Chapter 9: Crushing the Enemy (Part 1)
The trapping formation and the killing formation were set up about ten kilometers away from the city, with the trapping formation on the outside and the killing formation on the inside, covering an area of roughly seven square kilometers. This was already the maximum extent possible; if not for the sheer number of Purple Armored warriors, Li Ran would not have arranged such a large formation. Setting up the formation didn’t take much time—just insert the talisman pillars in the designated positions and bury the talisman stones and jades.
Li Ran pressed one of the talisman pillars firmly, driving it straight into the hard purple ice. Eight pillars were inserted into the ice according to the eight directions. After a quick inspection, he nodded in satisfaction before casting a spell. Instantly, hundreds of virtual talismans flew out and settled into the eight pillars.
A slight tremor sounded as the eight pillars suddenly expanded, reaching a height of a thousand meters in an instant, with diameters of over a hundred meters. Qi Wu Zhen quickly followed by casting a series of spells, causing the eight pillars to turn transparent and vanish in moments, as if merging into the air.
These eight pillars were the main components of the talisman array. Whether it was the killing formation or the trapping formation, they were the foundation. Everyone worked together to drive all the prepared array components underground and activate them layer by layer. It took seven or eight hours to complete the two large formations, which were finally activated by Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen together.
When the formation was fully established, talisman lights flickered, illuminating the entire array. They were now very close to the city, and the glowing light immediately alerted the Purple Armored warriors.
Guo Shier smiled and said, “With such a big disturbance, we don’t need to attract them, right? Hehe, I think they’ll send someone to investigate soon. Well, we still need to confront them in front of the formation. If the Purple Armored warriors enter the formation directly, there might not even be anyone left to send a message.”
Li Ran said, “Exactly. We’ll go out and kill a group of Purple Armored warriors first to provoke them.”
Halechi raised his hand and said, “I won’t go. I’ll stay inside the formation. Hehe, I’ll control it.” Although his strength wasn’t yet at the level of a ninth-tier altar, he had no problem controlling such a large formation. Controlling a formation manually and letting it operate on its own were two different things—only a manually controlled formation could unleash its full power.
Li Ran nodded and said, “Good. Halechi, stay behind to control the formation. The rest of us will go together to confront the enemy.” The remaining eight people flew outward together and arrived at the perimeter of the large formation in just a few breaths. They prepared their sacred weapons and quietly waited.
By this time, the mist had dissipated, allowing them to see the distant city clearly. Before long, a group of purple-armored warriors rushed toward them. Once they recognized Li Ran’s team, they immediately sounded an alarm, but strangely, instead of charging forward, the purple-armored warriors slowly retreated.
Zhen Wuji exclaimed in surprise, “Hey, they’ve become smarter!” At first, when they encountered the purple-armored warriors, they had fought fearlessly, disregarding death, but this time was completely different. There were about a thousand of these purple-armored warriors, and despite their large numbers, they showed fear upon seeing the eight people in front of them and dared not attack.
Qi Wu Zhen sneered, “No matter how stupid an organism is, as long as it has intelligence, I doubt they won’t be afraid. A few deaths won’t scare them, but thousands of deaths—I’m sure they’ll be terrified!”
The eight stood in a line, each holding their sacred weapons, staring coldly at the group of purple-armored warriors with an overwhelming aura. Purple mist once again filled the distant city, seemingly serving as a defensive tactic. About ten minutes later, large numbers of purple-armored warriors poured out of the city. From afar, it looked like a torrent of water, instantly turning the land deep purple.
Li Ran smiled and said, “It worked!”
The eight were about 300 meters away from the large formation behind them. Countless purple-armored warriors rushed toward them, closing in quickly and splitting into two groups to encircle them from both sides.
Zhen Wuji said, “They want to surround us? Heh, interesting.”
Guo Shier said, “We can slowly retreat…”
Li Ran nodded. “Yes, retreat slowly.” The eight slowly backed away, still facing the tide of purple-armored warriors. These warriors moved extremely fast—perhaps they had been prepared all along, determined not to give these outsiders a chance to escape.
As the purple-armored warriors closed in, Guo Shier and the other seven had retreated to the edge of the formation and continued to move back. At that point, the formation had not yet been activated.
By the time they could clearly see the approaching purple-armored warriors, they had already entered the trap formation. As the warriors rushed in, Li Ran shouted, “Retreat!” The eight turned and ran without hesitation, accelerating rapidly. The purple-armored warriors let out shrill howls and chased after them eagerly.
Within minutes, the eight entered the combat formation. Li Ran roared, “Halechi!”
Halechi was already prepared. Upon hearing this, he immediately cast a series of spells. In an instant, eight giant rune pillars appeared, and intersecting beams of rune light shot out, with one after another glowing as the grand array was activated.
The men in purple armor suddenly noticed a drastic change in their surroundings—the purple ice on the ground vanished, the distant scenery became completely invisible, and gray mist rose, instantly covering the entire array, throwing the men in purple armor into chaos.
Li Ran said, “Good. Halechi, leave this to me. If you’re interested, go to one of the rune pillars and take control of a sector.”
Guo Shier had already flown to one of the rune pillars, rising rapidly until he reached its top. He sat cross-legged on the pillar, cast a few spells, and everything around him was immediately imprinted in his soul. He could see everything within the array clearly. His soul trembled slightly as he said, “I’ve taken control of this pillar!”
For the eight rune pillars, the best approach would be to have eight people control them. Unfortunately, Aizek and Meili couldn’t do it. Aside from Li Ran controlling the entire array, only six people controlled six of the pillars, leaving two uncontrolled. This was a weakness in the array—though the men in purple armor might not even realize it.
The gray mist spread rapidly, and the purple mist in their city also spread quickly. Within a dozen minutes, the two mists merged. From above, one could see a huge gray mist circle surrounded by purple mist. Countless men in purple armor rushed into the trap array, with more continuing to arrive.
The killing array was designed by Qi Wuzhen, while the trap array was designed by Li Ran. Those who entered the trap array would fight each other under the array’s guidance. If they survived, they would be directed into the killing array.
As soon as the men in purple armor entered the trap array, they found enemies everywhere. They frantically attacked anything that moved. From the top of the rune pillar, Guo Shier could see everything clearly. The old hero also poked his head out and said, “Is this the thing that holds you back? Sigh, a bunch of messengers.”
Guo Shier replied, “Although they’re not very strong, we have too many concerns and can’t fully utilize our strength. It’s frustrating to fight like this.” He complained a bit more.
Soon, many powerful Purple Armored warriors rushed into the killing formation. Li Ran was still waiting; not many Purple Armored warriors entered at that time, among them a few Black Armored warriors who moved around chaotically within the formation. The area was shrouded in gray mist, and the Purple Armored warriors were also panicked. In the purple mist, they could clearly see everything around them, but in the gray mist, they lost their greatest advantage—unable to see even objects just a few meters away.
More and more Purple Armored warriors kept pouring into the trapping formation. The sounds of combat were muffled by the formation, leaving them no choice but to keep entering. Blood flowed like rivers inside the formation as waves of Purple Armored warriors killed each other before falling. They never realized this was a deadly weapon from another world.
Soon, tens of thousands of Purple Armored warriors entered the killing formation. Li Ran cast several spells, and countless virtual talismans appeared within the formation, turning into a barrage of flashing arrows that descended from the sky at his command. Cries of agony filled the air as the Purple Armored warriors were instantly killed. In moments, only a dozen or so powerful Black Armored warriors remained; the rest were all slain.
As the Purple Armored warriors died one after another, even Guo Shier felt this slaughter to be extremely cruel. He kept casting virtual talismans, causing the entire formation to operate rapidly. The gray mist even turned red from the blood.
Another group of elite Purple Armored warriors rushed into the killing formation. Those who managed to break free through the fighting inside the trapping formation were extremely strong. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize that once inside the killing formation, no matter how powerful they were, their fate was death—the formation had countless ways to kill any creature that entered.
Guo Shier said, “Sigh, these people are really strange. Why are they fixated on us…?”
The old hero sneered and said, “Stop talking nonsense. It will be the same when we enter other worlds. I guess… any outsiders are natural enemies of the local natives. There will be plenty to kill in the future. I hope we can enter the greater world soon. The small worlds are too dangerous. If it weren’t for your team’s strength, we would have all died by now.”
The formation kept operating frantically. In less than an hour, it consumed thousands of Spirit Beasts, yet there seemed to be an endless supply of Purple Armored warriors. According to Guo Shier’s estimate, at least over 200,000 Purple Armored warriors had died in the trapping formation, with tens of thousands more killed in the killing formation. Yet, looking at the waves of Purple Armored warriors approaching from afar, he felt powerless.
“Damn it, where do so many Purple Armored warriors come from!”
The old hero said, “Be patient. No matter how many there are, once they enter the trapping formation, they basically have no chance of survival. Even if a few manage to escape, it doesn’t matter much.”
Not to mention escaping a few—since entering the trap, not a single Purple-Armed man has managed to get out. Such a large-scale trap is considered one of the most advanced tactics in the World of Spells.
Guo Shier said, “There are too many of them. I estimate at least a million, maybe even several million.”
The old hero nodded. “It’s probably exactly that many…” He was also deeply alarmed—this was almost on par with the insect swarms in the World of Spells. At this point, everyone had to hold on and kill as many as possible; otherwise, there was no way to escape.
Two days later, the tide of Purple-Armed men finally thinned out, and they began to hesitate, no longer rushing frantically into the trap. Over those two days, Guo Shier estimated that at least tens of millions of Purple-Armed men died in the trap and the killing array, with the majority dying from fighting each other, and a smaller number dying in the killing array itself.
Thousands of Black-Armed men also died. It was clear that the Black-Armed men were the experts here, their strength comparable to lower-level altar practitioners in the World of Spells. Even with the help of the trap, Li Ran and the others felt extremely uncomfortable. Although the Purple-Armed men weren’t true humans but merely human-shaped creatures, killing such a terrifying number at once was something no one could face calmly.