Chapter 645

The defense of the Berengeiria Wall inflicted massive casualties on both the Empire and Ka`har forces.

Landenburg, thanks to employing extreme measures to collapse part of the wall, managed to force Or-han to retreat from the battlefield and annihilate thousands of enemy troops on the spot.

“Kyaaaah!”

However, the Ka`har soldiers who had climbed the wall, upon witnessing this scene, did not lose morale. Instead, they raged like mad dogs, swinging their spears and swords at the Empire’s forces.

The sight of the dozens-of-meters-high wall collapsing like a landslide was undoubtedly terrifying and overwhelming, even for them.

Yet, after the dust settled like a receding wave, the Grassland People, freed from the psychological shock that had made them forget even the fight, perceived the wall’s collapse not as the Empire’s trap but as their own achievement.

The Berengeiria Wall, an iron fortress that had blocked them for hundreds of years. The sight of a part of it reduced to rubble was, in a way, the moment when the long-cherished dream of all Grassland People became reality.

The warriors’ eyes turned not to the corpses of those swept away by the collapse but to the sky visible beyond the broken wall.

Their morale rising was inevitable. Some even believed Or-han had punched the wall to bring it down.

“The wall has fallen! You will fall too!”

“You weaklings who can’t even handle a bow or spear!”

While the seasoned War Chiefs and Paladins sensed their leader had fallen into a trap, the majority of the Grassland People, raised only to kill and plunder, were emboldened and raged even more fiercely.

“Hold the line! They’re just small barbarians once they dismount!”

“Aim for their legs! Their lower bodies are weak!”

The knights of Landenburg and the Empire rallied their soldiers and clashed with the enemy warriors atop the wall. Screams and battle cries echoed, and streams of blood flowed like tears, drenching the wall.

The battle’s outcome was hard to call favorable or unfavorable.

The soldiers of the 3rd Legion, honed through numerous battles, managed to hold their ground against the Ka`har, who charged with half their lives disregarded. However, the inexperienced recruits of the 2nd Legion lacked such capability.

Just as the Empire had collapsed the wall, turning thousands of enemy troops into crushed meat, the men of Ka`har, who had lived their lives hunting and plundering, slaughtered the Empire’s recruits like wolves among sheep.

Countless deaths flowed like a river.

—-

The battle between the superhumans was also close to evenly matched.

Joshua, despite being hindered by War Chief Ibamai, managed to destroy both siege towers.

Though it took so long that many Grassland People had already climbed the wall by the time the last tower fell.

That alone was a miraculous feat. Facing a formidable enemy of similar strength and choosing to target the siege towers instead was practically a death wish.

Joshua survived for one reason only: Ibamai, too, was preoccupied with Or-han’s safety, buried under the wall’s debris, and couldn’t focus entirely on fighting Joshua.

“You bastard, Joshuaaaa!!”

“I’ll bury you under the wall, Ibamai-!”

Joshua, who paid the price of destroying the siege towers with a pierced side, clashed with Ibamai and fell off the wall, engaging in a cataclysmic battle.

Massive chunks of ice fell like boulders, and pillar-like greatswords shattered the ice, tearing up the ground. The clash of Heroic Tales focused on widespread destruction. The men around them, fearing being swept away, dared not approach.

Ibamai’s skill was originally a step below Joshua’s, but the injuries Joshua sustained while destroying the siege towers narrowed the gap between them.

—-

While the two heroes’ battle caused a disaster below the wall, Landenburg’s masters surrounded War Chief Glar.

Led by Landenburg’s second sword, Heinrich, all the surviving swordsmen joined the fight. However, unlike Joshua, who maintained an even match, they struggled against Glar.

“Guh… What kind of monster is this…!”

Karim, using his shattered warhammer as a crutch, coughed up blood and groaned.

William, with both arms severed, leaned against the wall’s uneven surface, barely breathing. Michel, always cheerful, was pulling a spear from his abdomen with a twisted expression.

Hayden, battered and bruised, swung borrowed swords after his dual blades were crushed. Yan, who lost a leg and was flung beyond the wall, clung to a broken greatsword embedded in the wall.

“This is… the War Chief of Ka`har…”

Nigel gritted her teeth and muttered. The sword of Landenburg. Even with seven of Landenburg’s strongest knights, excluding Joshua, attacking simultaneously, only she and Heinrich remained standing.

In fact, Nigel was only holding on because of her weapon, Eberond’s Holy Spear. Without it, she would have met the same fate as the other masters.

The holy spear, emitting sacred lightning, returned to its owner’s hand even when dropped.

Glar, wary of it, avoided getting too close. Otherwise, Nigel’s own skill wouldn’t have been enough to even scratch him without risking her life.

In other words, keeping Glar in place was entirely thanks to Heinrich.

Though he hadn’t crossed the wall, Heinrich, standing a step ahead of it, was slowly opening the gate to the Realm of Heroes in a life-and-death struggle against a superior foe.

“Vermin of the Empire! If you want to cling to your miserable lives,turn tail and run like dogs now!”

Glar, with a tone full of contempt, swung his dao fiercely. His relentless assault was tinged with impatience and anger.

“So worried about your master’s safety, huh? Can’t tell who’s the dog here!”

Yet, Heinrich shook the ground, disrupting Glar’s assault, and parried the dao with his halberd’s axe blade, holding on with all his might.

The reason Landenburg’s swordsmen hadn’t been wiped out yet was solely because of Heinrich.

======[ Five Minutes Ago ]======

Glar, War Chief of the Black Armies.

Once the captain of Ai-shan’s royal guard and Or-han’s closest confidant, he was a top-tier hero of the grasslands, the undisputed second strongest.

Upon seeing Or-han buried under the collapsing wall, he raged, swinging his blood-soaked daos like a storm.

His momentum easily surpassed Landenburg’s strongest, Joshua. No one in Landenburg could cut him down.

Glar stomped the ground, neutralizing Heinrich’s incomplete Heroic Tale, and swung his dao, ignoring the masters’ spears and swords as if they couldn’t harm him.

Fighting in a way that made it seem nothing could wound him, he took the masters’ attacks head-on.

‘This… this can’t be…!’

‘Indestructible Body…!?’

The middle-aged masters, familiar with such combat from fighting Ka`har, couldn’t help but see Or-han’s shadow over Glar.

Of course, Glar hadn’t manifested Indestructible Body. That was Or-han’s Conceptual Manifestation, not his. His own was far from indestructible.

“Thought it was Indestructible Body? That Conceptual Manifestation is a power granted only to Kagan.”

Noticing the masters’ unease, Glar sneered and lunged into their attacks, projecting his soul and will into the world.

The next moment, the masters attacking Glar were flung back, spraying blood as if struck by an invisible force.

The one who thrust a spear had a hole punched through their body. The one who swung a sword had flesh and muscle sliced away. Karim, who swung his warhammer, had his left shoulder shattered.

“Guh…! This power…!”

Though not at the level of the Realm of Heroes, they were seasoned masters. They quickly understood what had happened.

“He… reflected our attacks…!?”

“Figured it out, huh? Yes. That is my Conceptual Manifestation. The power of Reversal Body (逆轉之體).”

Glar answered coldly, understanding their shock. He hadn’t learned the western language, but he understood a few simple words.

—-

From a very young age, Glar had admired Or-han.

The strongest warrior of the grasslands, worthy of respect.

Admiration is a feeling that makes you strive to resemble someone you can never fully understand.

The form his soul took reflected that.

【 Reversal Body 】

It was a Conceptual Manifestation born from Glar’s admiration for Or-han’s invincibility and his belief that attaining the same power as Or-han would be arrogance and disloyalty.

He layered his soul’s feats onto his body to block all attacks.

He layered his soul’s feats onto his body to reflect his enemies’ blades.

A defensive technique sharing the concept of Indestructible Body but differing in principle and outcome.

The difference between Or-han, who had absolute confidence in his body, and Glar, who, like any ordinary human, had to rely on martial skill rather than physical prowess.