retreat half a step. His spine remained straight as a ramrod, his blade held horizontally across the center of the passage.
The Illusion Ancient Being continuously poured illusions into his Sea of Consciousness.
The scenes shifted relentlessly. He saw the comrades who had enlisted with him years ago rising silently from the sand, standing behind the scaled beasts, urging him to lay down his weapon and rest. He saw that the civilians of the bastion's main city had completely evacuated, his mission accomplished, and there was no need to throw his life away in vain. In an instant, the scene shifted again: the streets of the main city were flooded with blood, and the elderly and children who had failed to escape lay crushed beneath the claws of the scaled beasts. The interwoven illusions of truth and falsehood tore at his mind repeatedly. The whispers in his ears were lingering and tender, continuously amplifying his exhaustion and regret.
Old Zhou shook his head violently, biting through his own tongue. The sharp pain instantly suppressed a portion of the auditory hallucinations. The metallic tang of blood spread through his mouth as he stared fixedly at the third-tier scaled beast closest to him.
"Don't waste your effort," he whispered, his breath unsteady. "If you want to pass, you must get past me first."
The consciousness of the Beast Commander rippled gently within the cavern, transmitting orders.
The third-tier scaled beast that had approached first lowered its head, bone spur pointing forward, and initiated a slow, short-range probing charge. It did not unleash its full force; it was merely testing Old Zhou's reaction speed. Old Zhou twisted his body to dodge, his short blade顺势 (following the momentum) thrusting toward the soft scale gap beside the behemoth's eye. The blade scraped against the thick scales, leaving only a shallow white mark, failing to penetrate.
The beast, stung by the pain, suddenly swept its massive tail.
Old Zhou did not have enough time to fully dodge. His back took the full force of the blow, the immense power slamming him violently against the rock wall of the side embankment. A muffled sound of cracking bones echoed, and a mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips. His short blade nearly slipped from his grasp. Sliding down the rock wall to the ground, he struggled to support himself with the blade and stand up again. With every breath, his chest cavity erupted with tearing agony.
"I can still stand," he panted, steadying his swaying figure.
Seeing this, the other four scaled beasts also slowly advanced, the encirclement tightening inch by inch.
Inside the rocky hill observation shed, Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness was firmly locked onto the thermal signatures at the chokepoint, his heart sinking heavier and heavier. He could clearly sense Old Zhou's life signal fading bit by bit, yet he had absolutely no way to support him. Over at the second-line position, the retreat order had been fully executed. The surviving soldiers were escorting the wounded, retreating along the main road toward the main city gates. The psychic spikes and illusions continued to harass them along the way. People in the retreating column would occasionally lose focus and go out of control, forcing their companions to stop, wake them up, and drag them along. The speed of the retreat was repeatedly delayed.
"Old Zhou at the chokepoint is surrounded by five third-tier scaled beasts, and his vital signs continue to decline," Lin Yan reported to the command hall. "The Beast Commander is not urging the scaled beasts to kill him quickly; they are wearing down his will. The frontal defenders are retreating in an orderly fashion, but the illusions and psychic stabs continue to cause casualties."
Scholar Su remained silent for a long time before responding in a hoarse voice: "Record his name. All we can do is seize the last bit of time to close the outer gates of the main city and reinforce the gate defenses."
The massive alloy doors of the main city had begun to operate. The rumbling sound of turning gears echoed throughout the gate area. The engineers remaining at the gate urgently inspected the locking mechanisms and the pre-buried explosive charges. Once the gates fell, anyone on the outside who had not yet retreated in time would be permanently sealed out.
Deep within the cavern, the consciousness of the five ancient beings resonated steadily.
While keeping an eye on the skirmish at the chokepoint, the Beast Commander also diverted its attention to dispatch the rest of the beast herd, slowly advancing toward the now-empty second-line fortifications. It was not in a rush to chase the retreating defenders at full speed; instead, it left a certain amount of pressure to drive the crowds to consolidate toward the main city gates. The Sharp-Sense Ancient Being scattered psychic spikes along the retreating column, continuously creating chaos. The Illusion Ancient Being diverted a portion of its original source to continue the mental torment of Old Zhou at the chokepoint. The Spiderweb Ancient Being continued to watch the remaining spore anchor points in the city, ready to detonate them at any moment to create internal chaos behind the city gates.
The supreme ruler quietly observed Old Zhou's resistance.
It was not eager to kill this lone human who was blocking its path. It was observing the human will that refused to retreat even in the face of certain death, sensing the fluctuations of this emotion. In the long conquest records of the lizard ancient beings, such individuals were not uncommon, yet each time, it sparked a desire to explore. It transmitted a message to the Beast Commander: No need to kill quickly. Wait until his mind completely breaks down before ending the battle.
Within the chokepoint, a new wave of attacks arrived.
Two third-tier scaled beasts attacked simultaneously from the left and right, their bone spurs aiming for his shoulders. Old Zhou dropped low and rolled to dodge, the sand and gravel grinding against the wounds on his back. The moment he hit the ground, the third scaled beast's paw stomped fiercely toward his landing spot. He desperately lunged sideways, barely avoiding the blow, but his arm was slashed open by the beast's toe, creating a deep, bone-deep wound.
The excruciating pain shot straight to his brain through his nerves, and his vision went black.
Supporting himself with the short blade, he fell to one knee, gasping for air as his vision began to blur. The illusions surged once again. This time, he saw himself back on the day he first entered the bastion for training. The sun was shining brightly, his comrades were chatting and laughing around him, and there were no rifts, no scaled beasts, and no endless death.
"Go back... Stop..." the whispers circled in his ears.
Old Zhou's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and his grip on the knife loosened bit by bit.
But just as his consciousness was about to sink into oblivion, his mind flashed with the images of the wounded retreating from the second-line position, the civilians still rushing to evacuate in the main city, and the faces of his comrades who had fallen one by one on the sandy ground. He gritted his teeth fiercely, gripping the short blade tightly once more, and raised his head. A glint of sharpness re-gathered in his cloudy gaze.
"I haven't fallen yet."
Letting out a low roar, he took the initiative to charge at the nearest scaled beast. Using every last ounce of strength remaining in his body, he drove the short blade fiercely toward the behemoth's eye socket.
Weng!
The blade finally pierced the soft membrane, sinking deep inside.
The third-tier scaled beast let out a piercing, agonizing roar that made the rock walls tremble, its massive head thrashing wildly. Old Zhou refused to let go of the hilt. Dragged by the beast, he was whipped back and forth, his bones colliding repeatedly with the rock walls and the ground, layer upon layer of new wounds stacking over the old. Seeing this, the other four scaled beasts erupted in fury, their claws and bone spurs descending upon his body simultaneously.
Watching the thermal signatures roll violently, Lin Yan's throat tightened.
This strike was Old Zhou's all-out counterattack. The price was his own life.
In the cavern, the supreme ruler sensed this scene, its consciousness rippling slightly.
This delay ends here.
The attacks of the four third-tier scaled beasts landed on Old Zhou simultaneously.
After a brief, muffled thud, that struggling thermal signature abruptly dimmed.
The short blade slipped from the scaled beast's eye socket, falling onto the blood-stained rubble with a soft clink.
The chokepoint fell silent, leaving only the heavy panting of the scaled beasts. The passage was completely cleared.
The Beast Commander's orders swept across the entire beast herd.
No more resting. All scattered scaled beasts gathered, advancing steadily along the chokepoint and the main road of the second-line fortifications toward the main city gates. The black beast tide, like a surging ocean, followed right behind the retreating defenders, pressing step by step toward humanity's final sanctuary.
Someone in the retreating column looked back. Seeing from afar that there was no longer any sound of fighting from the direction of the chokepoint, everyone knew exactly what had happened. A heavy silence pressed down on every heart. No one cried out; they simply quickened their pace.
The massive alloy doors of the main city slowly descended, the gap growing narrower and narrower.
Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness watched as the beast tide advanced majestically forward, his gaze falling upon that heavy city gate ahead.
The outer perimeter defenses had completely fallen. Old Zhou had died in battle. The surviving defenders had retreated into the main city.
The decisive battle for the West Bastion was about to begin beneath the city walls.
End of Chapter.
They seemed to understand how to toy with this sole remaining obstacle. Scattering their positions, they sealed off every possible escape route in the narrow chokepoint. Their low, rumbling growls echoed back and forth between the rock walls, and their hot, foul-smelling breath sprayed directly onto Old Zhou's face. Their dark red vertical pupils were locked firmly onto him. They took small, continuous steps, searching for the flaws that would inevitably appear once he was completely exhausted.
Every wound on Old Zhou's body was burning. The severe blood loss had long since left his limbs freezing cold and his fingertips numb. The palm of his hand, gripping the short blade, trembled continuously from the sustained exertion. The blunted knife looked laughably insignificant in the face of the five behemoths. He knew very well that he could not hold out for much longer, and that he could not even inflict fatal wounds on these scaled beasts. Yet, he did not retreat half a step. His spine remained straight as a ramrod, his blade held horizontally across the center of the passage.
The Illusion Ancient Being continuously poured illusions into his Sea of Consciousness.
The scenes shifted relentlessly. He saw the comrades who had enlisted with him years ago rising silently from the sand, standing behind the scaled beasts, urging him to lay down his weapon and rest. He saw that the civilians of the bastion's main city had completely evacuated, his mission accomplished, and there was no need to throw his life away in vain. In an instant, the scene shifted again: the streets of the main city were flooded with blood, and the elderly and children who had failed to escape lay crushed beneath the claws of the scaled beasts. The interwoven illusions of truth and falsehood tore at his mind repeatedly. The whispers in his ears were lingering and tender, continuously amplifying his exhaustion and regret.
Old Zhou shook his head violently, biting through his own tongue. The sharp pain instantly suppressed a portion of the auditory hallucinations. The metallic tang of blood spread through his mouth as he stared fixedly at the third-tier scaled beast closest to him.
"Don't waste your effort," he whispered, his breath unsteady. "If you want to pass, you must get past me first."
The consciousness of the Beast Commander rippled gently within the cavern, transmitting orders.
The third-tier scaled beast that had approached first lowered its head, bone spur pointing forward, and initiated a slow, short-range probing charge. It did not unleash its full force; it was merely testing Old Zhou's reaction speed. Old Zhou twisted his body to dodge, his short blade顺势 (following the momentum) thrusting toward the soft scale gap beside the behemoth's eye. The blade scraped against the thick scales, leaving only a shallow white mark, failing to penetrate.
The beast, stung by the pain, suddenly swept its massive tail.
Old Zhou did not have enough time to fully dodge. His back took the full force of the blow, the immense power slamming him violently against the rock wall of the side embankment. A muffled sound of cracking bones echoed, and a mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips. His short blade nearly slipped from his grasp. Sliding down the rock wall to the ground, he struggled to support himself with the blade and stand up again. With every breath, his chest cavity erupted with tearing agony.
"I can still stand," he panted, steadying his swaying figure.
Seeing this, the other four scaled beasts also slowly advanced, the encirclement tightening inch by inch.
Inside the rocky hill observation shed, Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness was firmly locked onto the thermal signatures at the chokepoint, his heart sinking heavier and heavier. He could clearly sense Old Zhou's life signal fading bit by bit, yet he had absolutely no way to support him. Over at the second-line position, the retreat order had been fully executed. The surviving soldiers were escorting the wounded, retreating along the main road toward the main city gates. The psychic spikes and illusions continued to harass them along the way. People in the retreating column would occasionally lose focus and go out of control, forcing their companions to stop, wake them up, and drag them along. The speed of the retreat was repeatedly delayed.
"Old Zhou at the chokepoint is surrounded by five third-tier scaled beasts, and his vital signs continue to decline," Lin Yan reported to the command hall. "The Beast Commander is not urging the scaled beasts to kill him quickly; they are wearing down his will. The frontal defenders are retreating in an orderly fashion, but the illusions and psychic stabs continue to cause casualties."
Scholar Su remained silent for a long time before responding in a hoarse voice: "Record his name. All we can do is seize the last bit of time to close the outer gates of the main city and reinforce the gate defenses."
The massive alloy doors of the main city had begun to operate. The rumbling sound of turning gears echoed throughout the gate area. The engineers remaining at the gate urgently inspected the locking mechanisms and the pre-buried explosive charges. Once the gates fell, anyone on the outside who had not yet retreated in time would be permanently sealed out.
Deep within the cavern, the consciousness of the five ancient beings resonated steadily.
While keeping an eye on the skirmish at the chokepoint, the Beast Commander also diverted its attention to dispatch the rest of the beast herd, slowly advancing toward the now-empty second-line fortifications. It was not in a rush to chase the retreating defenders at full speed; instead, it left a certain amount of pressure to drive the crowds to consolidate toward the main city gates. The Sharp-Sense Ancient Being scattered psychic spikes along the retreating column, continuously creating chaos. The Illusion Ancient Being diverted a portion of its original source to continue the mental torment of Old Zhou at the chokepoint. The Spiderweb Ancient Being continued to watch the remaining spore anchor points in the city, ready to detonate them at any moment to create internal chaos behind the city gates.
The supreme ruler quietly observed Old Zhou's resistance.
It was not eager to kill this lone human who was blocking its path. It was observing the human will that refused to retreat even in the face of certain death, sensing the fluctuations of this emotion. In the long conquest records of the lizard ancient beings, such individuals were not uncommon, yet each time, it sparked a desire to explore. It transmitted a message to the Beast Commander: No need to kill quickly. Wait until his mind completely breaks down before ending the battle.
Within the chokepoint, a new wave of attacks arrived.
Two third-tier scaled beasts attacked simultaneously from the left and right, their bone spurs aiming for his shoulders. Old Zhou dropped low and rolled to dodge, the sand and gravel grinding against the wounds on his back. The moment he hit the ground, the third scaled beast's paw stomped fiercely toward his landing spot. He desperately lunged sideways, barely avoiding the blow, but his arm was slashed open by the beast's toe, creating a deep, bone-deep wound.
The excruciating pain shot straight to his brain through his nerves, and his vision went black.
Supporting himself with the short blade, he fell to one knee, gasping for air as his vision began to blur. The illusions surged once again. This time, he saw himself back on the day he first entered the bastion for training. The sun was shining brightly, his comrades were chatting and laughing around him, and there were no rifts, no scaled beasts, and no endless death.
"Go back... Stop..." the whispers circled in his ears.
Old Zhou's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and his grip on the knife loosened bit by bit.
But just as his consciousness was about to sink into oblivion, his mind flashed with the images of the wounded retreating from the second-line position, the civilians still rushing to evacuate in the main city, and the faces of his comrades who had fallen one by one on the sandy ground. He gritted his teeth fiercely, gripping the short blade tightly once more, and raised his head. A glint of sharpness re-gathered in his cloudy gaze.
"I haven't fallen yet."
Letting out a low roar, he took the initiative to charge at the nearest scaled beast. Using every last ounce of strength remaining in his body, he drove the short blade fiercely toward the behemoth's eye socket.
Weng!
The blade finally pierced the soft membrane, sinking deep inside.
The third-tier scaled beast let out a piercing, agonizing roar that made the rock walls tremble, its massive head thrashing wildly. Old Zhou refused to let go of the hilt. Dragged by the beast, he was whipped back and forth, his bones colliding repeatedly with the rock walls and the ground, layer upon layer of new wounds stacking over the old. Seeing this, the other four scaled beasts erupted in fury, their claws and bone spurs descending upon his body simultaneously.
Watching the thermal signatures roll violently, Lin Yan's throat tightened.
This strike was Old Zhou's all-out counterattack. The price was his own life.
In the cavern, the supreme ruler sensed this scene, its consciousness rippling slightly.
This delay ends here.
The attacks of the four third-tier scaled beasts landed on Old Zhou simultaneously.
After a brief, muffled thud, that struggling thermal signature abruptly dimmed.
The short blade slipped from the scaled beast's eye socket, falling onto the blood-stained rubble with a soft clink.
The chokepoint fell silent, leaving only the heavy panting of the scaled beasts. The passage was completely cleared.
The Beast Commander's orders swept across the entire beast herd.
No more resting. All scattered scaled beasts gathered, advancing steadily along the chokepoint and the main road of the second-line fortifications toward the main city gates. The black beast tide, like a surging ocean, followed right behind the retreating defenders, pressing step by step toward humanity's final sanctuary.
Someone in the retreating column looked back. Seeing from afar that there was no longer any sound of fighting from the direction of the chokepoint, everyone knew exactly what had happened. A heavy silence pressed down on every heart. No one cried out; they simply quickened their pace.
The massive alloy doors of the main city slowly descended, the gap growing narrower and narrower.
Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness watched as the beast tide advanced majestically forward, his gaze falling upon that heavy city gate ahead.
The outer perimeter defenses had completely fallen. Old Zhou had died in battle. The surviving defenders had retreated into the main city.
The decisive battle for the West Bastion was about to begin beneath the city walls.
End of Chapter.