Lord: Starting with Summoning the Regular Army of Earth

Chapter 122 Unlocks the First Extraordinary Summoning Unit

Despite being covered in blood, Balu remained fierce, even entering a berserk state. His giant form seemed to be fading, but his speed and strength were increasing.

Thud—

A warrior was kicked away by Balu, his sternum shattered, but before hitting the ground, he threw his spear, which plunged deep into Balu's thigh.

"Swoosh!" Another warrior, whose arm had been severed by the battle axe, fearlessly lunged forward, using his remaining arm to tightly hug Balu's left leg, and bit down hard.

Baru, in pain, smashed the skull with a punch, but his movements were already noticeably sluggish.

More and more warriors rushed forward, slashing with swords, stabbing with spears, biting with their teeth, and using their bodies to slow his movements.

Balu was like a beast trapped in the mud. Although he was still fierce and each struggle could take several lives, his movements were getting slower and slower and the red light on his body was getting dimmer.

Finally, a glint flashed in Sharna's eyes. With her last bit of strength, she raised her staff high and slammed it hard on the ground.

"Ancestors! Borrow my thunder to sweep away all evil!"

"Boom!"

A bolt of lightning, as thick as a python and composed entirely of bluish-white electric sparks, appeared out of nowhere in the void. Carrying a majestic divine might, it ignored spatial distance and struck Balu's head in an instant.

This is not natural lightning; it is a lightning of conviction that gathers the remaining will of the ancestors of White River Valley, the full spiritual power of the shaman, and the unwavering determination of two thousand warriors.

"Inconsistent"

Balu let out a desperate roar, raising his battle axe to block, but the lightning instantly shattered the dim red light on the axe head and then pierced his skull.

"Sizzle sizzle—"

'

Blinding electric light surged wildly across Balu's massive body.

He stood frozen in place, his eyes bulging, the dark red totem patterns on his body shining like red-hot iron wire, before breaking and dissipating inch by inch.

The rock-like skin quickly reverted to flesh, then charred and carbonized.

The huge wound burst open, and the blood evaporated before it could even spurt out.

"Bang!"

The battle axe that had accompanied him through many battles and drunk countless lives fell limply from his grasp and onto the ground.

Balu's massive body swayed twice, and the light in his eyes went out completely.

Several crossbow bolts fired again, finishing off Baluna's dazed eyes and embedding themselves deep into his brain.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out.

Then, it crashed to the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The once invincible "Bloodclaw" Balu, chieftain of the Giant God Tribe, has fallen.

The ravine was deathly silent.

The phantoms of all the ancestral war spirits slowly dissipated.

The light that had been bestowed upon the warriors faded, and the violent power receded like a tide, replaced by extreme weakness and exhaustion.

Many soldiers collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, but their eyes were fixed on Balu's fallen body, and then slowly turned to the figure that was also swaying, yet still stubbornly standing.

Sharna's face was ashen, and she swayed, barely managing to stay upright with the help of her bone staff.

She looked at Balu's body, at the fallen members of her tribe around her, and at the survivors' faces, a mixture of grief and exhaustion.

And finally, a look of relief on his face.

Slowly, she raised her head and looked towards the distant horizon, where the first rays of dawn were piercing the deep darkness of the night.

"We—won," she said softly, her voice weak, yet clearly reaching everyone's ears.

The deathly silence was broken.

"We won—we won—"

"Pazu is dead! Pazu is dead!!"

"Revenge! Father! Brother! Did you see that?! Revenge!!!"

First came sobs and whispers, then suppressed weeping, and finally, a deafening roar and cheers, a mixture of blood and tears!

"roar!!!"

"Long live Chief Sharna!!"

"Long live Shirakawa Valley! May the spirits of our ancestors protect us!"

The surviving soldiers struggled to their feet, supporting each other, and with their last strength, brandished their broken weapons and roared to the sky.

Tears mixed with blood streamed freely down their faces.

The despair, humiliation, pain, hatred, and fear of the past six months—all of it was finally released at this moment, with Balu's fall and with this pyrrhic victory bought with countless lives and blood.

Sharna looked at her cheering tribespeople and finally showed a smile that was both extremely tired and extremely relieved.

She slowly closed her eyes and her body slumped backward.

Several members of her tribe who had been protecting her rushed forward almost simultaneously and helped her up.

However, after Balu fell, Matthew did not see any specks of light fly out of his body and merge into his summoned unit.

"Failed?" Matthew's heart tightened. Could it be that Sun Zhengwu and his team's finishing blow failed, and their previous attacks were invalid?

"Sigh—" Matthew was a little disappointed. After all, this was a summoned unit with extraordinary power. If it could be successfully unlocked, Ember Ridge would be like having an extra human tank.

Just as Matthew was feeling lost, he sensed something unusual happening inside the magic pendant. He immediately focused his consciousness into it and discovered that the magic pendant seemed to be attracted to Nabal's corpse.

So Matthew quickly rode his horse to the battlefield.

The people of White River Valley automatically made way for Matthew when they saw him, and Matthew also came to Balu's body.

Sun Zhengwu and the others also gathered around, looking at Matthew with a mixture of guilt and curiosity. They hadn't noticed the ball of light flying out either, so they felt that their mission might have failed.

However, just as Matthew arrived next to Balu's body, he immediately sensed that the pendant was emitting some kind of invisible power, as if it was drawing "life essence" from Balu's body, or something else.

He also clearly sensed that a brand new "gene template" had indeed appeared in the magic pendant.

"It's a success!" Matthew was overjoyed, but his face remained expressionless.

After the magic pendant finished absorbing the essence, Matthew went to the other corpses and, following the process of absorbing Balu's "life essence," used his mind to control the magic pendant to absorb the life essence from the other corpses.

As expected, he succeeded. He not only unlocked the barbarian's "genetic template" but also obtained a large amount of life essence, which will be his "bargaining chips" to summon more barbarian combat units in the future.

Just as Balu was killed, the battle at the Giant God camp also came to a complete end. More than two thousand White River Valley warriors completed the final "cleanup," killing all the Giant God enemies who had survived the bombing, leaving none alive.

Thus, the main force of the Giant God tribe, including its chief and core leaders, was completely wiped out, and the Giant God tribe's plan to dominate the Wind-Eroded Highlands was utterly destroyed.

White River Valley achieved a complete victory at a very low cost. Although nearly a hundred people were killed or wounded during the siege of Balu, this was the lightest casualty White River Valley had ever suffered in its battles against the Giant God Tribe, and it was negligible.

As the first rays of dawn pierced the night and shone upon the scarred Black Stone Valley and the rocky gully, the White River Valley side had also finished cleaning up the battlefield.

The corpses of the Giant God tribe were piled up like mountains, burning fiercely. Their weapons, armor, and other equipment had long been collected and became spoils of war for the White River Valley tribe.

After this battle, the warriors of White River Valley not only did not feel any fatigue, but their morale was high.

After all, this was definitely the easiest battle they had ever fought, and they had finally wiped out the Giant God Tribe and avenged themselves. They were extremely happy and excited at this moment.

Many people were even dissatisfied because they hadn't been able to personally kill the giants, so at the urging of many soldiers, several leaders also volunteered to fight for Sharna.

After all, although Balu and his main force were dead, his tribe still existed.

The iron mines, grasslands, and even their former homeland, White River Valley, are still in the hands of the Giant God Tribe, so they must take them back.

We must press our advantage, strike while the iron is hot, reclaim their territory, and completely eradicate the remnants of the Giant God Tribe.

This was the thought in the hearts of almost all the warriors of the White River Valley tribe, so once it was proposed, everyone responded, and they all wanted to continue fighting.

Ultimately, under Sharna's orders, only two hundred men and the wounded warriors returned to camp with her. The rest split into several groups, changed into relatively intact leather armor stripped from enemy corpses, replenished their arrows, and set off again with all the remaining approximately one hundred and fifty grenades, fifty explosive packs, and all the steel crossbows.

After watching the expeditionary force disappear into the hills, Matthew led the people of Emberstone Ridge, accompanying Sharna, who was extremely weak due to exhaustion and the backlash from the shamanic spell, back to the temporary camp at Stone Forest Cliff.

Sharna and Matthew rode in the same carriage. Her face was as pale as paper, and her pale gold eyes were somewhat dim, but she still sat upright with strength, not wanting Matthew to see her vulnerability.

On the way back, Sharna once again expressed her gratitude to Matthew, and the two talked about the battle that night. Matthew took the opportunity to ask about shamanism.

"I tried to sense the energy you generated when you cast the spell. It wasn't the magical fluctuations I was familiar with, but a power closer to nature, more ancient, seemingly bound to life and will itself. It's very special, and it intrigues me greatly. I wonder if Chief Sharna would be so kind as to tell me about your shamanistic arts?"

Matthew's words caused Sharna's eyelashes to tremble slightly, and a complex emotion flashed in her eyes.

She guessed Matthew's intentions, but this touched on the tribe's core secrets, so she suddenly felt conflicted, not wanting to hide it from the person in front of her, yet bound by an ancient oath.

"I don't know much about the magic of the Kingdom of Augustus," she said, choosing her words carefully, her voice even softer, as if afraid of disturbing something, "but the power of a shaman comes from communication with all the spirits of nature, from the inheritance of the will of the ancestors, and from the resonance of the caster's own life and soul. It is a contract, a prayer, a resonance—and sometimes, it is also a sacrifice."

She paused, looking at Matthew's profile as he listened intently, her conflicting emotions growing stronger.

She wanted to tell him more, to share the secrets of this ancient wisdom with him, because he had brought her hope, and he had stood shoulder to shoulder with her through life and death.

Even if Matthew wanted her as a person, she would not hesitate.

However, shamanic arts are the highest secret passed down from generation to generation by the ancestors of Baihe Valley. They are one of the foundations of the tribe's survival, and no one other than the core members and close relatives of the tribe may peek into their secrets.

The main reason she was able to inherit the tradition was that she was destined to marry the leader. Now, as the leader and the current shaman, she cannot easily betray this rule that has been passed down for countless generations.

"In our tribe, only the very core members are qualified to receive the shamanic tradition and truly learn and understand its mysteries," Sharna said with some guilt, knowing she could only disappoint Matthew.

"Yes, I understand. Every tradition has its own rules and costs that must be followed." Matthew smiled awkwardly, knowing that he had been presumptuous. After all, even magical knowledge is strictly controlled, let alone this kind of ancient tradition. For White River Valley, shamanism is no less important than the technology mastered by Emberstone Ridge. It is absolutely not something that can be easily understood by others, so he wisely stopped asking questions.