Chapter 21: Aura of War

Steady, stay calm!

Ye Mingqiu composed himself once more, meticulously checking his equipment and skills. Given the vast disparity in combat power and the sudden onset of the war, the Spirit Realm Trial was bound to provide some form of compensation elsewhere.

Opening the interface... querying information...

[Bronze Armor (Temporary Set)]
Base Defense: 5 (Defense applies only to areas covered by the armor.)
Equipment Effect: All attributes +5, Maximum HP +200.

[Bronze Spear (Temporary Weapon)]
Base Attack: 5
Equipment Effect: None

[War Aura (Temporary Passive)]
Effect: Within a 100-meter radius, all allies gain +100% health recovery speed, +100% stamina recovery speed, +100% spirit energy recovery speed, +10% movement speed, a flat damage reduction of 5 points, and +1 to all attributes.

[Detection (Temporary Skill)]
Effect: Probes the status of a specified target; the amount of information revealed depends on the user's Spirit attribute.

A surprise indeed! Is the core of this the passive aura?

The passive effects of the War Aura are immense, significantly boosting the combat capability of teammates within a hundred meters. If utilized effectively, surviving for a single day against an army of 80,000 with only 3,000 soldiers might not be impossible.

However, how to command these soldiers, how to make them fight for him, how to prevent morale from collapsing into a rout, and how to gather more troops—these are all daunting challenges.

It’s a tough situation!

But it is not impossible. With sufficient strategy and talent, one could certainly leverage the War Aura to survive for twenty-four hours.

Spirit-type specializations in Spirit Realm Trials are designed this way. Under normal circumstances, the trials provide paths to victory through intellect and strategy; even without overwhelming personal strength, one can complete the mission through clever maneuvering—though the difficulty is extremely high, and few can succeed.

Beyond that, he had obtained the Bronze Armor with its massive attribute boosts, the Bronze Spear—which possessed no special effects—and the Detection skill.

The Bronze Spear was junk, but that was to be expected. Ye Mingqiu was a Spirit specialist, not a Strength specialist; the trial naturally wouldn't provide him with a high-powered weapon, as this wasn't a test of personal valor.

The Bronze Armor’s effects were powerful. Its high attribute bonuses and decent defense, combined with the substantial increase to his maximum HP, provided a vital buffer, preventing him from dying to some stray, unidentified area-of-effect attack in the heat of war.

"Hoo..."

Ye Mingqiu took a long breath and cast Detection on a soldier standing nearby.

[Qiao (Level 1 Common)]
[Race: Human]
[Attributes: Strength: 8, Agility: 7, Constitution: 8, Spirit: 4]

These soldiers actually possess character templates!

Ye Mingqiu’s brows tightened as he cast Detection on the other soldiers one by one.
Template... template... still a template... Why are they all common templates? Are there no ordinary people among these soldiers?

In a standard-level trial, a soldier with a template would be a mini-boss, yet in this Hell-difficulty dungeon, they were nothing more than the most common rank-and-file infantry!

Their base attributes were not low; their Strength, Agility, and Constitution all hovered around 6-8. This meant that without the bonuses from the Bronze Armor, Ye Mingqiu’s own base attributes might actually be inferior to these common soldiers.

No wonder the Bronze Armor provided such significant attribute boosts; the base difficulty was simply too high.

Judging by their spirit and demeanor, these were not elite troops, merely ordinary soldiers. If things followed the norm, the enemy soldiers would likely be at a similar level. Facing 80,000 such soldiers was a chilling prospect.

Xia Qingxue had once mentioned that the Demon Boss she encountered in a Hard-level trial had Strength and Agility stats just over 10. She didn't know the exact figures, but she likely wouldn't last long under the siege of 80,000 soldiers.

More importantly, an army would not consist solely of common soldiers. There would certainly be stronger elite units: archers, veteran troops, perhaps even generals, kings, and in this world, even gods.

This is Hell-level difficulty!

So... what should I do?

...

At the city gate.

The beacon fires scorched the firmament to a deep crimson, and the bronze beast-headed ornaments rattled hideously amidst the smoke and dust.

The iron-reinforced city gate, over three zhang high, was shattered by battering rams. Splintered wood and jagged iron shards rained down upon the crowd like a storm. The frontline soldiers were struck, some losing half their heads; blood mist mixed with wood fragments hung in the air, staining the landscape of the battlefield.

Thousands of troops surged into the gateway, their roars and shouts rising in wave after wave. The gate guards fought desperately, but were powerless, slaughtered madly by the enemy.

The city had fallen, and morale was shattered, yet the guards at the gate held their ground with grim determination, as if making a final stand against their fate of enslavement.

"Kill them all!!"

Suddenly, a thunderous roar erupted. The War Aura instantly enveloped the gate guards. Not far within the city, a young man clad in bronze armor and wielding a bronze spear was leading a hundred-man unit, charging toward the gate at full speed.

The heavy-armored warriors surging into the city turned to charge, hurling themselves fearlessly at the youth.

Detection!

Ye Mingqiu cast the skill directly on the enemy's heavy infantry. He discovered that their base attributes were indeed higher than those of the common soldiers—10 points of base Strength, 12 in Constitution, and 8 in Agility. They were veritable tanks on the battlefield.

But he did not panic. While charging, he activated his innate skill [Spirit-Enchantment]. A pale blue light clung to the bronze spear, granting it an additional 5 points of attack power and significantly increasing its lethality.

Facing several heavy-armored warriors rushing at him with broadswords, Ye Mingqiu swung his bronze spear horizontally, unleashing unparalleled force.

Base Strength 4.4 + 30% Spirit Infusion + 30% Peerless Valor + 5 (Bronze Armor) + 1 (War Aura) = 13 Strength! Under the buff of the "Peerless" passive, the final strength judgment was... 19.5!

A crushing judgment of power!

"Bang!!"

With a violent explosion of force, several heavy-armored warriors were sent flying by the spear, unable to resist.

Ye Mingqiu did not hesitate for a second. He seized the critical opening, thrusting the spear through the throat of the nearest warrior, and pulled it free amidst the man's horrific, dying glare.

I... I killed someone!

The initial experience was unpleasant, and an inexplicable sensation welled up within him. But the battlefield offered no time for contemplation. More heavy-armored warriors roared as they charged, their shouts threatening to shatter his eardrums.

There was not a second to mourn the killing. Arriving on the battlefield was an endless tidal wave of enemies—roaring, shouting, brandishing weapons, and charging to their deaths.

The terrifying atmosphere of the battlefield infected Ye Mingqiu as well. The madness of combat smothered his discomfort. He glared with wide eyes, swinging his spear at the enemies while shouting, "Kill them all!!"

In that moment, he forgot who he was. He only knew he was on the battlefield, he only knew that those standing before him were enemies. To kill, or be killed—that was the only law of war.