Free Web NovelChapter 291: Chapter 291: Thunder Beast Siege Plain
Floor 131 opened with thunder.
Not symbolic thunder.
Real thunder.
The moment Qin Yuheng’s team stepped through the Tower gate, the sky split apart with white-blue lightning. A vast plain stretched before them, broken by trenches, stone walls, burning watchtowers, and distant mountains hidden behind storm clouds. Rain struck the ground like arrows. Mud splashed beneath their boots.
Ahead stood a fortress city.
Its walls were cracked but still standing.
Beyond the fortress, across the plain, thousands of thunder beasts gathered.
They were not ordinary monsters. Wolves with lightning horns. Bulls with storm-iron hides. Serpents that moved through puddles as electric shadows. Winged lizards circling beneath the clouds. At the far back, larger shapes moved slowly, each step causing thunder to roll.
Qin Mo stared at the plain.
"I asked for something we could hit," he said. "The Tower took that personally."
The mission panel appeared.
[Floor 131: Thunder Beast Siege Plain]
[Duration:
2 Tower days]
[Main Mission]
Defend Stormbreak Fortress until the siege storm ends.
[Sub-Missions]
1. Preserve at least 60% of fortress defenders.
2. Prevent the eastern wall from collapsing.
3. Defeat 500 thunder beasts.
4. Destroy 5 Thunderstorm Beast Command Nodes.
5. Protect civilian shelters.
6. Defeat the Thunder Herd Siege King.
[Warning]
Standards need walls.
Walls need warriors.
Warriors need reasons.]
Qin Yuchen’s eyes sharpened.
"Large-scale battle."
Qin Lian scanned the enemy formation.
"Command nodes at the rear. The beasts are organized."
Qin Mo swallowed.
"Five command nodes and one siege king. Wonderful."
Qin Yuheng did not speak immediately.
He looked at Stormbreak Fortress.
Defenders stood on the walls: soldiers, militia, healers, craftsmen, civilians carrying stones, children moving water buckets under adult supervision. This was not a clean battlefield. It was a city trying not to die.
A fortress commander ran toward them through the rain.
He was a middle-aged remnant warrior wearing cracked blue armor. His left arm was bound in blood-soaked cloth.
"Climbers!" he shouted. "If you can fight, get to the walls! If you can command, report to the central tower!"
Qin Yuheng looked at his team.
"We stabilize first. Not heroics."
Qin Mo nodded. "I will inspect wall formations."
"Yuchen, eastern wall. Lian, scout command nodes. Mo, wall and shelter arrays. I will report to central tower and establish coordination."
They moved immediately.
The fortress commander introduced himself as Commander Lei Shuo. His forces were exhausted. The siege had lasted three days before the team arrived. Food stores remained, but the eastern wall had taken repeated hits from thunder bulls. Civilian shelters beneath the fortress were protected by old storm arrays, but those arrays were failing.
The defenders had courage.
But not enough coordination.
That was Qin Yuheng’s role.
He reached the central tower and saw the battle map. Red beast markers covered the plain. Five larger storm clusters pulsed at different points behind the beast army.
Command nodes.
Qin Lian’s voice came through the team jade.
"Confirmed. Five nodes. Each guarded by elite beasts. They direct waves."
Qin Mo’s voice followed.
"Eastern wall stability at forty-two percent. If the thunder bulls hit twice more, collapse likely."
Qin Yuchen said, "I am reinforcing with defenders. Need anti-charge support."
Qin Yuheng took one breath.
Then he activated Gate Thunder Command Field.
But not too broadly.
He had learned from many floors. Command must not become domination. Field connection required willing acceptance. He sent a simple pulse through the fortress command network:
Hold. Rotate. Reinforce. Trust local captains.
Commander Lei Shuo felt the field and stiffened.
"What is this?"
"Willing command support," Qin Yuheng said. "You remain commander of your fortress. I coordinate strike response."
Lei Shuo looked at him for one breath, then nodded.
"Accepted."
The field expanded to willing officers. Not all soldiers. Not civilians. Officers first. Then captains. Then squad leaders who accepted.
The fortress rhythm improved.
On the eastern wall, Qin Yuchen felt the command pulse and shouted, "Shield line lower! Spear hooks forward! Do not block the bulls head-on—angle them!"
The first wave struck.
Thunder bulls thundered across the mud, horns shining white. They hit the eastern wall like living siege engines. Qin Yuchen led defenders to angle iron chains across the approach. The bulls slammed into the chains, lost formation, and crashed into prepared mud pits.
Qin Yuheng watched from the tower.
"Mo, can you stabilize the eastern wall long enough for a counterstrike?"
"Long enough, yes. Comfortably, no."
"Do it."
Qin Mo’s reply was immediate.
"I regret requesting combat."
Qin Yuheng turned to Commander Lei Shuo.
"We cannot only defend. The command nodes will keep sending waves. I will lead a strike team to destroy the nearest node."
Lei Shuo frowned.
"If you leave the tower—"
"The field will narrow. You will hold command. I will only link team and eastern wall."
Lei Shuo looked at the map, then at the cracked walls.
"Take twenty riders."
"No. Too visible. Small strike. My team." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
"You will be surrounded."
"Yes."
Lei Shuo stared.
Then he laughed once.
"Young climbers are insane."
"Prepared," Qin Yuheng corrected.
He left the tower.
By the time he reached the eastern wall, Qin Yuchen had already repelled the first thunder bull charge. Mud, blood, and lightning covered the ground. Several defenders were injured, but the wall stood.
Qin Mo had embedded storm-grounding spikes into the wall base. His hair stood on end from residual electricity.
"I dislike lightning when it is not ours."
Qin Lian appeared from shadow.
"Nearest node guarded by Thunderhorn Alpha Beasts. About eighty lesser beasts nearby."
Qin Yuheng nodded.
"Strike fast. Destroy node. Withdraw."
Qin Mo looked at the thousands of beasts outside.
"Define fast." frёeωebɳovel.com
"Before they understand we left the wall."
"That is not comforting."
The gate opened.
The team charged into the storm.
Qin Yuheng did not hide his thunder this time. This was a battlefield, not a council hall. His Primordial Thunder Emperor Body surged under control, lightning wrapping around his limbs. His Blood Thunder Emperor Battle Step carried him over mud without sinking. Qin Yuchen advanced beside him like a spear of disciplined force. Qin Lian vanished between lightning flashes. Qin Mo rode a small formation sled pulled by storm-anchor force, complaining while launching sealing needles.
Thunder wolves attacked first.
Qin Yuheng cut through them with direct sword strikes. No long negotiation. No complex judgment. These were siege beasts linked to enemy command nodes. Their claws had already killed defenders.
He moved like a storm blade.
Ten beasts fell.
Twenty.
Forty.
Qin Yuchen held the flank, breaking beasts that tried to surround Qin Mo.
Qin Lian reached the rear and cut the first node’s guard threads.
The command node appeared: a pillar of storm bone and crystal, pulsing with beast-command lightning.
[Thunderstorm Beast Command Node]
[Function:
Coordinates nearby thunder beast waves.
Defense:
Storm feedback, beast reinforcement, command pulse.]
Qin Mo shouted, "Do not hit directly! It reflects thunder!"
Qin Yuheng stopped mid-strike.
Good reminder.
A thunder-reflecting node could punish him badly.
He switched.
"Mo, ground it. Lian, cut pulse threads. Yuchen, hold beasts."
Qin Mo slammed three storm-grounding spikes into the mud. Qin Lian severed invisible lightning threads around the node. Qin Yuchen roared and blocked two Thunderhorn Alphas.
Qin Yuheng raised his sword.
Instead of thunder, he used raw physical force reinforced by body strength.
One strike.
The node cracked.
A second.
The storm bone shattered.
[Thunderstorm Beast Command Node destroyed: 1 / 5]
Across the plain, a portion of the beast wave faltered.
Stormbreak Fortress cheered.
Then the ground shook.
Far behind the beast army, something huge lifted its head.
The Thunder Herd Siege King had noticed them.
Its roar rolled across the plain like a mountain collapsing.
Qin Mo looked toward it and went pale.
"That is not a beast. That is weather with teeth."
Qin Yuheng’s expression remained calm.
"Withdraw."
The first strike had succeeded.
The siege had truly begun.
