Chapter 5252 - 5252 – Decisive Battle


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    500,000 ck Ink nsmen were just 5 million kilometres away from the universe fragment when they were struck by the storm of attacks from the arrays and artifacts.


    Under normal circumstances, such a barrage would be enough to drive these ck Ink nsmen off, but this time was different.


    All the Territory Lords were aware of the severity of the situation with the Royal City at risk of being destroyed; therefore, regardless of the price they had to pay, they had to head to the Royal City.


    Zhe Chong took the initiative by leading the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order ck Ink Disciples to open up the way for the rest of the Army. Faced with the intense bombardment, they steadfastly drew closer to the Human’s base.<div>


    The ck Ink nsmen were still 5 million kilometres away from the forward base, but several tens of thousands of them had lost their lives in a short time. They were practically stepping on the corpses of their nsmen to advance, while the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order ck Ink Disciples at the vanguard were all injured.


    This time, the ck Ink n exhibited unwavering resolve. Faced with the continuous attacks from the arrays and artifacts, none of the Territory Lords and Feudal Lords backed down. Although the nsmen around them continued to pass away, they were determined to continue forward.


    That was because the Territory Lords knew that it was a price they had to pay. As long as they could get close to the Humans and force them into a melee, they would gain the upper hand as they had numbers on their side.


    Although the skirmishes between both parties over the years had been intermittent and rtively tame, the ck Ink nsmen were fully aware of the Humans’ true power.


    The Humans numbered 30,000 when they first arrived outside Great Evolution Pass, but that number included several thousand specialists such as Artifact Refiners, Array Masters, and Alchemists. Furthermore, after years of war, the Humans had naturally suffered a number of losses. Now, thebat force they could mobilise totaled about 20,000.


    On the other hand, there were 500,000 soldiers on the ck Ink n’s side, with the number of top Masters being equal to that of the Humans.


    Therefore, even though the Humans had their Warships to rely on, they didn’t have any kind of significant advantage.


    These 500,000 ck Ink soldiers sacrificed many of theirrades before finally getting close to the forward base; however, the moment theynded on the universe fragment, they were dumbstruck.


    That was because this forward base, which was full of Humans before, waspletely empty now. Regardless of where they looked, they couldn’t find a single Human on thisrge universe fragment.


    Besides that, the artifacts that served as the Array Cores were gone as well. What was left behind were therge number of arrays that couldn’t be taken away.


    The Territory Lords promptly scanned the surroundings with their Divine Senses, but as far as they could tell, the Humans were nowhere to be seen.


    [Where are they?]


    The Territory Lords were puzzled. How did all the Humans retreat in such a short time without leaving any traces behind?


    Even the Eighth-Order ck Ink Disciples, who had a deep understanding of what the Humans were capable of, couldn’t exin it; after all, it had been 30,000 years since they were corrupted by ck Ink Strength. Purifying ck Ink Battleships and Universe Arrays only appeared after Yang Kai arrived, so how were they supposed to know the secrets behind them?


    “Damn it!” One of the Territory Lords roared and stomped his foot on the ground. As his violent force burst forth, the entire universe fragment shook a little.


    “Don’t!” Zhe Chong quickly tried to stop him, but it was toote.


    A dangerous aura suddenly engulfed the entire universe fragment. Following that, the arrays that remained lit up and connected with each other.


    After just a moment, the universe fragment was covered in a massive Grand Array.


    Just as the ck Ink nsmen shot into the sky to escape, the universe fragment detonated. An intense destructive force swept out, battering all the Territory Lords.


    After the shockwave subsided, Zhe Chong gazed around with a dark expression, only to see that the universe fragment waspletely gone. Following this turn of events, more than 10,000 ck Ink nsmen, who hadnded on the universe fragment to investigate, lost their lives.


    Those were mostly High-Rank and Low-Rank ck Ink nsmen.


    Although the ck Ink n hadn’t suffered immense losses, they were frustrated.


    Regardless, Zhe Chong was d that the universe fragment wasn’t that big. Out of an abundance of caution, he didn’t let a lot of ck Ink nsmennd on the universe fragment; otherwise, there would have been many more casualties.


    Zhe Chong turned to glower at the Territory Lord who stomped his foot back there. That Territory Lord was furious out of shame as he roared, “I must kill them! All of them!”


    Barely two days had passed since these 500,000 ck Ink nsmen departed from Great Evolution Pass, but 10% of them had already perished.


    Despite knowing that there were certainly more traps ahead of them, the remaining 450,000 ck Ink n soldiers had no choice but to keep moving forward.


    Zhe Chong wasn’t a fool; if he was, he wouldn’t have promptly decided to run away from Wind and Cloud Pass back then. A foolish Territory Lord would never live long.


    As he shed with the North-South Army over the years, Zhe Chong came to realise that the enemy had a leader who was particrly good at devising tactics andying out ns on the Humans’ side.


    Faced with such an opponent, he had to be extremely careful; therefore, after the ck Ink nsmen set off again, they no longer moved in a straight line. Instead, they kept making detours. Even Zhe Chong himself didn’t have a particr direction in mind. That way, he could ensure that the Army wouldn’t fall into the traps that the Humans had set up.


    They were especially wary of areas that were full of asteroids or universe fragments. When they came across such ces, they would steer clear.


    That was because they had suffered from a simr setback already.


    Three dayster, the Humans were still nowhere in sight and the scouts that the ck Ink n had sent out couldn’t find anything. It was as though the Human soldiers had vanished into thin air.


    However, Zhe Chong knew that the Humans wouldn’t give up so easily. They had to be hiding somewhere, waiting tounch a sneak attack on them.


    Again, they circled around an area that was full of universe fragments; however, without a warning, light burst forth from the void itself. In an instant, numerous glowing objects appeared and connected with one another to form a Grand Array, cutting the ck Ink n Army in half.


    The sudden change caused the ck Ink nsmen who were moving forward in an orderly manner to descend into chaos.


    Right then, the Humans appeared out of nowhere. No one knew where they had been hiding. It was as though they had simply manifested from nowhere.


    The Warships charged forward and rained a series of attacks on the split up ck Ink n soldiers.


    One hour after the battle began, the Humans retreated. By the time the ck Ink n Army was done reorganising itself, the Humans were gone.


    If the Humans had left anyter, the ck Ink n could have rallied together and dealt a heavy blow to them.


    Although Zhe Chong was vexed, he wouldn’t dare to tell the others to pursue the Humans. No one could be certain whether there were any traps set up on the route the enemy had retreated.


    Zhe Chong would appear useless if they fell into the Humans’ traps again.


    Ordering the ck Ink n soldiers to pull themselves together, Zhe Chong continued their forward march.


    Simr ambushes repeatedly over the next 10 days. Regardless of how hard Zhe Chong tried to suppress his fury, he was on the brink of ring up.


    There was one thing he just couldn’t understand, He had been ordering random changes in the Army’s marching direction all this time, leading to them to take 10 days to cross a distance which could normally be traversed in just 5; however, they had still repeatedly fallen into traps that the Humans had arranged.


    There was no way this was a mere coincidence, nor was it possible that the Humans had urately spected about the route they would take; after all, even Zhe Chong had no idea about the next direction he would lead the Army towards, so how were the Humans supposed to figure it out?


    There was only one possibility that could exin such a situation.


    The Humans had simply set up a tremendous amount of traps in various ces between Great Evolution Pass and the Royal City. Although the ck Ink n Army kept changing directions and sessfully avoided some traps, they would inevitably fall into others.


    Upon that realisation, Zhe Chong couldn’t help but groan.


    If that was true, the number of traps that the Humans had arranged must be astronomical, as was the amount of resources they had consumed to make such a thing possible.


    However, considering the fact that the Humans had upied a forward base outside Great Evolution Pass for 100 years, keeping the ck Ink n contained there all this time, it wasn’t necessarily impossible for them to pull this off.


    There was also another thing that bothered Zhe Chong though. When he told the soldiers to circumvent areas that were full of universe fragments or universe fragments on several asions, they would alwayse across the traps that the Humans had arranged.


    In that case, the Humans must have anticipated his thought process and done the opposite. Instead of setting up traps inside the areas that were full of asteroids or universe fragments, they had done so in their periphery.


    In other words, the areas that were full of asteroids or universe fragments were actually safe zones.


    Upon that revtion, Zhe Chong thought of a solution.


    Zhe Chong had started out with 500,000 soldiers, and still had many of them with him. It had been one month since they departed from Great Evolution Pass, but they had only crossed about 30% of the distance to the Royal City.


    This couldn’t be helped. Even though they had avoided many of the traps the Humans had set up, they had also wasted a lot of time. If they had headed towards the Royal City in a straight line, they would have arrived at their destination in a little over a month.


    Over the past month, the ck Ink n soldiers had shed with the Humans on multiple asions. Presently, only 400,000 of them were left. All the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order ck Ink Disciples were alive and kicking, but many of the Feudal Lords had lost their lives.


    In the void, the ck Ink n Army continued heading towards the Royal City.


    Meanwhile, the Warships of the North-South Army were hiding in an area that was full of universe fragments. With the help of the Warships, the Humans’ mobility and speed were superior to those of the ck Ink n. Therefore, the North-South Army could always stay one step ahead of the ck Ink n Army and set up obstructions.


    The Universe Arrays on the two Purifying ck Ink Battleships could ensure that if their spection about the direction that the ck Ink n was heading was wrong, they could quickly re-deploy their forces.


    Presently, aboard one of the Purifying ck Ink Battleships, Mi Jing Lun, Ou Yang Lie, and the other Eighth-Order Division Commanders had gathered together.


    With a solemn expression, Mi Jing Lun said, “If we’re lucky, the ck Ink n’s reinforcements will pass by this ce. This is where we will engage them in a decisive battle.”


    “Have we used up all our prior arrangements?” Ou Yang Lie asked. He wasn’t interested in managing the affairs of the Army, so he let Mi Jing Lun make all the decisions. What he excelled at was fighting powerful ck Ink nsmen and killing them. Even though he knew a thing or two about the setups that the North-South Army’s soldiers had built, he didn’t know as much as Mi Jing Lun did.


    Mi Jing Lun shook his head, “We set up countless traps, so how is it possible that they were all used up? Only 20% to 30% of them have been used, but we expected this oue when we started making those arrangements. However, there’s nothing else beyond this point.”


    This couldn’t be helped. Although the North-South Army had spent 100 years and consumed a massive amount of resources to set up innumerable traps in the void, they couldn’t possibly build traps all the way from Great Evolution Pass to the Royal City in such a short amount of time.


    This was already the best they could do. If the ck Ink n Army sessfully crossed this point, there would no longer be any dangers ahead of them.