178 Danger Every Step of the Way (1/2)
Thundering blasts tore through the heavens without rest. The four Foundation Establishment realm cultivators battled fiercely with the seven Foundation Establishment realm beasts. They fought brutally and without pause, and any misstep could mean life or death!
That was especially so when faced with seven Foundation Establishment realm beasts. The four cultivators were clearly struggling to hold their own, but none retreated. They engaged in battle with all their might. The Foundation Establishment realm beasts relied on their invincible physical bodies, while the cultivators had not only Numinous Treasures but also array formations at their disposal. One of them, a man in his middle age, even possessed a seventh-grade Dharmic Armament!
Just this single Dharmic Armament was enough to strike awe and fear into the opponents' hearts!
A Dharmic Armament was, after all, an item of extreme luxury and rarity to a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator. It was referred to by all as a priceless treasure, and few had their hands on one. Dharmic Armaments were typically wielded by the top-notch warriors in the respective political forces—Core Formation cultivators!
The battle in the sky continued fiercely, while the fight on land was a complete massacre.
The hundreds of thousands of stronghold troops clashed with the Beast Tide on land. The violent slaughter was soul-shaking, and deaths occurred every moment. Flesh tore and blood spilled, drenching the earth in blood!
The destructiveness of the behemoths as well as the giants was overwhelming. They could only be taken down by multiple cultivators most of the time, and because of that, the stronghold was placed at a severe disadvantage; they were clearly at the losing end of the battle.
Fortunately, compared with the beasts' simplistic attacks, the cultivators had Array Formation cultivators, Alchemy cultivators, and Beast Taming cultivators amongst them. They were able to force a delicate balance between the two camps.
There was battling high in the skies and on land, and another layer of battle took place between them, one that was equally brutal!
The aerial battle in midair took place on the various Fire God Cannon platforms. The enemies were swarms of flying beasts; they were swift and cruel, fearless of death as they flung themselves forward without rest. Their attacks disrupted the repairs of the cannons and hastened the cannons' malfunction.
The repairs of the Fire God Cannons was slow work. In the midst of that, frequent firings continued to take place in coordination with the fighting in the sky and on land. There wasn't time to spare for their own self-defense, and the thousand-odd warriors stationed on every platform formed the last line of defense for the Fire God Cannons.
Battle cries rose in the air without pause. On the platforms, there were Fire God Cannons with fragmented inscriptions awaiting repairs while being swarmed by beast attacks. They couldn't last until the repairs were made and broke down immediately.
With the collapse of a cannon, the platform it was on was immediately swarmed by hordes of beasts. They surged forward, frenzied with bloodlust, and the casualties skyrocketed. It was a bloodbath.
Be it Chen Yutong, Zhou Penghai, Sun Fang or the Dharmic Armament cultivators from the four Dao Colleges—all were possessed by rage, and red veins lined their eyes. The work was too much. They had to be wary of the winged beasts while hastening their repair work which made them the natural targets of the beasts.
At that moment, Wang Baole had just restored a Fire God Cannon to a barely acceptable working condition, and as he leaped away, he heard a cry of agony. He turned his head and, through the protective glow of the Golden Bell Shield and past the warriors guarding him, saw a Dharmic Armament cultivator from the Holy River Dao College on a distant Fire God Cannon platform. Seven to eight beasts ripped through the protection of his Numinous Treasure and tore him into bits!
Amidst the thickening blood mist, countless beasts rushed onto the platform. The battle that followed left them and the hundreds of warriors on the platform dead…
If it had been another place and time, there would be Combat cultivators around to protect them. However, everyone was fighting for their lives. The only protection the Dharmic Armament cultivators had were their own Numinous Treasures and the thousand warriors on each platform!
Wang Baole had become familiar with the warriors. Every time he approached a Fire God Cannon platform whose care he was charged with, hordes of warriors rushed forward surrounding it and used their bodies as meat shields against the encircling beasts.
His Golden Bell Shield proved its worth during that time, and he flung more than a dozen of them at the platforms he was responsible for.
Other Dharmic Armament cultivators did the same. They pulled out every Dharmic Artifact they could use. Wang Baole even went to the extent of distributing the Dharmic Artifacts he had crafted to the warriors guarding him, enhancing their battle capabilities.
Despite all that being done, casualties couldn't be avoided. The winged beasts in the skies gathered like a dark storm cloud, and their numbers were countless. The True Breath realm beasts within the horde of beasts often struck in groups of ten and more with unimaginable force.
Even though Wang Baole had released the mosquitoes earlier, in the face of innumerable beasts, they were but a drop in the vast ocean. They barely survived.
Danger continued surfacing. Regardless of the repair work by Dharmic Armament cultivators, Fire God Cannons all around repeatedly broke down, and a slew of killings followed each malfunction.
At that moment, Wang Baole had just completed repairs on a Fire God Cannon. The cannon let loose a blast of light that shot into the air and, in sync with the four attacking Foundation Establishment realm cultivators, bombed the Foundation Establishment realm beasts. A violent heave traveled through the cannon before it malfunctioned and broke down!
In mid-air, nine True Breath realm flying beasts saw a window of opportunity with the malfunction. They swooped near at high speed, leading thousands of Ancient Martial realm flying beasts, and smashed straight into the protective Golden Bell Shield.
A thunderous hum resounded through the air, and the flying beasts were flung back, shaking. The Golden Bell Shield trembled as well; however, it was made of superior quality, and there was a great deal of them. As a result, the shield didn't suffer one crack.
”Go!” Wang Baole shouted in haste and retreated quickly with the warriors on the platform. The beasts gave them no chance to escape, though, and charged a second time. An aura of bloodlust exploded from his person, and he roared.