Chapter 410 Capture Alive?

Chapter 410: Capture Alive?

Under the pincer attack from both sides, Hutuke and his group's escape route was rapidly compressed.

Wuliji's left-flank encirclement was swift as a wolf, clamping hard onto the flank of Hutuke's main force, forcing their escape route to continuously veer away from the road leading back to the main camp, leaving them no choice but to retreat deeper into the cramped, chaotic camp.

However, just as Wuliji was about to complete the encirclement, urgent hoofbeats and battle cries suddenly came from the flank.

It turned out to be a contingent of about two hundred royal guards cavalry, who had gotten wind of it and were desperately charging in.

"Chief! Reinforcements on the flank!" A clansman shouted urgently.

Wuliji's eyes narrowed as he quickly sized up the situation. If he let these reinforcements break through, not only would the encirclement plan collapse, but they'd be caught between two fires.

This was do-or-die—he couldn't let Hutuke slip away!

"Erdene!" Wuliji decided without hesitation, his voice like grinding iron. "Take your men and reinforce the right flank now! Everyone else, with me to hold off the flank reinforcements!"

"Yes!" Erdene, his eyes bloodshot, rasped, vengeance blazing in his eyes.

Without a moment's hesitation, he wheeled his horse around, his dozens of fierce warriors following, and charged toward Cheng Ge's right flank.

Wuliji, meanwhile, led the main force to meet the suddenly appearing royal cavalry.

The two forces slammed together—steel flashing, blood spraying—dissolving into a chaotic brawl.

Meanwhile, on the right flank, Cheng Ge was in the lead, hammer in hand, charging straight at Hutuke.

His eyes stayed locked on Hutuke's fleeing back, the man's personal guards shielding him desperately.

"After him! Don't let him duck between the tents!" Cheng Ge barked, digging his heels hard into his horse's flanks.

Snowstep, a horse with a mind of its own, galloped with hooves flying, plowing a relentless path through toppled tents, scattered supplies, and corpses.

Hutuke glanced back and saw the white horse closing in, the rider on it like a grim reaper come for his soul. His face drained of color.

Gone was any pretense of Great Khan dignity. He whipped his mount furiously while screaming orders at his guards: "Stop him! Hold him off for me!!!"

In an instant, several royal warriors howled, wheeled their horses, and charged back at Cheng Ge, sabers and spears raised!

A cold glint flashed in Cheng Ge's eyes. Instead of slowing, he spurred his horse to full speed!

Just as they were about to crash head-on, he wrenched the reins!

Snowstep reared up, front hooves pawing the air, barely dodging the spears thrust at him!

In that instant of the rear, Cheng Ge leaned hard left in the saddle, nearly parallel to the ground!

Using the horse's momentum and his own swing, he swept the hammer low into the legs of the horse on the far right!

A sickening crunch of bone! The warhorse screamed, its front leg snapping as it pitched forward!

The rider screamed as he was thrown. Before he landed, Cheng Ge's backhand hammer blow caught him in the chest, blood spraying from his mouth—dead on the spot.

Cheng Ge didn't pause for a heartbeat.

The instant Snowstep's hooves hit the ground, Cheng Ge yanked the reins right. The horse spun on a dime, and the hammer, carried by the turn, swept in a devastating arc!

"Clang! Thud!" A rider on the left threw up his saber to block, but the sheer force split his hand open, sending the blade flying!

The hammer slowed only slightly, still slamming into his ribs and caving them in. The man screamed and toppled from his saddle.

Another man, seeing two comrades die in a flash, was terrified but had nowhere to run. He roared and thrust his spear at Cheng Ge's heart!

The thrust was fast and vicious—a desperate all-or-nothing gamble!

Cheng Ge had just finished his sweep, his strength spent and new power not yet gathered. In that split second, the spear tip was already at his chest!

In a flash, he didn't dodge. His left hand let go of the reins, fingers hooking like talons, and snatched the spear shaft mid-thrust!

He felt the cold bite of metal as the spear tip tore through his tunic, stinging his skin!

"Hah—!" Cheng Ge grunted, veins bulging on his forehead as he shoved the spear aside and up.

At the same time, he slid the hammer down the shaft and smashed it into the knight's exposed wrist.

"Ahhh—!" A miserable scream! The knight's wrist and forearm bent at a sick angle, the spear falling from his grip.

Cheng Ge followed through, driving the hammer's head into the man's chest and blasting him off his horse.

In just a few breaths, all the intercepting warriors lay badly wounded!

Cheng Ge had picked up a few new wounds, his tunic torn and blood seeping through to stain his chest.

Using that brief delay, Hutuke had gained some ground, now ducking into a maze of abandoned camp structures!

"After him!" Cheng Ge wiped blood from his face and spurred his horse after him without hesitation!

Behind him, Erdene's reinforcements finally caught up, merging with Cheng Ge's remaining men.

Hutuke, hearing the hoofbeats and war cries closing in like a relentless curse, was scared out of his mind.

But just as Cheng Ge and the others were about to finish off Hutuke's remnants—

A low rumble, like thunder underground, swelled into the sharp clatter of hundreds of iron hooves on frozen earth.

Everyone turned instinctively, eyes going wide.

About a hundred royal troops had emerged from some abandoned tent or tunnel, striking like vipers into Cheng Ge's flank and rear!

In that instant, the tables turned completely!

The encirclement Cheng Ge and Erdene had held was ripped open from behind by this fresh force, leaving them caught between two fronts!

"Hold the back line!" Erdene's eyes nearly bulged from his head as he cut down Hutuke's guards in front while sending men to meet the attackers behind.

But they were outnumbered, and their line began to buckle.

The despair on Hutuke's face exploded into savage glee and venomous hatred:

"The heavens haven't forsaken me! Kill them all! Take that Central Plains bastard alive! I'll have him chopped into a thousand pieces!!"

The remaining royal guards, as if injected with adrenaline, launched a frenzied counterattack.

Cheng Ge's pressure mounted. Warriors fell around him, his space shrinking, pushing him toward a cluster of half-collapsed felt tents.

The hammer's dull whoosh through the air cut off abruptly! A heavy curved saber, swung with a desperate man's full force, slammed into the long haft of Cheng Ge's hammer.

Metal clanged harshly. Cheng Ge's arm, numb from the long fight, gave out.

The iron hammer flew out of his hand, clattering onto the frozen ground a few meters away, splashing up bits of mud and snow.

Cheng Ge's right hand was instantly empty, and his body swayed slightly from the sudden loss of balance.

"Hahahahaha—!" Hutuke's piercing laughter burst forth, filled with the madness of survival and twisted glee.

"Seize him, in the name of your Khan! Take him alive, I say! I want him alive, so Wuliji can watch his skin being peeled off inch by inch!"

The royal guards' morale soared, and like hyenas that caught the scent of blood, they closed in even more ferociously.

Several spears sealed off Cheng Ge's left, right, and front, while the pursuers behind blocked his retreat.

He backed against a half-collapsed, tattered felt tent, now cornered with no way out.

Erdene, fighting for his life a dozen paces away, tried to rescue him but was swarmed by more enemies.

Cheng Ge's chest heaved violently, the blood seeping from his wound having stained the front of his robe with a large crimson patch.

He glanced at the iron hammer lying not far on the ground, then scanned the enemies closing in from all sides.

Finally, his gaze settled on Hutuke's face, twisted with excitement and venom.

Capture him alive? A cold, dark look flickered in Cheng Ge's eyes—killing him would only ease his anger for a moment.

But if he took him alive, Wuliji's situation would surely be constrained, and all their plans would fall apart in one stroke.

He absolutely could not become a burden to Wuliji! This thought stung worse than his wounds.

"Come." Cheng Ge suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse from the battle, yet eerily calm.

He slowly raised his only free, blood-stained left hand and beckoned with a crooked finger at the burly royal guard in front holding a spear.

His eyes were as still as a deep winter pool, yet something far more dangerous seemed to stir beneath the surface.

The guard, startled by the sudden provocation, snarled, "You're courting death!" and thrust his spear straight at Cheng Ge's shoulder blade, intending to wound him and take him alive.

The moment the spear tip was about to strike, Cheng Ge moved!

He didn't try to dodge fully; instead, he twisted his waist sharply, letting the spear tip graze his shoulder blade, drawing a line of blood, while his whole body, like a bowstring snapped loose, slammed into the guard!

Too fast! Too close! At that range, the spear was useless as scrap!

Though Cheng Ge's right hand was without a hammer, his fingers were already balled into a fist, knuckles white from the strain.

Using his forward momentum, he threw a short, no-frills uppercut, putting every last bit of his strength into it, slamming it viciously upward into the guard's exposed diaphragm!

"Ugh—!" A dull thud, followed by a pained grunt squeezed from the guard's throat.

His eyes bulged, and the punch lifted his massive frame clean off the ground, sending him staggering back.

Cheng Ge didn't pause, his left hand shot out like lightning, snatching the curved blade that had dropped from the guard's numb grip.

The blade felt cold and heavy in his hand—a stark contrast to his iron hammer.

The blade flashed! Instead of falling back, he slipped like a ghost through the gap between two guards.

And lunged straight for Hutuke, who was still grinning savagely in the middle of his guards!

Hutuke: "!!!"

"Great Khan, beware!" the guards shouted in alarm.

But Cheng Ge moved too fast, too resolutely! He ignored his own safety, using his shoulder to shove aside a guard blocking his path.

Then, like an iron vice, his arm locked around Hutuke's neck from behind, the blade's edge pressed firmly against Hutuke's temple!

"Nobody move!" Cheng Ge rasped, blood streaming from his wounds, staining his clothes, yet his hand holding the blade was steady as a rock, his eyes as cold as eternal ice.

Everyone froze instantly; the royal guards dared not advance, fearing for their Khan's life.

Erdene and his men also tightened their formation, shielding Cheng Ge, panting heavily as they faced off in tense standoff.

Hutuke, choked and struggling to breathe, his eyes bloodshot, felt the icy blade at his temple—shocked and furious, yet daring not to make the slightest move.

Cheng Ge, holding Hutuke hostage, backed away step by step into a relatively intact old felt tent behind him.