I Stepped on a Bug, and the System Says I Slayed a Dragon? - Chapter 193 - 192: Jianghai Must Win
Chapter 193: Chapter 192: Jianghai Must Win
Beneath the star-filled sky.
Darkness began to advance from the Da Li Mountain Range.
The thundering of hooves grew ever more frantic, like an approaching tempest. A sea of beasts surged forward, their earth-shaking roars creating seismic waves of sound!
The colossal beast at the forefront was like a black mountain.
It was a scene straight out of mythology!
Snakes had become horned dragons, and vultures had become golden rocs.
A colossal beast, a thousand feet in length, strode forward proudly. Its scales shimmered like gilded gold, its magnificent, heavy horns held high as it led a horde of tens of thousands of beasts in a relentless charge.
Dust and smoke billowed up from the ground.
It drifted toward the sky, obscuring the stars and moon. A savage aura spread, constantly amplified by the colossal beasts, until it had long become a terrifying power that swept across the land!
“It’s a King Level Star Beast!!!”
Someone on the city wall screamed.
The cry sent the crowd into an uproar.
The garrisoned soldiers stared at the colossal beasts, their legs trembling uncontrollably as an invisible terror crept through their ranks.
Instinctual fear took hold!
Some began to shrink back…
The starlight in the sky suddenly dimmed. As the light faded, the distant Star Beasts became indistinct, making them seem all the more monstrous and terrifying!
In this vicious cycle, the crowd’s negative emotions only intensified!
’This is bad. We can’t let this continue!’
The Chief Commander’s gaze swept over everyone present, sensing their emotions. He felt a profound despair among them.
Despair was spreading through everyone’s heart!
If this continued, the entire Jianghai defense line would collapse without a fight, long before the Star Beasts even arrived!
’I have to rally their morale!’
At this thought,
The Commander stepped forward and floated into the air. His Chief Commander’s epaulets gleamed in the starlight. Taking a high position above the wall, he channeled his Star Force and roared:
“Brothers and sisters of Jianghai!”
His voice boomed.
Deafeningly.
Everyone jolted as if struck.
The fog of confusion and despair vanished!
All eyes locked onto the Commander. His voice was all they could hear, booming like a temple bell in the mountains, setting the entire Jianghai defense line ablaze—
“The Beast Tide is upon us! This is a moment of life and death for Jianghai!”
The Commander roared, his gaze fixed on Jianghai in the distance, where the city lights still burned bright. He bellowed until his voice was hoarse, roaring like a lion.
“All of you, turn around and look!”
“Behind you are the citizens who remain in the city! They are willing to face this disaster with you—your families, your wives and children, all the ordinary, hardworking people!”
’The people…’
At his words, everyone turned their heads.
They saw the bustling city lights, the streams of taillights from the traffic converging into a brilliant, colorful river of light.
“Jianghai has a long history, and its people are proud of their city. We have fought off foreign enemies and quelled internal chaos…”
“If we are weak! If we shrink back! If we retreat! Then who will be left to bear this burden? Who will be left to guard the lights of these myriad homes?”
His words fell, each one ringing like steel.
They struck everyone’s heart like a heavy hammer.
On the wall, everyone lowered their heads, recalling their earlier thoughts. They felt a pang of shame. The battle hadn’t even started, yet they had already faltered.
This…
How could they even speak of protecting the citizens?
Star Beasts are savage—they devour flesh and drink blood. They won’t show any mercy!
Just then!
The Commander’s voice thundered once more—
“Now look down at your feet! At the very wall you’re standing on!”
With their heads already bowed, they heard his words and looked down at the stone bricks beneath their feet, able to see every detail clearly.
The patterns, the seams, the dust…
The outer defensive wall of Jianghai City was ancient and storied. The history of each brick could be traced back hundreds, if not thousands, of years, bonded with sticky rice and fortified with layer upon layer of rammed earth.
The wall was the dividing line of civilization.
This particular dividing line on the outskirts of Jianghai had endured countless trials… the impact of Beast Tides, bombardments from Demons, natural disasters of wind and lightning…
Countless people had fallen on these battlements, one generation after another. Their blood and tears soaked into the cracks between the bricks, but the wall never crumbled. Instead, with each generation’s reinforcements, it only grew stronger!
“Everyone, I ask you—”
“Who is the last line of defense?”
The Commander’s voice boomed with the question, his gaze sweeping over the crowd below. In that instant, his roar drowned out the shrieks of the Star Beasts, shaking the very air like a thunderclap.
“We are.”
“We are the last line of defense!”
“We can’t retreat. We can only go forward.”
As the last words fell, the Commander said no more.
Below, the crowd clenched their jaws. When they raised their heads again, all hesitation and cowardice had vanished. A furious rage erupted from them, and as their gazes swept over the Beast Tide, they burned with a do-or-die madness.
Man had become more ferocious than beast.
“Well said!”
Elder Li spoke frankly, his voice rising to join the fervor. “The Commander is right! This wall has stood for centuries without falling. Generations of our ancestors have shed their blood here.”
“My friends, we have never fought alone. Our heroic ancestors have ascended to the heavens, and their blessings shine down upon us all.”
As he spoke, he looked toward the distant Beast Tide, his gaze far-reaching. “The Celestial Derivation has forty-nine aspects, and we… we are the one that escapes…”
A tide of human voices rose.
Elder Li’s final words ignited everyone’s fury.
The city’s defenders swallowed, their pupils dilating. All fear had been burned from their eyes, replaced by a soaring will to fight. They could no longer wait to clash with the Star Beasts.
They had long been left with no path of retreat!
“Activate the Array!”
Li Daoming seized the moment. Seeing that the crowd’s morale had stabilized, he immediately activated the Array Patterns.
VMMMM—
The Li Family’s great Array was open!
From eight positions in the four cardinal directions, the defending elders of the Li Family took action. With Li Daoming as the core, they activated the great Array!
The next moment,
A tremendous power descended from the starry sky above, like a blessing from the heavens themselves. A brilliant Star Curtain ascended, enveloping the entirety of Jianghai City within the Array.
The magnificent and spectacular sight was reflected in the eyes of every citizen in Jianghai City.
On the streets,
people stepped out of their cars and raised their heads toward the city wall. The soaring Star Curtain connected with the sky, as if heaven and earth had joined to raise a high-dimensional wall.
“The Li Family’s great Array is open!”
“The battle’s starting in the outskirts! The Star Beasts are here!”
“May the ancestors protect us… May you bless those soldiers…”
…
The people inside the city prayed in hushed whispers, while the people on the walls roared in fury. In the wilds beyond, the Star Beasts surged forward like a tide of yakshas and ghouls from Hell.
KA-CHUNK—
Thirty-six rows of floating cannons swiveled, and cluster rocket launchers moved into position. Gun barrels poked out from the battlements. Everyone held their breath, focusing completely on their targets.
SHING!
Li Zixuan stood tall on the ramparts, her long black hair flowing in the wind. Clad in white, she slowly drew her longsword and pointed it directly at the Beast Tide.
A cold, sharp Sword Intent swept forth.
The next moment,
From the star-filled Celestial Curtain the people had raised,
a single star fell.
It plunged straight into the dense Beast Tide, exploding into the first burst of starlight and illuminating the hideous faces of the horde.
“Humanity will prevail! Jianghai will prevail!”
Li Zixuan let out the first cry.
The defenders on the wall roared in response.
Her cry was answered a thousandfold!!
The deafening shouts echoed across the city’s outskirts, a tsunami of sound with magnificent momentum that completely overpowered the roars of the Star Beasts.
“Humanity will prevail!!”
“Jianghai will prevail!!”
