World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 871 - 412: The final battle! Victory is ours!

Chapter 871: 412: The final battle! Victory is ours!

Mounted on a griffin beast, Duke Turing Tuo saw the open ground in front of the Wind Thunder Fortress walls piled with countless huge boulders, haphazardly scattered here and there.

In the latter part of last night, Turing Tuo had heard from scouts that there were unusual noises at Wind Thunder Fortress, and he immediately ordered the scouts to investigate again.

After paying the price of several hundred lives, the scouts reported back that Suo Lun’s forces were transporting huge boulder obstacles to the battlefield outside the city walls, attempting to create barriers on the battlefield to hinder the army’s assault on the city.

At that moment, Turing Tuo was undecided on whether or not to send cavalry to stop Suo Lun.

The location of Suo Lun’s troops’ activity was so close to the walls of Wind Thunder Fortress, it was entirely within the attack range of all the cannons and catapults. Sending too many cavalrymen would be a death sentence. Sending too few would be ineffective and also a death mission.

Moreover, in just a few hours, Suo Lun could hardly change anything significant.

Early this morning, Turing Tuo and Zhi Li climbed to a vantage point, and as expected, hundreds of meters in front of the Fenglei Fort Defense Line, dense clusters of boulder barriers had been haphazardly erected.

The tallest was no more than half a man high and completely disorganized!

From the air on the back of a griffin beast, these clusters of boulder obstacles also appeared very sparse.

Zhi Li immediately burst into laughter, "Really, Suo Lun has run out of tricks. Just a few stones, and he thinks they can stop my several hundred thousand troops?"

He completely disregarded these disorderly and sparse clusters of boulder obstacles, which indeed seemed incapable of blocking anything.

Moreover, the arrow was on the string, and he must shoot, as time was against Zhi Li!

With each day that passed, it was possible for more people to surrender to Suo Lun; the longer the night, the more dreams may come.

The appearance of these boulder obstacles could in no way affect Zhi Li’s will to engage in a decisive battle. The several hundred thousand troops still charged fiercely!

...

Suo Lun stood on the city wall, feeling the very ground beneath his feet trembling. Looking around at his soldiers, their faces were somewhat ashen.

The sight of the several hundred thousand soldiers surging forward was like an endless tidal wave.

At this time, the originally solid and heavy defenses of the Fenglei Fort Defense Line seemed particularly fragile.

Taking a deep breath, Suo Lun looked behind him. Tens of thousands of troops had already formed up on the ground behind the city walls.

In the entire Tianshui City, Suo Lun could mobilize about 170,000 soldiers, with 100,000 of them positioned at the Fenglei Fort Defense Line—100,000 against Zhi Li’s 400,000.

Of these 100,000 defenders, 30,000 were distributed on the city walls, including 15,000 from the Rock Thieves Corps and 15,000 from the Suo City Guard Army.

The remaining 70,000 were all in the military camps behind the city walls.

There were 10,000 from the Luanyang Revenge Army, 15,000 Rock Thieves Corps, and 45,000 members of the Southeast New Army.

The Southeast New Army was made from prisoners of war reorganized from Zhi Wei’s Southeast Corps, and Suo Lun was most worried about this army.

Indeed, the 45,000 members of the Southeast New Army had pale and green faces, with their bodies trembling slightly.

They were definitely filled with fear and wild conjectures.

After being captured by Suo Lun, they actually lived quite well; their military pay doubled, their weapons improved, their armor was better, and even their daily food had improved a lot.

So they had a certain sense of gratitude towards Suo Lun, but as for loyalty? It was difficult to have high expectations, especially at a life-and-death juncture where anything could happen.

By contrast, the Luanyang Revenge Army had red eyes and ferocious faces, brimming with the desire to battle and wash away their shame.

Especially Tuli Yang, who had sought out Suo Lun several times, asking him to arrange for the Luanyang Revenge Army to lead the charge.

Suo Lun thought that while the Luanyang Revenge Army had great fighting spirit, their combat strength was average, so they could not lead the charge.

Only the most loyal, most elite of the Suo City Guard Army and the most ferocious Rock Thieves Corps could hold firm on the front line of the city wall!

And the Rock Thieves Corps, upon hearing the tsunami-like shouts of the enemy outside, were so excited that they trembled all over.

There was to be battle, there was to be slaughter, and against so many opponents.

It was too satisfying, too exhilarating!

"Ha-ha-ha..." The Rock Thieves Corps on top of the city wall had already started cutting their faces with knives, igniting their fighting spirit.

The Rock Thieves Corps below the wall could no longer remain seated, issuing a series of strange cries, beginning to lick their blades with their tongues, their blood flowing freely.

"Gah-gah..."

"Woo-woo-woo..."

Seeing the Rock Thieves Corps excited as if it were a festival, the Southeast New Army couldn’t help but relax a little.

One of the soldiers turned his head a few times, realizing these were all familiar faces, and said to an old friend beside him, "Actually, even though Marquis Suo Lun is a bit arrogant, he’s not a bad person. He didn’t mess up the reorganization, and all of us stayed together."

...

"A decisive battle to the death, those who retreat shall die!"

"May Heaven punish Suo Lun!"

The charging forces of Zhi Li’s army, with the front ranks already entering the cannon range!

"Fire... Fire... Fire..."

At Suo Lun’s command!

"Boom boom boom boom!"

Several hundred cannons roared in a series, drowning out the tsunami-like shouts of Zhi Li’s vast army.

Then, several hundred solid cannonballs, like black lightning, ferociously shot out!

At that moment, there was no need to aim. The battlefield was situated on the plains between two mountains, a mere four li wide.

The dense mass of several hundred thousand troops, like a swarm of ants, could be hit even with closed eyes.

"Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh..."

Several hundred solid cannonballs tore through hundreds of bloody swaths. Everywhere they passed, bodies and bones flew about, meeting untimely deaths.

A single cannonball at most could kill dozens of people!

A round of cannon fire caused thousands of casualties.

But for a force of four hundred thousand, it was merely a drop in the bucket, as fleeting as splashes of water in a pond, quickly disappearing out of sight.