The crisp bell echoed throughout Blazing Fire City.

Due to its unique construction, this bell sound was much louder than that in other cities.

The soldiers stationed at each cave could easily hear the resonating bell sound.

This tolling had already penetrated into the hearts of every officer, who immediately maneuvered their troops engaged at the front line to begin an extremely swift retreat.

Long before the Beastmen attacked here, Luo Ze's troops had drilled numerous times for different orders.

Among them, the retreat command was the one they practiced most adeptly.

Avoiding battle is shameful, but it's useful.

To stubbornly fight to the end, down to the last man, is downright foolish.

As for why to retreat after only a short engagement, that wasn't for the officers to question.

Challenging a superior's order and failing to execute it promptly, was a serious crime in Luo Ze Empire's Army.

Every Luo Ze Officer simply had to perform their own duties and carry out the tasks assigned by their superiors.

To question too much was to overstep one's bounds.

The less powerful Heavy Soldiers, following commands, raised their shields high, and used their bodies to block the stairs leading to the higher tiers, giving priority to the more powerful soldiers to retreat.

Along the edges of the higher tiers, there were quite a few powerful Magicians who collaborated to use Control Magic, delaying the Beastmen's advance as much as possible.

The stronger Magicians used Teleportation Magic.

They had set their destination points around the teleportation device well in advance, so that when the device was activated, they could use Teleportation Magic to arrive directly in front of the device and leave Blazing Fire City.

By the way, Luo Ze Empire's teleportation device was located on the Fifth Tier.

It was a silver disc, surrounded by four banana-shaped blue pillars neatly arranged around it.

This teleportation device could only transport a hundred people at once, with a five-minute cooldown period.

The idea of "pop—" transporting all the soldiers out at once was simply impossible.

Almost every soldier was aware of this, and they also knew...

The value of every Luo Ze soldier had been determined at the beginning of the war.

Even if some soldiers questioned such a simple assessment of a soldier's life value, they quickly accepted the reality.

They had neither the power nor the means to change anything.

All they could do was comply.

Deflecting Dongmu's punch with his sword, General Kai Lu, responsible for Blazing Fire City's defense, furrowed his brow as the sudden ringing of the bell felt like a sharp knife being thrust into his heart.

Who exactly had given the order to retreat?

And who exactly had rung the Command Bell?

Were the soldiers and officers guarding the Command Bell vegetarians?

Or perhaps...

Kai Lu recalled at a generals' meeting, two generals from East View City mentioned an odd incident.

— The Command Bell in East View City had been rung inexplicably.

Those two generals speculated that this must be the work of a traitor in the army, with the misfire of the cannons being a prior warning.

Could it be...

No, that's impossible!

The people guarding that place are those I trust, they could never betray me!

But... how else to explain it now?

General Kai Lu refused to believe that he had been mistaken in his trust, yet he had to face reality.

The retreat bell had been sounded, and the troops personally led by him could still ignore the bell sound through telepathy, acting on his will.

But to the ordinary soldiers and officers, the moment the bell tolled, they seemed orderly, but in fact...

Their hearts were already in disarray.

The "correct way" of each order had been deeply ingrained in their very bones.

Just as the saying goes, once you start to lose morale after initial enthusiasm, it only diminishes further with time.

Fickle commands only served to further diminish the soldiers' morale.

Even if the soldiers heeded his redistribution and all came back to defend once more, the outcome would likely be grim...

After a moment's hesitation, General Kai Lu still gave the order to retreat to the troops behind him.

On another battlefield.

A golden storm continuously whirled around Liu Chuan.

Liu Chuan had heard the retreat bell as well but didn't cease his attack; his warhammer kept smashing down towards Yang Yu.

The multicolored road, under the countless hammerings of Liu Chuan, turned into a heap of glass shards.

Each step Yang Yu took made the ground crackle.

But the scattered glass debris did not impede Yang Yu's footwork.

Regardless of how many shards flew up, Yang Yu was able to dodge them with extreme calmness.

Although he wasn't always completely unscathed, the damage was entirely within Yang Yu's acceptable range.

"Damn it."

No matter how he swung the warhammer, he just couldn't hit his target, and a sense of frustration welled up inside Liu Chuan.

He had thought that he had thoroughly understood Yang Yu through the Memory Crystal and found a way to deal with him.

It was only when he actually crossed swords with Yang Yu that Liu Chuan realized how tricky he was.

Facing Yang Yu felt like...

Attending a lecture feeling like you understand everything only to realize you know nothing when the exam comes.

"Yo.

That seems like the sound of your troops retreating.

Aren't you planning to withdraw with your troops?"

Liu Chuan did not answer but just gazed at Yang Yu.

He knew that if even he couldn't handle Yang Yu...

It was likely that no one else would be able to constrain this man afterward.

For the Empire, this was definitely a looming disaster.

"Holy Light Restriction."

Extending his right hand and clenching it into a fist, a dazzling Holy Light beamed down from above Yang Yu's head.

Liu Chuan gripped his warhammer and lunged at Yang Yu.

Before he was completely immobilized, Yang Yu drove his foot into the debris, kicking upwards, and instantly countless shards of glass flew up.

A Holy Light Shield rose around Liu Chuan, shielding him from the shards of glass that pattered against it, and he kept swinging his warhammer, charging straight for Yang Yu.

Under the oppression of the Holy Light, Yang Yu struggled to raise his shield.

The warhammer met Yang Yu's shield once again, and the shield in Yang Yu's hands immediately shattered into pieces.

Just as Liu Chuan thought he had succeeded, he saw Yang Yu calmly dodging the broken pieces of the shield, pulling out a small round shield, and distancing himself from Liu Chuan.

Liu Chuan had spent quite a bit of spirit and strength in his haste to defeat Yang Yu, and the storm was not as strong as before.

Seizing the chance, Bai Jin started chanting magic, and an Ice Spear Technique took shape in front of her, while Iyas also drew her bow, aiming the arrows at Liu Chuan.

At Bai Jin's command, the massive Ice Spear pierced through the Holy Light Storm, heading straight for Liu Chuan.

Seeing it was too late to avoid, Liu Chuan swung his warhammer once again, striking the white Ice Spear.

The white Ice Spear instantly shattered into countless particles, creating a mist around Liu Chuan.

A dazzling streak of light followed, and from within Bai Jin's shattered Ice Spear, a Light Arrow shot out, hitting Liu Chuan in the shoulder.

However, Iyas's Light Arrow did not penetrate Liu Chuan's shoulder.

A streak of light flashed across the armor on Liu Chuan's body, and Iyas's bow and arrow were snapped in two by his armor.

Was it the armor's active effect?

In the elves' Treasure Vault, Yang Yu had seen several pieces of equipment with active effects.

The Luo Ze Empire was one of the three great human nations; it was only reasonable for them to equip their high-end combatants with good gear.

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