Sensing the morale of the fighters falling, the elder of Xuechi yelled out, his face dark, "No, that's impossible! None of you could have killed the sura king Xuechi—not your governor, nor all of you working in concert! You must have delayed or trapped the king somewhere so that he can't return quickly. Before he does, I urge you to flee—otherwise, he'll slaughter you all!"

The troops' morale couldn't be shaken at such a critical juncture. Otherwise, they surely wouldn't be able to delay until their king's return. 

The fighters calmed down, realizing the truth of the elder's words.

"Indeed, his highness is undefeated in the second realm! How could some random governor defeat him so easily?"

"We're the sura, the hegemons of the second realm!"

"The invaders are clearly lying in order to disrupt our morale—don't fall for it!"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "You can never awaken people who are pretending to be asleep. There's no reason to argue with these fighters any longer—crush them all!"

"Rock spirits, charge forward behind me!" the leader of the rock giants yelled out, rushing at the very front. Its brethren followed suit.

The sura elder's face crumpled; his plan to delay the invasion forces clearly hadn't worked.

The rock giants, coated in a layer of steel, were like gigantic mallets. They leapt over the moat and crashed against the city walls one after the other, causing them to shake and tremble violently as sura fell from the walls.

The sura elder's heart thrummed with anxiety. "Why haven't they come yet?!"

Unable to take the battering, the walls of the city crumpled, allowing the forces of Renhuang to invade. The elder of Xuechi sighed. "Will this kingdom fall because of me?"

Suddenly, the ground started to shake. This time, however, the shaking came not from beyond the walls, but rather from within. The elder raised his head in thankfulness. "They're here!"

A group of violent creatures barrelled through the streets. A number of sura were at the front of the stampede, luring the creatures along.

The sura had decided to make this something of a relay race, with sura after sura taking the role of a lure to guide the pack of creatures forward. By doing so, they could ensure that they weren't running out of stamina and getting eaten by the pack of creatures.

They had successfully lured the creatures to the hole in the wall that the rock giants had made. The moment the rock giants made a large opening in the wall, the pack of creatures came flying out.

Zhang Lie calmly commanded, "Sun Mengmeng, kill the sura leading the creatures along."

Sun Mengmeng prepared to loose a shot.

"[Threefold Lunarflame Shot]!" Three arrows burst into flame as they left Sun Mengmeng's bow, transforming into firebirds in mid-air and rushing toward the sura at the very front of the pack.

Despite being struck by the flaming arrows, despite their bodies being on fire, the sura continued to run: on their backs rested the survival of a kingdom.

Sun Mengmeng loosed another shot at the three sura's heads, finally ending their suffering.

The pack of creatures continued rushing forward in a straight line following where the sura had fallen.

"Long-ranged attackers, don't hold back! Kill those creatures!"

The hunters pulled out their soulshards equipped with long-range capabilities. A large fraction, like Sun Mengmeng, had bow and arrows. Among them, Sun Mengmeng was naturally the strongest. Each of her shots would cause an eruption within the stampede of creatures.

However, of the three thousand hunters, only a third possessed long-range abilities. None of the others were able to do anything to prevent the creatures' advance.

"How troublesome." It was hardly difficult for the forces of Renhuang to face these creatures head-on, but there would surely be casualties as a result. Zhang Lie wanted to prevent this as much as he could.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Quake]!" Zhang Lie leapt forward and punched the ground, causing the earth to quake.

The quaking intensified and spread to the pack of creatures. The lifeforms at the very front suddenly found the ground beneath them giving out. They fell down, but the horde of creatures behind them continued barrelling forward, paving in the craters with their comrades' bodies.

Zhang Lie sighed. It would have been far more convenient if the creatures had just stopped where they were.

He shouted, "Rock spirits, come to me! Form a wall in front of us!"

"Yes, lord!" They emerged amidst a pile of rubble.

"[Rune: Resonate]!" The image of a dragonturtle appeared over him as the four tablets revolved in mid-air before the creature stampede. Black ripples emanated from the gravity-altering tablet, forming a localized region of warped gravity.

Meanwhile, the tablets of sealing and stasis formed two walls in front of the creatures, blocking their path forward and disrupting their cohesion.

Zhang Lie threw out a punch. "[Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar]!"

Waves of energy, so intense they warped space, spread out with Zhang Lie's fist at the very center. The twisted space minced the creatures to pieces, causing fresh blood to stain the ground.

The rock spirits took care of the rest. They had been strengthened massively after consuming a large quantity of rock, ore, and metals, and were hardly affected despite the remaining creatures crashing into their midst. As long as their cores were intact, the rock spirits could regenerate indefinitely.

They held their palms against the ground as large boulders of rock formed a huge wall around them, blocking off the beasts from approaching any closer.

The forces of Renhuang smiled in relief.

Just as the creatures were preparing to turn back, a roar came from the midst of the horde. A gigantic lifeform rushed forward, shattering part of the rock wall and sending a rock giant flying.