novelinnhs Chapter 444: Luo Zhan Has Fallen? Qin Zhen’s Regret
Chapter 444: Luo Zhan Has Fallen? Qin Zhen’s Regret
RUMBLE—!!!
The First Defense Line, southern sector.
The sound of the wall collapsing was deafening.
This colossal roar wasn’t just the sound of a wall falling; it was the crisp crack of the Northern Domain’s entire defensive spine snapping in two.
The giant black wall that had stood for a century, the iron fortress countless people of the Northern Domain had seen as a shield of absolute safety, was breached.
In the dark of night.
Through the massive breach, countless members of the Alien Race poured in like a black flood bursting through a dam!
The scene was ten thousand times more terrifying than any nightmare.
"Plug it!! Hurry up and plug the breach!!!"
A general, drenched in blood, roared as he charged forward, brandishing a broken saber.
Behind him, hundreds of Northern Domain soldiers, their eyes bloodshot, scrambled to form a new line of defense with their own bodies.
But before the tsunami-like horde of the Alien Race, their numbers were pitifully small.
In just a single clash.
SQUELCH! SQUELCH!
Sharp claws tore through Armor, and fangs crunched bone.
The several hundred soldiers were instantly overwhelmed, trampled into a bloody pulp before they could even scream.
The sight sent a profound shock through all the surrounding Human Race soldiers.
Despair.
A deep despair began to spread across the battlefield.
’Is this the true strength of the Alien Race?’
’The Divine Mosquito’s intelligence was right!’
’They’re too strong.’
’There’s no stopping them.’
High in the sky.
Luo Zhan dispatched a Monarch Level alien before him, glancing down at the tragic scene below. The corners of his eyes split, leaking beads of blood.
Those were his soldiers!
That was the home he had defended for over a decade!
Just yesterday, he had sworn to everyone that the Northern Domain would be victorious.
But now, reality had dealt him the cruelest of slaps.
It wasn’t that the soldiers lacked courage. It was the gap in strength between the two sides, coupled with the withdrawal of reinforcements, that had doomed this battle from the very start.
"AHHHHH!!!"
Luo Zhan let out a roar like a wounded beast.
"Get out of my way!!!"
Luo Zhan’s figure flashed, and he transformed into a burning meteor, hurtling down from ten thousand meters in the air!
BOOM!
He landed right in the center of the breach.
A violent blast of Peak of Emperor Realm energy erupted from him, spreading wildly in all directions.
The several hundred aliens that had just charged in were instantly obliterated by this terrifying force, reduced to a fine mist of blood.
Luo Zhan stood alone in the massive breach, Battle Saber in hand.
Behind him lay the scarred and battered lands of the Northern Domain.
Before him stood the endless army of the Alien Race.
One man guarding the pass, barring the way for ten thousand!
"If you want to get past me, you’ll have to ask my saber first!!!"
Luo Zhan roared, swinging his Battle Saber and unleashing a terrifying, kilometer-long Sword Aura that swept across the field.
SWISH—!
Wherever the Sword Aura passed, hundreds, even thousands, of aliens were sliced in half at the waist.
At that moment, Luo Zhan was like a War God descended to the mortal realm.
With his strength alone, he had single-handedly cut off the surging tide of the Alien Race!
Seeing this, the morale of the Human Race, which had been on the verge of collapse, was reignited.
"The Marshal is up ahead!!"
"Fight them to the death!!"
Countless soldiers roared, regrouped, and charged toward the breach.
However, in the instant Luo Zhan’s old strength was spent and new strength had yet to gather,
from deep within the Alien Race army, two frigid auras suddenly erupted.
They were two Peak of Monarch Level aliens who had been hiding in the shadows!
They had been waiting for this very opportunity.
"SCREE!"
Two black afterimages, moving at extreme speed—even breaking the sound barrier—instantly appeared on Luo Zhan’s left and right flanks.
They were two terrifying aliens with mantis-like blade arms. Their coordination was flawless; one on the left, one on the right, their blades slashed viciously toward Luo Zhan’s vital points, carrying fluctuations that seemed to tear through Space.
’Not good!’
Luo Zhan’s pupils contracted violently.
He wanted to dodge, but that last ultimate move had consumed too much of his energy, and his body was now in a momentary state of stiffness.
’Can’t dodge!’
’I can only take it head-on!’
Gritting his teeth so hard they could shatter, Luo Zhan forced his body to twist, pouring all of his Spiritual Power into his Battle Saber in an attempt to parry.
CLANG! BOOM!!!
A deafening clash of metal rang out.
It was immediately followed by the sound of shattering bone.
"PFFT—!!!"
Luo Zhan spat a huge mouthful of blood toward the sky. A massive gash, deep enough to see bone, was torn across his chest. Like a kite with its string cut, he was sent flying backward by the immense impact, soaring several thousand meters before being slammed deep into the ground.
"Marshal!!!"
Countless Human Race soldiers let out heart-wrenching roars, only to be swallowed by the renewed flood of the Alien Race army.
The Alien Race army, which had been building up its momentum, let out a victorious roar and poured in like a flood once more.
The First Defense Line had completely fallen.
...
A rout.
A total rout.
Once the first and strongest line of defense was breached, the ensuing battle was nothing short of a one-sided slaughter.
The Second Defense Line, a thousand li from the first.
It was originally a supply depot, and its defensive structures were pitifully crude.
The troops stationed there were mostly logistics units and the wounded.
Facing the savage elites of the Alien Race, they couldn’t even hold out for ten minutes.
Flames consumed the granaries, and blood stained the snow-covered ground.
The Second Defense Line, breached.
Next was the Third Defense Line.
This was a heavy artillery position. Although its firepower was fierce, once the enemy got close, the fragile Spiritual Energy cannons became nothing but a pile of scrap metal.
The Alien Race’s flying units bypassed the ground troops and launched a diving attack from the sky.
Countless gunners were snatched into the air amidst screams and torn to pieces.
The Third Defense Line, breached.
It was too fast.
Everything happened too fast.
Only an hour had passed since the fall of the First Defense Line.
Of the Northern Domain’s five lines of defense, three had fallen in the blink of an eye.
If all five lines of defense were to fall, it would mean that the entire northern heartland of Great Xia would be completely exposed to the claws of the Alien Race.
It would be a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.
...
「Meanwhile.」
Military Department General Headquarters.
This building, which represented the supreme military authority of Great Xia, was currently bathed in the afternoon sun, looking solemn and majestic.
In the Vice Minister’s office.
Qin Zhen was sitting in a large leather chair, holding a cup of steaming, Top-Grade black tea.
He was still looking at the retreat report previously sent by Li Zhantian and the others, shaking his head.
"Luo Zhan, oh, Luo Zhan."
"Making such a big fuss over a so-called ’intuition’, over a single mosquito."
"Once this whole storm blows over, I’d like to see how you’ll explain yourself to the higher-ups."
"A highest-level survival warning? What a joke."
Qin Zhen shook his head, picked up his pen, and prepared to sign the disciplinary action file.
Just then,
BANG!
the office door was violently thrown open.
The lock itself was broken.
Qin Zhen frowned, a trace of displeasure on his face.
"What’s all the panic? Have you no sense of decorum?!"
"Has that fellow Luo Zhan thrown another tantrum? Disobeying orders?"
The intelligence officer who had burst in was pale as a sheet, his entire body trembling violently.
He looked at Qin Zhen, his lips quivering several times before he let out a choked, sobbing roar:
"No... it’s not..."
"Minister Qin! Something terrible has happened!!"
"The Alien Race... the Alien Race has attacked!!"
The teacup in Qin Zhen’s hand trembled slightly, and a few drops of black tea splashed onto his desk.
He snorted dismissively. "An attack is just an attack. Don’t they attack a few times every year? Just have Luo Zhan hold them off."
"It’s not like that!!"
The intelligence officer practically fell to his knees, holding up the intelligence datapad in his hands:
"That mosquito’s intelligence... it was real!!"
"The Alien Race’s offensive is unprecedented! Their forces are several times larger than before, maybe even more!"
"Just five minutes ago, the Northern Domain’s First Defense Line... was breached!!"
CLATTER.
The teacup fell from Qin Zhen’s hand.
The exquisite porcelain shattered, splashing scalding tea all over the floor.
But he seemed completely oblivious.
He was frozen in place as if struck by lightning, his mind buzzing.