Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 229 Charge and Explosion

Deep within the mother nest, the throne woven from flesh and insect shells slowly opened its eyes.

In the center of the palace, which resembled a nightmare, a slender figure stood silently atop the writhing throne.

The Witch of Despair wore a long, crimson gown that trailed on the sticky, bloody floor like a surging tide of blood.

He watched the knights burst forth from the mist in silence, his pupils showing no surprise, but rather a faint hint of mockery.

"...Finally, they delivered themselves to our doorstep."

His voice was soft, tinged with a weary yet strangely satisfied tone, as if everything was exactly as he had expected.

“Great… I was still wondering whether I should expend more energy on the siege… Let me see just how long the empire’s iron will can struggle before it dies.”

With a slight movement of his slender fingers, countless monsters with severed limbs and twisted spines surged toward the charging knights.

Some have more than ten limbs, some are headless but covered in gaping mouths, and some are simply pieced together from the corpses of three or four fallen knights. The severed arms, still retaining memories, continue to repeat the sword techniques they used in life.

Their appearance triggered a chaotic resonance in the minds of the Assault Knights.

The faces of fallen comrades, the cries of wailing infants, the illusion of being torn apart... everything seemed to be firing at consciousness itself.

It is both a physical adversary and a spiritual cancer.

In the charging ranks, some knights began to growl in pain, their fighting spirit leaking out as they wildly brandished their longswords in an attempt to dispel the illusions swirling in their minds.

"Grit your teeth! Don't overthink it!" Gaius roared.

Battle aura erupted from his body, covering him like a fiery armor. He was the first to meet the giant beast pieced together at the front, his figure like thunder, roaring as he unleashed a ground-shattering strike.

He's corrupting our hearts... Don't let him succeed!

The entire battle line accelerated instantly, with thousands of high-ranking imperial knights unleashing their battle aura like wildfire.

It bloomed in the fog, leaving distinct trails, tearing itself into that hellish place made of twisted flesh and blood.

But not all warriors are as fearless as he was.

After a young knight fought valiantly and killed the beast, a hint of fear appeared in his eyes when he saw the corpse of his fallen comrade.

The monster charged wildly, its remains piecing themselves back together. No matter how many pieces it was cut into, as long as there was any flesh left, it could writhe, split open, and regenerate within seconds, becoming even more terrifying.

Each time he killed an enemy, it felt like he was personally sending his comrades back into the enemy ranks.

“Will we become like that too?” he asked.

No one answered.

Because they all knew the answer was yes.

Even so, no one backed down an inch.

Fighting spirit like thunder, sword blades like fire, halberds piercing through bone and shell, heavy shields shattering maggots and flesh.

It is a final assault written in blood and will, a journey with no turning back.

"It doesn't matter if I die here!" an old silver-haired knight roared as he charged into the monster horde, severing the spine of a three-eyed corpse beast, but his left shoulder was pierced by a sharp blade.

Instead of retreating, he slammed the monster and himself into the depths of the insect wall, detonating the high-energy magic explosion bomb at his waist. In that instant, his body transformed into the core of the raging flames.

"boom!!!"

A burst of scorching, blinding flames erupted between the insect's flesh, splattering blood mist and shattering the twisted, reassembled corpse pieces.

The passage that was about to be closed was forcibly expanded by 10 feet.

He gave his life to create space for the next person to charge forward.

"Move forward! Don't look back!" roared a captain of the Cold Iron Legion, his breastplate shattered and blood gushing out.

He knelt on one knee, leaning on his broken spear, locked in a fierce struggle with the four-legged insect-like beast that pounced on him.

Knowing he was no longer able to kill the enemy, he suddenly pressed the switch on his side at the last moment.

"For the future."

Another deafening explosion.

The scorching battle aura engulfed him and his enemy, tearing apart an entire wall of flesh and blood.

On this day, the knights on the battlefield seemed to have long forgotten what it meant to escape alive.

They pulled the fuses on the magic explosive bombs not to protect themselves, but to—guide the way.

It wasn't a single time, nor was it a coincidence. Every ten or so steps, a soldier would roar as he charged into the enemy ranks, detonating himself and blasting a path with his life.

Their explosion was not a desperate choice, but a pre-planned tactical arrangement.

They were the detonators of the Mother Nest Battle, the fallen soldiers of the death charge.

"Clear the way! Keep clearing the way!!"

"Knights ahead, you're using me as a step!!"

"Don't stop! We die so that you can keep charging forward!"

In that passage forged in blood and fire, the knights detonated themselves one by one, like clusters of burning candle flames illuminating the way in the darkness.

The sounds of explosions and shouts mingled together, making even hell tremble.

Even though every enemy killed is reborn, every step forward requires stepping over the corpses and wills of one's comrades.

They gritted their teeth, their fighting spirit burning fiercely, slashing with their halberds, their eyes burning like flames.

Only in destruction can life be born.

This is dying for the empire; they roar in death and charge in despair.

…………

On the other side of the hillside, Louis's demolition team finally arrived at the deployment point.

Ahead lies a secluded rocky platform, but with a wide field of vision, directly facing the central structure of the End Nest.
Like a colossal statue twisted and intertwined by gods and demons, with arms raised high, it adopts a pose of embracing believers like the Virgin Mary, as if to gently embrace all life that comes near.

But this "embrace" will only lead everything to endless death.

Its lower body has long since degenerated into a huge fleshy ovary and incubation cavity, with thick, pillar-like blood vessels constantly writhing and taking root deep into the earth.

Black mist, like a fountain of blood, gushed from its body, enveloping the surrounding battlefield, and the air was filled with whispers of corrosion and mental interference.

Even just watching from afar, many knights felt dizzy, nauseous, and experienced auditory hallucinations and tinnitus.

"Ah...something is speaking in my ear...it's watching me..."

The knights of the Cold Iron Legion beside him were enduring the mental erosion, sweat beading on their foreheads and their faces pale.

They were among the strongest elites of the Northern Knights, yet they still felt an indescribable pressure.

But at that moment, they noticed something even more shocking.

Louis remained completely calm.

The young viscount stood on the hillside, seemingly oblivious to the mental pressure, calmly surveying the terrain, calculating wind speed, and even whispering technical parameters.

Although the guards dared not question military orders, they were secretly dissatisfied.

They also wanted to charge into battle, but were asked to escort a young nobleman who "did not go to the battlefield".

Now we have to help him install some kind of "magic burst generator"?
Could this really work against a mother nest that is almost godlike in its power?
"I'd rather just charge over there with my lance," a knight muttered to himself.

Louis was currently practicing the "Primal Meditation Technique" within his body, calming his mind like water and actively shielding himself from the mental pollution released by the Mother Nest.

He noticed while he was in the Red Tide Territory that the Primal Meditation Technique was remarkably effective against mental attacks.

He didn't explain; he simply began giving instructions.

"Unfold the triangular base."

"Adjust the angle."

His Red Tide blasting team quickly set up a modular cold iron alloy launcher on the hillside.

The tripod is driven into the rock, providing stability and efficiency.

Then, Louis personally opened the heavy military safe. A warhead, sealed with an aura of impending doom, was lifted out.

Ultimate Magic Bomb.

It is larger and heavier than even a large magic bomb.

Inside the short, stubby metal shell was a vibrant, orange-red liquid—"fire scale ointment."

Its magical energy concentration was so high that it was dazzling, and the vein-like flow of light and flame could even be faintly seen on its outer shell, like the heartbeat of some kind of creature.

Meanwhile, on the high viewing platform atop the main wall of Frostspear City, several government officials were also watching this scene through binoculars.

The military and political officer, who was always critical, sneered and said contemptuously to the nobles around him, "This is the so-called magical explosion plan that's been touted as miraculous?"

"Trying to destroy the mother nest with this thing? Ridiculous."

On the hillside, Louis did not respond to any questions.

He simply raised his right hand slowly.

"Filling complete".

"Target locked."

Under his command, his voice was deep and firm: "Launch."

boom--!
Flames spewed forth, magical energy roared, and the massive Ultimate Magic Bomb, trailing a fiery tail, soared through the air, transforming into a crimson meteor that aimed directly at the hypocritical "Mother's Face" of the Mother Nest.

In an instant, the mother nest seemed to sense something, as if it had encountered a natural enemy, and instinctively made the strongest defensive response.

Countless insect corpses crawled out from around the mother nest, frantically overlapping to form a multi-layered insect corpse shield wall. Huge fleshy walls rose from the ground, writhing and blocking the way.

The spores secreted a semi-transparent protective layer in the air, like layers of biological fabric trying to wrap up the destruction.

But the next moment——

"boom------!!!!!"

Heart-breaking hit.

The ultimate magic bomb pierced the body of the mother nest without slowing down and detonated instantly.

The world seemed to have been stripped of all color, leaving only a blinding white.

At that moment, even the sky was set ablaze by the flames.

The soldiers on the hillside instinctively closed their eyes, yet they still felt the intense, burning light piercing their eyelids.

That is not light.

That was the birth of a new sun.

The high-energy blast transformed into a fiery wave that devoured the heavens and earth, vaporizing the insect corpse shield wall in an instant, leaving no time to react.

The giant fleshy walls and spore-covered protective layer were torn and pierced like paper, leaving no trace of charring, only ashes flying in the heat waves.

The ground began to churn.

The rock strata within a radius of hundreds of meters melted directly into scorching magma. The air was sucked away by the explosion, and the roar was delayed by half a beat before it came out like a deafening thunderclap from the end of the world.

In the very center of the mother nest, a huge, charred, writhing hole was blasted out.

The external defense system was completely destroyed, and the incubation structure embedded underground began to collapse.

Even more deadly is the continuous burning of the Scale Fire Ointment: at high temperatures, it transforms into a hellish fire serpent, penetrating deep into the mother nest and scorching the tissue structures that were originally capable of regeneration, rendering them irreparable, causing them to continuously die, and spreading the fire.

Countless nest cavities, larval incubation areas, and egg parasitic cavities are successively exposed to high temperatures.

A series of explosions rang out, thick smoke billowed into the sky, and insect eggs and spores exploded in the air, turning into a bloody mist that spread across the entire battlefield.

"Ughh ...

High in the sky, the End Nest let out a mournful wail that pierced the heavens and earth.

Its dignified, Virgin Mary-like human face, a false god's face pieced together from thousands of human faces, finally crumbled in the firelight.

Fragments of insects fell like rain of blood, and the "mother's" face screamed as it was peeled away in the high temperature, revealing the true appearance of the festering flesh beneath.

At this moment, the Witch of Despair, who was directing operations inside the End Nest, was stunned.

He stared blankly at the outer layer of the mother nest, which had been blasted into a deep crater and was now engulfed in flames, and remained silent for a long time.

"……This is impossible."

He whispered, the smile on his lips vanishing for a moment, his expression blank.

That human meteor pierced through the future he had envisioned countless times.

"Damn...!"

He snapped back to his senses, and in a fit of shock and rage, stretched out his arm and swung it at the pool of flesh and blood behind him.

"Summon the strongest—the most perfect fusion!!" he screamed. "Hold the core for thirteen minutes!! Just thirteen minutes! And I can repair it!!"

The blood pool roared, and countless severed limbs and pieces of corpses writhed at the command.

A brand new hell is about to be born.

…………

The flames had not yet died down, and the ground was still trembling.

But the impact of that ultimate magic explosion bomb is clearly etched in everyone's hearts.

On the high walls of Frostspear City, the government official who had just been making sarcastic remarks had his mouth slightly open, and his face turned pale.

He could hardly believe his eyes: "This...this...it really exploded..."

The civil official standing nearby was also stunned, muttering, "The face of the Mother Nest... is shattered..."

And for many who had scoffed at Louis's so-called "Magic Explosion Plan," only one thought remained in their minds:
He really did it.

All doubts, ridicule, and disdain vanished under the scorching white flames.

Louis's name was etched into everyone's minds.

Meanwhile, Duke Edmund, who was leading his army in a frontal charge, also witnessed the earth-shattering blow to the center of the Brood.

"!?!" He stopped abruptly, staring at the End Mother Nest with a huge hole blasted out, narrowing his eyes, a hint of surprise flashing across them.

He knew, of course, that Louis wasn't one to boast, but he hadn't expected this—

He actually managed to break through the mother nest.

"Heh...it seems I underestimated you," Edmund muttered to himself, then his eyes sharpened. "All troops advance!"

Deputy Commander Gaius, who was closer to the front line, saw it most clearly, witnessing firsthand how the explosive bomb pierced through the swarm of insects and tore apart their core like a wrathful meteor.

He burst into wild laughter: "Ha! That kid actually pulled it off! Now that's what you call a demolition!! Charge with me!! Straight to the core!!"

His laughter was thunderous, propelling the entire Core Breaking Team to the top!
Arthur, who followed closely behind, his armor stained with blood, glanced at his wounds amidst the sea of ​​fire and said coldly, "...Very well, we don't need to clear a path anymore, let's go straight for the heart."

Edmund, Arthur, and Gaius, three of the Empire's top combatants, gathered at the front line at this moment to lead the Core Breaking Team 10 in launching the ultimate assault!

Behind them stood nearly a hundred high-ranking extraordinary knights, their fighting spirit soaring like thunder.

This assassination unit, codenamed "Core Breaker," had been waiting for a long time.

Now, the time has come!
"Charge! — For His Majesty!"

"For the Empire!!"

"For all those who have died!!!"

The ten teams breaking through the core roared in unison.

Their figures pierced through the still-burning mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and charged into the inner abyss of the End Mother's Nest through the scorching rift!

This is the final assault.

It is humanity's sharp knife that pierces the heart of the evil god.

(End of this chapter)