Chapter 127 Rumors
The eleventh day of the war between Wu and Shu.

The war still showed no signs of abating, because of the large number of casualties on both sides, and the hatred that followed, the war intensified. At this point, the two countries were irreconcilable and were determined to fight to the death.

Of course, in terms of the number of heroes, the team of heroes led by Zhou Yu, the Grand Commander of Wu, has a huge advantage. In fact, the balance of victory is indeed slowly tilting towards Wu.

Although the three lines of troops in the canyon have won and lost so far, behind the seemingly evenly matched battles, any discerning person can easily see that the Shu Kingdom has been showing signs of running out of steam!

but.

Having said that, the soldiers on the Wu side not only did not become motivated by the gradually clearer battle situation, but were instead worried all the time.

Because no one knew when a rumor started to spread among the armies of both sides.

It is rumored that a new terrifying force has appeared in the canyon. "It" is neither a terrifying and ferocious wild monster, nor the ancient demon species living in the deepest part of the river as described in the legend, but a mysterious force that has never been heard of!
For the soldiers of the Wu army, the image description of "it" has always been vague, but among the various opinions, terms such as six claws, horns, and the ability to eat people are often mentioned.

But the real reason why "it" is feared by the soldiers is because "it" has done many horrific things.
The origin of "it" originally came from the top lane, where a friendly force of more than a thousand people suddenly disappeared in the top lane in an annihilated manner, with no one surviving.

Afterwards, the Iron-Blooded Governor, who was regarded as the "God of Fire" by the Wu soldiers, also died on the road. To this day, none of the soldiers know the details.

As the first defense tower was declared destroyed, the soldiers originally stationed at the second defense tower were all wiped out overnight. Even the hero "Dawn of the Sea" who came to support them could not find any trace of "it" on the battlefield.
Even within the heights, strange stories were heard one after another; "it" once appeared within the heavily guarded heights, and finally withdrew safely from its own heights without anyone noticing.

Until the latest rumor came, the soldiers of Wu were shocked; the "super soldier" created by the "mechanical art" that was praised as being as famous as the "magic art" was killed in the wild area while being ordered to hunt down "it", and his head and body were separated.
Super soldiers are no match for it, and heroes are no match either (at least that's the rumored version). Its traces are everywhere like ghosts, which makes countless Wu soldiers tremble with fear day and night. They even sleep with one eye open, for fear that if they are not careful, they will be eaten alive by the terrible creature that appears from nowhere.

And although rumors spread among the Legion, no soldier had ever actually seen "it".

A new hero? A mutated demon? Or a demigod?
No one knows what "it" is.

Real fear often comes from the "unknown" and the "invisible". A weak person will dare to fight hard even when facing a lion, but a strong man may be scared to death in a gloomy and terrifying old house.

The panic created by the rumors has been spreading among the Wu army. It is precisely because of this that the Wu soldiers were hesitant and timid when attacking, which has caused the battle situation that was originally quite advantageous to be delayed until now.

From a higher level, this rumor, which seemed to have no basis at all, actually delayed the defeat of Shu Kingdom to a certain extent and bought extremely critical time for Shu Kingdom's subsequent counterattack.

"You just follow the crowd. This rumor is too much, isn't it? You believe something you hear from other people?" A soldier in blue armor couldn't help but roll his eyes in disdain at his companion who was talking beside him.

"I didn't believe it at first, but then I thought about it and it makes sense. Otherwise, how do you explain those things that really happened?" The soldier who was narrating the story retorted seriously.

"Humph, nonsense. I think it's just a rumor. It's just like when we were fighting against Wei, someone said that two soldiers in our legion almost killed Wei's unparalleled demon!" After a pause, the blue-armored soldier added, "Let me ask you, if such a terrible force really appeared in the canyon battlefield, why didn't the heroes react?"

The soldier who was asked was stunned.

The blue-armored soldier put on a counsellor's expression and said proudly, "The only explanation is that the thing you are talking about does not exist at all. As the saying goes, rumors stop at the wise, and this can be seen from the reactions of the heroes. If that kind of thing really exists in the canyon battlefield, how could the military advisor and his men not release official news?"

Seeing his companion's determined expression, the soldier couldn't help but refute: "Your statement is unreasonable. All along, when have the heroes ever cared about us soldiers? They have always only known how to fight their own team battles. When have they ever paid attention to our private affairs?"

The blue-armored soldier who was refuted was about to speak, but at this moment, a low voice suddenly sounded in front of him.

"Zhang Da, Fan Qiang, as centurions you don't set a good example. What are you whispering about in private?" A thousand-man captain came over and reprimanded the two soldiers with a solemn expression.

This centurion was 2 Da, who was originally from the th squad of the top legion’s vanguard unit.

The two centurions, Zhang Da and Fan Qiang, looked at Erda at the same time, then shut their mouths with disdain and said nothing.

2Da frowned slightly, then turned around silently and continued to lead the troops forward.

Ever since he was promoted to the lower legion, this "outsider" centurion has been disliked by his subordinates, who don't even have the most basic respect.

All of this was just due to the behavior of a teammate.

He looked up at the blue sky with a complicated expression, and his mind was filled with a myriad of thoughts, as if a bottle of mixed feelings had been overturned.
Ever since the first defense tower in the bottom lane was destroyed by the powerful artillery of the enemy hero "Thousand Gold Heavy Crossbow", the second defense tower has been attacked by the Wu army in succession. Fortunately, with the help of the super soldiers dispatched by Zhang Fei, the supreme commander of the bottom lane, the Wu army was quickly wiped out.

After the victory of the battle, 2Da was immediately sent by Zhang Fei's second son Zhang Shao as the main force to counterattack the enemy's first defense tower.

Although he knew that the vanguard troops usually had a hard time and made great sacrifices, and even all the credit after the war might become the work of those who come later, Erda still went forward resolutely. He was eager for war, eager to prove himself by establishing meritorious services and to regain the respect and honor of his subordinates!

But then again, 2da has also heard the rumor told by the two centurions Fan Qiang and Zhang Da frequently recently. To be honest, 2da, who is extremely realistic, does not believe such unfounded rumors.

That’s right, how could such a thing happen in the world?
Not only did he destroy the two towers, but he also killed the enemy's super soldiers and climbed up the enemy's high ground, but even the hero was killed?
Such fantastic rumors, such nonsense!
"Captain, look, look at that!" Suddenly, a frightened voice interrupted Erda's thoughts.

2Da suddenly came to his senses and quickly gathered his strength. His intuition told him that the enemy should be here.

However, the unexpected bloody scene in front of him made Erda break out in a cold sweat.

They had already reached the enemy's first defense tower, but the enemy's defense tower, which was supposed to be filled with enemy troops, was now as terrifying as Asura Hell.

At the top of the towering defense tower, blood kept flowing out from the tower, dyeing the upper part of the defense tower a shocking blood red.

Under the defense tower, on the open flat ground, there were piles of incomplete corpses, arms, heads, broken legs, internal organs, intestines, everywhere. The strong smell of blood and the stench of corpses that had obviously begun to deteriorate made some recruits vomit on the spot, and also attracted countless corpse flies to come to this grand feast of death!

"You, look, it. It was here!"

".The rumor turned out to be true."

"The defense tower is still standing, but all the soldiers stationed there have been killed. It's exactly the same as the rumors said!"

The troops began to stir.

Standing at the front of the troops, 2da's face was also a little pale.

He has been in the army for so many years, but this is the first time he has seen such a scene!
All the enemy soldiers were slaughtered, leaving only an empty defense tower.

Does the rumored "it" really exist?!
2Da couldn't help but take a step forward and walked into the Shura land in front of him alone.

The dark purple ground was very soft, like a dirt road that had been watered by heavy rain. However, it had not rained in the canyon for many days. The reason why the soil was so soft to step on was simply because it had been soaked with countless blood!
Trying hard to suppress the shock in his heart and the nausea brought about by the smell of blood and stench, 2da lowered his body and observed every corner of the battlefield.

Judging from the uniformly neat cross-sections of the corpses, the dead enemy soldiers should have been cut in half by some terrible sharp weapon. Although 2da could not determine what kind of sharp weapon it was, he was at least certain that this sharp weapon was extremely sharp, at least to the point where it could cut iron like mud!

The seemingly sturdy soldier armor, weapons and shields were like tofu in front of such a powerful sharp weapon. They had no defensive power at all and their bodies were cut directly in half.

Was it the work of the demons that escaped from the jungle? The demons that occupied the jungle had sharp claws and amazing arm strength, which was indeed enough to cut through the shields of the soldiers.

However, the corpses at the scene showed no signs of being bitten by demons, and attacking human defense towers was not in line with the habits of demons.

That means, “it” is actually a person? !
Salsa
Just when 2da was wondering, a strange sound suddenly came from the lush grass beside the defense tower.

That was not the sound of an animal, but the sound of people stepping on dry grass!

With a choking sound, the inexplicable fear made Erda instinctively draw the long sword hanging on his waist, and at the same time, he stood ready to face the swaying grass in the distance.
A hand wearing a red arm guard parted the lush grass and slowly walked out.

It was a soldier in red armor.

Wu's soldiers? Survivors?

Wait, that enemy soldier seems to be waving at me?

2Da was stunned for a moment, and the red-armored soldier began to walk towards him.

2Da instinctively took up his stance, ready to fight at any time. After all, in such a Shura field, no one dared to be careless when encountering an enemy for no reason.

However, until the red-armored soldier ran up to him, 2da was completely stunned.

"You who are you? A Yao?!"

Reflected in Erda's eyes was a fair and familiar androgynous face.

What 2da didn't expect was that this soldier wearing enemy armor was actually one of his former teammates!

However, the shock was only short-lived, only three seconds, and 2da suddenly calmed down again.

Because in 2da's eyes, the teammate in front of him who was supposed to be far away on the road, although he looked clean on the surface, but when the smell from his body drifted over with the wind, it was full of strong smell of blood!

The strong smell of blood told 2da that his teammate was not as clean as he looked. At least not long ago, he must have been covered in blood, but he had wiped the blood clean.
(End of this chapter)