Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 231 Brothers United in Slaying a Fourth-Rank Rank 1!

The Frankish Marines were not entirely unarmored, but they wore only light chainmail or ponchos, with at most one or two steel arm guards.

But when faced with these heavily armored infantrymen and temple ghost soldiers who charged forward like a collapsing mountain, their incomparably sharp and swift swords and their hearts began to tremble slightly.

A clear voice rang out from within the army formation, each word echoing the synchronized footsteps of the soldiers, its momentum growing ever stronger:
"Two thousand years ago, there was a dynasty in China called Han. They defeated a nomadic tribe in the north called the Xiongnu."

The main force of the Xiongnu was defeated and killed, and a small number of survivors migrated westward, merging with the local indigenous people to form a new ethnic group.

This new ethnic group is called the Huns, and their leader is Attila the Scourge of God!

The Huns continued their westward sweep across the entire western continent, nearly destroying the once-glorious ancient empire. Soon after, the mercenary leader Odoacer deposed the last emperor, and the empire collapsed.

That Odoac was one of the three great barbarian tribes, the ancestors of your Western countries.

An invincible Marine Corps? Ha! Who claims to be invincible? Who dares to say they're undefeated?

He's nothing but a defeated enemy's defeated enemy's defeated enemy! Dare to come to the East and fight in land warfare with cold weapons? Get the hell out of here first!

While the lords of the Western Continent were still forging family heirloom armor for their knights, the Song Dynasty's Armory could already produce 30,000 sets of infantry armor annually, with the Imperial Guards' infantry wearing armor at a rate as high as 98%.

While unified dynasties could already field "millions of heavily armored soldiers," the knight armor of the Western Continent and the great armor of Yingzhou remained symbols of status for nobles.

Armor is the most direct indicator of combat strength!

Although it was the era of firearms led by the Western Continent, and even Attila would still need to be good at singing and dancing if he were alive, it didn't stop Wang Cheng from bragging in the slightest when it came to cold weapon duels.

The elite Tanka people around him were hearing about this ancient history of the Western Continent for the first time.

They had initially been somewhat skeptical of the Franks' reputation as "the sun never sets" and "invincible under heaven," but upon hearing that their ancestors were actually so weak, their already high morale soared like a dragon ascending to the sky.

A thunderous roar erupted from their chests:

“Who claims to be invincible, who dares to claim to be undefeated?”

"Climb, climb, crawl!"

Hundreds of iron maces clashed left and right, producing a tremendous roar that shook the enemy's spirit and terrified them.

At this moment, the elite Marines at the front finally crashed into the layers of iron walls.

Most of them were also mystical guardians blessed with holy water and mass rituals, making them far more powerful than ordinary people.

Subconsciously, he twisted his body and thrust out a sword with the [Supreme Technique] honed through countless trials. Based on past experience, this sword was enough to easily pierce through a tree as thick as a person.

But after the sword tip struck the plate armor at the heart, sparks flew, leaving only a small scratch.

The Five Dragon Scale Soldiers, having been stabbed, didn't even dodge. Instead, they unleashed a move called "Bell-Striking Style," raising their double maces high and then slamming them down to smash their opponent's skull.

Bang!
A head suddenly exploded like a watermelon.

The iron mace, a heavy weapon, was designed to deal with heavy armor. It can penetrate 3 mm of iron armor against the same heavily armored unit. Against unarmored or lightly armored units, it is as easy as killing chickens and sheep.

The Marines further back, horrified, drew one to three short-barreled muskets from their waists and pulled the triggers at the "iron wall".

The five dragon-scale soldiers at the front had their forehead scales turn blue. With the help of the wood element and wind and thunder, they wielded their iron maces like lightning, easily knocking away bullets with a velocity lower than that of long-barreled muskets.

Then came the movements as swift as thunder from the heavens and the attacks as fluid as mercury spilling onto the ground.

"The devil of the East! Ah!"

"The Yellow Peril! They are the new Yellow Peril after the Huns!"

"support."

Some Marines were blown to the head on the spot, some had their intestines pierced by the tip of a mace, and some were smashed in half at the waist by the enormous force, their heads resting on their buttocks.

Despite its capacity of 680, the Ocean Angel, along with three other warships, surrounded the bastion, bringing with it nearly a thousand marines.

It's still not enough for the [Five Peaks Selection] team.

Wang Cheng, acting as the vanguard, charged ahead, smashing the low-sequence [Tide Knight] blocking his way like a broken sack with a single mace.

He then used his double maces to entangle the swift sword of another guard knight, slicing along the blade with the edge of the maces, severing his handguard and fingers, and before the other could scream, he had already stabbed him through the throat.

Upon seeing Carlo appear before him, he clenched his fist and used the secret military strategy scroll "Millions as One" from the "Sword Classic" given to him by Yu Zhifu, the general commander of the Minzhou anti-Japanese pirates.

"The essence of military strategy originates from the number 'five,' just as the human body has five limbs. Even if one leads a million troops, one can still act as if one were a single person."

Those skilled in combat possess an endless variety of limbs that can bend and stretch, thus their movements can be either orthodox or unorthodox; suddenly orthodox movements can be followed by unorthodox ones, and orthodox movements can be gathered while unorthodox ones disperse; and suddenly orthodox movements can be dispersed while unorthodox ones gather.

With the combined strength of countless ants, and with everyone working together, even Mount Tai can be moved!

Although it is a military treatise that General Yu himself wrote only a few years ago, it has inherited the essence of military treatises passed down through the dynasties of China. The fundamental principles of military strategy lie here.

"hiss--!"

On the other side, Carlo seemed to see countless armored infantrymen behind Wang Cheng reflecting a cold light under the setting sun, stretching towards the horizon like a metallic earth.

This is not unfounded conjecture, but the real power once possessed by elite troops such as the Qin Dynasty's elite soldiers, the Tang Dynasty's Xuanjia soldiers, and Yue Fei's Beiwei Army in ancient China.

This ancient country continues to this day, and whether in terms of economy or military, it remains the undisputed number one in the world.

Carlo shook his head violently, banishing the idea that "the other party is the best in the world" from his mind.

Then I noticed that the most imposing commander was actually releasing the aura of his own navigational beacon.

When they saw his face clearly, they were shocked to realize that this was the second-generation Prince Jinghai, whom they thought was going to fight against Otomo Yoshishige!

"How could he be here? And how could a beacon possibly be on him?"
Did he see through my plan all along? And even shift the beacon, making this series of highly targeted preparations?

This is impossible! "

A chill ran through Governor Franco, a feeling that everything had been seen through and that any struggle would be futile.

But at this point, he was already in a bind, with no choice but to fight like a cornered beast.

He shouted the command: "Priests, offer your sacrifice! The ocean and the faith breathe!" Upon hearing the command, the priest behind him, who had been holding the cross, pulled out a silver ceremonial knife and plunged it into his own chest.

With a touch of martyrdom on his face, he sprinkled his burning heart's blood onto the sacred cross.

The latter suddenly shone with an unprecedented light, and ethereal hymns resounded over the bastion.

The long river of history manifested itself, transforming into the mighty torrent of the Age of Exploration, revealing the true nature of the beliefs of that era:
"The nobles roared: The Ottoman monopoly has caused the price of spices to skyrocket tenfold, and the profit from a single spice ship can equal the kingdom's army's annual military expenditure."

"Vascovas intercepted a merchant ship of the Semu people in the Bharata Sea, cut off the hands and feet of 400 sailors and threw them into the sea, his bloodied face grinning maliciously: 'No spices? Then there are no survivors!'"

"Three years after Columbus landed in the New World, the Taino population plummeted from 300,000 to 60,000, and they were forced to pan for gold, enslaved, and punished with the loss of hands."

The original quote from Columbus's diary reads: "They were as docile as livestock."

Simply robbing the Semu people like their Crusaders could no longer satisfy their desires. This time, they completely tore off the religious cloak; their sole purpose was to make money and find the wealthy Bharata and the ancient Eastern kingdom.

Blades pave the way, blood forges the crown of capital!
As Western continental nobles enjoyed tableware made of Inca gold, the most bloody gears of globalization in human history began to turn irreversibly.

Carlo drew strength from the tides of time and led the singing:
"Riding the waves, ten cannons; not sailing, but flying."

The governor's guards around him sang along:

"A hundred nations submit to me. In the vast ocean, I reign supreme. Warships are my treasure, freedom is my destiny, force is my law, and the sea is my home."

The "Pirate Song," composed by the Franco writer Esbronceda, quickly resonated with the pulse of the Age of Exploration.

The shadows beneath their feet began to twist and split, from one to two, and from two to three.
Behind each elite Marine stood at least three pirate ghosts.

Some were tattered and reduced to skeletons, while others were half skeleton and half flesh. What they had in common was that they all wielded bloody pirate scimitars.

This is Carlo's last trump card—the "Knight of Heaven" used to exterminate the natives of the New World during the Age of Exploration!
Not only can it greatly increase strength and make one immune to pain, but it can also "plunder" the opponent's life force and supernatural abilities to permanently strengthen itself after killing the opponent.

The surviving Marines regained their courage, and one brave warrior, leading the pirate ghosts behind him, stepped forward, singing:

"Those who obey me will prosper, those who oppose me will perish!"

The King of the Sea patrols here. All the prey is mine to distribute. Wealth is distributed equally, and beauties are left behind.

then.

Click!

He was struck by an iron mace, shattering all his teeth. He fell backward, his mouth spraying blood-stained, yellowed teeth fragments.

The Frankish Marines seemed to have been suddenly choked, and their singing came to an abrupt halt.

Obviously.

Even mysticism must follow basic principles; under the same conditions, if only they receive the bonus, they will definitely win.

If you were to face a heavily armored temple ghost soldier who also received the [Secret Scroll of Military Strategy] bonus, would you still be able to win?

Physics, that old man, disagrees!
The Five Dragon Scale Soldiers and the Five Peaks Selectors, like tigers among sheep, didn't need any particularly sophisticated mace techniques; they only needed to unleash their full power with both maces.

The ability to be immune to pain only makes the deaths of the Frankish Marines more haphazard and abstract.

Wang Cheng also locked onto Carlo, strode forward, and swung his mace down with overwhelming military might.

Boom!

Carlo parried the heavy mace with the strong blade from hilt to the middle of the blade, and a circle of energy exploded beneath his feet.

This fourth-rank Tide Knight's "Unity of Heaven and Man" realm was clearly extremely high; he actually used his mortal body to block Wang Cheng's immense force, which was enhanced by his dragon robe and python robe.

But Wang Cheng gave a cold smile.

"break!"

The heart fire (Li trigram, belonging to Yang) and the kidney water (Kan trigram, belonging to Yin) merge in the dantian, evolving into the interaction of Yin and Yang in the universe, and a wisp of "Qi thunder" is instantly generated in the body.

A point of light shone from his dantian, and the secret killing move combining magic and martial arts, [Wind and Thunder Intertwined], was unleashed with a thunderous roar.

The two maces collided and suddenly exploded into a bolt of lightning that twisted like a snake.

Carlo's curly hair instantly exploded, and the excruciating pain of the electric shock instantly coursed through his entire body.

Suppressing the pain, he used a "stealth crossing" technique, his swift sword transforming into a fish that darted through the gaps in the iron-spine mace, then drew a "Ritual Circle" and slashed fiercely at Wang Cheng's neck.

Once Carlo reached the level of swordsmanship, he could cut through a steel pillar with a single stroke, and whether someone was armored or not was of little concern to him.

However, this was a battlefield that Wang Cheng actively chose, and it still falls within the territorial waters of the East Sea Kingdom, giving him a natural home-field advantage.

"Hey! Kneel down!"

The "Heavenly Rules and Earthly Mandates" belonging to Prince Jinghai have arrived.

The divine mandate of the Eastern Sea Kingdom transformed into a large golden seal, which suddenly slammed down on Carlo's head.

The immense pressure forced him to kneel on one knee, severely limiting his "unity of heaven and man" realm, making it difficult for him to fully utilize his fourth-rank strength.

To make matters worse, Carlo had almost no remaining guards who could stand and share the burden with him.

But Wang Cheng has it!

The bald monk, a sixth-rank [Secret Dharma Monk], Xu Youde, a sixth-rank [Gongyang Confucian], and Peng Wujiu, a sixth-rank [Swordsman], all clad in heavy armor, landed their Buddha-headed tiger, octagonal gold hammer, and fish-head knife on the sword circle of the sacrificial ritual.

"puff--!"

Governor Frankish deflected the most dangerous fish-head knife and octagonal golden hammer with all his might, but was punched in the back by a brass knuckles, spitting out blood like a fountain.

This is the power of gathering the strength of the masses. As long as you have enough brothers under your command, even a fifth-rank official can defeat a fourth-rank official!

(End of this chapter)