Chapter 24: War Beasts

Su Xiao returned to his residence near the Sacred Court district and contacted the mining squad still digging underground. The Sera Empire was on the verge of collapse, but that couldn't stop these guys' enthusiasm for mining.

Baha met with the six miners underground, retrieving a total of 815 blue ores. According to the miner squad leader, the deeper they dug toward the mine's core, the slower the extraction became. Based on Baha's observations, this was indeed the case.

Given the current state of the Sera Empire, continuing to mine beneath Arans City was nothing short of a creative way to court death.

The six miners from the Apocalypse Paradise were exceptionally persistent. They planned to keep digging, and even accelerate the pace, destabilizing the earth veins in the process if necessary.

Su Xiao said nothing about this. He intended to observe the situation first and, once an opportunity arose, eliminate Xi. Xi was just outside Arans City.

That same afternoon, Su Xiao received news from Lady Moon Wolf that the old duke had died on the front lines.

Su Xiao completely ignored this news. That old fox wouldn't die even if Sera was utterly shattered, let alone after only half a day at the front lines.

Moreover, given the old duke's status and the immortality of the Saint Descendants, the Northern Alliance would definitely choose to capture him alive and execute him publicly later.

This abrupt death announcement only meant that the old bastard, after exhausting his final efforts and realizing the situation was truly hopeless, had simply fled.

Throughout the recent events, the old duke had been playing a supporting role. He was always there, but never a key figure.

Among the several dukes, the Furious Lion was ambitious, the Forest Lizard harbored grand aspirations, and the White Dragon was resourceful. All three were now dead. Yet the seemingly inconspicuous old duke had always lived well. The spear strikes the protruding nail, and the old duke had always stayed hidden in the shadows.

At two in the afternoon, Su Xiao, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, opened them.

Rumble...

The entire residential building trembled slightly. Sensing this, Su Xiao pressed the projection device on the table. The real-time footage provided by Bubu Wang was transmitted back, casting onto the wall.

At that moment, Bubu Wang was running. To its left and right were soldiers riding polar boars. These polar boars were exceptionally strong, clad in iron armor. The riders on their backs wielded various weapons—some held war hammers, others chain maces—all heavy weapons. After all, the Sera Empire was rich in metal ores, and without such heavy weapons, it was difficult to break through the armor of Sera soldiers.

The dense charge of polar cavalry was like a tidal wave. Wherever they passed, the temperature dropped significantly.

Bubu Wang had already infiltrated the enemy ranks and was charging alongside the polar cavalry, though it was in the last row.

There was no pre-battle confrontation, no cold weapon duels between generals. A total of 270,000 polar cavalry charged directly toward Arans City.

Whoosh~

A long horn sounded. On the walls of Arans City, with a bang, a crossbow bolt at least three meters long was fired.

There was no chance to dodge. A polar boar charging toward Arans City was pierced through the skull and pinned to the ground.

The rider on the polar boar's back plunged headfirst into the dirt, sealing his death. The boars of the cavalry behind him trampled directly over his body.

This was just the beginning. When the polar cavalry reached within half a kilometer of the city walls, all the ballistae on the walls were activated.

Bang, bang, bang...

A series of muffled sounds spread out. The polar cavalry instantly fell in a large row, but they didn't stop for a moment.

Lady Moon Wolf had ordered the city guard to fight to the last man, for Sera, for the people within the city.

The city guard numbered around 70,000. They knew in their hearts that in this war, they were only fighting to survive. Surrender meant death. The Northern Alliance would not spare them, never.

Before the row of ballistae on the wall could complete their second reload, the polar cavalry below had already reached the city walls. This was the first time they stopped.

To have cavalry stop at such a position meant the Northern Alliance officers were either brain-dead or had a trump card.

Behind the polar cavalry, a massive cage cart came to a halt. This cage cart was at least 15 meters long and 7 meters high, pulled by over a hundred polar boars.

The cage cart was covered with thick cloth. Several soldiers worked together to pull off the large cloth, revealing a rectangular iron cage beneath.

The metal bars of the cage were at least as thick as a thigh. Inside was an exceptionally large war boar.

The giant war boar's tusks had been sawed off. Its dark blue bristles were as thick as chopsticks. Metal armor plates were embedded on its forehead, each plate at least ten centimeters thick, pitted and scarred.

Overall, the giant war boar was much larger than a rhinoceros. A rhino would be nothing more than a little brother before it.

Clank, clank...

The iron cage opened. The war boar, already starving to the point of red eyes, charged out. It chewed up six imperial soldiers in a few bites and swallowed them.

A woman clad in animal skins stepped forward. She held an animal tooth in her mouth. The tooth was hollow, like a whistle.

A whistle inaudible to ordinary ears was blown. The war boar raised its head, its eyes gradually turning bloodshot.

The war boar roared, turned, and charged toward Arans City.

"Stop it!"

A voice, already cracking, came from atop the wall. Large crossbow bolts were fired.

Bang! Bang!

Two bolts struck the giant war boar's body. The metal bolts twisted and bounced off.

The war boar's charge grew faster and faster, as if nothing could stop it. Its target was the city gate, reinforced and sealed shut.

In just over ten seconds, the giant war boar reached the city gate and rammed it head-on.

Boom!!

The mud beneath the war boar's feet was kicked up half a meter high. The gate it struck flew inward. A large section of the surrounding wall shattered, creating a breach twenty meters wide and eleven meters high. The wall had been smashed through.

The giant war boar staggered back two steps and then collapsed with a thud. As the saying goes, feed an army for a thousand days, use them for one moment.

This giant war boar had already smashed through the gates of twelve cities. Its father, Chalk, had been beheaded by the Iron Feather King's blade in a battle 137 years ago.

Silence fell over the wall. The city guards looked at each other, then finally laughed. At the brink of death, they feared nothing.

The brutal defensive battle officially began. The two armies used the breach in the wall as their focal point, engaging in a fierce close-quarters fight.

Just a few minutes into the battle, the giant war boar woke up. It shook its head, retreated several dozen meters, and then charged at the wall again.

Meanwhile, Su Xiao, watching the projection, furrowed his brow. Xi had still not appeared. According to the intelligence Bubu Wang had gathered, Xi wasn't here to join the Northern Alliance in attacking the city. Her status in the Northern Alliance was quite high. This time, she had come to find something. As for what exactly she was looking for, Xi hadn't explained on the spot, so Bubu Wang had no way of knowing.

After Xi completed a certain task and confirmed that capturing Arans City was no problem, she took 120,000 Northern soldiers and headed straight for the Abyss on this continent. Su Xiao wasn't surprised by this. Xi fed on the "Source" of neutral deities to rapidly increase her strength. The Abyss was the most likely place to find neutral deities. At the very least, the half-blood Ancient God Ursula was there, and she could also be considered a neutral deity.

The intelligence Bubu Wang obtained was threefold: 1. Xi was searching for something. 2. Xi couldn't leave this world in a short time. Although she could grow stronger through a "certain existence," she also needed to accomplish certain tasks to obtain resources from that unknown existence. 3. Xi had gone to the Abyss, taking 120,000 Northern Alliance soldiers with her.

After confirming these three points, Su Xiao was in a very good mood. His biggest worry was that Xi could leave this world at any time, which would be the worst-case scenario. The good news was that Xi was also heading to the Abyss.

Earlier, Su Xiao had felt a bit regretful. He had taken a liking to that giant war boar attacking the city. It could have made one of his plans more complete. But now that Xi had left, Su Xiao no longer worried about her discovering that he was also in this world. It wasn't that he feared Xi's combat power, but rather that she might flee directly, which would be the worst possible outcome.

Reincarnation Paradise