The situation was clear.
The Anxi army’s necromancer had countless terracotta soldiers under his control. These terracotta soldiers might be weak, but they could easily drown out any force with their sheer number.
It wouldn’t change a thing even if they gathered everyone here to defend the city.
These terracotta soldiers knew nothing of fatigue and wouldn’t rest till they achieved their goal, but the same couldn’t be said about humans. The Tibetan soldiers were valiant and their mages ingenious, but they were still mortals who needed to eat, drink, and rest.
In a fight of attrition, they would be the ones crumbling in the end!
Their only option was to curb the necromancer behind this, solving the problem from its roots.
“Are you confident?” Zhujubo’s city lord asked the guard leader.
“I don’t know,” the guard leader replied.
He was also vulnerable to human wave tactics despite being a hero-class warrior. His only advantage was his superior individual strength, and the fact that Shu Yichao was not too far away from the city walls.
If things go well, he might just be able to slay the necromancer before the terracotta soldiers drown him.
If things went badly, he might not return with his bones intact.
“...” Zhujubo’s city lord fell silent.
He knew that the guard leader was negotiating with him by highlighting the dangers of the operation, but given the precarious situation they were in, he had no choice but to part with his fortune.
“I’ll bestow with my long-cherished armor and the sand monitor mount I have obtained from trading with the Lizard Queen. You’ll have several mages and warriors to accompany you on your mission, and the others will cover you. If you’re able to save our brave warriors...”
Zhujubo’s city lord made a promise, “...if any of my daughters catch your fancy...”
“Thank you, city lord!”
The guard leader was overjoyed. He would be able to join the exclusive Tibetan circle of nobility if he could marry one of the city lord’s daughters.
Shoosh!
All of a sudden, there was a furious wind accompanied by a shrill sound as if something heavy was hurtling across the sky.
“What’s that?!” someone exclaimed.
Zhujubo’s city lord raised his head and saw hundreds of gray cannonballs descending upon the city like a meteor storm.
Bam!
Some of the gray cannonballs crashed into buildings and tore them down; some smashed into the crowd and brought about miserable wails. Before the garrison troops could react, the gray cannonballs blasted open, splattering mud and bones everywhere.
A huge amount of terracotta soldiers emerged from the remains of the gray cannonballs, and, with their swords and spears, had a sincere, heart-to-heart talk with the garrison troops.
“That necromancer hurled his terracotta soldiers over as cannonballs?” Zhujubo’s city lord felt light-headed.
This is insane! How are we supposed to fight this? There are enemies outside the city; there are also enemies inside the city... Nowhere is safe!
Shaped like a rhinoceros, it was arrogant and savage. It was surprisingly swift and charged across the desert almost like a truck. Its petrified skin was as hard as steel, and its sharp teeth and claws were a nightmare to any living being.
With this mount and an invaluable enchanted armor, the guard leader was confident he could smash his way through the clumps of mud. As long as he got to the necromancer, he would be able to turn the tables around!
“Are you done yet?” he growled at a nearby mage.
To ensure the success of this operation, he brought a bunch of artifacts with him. The mages accompanying him also relentlessly unleashed their spells at the risk of exhausting themselves.
Out of caution for the ghost horsemen beside Shu Yichao, the city lord had even mobilized an army of war slaves to escort him.
This assault had to succeed!
“Everything is in place!” the mage replied while wiping off his cold sweat.
“Good!” The guard leader raised his war hammer and roared, “Warriors, follow me!”
With the guard leader taking the charge and a thousand war slave serving as the core force, they launched a counterattack against the terracotta soldiers. With their ferocious might, they tore open a gaping hole in the terracotta soldiers’ formation right away.
The terracotta soldiers were too weak to withstand such a ferocious charge, such that a gaping hole was torn open in their formation in an instant.
“Well done!”
Zhujubo’s city lord was delighted to see his guard leader making steady progress toward the Shu flag. The other Tibetan soldiers also fervently cheered, as if they could already see their valiant commander snatching the flag over and claiming victory.
Slowly, the guard leader closed in on the enemy necromancer.
Everything was going well. The terracotta soldiers were falling like domino pieces.
The guard leader was close enough to see the young necromancer’s face. All that was left to do was to decapitate the latter and hang his head on the flagpole. He could already see a beautiful future beckoning him over.
But just then, the furiously advancing assault team abruptly slowed down.
The air had turned so viscous that it was shockingly arduous for them to advance any further.
“What’s going on?! Why did they suddenly slow down?” a Tibetan soldier shouted.
“I don’t know! It doesn’t look like Bog...” a Tibetan mage anxiously replied.
A common spell to slow an advancing army was Bog, which turned the ground wet and muddy. This spell could be easily distinguished, and it was easy to counter too. All they had to do was to either avoid stepping on the ground or simply dry up the muddied ground.
Otherwise, they could also throw cannon fodder in to serve as their footing.
However, the assault team felt a strong sense of retardation not just in their feet but their entire bodies. It felt like the spell wasn’t targeted at the environment but them!
The Tibetan army anxiously investigated the cause of the retardation so that the assault team could continue their charge at the enemy necromancer, but till then, the assault team was an easy target for Shu Yichao.
Bzzt, bzzt!
Shu Yichao raised his hand, which was crackling with lightning.
“God of Lightning, heed my order!”