Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 354: A Cornered Beast

Meanwhile, from the rear, another squad of soldiers had dismounted and formed up with spears, advancing under Xavier's command to finish off the Ability Users who had only lost one or two of their life cores.

Yes — at this moment, despite how ferociously Zhao Xuanxuan and her three companions were fighting at the front, not a single enemy had actually died yet.

Their job was to shatter the enemy's formation, break through their defensive posture, and create openings for the soldiers behind them to clean up.

"Boss Zhao!"

The moment one Ability User was finally killed, someone rushed over and pressed a Universal Gold Card into Zhao Xuanxuan's hands — because she was genuinely on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion and blood loss.

With the Gold Cards flowing in, Benjamin, Santiago, and Grant finally cut loose and fought at full power. They were formidable in their own right, but on a battlefield like this, they could only manage about eighty percent — not from lack of dedication, but because they simply couldn't throw their lives away without hesitation.

Especially since they were all in light armor.

A heavy-armored half-boar charged in with a tower shield, and Benjamin hacked at it with everything he had — only managing to push it back a few steps. He couldn't break through that shield.

Fortunately, Zhao Xuanxuan had recovered by then. She roared, shot forward like a meteor, and brought the hammer down — the shield and the half-boar behind it went flying. An instant later, a heavy sword came crashing down and split the creature in two. Santiago.

They had learned to work with Zhao Xuanxuan's rhythm perfectly, and it was devastatingly effective.Whenever the enemy managed to organize even a hint of a counterattack, Zhao Xuanxuan would charge in and hammer it apart, and then Benjamin, Santiago, and Grant would swiftly move in to finish the kill or cripple the target.

They drove forward like a blade through water, until they had cut clean through the enemy's defensive line.

Until there was nothing left standing.

But just then, a mournful, savage howl rang out. The centaur count — already riddled with arrows, his body pierced through by seven or eight thick crossbow bolts — lurched upright, drenched in blood. The fury was gone from his eyes. The grief was gone. The hope was gone. What remained was only shattered longing and bloodthirsty madness.

He had advanced — not through conventional means, but through the method Frost Duke strictly forbade. He had devoured the life cores of his fallen comrades. He was growing stronger, and losing his mind.

"Defend!"

Zhao Xuanxuan barely got the word out before a hoof connected with her and sent her crashing to the ground — she hadn't had even a fraction of a second to react. Then Benjamin, Santiago, and Grant were hit too — no way to dodge.

Fortunately, the centaur count's goal was simple in his mindless state: he charged straight for the Universal Gold Cards scattered across the ground. Instinct.

When he had absorbed fifteen of them in one go, a volley of frost arrows rained down and flash-froze him solid. Adai had finally moved.

"Ram him!"

Xavier, thoroughly terrified, screamed the order. An electric truck roared forward and slammed into the centaur — sending the frozen creature tumbling off the bridge and into the river below. They watched as the block of ice that had been the centaur was swept away by the current.

Everyone was still shaking as they scrambled to use the Gold Cards to treat the wounded. Fortunately, no one had died — even the worst injuries could be pulled back from the brink.

"Collect the Gold Cards!"

Zhao Xuanxuan climbed to her feet and immediately processed the Gold Cards according to Li Wei's standing orders: half to sell, half to convert into Clearance Tokens. The resulting gold coins and tokens were automatically deposited into the territory's warehouse.

She set part of the group to watch in case the centaur count came back, then summoned her warhorse again and rode out with Benjamin, Santiago, and Grant to support the southern front.

Because the battle to the south seemed to have reached a critical point.

The Neanderthal's warhorse had already been shot through the head and killed, but the man himself was clearly a formidable warrior — he was fighting on foot with an enchanted shield in one hand and a spear in the other, holding his own against Li Wei.

Li Wei's own mount had also been killed by that spear.

Li Wei's enchanted armor had gone dark and dull, his face streaked with sweat and blood — he was wounded. He was gasping hard, as if he'd just weathered a storm of relentless attacks.

Li Yue was covering from the side with her bow, but even her presence wasn't making much of a difference.

They had run into a real monster.

Yes — Li Wei had gone in thinking this would be easy. He had the advantage.

He'd been naive. Who could have predicted that this Neanderthal crosser would fight with the absolute resolve of a man who had already accepted death — emptying his mind of everything else, moving like some otherworldly hero?

At the start, Li Wei had trusted his Perception +6 and watched the Neanderthal come charging in on horseback with his spear leveled. He'd drawn his heavy sword, accelerated his mount, and prepared to exchange blows in the split second their horses crossed — he'd been confident in that.

What he hadn't expected was that the Neanderthal's spear, at the moment of the charge, generated a vast and overwhelming resonance — like a torrent, like a razor-sharp invisible force — that crashed through his Perception +6 like a wave breaking a dam. It was as if he'd encountered something specifically designed to counter him.

In that single moment of disorientation, the spear was already thrusting toward him. Li Wei twisted out of the way just in time to save himself, but his warhorse wasn't so lucky — it was run through and killed on the spot.

Almost simultaneously, Li Yue had fired six arrows in rapid succession. The first five were deflected by the Neanderthal's spear. The sixth finally got through — and killed his horse.

After both horses were down, Li Wei fought with his enchanted greatsword while Li Yue provided covering fire, and together they traded over twenty exchanges with the Neanderthal — and were completely suppressed. Li Yue had fired thirty-five arrows in total. It had taken both of them working together just to avoid being killed.

The Neanderthal wielded spear and shield with masterful precision, and every time his spear moved — every thrust, every sweep — there was that razor-sharp invisible force that disrupted Li Wei's Perception +6. It wasn't crippling, but it was deeply annoying.

And he could shield-bash too. Not as spectacularly as some, but it was enough to neutralize Li Yue's archery.

Gradually, the Neanderthal — who had charged in ready to die — seemed to settle into a strange calm. His eyes filled with cold mockery. Even when Zhao Xuanxuan's group wiped out the centaur count's forces, he didn't spare them a glance.

It was as if Li Wei and Li Yue were just a pair of small-time troublemakers. Yes — something had clearly gone wrong. His scout companion had been weaker than him, but should still have been able to crush these two easily. And yet he himself had developed a death wish over these two, and because of that, an elite Ability User squad had been thrown away.

What a farce.

The sight of this made Zhao Xuanxuan and the others feel a knot forming in their chests. Were Li Wei and Li Yue together still not enough to beat this man?

"Xuanxuan — no hesitation, full charge!"

Li Yue suddenly snapped the order.

"Li Wei — stop hoping for a lucky break. He's a Second-Order Dawn Knight, and he's about to break through to the Third Order. Even together, we may not be able to beat him. This fight is going to cost us something."

Li Yue's words sent a jolt through Li Wei.

But at that moment, the Neanderthal suddenly let out a battle cry and launched himself at Zhao Xuanxuan first.

He was fast — nearly as fast as Li Wei — and tall, standing over two meters, with long strides that gave him a massive advantage.

"Kill!"

At the same instant, Zhao Xuanxuan didn't hesitate for a single heartbeat. She switched to the Tiger Head Great Blade, spurred her horse, and charged straight in.

Li Wei and Li Yue tried to intercept but were too slow — and both were already burning through their stamina. But there were other options. Li Yue fired three arrows in quick succession; Li Wei forced himself to add one more. Four arrows together finally broke the Neanderthal's momentum.

At the same moment, Adai dove from above, unleashing dozens of ice spikes in a torrent. He had not dared to get close before — approaching within a hundred meters of this Neanderthal had seemed suicidal. Only now, with the man's attention on Zhao Xuanxuan and Li Wei and Li Yue holding him down, did Adai seize the opening and unload.

The Neanderthal was frozen solid for one second.

One second was all it took.

Zhao Xuanxuan came galloping in with her blade raised and brought it down, shattering the ice sculpture — but she couldn't cut through the Neanderthal's body itself. Three brilliant magical halos blazed to life and nullified the blow.

Almost simultaneously, the Neanderthal's spear moved like lightning, punching into the horse's belly, then driving through to pierce Zhao Xuanxuan's left leg. With a violent heave, he flung them both — horse and rider — more than ten meters away. In the next instant, he hurled his spear like a javelin and skewered Benjamin, who had been charging in right behind Zhao Xuanxuan, knocking him clean off his horse.

An instant kill.

But the next second, Grant came charging in from another angle with his lance leveled.

"Bang!"

The Neanderthal didn't even flinch. His shield snapped up and blocked the blow, then he threw his full body weight into a shield bash that sent Grant and his horse tumbling — the force of the impact shattered bones throughout Grant's body and rattled his skull.

At that moment, an enchanted war spear came screaming in with a sonic crack and struck the Neanderthal square in the back — only to be absorbed by a magical halo.

Li Wei had thrown it.

But this man's armor enchantments were extraordinary. That was already the sixth time he had shrugged off what should have been a lethal strike from Li Wei or Li Yue.

Still, Li Wei's side had numbers.

A series of sonic booms rang out as all three electric trucks rolled forward. Twelve crossbow bolts fired in two salvos — the Neanderthal dodged four of them, but the remaining two connected directly. Two more magical halos blazed and absorbed the impact.

At the same time, Li Yue and Li Wei both opened up with rapid fire.

Still blocked — by the shield, or by the armor's magical halos.

But this time, the halos on his armor finally went dark.

The opening was here.

"AAAAAH!"

Xavier and Santiago each grabbed a refined steel lance, spurred their horses, and came driving in from both sides — eyes bloodshot.

Maybe before they had been trying to stay alive. But now, watching this Neanderthal shrug off everything — Li Wei and Li Yue together, all of them cycling through in waves, and still unable to bring him down — they finally understood what Li Yue had meant by sacrifice.

Did they think they could live a comfortable life without anyone dying?

Did they think they could win a great victory without paying in blood?

Someone had to do something.

Even if it meant dying in battle — they had to leave something behind. For the territory. No — for family. For friends. For the future.

"AAAAAH!"

The Neanderthal's eyes sharpened. He spun, hurled his shield in a spinning arc, and took off Xavier's head along with his spear and his horse in one motion.

But Santiago, charging from the other direction, drove his refined steel lance through the Neanderthal's armor and into his left chest.

Still not enough to finish him. The Neanderthal grabbed the lance with one hand, yanked Santiago off his horse, drew the lance back out, and drove it through Santiago's skull.

Almost at the same instant, hoofbeats thundered — Li Yue had seized the moment, summoned her warhorse, and came charging in at full speed. Her long blade swept down, Destiny Grid light blazing in resonance. The Neanderthal blocked with his remaining arm — and lost it. But he still managed to launch a kick that sent her galloping horse flying.

Li Yue twisted free with agile grace and landed on her feet, blade slashing in continuous strikes. But the Neanderthal, fighting one-armed with his spear, was holding his own against her — even edging ahead.

Mainly because every time his spear moved, that razor force disrupted Li Yue's Perception, putting her on the back foot.

Fortunately, Li Wei came in with his greatsword at that moment, and the two of them worked in tandem — one taking the front, absorbing the Perception disruption, while the other drove in hard from the side in relentless attacks, then switching off. Only like that could they barely keep him suppressed.

And that was only because the enchantment halos on his armor had been completely exhausted.

Otherwise, he could have simply tanked a few of Li Wei's lethal strikes and used the openings to cripple Li Yue — or Li Wei himself.

Now, he no longer had that luxury.

"Ha! So this is all you are — such weakness. And yet somehow, weakness like yours managed to kill my companion? Absurd. Absurd! One wrong judgment, and I, Cao Nima, die today at the hands of insects like you..."

"Thud."

Li Wei finally found his opening and drove his sword into the man's back. Li Yue simultaneously severed his last remaining arm, then in the next instant took his head clean off.

Just to make sure he didn't come back.

This bastard had been more dangerous than a special boss. They had nearly been wiped out.

As the Neanderthal's body dissolved into ash, Li Wei and Li Yue looked at each other — both still shaken.

They had underestimated the world again.

But moments later, they were stunned to find that the Neanderthal had dropped three Level 5 Universal Gold Cards and two purple cards.

Li Wei's "Wolf Walks a Thousand Miles" killing title had triggered.

Or perhaps it was simply because this Neanderthal had been extraordinarily powerful — someone of no ordinary standing.

At the same moment, a series of stunning notifications appeared:

[Territory-Wide Announcement!]

[Pioneer No. 11, Li Wei, supported by his advisors, led Freeman soldiers in a desperate battle at great cost and successfully slew a Barbarian Centurion, Second-Order Dawn Knight, and annihilated a full-strength Ability User company.]

[Pioneer Li Wei has been awarded 50,000 Standard Gold Coins.]

[Pioneer Li Wei has been awarded his second Duke's Honor Medal.]

[His advisors have each been awarded one Duke's Honor Medal.]