The soldier's right hand was immobilized, useless for balance, and his left-handed swordplay was visibly clumsy. Ravaged by severe injuries, his body was clearly at the absolute end of its rope.
In just two exchanges, the column sword drove straight through his chest.
"Ha... fuck," the soldier muttered, standing there. He glanced down, then looked up at the Great Spike. "Fuck your mother."
Even as the curse left his lips, the left-handed slash he had long calculated—and had in fact swung in advance—fell precisely on target.
*Crack!* His blade tore open the very first bleeding wound across the blue-sheened Great Spike's wrist.
The soldier died. This was what he had prepared himself to do, and given his broken body, the only thing he could have possibly accomplished.
*If only the bastard had let go of the sword,* he thought in his final moment. *I would've run a few more steps carrying it with me.*
"*Awoooo!*" The Great Spike roared in agony.
The soldier's corpse was flung into the air by the sweeping column sword, flying high...
Across the opposite mountain slope, Liu Shiheng happened to look back at that exact moment. From afar, he saw that figure perish in a single stroke.
He pulled back on the comrade dragging him along, coming to a halt.
More and more recruits stopped, just like him.
"Keep moving! Keep moving, damn it! That's no ordinary Great Spike! The instructors are... they're only stalling for time!" The young Instructor He from Regiment 491 leading the column turned to urge them on frantically, yet his own eyes were fixed on the battlefield.
"...Instructor Cao," he murmured a moment later.
Head Instructor Cao of Regiment 491 had an arm sheared away by the column sword. He had just spotted an opening when the Great Spike shifted hands on its grip, risking everything to lunge and slash behind its waist, never expecting the blue-sheened Great Spike could pivot so blindingly fast.
The tactical habits and ingrained instincts from fighting ordinary Great Spikes were among the deadliest traps in this battle.
Yet they still had to step into them. They had to try.
Because if they merely skirmished without maintaining relentless pressure and inflicting severe damage, then... once the Great Spike decided to leave—whether to pursue the fleeing recruits ahead or head back up the mountain for the kid—they would have no way to keep it pinned.
"Lao Cao!" Seeing this, Zhang Dao'an charged forward, dropping to his knees and sliding across the ground with both blades raised, desperately fending off the column sword's follow-up strike.
He bought Instructor Cao room to pull back and survive.
Instead of retreating, however, the one-armed Instructor Cao leaped horizontally, scooped up another blade, twisted around, and thrust it hard into the crook of the Great Spike's other knee.
He knew that if he backed away, the pain would overtake him in the next instant.
The Great Spike ripped back the column sword, pinning him to the ground... With his last shred of consciousness and his sole remaining arm, Instructor Cao drove a second strike into that exact same spot behind its knee.
"I'll go first," he whispered with his dying breath.
This was perhaps the bloodiest and most brutal battle Azure had seen in five or six years.
***
Down below, Han Qingyu took only a single glance at the carnage before forcing his head back around, turning to scramble upward.
He knew he had no choice left; he couldn't stop. If this had just been about the metal block, he would have turned and run. But things were different now... Those men were trading their lives to buy him time.
It wasn't hard to grasp... and so Han Qingyu no longer bothered trying to stay hidden.
Behind him, Xin Yaoqiao and He Tangtang were still climbing, doggedly pursuing him.
"Get back down!" Han Qingyu barked without looking back.
"I... but it'll be hard for you to find it alone! We can help you look!" When it came to knowledge about Great Spikes, Xin Yaoqiao far surpassed Han Qingyu.
Just then, *Roar!* At the foot of the cliff, the Great Spike bellowed abruptly.
*It's probably noticed me,* Han Qingyu deduced. At this point, though, it hardly made a difference.
"No need... Quick, go find somewhere to hide! Hurry... it's coming!" Han Qingyu urged as he climbed. He could faintly sense that the metal block had to be close.
Down below, the Great Spike was already attempting to disengage from the battle, only kept firmly pinned for the moment because its injuries slowed it down.
"Then... I'll go buy you some time too."
Gritting her teeth, Xin Yaoqiao turned, rose to her feet, sprinted a few strides along the cliff face, and leapt down, dashing toward the battlefield.
"Wait, don't! That Great Spike is—"
"I know! I'll be careful!"
Their exchange ended there. In the next second, the girl's twin-blade-wielding silhouette was already dropping below the crag.
Only now did He Tangtang realize that she was actually astonishingly strong.
"Then I... damn it, I'm going too!" Though far less agile than Xin Yaoqiao, He Tangtang copied her, pushing himself up and bounding down the cliff.
Meanwhile, atop the ridgeline on the other side.
"What are you doing?" a comrade asked.
He had just seen Liu Shiheng draw the sword from his back.
"I... I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing either."
As Liu Shiheng spoke, the thought struck him that he might die—he almost certainly would die... Fear surged through him, an ache of reluctance, a deep longing for his lavish life back in Gangcheng... Tears even began to well in his eyes.
Yet, gripping his blade, he still began running back the way he had come.
*Clang, clang, clang...*
More and more recruits drew their blades and sprinted back.
"Stop! All of you, stop!" the young Instructor He of Regiment 491 shouted, planting himself in front of them. He paused, then said, "Going back won't do any good now... Promise me you'll run. Turn around and keep running, don't stop... And promise me that in the future, you'll slay a few extra Great Spikes in my place!"
With that, he drew his own sword and turned to sprint back into the fray alone.
***
Han Qingyu finally spotted the object. The shuttle-shaped craft was split open like a clam shell, and nestled at its center was a pyramid-shaped metallic object.
To his limited knowledge, it looked more like a receiver than any kind of transmitter.
As for the flow of source energy, he could feel it pulsating right inside that pyramid.
"I found it!" Han Qingyu dashed back to the edge of the cliff and shouted downward with all his might, "Run! Everyone, don't look back! Run! He Tangtang, don't go down there, run! Whatever-your-name-is, Yaohuang, run! Instructor Zhang..."
When his call reached Zhang Dao'an, the word "run" caught in Han Qingyu's throat.
Because in the scene below, only one person remained. Zhang Dao'an stood alone, soaked in blood, his back to Han Qingyu, gripping twin blades.
He barred the Great Spike's path forward.
And the monster before him, the mighty blue-sheened Great Spike, was also covered in wounds.
"Hurry it up, brat!" Zhang Dao'an barked over his shoulder. He turned back with a sneering grin, dropping his shoulders to gather his strength and face the beast.
"..." Han Qingyu could only sprint back to the device.
In the middle of the clam-like shell, the pyramid-shaped object seemed to have no slot whatsoever for inserting a source energy block. Han Qingyu had no time to study it... He simply reached out and pressed his hand directly against it.
Then, in less than two seconds, the surge of source energy was barely felt before it vanished. Everything was over.
At the same time, the pyramid and the craft began to crumble and shatter on their own.
Down below, the Great Spike seemed to share a sensory link with the object. The moment the shattering began, a shrill howl erupted from the beast, echoing endlessly through the mountain range.
Han Qingyu guessed another bruise must have formed on his chest, but that didn't matter now. He rushed back to the cliff edge, praying...
Yet the sight that met his eyes was Zhang Dao'an, already impaled by the column sword.
He was not yet dead. With agonizing effort, he glanced back over his shoulder. Seeing Han Qingyu reappear, he knew the outcome... and a proud, triumphant smile spread across his face.
Then he mouthed, "Run."
Zhang Dao'an knew the Great Spike would relentlessly hunt down Han Qingyu next, but found he could make no sound.
So from afar, Zhang Dao'an first waved Han Qingyu away, shooing him off... and then, under the gaze of everyone on the mountain and in the distance, he abruptly raised a salute toward Han Qingyu.
No one knew what that salute truly signified.
Most assumed it was gratitude—gratitude for helping complete the mission.
In truth, it was a salute rendered in advance... to Regiment 425's future color Eraser squad leader.
Having done all this, Zhang Dao'an at last lost his final breath of life, and his head slumped forward.
In the final instant before death, he suddenly saw his old comrades once more. He saw the special insignias of Regiment 425's Red Eraser pinned to their chests, and he saw Squad Leader Wang Liuzheng standing there, smiling gently at him...
"Reporting to Squad Leader Wang... Service Number 34473, First Lieutenant Zhang Dao'an... former left flank of the Second Formation, Red Eraser... requesting permission to rejoin the ranks."
Chapter 65