Great Wilderness Demon Lord

At 3:45 AM, a black dot appeared on the horizon on the north bank.

At first, there were only a few scattered individuals, but then their numbers increased, spreading like an ant colony. The jackal warriors rode stocky pack animals, wielding bone spears and stone axes, emitting hoarse howls. Behind them came the more orderly black-armored cavalry—the Wolf Rong.

Two hundred wolf-riding cavalrymen formed a wedge formation, led by a centurion clad in heavy black iron armor, his helmet adorned with wolf fangs. He rode a giant, snow-maned wolf nearly six feet tall at the shoulder.

The two armies faced off across a 300-step-wide ice surface.

The wolf-riding centurion reined in the giant wolf and raised his hand in signal. A jackal chieftain drove his beast forward, walked back and forth on the ice several times, and then tapped the ice with his bone spear to test its hardness.

The jackal leader then returned to report.

The centurion nodded, drew his scimitar from his waist, the blade gleaming with a ghostly blue light in the dim daylight—a weapon forged with cold iron.

He pointed his blade forward and let out a long howl.

"Woo-hoo-hoo!"

A wolf-like howl resounded.

Five hundred jackal warriors roared in unison, urging their mounts onto the ice. The hooves of their pack animals, wrapped in coarse linen for traction, pounded the ice with a rapid, rhythmic clatter. They did not charge immediately, but maintained a loose formation, slowly advancing towards the ice wall.

Behind the ice wall, Xiao Yunlan watched calmly.

The cunning demon's deep blue aura swirled coldly within his dantian, calculating distance, speed, and angle.

One hundred steps.

Ninety steps.

Eighty steps.

The jackal vanguard has entered the catapult's maximum firing range.

"Catapults, first group, fire!" Xiao Yunlan shouted sharply.

Behind the wall, seven catapults simultaneously released their triggers. The counterweights crashed down, the other end of the long poles jerked upward, and the catapults in the nooses were flung into the air, tracing seven low, flat arcs before crashing onto the ice.

The stone flew eighty paces, landing a few steps in front of the jackal formation. It bounced and tumbled on the ice, striking the legs of the front-line pack animals. The beasts hissed in pain, and their formation faltered slightly.

The range was just right, but the accuracy was lacking. Xiao Yunlan's expression remained unchanged: "First group, load. Second group, fire!"

The other seven catapults fired. This time the stones landed a little further, hitting the center of the formation. Two jackals were hit and fell from their horses, and a pack animal rolled on the ground.

The jackal ranks began to accelerate.

Seventy steps.

"Third group, release!"

The last six catapults fired simultaneously. The stones landed in the rear ranks, causing several more casualties.

The three groups of catapults fired in rotation, and although each volley only caused sporadic casualties, it successfully disrupted the jackal's advance. They were forced to disperse and dodge the constantly falling stones, and their charge speed was significantly slowed down.

Sixty steps.

The jackals had entered the effective range of the crossbows, but Xiao Yunlan still hadn't ordered the arrows to be fired. He was waiting—waiting for the jackals to come within thirty paces, into the maximum lethal range of the crossbows.

The catapults continued firing. After three rounds of test firing, the operators gradually became familiar with the force, and the accuracy improved. The stones began to hit the crowd more frequently, causing small-scale chaos within the jackal ranks.

Fifty steps.

The jackals at the front could already make out the outline of the sacks on the ice wall. Some of them drew their bows and nocked arrows, attempting to launch them in retaliation. But the bone arrows were light and floated, only to fall halfway down due to exhaustion.

Forty steps.

The jackals began to accelerate, their roars suddenly becoming more intense. The pack animals' hooves flew, scattering ice shards everywhere.

Xiao Yunlan stared at the enemies in the front row, silently counting in his mind.

Thirty-five steps.

Thirty steps.

"Archers, fire!" Zhao Meng roared from the top of the wall.

Behind the battlements, the hum of bowstrings filled the air. Arrows rained down like locusts; at such close range, aiming was almost unnecessary.

The jackals at the forefront seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall, falling to the ground riddled with arrows. The pack animals, startled, either continued charging forward or turned tail and ran wildly, disrupting the formation behind them.

The ice surface was immediately thrown into chaos.

The catapults continued firing, sending stones raining down from the sky, specifically targeting the jackals attempting to regroup at the rear of the formation. Caught in a pincer attack, the jackal charge completely crumbled.

Xiao Yunlan calmly observed all of this.

Although the catapult's range of eighty paces was limited in power and accuracy, it successfully slowed down the enemy's advance, disrupted their formation and rhythm, and created the best opportunity for the archers to strike.

But the number of jackals was simply too great. After dozens fell, more continued to surge forward fearlessly.

They raised their rough wooden shields to deflect the arrows while simultaneously drawing their bows to return fire. Bone arrows whizzed by, striking the ice walls with dull thuds, and occasionally some flew over the top of the walls and landed in the camp.

"Shield cover!" Zhao Meng roared.

The crossbowmen on the wall retreated behind the ramparts and raised their rattan shields. Bone arrows struck the shields with considerable force, causing the shield-bearers' arms to go numb.

Xiao Yunlan stared at the battlefield.

The jackals had rushed to within ten paces of the wall and were beginning to attempt to climb it. However, the outer surface of the ice wall was sloping and smooth, offering no foothold. Several jackals used bone spears to strike the wall, but only left shallow marks on the ice.

On the top of the wall, an old soldier was pouring boiling water down from the crenellations.

The scalding hot water was poured onto the jackals, and a series of piercing screams rang out. Their fur coats shrank when heated, scalding their skin and flesh, and some rolled off the ice, clutching their faces.

But this can only delay things temporarily.

More jackals gathered at the foot of the wall. Some began to form a human ladder, while others used ropes and hooks to try to hook onto the top of the wall.

Just then, the Langrong centurion on the north bank made his move.

With a flick of his scimitar, two hundred black-armored cavalrymen began to advance slowly.

The giant wolves' paws steadied themselves firmly on the ice. They didn't charge; instead, they maintained a neat formation, like a moving city wall, pressing down on the ice wall.

Xiao Yunlan's pupils contracted slightly.

The Wolf Rong are about to get serious.

"Shi Biao!" he shouted, turning his head.

Shi Biao gripped the tinderbox tightly, his eyes fixed on the ice. Upon hearing the command, he lit the first fuse.

The fuse hissed and burned, spreading rapidly along the pre-designed groove and penetrating the ceramic jar beneath the ice.

A brief silence.

Then--

"Boom—!"

The first muffled sound came from deep within the ice, unlike the sharp sound of a normal explosion, but rather a dull tremor, like the groan of the earth.

Immediately afterward, spiderweb-like white cracks spread wildly across the ice surface, centered on the blast point, accompanied by a series of cracking sounds.

Instead of creating a hole in the ice, the entire structure of the area was completely destroyed.

"Splash—!"

The ice surface, which was several meters in diameter, suddenly collapsed and shattered, with huge ice slabs flipping, tilting, colliding and squeezing against each other.

More than ten jackals, along with their beasts, who were passing above had no time to react before they fell into the icy river along with the collapsing ice.

Screams, splashes, and the clatter of ice blocks mingled together.

But this is only the beginning.

The second, third, and fourth explosion points were detonated in succession.

The rumbling sounds rose and fell, each muffled thud triggering a structural collapse of a section of ice.

The once flat and solid ice surface was smashed by the series of explosions, as if it had been slammed by a giant with a heavy hammer, with large areas collapsing, cracking, and turning over.