All Chapters of The Dark Blade: Return Of The General.
: Chapter 171
- Chapter 180
226 chapters
Chapter 171: Phase One - The Breakout
Jacob moved before the guards could react. He covered the distance between them in two steps, grabbed the lead guard's weapon, and used it as a lever to throw the man into his companions. The element of surprise bought them maybe three seconds before the guards recovered and reached for their own weapons.But three seconds was enough. Commander Chen and Thomas hit the guards from different angles while Sarah went for their key rings. The fight was brief and brutal—four half-starved prisoners against four armed guards, desperation against training. Jacob ended it by slamming the last guard's head against the stone wall hard enough to render him unconscious.They stripped the guards of weapons, armor, and anything else useful. Not much—these were dungeon guards, equipped for supervising chained prisoners rather than full combat. But better than nothing."Anna has been moved," Jacob said, forcing himself to focus despite the rage burning through him. "We need to find where Verons took he
Chapter 172: Phase Two - The Arsenal
The maintenance tunnel was exactly as awful as Anna had expected—narrow, dark, reeking of waste and stagnant water. The freed prisoners stumbled through it in single file, some of them so weakened from years of imprisonment that they could barely walk."Keep moving," Anna urged, supporting an elderly prisoner who had been captured before she was even born. "Jacob is buying us time but he cannot hold forever."Behind them she could hear the sounds of fighting echoing through the tunnel—mystical energy discharges and the screams of guards who had underestimated what an enraged guardian could accomplish in a confined space. Jacob was making them pay dearly for every inch they advanced.But there were too many of them. Eventually numbers would overwhelm even Jacob's abilities.The tunnel branched multiple times, creating a maze that would have been impossible to navigate without Sarah's guidance. She led them through twists and turns that climbed steadily upward, away from the dungeon lev
Chapter 173: Phase Three - The Riot
Thirty minutes. Anna processed the information with growing horror. The palace was a massive structure housing thousands of people—guards, servants, nobles, prisoners. If it collapsed, most of them would die in the rubble."We need to warn people," Anna said immediately. "Help them evacuate before—""We need to escape," Chen countered. "We are armed prisoners in the heart of enemy territory. Staying to help is suicide."Anna knew he was right tactically, but the thought of letting innocent servants and staff die without warning made her sick. "At least open the other prison cells. Give those people a chance to run."Marcus nodded agreement despite his frailty. "The reactor sabotage has a secondary effect. As mystical power fails, all the enchanted locks throughout the palace will stop functioning. Prison cells, storage rooms, restricted areas—everything sealed by magic rather than mechanical means will open."That changed the tactical picture dramatically. Hundreds of prisoners sudden
Chapter 174: Fighting Retreat
Jacob appeared from a side corridor, his armor torn and bloodied from holding the dungeon choke point against hundreds of guards. He saw Verons across the courtyard and his expression transformed into something primal and dangerous."Jacob, no!" Anna shouted, but he was already moving.Verons's elite guard intercepted him before he could reach their master. These were not the regular palace soldiers Jacob had been fighting in the dungeons. These were specialists trained specifically to counter mystical warriors, and they moved with coordinated precision that spoke of years working together.Jacob fought through them anyway. His mystical abilities were still partially suppressed from the dungeon drugs, but rage and desperation made him deadly. He broke the first guard's neck with a strike that should not have been physically possible. The second died when Jacob ripped a sword from his hands and drove it through his armor. But there were too many. They dogpiled him, using weight and nu
Chapter 175: Breaking Through
Jacob set Marcus down carefully and turned to face Bishop Nico, mystical energy already gathering in his hands despite his exhaustion. Behind Bishop, Verons approached with his remaining elite guards, clearly coordinating their attack to ensure no escape."Two artifacts," Anna said, studying Bishop's hands. "He has numbers three and four. Where are the others?""Verons has one and five in the palace mystical core," Marcus replied weakly. "Your artifacts—one and two—were confiscated when you were captured. All five pieces are in this compound somewhere."Anna felt her mystical senses expanding involuntarily, pushed beyond normal limits by desperation and the proximity of multiple artifacts. She could feel them now—distant signatures calling to her Chen bloodline like beacons. Two in Bishop's hands, two somewhere deep in the collapsing palace, and one closer than she expected."Jacob, your boot," Anna said urgently. "The first artifact. It is in your boot."Jacob felt a surge of hope. W
Chapter 176: Rebellion Spreads
They made it three blocks from the palace before Jacob's legs gave out completely. Commander Chen caught him before he hit the street, but the blood loss was catastrophic. Bishop's attack had torn through vital organs, and even Anna's healing abilities were barely keeping him alive."Find shelter," Anna ordered, channeling energy into Jacob's wounds. "Somewhere defensible where we can treat him properly."Thomas pointed toward a nearby building—some kind of merchant warehouse with thick walls and few windows. "There. We can fortify that position."They broke down the door and dragged Jacob inside while Anna maintained the healing flow. The warehouse was full of trade goods that no longer mattered—silks and spices and luxury items abandoned when the palace collapsed and chaos spread through the capital.Anna laid Jacob on a clear section of floor and focused entirely on keeping him alive. The wounds were extensive, damage far beyond what normal healing could address in minutes. She wou
Chapter 177: Hunting Bishop
Anna finally managed to break the blood curse after twenty minutes of sustained effort that left her drained and shaking. Jacob's wounds stopped bleeding, and his breathing stabilized into something that might actually sustain life. But he remained unconscious, and moving him would risk reopening everything she had just sealed."Watch him," Anna told Commander Chen, standing on unsteady legs. "Keep pressure on the worst wounds if they start bleeding again. I will be back.""Where are you going?" Chen asked, though his tone suggested he already knew."Bishop Nico is wounded but alive. He has artifacts three and four. I am not letting him escape with them." Anna retrieved a sword from the pile of weapons they had taken from the armory. "If I do not return within an hour, assume I failed and get Jacob out of the city.""Anna, you are exhausted," Marcus protested. "You just burned through most of your mystical reserves keeping Jacob alive. You are in no condition to fight Bishop alone.""
Chapter 178: Bishop's End
Anna was ready when Bishop charged. Despite her exhaustion, despite having burned through most of her mystical reserves healing Jacob, she still had training and technique that Bishop lacked. He was a manipulator who relied on artifacts and hired muscle, not a true warrior.She sidestepped his clumsy swing and struck his extended arm with her sword, cutting deep into the muscle. Bishop screamed and dropped one of the artifacts. Anna kicked it away across the tower floor before he could recover it."You murdered an entire family," Anna said, her voice cold. "Twenty people killed in their homes because you wanted power and wealth. Children, elders, people who never harmed you."Bishop backed away, clutching his wounded arm while keeping the remaining artifact raised like a shield. "The Krigg family was an obstacle to progress. Verons needed their artifacts to unite Argo and Seron under proper leadership. What I did was for the greater good.""You did it for money." Anna advanced steadil
Chapter 179: Reclaiming Power
Anna burst through the warehouse door expecting the worst. She had been gone for over an hour, and Bishop's final warning suggested time was running out faster than anyone realized. If Jacob had died while she hunted his murderer, all of this would have been for nothing.But Jacob was still breathing. Barely. Commander Chen knelt beside him applying pressure to wounds that had started bleeding again, while Marcus monitored his vital signs with mystical senses. Sarah stood guard at the window, watching for threats from the chaotic streets outside."He is fading," Chen said without looking up. "Whatever you did to stop the bleeding is failing. Another five minutes and he will be past saving."Anna did not waste time with explanations. She placed the two artifacts she had taken from Bishop directly on Jacob's chest, then added the ring artifact from her pocket. Three of the five pieces together, their combined mystical resonance creating harmonics that filled the warehouse with golden li
Chapter 180: Verons Escapes
The rebel army moved through the capital with Jacob at its head, a force that grew larger with every block as more citizens joined the uprising. What had started as scattered violence was crystallizing into something more dangerous—organized revolution with clear objectives and competent leadership."The old fortress," Jacob said, studying a map one of the rebels had provided. "That is where Marcus saw Verons retreating. We need to secure it before he can establish proper defenses."But when they reached the fortress location, they found only smoking ruins. Verons had anticipated pursuit and destroyed the structure rather than let it become a staging point for rebels. Bodies lay scattered in the rubble—guards who had not escaped before the demolition."He is staying ahead of us," Chen observed. "Collapsing his own defensive positions to prevent us from using them. Classic scorched earth tactics."Thomas examined the destruction with professional interest. "This was not random demoliti