The Portal of Wonderland

Similar incidents occurred in various parts of the city.

The mysterious shadows looked like a black stream under the dark sky as they passed through the inhabited alleys, and streamed towards the western part of the city. However, they continued to avoid the patrolling troops throughout their way.

The buildings in the western part of Xing He City were squatty and run-down; they constituted a disordered and chaotic image.

This area was highly vulnerable to the barbarians’ invasion since it was adjacent to the western gate of the city. So, it was a war-prone area. In fact, this area had been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times over several years.

The situation had slightly improved when Yue Tai came into power and rescued the disintegrating city. However, mostly destitute people resided in this area. Therefore, this area had been transformed into a slum.

However, this slum area had enjoyed an era of peace and bliss over the past hundred years.

However, its tranquility was about to get shattered.

Half-an-hour later…

The air inside the dilapidated wooden house was filled with the pungent smell of blood.

Six corpses lay in a pool of blood on the ground. However, the most outrageous sight was the corpse of a thirty-year-old woman. She was one of the six people who had died.

There was a hole in her throat; it was as big as a thumb. Her right hand held the hand of a two-or-three-year-old boy. The boy was dead too. He had a similar hole in his throat. The person who had slaughtered them seemed to be ruthless. He also seemed to be quite skilled in killing people in this manner. He had struck these people in such a way that they hadn’t even gotten a moment to call for help.

Seven or eight people were gathered near the pool of blood. They stood around a middle-aged man; he had a sinister look on his face. Everyone had a dignified expression on their faces. They seemed to be waiting for something.

Suddenly, a person’s silhouette flashed through the entrance door. A dark-skinned youth with a slim stature entered the wooden house.

“Lord Xiao, our warriors have assembled in the city. The common people’s houses along the path have been cleaned-up.”

The middle-aged man nodded as he heard the dark-skinned youth’s words; his face didn’t reveal any expression. He stuck his tongue out and licked his drying lips.

“The time is almost upon us. Transmit the order to set-off!”

Around three-hundred silhouettes emerged from the neighboring houses, and converged like a stream of water. Then, they started to advance towards the western gate of the city.

They all had an excited look on their faces. They seemed eager to fight; so much so that their eyes looked bloodshot.

These people looked similar to humans. However, they were barbarians. The barbarian people had been capturing and raping human-women to multiply their numbers over a long period of time. So, these human-looking barbarians were the offspring of human-women. The barbarians had been sent repeatedly to the city in the past ten years to ambush humans.

The barbarian people considered their bloodline as a symbol of honor. Moreover, they treated the human race as slaves and domestic animals. In fact, a few barbarian tribes even liked to feed on humans.

These human-looking barbarians had suffered serious discrimination since a very young age because they were half-human. However, they hated humans more than the barbarians. Therefore, they hadn’t shown any mercy when they had slaughtered the residents of the slum area.

There was a lofty tower along the western wall of Xing He City; it was several dozen feet high. It could accommodate more than a hundred soldiers. These soldiers would rotate turns round the clock.

Two soldiers were stationed in this tower. They held long spears in their hands. They seemed to be bored as they kept a watch outside the city.

But then, they saw something frightening.

Suddenly, the darkness below the city wall was disturbed by a glaring torch. Then, the light spread and covered several kilometers. The entire area was eventually flooded with a sea of fire.

The light gradually rose to the sky and illuminated the city walls. Soon, the entire city wall was illuminated as bright as daytime.

Several barbarian warriors could be seen amidst the boundless sea of light. Their bodies were covered in hair. They seemed to be wearing animal skins. They held strange weapons in one hand, and huge shields in the other.

Each of them was almost ten feet tall. They looked as strong as wild beasts. Many of them had queer tattoos engraved on different parts of their exposed skin.

All of them had one thing in common – their eyes were blazing with a desire to kill.

‘Bang!’

A thunderous explosion shook the earth.

Several barbarian warriors formed a battle formation, and galloped towards the city wall. It looked like a dreadful and gigantic wave had violently surged in a sea of fire. They rushed towards Xing He City like a rough sea-wave.

Several barbarian warriors held shields in their hands. A large number of siege troops rushed behind them with scaling ladders. They were being followed by numerous barbarian archers.

‘Woo!’

The night sky was shredded by the loud and shrilling sound of a clarion.

Several human-soldiers rushed out from the tower and stationed themselves on the city wall; it was dozens of kilometers wide. Then, they raised their bows and arrows at a forty-five degree angle. The arrowheads reflected an icy-cold ray of light.

Suddenly, the barbarians saw several cold and glaring lights appearing on the city wall; they looked like a giant dragon. The scales on this dragon seemed to be turned upside down.

‘Buzz!’ a deafening sound was heard.

Several arrows were shot from the city wall with a droning sound. These arrows looked like hundreds of locusts dancing in the air. The entire sky was covered by these arrows; the sky was darkened by their presence.

The mournful whining sound was spread in the air.

Only a few rounds of these arrows had pinned down several barbarian soldiers on their spots.

However, the barbarians weren’t affected by these casualties. In fact, they got provoked by the scent of the blood. They started to issue loud roars like wild beasts; their terrifying cries were heart-shuddering.

The barbarians had lost thousands of their soldiers soon. Eventually, they started to well-up under the city wall like surging tides. Hundreds of scaling ladders were erected against the wall.

Then, several barbarian warriors began to climb-up the ladder at fast pace; they carried their weapons on their backs.

Some of them were Totem Warriors; they were as agile as a spirit ape. They didn’t even take the support of the scaling ladder. They reached on top of the wall with a few undulating movements.

However, they were limited in number; there were only around a hundred Totem warriors. However, countless human-soldiers and a military officer were present on the wall. So, the Totem warriors wouldn’t survive if the human-soldiers attacked them from all sides. They would be shot down once they reached the top… that is if they didn’t get killed while climbing the wall in the first place.

The attention of the guarding soldiers was fixed on the enemies outside the wall. However, a group of three-hundred barbarian soldiers were approaching the western gate from inside the city.

“Who’s that? Stop right there!”

The officer-on-guard waved his silver spear and shouted in a stern manner.

Several hundred soldiers stood behind him. They turned around and formed a battle formation as they heard these words. They stared at the distant fuzzy place.

Suddenly, a strange sound was heard. It was followed by a streak of cold light. This cold light pierced the darkness.

A miserable shriek burst out. Several guarding soldiers were killed by spears with a series of screeching sounds. These soldiers were quickly killed because they didn’t have any shields to protect themselves.

“Enemy raid!”

The assigned military officer was a Hou Tian intermediate stage warrior. He was in-charge of the protection of the western gate. He waved his spear violently in the air. It formed a shield in front of his body, and started to repel the spears which were shot at him. His body started to shiver in rage. His ear-piercing shout seemed to have shook the entire world.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man appeared in front of the military officer; he had a sinister look on his face. He lifted his hand, and shot his palm towards him.

Then, something strange happened.

Suddenly, the middle aged man’s palm grew larger and thicker. Then, it got covered with a thick brown fur. His palm soon turned into a giant bear’s paw. He swept it with tremendous force.

‘Bang!’ a loud sound was heard.

An inhuman force gushed out of his arm, and hit the officer’s palm. The officer’s silver spear was split into two equal halves by the impact. Now, the city gate was open to an easy attack.

The middle-aged man struck the officer with another paw before he could even react. His paw fell on the officer’s chest like a heavy metal mace. The officer was sent flying into the air like a tattered piece of sack as his chest was pounded with an incredible force. The officer fell heavily on the ground, and stopped breathing.

Then, six or seven figures flashed from behind the middle-aged man and disappeared inside the gate.

These men were Totem Warriors. They were followed by three-hundred barbarian soldiers. The remaining human-soldiers were eventually wiped-out.

A few garrison soldiers on the city wall had become aware of the uproar by this time. Several patrolling troops rushed over as reinforcements as innumerable human-soldiers were massacred. The ear-piercing sound of the horses’ hooves against the ground filled the air.

The middle-aged man had anticipated this situation. Half of the barbarian warriors formed a wall to stop the reinforcements as he raised his hand, while the other half rushed towards the city gate.

The blood-curdling screeches shook the entire world.

The reinforcement of the human-soldiers outnumbered the barbarians. Therefore, the barbarians suffered disastrous casualties. Even the Totem Warriors didn’t remain unaffected. However, they defended the city gate fearlessly. After all, they had fought extremely hard to occupy it.

Then, something terrifying happened; it sent chills down the spines of the human-soldiers.

The western city gate opened inwards with a burst of intermittent rumbling sounds.

The barbarian army poured inside the gate like a tidal wave. Then, thousands of elite cavalrymen rushed out from the barbarians’ side, and burst into the wide gate like a storm.

They slaughtered all the garrison soldiers posted near the gate. Then, they formed several groups and spread inside the city. The remaining barbarians dismounted their horses, and began to fight over the city wall.

The entire city eventually sank into mayhem. Continuous wailing and crying voices were heard amid the sounds of military cannons.

There were continuous clamorous sounds as military camps across the city fell into turmoil.

The street that connected the western city gate and the residence of the Great National Guardian was attacked as well.

Several corpses of humans, barbarians and horses littered the several meters wide road; it was a ghastly scene. The dead soldiers were still in their armors. Their corpses were in a bad shape; they looked extremely frightening.

The native citizens could easily identify these men to be the private guards of the Great National Guardian.

The shadows of five people could be seen in the middle of the blood-covered street. They stood motionless; they seemed to be waiting since a long time.

Four of them were exceptionally tall. They were gathered around an eight feet tall elderly man.

They looked like four adults gathered around a young boy from afar.

The elderly man wore a fish-scale armor with a white robe. His robe was embroidered with a pattern of a dragon; it was draped over his shoulder. He had silver hair and a ruddy complexion. He held a golden rod in his hand; it was almost the size of a human. It was shaped like a half moon. It weighed more than a hundred kilograms.

His stared at the four men with his cold eyes. But, he remained silent.

The four men didn’t seem to be in a hurry to attack him. The man standing on the east side had a black spider tattoo on his face. His eyes were sharp and cold. A man with ugly facial features stood on the west side. He had a huge red sarcoma on his forehead. It was almost the size of a finger.

The other two people included a masked woman with a big gold earring on her left ear, and a vicious-looking one-eyed man. They stood on the north and the south side respectively.

These four people seemed to be the most formidable Totem Warriors among the barbarians. They had an extremely threatening aura around them. It was certain that they had inherited the strength of a Xian Tian level human-warrior.

Suddenly, the fire in the vicinity of the western gate became more intense. Then, an intermittent burst of loud shouts resounded throughout the city.

The elderly man turned around and glanced at his horse; it lay beside the pool of blood. His silver hair trembled slightly. Then, he took a deep breath. Suddenly, his golden rod started to produce a loud droning sound. His eyes looked incisive like a sharp knife.

Suddenly, a thunderous sound was heard. This terrifying sound was heard by both the humans and the barbarians in the vicinity.