Chapter Fifty-One: The Monster of Strength

Granite could not understand how that Easterner had killed Ghulam—the distance was too great, the bullets too fast and too small, and he hadn’t seen it happen. He also couldn’t fathom why the man hadn’t chosen to flee, why he would charge forward and even discard his weapon, but the enemy had slain ten auxiliary soldiers and even the warrior Ghulam.

“If you possess such courage, then go to your death!” Granite’s heart ached at the thought. Ten auxiliaries were of little consequence, but the death of the warrior Ghulam was a loss that not even a tower’s worth of Talantian silver could compensate.

“A squad of light infantry forward, use your shields to block him. The rest—form the Macedonian phalanx!”

Ten soldiers clad in cloth armor, bearing half-meter-wide shields, advanced to intercept Yan Luo.

Of the remaining men, twenty leather-armored infantrymen rushed to the horses, retrieving wooden spears over five meters long. They formed up in three horizontal ranks of seven, seven, and six. Another twenty light infantry divided: ten raised their broad shields in front of the spearmen, crouching or standing to create a shield wall, while the other ten guarded the flanks.

In an instant, a dense forest of spears emerged, their points protruding through the gaps between shields, angled forward and upward—a terrifying wall of glinting steel. This was the famed Macedonian phalanx, rarely seen in these times.

For a long era to come, all who challenged such a formation would be ground to dust! Even cavalry, when faced with this bristling forest of five- or six-meter spears, could only sigh in despair. In the future, as this formation was perfected and amplified, it would earn the name “The Wall of Sighs.”

A phalanx against a single man—this was perhaps the only time in the past, present, or future of the Macedonian phalanx that such a mismatch would occur.

Yet these Macedonian mercenaries could have no inkling of what they faced!

When Yan Luo saw the ten shield-bearing light infantry advance to block his path, he halted his charge. At the same time, a black, white, and yellow mask appeared in his hand.

He pressed the mask to his face.

Three-colored flames erupted from his body, accompanied by a chill wind like a breath from hell. Within the firelight, the shadowy form of a colossal beast appeared. Two of the ten shield-bearers dropped their shields to the ground, and among the forty forming the phalanx, several soldiers’ legs buckled, dropping them to their knees.

“It’s happened again!”

The wounded Zhu Xiaoyong and the dying Wang Dongwei stared in shock at the spectacle that followed the fading flames: Yan Luo vanished, and something else appeared. Previously, there had been the Nightmare—a black horse ablaze with hellfire. Now, a three-meter-tall monstrosity stood before them!

The creature had the head of a bull and the body of a man, its muscles seemingly forged from steel, veins like steel cables coiling beneath its skin like ancient tree roots.

The two saw only its back, but the mercenaries faced it head-on—a three-meter-tall bull-headed monster crowned with twisted, fearsome horns, eyes burning with a bloody red glow, a belt encircling its waist with a skull at its center.

A wave of trembling swept through the phalanx, like ripples stirred by wind upon water—the soldiers were shuddering.

Granite, mounted, nearly tumbled from his horse. This Easterner had become a minotaur! What in the world was happening? Could the demons and demigods whispered of during the transmission truly be real? Had they now appeared in the living world?

“Minotaur!”

One soldier cried out in terror.

The Minotaur—a half-man, half-bull monster of Crete, born of the union between Pasiphaë, wife of King Minos (himself son of Zeus and Europa, and a judge of the underworld), and a bull sent by Poseidon. The result was a man’s body with a bull’s head.

Ghost Soldier—Bull-head!

With the persona mask activated, Yan Luo transformed into the bull-head. Now, he felt explosive power surging within him—this transformation specialized in brute strength.

Spreading his fan-sized hands, black mist gathered and coalesced into a massive black axe.

This was a true giant’s axe, broad as a door!

The haft was over a meter long, the blade itself more than a meter across, a meter wide.

Ghostly Armament: Axe!

The minotaur strode forward, swinging the axe; with a single blow, he smashed the shield of the foremost soldier. The man shrieked as both he and his shield were flung backward, blood spraying, crashing into the phalanx behind, where the grim crunch of spears sinking into flesh followed. His corpse hung impaled upon several spears.

“Such strength...?”

A chill ran through Granite’s entire body. He watched as the minotaur, after swatting a soldier aside with one axe-blow, swung down again—not to cleave, but to crush!

With a booming impact, the soldier who instinctively raised his shield to protect his head was hammered into the ground, shield caving in, his body transformed into a squashed lump with the shield as a grotesque hat.

That axe must weigh at least five or six hundred pounds! With the minotaur’s strength, his arms held the force of several thousand pounds—nearly ten tons of striking power. Not even a giant could endure such a blow, let alone a common soldier.

“Ahhhhh—!”

The eight remaining shield-bearers broke at once, trying to scatter and flee. But just then, the bull-headed monster that Yan Luo had become opened its maw and let out a bellow:

“Moo!”

The sound was hollow, eerie, and deeply unsettling. In an instant, as Granite tried to turn his horse to escape, his mount collapsed to its knees. Soldiers’ legs gave out, leaving them powerless.

Skill: Intimidate!

Transformation and skill use both consumed life force or spiritual energy. Yan Luo used this skill to halt their escape, then swung his black axe again and again, smashing the remaining eight shield-bearers into blood and pulp. In the blink of an eye, they were all dead.

It wasn’t ruthlessness—without emotion, Yan Luo felt no psychological burden for killing. Yet to avoid trouble and to exist as a normal person, he would not take life without reason.

But these soldiers were the enemy! If any escaped, they might interfere with the upcoming Olympic Games and his mission.

Blood spattered in heavy gouts across the bull-headed monster’s body, making him even more terrifying. Granite leapt from his kneeling horse, snatching up a Persian scimitar inlaid with gold. His legs trembled so violently he could not run.

“There’s no retreat!”

With a contorted face, he roared, “Macedonian phalanx, attack the Minotaur! Even if it’s a monster, to survive, we must kill it!”

“To survive!”

The desperate hope for life surged in the Macedonian soldiers’ hearts. Even those who had collapsed grasped their wooden spears tighter, and the phalanx bristled like a great hedgehog awaiting the monster’s advance.

The bull-headed Yan Luo strode toward the forty-man Macedonian phalanx, blood dripping from his axe.

This ghost soldier stood three meters tall; his ghostly-formed battle axe, including both blade and haft, was about 2.7 meters long. But the Macedonian spears were over five meters! If Yan Luo pressed forward, he would be pierced by a forest of points. His bull-form excelled in strength and endurance, but he was not invulnerable.

With a seeming clumsiness, he spun his massive axe, weighing five or six hundred pounds, then, as if hurling a discus, flung the black axe straight at the phalanx! The axe whirled like a spinning wheel, screaming through the air.

Half a ton of mass, combined with the speed of the throw, lent the axe the power of a cannonball! Spinning horizontally, it swept through the shield wall. Four shield-bearers were smashed aside, crashing into those behind, and half the phalanx was thrown into chaos. Some soldiers’ arms broke; others died instantly.

The minotaur charged forward, seizing several spears in his massive arms, lifting the soldiers holding them into the air. Granite’s eyes nearly burst from his head as regret flooded his heart—why had he ever accepted this mission?

He howled in desperation, “Hold the line! Auxiliaries, throw your hand axes! Kill it! Kill the monster!”