Li Jun ran forward with his spear pointed forward, eradicating anyone in his path. He then waved his spear to the left, creating a river of blood that drowned a squadron of a hundred thousand. He looked to another group and roared.
[Roar of God]
When god is angered, mortal suffers. His roar generated a potent power that annihilated the soul and body of anyone in his path. Li Jun then opened his mouth to spew an eerily green smoke. Anyone affected by it had black veins on their bodies and faces, their eyes turned red, and they vomited black blood; they died of poison.
Li Jun then focused on another group. With one look, the soldiers instantly became pale, lost their hair, and their eye sockets became thin; they died of unknown and uncurable diseases.
Fear enveloped the soldiers who witnessed his brutal slaughter, and Li Jun used this to his image. He controlled the generated fear to immobilize the surrounding soldiers, preventing them from destroying their cultivation; he only came for one thing–killing.
He wanted to kill as many devil races as possible before they used the same tactic in the previous city.
While Li Jun was searching for his next target, he heard a scream before seeing a young-looking devil rushing toward him, with no fear and determination to die with him. Li Jun calmly looked at him. In his eyes, this soldier was slower than a snail.
He calmly caught the soldier’s spear and crushed it with his hand. Then, he stabbed the latter with his spear. The soldier looked directly at him, his eyes full of hatred and unwillingness.
“I-I curse…you and…the human…race.”
“Do you expect me to be angry at the words of a loser?” Li Jun responded calmly. “On the contrary, I feel pity for your kind; pity how far you’ve all fallen from the ancient era.”
“A-And whose… fault is… that?
“Yours, of course,” replied Li Jun. “You guys became too greedy and created too much negative karma–too much even for you to swallow, and now, you’re paying the price.”
The soldier looked at him fiercely before the light in his eyes faded away. Li Jun shook his head. Some devils felt they are themselves and should not pay for the crime of their ancestors. Others believed they should have continued to rule the world or, at the very least, remained a strong race after that event.
Li Jun looked at another squad and used a technique: [Frenzy of Slaughter]. The soldiers’ eyes turned red before they began to fight and kill each other; it was like their previous comrade was their worst enemy, as if they were the kind of enemy that killed their parents and took their wives.
Another squad came to try to wake up these people from the nightmare. Unfortunately, these people also attacked them before members of this squad also became infected and turned mad in the same manner.
Li Jun waved his spear to generate a rain of weapons, killing people in large quantities. He went on a slaughter spree for more than half an hour before the battle ended, and the group conquered their second city. With his previous experience, Li Jun was swifter in dealing with the aftermath.
Military Tactic Room:
Wang Wei looked at his token and nodded in satisfaction. Li Jun looked at the battle report, and he, too, nodded in satisfaction.
“This city put up more of a fight,” said Tie Gang.
“The Blood Devil Race are more militant, so few were willing to surrender even in the face of death,” said Wang Wei. “Did we get the map?
“Yes,” replied Wang Ju succinctly before laying a map on the central table. “There are seven territories in this continent, each named after one of the seven deadly sins. We are now in the Sloth Territory, and the territory closest to us is Greed.”
“In the grand scheme of worlds, this continent is small,” said Li Jun as he looked at the map. “However, it is too big for us. With our marching speed, it would take us ten years to reach the Greed Territory and six if we have horses.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Yan Liling pointed out. “With such a scale, such primitive traveling method would make things a nightmare and even hinder the development of the devil race. Even if they want to restrict us, isn’t this going too far?”
She imagined the nightmare it would be to build the cities that make up the formation and how the lack of communication would impact the entire continent.
“Everything we have encountered so far indicates the game was well planned out, meaning there must be a chain of command and a way to communicate long distance,” Wang Wei said. “And if there is a way to communicate, there must be a way to travel instantly.”
“A hidden rule that allowed teleportation,” summarized Tie Gang, who no longer complained about this nonsense game since he expects the bullshit to continue.
“Any ideas?” asked Li Jun.
” Wang Wei shook his head, “Too many possibilities.”
“In that case, let’s move on,” announced Li Jun. “Our next target is Hell Tiger City. When is the reinforcement logistic coming?”
The group left a group of soldiers in White Fang City to plant a new batch of crops and bring more food.
“If we consider the time it took us to reach here, the fact they are a small group, and the time for the crops to grow, they’ll arrive in three days,” replied Yan Liling.
“We will depart on the fifth day.”
Five days later, the legions began their march toward the next city. Midway through the journey, one of the Fate Shadow Guard rushed to the group.
“Enemies detected on the east side.”
“Oh, how many people are there?” asked Li Jun.
“Estimated to be roughly 20 million soldiers.”
“So, the same as our numbers. Do you recognize who they were?”
“Is there a King present?” asked Wang Wei with hope in his voice. He’s slowly dying of boredom after not doing anything for the past weeks.
“It’s a–”
Before the soldier could answer, another scout arrived.
“Enemies are approaching on the north side.” Then, two more approached with news of the enemy coming from the west and south side.
“We are surrounded?” commented Tie Gang. “With each side having 20 million soldiers, that’s a total of 80 million, four times our number. This could prove to be dangerous.”
“Do you think someone is watching us?” asked Yan Liling. “To blindside us easily with this tactic is the only way I can think of.”
“I would normally say no, but I’m not completely sure when it comes to this game,” responded Wang Wei. “However, the most likely scenario is a brilliant strategist.”
“I agree,” added Li Jun. “The strategist knew where we landed, making it easy to calculate that we would attack White Fang City, the nearest city. From there, it’s easy to calculate our next destination by considering whether we have a map, then plan this attack.”
“So, what’s the plan?” asked Tie Gang.
Li Jun did not immediately answer but looked at the four scouts. “Give me an educated guess on whose troops you think are the most powerful?”
The Fate Shadow Guard gathered and exchanged information. They took into account things like the leading general’s aura, the marching discipline of the troops, their weapons, aura, and other factors to theorize which was the better troops.
“East and west, huh,” muttered Li Jun before looking at his men: “Four Direction Formation, Shields on East and West.” Immediately, the troops marched to their formation. The Slaughter Legion took a position on the east and west sides, and each soldier took out the shield in their back and firmly planted it before them, forming an iron-wall shield.
The Undying Legion took the north and south side, ready to attack and annihilate their opponent. The Archer Squad positioned themselves in the middle to serve as support while also protecting Yan Liling and the logistic squad.
“Four times our numbers? No problem,” declared Li Jun, who was not afraid of such a confrontation; even outnumbered, he believed in his men’s capabilities.
“Coming,” said Wang Wei, floating in the sky and looking in the distance. Then, he muttered, “No [King] as expected.” He wanted to fight and kill a few decent opponents.
The enemy soon arrived, and Li Jun yelled: “Shield.” The shield squads shook their shield to create a protective barrier that protracted the east-western side, leaving the north-south side open wide. However, that is the plan for the Undying Legion to go on the offensive. And with this tactic, they only have to face half the number of troops.
“Remember, you are the shield of a future Emperor,” yelled Li Jun. “You must not falter, you must not show any weakness and let the enemy break your defense.
“Even if you feel weak, despair, fearful, you must not drop the shield. Even if you die, you must defy death and persevere until your comrade behind you take your spot.
“Remember our motto?”
“WE ARE THE EMPEROR’S SHIELD.” The soldiers chanted repeatedly and in harmony as they clashed their shields on the ground, creating a euphonic sound of passion, determination, and adrenaline.
“What are we?” roared Li Jun.
“THE EMPEROR’S SHIELD.”