Chapter 1323: The Eternal Battlefield

In their bid to push forward into enemy territory, the Sanctum’s front line soldiers were sacrificed heavily.

The best knights and the most devoted disciples breathed their last breaths in the dreadful battle. War against the monsters of Chaos was merciless and brutal. The enemy was created for the sole purpose of destruction. The war would end only when either side was vanquished.

The appalling degree of sacrifice had brought the army four kilometers closer to Spiral Hill.

As the army journeyed through these four kilometers, Lockmarton began to feel threatened—if the tyrant had any capacity for emotions—and this led to more and more minions materializing from the smoke to stop the soldiers. On the other hand, a new type of creature was introduced into the battlefield.

These creatures looked like giant humans that reached up to five meters tall. Bloated limbs and rotten lumps of meat grew all over their bodies, barely containing themselves. Despite not having anything resembling a head, there was an unevenly shaped black protrusion on top of the creature’s body, with two rows of dark yellow eyes twitching eerily.

These horribly unwieldy creatures were surprisingly agile. They seemed to be able to control gravity and they kept their swollen bodies a few meters above the ground at all times. Evil runes glowed on their bodies, providing them a layer of defense and corruptive powers. Any living being within a few hundred meters of these creatures would decay and collapse faster than nature intended. Weapons would quickly lose their integrity, while souls would be corrupted by dark visions and nightmares.

These special powers made the creatures different from the normal corrupted minions.

They were called Lockmartonian Constructs, creatures that could only materialize in the Nightmare Realm and a direct manifestation of Lockmarton’s thoughts.

Once they entered the battle, normal soldiers at the front line were severely affected. While everyone in the army could use magic to defend themselves against negative influences, the presence of hundreds of these creatures soon bore down on the army of mortals. A noticeable collapse in the army became apparent in the flank.

Right at this moment, the 10 Wardens took over the front line soldiers. The rock giants crossed the battlefield and stood before the Constructs, protecting the flank. Their massive bodies were covered in the Goddess’ runes, shielding the soldiers against the Constructs’ corruptive influence.

The Lord of the Mountains picked up his rocky warhammer and brought it down to the ground. As the earth shook, the closest Constructs to him were petrified into grayish-white rock and then crumbled into pieces.

“Hahaha, it’s been so long since I fight these ‘meat bags’, they still feel terrible as hell!”

Geddon laughed joyfully, expressing his deep contempt and unshakeable confidence. His voice swept across the battlefield and invigorated the soldiers, helping them recover from the psychological attack.

“Is that right? I thought they are excellent target practice. Grill ’em up and they’ll taste like chicken!”

Golash, Lord of the Flames, joined in beside him. The bald rocky giant shot out powerful lasers from his eyes, blowing up the Constructs in his way into smithereens.

However, more and more of the Constructs materialized from the smoke and mist, faster than the Wardens could destroy them.

Another burst of Light of Order came from behind the Wardens. The glowing form leaped its way through the knights and came to his side. Geddon looked down to see a magnificent silver wolf.

He knew from Calaxus that this large wolf was the alternative form of the “werewolf” lady. He watched the Light of Order surging in the other’s body in surprise. It was shining even more brightly compared to some of the Wardens.

A voice came from the wolf’s nose. “How far off are we?! Is it close enough to attack now?”

Geddon squinted and saw Hao Ren standing on the wolf’s nose.

“Honestly, it’s not going very well.” Geddon did not answer in his bellowing voice. He controlled his voice to a near whisper. “Lockmarton’s minions are stronger than expected. It had not even shown its true body yet. If we attack from this distance, we will be hindered by all these cannon fodder and Lockmarton’s mind shield.”

“It is quite far… We will likely fail if we carry out our plan from here.” Hao Ren stood steadfastly on Lily’s nose as he looked up at Spiral Hill. “We have to force our way through these cannon fodder.”

“We have to destroy the Constructs,” Geddon said lowly. “They are close to being Lockmarton’s bodily extension. Once they are destroyed, Spiral Hill’s defenses will be greatly diminished.”

“They seem to materialize out of thin air.” Hao Ren frowned as he trained his gaze on the two smoke pillars, where the bulky Constructs were “born”. “Those smoke pillars look odd. They look like they’re highly immune to attacks, and there are simply too many minions protecting it.”

“That’s because Lockmarton’s two tentacles are inside,” Geddon answered solemnly. “We have to figure out how to destroy them.”

Hao Ren nodded. He looked at the two smoke pillars, and then at the clashing between the Sanctum’s army and the corrupted minions.

Things were not going well.

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The battlefield was like a coarse grindstone that ruined the sharp front line of the army. The Sanctum army front line pitted itself against this grindstone and gradually lost its edge. Despite the army’s continuous advance, it was no longer pushing into enemy territory as quickly as before.

The soldiers were about to lose their ground.

If nothing changed, the army may not be able to even breach the wall of corrupted minions around Lockmarton, much less hurt the being itself.

Hao Ren gripped onto his own lance and gently nudged Lily’s nose with his leg—that was the signal to prepare to enter the battle.

This was not what they planned. While exhausting and revealing themselves this early could jeopardize the effectiveness of their plan, they did not have a choice—if the army could not find the strength to break through this horrendous defense line, their final act may not even get the chance to see the light of day.

Hao Ren was contemplating the consequences of their early involvement when a sudden commotion from the flank got his attention.

He looked up to see numerous dark shadows appearing at the edge of the chaotic battlefield.

There were so many of those dark shadows. They bore no flag or symbol, but they did not look like minions.

When they came close enough, Hao Ren finally recognized them.

It was the Armageddon Army!

The soldiers wore tattered armor, and their bodies looked deformed and festered. The army that looked just as menacing as the minions appeared at the battlefield to everyone’ surprise. No one knew how they escaped from the place that bound their spirits and survived the minion-infested Scorched Plains to reach the battlefield, but here they were.

The deformed army reached the flank of the Sanctum’s army, where the knights were stationed. Everyone’s eyes were on the newcomers. Hao Ren saw a particularly large warrior stepped out in front of the army.

Unlike the others, this soldier had completely lost its human appearance. All the fleshy lumps and tentacles growing out of him made him look like a monster. The warrior walked shakily to the frontmost edge of the army and awkwardly pulled out something from his person and spread it out.

It was a tattered piece of cloth.

He spread out the cloth solemnly and hung it on one of the protruding bones on his back.

Then, he walked shakily to the knights. He shook his body and clawed his chest with his decaying fingers. He tried desperately to make a sound, but could only manage an odd hoarse cry.

No one understood him. The ancient warrior had already forgotten everything he knew about human language.

“I heard the bells… We are here now… Has the war begun?”

He wanted to ask this, but no one here could understand him.

The battle cries from the front line traveled across the army to the flank. The storm at the smoke pillars was roaring thunderously. The deformed warrior finally took in all this. Slowly, he looked up.

The army behind him followed his lead toward their target.

Just then, another army entered the scene from behind the Sanctum’s army.

These were glowing spirits in skeletal form. Their armor moved without real flesh guiding them, and their holy robes seemed to float in midair.

This was the Spirit Braves Army, consisting of all the deceased that were buried under Fidelinopolis in the last 10,000 years. In the original plan, they were the army’s backup, and would only start attacking when the main army’s forces were losing ground. Since the spirits of the dead were beginning to dissipate, they must reserve their strength until the last moment.

Now was the moment they had chosen to enter the battlefield.

The dead walked past the living and silently marched across the Shield of Order put up by the 10 Wardens. A tall spirit clad in white holy robes walked past the deformed warrior and gave him a soft pat on the shoulder.

It’s time for war, old friend.

The army attacked.