The Invincible Full-Moon System - Chapter 1641 1641: Break of Momentum

Being a soldier is not an easy duty.

Most of the time, it would be hardship after hardship, especially in a world like this.

Forced to live right beside danger, with not a single day of actual peace of mind, as anything can abruptly go wrong and kill them all, it was a world worse for soldiers. All of them were kept in strict schedules where one mistake could mean the death of many.

A knight is a noble rank achievable by anyone.

Unlike the nobilities above it, where it was mostly heritage, anyone can become a knight.

All a person needed to become a knight was strength and achievement.

Rick started from a meager soldier, like most people, and he has an eye for opportunities that led him to become who he is today. A royal guard as well as a knight. But most importantly, he knew what other soldiers felt on a day-to-day basis.

He had been in their shoes a few hundred years ago.

And because of that, he knew that the most important aspect of a soldier isn’t strength.

It was mentality, morale.

In battle, the first sign of defeat didn’t come from being outclassed, that an army was weaker than the other, but from perception. How the soldiers perceived the battle is the determining factor. Once soldiers knew the fight was hopeless, their despair made the struggle collapse faster than strength ever would.

But if wrapped in honor, the soldiers would fight better and perhaps even win against all odds.

And the backbone of the soldiers’ morale was their captain.

So, Rick was going to show them that this hiccup was nothing more than a breeze for them.

Boom!

Rick’s longsword was extended, becoming longer as his life energy climbed beyond the tip, before he hacked down with all his might. His slash sent forth an energy blast that exploded—at the very heart of the incoming horde.

All soldiers looked down from the walls, noting a big hollow crater in the midst of the horde.

More than a hundred were decimated by that single slash.

Some of the voidal monsters used their own powers to block—or at least parry Rick’s attack, but none were strong enough to do so. Despite the endless rush of voidal monsters, along with the creeping dark smoke, that one attack made a difference.

And suddenly, the soldiers believed that taking down the horde was plausible again.

Even though they were outnumbered ten to one, they could win!

“Get to your positions! Let loose everything at the horde!”

“If you ran out of energy, use normal arrows! If you ran out of normal arrows, throw anything! But no matter what, don’t stop!”

Soldiers lined shoulder to shoulder, firing down energy-formed arrows.

Each volley slammed against the horde’s backline with force.

Some exploded upon impact, and some curved and pierced through multiple voidal monsters.

Not only bows and arrows, but the soldiers also operated the cannons lined up along the wall, charging the cannon balls with their life energy and their own Echoes, and then firing them straight to the horde with a thunderous crack.

Finding that the others were determined again, the rest of the soldiers stepped up.

“Fuck it! There are people behind us behind this wall. Elders, mothers, children, priests! I’ve decided to become a soldier on my own. I’m here because of my damn free will. I’ll be damned if I don’t fight with my all to protect them!”

“Stop acting heroic, you fool! I know you’re thinking of that sweet priestess.”

“I can’t marry her, but I can save her! Come, brother! Let’s run havoc!”

Drawing his two-handed battle axe, the soldier ran towards the edge and leaped down with frivolous fervor.

Vigorously, the soldier wrenched the great axe from his back, the steel head catching a fleeting glint of the light from the Obelisk of Life behind before he broke into a sprint. There was no cannon he could aid in operating, no long-range ability, nor did he have any skill in using long-range weaponry.

All he had was the weight of his beloved battle axe, the one weapon that had never failed him.

He hurled himself from the wall with a determined smile on his face.

Almost instantly, the wind tore past him in a rush, carrying with it the furious curses of his friend, who watched him jump off the wall in horror. But he didn’t hear them anymore, or rather, he chose not to hear them.

His eyes were locked, unblinking, on the seething mass below.

Due to how fast they were moving, the voidal monsters already reached the walls.

Now, they were clawing, writhing, and climbing over one another to reach the battlements above.

Somebody has to deal with them eventually, and he was going to be the first one to do it.

Crash!

He hit like a falling star.

Raised above his head and swung down, the axe carved a brutal arc—that smashed into the spine of a voidal monster. Bone and sinew crumpled with a wet crack, the creature flattened beneath the violence of the strike.

In quick succession, he tore the axe free and swung again, hacking and shoving anything that moved.

Even dragged the monsters by the head to the dirt with his bare hands when his axe could not reach.

He fought like a man possessed, a wall of flesh and fury standing alone against the tide.

And that madness—his reckless, impossible defiance… it spread.

Seeing how the soldier had gone down on its own, mingling with monsters, the friend who had shouted after him clenched his teeth. “This is fucking stupid. This is stupid… no, he’s fucking stupid, and I shouldn’t follow stupidity.” He murmured, but his hands moved to his sword. “I’m so going to regret this.”

Despite what he was saying, his body moved on its own.

He clenched his teeth, then followed right after, leaping down with weapon drawn.

One became two, then three, then a dozen as other soldiers, those who had nothing but steel in their hands, hurled themselves over the edge to fight beside the first soldier. Since one had gone down, it’d be a disgrace if the others didn’t follow after.

Above all, they came from the same legion—a single unit.

It was in their training to have utmost solidarity and respect toward each other.

Soon, all of the soldiers were now fighting back against the horde—boots pounded as men and women chose to fall, rather than cower. Their blades carved a bloody ring at the base of the wall, holding back the tide where monsters had begun to climb.

From above, Rick’s gaze followed the chaos below.

For a heartbeat, he simply hovered mid-air in silence, his longsword pulsing with its eerie, thorned glow.

Then, a smile curved his lips.

Even though the soldiers were discouraged earlier, too outnumbered to even think of winning this fierce situation, a flicker of fire burned in them—more than enough to resist the horde. All because he made one confident move.

‘But still,’ Rick gazed at the breach. ‘All we need to do is hold them back. I’m sure Sir Haxel—and Sir Rex would reinforce us. Besides, we are outnumbered—but there are too many defensive mechanisms protecting the mainland behind the walls.’

Of course, the situation looked grim for the soldiers, but it wasn’t that bad.

It wouldn’t be the end even if they failed, as there wasn’t even a single threat among the horde.

Only a Voidal Lord possessed the power to go through the mainland’s defenses and slaughter its people, and it’d take at least several Special Voidal Knights to cause immense destruction that’d be devastating to the empire—this horde had neither.

Nodding his head, Rick descended with force.

Along the way, he tightened the grip on the handle and activated the sword’s ability.

Boom!

A thunderous crash shook the earth as Rick landed.

His landing devastated the area around, hurling voidal monsters away like broken dolls.

A shroud of dust billowed outward to swallow his form, but the horde of voidal monsters pressed ahead, screeching and galloping towards the wall, yet their charge faltered when sudden flashes of glistening steel glimmered within the murk.

An instant later, the cloud erupted.

Swish!

Fragments of Rick’s shattered blade burst outward like a storm of razors, whistling through the air with deadly precision. The shards spun in widening arcs, slashing through monsters before they could even take another step.

Not one was able to survive one hit from these fragments.

And their howls were drowned beneath the shriek of grinding steel.

From within that storm, Rick emerged—leaping clear, his eyes alight with the glow of his Soul Artifact.

He channeled his life energy, making the tattoo carving down his eye to burn brighter, pulsing with a savage command that bound every shard of steel to his will. The fragments quickened, whirling into a glittering cyclone that carved down anything daring enough to approach.

A meat grinder that rends the horde’s center.

Naturally, his sword wasn’t a normal sword—it was customized to complement him in battle.

It was a gift from his daughter, possessing the ability to fracture and reform.

The maker of this sword made the sword’s ability to fracture as a means to escape unfavorable strikes.

But under Rick’s Spirit Genesis, the Weaver of Steel, it became something far greater.

His Soul Artifact not only enhances his eyesight, but it also allows him to control steel with only his eyes. Every fragment of the fractured blade obeyed the flicker of his gaze as the air sang with the sharpness of steel, a symphony of slaughter.

Rick drove into the horde like a living grinder, cleaving voidal flesh and carapace alike.

And yet, amid the chaos, something stirred.

A shadow loomed taller than the rest, parting the tide with an unholy grace.

A voidal reaper, a long-limbed creature with grotesque scythes for arms—charging at him with clear, murderous intention. Despite its featureless face, its bloodlust could be felt—and for some reason, it emanated a different air compared to the other voidal monsters.

It felt out of place.

Seeing this, Rick’s pulse quickened.

‘Odd… This one is odd,’ He thought, frowning. ‘But my guts are telling me to kill it right now.’

His blade reformed in an instant with a thought, every sharp snapping into place with a metallic snap that rang like a wary cry. Gathering his life energy, he funneled it into the sword’s tip, causing it to sear with a brilliant glow.

Pulling back the sword with an inhale, he thrust forward, unleashing a powerful beam.

One could feel that the power of a Master Immortal Spirit backed the beam.

Rick’s aim was clear too—its heart.

Since his guts felt threatened by it, he was not going to give it any chance to do anything.

He went straight in for the kill.

Swoosh!

Knowing that there were only a few who could stop that beam, even among the knights, Rick averted his gaze before the strike even landed. He was confident that it’d kill. The beam roared toward its mark with the fury of a cannon.

But instead of the sound of searing flesh, what came was a resounding clang that rattled the eardrums.

Clang!!

Rick’s eyes snapped forward, eyes wide.

He was surprised to see that the beam was parried, unable to blast through the crossed scythe arms.

Energy beam clashed against the void-born bone, ricocheted from it, and exploded above in a blinding flare, and throughout that, the reaper still charged forward. Such a sight caught the air in Rick’s throat; it was surprising.

But Rick was a highly trained combatant.

Despite his confidence, he was ready to react.

His heart skipped a beat as soon as he raised his sword.

In that fleeting moment, his vision blurred, and his body couldn’t listen to his command.

‘What happened?’ He thought, time slowed down a notch. ‘Did I get poisoned? When?’

Splash!

As Rick was stunned momentarily, the Faceless Reaper pounced and hacked its sharp arms.

Blood drew arcs in the air as Rick’s eyes widened completely.

Around him, the horde howled louder, as if reeling at what they were witnessing.

‘What happened?’