Chapter 216 The Fate of a Warrior

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!

In the blink of an eye, the foremost swarm was upon them, the deafening hum of their wings blotting out the sky's light.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Snow Cypress’s soul power surged around him, and the ‘Sorrow of Frost’ in his hand seemed to summon a blizzard. A fierce icy wind howled through the air, its roar echoing with immense force.

He thrust the ice sword forward with a fierce jab, sending a vast wave of blade-like ice winds slicing far ahead, meeting the approaching swarm. The swarm's forward momentum was slightly checked, and dozens of ice bees at the forefront were struck by the cold wind blades, plummeting from the sky.

This was clearly a symbolic signal of attack, and Snow Cypress bellowed, “Kill!”

“Kill!”

“Kill, kill, kill!”

The frenzied battle cries spread, instantly dispelling much of the fear in the warriors' hearts. All the attacks that had been prepared for so long erupted in an instant.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The hundred divine soul cannons on the city walls fired simultaneously, massive lightning columns as thick as dining tables flashing and sweeping across the swarm!

The divine soul cannons had the longest range and the most astonishing impact power, containing extremely destructive lightning forces. Wherever the beams passed, lightning crackled, and even the ice bees, impervious to blades and bullets, could not withstand it.

A large number of glittering points within the swarm turned dull in an instant. Their surfaces appeared unscathed, but the lightning had shattered their internal organs, extinguishing their lives. They fell from the sky like hail, ‘thud, thud, thud, thud.’ After a single volley from the hundred divine soul cannons, hundreds of thousands of ice bees lay dead, covering the ground far below in a vast gray carpet. Some still twitched on the ground, but they soon stilled.

The casualties were effective, but hundreds of thousands were but a drop in the ocean for such a vast swarm.

The swarm showed no fear. The gaps left by the lightning beams were instantly filled by new bees from all sides, the numbers seemingly unchanged, and they continued to charge toward the city gate with undiminished speed.

"Ice Roar!"

The main assault came from the Coven of Mages. Thousands of Ice Mages raised their ice staves, and a vast expanse of icy wind pressure converged, surging towards the front of the ice bee swarm.

Using the same technique, their individual power was far inferior to that of Xuecang Bai, but when combined, it was astonishing.

The wind and snow amplified each other’s force, creating an effect far greater than the sum of its parts. The characteristic of Ice Mages to enhance each other's power was fully utilized. The Ice Roar of thousands of Ice Mages now resembled a world-ending forbidden spell, forming a miles-wide ice storm that fiercely struck the swarm. This was the reason why once-weak humans could stand at the pinnacle of the Nine Heavens Continent.

Terrifying power.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz~~

The forward momentum of the bee swarm was halted as a whole. Countless ice bees were pushed back by the terrifying Super Ice Roar, the entire vanguard completely obstructed, piling up in a dense mass under the freezing backlash.

However, even the strongest roar has its limits. As more ice bees were affected and resistance increased, the wind and snow became increasingly weak, eventually being overwhelmed by the swarm.

Unlike the Divine Soul Cannons, the Super Ice Roar was effective in blocking but failed to cause significant damage. The swarm quickly regrouped.

The collective halt caused by the Ice Mages' synchronized roar infuriated the bees far more than losing hundreds of thousands of companions to the Divine Soul Cannons. The vanguard slightly adjusted, immediately descending from high altitude to low altitude,

Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz!

The entire swarm charged directly at the military formation.

"They're attracted!" someone in the military formation waved a command flag. This was their task outside the city walls: to draw the attention of the bee swarm away from the city, preventing them from bypassing the formation and reaching the Divine Soul Cannons, which would leave Bing Ling without her most effective means of killing the ice bees.

"Shield troops, brace for impact! Mages, prepare Frost!"

"Divine Soul Cannons, reload!" On the city walls, Xuecang Bai waved the Frost Sorrow: "Archers, gunners, prepare!"

On the city walls, countless archers were already prepared, their large bows drawn to a full moon, and about two hundred gunners held various soul crystal guns, ready to fire. Ice Spirit originally had no gunners; most of these gunners had graduated from the Holy Sanctuary in recent years, forming an experimental new unit. Thus, their numbers were not large, but they were almost all elite gunners.

All the archers and gunners stared intently at the army below, whose shield soldiers were within their range for the first hundred meters.

It was a wall of steel, massive shields forged from cold iron with unparalleled defensive capabilities and hardness. Behind each shield stood four shield soldiers, strong and muscular, exerting all their strength to hold the shields steady.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The loud buzzing sound rapidly approached, and sweat dripped from the foreheads of the shield soldiers.

The ice bees finally reached the shield soldiers, engaging in close combat!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A dense and terrifying series of impacts echoed, even with four men per group, each shield soldier felt as if they were being hit by a charging rhinoceros, one after another without pause.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!"

They gritted their teeth, veins bulging on their muscles, threatening to burst at any moment.

The entire shield formation shook violently the instant it was struck by the bee swarm. The perfectly straight line of shields, where the center was hit hardest over several dozen meters, was forced inward, bending and caving.

"Kill!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

At that moment, the archers and gunners on the city walls immediately unleashed their attacks. Shimmering ice arrows, lightning arrows, fiery energy rounds, and explosive shells rained down like a storm, sweeping through the maximum range in an instant.

Though the range and power of these archers and gunners were not as great as those of divine martial soul cannons, their strikes were precise and relentless. Once the attack began, it did not cease, effectively pinning the ice bees to the ground in waves.

The shield soldiers felt the pressure ease slightly, but it seemed that an endless number of Ice Bees immediately filled the gap, and their spread area became even larger. The front line of the shield soldiers was only about a mile wide, with two layers, inside and out. Many Ice Bees had already circled around the sides and were attacking the rear ranks of the Wizard Corps.

"Snow Wolf Guards, move up!"

Though most of the Snow Wolves were terrified, they were well-trained, and their fear stemmed from the Ice Bees' long-standing dominance over them. With their masters' encouragement, they managed to suppress this fear. Except for a few who could not overcome it, most of the Snow Wolves steeled themselves and charged at the Ice Bees on either side, carrying their masters on their backs.

These Snow Wolf Guards were undoubtedly the elite of the Ice Spirit Kingdom's forces, mostly equipped with long spears. However, against the swarm, the long spears were almost useless. They quickly switched to maces, clubs, and long knives. Though these weapons were less familiar, they were simple to use and effective against the Ice Bees.

As the two sides clashed, a leading warrior gripped a massive steel club with both hands, his soul power surging through him, and he swung it horizontally forward.

The wind whistled as the club swept through the air, *crack* *crack* *crack* *crack*!

At least seven or eight Ice Bees were instantly struck, flying away like bullets. But in the next second, an Ice Bee collided directly with his forehead. He felt a powerful force surge towards him, causing intense pain. He was knocked off his Snow Wolf's back and flew backward. In the next moment, something pierced his brain and exited through the back of his skull.

His eyes widened in shock, his mind going blank. In his last moments, he vaguely saw his Snow Wolf mount being overwhelmed by the swarm, never understanding what had happened.

Against the Ice Bees, the Snow Wolf Guards were far less effective than the wizards, and even less so than the shield soldiers. Their attacks were insufficient to destroy the Ice Bees' tough bodies and could not stop their advance. Their defenses were easily breached like paper, and the flanks were quickly overrun, resulting in numerous casualties among the Snow Wolf Guards.

The central Wizard Corps redirected their firepower, with at least one-third of the wizards abandoning frost spells to cast magic to assist in defending the flanks. At the same time,

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom*~

The second round of Soul Crystal Cannons finally fired, their immense power necessitating longer intervals between shots. They now concentrated on the more distant swarms, severing the connection between the attacking Ice Bees and the main formation.

The concentrated firepower was so intense that the air itself seemed to warp from the terrifying lightning beams. A gap appeared in the center of the swarm, forcibly breaking the connection between the two groups. This gave the military formation a chance to catch its breath, working in tandem with the archers and gunners on the city walls. At the cost of hundreds of Snow Wolf Guard lives, they managed to hold off this wave.

Their strategy was simple: divide and conquer, focusing on overwhelming smaller groups to eliminate as many of the Ice Bees as possible. It was straightforward but highly effective.

It must be said that the Ice Spirit Kingdom was indeed wealthy. The Soul Crystal Cannon shells were all Grade α4, which Old Wang had once obtained from Clara at a price of 500,000 each. Although there were over thirty, those small ones combined probably amounted to just enough for these few shots. With over a hundred cannons firing simultaneously, each round cost at least fifty million. This wasn't fighting Ice Bees; this was throwing money!

The archers all wielded standardized Ice Spirit bows, each loaded with a Soul-Quenching Arrow. The arrowheads were crafted from soul crystals, inherently possessing considerable energy. A slight infusion of soul power could unleash tremendous force. They were just ‘a bit expensive,’ with each Soul-Quenching Arrow costing no less than a hundred lios to fire. Don't be fooled by the fact that they aren’t as costly as soul crystal cannons; they consume resources much faster. Even ordinary archers could shoot about one arrow every two or three seconds, and a quiver full of a hundred arrows would only last them a few minutes.

Adding to this, the consumption by gunners and the soul crystals in the wizards' ice staves likely amounted to millions of soul crystals per minute.

But there was a benefit to the high cost.

The dense swarm of ice bees in the air kept falling, and outside the city gate, centered around the ten-thousand-strong army, the surrounding area for several miles was already covered with a thick layer of silvery insect corpses.

The three armies were rapidly being depleted, with the Snow Wolf Guards suffering the most. Of the three thousand Snow Wolf Guards, almost all had been killed or wounded. Several delaying actions to buy time had taken a heavy toll on them, and many shield soldiers had fallen, especially those in the front row who bore the brunt of the effort. Exhausted, they collapsed, their defenses breached, and many were crushed or bitten to death. Although ice bees primarily fed on cold iron ore, they could also devour flesh when driven into a frenzy.

The Wizard Corps suffered the least casualties. Both the shield soldiers and the Snow Wolf Guards fought desperately to protect them. Apart from a dozen wizards injured by stray shots, the line was not completely broken, and not a single wizard died under the ice bees.

The battlefield was already littered with bodies—bodies of Snow Wolf Guards, snow wolves, shield soldiers, and ice bees. The intense battle had lasted for a full ten minutes.

The number of ice bees in the air was dwindling, but none of them fled. Even with only a dozen left, they continued to attempt to breach the city gate, driven by the queen's call, which filled their minds with a single thought: kill everything in their path and reach the queen’s side!

*Crack!*

A large club struck the city wall, smashing an ice bee so hard that half its body was embedded in the stone.

The ice bee struggled to free itself, but in the next second, a crystalline ice sword pierced through its tough exoskeleton.

Snow Cangbai thrust his ice sword, lifting the impaled ice bee out of the wall. This was the last of the swarm, its slender limbs still flailing, though more slowly. Snow Cangbai stood atop the city wall, raising the ice bee on the tip of his sword.

The exhausted warriors around him erupted into deafening cheers.

“We won! We won!”

They had defeated this wave of ice bees, and Ice Spirit City...

But the cheers quickly died down as everyone was stunned by the sight of even more silver light in the distance.

Those ‘silver clouds’ were shining, and they were larger and brighter than the previous ones!

What they had fought to the death against was just one ‘cloud’... and behind it, there were countless more!