Three of the seven city walls had already fallen; Fang Senyan and his forces had now reached the base of the fourth wall.

A person’s character might dictate forbearance, retreat after retreat, or even surrender, often masked as bearing a heavy burden with dignity. However, the Human Alliance, having already fallen back to the fifth wall, truly had nowhere left to retreat; any further step back meant preparing for their tombs.

At this range, it could be said that both sides were within striking distance. After the hidden Aziz managed to shoot down seven regular soldiers, the Human Alliance was forced to halt normal patrols and meet elite with elite.

They were already overwhelmed and could not afford further losses. Every soldier lost meant not only a reduction in their own strength but also a direct contribution to the enemy’s score, leading to a rapid, mutual increase in power.

Faced with Fang Senyan’s aggressive offensive, the Human Alliance had few options beyond mobilizing emergency repair crews. After all, except for the first wall, the others in Minas Tirith hadn't seen proper reinforcement in centuries. Could quick fixes help? Yes, they could! But how much difference they would make was difficult to say.

At this moment, E’chi had once again donned thick armor and lumbered forward. While battering tough city walls with mere flesh and blood was quite a "damaging" endeavor, for the fellow known as "E’chi," this was not unfamiliar territory, especially considering they had at least three MTs applying buffs before the collision.

Thus, after about an hour of recovery, and thanks to the ultimate privilege of having the right to seek mates even during non-mating seasons, E’chi soon reappeared, spirits high and ready to take its run-up towards the base of the fourth wall.

The fourth wall bore mottled markings, even soot and scorch marks—evidence left by the inhabitants of Minas Tirith over hundreds of years—and the distinct cracks were quite obvious.

Protected by the first wall, the peace here had lasted far too long. The residents treated these inner walls as the exterior walls of their homes, supports for furniture, barriers against sewage and cold... Consequently, the cumulative damage inflicted by time and residents over the centuries had mounted. Now, it was time to repay that debt.

E’chi’s heavy footsteps shook the earth. Another tremendously violent impact caused the fourth wall to let out a terrible groan, and shattered stones tumbled down. These construction materials might have been unbreakable a few centuries ago, but after the relentless tempering of time and space, they could no longer withstand the assault under the pressure of metal and monstrous strength.

The Human Alliance certainly could not stand by and watch this happen. For a time, they began frantically pouring firepower onto the area. Once the fourth wall was breached, it would mean the enemy was at the gates!

In fact, if the enemy succeeded, the distance from the base of the first wall to the base of the fifth wall would be a fast lane of no more than four hundred meters—if the walls remained intact, they would have to travel a meandering path of several kilometers to achieve the same objective.

This was now a contest of endurance. The Corsairs of Umbar and the summoned Orcs served as the best buffer troops, flanking the main assault, absorbing the enemy’s attacks with their bodies. Breaching the fourth wall required E’chi to charge six times, taking half an hour, for which Fang Senyan’s side paid a heavy price: two hundred Corsairs, one hundred eighty Orcs, and four Ogres killed.

What followed was an unsurprising night battle. Darkness might have had no effect on a freak like Legolas, but for the vast majority of archers, darkness remained an unavoidable foe.

The first to attack was none other than Fang Senyan, who had somehow crept beneath the wall. Despite his lack of ranged capability, the rampant atypical virus had successfully infected a large portion of the garrison on the wall. Coughs and cries of pain were incessant. Combined with the remaining two Nazgûl swooping down from the sky, their terrifying howls harassing the defenders on the ramparts, this duo managed to suppress at least a third of the opposing fighting strength!

While the defenders scrambled in confusion, the terrifying E’chi suddenly charged forward, slamming brutally into the fifth wall!

The decisive battle for Minas Tirith had officially begun at that moment.

Undoubtedly, this was a bloody battle, one where neither side had much room for retreat.

The intensity of the fighting could be seen from one fact alone—Fang Senyan was knocked into a near-death state three times! Yet, each time, he managed to escape perilously close thanks to the Life Lock with the reef.

And this was despite the enemy’s attacks being mostly ranged, and Fang Senyan benefiting from the buff of the freakish Hedgehog title. Even so, it failed to deter the enemy’s resolve to focus fire on him.

Because once he neared the walls, the terrifying viral aura tormented the bowmen to the point of agony. If Fang Senyan could not be driven away quickly, the resulting impact on combat effectiveness would be undeniable.

It was their initial underestimation that allowed the powerful E’chi to strike the wall three times consecutively, creating a massive breach. One more blow and the wall would certainly shatter.

Thus, they were forced to deploy countermeasures early, using an ancient magic scroll to seal E’chi. Under the interference of Sauron’s Wrath, this seal would only last less than two hours, and upon release, E’chi would be in its strongest state.

This act of drinking poison to quench thirst meant that within two hours, the defenders had to repel the assault and inflict heavy damage on the enemy. Otherwise, the rampaging E’chi returning would cause a devastating blow, forcing them to retreat to the sixth wall. But a retreat at that point would utterly shatter the morale they had painstakingly built. More importantly, if the fifth wall couldn't hold for even half a day, could the sixth wall possibly last long?

Therefore, both sides committed their full strength to the ensuing bloody battle, fighting ferociously. Often, during the rush onto the ramparts, five or six soldiers would fall on the charge. But if they successfully reached the top, one Dark Alliance soldier could kill at least three archers lacking melee capability.

The slaughter raged until dawn. The Human Alliance eventually reached a consensus: the key to this battle lay with the magically enhanced mammoth, E’chi, the only entity capable of directly threatening the walls. After the fifth wall was battered down by E’chi, the Human Alliance, having gathered their strength, counter-attacked, determined to concentrate all efforts to kill the giant beast at any cost!

Under Fang Senyan’s instruction, the Dark Alliance became even more aggressive, meeting offense with offense. The final outcome of the battle was something no one expected!

E’chi was successfully killed by the Human Alliance forces. Even more crucially, none of the Human Alliance’s main plot heroes were lost, and even the losses among the Contractors were minimal. On the contrary, they managed to slay a Nazgûl, while even Boromir’s subordinates lost several men.

The reason the Human Alliance achieved such results was not because the Dark Alliance suddenly went foolish, but because they used E’chi as bait, focusing their main offensive power on the regular soldiers. From the very beginning of the assault plan, the Human Alliance intended to use these soldiers as cannon fodder to wear down the enemy.

Initially, the Human Alliance was quite pleased, thinking the Dark Alliance had been caught completely off guard. But as the battle deepened, even when clearly aware of the enemy’s intent, the Human Alliance found themselves unable to pull back! At such a stalemate, could they abandon the critically wounded E’chi and retreat? Could they leave the Nazgûl, missing one leg, and simply depart?

So, when dawn broke once again over Minas Tirith, blood had flowed like a river, staining the top of the fifth wall. Only one phrase could describe the scene: bodies strewn everywhere.

The Human Alliance could be considered successful. They not only achieved their planned victory by eliminating E’chi, the greatest threat to the walls, but also gained tremendous extra benefits. In quantifiable terms, they completed 130% of their objective.

However, the cost they paid was unbearable! At least two thousand five hundred regular city guards perished in this sudden raid. Their deaths were not without value; they bought the main assault force significant time. But if they could start over, the Human Alliance would rather have Legolas and Gimli die than lose those two thousand five hundred men!

Because the total number of remaining defenders... was only three thousand in total!

The relationship between the strong and the soldiers is like that between a tree trunk and its leaves. If a hundred leaves fall, it doesn't matter; the trunk is the foundation. But if all the leaves fall off a tree, no matter how sound the trunk and branches are, the only outcome is the death of the tree.

Fang Senyan’s strategy remained crystal clear: trade pieces, and he carried it out so thoroughly that he even made trades that seemed disadvantageous—exchanging his elite units for the enemy’s regular units.