Invincible: I Level Up In My Sleep

The Sea Of Fire

The thunderous roar of the avalanche eventually subsided, leaving behind a thick, choking cloud of grey dust and pulverized ice. The southern exit of the Black Wolf Pass was now completely choked by a massive, jagged wall of obsidian rubble, three stories high. Beneath it lay the crushed remnants of the tribal scouting squad.

Up on the ridges, the three hundred Ironcliff guards didn't waste a single second.

"Move! Pour it out! Don't leave a single gap!" Fan Changyu’s voice barked through the freezing air.

Soldiers lugged the heavy wooden barrels to the lip of the eastern and western cliffs. With practiced coordination, they smashed the iron rings apart, tipping the barrels forward. Hundreds of gallons of thick, dark seal oil cascaded down the vertical rock faces, veining through the jagged shale and pooling deeply into the narrow canyon floor below. The pungent, heavy scent of fuel quickly filled the pass, masking the smell of blood.

Yan Zheng stood atop the newly formed rock barrier, his hands resting casually behind his back. The biting wind whipped his black hair across his face, but his eyes were fixed entirely on the northern mouth of the pass.

Through the [Shadow Sync] link of his ring, he could feel the ground shaking.

The main army of the Iron-Blood Tribe had arrived.

Ten thousand warriors ground to a halt at the northern entrance of the pass. The sheer sight of them was like a dark stain on the white winter landscape. Heavy infantrymen holding hide-covered shields formed a wall of iron, while thousands of tribal archers stood ready behind them.

At the front of the horde rode Chieftain Ba Yan, mounted on a dual-horned war beast that looked twice as large as the one Ba Tu had ridden. His heavily scarred face twisted into a mask of pure fury as he stared at the massive rockfall blocking his path.

"Report!" Ba Yan roared, his voice carrying the terrifying resonance of a Level 18 Bronze Meridian master. "Where is the scouting squad? Why is the pass blocked?!"

A tribal scout scrambled forward, dropping to his knees in the snow. "Chieftain! A sudden avalanche has completely sealed the southern exit! We... we lost contact with the vanguard scouts. They are likely buried underneath!"

"Useless trash!" Ba Yan smashed his fist onto the iron saddle of his mount, denting the thick metal. He looked up at the towering cliffs, his sharp eyes scanning the frozen ledges. "There are no magical signatures of an earth-attribute spell. It was a natural rockslide. Shaman! Clear the path!"

From the center of the army, three elderly men wrapped in tattered wolf pelts stepped forward. Their skin was painted with strange, glowing green runes, and they carried long staffs made of twisted bone. These were the tribal Shamans, Level 8 Qi Refinement cultivators who specialized in elemental manipulation.

They raised their bone staffs in unison, chanting a low, guttural incantation. The air around the northern entrance began to churn violently as muddy brown earth Qi gathered at the tips of their weapons.

"They're going to blast through the rubble," Fan Changyu whispered, appearing silently at Yan Zheng's side, her fingers gripping her sword hilt nervously. "Your Highness, if those Shamans break the barrier, their heavy cavalry will overrun us in minutes."

"Let them try," Yan Zheng replied, his voice flat and entirely devoid of panic.

He waited. He needed the enemy vanguard to compress themselves deeply into the narrow throat of the pass to maximize the trap.

"Earth Tremor Spell! Break!" the three Shamans screamed together, slamming their staffs into the frozen ground.

A violent shockwave of brown energy ripped through the earth, tearing straight into the northern base of the rockfall. The massive boulders began to groan and shift, loose shale trickling down as the structural integrity of the barrier began to fracture under the spiritual pressure.

"The path is opening! Forward!" Ba Yan roared, waving his massive broadsword. "March through the gap! Clean out Ironcliff before nightfall!"

With a deafening war cry, three thousand heavy infantrymen packed themselves tightly into the narrow canyon floor, rushing forward to clear the loose debris. Their heavy boots splashed blindly through the pools of dark liquid covering the cobblestones.

"Chieftain, wait!" one of the frontline commanders suddenly shouted, sniffing the air as he touched the slick, black substance coating his leather boot. "This smell... it's not water! It's—"

"It's oil," Yan Zheng said softly from the top of the ridge.

He didn't need to shout. His Level 3 physical foundation allowed his voice to cut through the chaotic noise of the army, echoing clearly in the ears of every tribal soldier below.

Ba Yan’s eyes snapped upward, locking onto the lone figure standing on the high ridge. "Yan Zheng! You trash prince, you dare show your face?!"

Yan Zheng didn't answer. He simply reached into his tunic, pulled out a small, flint-and-steel striking stone, and casually struck it against the metal edge of his dark silver ring.

*Sparks.*

A single, tiny ember of fire fell from his fingertips, dropping into the dark abyss of the canyon floor.

The moment the spark touched the oil-soaked shale, the world went white.

*BOOM!*

An absolute wall of crimson and orange flame erupted from the earth, expanding at a terrifying velocity. The seal oil, packed tightly within the narrow choke point, acted like a massive stick of dynamite. The fire shot hundreds of feet into the air, instantly transforming the narrow Black Wolf Pass into a literal roaring furnace of hellfire.

"Ahhhh! Fire! The ground is on fire!"

"Help me! My armor is melting!"

The screams of three thousand heavy infantrymen cut through the valley, echoing with agonizing pain. The intense heat was so severe that the iron breastplates of the frontline soldiers literally warped and fused to their skin. The narrow cliffs trapped the heat, turning the canyon floor into an inescapable oven.

The three tribal Shamans panicked, frantically trying to channel water Qi to suppress the flames, but the sheer volume of the chemical fire completely swallowed their weak spiritual barriers, burning them alive where they stood.

[Your trap has successfully triggered a mass-casualty event!]

[Slaying 10x Heavy Infantry... Gained 100 EXP.]

[Slaying 25x Heavy Infantry... Gained 250 EXP.]

[Slaying Tribal Shaman... Gained 300 EXP.]

[Notice: Exponential experience gain detected! Level-up sequence initiated!]

A blinding, violent pillar of gold and blue light erupted directly from Yan Zheng’s physical body, completely defying the smoky darkness of the battlefield. The system notifications began to scroll down his vision so fast they became a solid blur of blue light.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Current Level: 5 (120/1500 EXP)]

[Gained +4 Unallocated Stat Points!]

[Maximum Shadow-Guard capacity increased to: 8 Units (via Ring modifier).]

Yan Zheng stood amidst the roaring heat, the golden light of his double level-up illuminating his cold, handsome face. He could feel his bones, muscles, and internal organs undergoing a massive, transcendent transformation. His real-world physical strength had just quadrupled in the span of a single breath.

He looked down into the sea of fire, his gaze locking onto Chieftain Ba Yan, who had managed to shield himself using a powerful layer of Bronze Meridian Qi, though his face was blackened with soot and his army was completely shattered into a panicked stampede.

Yan Zheng extended his right hand, his fingers curling into a claw as he looked at the terrified Chieftain.

"System," Yan Zheng commanded internally, his voice echoing with absolute, terrifying authority. "Summon all eight units. Let's finish this.”