blenderwars Chapter 210 The Knight Commander's Army
Chapter 210 The Knight Commander's Army
The shield bearers in the front row held up their shattered iron shields, while the spearmen in the back row poked their rusty spear tips out from the gaps in their shields.
The swordsmen and axemen on the two flanks closed in, while the archers were surrounded in the middle.
Standard siege formation.
Lu Yan had seen it online.
This is called the fish scale formation. When it grinds forward, it works like a razor, smoothing out all your fancy skills.
The Minotaur Knight Commander didn't move.
It stood at the very back of the army formation, its battle axe planted firmly on the ground, like an iron tower.
But Lu Yan could feel something oozing out of that guy's body.
It's not energy. It's not murderous intent.
It's something at a deeper level.
Halo.
The aura of a commander.
Lu Yan was all too familiar with it. He himself was a Halo Master.
But he had never seen this usage before.
The Knight Commander's aura was like an invisible net, enveloping all five thousand souls. Beneath this net, each soul was no longer an independent individual.
They became a single, unified cell.
The damage taken by the front row is distributed across 5,000 nodes throughout the network.
Lu Yan tried it.
Black Lotus fired a short, spiritual spike, accurately striking the head of a shield-bearer in the front row. Normally, this thing could penetrate S-rank heavy armor.
The results of it?
The shieldbearer didn't even have a white mark on his head.
The damage was shared. One in five thousand.
Cut a cell from a mosquito's leg.
"Interesting." Lu Yan took three steps back.
It's not that I'm afraid. It's that I need time to think.
He tried using the Black Lotus to analyze the Commander's aura. This trick had worked well when dealing with the Black Evil Stone Demon.
But not this time.
The aura of the commander was enveloped by layers of the will of five thousand dead souls, like a mental reactor. The moment the Black Lotus's analysis touched the outer layer, it was bounced back by tens of thousands of will lines.
It's not that it's so strong. It's that it's been too well protected.
"The aura protects the soldiers, and the soldiers are blessed by the aura." Lu Yan clicked his tongue. "It's a closed loop."
The army is advancing.
With each step, the ground trembled. Five thousand pairs of feet, in unison. The sound was deafening.
Lu Yan's space is compressing.
He retreated, and the army pressed forward. He dodged to the left, and the swordsmen and axemen on both flanks immediately closed in.
The formation is changing. From fish scales to arrowheads, and then from arrowheads to crescent moons.
The Minotaur Knight Commander didn't give any orders at all.
It just stands there, its aura automatically rotating, and its formation automatically adapting.
This is a fucking automatic war machine.
Lu Yan was forced back another twenty meters.
Behind them was the edge of the Gobi Desert. Further retreat would take them to the boundary of the trial space.
An invisible wall.
There was no way to retreat.
"What's wrong, can't fight anymore?" The voice of the treasury servant drifted over from afar, his tone carrying an air of anticipation.
Lu Yan ignored him.
He was thinking about a problem.
A problem that has troubled him since he entered the trial.
He's an aura master. His profession, his abilities, everything about him is built on the foundation of "buffing teammates".
But now, he has no teammates by his side.
Zhao Leiguang is not here. Xiao Qianyu is not here. Wen Yue is not here.
Nobody's here.
What can an aura master do without teammates?
Applying debuffs to enemies? He'd tried; Black Lotus could do it. But against five thousand souls bound together by the military spirits, the debuffs were like a tickle.
Should I go up and fight them head-on?
He even had to break the rules to win against the evil Stone Demon, yet he went head-to-head against this army of five thousand.
court death.
"Aura Master." Lu Yan muttered these three words.
He suddenly felt a bit absurd. The Palace Master of Jade Void Palace had given him the profession of Black Lotus Zen Master, saying he was the rarest support character in China. But at the final trial, the test told him: You're a piece of trash. Without teammates, you're not even as good as an ordinary warrior.
The army was still pushing.
The shield bearers in the front row were less than thirty meters away from him. They could smell the stench of decay mixed with the metallic stench of rust emanating from the dead.
The page spoke again.
This time the voice was closer, as if it were standing right next to his ear.
"A halo is not a gift of power."
Lu Yan raised his head slightly.
"It's the cohesion of shared beliefs." The page looked at the army formation, then glanced at Lu Yan. "Why can your aura only be bestowed upon 'existing friends'?"
This statement has been made.
Something in Lu Yan's mind suddenly exploded with a "buzz".
belief.
It's not energy. It's not data. It's not those cold, hard numbers on the panel.
It is a belief.
Why could his war aura amplify the power of the Chinese gods a hundredfold? It wasn't because his energy was particularly strong.
It is because he has absolute faith in those gods.
Yang Jian's blade can cleave the heavens. Nezha's fire can burn the seas. Chi You's fist can tear angels apart.
He believes in these things. He believes them to the core. That's why the halo effect works.
But what does he believe in most?
Not a god.
are people.
Lu Yan actually projected the phantom of his first squad using his belief.
They are not here.
But the trust between them remains.
His trust in them also remains.
This thing doesn't need physical distance. It's etched into the soul.
Lu Yan refused to back down.
He stood before that unseen wall. Before him lay five thousand dead souls, clad in black iron armor, their bodies wreathed in eerie blue flames. Behind him lay a dead end.
He closed his eyes.
It's not giving up. It's searching.
In the deepest part of the soul, in that place transformed by golden light.
Lu Yan didn't touch it.
He touched something else.
First squad.
It's not a memory. It's not a recollection. It's the "bond" itself.
Those days of facing life and death together. Those moments of entrusting each other's backs. Those battles where we could cooperate tacitly without words.
These things, settled in the soul, became a kind of...concept.
Lu Yan caught it.
Then, he opened his mouth.
There was no incantation. No spell. He simply uttered two words very softly.
"gather."
The crystal black lotus lit up.
It wasn't the analytical light used against the Stone Demon, nor the devouring light used against the Crane Fairy.
It's a completely new, warm gold.
Golden light spread out from beneath Lu Yan's feet. It was neither offensive nor defensive. It simply expanded outwards.
It spread across the Gobi Desert, across the ranks of the undead, and to the very edge of the battlefield.
Then--
To his left, the air seemed to distort.
A figure emerged from the golden light.
He had a sturdy build, two shields slung over his shoulders, and a wide grin.
Zhao Leiguang.
"Captain! I'm going first!"
Without a word, the phantom of the dump truck raised its shield and activated Savage Charge, charging headlong into the front of the undead army.
On the right, another figure appeared.
He had a slender figure, his halberd held at an angle, and his face was expressionless.
Xiao Qianyu.
She didn't speak. She launched a flash attack, her figure flashing three times in the air, directly cutting into the archers on the flank of the army formation. With a single swing of her halberd, a whole swarm fell.
Immediately following, Wen Yue.
The World-Destroying Thunder Crossbow was positioned in mid-air, and scattering grenades rained down like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
Lin Chuxue. A crimson magic circle spread out, dyeing the entire battlefield sky red.
Su Yunqing. A gentle, milky light fell, and the bleeding from seven or eight wounds on Lu Yan's body stopped simultaneously.
Shen Xinglin. He held his lance horizontally in front of him, silently blocking Lu Yan's path.
Six illusory figures.
It is not a summoned creature. It is not a clone.
It was the dharma form of faith that Lu Yan condensed from his "absolute trust" in the first squad.
They have no independent consciousness.
But they have "concepts".
Zhao Leiguang's "Guardianship". Xiao Qianyu's "Thrust". Wen Yue's "Bombardment". Lin Chuxue's "Destruction". Su Yunqing's "Continuation". Shen Xinglin's "Sacrifice".
Six concepts and six positions instantly filled all the missing functions for Lu Yan.
A complete squad. A conceptual military spirit that does not require physical existence.
The Minotaur Knight Commander reacted.
Its aura of command pulsated violently, and the five thousand souls accelerated simultaneously. The army shifted from advancing to encircling, attempting to swallow the six phantoms and Lu Yan together with sheer numbers.
But Lu Yan's "military spirit" is also stirring.
Zhao Leiguang's illusory figure withstood the frontal assault. Five thousand dead souls couldn't move him alone.
Because his concept of "protection" was amplified infinitely by Lu Yan's belief. In this golden realm, Zhao Lei was simply a wall.
An insurmountable wall.
Xiao Qianyu tore an opening on the flank. Wen Yue unleashed a barrage of attacks from the rear. Lin Chuxue's area-of-effect (AOE) attacks reduced swathes of the dead to ashes. Su Yunqing's healing kept everyone's health at bay. Shen Xinglin blocked all the arrows hurtling towards Lu Yan.
Two military spirits collided.
On one side was a deathly gray. On the other side was a blazing gold.
The battlefield was divided in two.
The Minotaur Knight Commander's aura of leadership trembled. Cracks appeared in the network of wills of five thousand undead souls.
Some of the dead began to break away from the group, the will-o'-the-wisps went out, and the skeletons scattered.
But the knight commander didn't panic.
It did something that Lu Yan hadn't anticipated.
It regained its glory.
All the halos.
All of them were withdrawn from the five thousand souls of the dead.
The undead soldiers instantly lost their connection, turning into a pile of scattered bones and pieces of iron.
All the strength, all the will, all the military spirit, all converged on the Knight Commander alone.
Its body began to expand. Two meters became three meters, three meters became five meters.
The rust on the battle axe had all cracked, revealing the red-hot axe blade underneath.
It relinquished command.
They abandoned the military formation.
Five thousand "cells" were abandoned.
Concentrate all your strength on yourself.
A true war behemoth.
It bent down, dragging its battle axe behind it, and pawed the ground twice with its hooves.
Black flames erupted from its entire body, turning the Gobi Desert beneath its feet into glass.
Then, it rushed over.
The speed was completely disproportionate to its size. It was so fast that even Lu Yan's golden domain was cracked by the impact.
Shen Xinglin's illusory figure was the first to be hit, blocking with his spear.
With a "crack," the lance broke. The afterimage shattered, turning into golden specks of light that drifted away.
The knight commander did not stop.
It has only one goal.
Lu Yan.
Lu Yan stood there, watching the burning meteorite hurtle towards him.
He didn't hide.
"bring it on."
He opened his arms. The crystal black lotus spun above his head, all twelve petals unfolding.
The golden light was brighter than ever before.