Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme-Chapter 984 - 604: Corresponding Rank
Surrounded by a vast enemy host, Xu Yang charged forward alone, ready to finish off his opponent.
But unexpectedly, an arrow flew across the sky like a long rainbow piercing the sun, striking fear into the hearts of those who saw it, obviously a display of extremely powerful archery skills.
Xu Yang’s expression remained unchanged, he simply pointed his Sky Halberd, and the icy cold edge of the weapon clashed with the sun-piercing rainbow, instantly creating sparks and a ringing sound; it turned out to be a heavy arrow made of refined steel, which shattered upon impact with the tip of his halberd.
Although the arrow did not achieve its aim, it delayed him long enough for five hundred Gongsun Golden Hammer Armor Soldiers to charge over on horseback.
Gongsun Golden Hammer Armor Soldiers, the personal guard of Gongsun Yang, the Golden Hammer General, had a name that was somewhat misleading, giving the impression of heavy infantry at first, but in fact, they were heavy cavalry.
Gongsun Golden Hammer Armor Soldiers
Troop Morale: 1500 (Morale high as a rainbow, charging and penetrating without fear, fighting to death, hearts as firm as Ironstone)
Troop Order: Second Order (Golden Knight)
Troop Attributes: 65 Physical Strength, 35 Intelligence, 40 Charm.
Troop Equipment: Golden Gourd Double Hammers, Golden Armor Helmet, Golden Armor, Golden Armor Boots, Golden Hand Armor, Golden Armor Warhorse.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.
Troop Skill: Second Order Strong Body LV10, Second-tier Strong Attack LV10, Second Order Strong Throw LV8, Second Order Riding Skill LV8, Second Order Shield Defense LV10, Second-tier Step Battle LV8, Dual Weapon Master.
Troop type skills: Shaking Heaven and Earth (Gongsun Yang’s personally taught secret technique Shaking Heaven and Earth Force, when attacking enemies with hammer weapons, it can cause additional shock damage and ignores 75% of the enemy’s armor protection)
Troop type skills: Sun and Moon Hammer Skill (Gongsun Yang’s personally taught Martial Arts, Sun and Moon Hammer Skill, one Yin and one Yang, one firm and one soft, complementing each other, profoundly mysterious, the attack carries the "Gang Jing" effect, increasing armor-piercing probability and attack damage, while the defense has the "Soft Force" effect, enhancing the probability of parries and the effect of force dissipation)
Troop Introduction: The personal guard of the Golden Hammer General Gongsun Yang, nominally guards but actually disciples, who have fully mastered Gongsun Yang’s Hammer Skill.
…
Second Order Soldiers, these Gongsun Golden Hammer Armor Soldiers, turned out to be a Second Order special troop.
How could a First Rank Hero have Second Order troops as a personal guard?
Xu Yang didn’t know, nor did he have time to ponder, as those five hundred Gongsun Golden Hammer Armor Soldiers had already charged over to save their commander, with the leading dozens swinging their arms from afar, hurtling their Golden Melon Heavy Hammers.
Though these Armor Soldiers’ Golden Gourd Hammers were not as powerful as Gongsun Yang’s Drum Beating Golden Hammer, they still weighed over a hundred pounds, and with Martial Arts skills, employing both the Shaking Heaven and Earth and the Sun and Moon Hammer Skill simultaneously, one can only imagine the scene as dozens of hammers flew through the air.
Even the strong Xu Yang could no longer press forward but had to swing his Sky Halberd to defend against the incoming heavy hammers.
The biggest difference between Second Order Soldiers and First Order Soldiers was not in attributes or skills, but in their corresponding rank.
In the regular realms like the Earth Immortal Realm, the Azure Star Realm, and the real world, rank disparities exist but are not insurmountable, especially in the earlier ranks, for those born with the Tao Body Immortal Womb, it’s a matter of course to cut down Foundation Establishment foes and it’s not that rare to defeat Golden Cores, going so far as to wrestle with Deity Transformation for those who defy heaven.
But in this world, that doesn’t work very well, because the Sky-reaching Tower and the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss have cemented the disparity between ranks.
Don’t be fooled by the heavenly effects of certain special troop skills and weapon equipment, reducing damage by tens of percent or even a hundred percent, or being immune to certain attacks, those are effects only against the same tier.
Take Lv Qiling, for example, her Exclusive Equipment of White Tiger Armor, when blessed by Yellow Heaven and elevated to Second Order legend, has the two special skills "White Tiger Protection" and "White Tiger Kill," which stacked together can achieve a hundred percent damage reduction effect.
Exaggerated, isn’t it?
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But that was only effective against second-tier attacks, for third-tier attacks it had to be heavily discounted, sometimes even completely ineffective.
Damage reduction was like this, as with other attributes, whether they were buffs or debuffs, positive or negative, all were affected by the corresponding rank, only functioning one hundred percent at the same tier, and already pretty good if they could achieve fifty-nine percent when crossing tiers.
This was just across one tier, if it were across two tiers, well, let’s put it this way: the rules of the Sky-reaching Tower didn’t even allow a Lord to wage war against targets two tiers below themselves, illustrating just how entrenched the differences in corresponding ranks were within the Sky-reaching Tower. Even if you had divine-level talents, you couldn’t bridge the gap of two or three tiers against an enemy.
While Xu Yang had not yet reached this point, the encirclement by five hundred of Gongsun’s Golden Hammer Armored Soldiers, who were of the second-tier, still caused him considerable trouble.
Their morale was like a rainbow, fierce and fearless, immune to the intimidation of "Ghost Gods", and as second-tier troops, they had a physical attribute as high as sixty-five points, with equipment and skills that were not inferior, saying they were like five hundred Yue Yuns was no exaggeration.
Such powerful troops, risking their lives to rescue their main general, fearlessly intercepting Xu Yang, even to the extent of trading injury for injury, life for life in combat.
Although Xu Yang could kill them, his killing efficiency was not high; at times, he was even forced to defend against their desperate assaults, making it difficult for him to break out from the encirclement of these five hundred armored soldiers momentarily.
Seizing this gap, Gongsun Yang’s deputy, Ma Wu, also reached Gongsun Yang’s side.
"How is it?"
"No worries!"
With Ma Wu’s support, Gongsun Yang propped himself up, watching Xu Yang fighting within his personal guard army. He immediately mounted his horse, ready to rejoin the fray.
Seeing this, Ma Wu did not say more, simply drawing his war bow, preparing for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to this Yellow Turban rebel.
As Gongsun Yang’s deputy general, the second-in-command of the expeditionary forces, his background was not simple either, being one of the Yuntai Twenty-Eight Generals. Although his martial arts were not as good as Gongsun Yang’s, his archery was particularly sharp.
Gongsun Yang remounted his horse, returning to the battle to lead five hundred personal guard armored soldiers to besiege Xu Yang, making the battle even more deadlocked.
As a legendary hero, his strength was not much weaker than Xu Yang’s. Earlier in the duel, he only lost by a single move; now, with the help of five hundred personal guards, he easily bridged the gap, fighting Xu Yang to a stalemate.
Gongsun Yang led five hundred armored soldiers into battle, while Ma Wu led a thousand Yulin Cavalry and a thousand Hu Ben Army to form a second layer of encirclement, preventing this powerfully capable Yellow Turban rebel from breaking through and escaping.
The battle here was locked in a stalemate and also signaled an opportunity for those in the rear.
"Gongsun Yang has trapped him!"
"That Gongsun’s Golden Hammer Armored Soldier is a second-order special type of troops, and with Gongsun Yang, that legendary fierce general leading the siege, even if they can’t take him down, they can hold him there for a while."
"This is our chance, while he is trapped by Gongsun Yang, we’ll take down his territory."
"As long as we capture his land and wipe out his soldiers, we’ll be victorious in this battle!"
"I refuse to believe that two hundred thousand of us can’t take down a single one of him, even if we have to wear him down to death!"
"Stop talking, deploy all the heroes under your command and break through the city as fast as you can!"
"We’re all in the same boat now, no more hiding or hoarding."
Upon seeing this opportunity, a crowd of Lords decisively took action, betting their last stakes on attacking the city.
Of course, attacking the city was one thing, but Lords like Zhang Ying and Wang Jie still took out the Contemplating Defeat Order to set up a Transmission Array.
A son born to a wealthy family does not sit under a collapsing wall; no matter what, one’s own life is always the top priority.
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