Chapter 2040: Despair

The most common kind of monster outside Mengte City was something akin to a zombie. However, they weren’t zombified humans, but rather creatures from who knew what world. Bones were visible from the holes in their body, but they were nothing like the clean skeletons Zu An had seen before in secret dungeons. These things still had most of their flesh, but signs of rotting were visible. It was as if they had lost their skin, and their bodies were dripping wet. Forget about fighting against these creatures, if one came into contact with the rotting liquid, one could get infected with something.

Countless zombies piled up on each other, crawling up the city walls like ants. Even though they weren’t fast, there were just too many of them. They were about to reach the top of the city.

However, the army on top of the city walls seemed to have already prepared for them. Giant boulders came rolling down, causing the zombie towers that had been formed with extreme difficulty to come toppling down. At the same time, the city wall began to distort, and sharp points thrust out through the walls, skewering the zombies like chickens. Then, the sharp weapons withdrew, and the zombies fell. Such skills seemed to be the work of an earth element cultivator.

Immediately after, a group of water element cultivators launched their attack at the top of the city wall. A layer of watery mist that instantly froze under the frigid weather appeared on the surface of the wall, making its surface shiny and slippery. The clumsy zombies could no longer crawl up. The ones that weren’t able to withdraw in time were frozen directly to the wall. Their corpses and the ice became the best possible armor for the city wall to protect against other monsters’ long-range attacks.

Suddenly, countless dark figures rushed past, far more quickly than the previous zombies. These were none other than the crawlers Zu An had previously fought against. They had incredibly sharp claws, so the sleek ice was like ordinary flat ground for them. Furthermore, their movements were extremely agile. Even while climbing, they could twist their bodies around to avoid the incoming arrows.

Soon, dozens of crawlers climbed over the city wall. However, the Fiend races’ army was already fully prepared, and their spears stabbed forward. Even though the crawlers were extremely strong individually, they were quickly killed on the spot before a proper army.

Even so, the number of monsters was too great. No matter how many died in front, they still charged as if they didn’t care about their lives at all. The Fiend races’ front lines were battered again and again, gradually becoming weaker than they were at first.

There were many monsters in the air as well. Flying creatures of all different shapes and sizes were trying to cross the city walls and slaughter their way into the city.

The fiend soldiers fired ballistas into the air and used long-ranged magic. Many experts flew up to face the enemies. The Fiend races weren’t like humans, who needed to reach the master rank to fly about freely. Due to their innate talents and species origins, many were capable of natural flight, such as the Eagle, Peacock, Elf, and Golden Crow Imperial races! Now that it was a matter of life and death, there was no room for differences between species anymore. All of them fought together shoulder to shoulder against an external enemy.

And yet, there were just too many monsters, and many of them could fly as well. The most troublesome among them were the thin-skinned monsters. They looked as if they only had a layer of skin covering their bones left, but if they had a chance to latch onto a target, they could instantly suck out all of that target's blood essence. All those present had already witnessed that tragic fate too many times. If that happened, there wasn’t even a chance to end one's own life. But with how the situation was, they all knew there was no way out. If they could kill one, that was still breaking even. If they could get a few more before going down, that would already be a steal.

The Fiend races’ army tried to retaliate, using all kinds of skills to fight the monster army. Each time, they were able to take out a huge amount of monsters, but there were just too many of them. Whenever one monster died, several more took their place. On top of that, the monsters quickly developed strategies to counter their plans. Some bug-shaped monsters raised the armor covering their bodies to shield their companions from long-range attacks.

The situation on the battlefield, both in the sky and on the city wall, was deeply worrying.

Suddenly, there was a disturbance among the monster ranks. Then, a huge vacant space opened up in the midst of a densely packed monster army. After that, a several-hundred-meter long worm slowly moved forward. It looked white and chubby, like a caterpillar that could easily be crushed to death by hand; but even such a normally weak-looking creature gave off an indescribable pressure when it was as big as a dragon. On top of that, the giant caterpillar had over a thousand legs. Every single leg had a suffering, warped human face on the end, creating a truly horrifying sight.

The massive caterpillar’s upper body suddenly rose up and squirmed vigilantly. Its stomach swelled up, as if something was moving through it.

The higher level fiends in Mengte City clearly noticed the strange occurrence. They all shouted for their troops to attack it, and that they definitely couldn't allow it to do whatever it was trying to do. Subsequently, countless rune cannons and cultivator techniques fired outward at the giant caterpillar. In response, many armor-plated bugs flew out from the monsters' ranks, spreading their wings to form a massive shield.

However, the Fiend races’ most elite troops were not to be trifled with. Half of the armored bugs were blown apart from the initial impact alone, and the remaining attacks continued toward the giant caterpillar. And yet, the surface of the caterpillar's body only rippled, as if it was relying on its body fat to block all the attacks. Even so, some green fluid came out of its body, showing that it was injured.

It seemed to be enraged, opening its massive mouth toward Mengte City; at the same time, the thing swelling up in its body just about reached its throat. It fired a torrent of green liquid in the city wall’s direction like a high-pressure water cannon. Meanwhile, its body also quickly shrank in size, as if it had already released all of its essence.

The Fiend races army’s formation masters quickly operated their formation discs. Soon after, a huge barrier appeared around Mengte City. Even though they didn’t know what that green liquid did, none of them wanted to give it a try and experience what would happen.

The green jet of liquid collided with the barrier around Mengte City almost instantly. The barrier flickered a few times, then completely shattered. Endless green liquid rained down; he formation masters below couldn't avoid it in time and were completely drenched. Miserable screams echoed through the air. The formation masters dissolved so quickly that not even bones were left behind!

The green liquid continued to fall to the ground. The extremely sturdy city wall actually began emanating strands of green smoke. Soon after, that entire side of the wall quickly melted and collapsed. The Fiend races stared at the scene before them in a stupor. They knew there was nothing they could have done to stop it from happening.

Cheers resounded from within the monster army, and they began to rush at the collapsed city wall.

The eyes of all the fiend soldiers became completely red. They knew that if the enemy invaded the city, even their elites would be wiped out, and not even bones would remain. As such, they all bravely rushed out to block the opening without any thought for their own lives. It was as if the entire area had turned into a meat grinder, with each clash resulting in countless lives lost.

The Second Empress took her Golden Crow Guards with her and rushed over. She no longer had her usual flirtatious and seductive appearance; instead, she was dressed completely in silver armor. When she saw the scene, she didn’t have time to give any orders, so she just charged with her army, slaughtering countless monsters along the way.

If not for the fact that she was wearing the empire’s most precious armor and had the Golden Crow Guards risking life and limb to protect her, she would have already died countless times. Even so, her armor was soon completely covered in cracks. It was as if the next attack would shatter it completely.

A female officer at her side, named Xiao Yi, quickly grabbed her and cried, “Your highness, hurry and retreat! We’ll protect you! We can’t hold this city any longer...”

“Shut your mouth!” the Second Empress retorted, glaring at her. “You will damage the army’s morale if you speak further, and be executed on the spot!”

Xiao Yi gritted her teeth and said, “Your highness, even if you kill me, I must say this! As long as you are alive, there is still hope for our Fiend races. If you die here...”

"If I die here, then so be it!” The Second Empress immediately cut her off with an ice-cold expression.

There was no way she wouldn’t know about the current situation. At this point, the collapse of the city was already inevitable. However, she had already used all of the strategies and schemes she could think of; and yet in the end, despair seemed inevitable.

Could she really abandon everyone else and run away? But where would she run?

Wouldn't she have to sacrifice the lives of so many soldiers just so she could live a bit longer? That wasn't something she could bring herself to do!

As the mother of an empire, she wanted to die an honorable death with her soldiers. As long as she continued to fight on the front lines, the soldiers’ morale could just barely be maintained, even if what followed was most likely to become a one-sided slaughter.

Even if she was going to die, she had to make the monsters pay a bitter price!

The Second Empress’ eyes were completely red. She only had one regret, which was that the regent wasn’t here. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have fallen into such a state... Still, she knew fully well that the regent was currently on the human side. Perhaps he didn't even know about what was happening here.

While she was feeling despair, Xiao Yi screamed in surprise, “What... What is that?”

The Second Empress had just sliced off the head of a crawler. When she heard Xiao Yi say that, she looked into the distance and saw an expanse of black metal birds. They seemed to be throwing something into the monsters’ ranks. Then, terrifying explosions appeared one after another, causing fear and terror among the monsters.