Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

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"Watch out for the poison!" General Bin Wei warned him.

Poisonous liquid jetted out like beams. Even a few drops were enough to turn a person into a puddle. General Bin Wei ordered the majority of the army to back away from the Ruler-level creature to avoid unnecessary casualties.

The Underworld Monarch Frog did not have aggressive moves. Most of its strength came from the Yoked. It was quite effective if the soldiers just fired their spells at the creature from a safe distance.

The rain of spells poured down on the Underworld Monarch Frog, but its body was covered in the defensive Runes that defied the spells. The soldiers were powerless against its outstanding defense.

"Keep going, there's no way the runes will last forever!" Commander Ye Hong ordered.

The spells did not stop pouring down. There were still a lot of Mages with long-range attacks in the fortress, up in the safest positions. As long as they still had energy, they could just continue to fire their spells and vent all their frustrations on the enormous creature, regardless if the spells were actually doing any harm to it.

After a few rounds, the Runes had clearly dimmed, giving the soldiers a great boost in confidence.

"I thought its defense was unbreakable, but it seems to be falling apart. Brothers, let's keep it up, we are about to kill a Ruler-level creature!" the sergeant of a troop of magic cannon Mages on the wall yelled.

A huge bunch of Star Patterns appeared, lights of different colors swept through the sky and dove at the creature.

"Layering Formation! Super Fiery Fist!"

The Octagon Sentry Formation in the Northguard Fortress lit up again. A huge group of Intermediate Fire Mages poured their energy into it crazily. The scorching Fire Patterns filled the sky above the Northguard Fortress in a spectacular show!

A huge Fiery Fist the size of a tower sprang forward. The spells flying across the sky were like little shrimps next to a giant whale. The enormous spell howled, dyeing the sky and ground red as it lunged at the Underworld Monarch Frog. Even the mountain-sized creature began to panic when it saw the spell coming at it.

It moved its body, trying to dodge the Super Fiery Fist, but the burning fist was as big as a meteorite. The whole place was set aflame before it even hit the ground!

The whole land was engulfed in fire, the soldiers could not even see it clearly. The Underworld Monarch Frog's heavy body was knocked flying by the enormous impact. The scorching heat was melting its Runes and flesh!

The flames finally broke through its outer skin. The stinking flesh underneath emitted a disgusting smell as thick smoke rolled into its surroundings.

The Underworld Monarch Frog cried out in agony, twisting its body around. It was trying to attack the soldiers nearby with the chains hanging from it.

The Mages quickly spread out, but suddenly the Underworld Monarch Frog started rolling forward, the flames still burning on it. It had turned into a fiery ball! The creature seemed to be holding a strong grudge; it was planning to crash right into the wall of the Northguard Fortress!

The Underworld Monarch Frog was struggling to move previously; now it was like a giant tank of meat, rolling like a ball and bringing the inextinguishable flames with it!

"Shit, it's about to slam into the Northguard Fortress!" Ye Hong exclaimed. "Stop it!"

The soldiers immediately worked together and cast barricading spells to intercept the Underworld Monarch Frog. However, the momentum of the Underworld Monarch Frog was just too overwhelming, considering how heavy it was. The spells could only slow the creature down slightly, they were nowhere enough to stop it!

The Underworld Monarch Frog smashed flat the land, which was already in extremely bad condition, quickly approaching the Northguard Fortress. There were at least a few thousand Mages on the wall. Many of them were going to die if the Underworld Monarch Frog smashed into the wall with such great force!

No one had expected the clumsy Underworld Monarch Frog to have such a move up its sleeves during its deathbed struggle. A Ruler-level creature would normally try their best to stay alive. If it had rolled away instead, they clearly would have had no chance of stopping it from running away!

Lingling was on the wall, too. She watched the Underworld Monarch Frog closing in and filling up her vision. She did not understand why the Underworld Monarch Frog did not run away!

A Ruler-level creature should treat their life preciously. It could have used the same move to run away; why would it insist on razing the Northguard Fortress to the ground and taking out the Mages that were the least of his concern, if it meant sacrificing its life? A Ruler-level creature should have its own intelligence. It was unlike low-level creatures that would fight back simple-mindedly when they were under attack...

Could it be that there was something even scarier than it behind its chains? It had no choice but to advance like the Yoked, since it was not allowed to retreat!?

"City of Steel!" General Bin Wei's thunderous voice came from the sky.

The ground a hundred meters ahead of the Northguard Fortress began to shake. A magnificent wall of boulders emerged from the ground.

Unlike the Entrance-Sealing Wall from before, the ancient wall was split into several segments this time, each around fifty meters long. They were arranged in rows like ancient soldiers, using their mass to block the Underworld Monarch Frog!

The Underworld Monarch Frog's strength was absolutely terrifying, and could even smash through the sturdy ancient wall, but it eventually came to a stop after destroying three segments of the Great Wall!

The strength of the Great Wall was several times that of the fortress. The three segments were over fifty meters wide when they rose in lines. The wall of the fortress was only slightly over twenty meters wide. If the Great Wall had not emerged from the ground and lined up to defend them, it was likely that half of the fortress would have been destroyed!

When everyone was still astonished, the Underworld Monarch Frog began to expand rapidly, exploding after a huge blast. Its flesh splintered into thousands of pieces and flew in all directions. The poisonous liquid in its body turned into rains of killing liquid arrows, covering an area over a kilometer wide!

"Quick, defend yourself!"

"Look out!"

The fortress was in a great mess. No one had known the Underworld Monarch Frog had the ability to blow itself up! A few drops of its acidic poison were enough to melt a person. It could even melt the walls of the fortress, let alone a human's body!

"Layering Spell, Water Barrier!" a commander yelled at the Octagon Sentry Formation.

The Water Mages swiftly cast the Water Barrier. The Star Orbits intertwined with one another and hung elegantly in the sky.

Water ribbons appeared on the Northguard Fortress and quickly formed a circular barrier to stop the poisonous acid rain!

However, since they had only set up the defense in reaction, the Water Barrier was primarily protecting the Mages on the walls. There were lots of areas that it could not cover. The rain of poison acid poured down and melted through the structures.

The stone buildings made of stones melted at an insane speed, like sand that was soaked wet. There were people that failed to hide from it. They cried out in agony and turned into puddles of blood before the others could lend them a hand.

The same scene occurred in many places across the fortress. Countless innocent lives were lost. The people stood still in silence for some time.

Commander Ye Hong let out a long sigh.

They had tried so hard to protect and preserve the Northguard Fortress. They had cautiously avoided casualties among the soldiers, and even prevented the walls and towers from collapsing. However, the streets inside the fortress were in a great mess. The number of deaths was not that high, but it was still a pity that their lives had been lost.

General Bin Wei was not feeling well, either. The rain of acidic poison had caused massive destruction. The fortress was basically in ruins, and had lost its magnificence. She initially thought it was going to be a great victory...

"It was still a Ruler-level creature after all," Zhao Manyan said helplessly.

The Underworld Monarch Frog did not destroy the fortress, but it posed a great threat to it until the very end. It even took down a few hundred Battlemages with it...

"Either way, we've won the battle. We've protected the Northguard Fortress. Even a Ruler-level creature wasn't able to get past us!" Captain Feng Changyu exclaimed.

"He's right!"

"There's nothing much we could do when a Ruler-level creature is pulling a kamikaze on us, but it doesn't change the fact that we've killed them all!"

"Let's go back to the fortress!"

"Time to go back, we've won the battle!"

Casualties were unavoidable in a battle, but the victory was still theirs. Everyone at the fortress had been prepared to die in the battle, but they would not allow failure. If they lost, the cities behind them would be massacred. Most of the soldiers at the fortress were locals. Their parents, wives, relatives, and friends were in the cities shielded by the Northguard Fortress!

Over two thousand Battlemages took part in the battle, but the casualties were not particularly serious. Their performance was quite outstanding compared to the battles they normally fought against the Beijiang Desolate Beasts.

The soldiers gathered around Bin Wei and Ye Hong as they returned to the fortress. Zhao Manyan was thrown into the air by the soldiers he was leading. Everyone returned to the fortress in high spirits and cheers...

"Holy crap, go easier!"

"Don't throw me so high!"

The Mages were very strong. Normally, it was quite impressive for people to toss someone half a meter high into the air, but Zhao Manyan was thrown around twenty meters up. Every time he went up, it would take him some time to fall back down again, as if he was playing the jumping machine...

"Ohhhhh!" Zhao Manyan was thrown into the air again. This time, the soldiers were challenging themselves to see if they could toss him thirty meters into the air. Zhao Manyan lost his balance when he reached the top. He began to spin...

He caught a quick glimpse of the horizon. The dust had yet to clear away, but he could see an enormous silhouette standing there. He even saw the flicker in its eyes, and felt a strong presence of death across the distance, sending a great chill down his spine!

What the hell was that?

Once again, Zhao Manyan was overwhelmed by shock!