Deep within the Nest, the throne woven from flesh and insect shells slowly opened its eyes.

In the center of a palace like a nightmare, a gaunt silhouette stood quietly at the peak of the writhing throne.

The Desperate Witch donned a crimson gown trailing along the viscous flesh floor, like a tide of blood surging.

He quietly watched the knights bursting in from the mist, with not a trace of surprise in his pupils, but a slight hint of mockery.

"...So, they've finally delivered themselves here."

His voice was gentle, carrying exhaustion yet a bizarre satisfaction, as if everything was within his expectations.

"How nice... I was just pondering whether to expend more energy on the siege... Let me see how long the Empire's iron will can struggle before death."

With a slight movement of his delicate fingers, innumerable monsters embedded with severed limbs and twisted spines surged toward the charging knights.

Some with over a dozen limb arms, some headless yet full of gaping mouths, and some simply pieced together from three or four fallen knights' corpses, with severed arms that still repeated sword forms from life.

Their presence triggered chaotic resonance in the minds of the strike knights.

The faces of fallen comrades, the cries of wailing infants, the visions of their bodies being torn... everything seemed like firing upon consciousness itself.

Both a physical opponent and a mental plague.

In the charging formation, some knights began to howl in pain, with Fighting Energy leaking out, and their longswords dancing wildly in attempts to dispel the hallucinations swirling in their minds.

"Grit your teeth! Don't think too much!" Gaius roared.

Fighting Energy exploded on him, covering his body like a flaming armor, as he first faced a stitched giant beast in front, moving like lightning and roaring to unleash the Earth-Splitting Strike.

"He's corroding our hearts... Don't let him succeed!!"

The entire line accelerated instantly, thousands of High-tier Imperial Knights, with Fighting Energy spreading like wildfire.

They bloomed clear trajectories in the mist, forcibly tearing into that hellish expanse of twisted flesh.

But not all warriors were so fearless as he was.

A young knight, after slashing with effort, showed a glimmer of fear in his eyes upon seeing a beast made from the head of his fallen comrade.

The monsters charged madly, their remains reassembled, regardless of being sliced into pieces, as long as there was remaining flesh, they could writhe, split, and resurrect within seconds, becoming more terrifying.

And every enemy killed felt like personally sending a comrade back into the enemy ranks.

"Will we become like this?" he asked.

No one answered.

Because they all knew the answer was yes.

Yet even so, no one took half a step back.

Fighting Energy thundered, blades blazed, long spears pierced through bone shells, heavy shields shattered maggot flesh.

It was a doomsday assault written with blood and will, a march with no way back.

"It doesn't matter if we die here!" An old silver-haired knight roared, crashing into the monster horde, severing the spine of a three-eyed corpse beast, though a blade pierced his left shoulder.

He did not retreat, but instead rammed the monster along with himself deep into a wall of flesh, pulling the high-energy Magic Explosion Bullet at his waist, his body becoming the core of blazing flames in an instant.

"Boom!!!"

A searing, blinding explosive flame blossomed between the insect flesh, blood mist splattered, shattering the recomposing corpse fragments.

The passage that was about to close was forcibly expanded by a yard.

With his life, he traded for the space needed for the next charge.

"Move forward! Don't look back!" a captain of the Cold Iron Legion roared, his chest plate shattered, blood gushing like a stream.

He knelt on one knee, leaning on his Broken Spear, grappling fiercely with an oncoming quadruped beast.

He knew he was already too weak to kill, so at the last moment, he suddenly pressed the switch at his waist.

"For the future."

Another deafening roar resounded.

The burning Fighting Energy consumed him and the enemy together, tearing apart an entire wall of flesh and blood.

On that day, the knights on the battlefield seemed to have long forgotten what escaping alive meant.

They pulled the Magic Explosion Bullets' fuses, not for self-preservation, but to pave the way.

Not once, not a chance occurrence, but every ten or so steps, a warrior would charge into the enemy formation, detonating themselves, blasting open a path with their lives.

Their explosions were not choices made in desperation, but already predetermined tactical arrangements.

They were the living fuses of the Nest campaign, the sacrificial soldiers of the death charge.

"Open the way! Keep opening!!"

"The knights ahead, use me as a ladder!!"

"Don't stop! We die so you can continue to charge forward!"

In that blood and fire-forged corridor, knights detonated themselves one by one, like candles burning to the end, lighting the path in the darkness.

Explosions and shouts intertwined, even Hell trembled.

Even if each enemy slain was reborn, with every step forward needing to tread on the corpses and wills of comrades.

Still, they gritted their teeth, their Fighting Energy blazed wildly, long spears slicing, their eyes burning like flames.

Only in destruction could there be a chance for life.

This was dying for the Empire, they roared in death, charged in despair.

...

On the other side of the hill, Louis's demolition team finally reached the deployment point.

Ahead was likely a secluded rock platform, but with an open view, directly aiming at the central structure of the Doomsday Nest.

Like a giant statue twisted and intertwined with gods and demons, its arms raised high in a Holy Mother-like embrace of its followers, seemingly ready to accept all approaching life with gentle embrace.

But this "embrace" would only send everything into endless death.

Its lower half had long degenerated into a giant fleshy ovary and incubation cavity, with thick, pillar-like vessels endlessly writhing, rooting deep into the earth.

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