Chapter 23: Far Out of Reach
On the west side of the Ice Hoof Fortress, the nearly 500-meter-tall "Yatade Wall" stood towering. The surface of this ice wall was uneven, covered with a layer of frozen snow, further increasing the difficulty of climbing.
The Wolf Cavalry army halted beneath the ice wall. Inside the iron cage, the one-eyed old wolf looked puzzled; it didn't believe the Grey Orcs could scale this heavenly barrier. The temperature near the top of the "Yatade Wall" was too low—even for their own Direwolf Clan, they would feel the cold there.
Su Xiao jumped down from the crown of the War Treant, drew the sheathed Dragon-Slashing Flash from his waist, and held it in his left hand.
Stepping forward to the base of the "Yatade Wall," Su Xiao slowly inhaled, his right hand gripping the hilt of Dragon-Slashing Flash.
With a bang, Su Xiao's blood aura spread outward. Before he even drew his blade, large slashes had already appeared on the frozen ground beneath him.
Su Xiao's aura grew sharper and sharper. He rarely gathered momentum before striking, because his enemies never gave him such an opportunity. Now, facing an inanimate object, he had the chance to build up his power.
"Blade Path Sword: Flow."
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Three massive wind scars cut through. After gathering momentum, Su Xiao could unleash three consecutive strikes of "Blade Path Sword: Flow."
The slashes flashed across the hundreds-of-meters-high "Yatade Wall" and vanished, as if nothing had happened. Everything fell silent.
Su Xiao sheathed his long blade, flexed his slightly sore right arm, and turned to walk toward a War Treant. He had only taken a few steps when a crisp cracking sound came from behind him.
Three enormous slashes suddenly appeared on the hundreds-of-meters-high "Yatade Wall," with large cracks spreading across the ice surface. The scene was spectacular—a single thought could touch the divine.
With a thunderous crash, ice shards flew everywhere. A section nearly a hundred meters wide collapsed on the "Yatade Wall," and sunlight streamed in through the breach.
Inside the iron cage, the one-eyed old wolf was momentarily stunned. The Northern Heavenly Barrier, the "Yatade Wall," had been shattered into a large gap right before its eyes.
"Roar!"
The Wolf Cavalry cheered and charged through the breach in the "Yatade Wall," rushing out toward the Northern Territory.
At both ends of the shattered ice wall, white freezing mist rose. The "Yatade Wall" had regenerative properties; judging by the freezing speed, the damaged area would be sealed again within six hours at most.
The reason Su Xiao hadn't done this when he arrived was simple: it would have thoroughly enraged the Ice Lord. Then, forget about allying with the Direwolf Clan—Iceborn troops would swarm in from all directions.
The Northern Territory wasn't worth wasting troops on. Although the mineral veins here were rich, it meant nothing to Su Xiao. What he needed now was food, especially dried meat—the Direwolves were also big eaters.
The current military rations would last about three days. Su Xiao needed to return to Blackmelt City for resupply, then deal with the Elven race in the south, who were wealthy enough.
Compared to the battlefield situation, the changes in the Battle Merit Rankings were even more turbulent. Grey Gentleman and Moon Apostle had used some unknown method to significantly increase their battle merits. Judging by the trend, if Su Xiao didn't do something soon, he might even be overtaken.
With 540,000 Wolf Cavalry under his command, Su Xiao wasn't worried about this. He was about to start frantically gathering battle merits—but that was secondary. More importantly, he needed to obtain more titles to upgrade War Lord to a seven-star title.
Just as Su Xiao broke out of the Northern Territory, at the breach of the "Yatade Wall," Iceborn troops rushed to the spot in large numbers. When they saw the scene before them, each one's face turned ashen.
Half an hour later, a total of 400,000 Iceborn had sealed off the area. A thousand miles away in Winterfrost City, an elite force of 100,000 set out, personally led by the Ice Lord. Previously, when Su Xiao had breached the "Ice Hoof Fortress," the Ice Lord hadn't reacted this way. This showed how much Su Xiao's several slashes shattering the "Yatade Wall" had provoked him.
These matters were temporarily unrelated to Su Xiao. At this moment, relying on the speed of the Wolf Cavalry, he had already crossed from the northern war zone and was charging straight toward the Chaos Legion's territory.
When he came, 1.2 million enemy troops had escorted him from behind. On the return trip, Su Xiao encountered these same 1.2 million troops again. This wasn't a coincidence—this allied force was trying to intercept him.
Previously, this allied force couldn't even catch up to Su Xiao's troops. Now, with the Wolf Cavalry, they were even more far out of reach, only able to eat dust from behind.
Two-legged creatures indeed couldn't outrun four-legged ones, especially since the Wolf Cavalry themselves had speed-boosting abilities, plus the march speed bonus from War Lord. Their speed was unimaginable.
A full 540,000 Wolf Cavalry and 160,000 Direwolves led 1.2 million enemy troops on a wild goose chase across the battlefield. After chasing for a while, these 1.2 million allied troops dared not pursue any further.
This was a wise decision. Just moments ago, Su Xiao had planned to have the Wolf Cavalry gallop across the war zone for a few hours, not too fast, just enough to keep the enemy from catching up. When the enemy's stamina was depleted to a certain point, the Wolf Cavalry would reverse formation and launch a counter-charge.
Su Xiao sat up from the crown of the War Treant and looked down at the distant enemy forces. Since the enemy had stopped chasing, it was time to return to Blackmelt City. Wasting troops here wasn't worth it—there would be no supplies to take after the battle.
After a forced march, it took only three hours for Su Xiao to return to Blackmelt City from the central part of the war zone.
"Huh?"
High Lord Sheila, who was sunbathing on the city wall, saw the Wolf Cavalry army charging toward Blackmelt City. At first glance, she thought it was an enemy attack...
"Is this... even possible?"
High Lord Sheila's smile bloomed like a flower, her mind pondering something unknown.
The Wolf Cavalry army entered the city in a grand procession, with many civilians watching. They had never seen Direwolves from the Northern Territory before. The Grey Orcs riding the Direwolves looked much more imposing, even feeling a sense of returning in glory.
Su Xiao walked into the Black Ring Fortress. He found the old Serpentman and inquired about the forging of the wolf armor. These wolf armors had been commissioned before he set out for the Northern Territory, handled by the Serpentman craftsmen.
The one-eyed old wolf didn't know that if it had refused to ally, what had just happened would have turned into a Direwolf capture operation.
If they wouldn't submit, kill them until they did—Su Xiao wouldn't give up otherwise. He had paid the price of 60,000 Orc soldiers dying to break into the Northern Territory; he had no other choice. He couldn't return empty-handed, as that would deal a massive blow to morale.
The so-called wolf armor was meant for the Direwolves. It protected their relatively vulnerable flanks and also served as a saddle armor, similar to a horse saddle.
When Orc soldiers rode on the Direwolves' backs, they needed to fight. With the saddle armor, they could avoid falling off the wolves' backs and also recover some combat effectiveness.
Indeed, riding on the Direwolves reduced the Orc soldiers' combat power to some extent, since they weren't originally cavalry and hadn't received corresponding training. With the saddle armor, the reduction in combat power wasn't fatal. After familiarizing themselves for a while, they would be completely fine, with their combat power fully restored.
The saddle armor was forged by the Serpentman craftsmen, who numbered over a million. The Serpentmen didn't go to the battlefield, but that didn't mean they had it easy.
At this point, nearly 200,000 sets of saddle armor had been forged. By this afternoon and through the night, the remaining 340,000 sets could be completed. In terms of quality, they should last about half a month. Since they were made in haste, better saddle armor would have to wait for later production.
Once the saddle armor was finished, it would be time to launch a counterattack against the Elven race. In the current situation, although there was no hope of certain victory, there was at least an opportunity.
Su Xiao chose to attack the Elven race first, not because their average Charm attribute was above 90 points, but because the Elven race was rich in resources.