Suddenly, the Champion Marquis roared, his long sword flashing like a dragon, and he deflected a blazing fireball that was heading straight for his head.

The fireball traced a fiery path through the air, but failed to touch him in the slightest.

Immediately afterwards, he moved and leaped into the air, wielding his long sword and unleashing more than a dozen sharp sword energies.

These sword energies, like arrows piercing the air, swept towards the flying bats circling in the sky with a whistling sound.

However, these flying bats had surprisingly strong defenses. Although the sword energy was fierce, it could not cut them directly, only leaving a few shallow marks on their tough fur.

Even so, several flying bats were injured by the sword energy, their feathers flying everywhere, teetering in the air, clearly having lost the ability to fight again.

Upon seeing this, the other flying bats immediately let out sharp cries, as if summoning their companions.

Immediately, many flying bats spewed fireballs, raining them down on Champion Marquis like a meteor shower.

The champion, amidst the fireball storm, mustered his inner energy and swung his longsword once more. Streams of even more powerful sword energy burst forth, forcefully cleaving the fireballs in two, sending sparks flying.

Unfortunately, the fireballs did not go out. Instead, some landed on the positions of the Demon Suppression Army and the City Defense Army, instantly igniting a raging fire that engulfed the surrounding soldiers, and many more lives were lost in the merciless flames.

Han Sanqian, City Lord Wu Tian, ​​and Wu Yi, as experts in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, also took action upon seeing this. They either unleashed sharp blade energy or swung out sharp sword energy, attempting to kill the flying bats in the sky.

But those flying bats seemed to have learned their lesson; they increased their flight altitude again, making it difficult for Han Sanqian and the others to reach them.

Apart from the Champion Marquis, a peak Foundation Establishment Realm expert whose sword energy could still pose a threat to the flying bats, the attacks from Han Sanqian, City Lord Wu Tian, ​​and Wu Yi no longer posed a significant threat to them.

Moreover, since the Marquis of Champion has not reached the Divine Sense Realm, he cannot fly on a sword. Even if he stays in the air for a short while, he can only land.

Therefore, the Demon Suppression Army and the City Defense Army were basically in a passive and defensive position in this battle.

Meanwhile, the battle on the ground was becoming increasingly fierce.

The two Netherworld Ice Lions roared repeatedly, as if issuing a command to charge.

With their roars, a large number of armored water apes surged forward like a tide. Their bodies were enormous, and every step they took made the ground tremble.

The archers' formation was completely disrupted, and their arrows flew around like headless flies, unable to stop the armored water apes' charge.

Moreover, those armored water apes have thick skin and flesh, and ordinary powerful bows and crossbows can only leave a few marks on them at most, not even a minor injury.

As a result, the Demon Suppression Army and the City Defense Army not only had to withstand the fireball attacks from the flying bats in the sky, but also had to endure the fierce impacts from the armored water apes on the ground.

Under the double blow, their defenses finally collapsed and began to crumble.

Seeing this, Wu Hanchun knew something was wrong and secretly began to slip away, trying to escape this hellish battlefield.

The city's garrison followed suit, scattering and fleeing. Although the Demon Suppression Army was incredibly brave, it gradually couldn't hold out in this battle where the odds were stacked against it.

Most of the city defense troops who scattered and fled did not get very far before they were intercepted by the surging monsters.

They fell one after another to the fangs and claws of the demonic beast, becoming its prey.

The battlefield was a scene of utter carnage.

As the city lord Wu Tian watched the battle situation rapidly deteriorate, his mind was in complete turmoil.

He didn't even bother to greet the champion standing beside him before quietly gathering his one or two hundred confidants.

These were his loyal subordinates whom he had carefully cultivated over the years. At this moment, he only wanted to take them, along with his beloved daughter Wu Hanchun, ride a fast horse, escape from this battlefield that was about to become a living hell, and return to that seemingly safe haven: Yicheng.

"Lord Wu, do you dare to escape?"

The Marquis of Champions had sharp eyes and immediately spotted Wu Tian's sneaky actions. Instantly, an unnamed rage burned fiercely in his chest.

He originally thought that at this critical juncture of life and death, the city lord Wu Tian would fight alongside him to resist the foreign enemy, but he did not expect that this guy would be so afraid of death and choose to run away directly.

However, Wu Tian seemed deaf, ignoring the roar of Champion Hou Li Hong.

He hurriedly reunited with his daughter, Wu Hanchun, then waved his hand and, with his trusted men, fled like a herd of frightened wild horses.

At this moment, although the encirclement of the demonic beasts was not yet fully formed, Wu Tian knew that time was of the essence.

He led his elite troops, cutting down several Thundercloud Leopards that tried to stop them. Although the Thundercloud Leopards were fierce, they were quickly driven back one by one by Wu Tian and his men under their relentless attacks.

Wu Tian and the others quickly disappeared into the dense forest.

With the city lord gone, the morale of the city's defense forces was naturally low, and they had no will to fight.

Their morale was already low, and now that the city lord had abandoned them, they felt as if they had lost their backbone and began to scatter in private.

Of the two thousand city garrison soldiers, several hundred were killed or wounded, and several hundred more quickly fled. The remaining few hundred men also showed fear and had no will to fight anymore.

"That bastard!"

When Wu Yi, one of the Marquis's men, saw this, he couldn't help but start cursing.

He wielded his sword like a windmill as he engaged in a fierce battle with an armored water ape that had charged right in front of him.

Although the armored water ape had thick skin and flesh, it fell into a pool of blood in no time under Wu Yi's fierce sword strike.

Fortunately, most of these armored water apes were only at the Beast General level, and they did not pose a significant threat to the three Foundation Establishment experts, Champion Marquis, You Sanqian, and Wu Yi.

However, for ordinary soldiers of the Demon Suppression Army and the City Defense Army, these armored water apes were far more lethal.

They have thick skin and flesh, and are as imposing as small mountains, making it difficult for swords and arrows to cause them any real damage.

With a single swipe of its giant claws, the armored water ape could send a soldier flying, and even if they were wearing armor, they would either die or be seriously injured.

Soon, even the Demon Suppression Army couldn't hold out any longer.

Their morale was already low, and now that they saw many of the city's garrison troops had fled, they were even more panicked.

Some people had already begun to secretly flee, and soon this trend of fleeing spread like a plague, causing the Demon Suppression Army to collapse.