The Beast Tide Strikes, One Man Forms an Army

Deep in the Endless Mountain Range, while Li Qinghe and the others battled the Feral Beasts, a new Beast Tide erupted.

This wave was larger than anything that had come before — a churning, countless mass pouring from the mountain borders toward the Red Maple Empire's defensive line.

The bulk of the horde slammed into the fortresses along the line, while still more surged through the outermost perimeter and pushed deep into the middle defensive zone.

Defense Camp 257.

Lu Yuan's group had barely slept a few hours when the assembly call came.

This was no ordinary muster for the scout company alone — every soldier of the Guard Corps across the entire military zone had been summoned.

They gathered beneath the camp's defensive walls. On the ramparts above, Luo Xiu, Tracy, Jiang Ming, Wang Jiashu, and the rest of the Guard Corps high command stood in a line, looking down at the assembled troops.

Not far off, a sizable crowd of civilian adventurers had gathered as well.

Luo Xiu's gaze swept the crowd. It paused, briefly, on Lu Yuan.

The easy smile that usually softened his face was gone. In its place: cold, unyielding severity.

His voice rang out — carried by Spirit Power, it reached every corner of the fortress.

"Word has come from the front. The Beast Tide has erupted across the entire line. Massive numbers of Feral Beasts have broken through and are pushing into the middle defensive zone. We are that middle zone — and a large-scale Beast Tide assault is heading straight for us. This wave is fiercer and more dangerous than anything we have faced before. But behind our southern line lies the Empire itself. Cities. Our families, our friends, our loved ones. Are we going to let these animals cross our line and sink their claws into the people we care about?!"

"**Never!!**"

The roar tore upward and shook the sky.

Luo Xiu gave a measured nod.

"That's right. We are the Guard Corps. We are the Empire's shield. We will hold this line — with our weapons and our bodies — and we will not let a single one of these creatures take another step toward the Empire's people! Everyone — prepare for battle!!"

In the answering roar, every soldier moved to their post.

Even the adventurers standing nearby stood straighter, something fierce kindling in their eyes.

The ones who had stayed were the ones who had meant to stay.

The man at the head of the adventurers — weathered, middle-aged — wheeled on his companions and bellowed:

"Brothers! The Legion Commander said it right! None of you want a Beast Tide hammering at the walls of your family's city, do you?! We have power — let's use it! Stand with the Guard Corps and hold the line!"

"Hold the line!"

"Let's make those animals bleed!"

The voices multiplied. Under the Guard Corps soldiers' direction, the adventurers filed to their assigned positions.

Squad 22's scout company had previously patrolled the defensive territory on rotation, but with the Beast Tide erupting on all fronts, their role had changed. They were Vanguard soldiers now — assigned to hold the camp alongside everyone else and cut down Feral Beasts as they came.

Their assigned section: the southern wall — the face of the fortress that looked directly out toward the Endless Mountain Range.

That was where the tide would break.

1st Regiment Commander Wang Jiashu's voice boomed from the ramparts:

"Everyone up on the wall! Elemental Type and Long-range Attack Type warriors — focus on killing Feral Beasts. Guardian Type and Assault Type warriors — protect your ranged and elemental comrades. Spirit Cannons, begin warming up — be ready to fire on my order!"

Lu Yuan fell into step behind Groat and the others as they climbed.

It was his first time on the wall, and the sheer scale of it caught him by surprise. The walkway was close to fifty meters wide — an almost staggering amount of space. Every hundred meters or so, a massive Spirit Cannon sat on its mount, already being staffed by Gene Warriors whose Spirit Power crackled in the air around the weapons.

Between the cannons, Long-range Attack Type and Elemental Type warriors had settled behind the battlements, gripping their Staffs and longbows, waiting for the tide to arrive.

In Squad 22, Yang Qiu and Ding Wen had taken their spots among them.

Yang Qiu held her Staff and flashed Lu Yuan a grin.

"Heh. Never thought it'd be me and Old Ding doing the actual killing for once. What a rare occasion. Looks like you're on protection duty this time, Yuan."

Ding Wen let out a pleased little laugh and gave his bowstring a satisfied pluck.

Understandably. Once the horde arrived, going over the wall wasn't an option — far too dangerous. The gates would stay shut, and anyone who went down would never get back up. They would be ground to nothing at the foot of the wall.

Unless you were King Grade. King Grade warriors could fly.

Lu Yuan rolled his eyes.

"Who said I can't attack Feral Beasts myself?"

"Hm?"

Groat and the others blinked, exchanging puzzled looks.

Then something seemed to click for Groat. His expression shifted — something odd moving across his face.

"Hold on... Yuan, you're not planning to just stand up here and lob Talismans the whole time, are you?!"

That landed. The others' faces twisted into matching grimaces.

Ding Wen waved his hands frantically.

"Yuan, please — don't. You don't have to. There's no need. I'm begging you, stop throwing money into a fire. My heart literally cannot handle it."

They had all watched, over the past several days, exactly how Lu Yuan used Talismans.

Out in the field, it had at least made a grim kind of sense. But up here on the wall, safely behind fortifications — you simply didn't get attacked unless something actually made it over the top. Burning Talismans in that situation would be nothing short of spectacular waste.

Lu Yuan looked at their faces and smiled.

"What are you all imagining? Even without Talismans, I have other ways."

The vague answer only deepened their confusion. No one could work out what he meant.

At that moment, Wang Jiashu — overseeing the wall's defenses — suddenly stiffened. His eyes locked on a point in the distant sky.

"All units, attention! The Feral Beasts are incoming! Eyes on the sky!"

Every face snapped upward.

And there it was — a dark mass rolling in from the horizon, dense and churning, drawing closer by the second.

"Stormwind Eagles and Fire Hawks!! Ranged warriors — wait for them to close range, then bring them down! Not one gets through! Guardian Type and Assault Type — cover your ranged fighters!"

The order thundered across the wall.

*So it begins.*

Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed.

Behind him, on the empty stretch of wall, massive figures began to materialize — ten meters tall, each one. Lord Grade Mechanical Guardians appeared one after another, already spreading to either side under their own initiative as they emerged.

The sudden appearance of the enormous machines sent a ripple of alarm through the nearby troops. For a split second, people braced for an enemy.

Wang Jiashu — still running the defense — felt ice shoot through him. Then his eyes found Lu Yuan in the distance. Something clicked. His gaze went wide.

He crossed the gap in an instant and appeared at Lu Yuan's side, expression caught between stunned and completely at a loss.

"Lu Yuan — are these... *yours*?!"

He stared at the Mechanical Guardians continuing to appear, barely able to process what he was seeing.

Lu Yuan nodded, easy smile in place.

"Yes. They're mine."

Every person within earshot stared. Skin crawled. Faces went slack with shock.

Groat watched them keep materializing, jaw slowly working.

"...Good lord. Just how many of these things does he have?!"

The question was the one on everyone's lips.

Lu Yuan didn't answer — but the Mechanical Guardians kept coming, fast, and soon the count surpassed a hundred with no sign of stopping. The first ones to appear had already walked several hundred meters down the wall.

They had to — at that size, each guardian needed several meters of space just to stand, let alone move.

As they spread into the farther sections of the wall, the Gene Warriors posted there stirred in visible shock.

Supervisory officers from other sections came running.

A blond man and a black-haired woman arrived at Wang Jiashu's side, both wearing identical expressions of bewilderment.

"Jiashu, what in the world is happening?! What *are* these mechanical creatures??"

Wang Jiashu was still pulling himself out of his stupor.

He twisted his mouth and jerked a thumb at Lu Yuan.

"Ask him."

They both knew Lu Yuan by now — his name had been all over the zone lately.

The blond commander looked between Lu Yuan and the ongoing stream of materializing Mechanical Guardians, mouth opening and closing.

"...Lu Yuan. These are *yours?!*"

Lu Yuan nodded with a smile. "That's right. Spoils from the Aier Mechanical Ruins."

The black-haired woman blinked, then let out a short laugh.

"With these Mechanical Guardians on our side, holding this camp gets a great deal easier. What's their actual combat level?"

"Second-rank, Perfect Lord Grade."

"*Every single one?!*"

The silence that followed was stunned.

The blond commander's voice came out rough.

"Two hundred-plus... Second-rank Perfect Lord Grade... do you understand what that means..."

Wang Jiashu, the blond commander, the black-haired woman — they all wore the same dazed look.

Wang Jiashu's expression snapped back to focus. He turned sharply.

"I need to get word to the Legion Commander. With your Mechanical Guardians' strength — you could practically hold an entire wall face on your own!"

He was reaching out to contact Luo Xiu when Luo Xiu, Tracy, and Jiang Ming stepped through the crowd and appeared at their side.

Luo Xiu's tone was unhurried.

"Save the call. The noise these things made — we saw it ourselves."

Of course they had. Ten meters tall, each one — the Mechanical Guardians were nothing short of towering colossi.

Luo Xiu stared at the ones still materializing. His perpetually narrowed eyes had actually opened wide.

That alone said everything about how rattled he was.

Tracy wasn't faring much better. She watched the Mechanical Guardians filing past her, mouth agape, and turned to Lu Yuan:

"Lu Yuan — you have given us the biggest surprise I could have imagined."

Beside her, Jiang Ming's mechanical eyes whirred and tracked from one Mechanical Guardian to the next. A vicious grin spread across his face.

"Heh. Two hundred-plus Second-rank Perfect Lord Grade... I think the Beast Tide is about to have a *very* bad time."

Luo Xiu was quiet for a moment. He turned to look at Lu Yuan, and something shifted in his expression — a faint, genuine smile.

"Cadet Lu Yuan. On behalf of the Guard Corps of Camp 257, I want to thank you. With your two hundred-plus Second-rank Perfect Lord Grade guardians in the field, the casualties we're about to suffer may drop dramatically."

Lu Yuan was momentarily caught off guard. Then he straightened, brought his right fist to his chest in a crisp salute, and met Luo Xiu's eyes with complete sincerity.

"Legion Commander — I'm a soldier of the 257th as well. This is what I should do."

Something flickered behind Luo Xiu's eyes. He held Lu Yuan's gaze for a moment, and the smile returned, warmer this time.

"Ha! Then I won't stand on ceremony. Soldier Lu Yuan — by the authority of the 257th Legion Commander, I am hereby establishing the Mechanical Corps. I'm ordering you to serve as its Commander. You will lead your Mechanical Guardians in reinforcing all four walls and plugging any gaps in the defense as they arise. Are you willing to accept this commission?"

Every face around them changed.

*One man... an entire army.*

Though, in fairness — two hundred-plus Second-rank Perfect Lord Grade Mechanical Guardians, with their iron frames and built-in firepower, could very well outclass every other regiment combined. That wasn't counting the Legion Commander or the two Deputy Commanders, of course. But the number spoke for itself.

No one was the least bit surprised that Luo Xiu hadn't hesitated for a second.

Lu Yuan paused for a beat. Then he flashed a grin.

"Yes, sir."

Luo Xiu gave a nod, then raised his eyes to the sky. His expression sharpened.

"It's coming."

Lu Yuan looked up. The dark mass had almost reached the camp.

With his eyesight, he could already make them out clearly: the Stormwind Eagles, bodies clad in pale blue-green feathers, and the Fire Hawks, their forms flushed a deep, burning crimson.

Both species ran large. Even the smaller individuals spread five or six meters of wingspan in full flight; the largest among them stretched over ten. They were formidable creatures.

The dense flock trained razor-sharp eyes on the defensive camp below. The moment they spotted the human warriors, scarlet killing intent blazed in their gaze — and they screamed forward in a diving rush.

By then, Lu Yuan had called out his last Mechanical Guardian.

They covered the entire southern wall — three full kilometers — spread out roughly every ten meters, an unbroken line of iron giants.

Every Mechanical Guardian, even those of the Assault Type, had been equipped with Spirit Cannons, granting them solid ranged capability. Flying enemies would find no soft targets here.

As the Stormwind Eagles and Fire Hawks came screaming down, the supervising officers let their orders fly.

"Open fire!!!"

Gene Warriors drew and loosed in a single fluid motion — powerful arrows arced skyward. Elemental Type warriors called up their Combat Techniques, sending streaks of power blazing into the air.

Lu Yuan's focus sharpened. Every Mechanical Guardian's eyes blazed red.

**Beep!** "Enemies detected — initiating elimination."

In unison, they raised their Spirit Cannons and locked onto the incoming creatures.

**BOOM — BOOM — BOOM — BOOM!!**

Thick columns of Spirit Cannon fire erupted upward in a roaring salvo, lancing into the sky.

The close-combat Mechanical Guardians might have had modest ranged output on their own — but the purpose-built ranged variants were something else entirely. Their arms mounted massive Spirit Cannons on both sides, and additional weapon emplacements bristled across their chassis. A single ranged Mechanical Guardian could unleash five or six simultaneous blasts.

Two hundred-plus Second-rank Perfect Lord Grade Mechanical Guardians, firing in unison. The Spirit Power pressure generated by their combined salvo actually exceeded the combined output of every human ranged warrior on the wall.

Second-rank, Perfect Lord Grade — comparable to Third-rank mid-to-high Chief Grade in raw power, vastly outstripping the predominantly Second-rank Guard Corps warriors.

The Feral Beasts screamed with fury. Savage wind blades and torrents of flame arrows shrieked back down toward the wall, colliding mid-air with the barrage of Combat Techniques, arrows, and cannon rounds.

**BOOM!!**

The concussive roar rolled across the wall.

Some of the arrows and Combat Techniques punched through the wind blades and fire arrows and kept going — finding flesh. Others scattered in the exchange. But the majority of the Spirit Cannon rounds simply tore through the Feral Beasts' attacks like they weren't there, detonating in the heart of the flock.

The explosive Spirit Power discharge was catastrophic. Feral Beasts died in droves. Blood and bodies rained from the sky.

Everyone on the wall stared.

Even Luo Xiu glanced back at the Mechanical Guardians standing behind him.

Their power had exceeded every expectation.