Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 1136 Siege, Desperate Situation

Tuoba Shan, leading the rearguard, also retreated in.

The last wolf that caught up was stabbed in the throat, flung through the gap in the shield, crashed against the rock wall, and slid to the ground.

He sheathed his spear, turned around, and saw a dead end ahead.

He froze for a moment.

Then, he cursed.

The 100-man squad was forced to the edge of the canyon.

Three sides were smooth rock walls, and one side was surging monsters.

Those iron-clad rhinoceroses completely blocked the entrance.

Their bodies filled the entire passage.

The gray-maned wolves slipped in from between their legs, spread out, and surrounded the hundred-man squad from the front and sides.

The ironback lizard lay on the rock wall, its claws gripping the gaps in the battle patterns, looking down at them from above.

There are too many.

At a glance, there are at least a thousand.

And it's still increasing.

Amu counted the number of people.

There were 100 people when we set off, but now less than 70 are still standing.

The remaining people were either dragged away by monsters, trampled to pieces, or fell into the depths of the crevice, their bodies never to be found.

The remaining seventy people were mostly injured.

Some people had their arms bitten off, and even when they wrapped them with rags, blood was still seeping out.

Some had their breastplates torn off, and there was a deep claw mark under their ribs that exposed the bone.

Some people could no longer stand and sat against the rock wall, still gripping their knives tightly, but their eyes were beginning to glaze over.

Yan Qing leaned against the rock wall, panting heavily.

His bone knife was full of nicks and the blade was bent out of shape. His hand holding the knife was trembling incessantly, not from fear, but because his muscles had reached their limit.

He glanced at Yan Laoshuan beside him.

Yan Laoshuan had a claw mark on his left shoulder, the flesh was torn open, and blood had soaked half of his robe.

But the old man didn't say a word. He just pressed his right hand hard against the wound, gritted his teeth, and stared at the monsters in front of him.

"Uncle Yan, your injury—"

"Leave me alone," Yan Laoshuan's voice was hoarse like a broken gong. "Keep an eye on the knife in your hand."

Yan Qing gripped the knife tightly and said nothing more.

Tuoba Shan's short spear broke.

He picked up the spears from the scattered armor wreckage on the ground.

Although it's rusted beyond recognition, it's still better than empty-handed.

Amu's bowstring had broken, and he was groping in the dark to change it. His fingers were trembling, but his movements remained steady.

Everyone was prepared to die.

No one speaks.

But everyone knows it.

The monster did not immediately launch an attack.

They blocked the entrance to the canyon, but didn't rush in.

Those iron-skinned rhinoceroses blocked the front like a moving wall of flesh, their enormous bodies almost filling the entire passage, with even the gaps being completely filled by the dire wolves behind them.

The gray-maned wolf lay in front of them, baring its teeth and emitting low growls.

The ironback lizard clung to the rock wall, its head hanging upside down, the patterns on its bony plates gleaming dimly in the darkness.

What are they waiting for?

Nobody knows.

But that kind of waiting is more terrifying than rushing in directly.

Yan Qing leaned against the rock wall, gripping the already dulled bone knife, and looked into the eyes of the magical beasts.

Those eyes held none of the frenzy of ordinary wild beasts.

It is a calm, patient gaze, like a hunter looking at prey that has been cornered.

“They’re not in a hurry,” Yan Laoshuan said in a hoarse voice. “They know we can’t escape.”

Tuoba Shan stood at the front, holding a rusty spear in his hand. The spearhead was dull from rust, and he was sharpening it with a whetstone at his waist.

The sound of the millstone scraping against the rust was particularly jarring in the silent canyon.

"Shh. Shh. Shh."

The voice was very soft, but everyone could hear it clearly.

There was a strange calming power in that voice, like a blacksmith preparing his tools before a battle.

Amu changed the bowstring, tried pulling it a couple of times, and the bowstring emitted a deep hum.

Behind him, the other archers also put down their empty quivers and drew their short swords or daggers from their waists.

They had run out of arrows.

Zhang Yuan stood at the very back of the crowd, his back against the rock face carved with frost and snow-capped peaks.

He didn't speak, but just lowered his head and looked at the black token in his hand.

The token had no luster in the darkness, looking like an ordinary black stone.

But his fingers gently caressed the edge of the token, as if sensing something.

A rhinoceros with iron skin lowered its head, exhaled a puff of white breath from its nostrils, and pawed the ground twice with its front hooves.

"Boom—Boom—Boom—"

The sound of digging echoed through the canyon, as muffled as war drums.

All the magical beasts fell silent at the same moment, even their low whimpers disappeared.

In the canyon, only a suffocating silence remained.

Even the occasional sound of falling pebbles overhead could be clearly heard.

Then, the iron-skinned rhinoceros charged.

With its head bowed, its two enormous horns, like two battering rams, hurtled straight toward the defensive line.

The hoofbeats were thunderous, each step shaking the ground.

The horde of monsters behind it also began to move.

The wolves flanked them from both sides, while lizards leaped down from the rock face like a gray tide, cascading down on the seventy people.

Tuoba Shan stood on the front line.

He did not back down.

He slammed the newly sharpened spear to the ground and charged forward.

"Bam—"

The spear thrust out three inches from the rhinoceros's forehead, the rusty, blunt tip piercing through the thick skin and penetrating straight into its brain.

The iron-skinned rhinoceros let out a deafening howl, but the momentum of its charge did not stop, and its massive body continued to crush forward.

Tuoba Shan was knocked away.

He tumbled twice in mid-air before crashing heavily into the rock wall, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

With the broken spear still embedded in the rhinoceros's head, he was sent flying, crashing to the ground and rolling twice before coming to a stop.

But he held off the first wave of attacks.

"Kill!" Yan Laoshuan roared and charged out from behind the shield formation.

The bone shield in his hand slammed head-on into an oncoming demonic wolf, the edge of the shield hitting the wolf's head hard.

With a crack, the wolf's skull shattered, and it collapsed to the ground.

He didn't stop, but continued to push forward, using his body to clear a path for the people behind him.

Yan Qing followed behind him, his chipped bone knife slashing out from the side and striking the neck of another demonic wolf.

The blade was stuck in the bone. He gritted his teeth and pulled hard, finally managing to pull the knife out.

Black blood sprayed all over his face, but he didn't wipe it off because the next demonic wolf had already pounced on him.

He dodged to the side, used his shoulder to knock open the wolf's mouth, and slashed its throat upwards with his knife.

The battle erupted in full force in the canyon.

The corpses of monsters and humans were piled up in layers in the narrow passage.

The pile of corpses grew higher and higher, and the survivors stood on top of it to continue fighting.

The monsters behind charged forward, trampling over the corpses of their companions, leaving the human bodies a bloody mess.

Amu fired the final arrow. (End of Chapter)