Chapter 64 Insect Puppet

Eastern District battlefield.

Facing the rhino knight's charge, Jiang He's expression showed a trace of surprise. The opponent's eyes had long since lost all spirit, yet they still maintained a ferocious offensive momentum.

The Long Hatred Spear was yanked out from the leopard knight's corpse, followed by a full-force sweeping strike. The close-quarters spear technique, Flowing River Setting Sun, violently unleashed the cyan and crimson blood-energy from the shaft. Exploding with overt force, the rhino knight—already at the end of its tether—had its head and horns smashed to pieces. Molten iron and flesh splattered in all directions, but Jiang He did not relax in the slightest.

Across the smoke-filled battlefield, fallen soldiers were rising once again. Insect-like threads writhed within their mouths and nostrils. Some soldiers, despite lacking heads or being reduced to mere remnants of corpses, seemingly possessed life anew.

"Un... Undead..."

A British soldier tremblingly dropped his rifle. Thousands of undead-like figures rising from the dead utterly shattered their will to resist.

When the first person began to run, the hundred-and-some British soldiers fighting with bayonets along the trench line scattered and fled in all directions. Tommy fired his revolver into the air several times, but to no avail.

"Let's run too. The infantry division in the rear is at full strength, and we don't have a shred of winning chance," Wu He suggested. The three leaders of Prussia's Upside-Down Tree Sword were undoubtedly the cream of the crop among knights, and with the insect-sword now commanding an army of thousands, they were a particularly troublesome category.

Without further ado, Jiang He turned and bolted. As he stripped the Free Bird Ring from the severed finger on the ground, the rhino knight—previously deprived of both arms and its head—actually wobbled and climbed back up. The leopard knight did the same; even with its skull destroyed, the transcendent-grade horsehair worm could still control it via the remaining nervous system.

"It seems the two of them have lost their transcendent abilities."

Wu He carefully observed the two corpses' behavior. The leopard knight clearly lacked its previous bullet-like speed, but its base stats remained high, and it easily caught up to and tore apart a fleeing soldier.

"With their souls shattered, their soul armaments are destroyed along with them."

Jiang He leaped over the barrier behind the trench. Not far away, Tommy pointed toward the direction of the camp outside the city. He intended to relay this news back, but the wildebeest knight lacked combat capability, making it difficult for a single person to quickly cross the war zone.

"Executive, he seems to be calling you."

"Then let's head back for a rest, and cash in our military merits by the way."

The trench defense line fell after holding out for twelve hours. The Prussian major general's infantry division, fully prepared, pushed forward rapidly. Over seven thousand iron-worm puppets paved the way, making the battlefield resemble the depths of hell.

***

Jiang He looked back during his mad sprint. There were still forty chaos bombs he had planted in front of the trenches. At a distance of over seventy meters, they could not be detonated by remote control, but they could serve as traps during hunting.

***

At the same time, the church attic.

Si Ning peered down at the battlefield through a telescope. On the flank of the Leyden Library at the edge of her vision, two infantry battalions of British soldiers were reinforcing their fortifications—this was the second line of defense.

"Your insect puppets are quite impressive."

In the shadows, an elderly man sat in a wheelchair with a faint smile, his military uniform covered in Prussian medals. As one of the leaders of the Upside-Down Tree Sword, he commanded no troops of his own, yet his rank was at least major general, complete with private overseas territories and a peerage.

"You're disliked by everyone in Buckingham Palace anyway, so you might as well retire while you're ahead. His Majesty the Emperor is about to take refuge in Amsterdam, and by then, no one will hold any decisive malice toward you."

Si Ning's mouth twitched. In this era of fallen imperial authority, Buckingham Palace was actually one of the very few exceptions that weathered the storm unmoved. She had no psychological burden about switching factions, but overall, Prussia's winning odds were not high; fighting on both the eastern and western fronts meant neither their population nor strategic depth offered much hope.

Beside the old man, the anemone knight acting as a bodyguard let out a cold snort. Dense anemone tentacles erupted from his back, shooting out hundreds of venomous barbs.

Si Ning turned her head, her expression freezing over completely. Her flower-sword pupils materialized instantly and began to rotate slowly. Glowing with an eerie light, eyes shaped like a hybrid of flower petals and sharp swords caused ten genuine longswords to manifest around her body, slashing at blinding speed. Within a radius of ten meters, the blur of swords formed an impenetrable defense, chopping every incoming venomous barb to pieces.

The old man praised, "What truly terrifying eyes."

"Just average."

Si Ning waved her hand and smiled. The flower-sword pupils were the core of the system she had synthesized from her various transcendent abilities, incorporating the power of the Black Datura Knight. Hypnotic reflections and abyss logic-sickness leaned toward utility, while shifting shadows and exchanging forms was specialized purely for running away. The ten swords in the Ten-Sword Envelopment skill were actual weapon-grade blades, their power based on her passive swordsmanship level—though they were currently only of ordinary quality. If she could acquire a sword prop infused with the power of shadows, her comprehensive combat strength would once again soar when combined with Shadow Exchange.

Having suddenly unleashed a massive volley of venomous barbs, the anemone knight's face looked slightly pale, but the psychological blow of his all-out attack being casually brushed aside was clearly much heavier.

The old man gently patted his nephew's hand and smiled, "She is one of the leaders of the King's Shield. Back in the day, even the Holy See would have hunted her down with all their might as a sinful witch. It's completely normal that you're no match for her."

Si Ning grew interested. "How does one become a sinful witch?"

***

The old man was momentarily speechless. "Given your arrogance, simply showing your face in public at the time and preaching the philosophy of the strong would have done it. But the Holy See has long since fallen to ruin; this is an era where even the divine right of kings is withering away."

Si Ning nodded with slight regret and said, "Tell me the location of Durendal. As for the upcoming Battle of Leyden, you lot can fight your own war."

The old man replied, "That sword is in Siberia."

"You're trying to fool me." Si Ning narrowed her eyes. Durendal, also known as the Golden Sword, was one of the nine Epic-grade secret treasures in the world and had once been the personal sword of Charlemagne. If its location was in distant Siberia, she would probably have to wait until her next world mission to attempt acquiring it, as her remaining stay time was insufficient.

The old man said helplessly, "Believe it or not, it's only because I'm getting old that I vaguely remember a few ancient pieces of history. But if you're willing to help me get rid of the Thunder Sword, I can mobilize all my resources to search for it."

Si Ning was surprised. "Has the infighting among you reached this extent?"

Even she and the other two King's Shield leaders couldn't stand the sight of each other, yet they would never resort to drawing swords against one another. After all, they each had their own spheres of influence and assets back in mainland Britain.

The old man stated coldly, "I thoroughly investigated the Thunder Sword's background. The resources mobilized for it were countless, and every result looked completely normal. But that very normality is what's abnormal. Before becoming a knight, he obscurely displayed transcendent power once. Following his ordinary trajectory of life, let alone being thirty years old now, he wouldn't have even touched a secret treasure at sixty."

The old man asserted with conviction, "I suspect he is a spy, operating under an expensive identity cultivated across generations. The Thunder Sword has already ascended to the position of leader. The moment His Majesty departs for Amsterdam, turmoil is bound to erupt. The forces behind him are plotting something massive."

Si Ning grasped the other party's intent and replied, "At the very least, the Thunder Sword is not a spy dispatched by Buckingham Palace."

In the old man's hand, a gemstone on a necklace emitted a green light. The Azalea Knight could discern falsehoods, and secret treasures left behind and fused after a knight's death possessed the same effect.

"The Durendal is deep within the ice fields of Siberia."

"Isn't that even farther away?!"