Chapter 103: The Battle Begins

Old Mike, who had been bickering with his friend, suddenly stopped mid-action, his eyes sharpening as a faint spiritual warning reached him. His ears twitched slightly, and he vaguely caught an odd roaring sound from above.

The other skilled extraordinary knights reacted in the same way, their bodies instantly tensing as they scanned their surroundings.

The greatest difference between the extraordinary and ordinary people was not strength alone, but the mysterious spiritual sensitivity—a subtle, instinctive awareness, especially alert to danger. Without any power masking it, ordinary people were practically incapable of launching a surprise attack on the extraordinary.

On the watchtower, several knights opened specially designed cages, releasing enormous glowing fireflies that provided faint illumination.

Looking up into the pitch-black sky, bathed in the dim light of the fireflies, everyone saw massive shadowy shapes.

In an instant, all their pupils contracted. The swords at their hips were drawn, and they assumed battle stances.

Then, those dark silhouettes descended from the sky, crashing heavily onto the castle grounds, leaving deep craters in some places.

“Enemy attack!!!”

The extraordinary knights shouted a thunderous roar.

All of them unleashed their spiritual energy, forming small squads of five that quickly arranged into a simple battle formation.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The bell tolls, ancient and resonant, echoing throughout the entire city.

Faint lights lit up the towers surrounding the castle. Several mages raised crystalline spell foci, chanting incantations to support the spells. Magical corridors began to form slowly.

Illumination spells and fireballs were being prepared.

This entire sequence of reactions took less than a minute, their speed rivaling that of modern armies.

This was precisely why the Xuan Law did not want a prolonged war. The extraordinary possessed overwhelmingly superior qualities in every aspect. Even those with poor combat awareness would be instinctively protected by their enhanced physicality. The higher the level of an extraordinary, the sharper their combat awareness. The more battles they fought, the more flaws in the Xuan Law’s approach became apparent.

Though the societal structure and productivity of this world were backward, it did not mean its people were foolish. The Xuan Law never underestimated the extraordinary; on the contrary, these individuals were more formidable than entire nations.

Nations were limited by their inherent physical conditions and social contradictions, always bearing immutable weaknesses. Yet the main power in this world was not the state or collective, but these godlike individual strongmen.

Their shortcomings could be swiftly rectified, and the conflicts within their groups quickly resolved, for those in the highest positions wielded absolute power, doing as they wished with no opposition.

Like the Dawn Kingdom: when the king was near death, the realm seemed on the brink of chaos, but news of his recovery restored peace instantly. Lords who had been snarling like beasts turned into meek rabbits, and no one dared defy the king.

The supreme ruled without question; rebels faced only death.

Of course, this was both a strength and a weakness. Under such extreme autocracy, society stagnated, everything became fixed, and progress was impossible.

Change could only come from the top down, never from the bottom up, and a complete revolution was out of the question.

The extraordinary knights stared tensely at the dark shapes overhead. Though they sensed no direct aura, their spiritual senses warned them of imminent danger.

“What are those things? Could they be the legendary dragons?”

“Impossible. If they were dragons, we wouldn’t even be able to stand our ground.”

“But what other flying creatures are that large?”

“Could they be some unknown monsters?”

“Whatever they are, just shoot them down first!”

All attention was fixed on the growing shadows above, and the recent impact of unknown objects was momentarily forgotten.

One by one, metal canisters began releasing large amounts of hypnotic gas. A gentle breeze spread the colorless, odorless gas swiftly.

From the roads to the gardens, from the gardens to the castle, from the castle into every room, finally creeping up the walls.

The hovering helicopters descending repeatedly drew everyone’s focus, especially as they approached the range of their attack.

Yet gradually, some realized something was wrong—they suddenly felt drowsy despite the emergency.

One extraordinary knight, puzzled, said, “What’s going on? Why do I suddenly feel sleepy?”

His words drew the attention of others, who looked at him with confused expressions.

“Did you party too hard last night? It’s the middle of a crisis, and you want to sleep?”

Soon, others also felt a distinct weariness, their pupils contracting as their faces grew grave and disbelieving.

They were feeling sleepy too?!

“What’s happening? I’m a bit drowsy as well.”

“Me too.”

The knight captain, protected by many knights, noticed the anomaly and shouted loudly, “The enemy is attacking our minds with some kind of power! Focus your attention and form the battle formation!”

The best defense against mental assault was to unite, linking spiritual energies to overwhelm the opponent with sheer collective force.

Their radiant spiritual lights flickered anew, but the strange drowsiness persisted.

What was going on?!

This eerie sleepiness terrified them all. They had no idea why they felt so overwhelmingly sleepy.

If they fell asleep like this, would they die?

Panic caused their battle formation to waver, and the once solid spiritual links began to weaken.

Above, the helicopter squadron descended leisurely, waiting for the hypnotic effect to take hold.

The mission commander, Firework, glanced at his watch, frowning slightly. “Fifteen minutes have passed. Normally, they should all be unconscious by now.”

Through the optical telescope, the extraordinary knights below were still lively and alert.

It seemed the extraordinary’s physical resilience was truly formidable, not to be measured by ordinary human standards.

However, this hypnotic gas was calibrated against the scouts. For ordinary people, exposure to such a high concentration could be fatal, while the extraordinary merely felt drowsy.

“What do we do, sir? The outer city troops are already reacting. If we don’t move quickly, it’ll be too late.”

Firework pondered for a few seconds, then picked up the radio. “Attention all units, prepare for a forced assault. Get ready to fight.”

“The helicopters accelerate descent. Snipers take out the mages atop the four towers.”

“Squads 1, 2, and 3 land inside the castle. Squads 4, 5, and 6 secure the southeast walls. Squads 7, 8, and 9 cover the northwest walls. After seizing the walls, destroy the gates and bridges to cut off enemy reinforcements.”

“Operation begins: everyone returns alive.”

Orders issued, everyone donned gas masks.

Firework glanced at his team — the strongest soldiers under Melody’s command, without equal.

The scouts wore expressionless faces, their deep, shadowed eyes glittering with spiritual light, their bodies exuding a faint but palpable killing intent.

Each was an entry-level extraordinary, their already formidable physiques surpassing ordinary humans and even many first-tier extraordinaries.

Iron Fist, standing two and a half meters tall, began equipping himself with two mini Gatling guns and a massive ammunition box, the entire setup weighing 1.5 tons.

“Firework, cool, huh?” Iron Fist raised a Gatling gun.

“Very cool,” Firework gave a thumbs-up. “We’ll be counting on you soon.”

“No problem, leave it to me.”

The helicopters sped their descent. Glowing spheres slowly rose beneath them like flares, illuminating the entire sky.

Under the light, the helicopters revealed their true forms: black steel beasts.

They saw the helicopters, and the soldiers aboard saw them.

The Xuan Law’s elite snipers raised their rifles, took deep breaths, their gazes sharp and cold, aiming at the enemy’s heads.

On the towers below, mages sensed the deadly warning from spiritual energy and hastily activated spell crystals, attempting to erect defensive spells.

But it was too late; bullets had already been fired.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The fragile heads of the mages exploded. Large-caliber armor-piercing rounds tore through, obliterating half their heads.

Blood, red and white, splattered everywhere. Nearly all the mages on one tower died simultaneously.

The other two towers suffered the same fate. These first- and second-tier mages couldn’t cast spells fast enough to counter bullets. On the last tower, two official mages fell, leaving only a third-tier mage barely holding on behind a magical barrier.

“Prepare rocket launchers.”

The doors on either side of the helicopter opened, and special forces pulled out demon-repelling flaming rocket launchers.

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