Apocalypse Gachapon - Chapter 1756: Night Blood (9)
“Reinforcements my ass!”
The East City commander’s face twisted into a vicious snarl as he shoved his subordinate down the stone steps. “Send for reinforcements! Tell them… East City’s gates are breached.”
Yes. The completely untouched East City gates had been shattered in an instant.
No one could believe it. Not the experienced East City commander, nor any of the defenders. They’d never witnessed—no, never even conceived—that city gates could be breached so effortlessly.
“Only essential personnel remain on the walls! Everyone else—follow me to defend below! Matar, you hold the walls!”
With that, the commander led his forces down.
His only option now was to plug the breach. If the city fell here, even if they eventually repelled or slaughtered these Easterners, his life would be forfeit.
Anyone who thought King Ahmad had grown merciful was sorely mistaken.
When the commander reached the gates and deployed his troops defensively, he finally saw the damage firsthand.
He couldn’t comprehend what weapon could possibly slice through their reinforced, energy-shielded, specially constructed gates—designed to withstand any assault—in a single strike.
Not just breached. Sliced. The opening wasn’t from the gates being smashed, but from the surrounding walls being cleanly carved in a perfect semicircle. The gates and adjacent stonework had simply vaporized, leaving a glass-smooth edge.
The commander’s legs weakened. He couldn’t imagine his fully-shielded troops surviving if that weapon fired again.
Probably… they wouldn’t.
Yet strangely, the expected battle cries and charge never came. An eerie silence descended, even more profound than before. During the attacker’s approach, he’d faintly heard cheers.
Frowning, he shouted upward: “Matar! Status report! Have they advanced?”
The reply came instantly: “Commander… you’d better see this yourself. I can’t make sense of it.”
That idiot! The commander cursed inwardly before checking the breach again. Seeing nothing, he hurried back up the walls.
“Look—they haven’t moved at all,” Matar pointed. “Not an inch. Even that man retreated. I… don’t understand their strategy.”
The Cloud Peak forces remained exactly as before—their camp now deathly still, all earlier movements ceased as if asleep.
The commander rubbed his temples. Like his subordinate, he couldn’t decipher the enemy’s intentions.
Yet the pressure only mounted. Staring at the flickering campfires in the distance, his tension surpassed even the initial attack.
“Report this exactly to His Majesty. Let… him decide.”
……………………………………………………………………
Ye Zhongming returned to camp, slightly fatigued.
Earlier, he’d used the Nature Staff to block wall attacks while channeling the Soul Crushing Bone Staff’s full power into that single strike.
Exhilarating—but costly.
Previously, even with his vast mental reserves, one full-powered soul strike would nearly cripple him. At level nine, he could manage two before exhaustion.
But today’s plan only required one. A second would jeopardize subsequent battles.
His enhanced mental power came with a drawback: recovery now felt “slower”—not in absolute terms, but relative to his expanded capacity. Percentage-based skills that once seemed negligible now demanded careful calculation.
The gate’s destruction was never in doubt. Ye Zhongming trusted the Bone Staff implicitly—its tier might surpass purple, nearing seven-colored-grade.
But now, hairline fractures marred its surface.
At level nine, he could finally unleash its full potential—at the cost of permanent damage. These cracks whispered that the next all-out strike might be its last.
Though he now possessed ample level-nine materials, replicating the Bone Staff proved impossible. Not for lack of skill—the original bone fragment from the secret realm came from an extraordinarily powerful entity.
“Boss, Mo Ye and the Death King Tree have begun their assaults,” Xiao Min reported cheerfully, as if this weren’t an all-or-nothing battle for Cloud Peak’s survival.
Ye Zhongming smiled wistfully, still mourning his staff.
Through the battle merit medal’s chatter, he learned the other flanks were far bloodier.
South City Gate.
Here, the Death King Tree led the assault.
Having reverted to her true form—a colossal entity dwarfing the walls—her beautiful face contorted in frustration as she unleashed World Nature’s full fury.
No defenders realized this sudden monstrosity was level nine, as she hid her silver magic crystal. But her domain turned the South City Gate into hell.
Initially, they’d fought back with siege engines. Soon, they learned better.
The razor-leaf storm was unstoppable. Even top-tier armor couldn’t withstand the intelligent, relentless assault.
The Death King Tree hadn’t planned this. She’d intended to breach the gates directly.
But lacking Ye Zhongming’s single-strike capability—and without Cloud Peak’s support—the shielded gates withstood her assaults, only losing their energy barrier.
Enraged, she turned her wrath upon the defenders. After several World of Nature waves, the walls were cleared—every weapon destroyed, every living defender slain.
The South City commander’s heart bled. Ten thousand dead in minutes. Only his quick retreat saved him. Never had he witnessed such terrifying area annihilation.
Through cracked lips, he rasped his only remaining option:
“Inform His Majesty… a level-nine lifeform is attacking South City Gate! We require reinforcements!”
