The Thunder Herd Siege King’s charge did not look fast at first.

It looked inevitable.

Its huge body lowered, horns pointed toward Stormbreak Fortress. Lightning gathered along its spine. Every thunder beast nearby moved aside instinctively. The mud before it dried, cracked, and turned glassy from electrical heat.

Qin Yuchen stood in the outer trench.

Beside him were fortress shield soldiers, spear teams, and three grounding chain crews. Their faces were pale, but none ran.

Qin Yuchen raised his sword.

"Do not stop it. Turn it."

That was the only chance.

Stopping such a beast head-on would kill them. Turning it even slightly could make it miss the wall’s weakest section.

Commander Lei Shuo’s voice came from the wall horn.

"Grounding chains ready!"

The Siege King accelerated.

The plain shook.

Qin Yuheng was still crossing the battlefield toward its flank, the Temporary Node Death Seal protected inside a thunder-resistant case. He could not reach it before impact.

Qin Yuchen had to survive the first charge.

The Siege King hit the outer trench.

Grounding chains snapped tight. Three broke instantly. Two held for one breath. Qin Yuchen led the shield line into an angled formation, using the trench wall to redirect force.

The impact threw soldiers like leaves.

Qin Yuchen’s arms trembled violently. Blood ran from his nose. His sword nearly flew from his hand.

But the angle worked.

The Siege King’s charge shifted several degrees.

Instead of hitting the eastern wall’s cracked center, it smashed into the reinforced mud ramp built by Qin Mo earlier. The ramp exploded. Lightning blasted upward. The wall shook but did not collapse.

[Eastern Wall Stability: 51% → 33%]

[Critical but standing.]

Qin Mo screamed from the wall, "I hate being useful!"

Qin Yuchen collapsed to one knee but forced himself up.

The Siege King turned its head.

It had noticed him.

A smaller person might have frozen.

Qin Yuchen raised his sword again.

"Second line!"

The second shield line stepped forward.

Qin Yuheng arrived before the Siege King could trample them.

He struck the beast’s left horn with full thunder-body force.

The blow did not break the horn.

But it turned the king’s head.

Lightning exploded between them.

Qin Yuheng felt his bones shake.

[Warning:

Storm Armor resistance high.]

The Siege King’s eye focused on him.

Qin Yuheng did not retreat far.

He needed proximity to place the Node Death Seal.

But the beast’s storm armor made direct approach deadly. Lightning roots crawled from its hooves, turning the ground into a killing field.

Qin Mo’s voice shouted through jade.

"The command pulse is under the throat! Not the horns! Under the throat!"

"Convenient," Qin Yuheng said.

"Nothing about this is convenient!"

The Siege King attacked with a sweeping horn strike. Qin Yuheng used Void Thunder Shadow Step, leaving an afterimage that exploded under the horn. He appeared near the beast’s shoulder, slashing at a storm rune.

The rune sparked but held.

Too tough.

The Siege King’s tail, shaped like a lightning whip, struck from behind.

Qin Lian appeared and cut one of the tail’s shadow-guiding threads, altering its path. The whip missed Qin Yuheng by half a meter and obliterated a trench wall.

Qin Lian vanished again.

"Under throat is exposed only after roar," she said.

Qin Yuheng understood.

They needed to make it roar.

Qin Yuchen, injured but standing, shouted from the trench.

"Hit the wound near left foreleg!"

There was a crack in the storm armor from its charge impact.

Qin Yuheng moved.

He signaled through the command field.

Focus left foreleg. Not kill. Provoke.

Fortress artillery fired grounding bolts.

Qin Mo triggered wall arrays.

Qin Lian cut storm threads.

Qin Yuchen led spear teams to throw anchored chains at the cracked foreleg.

The Siege King staggered slightly.

Then roared.

Its throat armor opened.

Qin Yuheng moved like a thunder shadow.

He crossed beneath the beast’s head as lightning gathered in its mouth. The heat was unbearable. The storm pressure tried to crush him into the mud.

He slammed the Temporary Node Death Seal into the exposed command pulse under its throat.

The seal burned instantly.

For one terrifying breath, nothing happened.

Then black-blue lightning spread across the Siege King’s body like cracks in glass.

Across the battlefield, the reforming nodes collapsed.

The remaining active nodes flickered.

[Node Rebirth suppressed.]

[Duration:

One battle phase.]

[Command Node regeneration halted.]

Qin Mo shouted, "It worked! I am a genius! Run!"

Qin Yuheng tried.

The Siege King’s roar became a blast.

Lightning struck him point-blank.

His body flew across the trench and slammed into a broken stone barrier.

For several breaths, he could not move.

The world rang.

His Primordial Thunder Emperor Body absorbed part of the damage, but not all. Blood rose in his throat.

Qin Yuchen shouted his name.

The Siege King advanced toward him.

Then Stormbreak Fortress answered.

Every wall artillery unit fired.

Grounding bolts, iron chains, storm nets, and explosive stones struck the Siege King’s side. Not enough to kill.

Enough to delay.

Commander Lei Shuo’s voice thundered.

"Protect the climber!"

The defenders roared.

Qin Yuheng forced himself up.

His hands trembled.

Good.

This battle had weight.

He could be injured.

He could fail.

He took one breath, then looked at the battlefield.

Node rebirth suppressed.

Three nodes remaining.

Siege King wounded but active.

Eastern wall critical.

Defenders still above seventy percent.

They had one battle phase.

One chance.

Qin Yuheng wiped blood from his mouth.

"Now we destroy the rest."