Chapter 218 : Chapter 218
Chapter 218. The Arrival of the Experimental Legion
The wind at the Narrow Pass carried the smell of smoke and gunpowder. Xilan took the potion case handed over by his Adjutant, his fingertips touching the cold metal shell.
Inside the case, deep-blue potion bottles were arranged in perfect order, their surfaces engraved with complex Runes.
This was the “Basic Berserker Potion” secretly developed in the Kroll Royal Capital. It could temporarily increase the strength of a soldier’s Dou Qi, though the price was three days of exhaustion afterward.
“Distribute ten bottles to each squad. They are not to be used unless the situation is truly desperate.”
His voice was low. He watched as the soldiers carefully put the potions away, then added, “Tell the men that reinforcements from the Royal Capital are already on the way. When the time comes, we will strike from within and without.”
The Communication Crystal lit up faintly in his palm. Kroll II’s voice came through the crystal, calm yet filled with unquestionable authority.
“I understand. Hold the Narrow Pass, Lord Xilan. You have done well. The Experimental Legion is already prepared and can set out at any time. It is time to test the effectiveness of this Legion.”
When the crystal dimmed, Xilan’s brows eased slightly.
He knew that the “reinforcements” mentioned by the king were certainly no ordinary Legion. They were a secret force that had lain dormant in the underground laboratory for years. Even he had only seen scattered records of them.
At the same time, deep beneath the Kroll Royal Capital, a heavy alloy gate slowly opened.
Beyond the gate was not the darkness one might have expected, but a passage illuminated by ghostly-blue magic lamps. On both sides of the passage stood rows of soldiers arranged in perfect formation.
They wore black armor that covered their entire bodies. Faint silver light flowed through the seams of their armor. Their faces were concealed beneath helmets, and only a crimson glow could be seen shining from their eye sockets.
There was no sound of breathing, nor any clashing of armor. The entire Legion was as silent as a mass of shadows.
At the very front of the formation, a short, stocky “man” with grayish-green skin was lowering his head to study the map in his hands.
His fingers were like withered branches, his nails gleaming with a metallic luster, and his pointed ears stood sharply upright. He looked exactly like a Goblin, yet he wore a long robe embroidered with the Royal Emblem.
“Designation 734, confirm the Eastern Frontier coordinates.”
His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against stone. When he raised his head, there was not the slightest emotion in his amber eyes.
“Move out.”
There was no response, only the sound of uniform footsteps.
This mysterious Legion was like ink poured into underground pipes, passing silently through the Secret Passage as they moved toward the Eastern Frontier.
The Runes on the ceiling of the passage lit and dimmed with their footsteps, reflecting the flowing silver light on their armor. The sight was strange and murderous.
In this way, the encirclement continued for more than a month. On this day, the Communication Crystal finally lit up, and Xilan connected it.
“Designation 734 greets Lord Xilan. The Legion has reached the predetermined position.”
“Launch the full assault in three hours. You only need to restrain their Legendary Combatants.”
“In addition, if you encounter soldiers of the Experimental Legion and they attack you, you may kill them directly and quickly move away. After we die, we will explode and release Energy Spores.”
With that, he ended the transmission. The residual warmth of the Communication Crystal had yet to fade, and Xilan’s fingers tightened slightly around it.
Designation 734’s voice had carried a mechanical coldness. In particular, the words “after we die, we will explode and release Energy Spores” felt like an icy needle piercing the back of his neck.
He turned and walked toward the conference room. The torches in the corridor stretched his shadow long and short by turns.
When he pushed open the door, several Legion Commanders were gathered around the map, arguing. The moment they saw Xilan enter, they immediately fell silent and stood at attention.
“The reinforcements have arrived.”
Xilan placed the crystal on the table. His voice was calm, yet it carried an undeniable force.
“In three hours, we launch the full assault.”
A trace of joy flashed in the eyes of the Legion Commanders, only to be replaced at once by solemnity.
An encirclement of four hundred thousand Orcs was no small matter. Even with reinforcements, breaking out would by no means be easy.
“Our mission has only one objective: restrain every one of the Orcs’ Legendary Combatants.”
Xilan tapped heavily on the mountain range marked on the map.
“No matter what you see or hear, you are not to be distracted.”
He paused, recalling 734’s warning, then added, “Also, if you see allied forces killing one another during the battle, or if you witness a violent explosion, lead your men away immediately. Do not approach. Do not attempt a rescue.”
“Our foremost objective is to break out. Nothing else matters.”
The Legion Commanders looked at one another, unable to understand what “allied forces killing one another” meant. But there was no room for discussion in Xilan’s tone, so they could only answer in unison.
“Yes!”
When the door of the conference room closed once more, Xilan walked to the window and looked out at the dense Orc camp beyond the Narrow Pass.
Four hundred thousand. That number pressed down on his heart like a boulder. What unsettled him even more were the landing ships arriving endlessly along the coastline. The Orcs seemed inexhaustible.
Three hours passed in silent waiting.
When the last ray of sunset was swallowed by the mountains, a ghostly-purple pillar of light suddenly rose in the night sky of the Eastern Frontier, piercing straight into the heavens.
“It has begun.”
Xilan drew his sword from its sheath, and Golden Dou Qi surged into the sky.
“Pass down my order. All Legions will act according to the plan!”
The Gold Legion charged out of the Narrow Pass like a ferocious beast roused from hibernation and collided with the Orc vanguard.
Xilan rode at the very front, sweeping his sword across and cleaving an oncoming Orc Sky Knight in half, man and axe together.
He deliberately slowed his pace, drawing more Orc Powerhouses to gather around him.
That was his mission: to use himself as bait and hold back the enemy’s top combatants.
Just then, a deafening explosion erupted from the mountains on the left. Firelight dyed half the sky red.
From the corner of his eye, Xilan saw a group of soldiers in black armor locked in a desperate battle with the Orcs. Several of them suddenly began to glow all over, like purple meteors, before diving toward the densest masses of Orcs.
“BOOM… BOOM… BOOM…”
The shockwaves from the chain explosions made even Xilan, several li away, feel as though he were suffocating. At the center of the blasts, the Orcs and the very earth beneath them were thrown into the air, turning into a rain of blood and flesh.
Even more bizarrely, the purple smoke did not disperse. Instead, it wriggled like something alive. Any Orc who came into contact with it instantly began to rot all over, letting out shrill screams.
After the screams, their eyes turned blood-red, and they began slaughtering the Orcs around them.
“Stay away from there!” Xilan roared at the soldiers beside him.
The soldiers snapped awake as if from a dream and immediately changed direction, breaking through toward the weak point on the right.
They did not dare look back. That purple smoke was like the domain of the god of death, making even the air thick and lethal.
Amid the chaos, Xilan saw a black-armored soldier suddenly turn, its crimson eye sockets locking onto him.
The other party raised its spear and thrust without hesitation. It was an attack from an ally.
“You are courting death!”
Xilan sidestepped the attack, and his long sword followed through to sever the soldier’s neck. The instant the armor hit the ground, the headless body suddenly swelled and emitted a blinding purple light.
“Fall back!”
Xilan leapt away, and a violent explosion erupted behind him.
He looked back and saw that the entire area had already been shrouded in purple smoke. Even the hard stone was corroding rapidly.
Xilan clenched his teeth and looked no longer. He swung his sword, cleaved apart the Orc in front of him, and charged toward the breakout point.
Behind him, explosions rose one after another. The purple smoke continued spreading through the night, like a vast net devouring everything in its path.