MTLNOVEL Chapter 213
On April 2nd, on this seemingly ordinary day, the history of Zhuolu City ended on the wasteland.
Most of the civilians perished in the monster attacks, as the Church Protection Army charged into the Beast Tide, offering their final loyalty to the Holy Trinity.
The City Lord died while covering the evacuation of civilians.
His entire body was corroded by the monster's acid, swollen and blistered, making his corpse unrecognizable, just like all the other corpses, lying insignificantly on the road heading south.
A group of over a hundred people who miraculously escaped ran southwards, hiding in the dense forest.
When neither kin nor faith could protect them, nature provided them with their last refuge.
Three hours later, the Beast Tide moving south destroyed Qi City.
The Qi City Church Protection Army, having learned of Zhuolu City's fall in advance, evacuated the civilians ahead of time. At the brink of life and death, the desire to survive ultimately led them to abandon their faith.
But they had nowhere to go either.
They couldn't go north; monsters were there.
They couldn't go south; the Supreme Army was there.
They couldn't go west; it was an impenetrable forest growing on the plain.
They couldn't go east; there were no supplies for their large group.
They had no choice but to head southwest.
That was the direction of Han Shui City.
If they were lucky enough, perhaps in a dozen days, they could reach Han Shui City and receive aid from "another betrayer" there.
Such a trek was destined to be perilous.
Many were destined to die on the road.
But they had no other choice; that elusive Han Shui City was their sole hope for survival.
Eight hours later, monsters reached Haozhou City.
Six hundred Church Protection Army personnel who remained here put up a desperate resistance.
More than 20 heavy cannons were pushed onto the battlefield, and all unnecessary prayers were omitted. The white smoke from the cannon muzzles even covered most of Haozhou City.
All available weapons were activated, and the reinforced city walls withstood wave after wave of impact.
Bullets flew, and when steel fell, the monsters' front line was indeed halted for a brief moment.
----But, it was only a moment.
Subsequently, Haozhou City's defense line was breached, and the Church Protection Army engaged in a brutal fight against the monsters.
In the face of those massive monsters with various traits, the Church Protection Army, lacking effective, lightweight, and high-lethality weapons, was exchanging human lives with the monsters.
Without rocket launchers, they rushed to the monsters' feet to throw grenades.
Without semi-automatic rifles, they gathered all the rifles from fallen brothers and attacked the monsters in pairs.
Some even strapped explosives to themselves and jumped directly onto the monsters to detonate.
The destructive power of black gunpowder was hardly lethal to a monster, but what if there wasn't just one person doing this?
As the 600 Church Protection Army members fell one by one at a visible rate under the monsters' feet, some civilians who hadn't evacuated also faced their end with despair.
They clumsily used the weapons left by the Church Protection Army and launched a final charge at the monsters.
At that moment, no one knew whether it was for their supposed faith or for the family fleeing behind them.
But regardless, death is always equal.
When death descended upon them, this city also fell accordingly.
Over a thousand people died in the clash against the monsters, but because of their bravery, the Beast Tide also lost over ten massive bodies.
Zhang Tao's plan seemed to be taking effect.
If there were more than a dozen cities like Haozhou, perhaps he really could severely weaken the Tide's sharpness before it reached the Xuyi Defense Line.
But clearly, Haozhou City was unique.
After all, this city itself had been reinforced by the Supreme Army.
Its purpose of resisting to the death was to force the Beast Tide to turn and enter the Xuyi Defense Line's encirclement.
Haozhou City's mission was complete.
And after crossing Haozhou's wreckage, the Beast Tide moved unimpeded.
Five Rivers City, fell.
Mingguang City, fell.
Ziyang Town's advance defense line, collapsed.
Two hours later, the Beast Tide reached the shores of Nushan Lake and began to gather here.
"Our plan is working."
On the Xuyi Defense Line, the Archbishop looked through a telescope at the distant gathering Beast Tide and said to Zhang Tao, who was personally commanding nearby:
"The Beast Tide has turned and will definitely stop at Nushan Lake."
"This is a crucial water source, and many aquatic monsters must rest and recover here."
"Next, they are highly likely to move east along the water system, directly entering the encirclement we've set."
"All the great cannons are ready and adjusted."
"Fire Cannon Priests and Mechanical Servants are all in position."
"Once the Beast Tide enters the range, they will certainly suffer massive casualties."
"In fact, due to the advantage of the terrain, the results of our battle might even be greater than those achieved by the Huaxia Army near Benghu."
"Are you so confident?"
Zhang Tao's expression carried a tinge of solemnity.
He then said:
"I'm not that optimistic."
"The scale of the Beast Tide indeed hasn't exceeded our estimates, but its specifications are far beyond what we anticipated."
"I've already seen at least five familiar monsters, two of which are secondary monsters we found before."
"That Qinyuan Mother Body..."
"We must prioritize its extermination."
"Otherwise, our defense line will become extremely fragile."