Three beasts pushed through the breach together.
The first landed hard enough to crack the stones under its feet. The second struck the ridge shoulder-first and rolled. The third came down upright, blue light already burning through the gaps in its shell. The soldiers had little time to draw a line between them and the ward.
Han’s signal cut through the roar. “Center holds. Chain team, catch the left one. Spear line, give the archers room.”
Yan planted his feet at the forward mark. The nearest beast was smaller than the one he had drawn across the slope, but its shell looked thicker. Its head swung toward the red ward. He raised his hammer and began Nine-Death Blood Ignition.
He knew the full pattern. Qi traveled through his meridians in the familiar sequence, each turn easy to follow. The art burned at his life, then the System changed that cost before harm could reach him. Heat flowed through his limbs, bright and forceful. His body welcomed it.
Yan moved.
He struck the beast under the jaw, where the shell narrowed to a black ridge. The hammer landed with a sharp crack. The creature stumbled, its front legs folding beneath it. Han’s spear team rushed forward and pinned its hind legs with hooked poles. The archers had their opening. Their arrows drove into the exposed core until the blue light broke apart.
