landbeastnovel Chapter 164 An Unstoppable Offensive!
Chapter 164 An Unstoppable Offensive!
Chapter 164 An Unstoppable Offensive!
Layton Arthur sat astride his Nightmare steed, his icy gaze sweeping over the deserted Nar border outpost ahead. The city gates were open, their flags hastily torn down and discarded on the ground, scattered with damaged equipment and miscellaneous items left behind—a scene of utter chaos, yet not a single garrison in sight. Only the dust swirling in the wind carried an eerie silence.
Behind him, a massive dark legion stood silently, its various inhuman forms appearing even more eerie in the deepening twilight.
Their scarlet or dark blue eyes gleamed, seemingly impatient with the disappearance of their prey, and a suppressed restlessness filled the air.
Arthur's soldiers, standing further back, watched this victory without a fight, their initial excitement and satisfaction of revenge gradually replaced by a complex and indescribable emotion.
The enemy's hasty retreat should have been a sign of great victory, but coupled with the silent, death-laden "allies" ahead, the victory seemed so eerie, even unsettling.
A scout captain from Arthur rode back from the deserted city ahead, his face filled with disbelief and confusion. He reined in his horse, Layton, his voice trembling with urgency: "Your Highness, we encountered no obstacles along the way! Those dogs of the Duchy of Nar have all fled! The cities and fortresses are all empty! They're like terrified rabbits, offering no respect whatsoever! Are we—"
He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear: things were going too smoothly, abnormally smoothly.
Layton's face remained expressionless, as if this had been expected all along.
He didn't even look at the scout captain; his gaze remained fixed on the depths of Nar's land, on the direction of the capital city, which must now be gripped by extreme panic.
"run?"
He finally spoke, his voice flat and emotionless, yet more chilling than the winter wind.
"Where could they possibly run to?"
He slightly raised his hand, pointing into the distance, the final direction of all the Nar people.
"It's just a matter of bringing together the blood that's scattered outside onto the same chopping board."
"It saves us the trouble of hunting them down one by one."
There was no joy in his tone, only a cold indifference, as if declaring his fate.
"Pass down the order."
Layton's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the senses of every Arthurian soldier and the dark creatures ahead: "No need to stop, keep moving. Destination: the capital of Nar."
"Let them taste the bitter fruit of their own making in their despair."
The order was given, and the dark army was activated once again.
They marched with orderly or ferocious steps, ignoring the deserted cities, like a black tide, surging resolutely toward the heart of the Duchy of Nar—the capital.
Arthur's soldiers looked at each other, and in the end, they could only suppress their strange feelings, grip their weapons, and follow the torrent that brought victory and fear, continuing forward.
But everyone's heart was shrouded in an unspeakable shadow!
And ahead, the capital of Nar, just as Layton had said, was rapidly becoming a giant anvil, a place where all fear and despair converged, awaiting the final judgment.
Nar, the capital city, at the Iron Gate.
This capital city, known for its fortifications, now resembled a frightened beast, cowering in the deepening twilight and panic.
The once bustling city gates were now tightly closed, the heavy iron gates were down, and the city walls were densely packed with soldiers, their crossbows ready to fire and their catapults loaded.
But this posture of being on high alert could not conceal the almost tangible fear that permeated the air.
Every soldier's face was etched with fear and unease. Their eyes kept glancing at the desolate, abandoned camps and open fields outside the city, as if some unimaginable horror might emerge from below the horizon at any moment.
The officers' shouts had lost their usual confidence, carrying a barely perceptible tremor.
Inside the palace, the atmosphere was even more oppressive.
Grand Duke Longchi Nar had long lost his former prestige. His obese body slumped on the throne, his magnificent robes soaked with sweat, his eyes unfocused, and he muttered unconsciously.
"It's over"
"It's all over."
Inside the magnificent council chamber, the nobles and generals were like ants on a hot plate, yet none of them could come up with a feasible idea.
All avenues for help seemed to have been cut off. Master Dahl, the last hope, stood by the window, silently gazing out of the city. His face beneath his hood was a mixture of emotions, and he was shrouded in a sense of defeat, dejection, and deep unease.
Time ticked by, second by second, in the suffocating wait.
Sudden-
A thin black line appeared on the distant horizon.
At first, the sentries on the city wall thought it was just their eyes playing tricks on them due to excessive tension.
But the black line was thickening and spreading at a visible speed, like thick ink dripping into clear water, quickly spreading out.
"They're here—they're here!"
A distorted scream shattered the deathly silence above the capital.
A commotion erupted on the city wall in an instant; the hearts of all the soldiers clenched tightly, and their hands gripping their weapons were covered in cold sweat.
The black line drew closer, gradually revealing its menacing outline.
The shadow puppets marched in silence, like a moving carpet of darkness!
The howling, restless wolf-headed man's bloodthirsty eyes gleamed red in the twilight!
A shadow warrior legion marching in perfect unison, exuding a deathly stillness!
And those headless knights riding ghostly warhorses, radiating an aura of bone-chilling cold!
And clustered at the rear of the group were distorted cyborgs and dark wizard apprentices surrounded by negative energy fluctuations—
This bizarre and monstrous dark army, radiating pure malice, approached silently and resolutely at a pace almost like a military parade.
They made no shouts, no war drums, but the invisible oppression they exuded was more chilling than any clamor.
Ahead of this terrifying army, a nightmare warhorse shrouded in black mist stood out conspicuously.
The knight on horseback, with his upright posture and cold, pale face, was none other than Layton Arthur.
His eyes were fixed blankly on the capital city ahead, which looked as if it were facing a formidable enemy, as if he were looking at a dead object.
A little further behind the dark army followed Arthur's soldiers, their morale mixed and their faces pale.
As they gazed upon the chilling army ahead and the familiar capital of Nar, a city that had brought them countless pains, the thrill of revenge mingled with the fear of the unknown, weighing heavily on their feet.
The dark army halted beyond the range of the arrows, like a suddenly frozen black wave, silently confronting the steel gate.
Absolute silence.
The defenders on the walls of Nar didn't dare to breathe, only able to hear the frantic pounding of their own hearts and the occasional suppressed growls of the wolf-headed men in the distance.
Layton Arthur slowly raised his hand.
He didn't speak, just made a simple gesture.
The next moment, the three dark wizard apprentices behind him stepped forward in unison, raised their bone staffs or magical artifacts, and began chanting obscure and jarring incantations.
A dense negative energy gathered in front of them, and the temperature in the air suddenly dropped. The defenders on the city wall could even see the white breath they exhaled.
Countless distorted, tormented phantom faces appeared and disappeared within the energy cluster, emitting silent wails—those were fragments of souls collected during the previous battle!
As the incantation was completed, three enormous orbs of "blasphemous words," burning with eerie green flames, materialized and, trailing long, filthy tails, shot towards the incredibly thick iron gate of the steel gate like falling evil stars!
There was no deafening explosion.
There was only a tooth-grinding, hissing sound, as if metal and stone were being severely corroded and disintegrated.
The sturdy city gate, which was said to be able to withstand dozens of blows from a giant hammer, saw its surface metal turn gray, decay, and peel off at a visible speed the moment it came into contact with the emerald green orb!
The wooden structure behind it looked as if it had been eroded by a thousand years of time, quickly turning black and brittle!
Boom!!!
In the blink of an eye, the steel gate that symbolized the last vestige of dignity of the capital city of Nar exploded from the center, right before the desperate eyes of all the guards! It shattered into countless decaying fragments burning with eerie green flames, scattering in all directions!
A huge, irregular hole suddenly appeared, behind which was a dark passage leading into the city, seemingly leading to the abyss of hell!
The city gate has been breached!
In a single exchange, the Duchy of Nar's proudest defenses were torn apart as if they were made of paper!
"No--!"
On the city wall, an old general named Nar let out a desperate roar.
The dark army did not pause for a moment.
The moment the city gate shattered, the wolf-headed men at the forefront let out a deafening howl. Like wild beasts unleashed, they landed on all fours and transformed into streaks of gray lightning, rushing towards the massive breach!
The shadow puppets seeped into the ground like a tide, spreading upwards along the cracks in the city walls!
The headless horseman spurred his warhorse into a silent charge, aiming straight for the goal!
"Hold on! Quickly plug the breach!"
On the city wall, a general named Nar was shouting at the top of his lungs, trying to organize an effective defense.
However, his voice was quickly drowned out by an even more terrifying sound.
The shadow puppets that climbed up along the shadows emerged from the defenders' own shadows like ghosts, their cold blades silently slicing across their throats, drawing up sprays of warm blood.
The soldiers turned around in terror, only to see their comrades fall in shock and a wisp of black smoke quickly dissipating.
The wolf-headed men surged through the broken city gate like a torrent. Their strength far surpassed that of ordinary human soldiers, and their claws and fangs easily tore apart the hastily assembled gun emplacements of the Nar soldiers.
In a single exchange, the front-line Nar pikemen were torn apart and thrown about like straw, their entrails and severed limbs scattered all over the ground.
The wolf-headed men charged into the crowd, unleashing a bloody storm. Their roars, the cracking of bones, and the screams of the soldiers mingled together, creating a symphony of hell.
The headless horsemen passed through the city gates, ignoring even the ordinary soldiers. Their eerie blue soul flames swept deeper into the city, as if searching for a more valuable target.
Wherever they passed, the temperature plummeted, and the nearby Nar soldiers became stiff and sluggish, their faces turning blue, as if their life force had been invisibly drained away, and they fell down in droves without a sound.
The Shadow Warriors marched into the city in orderly formation, forming efficient killing squads that cleared away any remaining resistance in the streets.
Their weapons gleamed with ominous runic light, and each swing carried a corrosive dark energy.
"Monsters! These are all monsters!"
"Run! Run!"
"The city gates have fallen! We can't hold them any longer!"
The crash has begun.
When faced with an incomprehensible and irresistible force, the morale of the Nar defenders crumbled at an avalanche rate.