Chương 71: The Charge

"Soldiers! Stake everything you have! Kill this despicable invader, kill this evil anti-intelligent-being element, and defend our home!" Li Qinwu carried the greatsword on his shoulder, shouting as he charged, followed by 300 soldiers who were also roaring. About one-third of these Goblins were system soldiers; they were the garrison stationed at Gob-Fort and were certified by the system.

This was why Li Qinwu dared to launch the final charge; even if the other 200 fled, at least 100 would follow him to deal with the Hero. Fortunately, Goblins are social magic creatures; when everyone started charging, they all got "heated up." The power of the collective is immense; even though they were scared to death, no one fled. Leon, in his white-winged form, had the protection of the Goddess of Life, and his translation magic was automatically active.

He understood Li Qinwu's charge declaration and was filled with bewilderment. What is this? I'm the invader? Goblins are defending their home? I've become an anti-intelligent-being element? It felt utterly absurd, but thinking carefully, what he was doing now really seemed no different from invading another country, didn't it? In human secular values, the Magic Creature Forest indeed belonged to magic creatures. If magic creatures built a nation in their own forest, there seemed to be no problem with that, right?

So, was his current behavior still righteous? Leon looked at the charging ranks; these Goblins clearly had faces full of terror, yet they still leveled their weapons and charged at him. They looked... truly like human soldiers defending their home, charging toward an invincible Demon race. Leon was momentarily dazed; he began to doubt the righteousness of his actions. Li Qinwu rushed close and swung his greatsword down hard. Leon quickly snapped back to his senses and raised his precious sword to block.

He thought he would easily deflect this strike and then cut Li Qinwu in half. To his surprise, Li Qinwu's sword was exceptionally heavy and fully powered, knocking him back several steps. Leon gasped; this Goblin was actually this strong! Without waiting for him to steady himself, Li Qinwu rushed up with another strike, hitting the Hero's waist. Leon had no time to react and was sent flying horizontally.

However, he didn't fall; the two pure white wings on his back flapped a few times to help him stabilize his stance. He looked at Li Qinwu in disbelief—he, who possessed the protection of the Goddess of Life, had actually been knocked flying by a single sword strike! Li Qinwu didn't feel good either; those two strikes felt like hitting an anvil, numbing his palms and making his bones ache! The spot on the Hero's armor where he had been hit was dented, but Li Qinwu noticed something was wrong.

It was a very thin set of armor, unlike the 10mm-thick monstrosity he was wearing. How did such a thin thing block a heavy sword attack? It must be a special material!! In normal times, Li Qinwu would have brainstormed a thousand industrial uses for a new material, but now he could only refocus his mind and continue his attack on the Hero. Just as he was about to rush up again, the Hero steadied himself and unleashed a sword-light.

Frightened, Li Qinwu threw himself to the side into the mud; the spot where he had been standing was carved into a trench by the light. Li Qinwu wanted to scramble up quickly, but the sun-shower wouldn't stop. The farmland had become extremely muddy and slippery; he actually couldn't stand up for a moment! Leon felt this was a good opportunity and rushed up to finish Li Qinwu with one strike, but the musketeer Goblins surged forward and surrounded him.

He could only temporarily get tangled in a chaotic melee with the rabble. With two strikes, he killed a fierce Captain. Leon wanted to break through the encirclement to find Li Qinwu, but waves of Goblins kept surrounding him, their bayonets and gunstocks raining down on him like a storm!

"Damned invader! Die! Die!!"

"You want to take away the land we worked so hard to cultivate, you damned fellow!!"

"You actually want to steal my beloved wood-rat? Leave your life behind!!" Leon cursed in his heart— What the hell do I care about your wood-rat? He gathered magic into his sword, making it glow, and unleashed a powerful sword-light, slaying seven or eight Goblins at once! The Goblins who were hit gave out tragic cries and fell as corpses, but the others were not deterred—or rather, the system soldiers were not. They stepped over the bodies of their fallen comrades and continued to pounce.

Leon unleashed three more powerful sword-lights in succession, killing over 20 more Goblins. These terrifying lights took a significant toll on him; even the white wings on his back dimmed slightly, and he began to pant heavily, showing signs of fatigue. The Goblins' offensive was like the tide; you push it back with all your might, only for them to surge forward again like a law of nature. Leon panicked. Why? Why are these Goblins so brave? Why exactly is this happening?!!

Aren't Goblins the kind of magic creatures that any random farmer could wipe out? Why were the Goblins before him as tough as a battle-hardened human army? Leon suddenly remembered the words the butler Monde said before being burned to death in the capital's square: "You must kill that fellow as early as possible!! That guy is using order to regulate Goblins; he is reclaiming land, building infrastructure, and training a professional army!

If he is allowed to develop, he will surely establish a magic creature nation, and then he will become a great scourge for humanity!!" At this moment, Leon 100% understood Monde's words. I must kill that fellow! I have to kill him!! Leon made up his mind—not just for the future of humanity, but because of a faint unease in his heart. Even though his partners had all died at the hands of these Goblins, why did he have a sense of guilt, as if he were invading another country? Kill that special Goblin!

Then all of this can end! Wait? Where is that special Goblin? Leon killed a few more Goblins in front of him and searched everywhere for Li Qinwu's figure. Suddenly! Leon felt a stinging sensation from behind. He instinctively unleashed a sword-light toward his rear. Li Qinwu took the hit squarely with his plate armor, gave a muffled grunt, but resolutely raised his greatsword and hacked down. Leon's eyes widened as he tried to dodge, but it was too late.

Li Qinwu's greatsword hacked down onto the two "chicken wings" on his back.

"AAAAAHHH!!!" Leon gave a sharp cry of agony. His magic wings were cut off, and he suffered a violent magical backlash; he felt his mind was about to be torn apart by chaotic magic. Holding his head, he unleashed several sword-lights in a row to kill the Goblins in front of him, then took several leaps to jump out of the encirclement, landing in the mud in the distance and retching. Li Qinwu looked at the wings slowly dissipating on the ground.

He had just been curious whether those things on the Hero's back were physical or magical constructs; seeing them dissipate now, they were undoubtedly magical. Though he didn't know what the wings were for, the Hero couldn't even stand steadily now—they must have been important. The Hero was surely heavily wounded! Leon was indeed heavily wounded. Those wings were an enhancement provided by the dissipating magic after the Goddess of Life's pendant shattered.

The wings acted like a vacuum, sucking the magic from the air into his body, allowing him to recover magic quickly and unleash those high-consumption sword-lights faster. But since the wings were severed by Li Qinwu, his magic recovery returned to normal; he could no longer use sword-lights without restraint. Li Qinwu touched the armor on his chest; a terrifying slash mark had appeared on it.

He crushed the two wings under his foot, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, and continued to charge forward with his greatsword. The other Goblins followed in his footsteps! Leon hammered his head fiercely; the magic backlash made him dizzy, almost unable to stand. The Goblins were charging again. Forced by necessity, he reached into his armor and pulled out a glass test tube containing some blood-red potion. He threw the entire potion into his mouth and bit the glass tube open.

"Mmgh!" Leon gave a muffled grunt. Blood-red filled his eyes, and his body trembled violently. He steadied himself and stared coldly at Li Qinwu.

"You motherfucker have a third stage too?!!!" Li Qinwu roared and rushed up to strike. Then, something that terrified Li Qinwu happened. Leon's speed exploded several times over; he unleashed a strike with a speed that left afterimages. Li Qinwu's exaggeratedly heavy greatsword was cut into two halves by a single strike! Then, with lightning speed, Leon hacked down at Li Qinwu. Li Qinwu's pupils shrunk to the size of pinpoints.

He instinctively stepped back and raised his left hand to block—and then his left hand, along with the arm guard, was severed!! Before the pain could reach his brain, Leon flew up and kicked his breastplate, sending him flying over 10 meters away into the mud! The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Having done all this, Leon vomited a mouthful of fresh blood. His aura withered by more than three times.

The remaining Goblins rushed up to fight him; his sword-swinging speed became extremely slow. After the explosion from the potent medicine, he had entered a weakened state, yet he still made the Goblins wail in pain. Li Qinwu, who had been kicked away, felt a wave of dizziness. He felt like his luck had run out; his breastplate was entirely caved in, and several ribs were broken. Li Qinwu vomited a large mouthful of blood and staggered, trying to crawl up, but he simply couldn't.

After struggling for a while to no avail, he raised his left hand and looked; the entire left arm was gone, leaving only a neatly cut wound that was spraying blood. Li Qinwu directly shoved the stump of his left arm into the mud, using the dirt to forcibly slow the bleeding. As Li Qinwu tried to rise, the remaining Goblins were slaughtered by Leon until they began to flee. Their morale had hit zero, and they vanished into the forest in a flash.

Only a dozen or so system soldiers remained locked in a fierce battle with Leon. Leon swayed, covered in blood from head to toe; he looked like a heavily wounded man about to die, yet he still stood there holding his sword. The last few system Goblins charged at once. Leon thrust left and hacked right; the Goblins were killed one by one, falling into the mud. The last musketeer Goblin thrust a bayonet toward Leon's face; Leon tilted his head, dodging the thrust, but his stamina had reached its limit.

His dodging speed was a bit slow, and his ear was flicked off by the bayonet. Leon gave a cry of pain, held his ear, and casually sent out a strike, killing the last musketeer Goblin. At this point, the armed forces Li Qinwu had spent so much effort to train were completely wiped out! The battlefield returned to silence. Leon stood in the sun-shower, panting heavily. Because he had consumed the potent medicine, his eyes were blood-red, and he had lost his ability to perceive color.

In his vision, everything was black and white—this was an irreversible side effect of the medicine. In this black-and-white perspective, he saw a rainbow appear in the distant sky, as if the Goddess were celebrating his victory. The great Goddess of Life was protecting him; Hero Leon had once again triumphed over evil magic creatures! The rain stopped, and the air became extremely clean, but the intense smell of blood wouldn't dissipate. Leon looked at Li Qinwu, who had fallen in the mud.

His teeth suddenly clenched; he never imagined a single Goblin could push him to this point. He staggered toward Li Qinwu. Li Qinwu struggled to get up, but the kick from the Hero had shattered countless ribs, and coupled with the loss of one hand and the mud everywhere, he couldn't get up at all. Leon stepped up to Li Qinwu and stepped on his breastplate. He looked down at Li Qinwu, his precious sword pressed against his throat.

"Brute, was the kingdom game fun?" With the sword at his throat, Li Qinwu no longer tried to rise. He looked into Hero Leon's crimson eyes and coughed up a large mouthful of blood.

"The rain stopped," he said. Leon frowned; this wasn't what he wanted to hear. He wanted to hear the Goblin's miserable pleas for mercy.

"What do you mean?"

"Hehehe... cough, cough..." Li Qinwu laughed and coughed up more blood, his expression suddenly turning insane.

"It means, sir, the times have changed!" A hand cannon suddenly appeared in his intact right hand, its muzzle pointed straight at the Hero's head! Leon felt his heart gripped by the claws of a giant dragon; a sense of crisis washed over him like a tide! Li Qinwu pulled the trigger. In a flash, Leon's expression turned to terror; he raised his left hand to protect his face, but it was too late—steel balls and iron grit covered his face!

With a bang, Leon stepped back two steps in a daze and then fell straight down into the mud. His head wasn't blown apart by the steel balls, but a large number of holes had been punched into his face. For a moment, the air fell silent, save for Li Qinwu's heavy panting. Is he dead? Is he finally dead? Li Qinwu asked himself this. His tensed body relaxed, and an intense feeling of exhaustion hit him. He was so sleepy; he wanted to sleep. Before he could completely relax, his heart suddenly tightened.

Something's wrong! The Hero isn't dead! The Mount & Blade system hasn't shown a kill notification! Li Qinwu was instantly horrified. In the next moment, like a vengeful ghost crawling back from hell, the Hero's battered body crawled out of the mud. He was covered in mud and blood, with various unknown fragments of internal organs hanging from the gaps in his armor. His once-handsome face had become the visage of a demon; a large number of steel balls had torn apart his facial muscles.

His left cheek was entirely torn away, exposing his gums. His eyes had also been destroyed by the steel balls, losing the ability to see.

"AAAAAHHHH!!!!" Leon held his face, screaming. He couldn't see, which made him feel extreme panic. After his initial bewilderment, Li Qinwu's facial muscles gradually twisted together!

"Damn it! Are you unkillable! Are you that unwilling to die!!!" Li Qinwu roared out. A surge of strength rose from his battered body; he pushed off the muddy ground with one hand and scrambled up. He quickly accessed the warehouse page and pulled out a hand cannon. He immediately raised it to shoot Leon, but the thing felt as heavy as a thousand pounds to him now! Li Qinwu could only use his blood-spraying left stump to prop up the barrel.

With both hands exerting force together, he forcibly raised the muzzle to aim at Leon's head. Leon was blind, but his sixth sense remained. As the great terror approached, he turned his back to Li Qinwu and lowered his head, using his sturdy backplate to meet the attack. Li Qinwu pulled the trigger, and with a boom, the steel balls shot out, hitting Leon's back and erupting in a spray of sparks. Leon gave a cry of pain and lunged forward several steps.

The massive recoil sent the hand cannon flying from Li Qinwu's hand. Ignoring it, Li Qinwu took a second hand cannon from the warehouse and aimed it at Leon's back. But this time, before he could fire, Leon threw the precious sword in his hand. The spinning sword shattered the hand cannon, and the flying blade also cut Li Qinwu's right palm in half. Li Qinwu gave a grunt of pain; several fingers and hand cannon parts fell into the mud. He had lost all ability to attack... right?

Li Qinwu's eyes were like those of a venomous snake, fixed deathly on Leon's back. This guy had wiped out his army—the very foundation of his rule! You destroy my foundation; we cannot coexist! Leon felt Li Qinwu's gaze; the intense killing intent chilled his heart! He gave a terrified cry and staggered toward the forest edge. He was actually afraid! The Hero Leon, famous across the four human countries and protected by the Goddess of Life, was actually afraid!

He wanted to flee, and Li Qinwu immediately gave chase. The footsteps of the two trudged through the mud, making a squelch-squelch sound. Both fell several times because the ground was too slippery. With their stamina hit rock bottom, they panted heavily; their heavy breathing was like a bellows, and their intense heartbeats were like drums. He fled, he chased—he had nowhere to run! Eventually, Li Qinwu caught up to Leon.

He balled his right hand—which had been cut in half—into a fist and punched Leon in the back of the head. This turned the already mangled right hand into a mixture of bone and flesh. It was unclear what Leon's skull was made of; Li Qinwu's punch did no damage, only making him give a muffled grunt. Having thrown the punch, Li Qinwu's stamina was instantly drained. He leaned over, panting for several breaths, and then continued to chase like a zombie. Li Qinwu approached Leon again, wanting to throw another punch.

Leon suddenly turned. Li Qinwu felt a pain in his abdomen and gave a muffled grunt. Looking down, a dagger was stabbed into his belly. It was unclear what material this dagger was made of; Li Qinwu's ultra-thick armor offered no resistance and was easily pierced! Li Qinwu snapped to his senses, his eyes bloodshot. He lunged forward with force, hugging Leon's head and biting down fiercely on his ear!

Leon screamed, pulled out the dagger, and stabbed it fiercely into Li Qinwu's belly again, repeating this several times. Li Qinwu completely ignored the stabbings, biting down hard on Leon's ear and then tearing it away with a violent yank!

"AAAAAHHH!!" Leon screamed, realizing that stabbing the belly couldn't cause a fatal wound. He raised his hand, wanting to stab Li Qinwu elsewhere, but Li Qinwu instinctively hugged Leon's armpit, so the hand holding the dagger was held high in the air. The two struggled for quite a while. Leon wanted to push Li Qinwu away, but Li Qinwu's arms were like iron hoops, hugging his waist so tightly that he couldn't push at all.

During the struggle, he hit Li Qinwu's eye socket with his shoulder, turning one of his eyes into a bloody mess. Eventually, Leon's last bit of stamina was exhausted. The two just stood there in the mud, hugging each other face-to-face.

"Why... you... why can you go to this extent!" Leon asked in a crying tone. Li Qinwu spat out Leon's ear. He wanted to say something, but suddenly, his one remaining eye saw a small spark light up on a mound 400 meters away. The exhausted Leon felt an intense warning of death; he tried to dodge again. Li Qinwu leaned down, burying his face in Leon's chest, hugging his body tightly so he couldn't move at all, forcing him to stand in place.

"AH!! Let go of me! Let me go, AAAAAHHH!!!" Leon gave his most terrified shout. But Li Qinwu's blessing from the Earth Goddess took effect; a faint, weak power surged into his body from the earth, allowing him to hold the frantic Leon in place.

"Let go! Let go! Let go!!" Leon frantically elbowed Li Qinwu's back. Li Qinwu's backplate was dented by the elbows, and he vomited several mouthfuls of blood, yet he still held Leon tightly.

"Let go of—urgh..." Sizzle-crack!! BANG!! The sound of metal twisting rang out. The struggling Leon suddenly froze and then went limp. Only then did the sound of a gunshot follow. A large hole appeared in Leon's backplate; his body had been shattered by a single bullet, and his life was rapidly draining away. If Li Qinwu hadn't been holding him, he would have collapsed into the mud. Leon vomited blood foam.

Li Qinwu pressed his mouth close to Leon's ear and said in a demonic voice: "Hero Leon, the kingdom game is truly very fun. Remember, I am the King of Goblins, the Enslaver of all races, the Scourge of the world, the Destroyer of gods, the only legitimate master of the Magic Creature Forest—Arthur Louis Romanov Qin Shihuang! When you go to the Goddess of Life, give that bitch a greeting for me.

One day, I will kill all her priests in this world, burn all her temples, destroy all literature about her, make the world forget her, and erase her from this world. Jie-jie-jie-jie-jie!" Having finished, Li Qinwu's body went limp, and he collapsed into the mud while still hugging Leon. His vision began to blur, as if an ink-like darkness were about to swallow him. Before losing consciousness completely, he saw Gobu-Bow running over in a panic, carrying that oversized matchlock gun.

Li Qinwu thought to himself that this fellow had actually waited until the very end to fire, but—well done. Gobu-Bow called out to him loudly, but Li Qinwu no longer had the strength to respond. So the Goblin dropped the gun and ran out of his sight, seemingly to call for help. Not long after Gobu-Bow ran off, Gobu-Spear walked over. He had several arrows stuck in his body and was carrying the head of the Elf Undine.

Seeing that Li Qinwu seemed to be dying, he casually tossed the head into the mud and also ran to call for help. Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Miss Hana appeared in his vision. Miss Hana looked down at him, her beautiful eyes filled with shock and complexity.