Chapter 7: Take This Axe from Your Grandfather!
Chapter 7: Take This Axe from Your Grandfather!
Shampoo City.
Shrill battle cries shook the heavens.
Both attackers and defenders were engaged in a desperate struggle; the battle had reached its climax.
Unfamiliar enemies clad in black light armor climbed the city walls endlessly like a tide via the siege ladders. The three massive siege ladders, like monstrous war beasts, had their ferocious hooks firmly lodged on the parapets of the city walls, making it impossible for Shampoo City’s soldiers to push them down immediately. Beside them, twenty to thirty formidable black-armored soldiers fiercely guarded the ladders with their swords.
As time passed, more and more black-clad figures appeared on the city walls.
The situation grew increasingly dire for Shampoo City; the enemy outnumbered them by dozens of times.
“Pierce? Pierce… where the hell are you, you son of a bitch?” In the center of the watchtower, a burly black-haired man over two meters tall, clad in chainmail, cut down an enemy before him and roared, “Pierce, take some strong soldiers and push those damned siege ladders down for me… now! Hurry up!”
“Got it, watch me, boss!”
Not far away, Pierce, with his white hair and covered in blood, heard the command. He waved a hand and charged toward the black-armored soldiers guarding the siege ladders with his equally blood-soaked companions, shouting furiously, “Kill! Brothers, slaughter these black bastards and smash those three ladders!”
White-haired Pierce was famed in Shampoo City for his immense strength.
His veins bulging, he swung two massive steel hammers, each the size of a basketball, with the ferocity of a legendary enraged troll, leading the charge with unmatched dominance.
Pierce was unstoppable along the way. His hammers swatted aside the black-armored soldiers blocking their path as if they were flies, carving a bloody path forward and advancing swiftly with his dozens of equally fierce soldiers behind him.
The black-armored soldiers guarding the siege ladders clearly noticed the disturbance.
“Attention, ahead… form a semi-arc sword formation!” bellowed their tall leader.
With a series of swift swooshes, gleaming blades in hand, over thirty soldiers arranged themselves in a semi-circular formation on the wall, tightly shielding the three siege ladders behind them. Their snow-white sword tips, dripping with blood, pointed outward like steel porcupines bristling with spikes, poised and menacing.
These black-armored soldiers were evidently far better trained than Shampoo City’s militia.
Ten meters…
Six meters…
Three meters…
One meter…
The distance between the two sides closed rapidly.
Finally—
“Roar! Go to hell—!!!” Pierce let out a deafening roar. He swung his left hammer in a full arc and hurled it like a javelin.
The blood-stained black hammer, with its handle, traced a deadly arc through the air. With thunderous force, it crashed into the sword formation of the black-armored soldiers.
Boom!
Instantly, blood sprayed, broken blades and severed limbs flew everywhere…
The black-armored soldiers hadn’t anticipated this. Pierce’s hammer, like a meteoric strike of destructive might, tore a bloody gap in their formation.
Pierce and his comrades charged into the formation with furious shouts.
Destroying these three siege ladders would block the enemy from climbing the walls. If they could eliminate the black-clad foes already on the walls, they could hold their ground, and Shampoo City would be safe for a while… Otherwise, if the city fell, their parents, wives, and children would suffer the most brutal humiliations, enslaved forever.
Just the thought of it set the defending soldiers’ blood ablaze!
They couldn’t let these black bastards break through.
Even if they died in battle, they wouldn’t retreat a step!
“Kill!”
“Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!”
The soldiers, eyes red with rage, followed Pierce, roaring as they charged the black-armored soldiers.
Once inside, Pierce took the lead. Using the momentum of his charge, he swung his right hammer in a wide sweep, knocking several black-armored soldiers back, blood spurting from their mouths…
The clang of metal against metal reverberated, shaking every soul present.
Blood splattered, limbs flew—it was a scene straight out of hell, as if the world were ending!
Crash!
With one hammer blow, Pierce shattered an opponent along with his sword. He looked up and spotted the siege ladder hooked onto the wall. With a fierce roar, he delivered another thunderous swing, forcing back the approaching enemies. Seizing the moment, he dashed forward and hammered relentlessly at the ladder. Dang, dang, dang—several strikes later, the steel hooks of one siege ladder were completely smashed.
“Get the hell down!”
Pierce kicked hard at the wooden frame protruding from the parapet. Panicked screams erupted from outside the walls as the ladder toppled outward. The black-clad soldiers clinging to it plummeted like dumplings into a pot, their bodies smashing into bloody pulp on the ground…
“Well done!” The two-meter-tall black-haired giant’s eyes lit up from afar.
“Pierce, you did fucking great! Two more to go—take them all out, and I’ll treat you to Shampoo City’s finest ale tonight! And the best whores in town!” As he spoke, his two-handed broadsword flashed repeatedly, clashing a dozen times with the sword of a lean black-armored soldier beside him. This slender opponent was strong, matching the squadron leader blow for blow.
“Haha, Leader Brook, you’re buying for sure! Watch me!”
White-haired Pierce laughed wildly in response. His hammer moved fast as lightning and struck with the force of thunder. After a few more heavy blows that sent nearby black-armored soldiers flying, blood splattering, he struck three times—dang, dang, dang—and the steel hooks of the second siege ladder were destroyed.
Just as Pierce prepared to kick this ladder down as well…
Suddenly—
“White-haired brat, seeking death!”
A black shadow leaped up from outside the wall, brandishing a gleaming knight’s rapier that burst into dazzling, cold gleams, thrusting straight for his head.
Caught off guard, Pierce barely had time to raise his hammer in defense.
Ding, ding, ding—a flurry of clashes sparked flying sparks.
The shadow’s strikes all landed precisely on the center of Pierce’s hammer.
An overwhelming force surged through.
Despite Pierce’s innate divine power, he couldn’t withstand it. He staggered back several steps, the impact splitting his palms and drawing blood, nearly making him lose his grip on the hammer…
“An expert!”
Pierce’s heart raced with alarm.
He saw the shadow evade him and not press the attack. Instead, its sword flashed with pinpoint accuracy, and in an instant, agonized cries erupted. Over a dozen soldiers who had charged with Pierce fell like harvested wheat. A closer look revealed they were all pierced through the skull, brains and blood spilling out, dead in an instant!
“Band, Gud, Ptolemy… my brothers—!”
Witnessing the horrific sight, Pierce felt darkness cloud his vision, his heart wrenching as if torn apart.
His cry of “my brothers” was filled with anguish. These were comrades who had shared drinks and talked of women just the day before, who had shed blood to fend off enemies for him moments ago, who had trusted him with their backs—now they lay dead before his eyes. Pierce felt as if the sky had collapsed…
“Demon, go to hell!”
Pierce roared, ignoring his wounds gushing blood. He fixed his gaze on the shadow, abandoning all defense, letting the surrounding black-armored soldiers’ blades cut into his flesh. He charged recklessly toward the demonic figure, swinging his hammer with unyielding resolve.
“Heh, overestimating yourself, seeking death!” The shadow chuckled darkly, its voice like a night owl’s, utterly unconcerned. Its sword gleamed again, aiming straight for Pierce’s face.
The thrust was swift and unstoppable.
Pierce twisted slightly, seemingly too slow to dodge. The shadow’s rapier easily pierced his right shoulder. With a disdainful snort, the shadow tried to withdraw the sword for a finishing blow to end the white-haired warrior’s life…
But—
To its shock, the sword wouldn’t budge!
Blood gushed uncontrollably from Pierce’s mouth.
Yet the white-haired warrior grinned through the pain.
He laughed extremely happily.
The black shadow was stunned, suddenly feeling that things seemed a bit bad.
But he had no time to react.
White-haired Pierce had already tightly grabbed the thin knight’s sword that was stabbed into his body. As if he did not feel pain, he allowed the long sword to pierce through his body, and then fiercely grinned and charged toward the black shadow. Caught off guard, the black shadow staggered backward…
In the blink of an eye, the two had retreated to the edge of the city wall.
Any further back, and they would fall off the city wall over sixty meters high. Even though the black shadow was very powerful, falling from such a height would certainly mean death.
“You’re seeking death—!”
The black shadow roared in fury, but had to let go of his sword.
Being forced by a lowly soldier far weaker than himself to the point where he had to abandon his beloved weapon made him, a One-Star Warrior, feel greatly humiliated.
After releasing the sword hilt, a red glow flickered around the black shadow.
Waves of scorching heat followed the black shadow’s palms as he fiercely struck Pierce on the back. He wished he could chop the white-haired brawny man in front of him into minced meat…
“Pfft… Ha ha ha ha ha… Pah! Bastard, I win!”
Pierce was struck until he spat blood, but he laughed triumphantly.
He suddenly broke away from the black shadow, rushed toward the parapet, and slammed his shoulder hard into the exposed wooden frame of the second Siege Ladder. The Siege Ladder, which had already lost its iron hooks earlier by his smashing, clattered as it flipped outward. Black-Armored Soldiers who had not yet climbed up screamed and fell down like dumplings…
“Damn it! Lowly serf, I swear I will massacre the entire city!”
The black shadow jumped in rage. Only then did he realize that this white-haired brawny man had never intended to push him off the city wall from the start—he only wanted to overturn the Siege Ladder… He had been tricked!
Enraged, the black shadow snatched a Two-Handed Broadsword from someone nearby. Screaming angrily like an owl, he swung it hard toward Pierce, who had collapsed on the parapet unconscious.
“Damn it… Watch out!”
The black-haired Squadron Leader shouted anxiously from a distance, but he was held back by his opponent and couldn’t break free.
By now, this siege battle had been going on for almost an entire day. The defending side in Shampoo City had several skilled fighters, and their strengths had been clearly observed by the enemy commander, who assigned specific opponents to keep them occupied. Even Frank Lampard, the captain of the Royal Guard with the formidable strength of a Three-Star Warrior, was held back by another black-clad expert in the distance.
At this moment, no one could free themselves to save the white-haired warrior Pierce.
The black shadow’s sword glowed with red light, now only two or three centimeters away from the back of Pierce’s neck…
Just as this iron-willed, bloodied warrior was about to be slain, a sudden change occurred—
“Wah yah yah yah, you black thief, take a look at your grandpa’s Heaven and Earth Thunder Super Invincible Big Hidden Weapon!”
A majestic voice came from afar. Before the furious black shadow could understand what his opponent said, he felt a strong gust of wind strike toward the back of his head. The force was immense and fierce, like a towering mountain crashing down upon him.
Startled, he could no longer focus on killing Pierce. He swung his long sword backward.
Squelch—!
The ‘hidden weapon’ was cleanly cut in two, and a shower of red liquid splashed down over his head.
The black shadow was shocked: “Damn it, what kind of strange and vicious hidden weapon is this?”
Terrified, he swung his sword in a tight defense, preventing the liquid from touching him, and hastily jumped aside. When he took a closer look, he was so angry that smoke seemed to blow from his ears and fire from his mouth.
It turned out to be one of his own Black-Armored Soldiers, who had been grabbed alive by someone and thrown through the air. With one stroke of his sword, he had cut his own man in two. Amid the screams, blood sprayed like rain.
“Wah ha ha ha, scared now, aren’t you? Black devil, take another axe from your grandpa!”
From ahead came a gloating and triumphant weird laugh, followed by a rumbling clamor and constant clanging metal sounds, as if a metal monster was charging over.
The black shadow looked up.
He saw someone wearing a fully enclosed set of heavy knight armor, which protected every part of his body including his eyes and mouth. Armed like a metal man, his armor reflected white light under the setting sun, making him exceptionally imposing.
That guy ran extremely fast, recklessly charging around like a ‘metal monster’. Wherever he passed, his own Black-Armored Soldiers were sent flying everywhere like chaff in a hurricane, screaming incessantly.
The ‘metal monster’ held a dark, unsharpened Great Axe, chuckling smugly and lewdly, clearly targeting the black shadow himself.
“Foolish guy, you’re looking for death!”
Seeing this, the black shadow was stunned for a moment, then grinned sinisterly.
Heavy knight armor was a powerful tool for cavalry charges on plains, but who would wear fifty or sixty pounds of knight armor in a city defense battle? Moreover, this guy made a rumbling noise when he ran, and his steps were unsteady—clearly, he had no warrior foundation at all. He was obviously just a fool with astonishing brute strength. Dealing with this big dumb bear, the black shadow was very confident. Even though he wore protective metal armor, the black shadow needed only one sword strike to end this idiot’s life.
“Go laugh with the God of Death! You fool!”
The black shadow channeled all his Battle Qi. A faint red flame flickered around him, and the Two-Handed Broadsword he had picked up trembled slightly as he thrust it toward the charging ‘big dumb bear’.