# Chapter 7: Squad Leader
Less than 10 minutes had passed since the war began, but Su Xiao had already slain dozens of enemies. His Soul Devourer talent was nearly full.
As the war continued, the number of orcs around Su Xiao grew, while human soldiers rapidly decreased. He had no idea how the battle was going; his only thought was to survive the war.
With Su Xiao's stamina attribute, as long as he didn't encounter a troublesome strong enemy, he could kill enemies on the battlefield all day without issue. Fighting a strong opponent was different from killing enemies on the battlefield. When facing a powerful foe, he needed to burst out all his combat power in a short time. That kind of stamina consumption couldn't be compared to simply chopping down orcs on the battlefield.
Blade aura spread in all directions. Any orc that came within a few meters of Su Xiao would die. As for enemies farther away, he ignored them. He had once summoned the mirror image of a strong person in the trial ground, and that person had taught him how to survive on the battlefield: don't provoke distant enemies, the primary goal is to kill all nearby enemies, and in critical moments, you can even play dead.
Whoosh~
A sharp sound of breaking air came from above. The orcs around Su Xiao all stopped what they were doing and looked up.
"Bagaga kakou, yimala" (Orc language: Elven arrow rain, run fast).
The nearby orcs were so frightened they even blurted out their hometown dialect, showing just how dense the incoming arrow rain was.
Su Xiao looked at the rapidly falling arrow rain. He couldn't even see the shape of individual arrows, only a pitch-black mass of arrowheads descending like a dark cloud covering the sky.
A 50-point strength energy shield formed above Su Xiao's head.
Ding ding ding...
The arrow rain landed, and the energy shield's durability dropped rapidly.
When the arrow rain stopped, Su Xiao dismissed the energy shield. Around him were orcs, dwarves, and even human soldiers, all shot full of arrows like porcupines.
Whoosh~
Another sound of breaking air came. A black sphere about a meter in diameter flew from behind the tribal lines, arcing through the air and landing several hundred meters from Su Xiao.
Boom!
The explosion was deafening. Large pieces of metal fragments flew everywhere. Those soldiers who had luckily survived the arrow rain were riddled with holes.
Su Xiao swung Dragon-Slaying Flash, deflecting the metal fragments that flew toward him. He looked around. Within a 300-meter radius, there were no other living creatures besides him. The crowd had been cleared out by the arrow rain plus goblin cannonballs.
Although a small area had been cleared, this was a battlefield with hundreds of thousands of creatures. In less than a minute, Su Xiao was once again surrounded by orcs, human soldiers, or elves.
Piles of flames ignited across the battlefield. Black smoke made the battlefield look like hell itself. The burning bodies gave off a nauseating burnt smell.
Su Xiao snapped an orc's neck, then slashed another orc dead. His Soul Devourer talent had now absorbed a full 200 mana points, increasing the health and mana recovery effects from killing enemies by 50%.
In the chaotic battlefield, Su Xiao didn't even have a moment to catch his breath. Fortunately, Dragon-Slaying Flash was sharp enough that cutting through enemies' bodies was as easy as tearing paper, which greatly reduced his stamina consumption.
At some point, there were no more human soldiers or elves around Su Xiao. Everywhere he looked, there were only orcs or dwarves.
Dragon-Slaying Flash left pale golden slashing marks in the air as orc after orc, dwarf after dwarf, was slain. In just a few minutes, the ground around Su Xiao was covered with corpses.
The battlefield could drive people mad. Those orcs and dwarves paid no attention to the murderous Su Xiao. They charged forward wave after wave.
Su Xiao was not afraid at all. With the recovery effect from Soul Devourer after killing enemies, his mana was sustained.
Counter shields appeared around Su Xiao. As soon as they formed, their shape began to change. The original hexagonal counter shields transformed into dozens of handleless energy blades.
Su Xiao grabbed these dozens of energy blades in his hands, wrapped Realm Severing Thread around them, and simultaneously severed his connection to them. This way, these energy blades could leave the one-meter range around Su Xiao, but they would only last for one minute.
Su Xiao threw the energy blades in his hands. Wrapped in Realm Severing Thread, they formed a fan-shaped blade net. Wherever they passed, orcs were cut in half at the waist.
After the fan-shaped blade net flew more than ten meters, Su Xiao pulled the Realm Severing Thread. The fan-shaped blade net contracted and returned to his hands.
Dozens of weapons came slashing or stabbing at Su Xiao from his left, right, and behind. He released the energy blades in his hands and simultaneously removed the Realm Severing Thread from them.
The energy blades floated in midair, arranged neatly around Su Xiao, then began spinning at high speed, like a circular cutting saw blade.
Pfft, pfft, pfft...
Limbs flew, blood gushed. As the energy blades spread outward, the enemies around him were all slain.
In just those short ten-plus seconds, Su Xiao had killed at least a hundred enemies. Even so, the enemies around him were still endless.
Su Xiao sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash and silently waited for the surrounding enemies to approach. When a new wave of enemies charged at him, Dragon-Slaying Flash was drawn.
Zheng!
A pale blue circular blade aura rapidly expanded outward. This was Ring Break. The newly gathered enemies were instantly cleared, and only then did Su Xiao have time to catch his breath.
At the rear of the Imperial army, Legion Commander Carlos stood at a high point, observing the entire battlefield.
"Who is that?"
Carlos pointed at Su Xiao, who was a kilometer away. Around Su Xiao were mountains of enemy corpses.
"Report, Commander, I don't know. He might be a new recruit."
"A new recruit?"
Carlos was quite surprised.
"So fierce. If he can survive until dawn, promote him to squad leader."
"Yes."
The adjutant silently memorized Su Xiao's appearance.
"It seems the tribe has learned their lesson. They're not using the giant ogres as vanguard. Send orders to the elves: continue the arrow rain. Have the soldiers on the left and right flanks move forward to encircle..."
Carlos began arranging the battle formation. The war was only just beginning.
Swing the blade, kill enemies. Su Xiao had already forgotten how many enemies he had slain. A conservative estimate was several hundred.
An hour after the war started, Su Xiao finally saw human soldiers nearby. This meant his side had some advantage.
Blade aura shot out. An orc's head fell. The headless corpse stopped its swinging motion. The human soldier who had been paralyzed sitting on the ground in front of the corpse breathed a sigh of relief.
This soldier was about ten years old, his face still somewhat immature. He looked toward Su Xiao's direction and was stunned by the large area of corpses.
The young soldier tapped the hilt of his sword against his chest, nodding to Su Xiao in acknowledgment, indicating that he owed Su Xiao his life.
At that moment, two curved blades and a war hammer came at the young soldier. The sound of flesh being cut and bones being crushed merged together. Three seconds later, the young soldier had become a pile of mangled flesh.
This scene fell into Su Xiao's eyes. He had no emotional fluctuation. He had witnessed this situation more than once.
The battlefield was a meat grinder, mixing both sides together and churning them around. In the end, whoever survived was the victor.
Su Xiao had once thought this was an exaggerated description. Now it seemed that this description was far from the cruelty of the battlefield.
If one word could describe this place, it would be a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Although Su Xiao had already killed several hundred enemies, he was not affected by killing intent. On the contrary, the more he killed, the more steadfast his conviction became. This was a firm will gradually tempered through iron and blood.