Chapter 58: Battle for Power

Jinyang County, the first line of defense ten miles away.

Tens of thousands of heterodox humans and countless heterodox beasts were fiercely assaulting the defense line.

Hundreds of makeshift spike barricades had been utterly destroyed by the flood of beasts, leaving only wooden stakes scattered on the ground.

The five thousand-strong Exorcist Army had already suffered over half their casualties and began a gradual retreat.

On the battlefield, corpses of heterodox beasts, heterodox humans, and Exorcist soldiers were strewn everywhere.

The heterodox humans, infected and mutated by demonic energy, differed structurally from the beasts.

After mutation, their strength did not increase.

Instead, they lost consciousness and pain sensation, becoming nothing more than mindless corpses driven solely by killing intent.

As for the heterodox beasts, they were animals infected and mutated by demonic energy, gaining enhanced strength and retaining pain sensation, yet similarly driven only by the urge to kill.

“Hurry, withdraw with the wounded!”

As time passed, the number of heterodox humans and beasts pressing the front line grew to over tens of thousands.

This was far beyond what the few thousand Exorcist soldiers could hold off.

Rather than sacrificing themselves here pointlessly, it was better to fall back to the county town and fight a defensive battle.

That was much preferable to a battle of attrition.

“General, the wounded will slow our pace. If the monsters catch up, we risk the complete annihilation of our forces!”

The general had no retort.

They could call it a retreat for morale’s sake, but in truth, it was a desperate flight for their lives.

Carrying the wounded would indeed drag down their speed.

And behind them, a black tide of monsters was closing in fast.

At their speed, they would catch up within minutes.

“General, the rear guard of five hundred soldiers has already been wiped out. We can’t let them die in vain. Please order us to abandon the wounded and fall back to Jinyang County!”

The wounded.

Together with auxiliary troops, there were over a thousand injured who could not be moved back to the county in time.

The general felt torn but helpless.

“Report!!!” A mounted Exorcist cavalryman galloped up.

“General, the monsters are less than a mile from our main force.”

“What about those five hundred brothers?”

Upon the general’s inquiry, the men hung their heads in silence.

Since the monsters had caught up, the rear guard soldiers were surely all dead.

“Sigh~”

The general mourned deeply and waved his hand, signaling the army to withdraw.

“Have the cavalry take the lightly wounded with them. Take as many as you can carry.”

“Understood.”

About a hundred meters behind, there was a makeshift field hospital.

Nearly a thousand wounded had been gathered there, and a dozen doctors were overwhelmed, with no time to rest.

“Ah!!!”

The injured soldiers lay on white sheets, howling in agony.

With medicinal herbs exhausted, the doctors could only perform simple bandaging.

The rest was left to fate.

Suddenly, the ground trembled slightly.

A unit of five hundred Exorcist light cavalry had been ordered to retrieve the lightly wounded.

“Sir, what about the seriously wounded?”

The doctors were stunned upon hearing the cavalry commander’s words.

“This is the general’s order. The monsters are less than half a mile away. If we don’t leave now, we’ll all die here.”

“Retreat immediately!”

“Sigh.”

The doctors were not fools; they understood the gravity and hurriedly handed over the lightly wounded to the cavalry to begin the retreat.

The seriously wounded, watching the lightly wounded being moved away, realized the army was withdrawing—and that they were being abandoned.

Tears streamed down their faces.

Even the bravest men fear death.

The cavalry commander, seeing this scene, felt deeply pained, but what choice did he have?

“Soldiers, the monsters have caught up. We can’t transfer you in time. I’m sorry.”

Saying no more, he mounted his horse and left.

Around seven hundred seriously wounded quietly watched him leave.

They no longer cried or screamed.

Their eyes were filled only with despair.

Some wounded began to take their own lives.

Better to die by their own hand than be torn apart by the beasts.

“Brothers, in the next life, we will continue to exterminate evil and protect the people. See you in the next life.”

A sword flashed, blood spraying from a severed neck.

“Exterminate evil, protect the people!”

One by one, the seriously wounded shouted the slogan as they committed suicide.

Only the auxiliary troops remained.

These were local county soldiers from Jiuyang Prefecture, whose combat effectiveness and willpower were inferior to the Exorcist Army.

Aside from a few with grit who followed the wounded in suicide, most lacked the courage.

***

Five miles outside Jinyang County.

Tens of thousands of players were racing desperately toward the first line of defense.

Why were they in such a hurry?

Of course, for experience and fame.

Apart from the Tianxiang Sect, players from other factions had all triggered quests.

Unlike Tianxiang’s task, which did not require kills, these quests demanded killing monsters to gain a bit of fame.

And, of course, experience points.

“Hurry up, if you’re slow the wild monsters will be gone.”

“Damn, those Shushan bastards are even using teleportation skills to get here.”

“We don’t even know the monsters’ strength yet.

If they’re too strong, running faster just means dying faster.”

“I’d rather stick close to the Tianxiang girls. At least it feels safer.”

“Hey, you brat, keep away from my Tianxiang sister!”

The Tianxiang players weren’t in a rush, moving at a normal pace at the back of the crowd.

Their quest didn’t require killing monsters anyway.

As they followed along, Chen Xiaoyan noticed some players slowing down, stepping forward then glancing back as if waiting for someone.

“Pfft… Sister Xiaoyan, look at those guys longing like they’re starving, it’s hilarious.”

“When we’re on the move, don’t laugh or you’ll choke.”

“Got it.”

Hearing Chen Xiaoyan’s warning, Chongchong quickly shut up.

“Hello, Miss Tianxiang!”

Some players deliberately slowed down, edging closer to the Tianxiang players’ formation.

Chen Xiaoyan glanced over; they came from major factions and didn’t seem suspicious, so she ignored them.

“What are you doing coming here?”

“Yeah, why don’t your faction line up? Why run into our Tianxiang group?”

“Ahem, we’re here to protect the ladies, isn’t that right everyone?”

“Yeah, I’m Bodyguard Number N.”

“Bodyguard 10086.”

Bodyguards?

Chen Xiaoyan chuckled. It was okay to be scared—it was human.

She didn’t refuse the offer.

This situation was perfect—who wouldn’t want protection?

Besides, their healer only knew how to heal, not fight.

Without guards nearby, if monsters charged, it would be disastrous.

“Fine, as long as you protect us well, we’ll heal you first.”

“Agreed, I’m good with that.”

“Sounds good.”

“What do you think, Sister Xiaoyan?”

Chen Xiaoyan nodded with a smile.

“I agree too.”

“Don’t worry, ladies of Tianxiang, if any monster wants to attack you, they’ll have to step over our dead bodies first.”

“Exactly, anything that tries to harm our sisters has to go through me first.”

Looking at the sycophantic players, Chen Xiaoyan’s beautiful eyes narrowed slightly as an idea popped into her mind.

The tools are ready.

[Detected players encountering large-scale heterodox forces. System has automatically activated the Power Struggle Battle function.]

The system prompt flashed, and a blue light swept across heaven and earth.

Above the players’ heads, under their IDs, green health bars appeared.

Wasn’t health bars only shown in party mode or during PvP combat?

“What’s going on?”

Chen Xiaoyan was stunned.

Power Struggle Battle was part of this update.

She had thought it was a faction war feature, but could it be triggered by encountering wild monsters too?

No, that can’t be right.