Chapter 973: Cruel and Unusual

As Zhang Lie clenched his fists, the space all around him shook. Blue genetic energy gathered and rippled around his arms. He flicked his wrists, causing a frightening aura to descend on the world. The skies began to darken, and a fish the size of a whale materialized in the air.

A howling gale swept over the battlefield. As more and more genetic energy gathered around Zhang Lie's arms, it looked as though he were at the heart of a whirlpool.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar]!" A huge wave soared into the air. As Zhang Lie punched forward, the fish slammed its huge tail on the ground and sent a torrent of water surging into the air.

Ripples of energy spread out from Zhang Lie, filling up space and distorting it. Waves coalesced into a flood that enveloped the battlefield and smashed against the death spirits' black twisters.

The black twisters were dissipated by the pale-blue sea, resulting in an explosion of genetic energy that shook the entire shattered battlefield.

The boulders and chunks of land crashed into each other, sending rubble all over as though the land itself were splitting apart. The closest of the death spirits' battleships suffered the most direct impact. They smashed into each other, buffeted by the shockwaves from the impact, and fell from the skies.

Everyone looked open-mouthed at the source of the attack, Zhang Lie.

That was frightening.

The frost spirit commander himself was shocked. Zhang Lie's attack was as strong as that of a superior king—he had only ever seen such destructive prowess from the frost queen herself. In that case, Zhang Lie's own strength...

The frost spirit commander simply couldn't imagine that a newly evolved world could field such a strong troop—it was inconceivable that the Zongming world could be so strong.

From the frost spirit commander's perspective, it was as though a planet that had just developed interstellar travel simultaneously possessed weapons strong enough to annihilate planets—as though a newly founded kingdom somehow had access to nuclear weapons and was using it in battle.

Even the death spirits were perplexed. They didn't know what to do, whether to keep fighting or to turn tail and run.

The battlefield grew even more chaotic than before.

Seizing the opportunity, the frost spirit commander shouted, "Everyone, charge!"

Hong Xi also saw the opportunity to strike, and she too commanded the Zongming troops to charge forward. As expected of a combat specialist, she had gained significant experience in command during the second realm.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The death spirits' octahedral battleships, after a momentary panic, finally reorganized. By that point, however, the allied forces were already closing in on the death spirits.

The death spirits responded quickly. Large quantities of black spirits appeared from the skies, flooding the battlefield like the tide. They charged toward the superior worlds' forces and clashed with them.

The most impactful clash wasn't from the frost spirits or from Zhang Lie's forces, but rather the monstrosities of the unclean world. The troops fleeing for their lives from the monstrosities were corralled toward the black spirits and forced into a confrontation.

Behind them was a horde of monstrosities pushing forward, as though two huge titans were about to crash against each other.

The fleeing aliens either had to kill the black spirits before them to escape the clutches of the monstrosities, or they would be devoured by the monstrosities and transformed into one of their number.

Zhang Lie couldn't help but pity the aliens who were trapped by the monstrosities, unable to escape from the front or the back.

Even so, Zhang Lie didn't intend to lend a helping hand. Cruel though this technique was, it significantly enhanced the aliens' combat ability. They were a ragtag bunch formed from the forces of various worlds, and it was unlikely that they would be able to accomplish much beyond serving as cannon fodder or distractions for the black spirits.

The most important reason the superior worlds had gathered them here was to prevent them from launching a sneak attack on the superior worlds while the war was ongoing.

In truth, the war would be decided by the superior worlds.

Unlike Zhang Lie's past life, the death spirits' forces hadn't expanded all over the third realm, and there was no need for large numbers of forces to combat the death spirits' marauding parties.

The unclean world's unethical methods forcibly united the alien troops: either they charged forward and slaughtered everything in their path, or they would suffer a fate worse than death.

Unethical though it might be, this method was uncommonly effective. The alien forces demonstrated surprising strength, almost on par with that of a superior world's forces.

Of course, Zhang Lie would never make use of such tactics with his own troops. Not only were such tactics unethical and inhumane, there were scalemen among his troops, ones who acknowledged him as mentor and master to the king.

Zhang Lie had a conscience; he was hardly like the mess of gray fluid or the king of evil, who had concocted such a psychopathic plan.

Although Zhang Lie made no motion to stop the monstrosities' assault, Zhang Hanxiang could hardly remain as calm. "This is ridiculous! It's a strategy right out of the middle ages—they're treating the aliens like slaves!"

The crusades of the middle ages made use of slaves as cannon fodder. Troops followed behind the slaves on chariots, driving them forward with whips and spears.

Of course, there were atrocities beyond even that. One of the most shocking tactics of war was to take civilians as prisoners of war and force them to assault enemy cities. If the enemy city refused to open its gates, the enemy civilians would be killed right before their eyes. If the enemy city opened its gates, then the allies would be able to take down the city without doing anything.

Zhang Hanxiang was enraged. The draconians had been at peace since her entry into the third realm, and the human forces had focused on outward expansion. There was little inward strife, and the draconians and humans got along well. Zhang Hanxiang had a number of friends among the draconians and cordial relations with the aliens of the draconian world...