Chapter 98: Commandery Administrator Sun's Special Contribution He Lingchuan felt a pang of disappointment. Damn! That shot was perfect, yet he still managed to block it. He had already slipped past the second barricade and loosed from behind a wagon, scarcely ten steps from Meng Shan—measured in Meng Shan’s own massive stride, of course. The next shot, he aimed for the man’s knee, the same spot Officer Xiao had struck earlier. Unfortunately, this time his aim was off; the bolt thudded harmlessly into the thick armor, not even denting a plate. He loosed another shot. Still, he failed to even scuff the finish on Meng Shan’s armor. However, Meng Shan was well and truly provoked now. More importantly, the big man seemed to remember his real job, which was breaking the line. Officer Xiao might be hard to kill, but smashing through the barricade was another matter entirely. So when Officer Xiao was driven back, Meng Shan pivoted and came barreling toward the second line of wagons. Mud and water splashed from underfoot, and He Lingchuan swore he felt the wagon he was crouched behind tremble from the impact of those strides. “Clear out!” the squad leader beside him barked. Men scattered like startled birds. A sharp crack rang out. A wagon tipped over, spilling its crates. With a resounding roar, Meng Shan heaved the entire wagon over his head and flung it into the river. In that instant, the green glow around him shone ever brighter. “Oh, hell no—” He Lingchuan turned tail and ran, but not without twisting around to loose his last bolt. The timing was pure spite. It was right as Meng Shan’s hands were full with the throw. Other Gale Army archers clearly had the same idea, leading to arrows and bolts pouring toward Meng Shan like rain. Meng Shan tucked his head. With his thick neck and bull-red face, the motion made him look like a turtle retreating into its shell. Most of the shots glanced off the heavy plates of his armor. However, two found their mark. One lodged itself in his neck, the other in his eye socket. Yet still, he did not go down. He bounded forward, shield smashing into the ground. Another swath of Gale Army soldiers went flying. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖 Stop jumping already, He Lingchuan thought uneasily. You’re not a frog! How the hell do you spring like that? A few more leaps like that and the trap would be wasted. Luckily, it did not seem to be something Meng Shan could use at will. He switched to a long, pounding stride, bracing for a body slam. And getting hit by him was never a good outcome—He Lingchuan himself was proof of that. But after only three steps, a sharp metallic snap rang out from the ground. Kacha! Pain lanced up Meng Shan’s leg, white-hot and deep, and suddenly he could not even keep his footing. He toppled forward with a crash, the earth shuddering under his bulk. “He’s caught! He’s caught!” The shout of triumph went up from all sides. He Lingchuan let out a long breath and muttered, “Thank Commandery Administrator Sun.” Looking down, Meng Shan saw his lower leg clamped fast in the jaws of an enormous iron trap. He could not fathom how such a thing had ended up on a battlefield. In truth, it was part of Commandery Administrator Sun’s “personal” stores. Each of such traps was over a meter across, and there were four of them. They had been built to catch bears and great black boars, beasts that could weigh over six hundred kilograms, with hides like armor and monstrous strength. And so, the trap’s bite had to be every bit as monstrous in return. The Gale Army had buried those traps exactly six meters behind the second barricade, covering them with a dusting of dirt and leaves, then marking them with little tufts of grass only their own men could recognize. In pitch-dark chaos like this, who would not step right into one? This was He Lingchuan’s dirty trick. No matter how strong Meng Shan was, he was still made of flesh and bone. The jaws snapped shut, and his leg broke instantly. With nearly a hundred kilograms of armor weighing him down, there was no getting back up. Now, he could only thrash in the mud, bellowing in agony loud enough to shake the rain. He Lingchuan finally felt that knot of frustration in his chest loosen. “Seal the gap!” the squad leader barked, ordering men to drag wagons back into place. A few stragglers tried to rush through in the meantime, but they were quickly cut down. It was evident that Meng Shan held high prestige in the Baling army. The moment he went down screaming, their morale sagged hard, and a large swath of their line crumpled with him. Now the Gale Army’s edge, already sharpened by their mandate token, bit deeper still. The difference in strength widened, and they began cutting their foes down almost effortlessly. Bit by bit, the line pushed forward, threatening to reclaim the first barricade. Once the gap was sealed, all the Baling army’s earlier gains would be gone. That was when an archer on the bank suddenly pointed and shouted, “Enemy reinforcements!” Even before the words faded, the attack horns were blaring from the enemy rear. Officer Xiao speared an opponent through the chest before calling up toward the edge of the bank, “How many?” “Eight hundred! No, at least a thousand!” So the enemy’s reinforcements arrive first. Officer Xiao’s face went grim as iron. He waved for the men at the rear to climb out from cover and clear the first barricade of enemies before anything else. The wagons there were nearly splintered, and they needed to be repositioned, but working under direct attack was a nightmare. He Lingchuan, still injured, stayed behind the second line and asked another wounded man, “Why not release the mind-bewitching worms to help?” That was what everyone called the Three Corpses Worms. “Huh? What did you say?” The man gave him a sidelong glance. “What the hell’s that? I’ve never heard of it.” ...So these Gale Army soldiers don’t even know of the worms’ existence? He Lingchuan could only chuckle awkwardly. “Nothing, nothing. I must’ve been mixing things up.” But inwardly, he thought, Could it be that Commander Zhong and the Red General keep the worms as a secret weapon, even from their own troops? Either way, it means we only have ourselves to rely on. The Gale Army had barely finished setting their defense when the enemy tide slammed into them. * * * About an hour later. The slope by the river was smeared with blood, not an inch of mud unstained. Of the three wagon lines, the first two were gone, and only the third was still holding. He Lingchuan and the others had fallen back to that last line. It was their final defense, the one they lived or died on. Here, both sides fought like rabid beasts. The archers on the bank had been wiped out, and now the ridge was the enemy’s high ground. Arrows rained down from above, harrying the Gale Army at every turn. This kind of isolation, cut off from aid, was exactly the sort of situation that quickly hollowed men out. One soldier’s lips were cracked, his face slack with exhaustion, muttering, “Where’s our reinforcements? Why aren’t they here yet?” The enemy’s reinforcements had come, so why had theirs yet to arrive? Officer Xiao was just as battered, a deep graze peeling back the flesh beside his eye, courtesy of a cold arrow from above. A finger’s width closer, and he would have lost the eye entirely. “They’ll come,” he said coldly. “Keep your grip on that blade. Ask again, and—” He never finished. From behind the wagon, a broken spear thrust out, punching into the soldier’s chest. The man never got to speak another word. Hu Min loosed an arrow over the wagon in reply, killing the attacker on the spot. He was too close to the barricade, so He Lingchuan grabbed him under the arms and hauled him back a few steps, settling him against a rock. Hu Min gave a small nod. “Thanks. I’ll remember you.” He Lingchuan smiled in return, but knew that was impossible.