Chapter 96: Shadow of Death

Cold Moon City, shrouded by the curtain of night, was exceptionally charming.

Unlike Sand City, which was located on the Great Gobi, greenery could be seen everywhere here. Outside the city walls was a winding moat, white and soft like a ribbon under the hazy moonlight. To the right of the castle, the vast Cold Moon Lake was like a bright moon embedded in the earth, with a cool breeze blowing gently.

The people of Sand City, who lived in the wind and sand, had a bit more roughness and fierceness in their character, while the residents living by Cold Moon Lake had a bit more gentleness and comfort in their nature. On the eaves of ordinary houses, exquisite patterns were carved, which were much more beautiful than the identical yellow earthen houses of Sand City.

“Brother Grant, I heard that small groups of troops from Sand City have been appearing frequently outside the city these past few days, looting the surrounding Settlements. Could it be that a large-scale war is about to break out?”

On the tall city wall, a middle-aged soldier wearing heavy armor asked his companion beside him, his face full of worry, the scar on his face clearly visible under the moonlight. As a veteran who had been through many battles, he had a very bad feeling in his heart.

“Impossible. The weather is getting colder and colder. Even if the people of Sand City are fierce, they wouldn’t make a move at this time!” The soldier named Grant shook his head, leaning groggily against the battlement, breathing into his hand, “The people of Sand City are savage and cruel. Every year at this time, they are so poor they can’t even afford food, so they just send out some small troops to steal some grain. In such cold weather, the cold moat is their biggest enemy; how could they attack the city?”

“That’s true, the weather is indeed getting colder!”

The middle-aged soldier nodded. He was just about to squat down to avoid the wind and rest for a while when, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a cold flash of light below the city wall. His heart skipped a beat. Just as he was about to pull out the horn at his waist to sound the alarm, suddenly, with a ‘whoosh’, a dense wave of arrow rain appeared, and he was instantly shot into a hedgehog.

“Enemy attack!”

Looking at Grant, his partner who had fallen to the ground dead without knowing what happened, the middle-aged soldier held on to his last breath to pull out the horn, shakily bringing it to his lips. Unfortunately, after trying hard for a long time, he had no strength left to blow the horn in his hand. His head tilted to the side, and he breathed his last breath.

The weather was getting colder, and even without Hu Feng’s request, this battle had to be won quickly. In order to break through the majestic Cold Moon City in one fell swoop, Weinberg concentrated his most elite archers and suddenly launched a surprise attack on the defenders above the city gate under the cover of night. After several waves of dense arrow rain, the unprepared defenders above the city gate almost all fell.

“Ram the door, quick!”

With the Commander’s order, the vanguard, who had been waiting for a long time, quickly built a pontoon bridge and pushed heavy battering rams straight towards the undefended city gate. Everyone was shirtless, gritting their teeth and using all their strength. By the time the defenders of Cold Moon City heard the news and rushed over, the heavy battering rams had already arrived below the city gate.

Boom…

With a dull sound that shook the sky, the entire castle trembled. The piercing alarm woke up every sleeping soldier. Under the Commander’s command, they hurriedly climbed up the tall city walls. Soon, a large number of soldiers gathered on the city walls, but before the defending generals could breathe a sigh of relief, their limbs suddenly turned cold.

Below the city walls, countless torches with flames reaching the sky were suddenly lit, illuminating the densely packed heads. The main force of Sand City had already silently killed their way to the outside of the city. With a horn sound that pierced the clouds, they roared and launched a fearless attack like tigers and wolves. They built pontoon bridges to cross the moat, raised high ladders, and rushed up, one hand holding the ladder, the other raising sharp broadswords. Griffins soared into the sky one after another, swarming like dark clouds pouncing over. Before they even got close, the Knights riding on the griffins shot out a dense wave of crossbow arrows.

The Griffin Legion!

In order to destroy the old enemy Cold Moon City, Weinberg came out in full force, sending out almost all the military strength of Sand City. The Griffin Legion, a full fifty thousand strong, was the main force in his hands, and also the trump card that allowed Sand City to stand tall in the Wasteland all these years.

The attacking and defending sides launched a large-scale massacre!

With Weinberg, the City Lord, personally supervising the battle, not a single soldier dared to retreat. They charged forward one after another with fierce attacks. After being caught off guard and losing a large number of soldiers, the defending side recovered their senses and activated one Magic Array after another that consumed an astonishing amount of energy to slaughter the warriors of Sand City. Slowly, rivers of blood flowed below the city walls, and corpses were everywhere. In less than half an hour, Sand City’s troops had lost almost half, and Cold Moon City was no exception.

Seeing the soldiers’ losses becoming more and more tragic, Weinberg, who always enforced orders strictly, could no longer stay calm, “Brother Blackwater, where are your archers and mage legions?”

“No rush, it’s not time yet!”

Hu Feng rode on the tall Tree Demon, his expression plain, looking down coldly at the entire bloody battlefield.

As the war reached a stalemate, the losses on both sides grew larger, and the number of corpses on the ground reached over a hundred thousand. Although their forces were huge, losing so many elites all at once was a heavy blow to both Sand City and Cold Moon City. But for Hu Feng, the soldiers who died in battle were not enough; it was not the time to strike.

“Kill, full attack, we must capture Cold Moon City!”

Looking at the warriors falling one by one, Weinberg’s face twitched. Helplessly, there was no turning back; having reached this step, he could only burn his bridges and send up the last batch of reserve troops. A hasty retreat would not only shake the morale of the army but also likely result in even greater losses under the pursuit of Cold Moon City. At that point, even if he luckily made it back to Sand City, his position as City Lord would probably be over.

Whoosh…

The takeoff of the last squad of Griffin Knights announced the courage and determination of Sand City to burn their bridges.

Cold Moon City was both shocked and angry, secretly cursing that the people of Sand City were all crazy, and their morale plummeted; but thinking of the consequences of the castle being captured, they had no choice but to fight, and a wave of even more fierce fighting broke out between the two sides. To hold the castle, all retired soldiers, and even untrained civilians, were conscripted and driven onto the city walls to block the fierce attack of the Griffin Knights.

“Brother Blackwater, where is your long-range attack legion?”

Weinberg’s face was pale. Every Griffin Knight required a huge amount of resources and time to cultivate with care; losing one was like cutting a piece of flesh from his heart. “Cold Moon City’s defense is very strong. If your legion doesn’t appear soon, let alone capturing this castle, whether we can make it back to Sand City alive might be a problem!”

“Brother Weinberg, you are too nervous!”

Hu Feng smiled faintly. Seeing that the time was about right, he suddenly spread his huge Dark Wings and floated into mid-air. A majestic Death Aura surged out, transforming into cold Dark Mist that shrouded the entire battlefield, surging towards the horizon. Through the thick Dark Mist, a massive Demon God Phantom was faintly visible, with no veins, no muscles, only gloomy, cold bones.

Death, suffocation, coldness…

The massive Demon God Phantom brought strong shock and boundless pressure to the people.

A bone-piercing gloomy wind blew past, and eerie Undead Warriors crawled out from the ground one by one, swaying as they joined the battlefield. There were Skeleton Guardians holding Bone Blades, Skeleton Archers carrying bone arrows on their backs, Corpse Witches surrounded by death energy, and even Dark Knights riding Ghost Warhorses. Their numbers were vast; under the shroud of the Dark Mist, ghostly figures were everywhere, crashing against the crumbling city gate like a tide, and killing coldly towards the soldiers on the city wall.

Great Spirit Gathering Technique!

After breaking through to the second stage of the Great Magician, the power of Hu Feng’s Great Spirit Gathering Technique became even stronger.

The more soldiers fell on the battlefield, the larger the number of Undead that could be summoned. The sudden joining of hundreds of thousands of Undead instantly crushed the psychological defense of the Cold Moon City defenders. Hu Feng, floating in mid-air with his wings spread, had a blurred face under the shroud of the Dark Mist, but like a cruel ancient Demon King, he left a terrifying shadow of death in people’s hearts!