The Red-Eyed Black Dragon felt the water level rapidly receding beneath his feet. His gaze snapped violently toward Bao Uyen.
"Is it her doing…?"
Hung Dao Dai Vuong stood firm, observing the battlefield with a calm, majestic demeanor.
"Hmph. A troublesome brat."
With a cold growl, the Dragon raised his hand, condensing cosmic energy into a massive, swirling orb.
"Then I shall slaughter you first!"
But Van Thien had already anticipated the move. He lunged forward.
Clutch!
He grabbed the Dragon's channeling arm mid-air.
"I won't let you lay a single finger on her!"
With a roar, he unleashed a spinning kick, but the entity swiftly blocked it.
On the bank, Bao Uyen continued to suppress the river torrent, but a sudden tremor shot through her. Something was wrong—the raw power inside her was rapidly slipping out of control.
"Ah…!"
A short distance away, Van Thien instantly sensed her distress.
Taking immediate advantage of Van Thien's split-second distraction, the Red-Eyed Black Dragon buried a devastating front kick into his abdomen.
BOOM!
The impact blasted Van Thien backward onto his small fishing boat. Seizing the opening, the tyrant hurled the massive energy orb directly at Bao Uyen.
SHOOM!
The cosmic orb rocketed toward her at near light speed. Bao Uyen sensed the impending cataclysm, yet she gritted her teeth, locking her palms together. She refused to stop. She would not let the river rise again.
Van Thien screamed, attempting to sprint to her aid, but he was too far.
"Bao Uyen—!!"
The energy orb detonated dead center upon her position. The necklace around her neck flashed with a blinding, desperate brilliance.
BOOM!!!
A violent explosion ripped through the shoreline. The Red-Eyed Black Dragon stared into the billowing smoke, his face contorted in a smug, victorious grin.
"And so, another pest is eliminated."
Van Thien stared at the smoking crater, a stray tear cutting through the dust on his face.
"Bao… Uyen…"
But suddenly, from within the heart of the thick smoke, a column of radiant light detonated outward. Her necklace was hovering, spinning frantically amidst a roaring vortex of soft pink energy.
"Bao Uyen!"
"What?!" The Dragon gasped.
Bao Uyen's eyes flamed with a brilliant pink aura. Locking her hands into a sacred seal, she unleashed a wave of raw power.
The entire expanse of the Bach Dang River convulsed violently. The water level dropped at an unnatural speed, draining into the depths. As the current stabilized at its lowest point, Bao Uyen collapsed onto the earth, her necklace dimming.
Before the Red-Eyed Black Dragon could comprehend the shift—
Thud.
A single sound. Extremely faint.
"…Thud…"
The second beat.
The Dragon narrowed his eyes. "…This sound…"
Behind him, Tran Hung Dao slowly closed his eyes, then snapped them open.
"…The time has come."
One second. Two seconds. At that exact split second—
THUD!!!
The war drum detonated. It was no longer distant. It was no longer faint. It exploded across the entire space.
BOOM!!!!!!!!
The riverbed ruptured.
FROM BENEATH THE RECEDING TORRENT, HUNDREDS OF TOWERING WOODEN STAKES INFUSED WITH ANCIENT GOLDEN LIGHT LUNGED UPWARD LIKE SPEARS.
CRACK!!
SNAP!!
CRUNCH!!!
PIERCED! The hulls of the leading warships were brutally impaled, river water violently flooding their inner compartments.
"…?!"
BOOM!!
A second battleship snapped entirely in half.
"…IMPOSSIBLE!!" The Red-Eyed Black Dragon's eyes went wide with pure horror. "…Stakes…!!!"
The riverbed was no longer a waterway; it had transformed into a colossal, lethal stake yard. The oncoming vessels were moving too fast to brake.
STAB!!!
CRUSH!
IMPALED!!
Vessel after vessel was ruthlessly skewered.
Seeing his armada decimated, the Red-Eyed Black Dragon roared at the top of his lungs:
"…RETREAT!!!"
The fleet attempted to reverse out of the kill zone, but it was already too late.
Beneath the surface, Yết Kiêu dove straight behind the stern of the flagship, targeting the main navigation assembly. With a powerful swing, his iron spike shattered the rudder shaft, rendering the massive ship completely blind. Selecting the perfect moment when the perimeter vessels tried to back away to open an escape lane, Yet Kieu systematically punctured massive holes into their sterns. As heavy torrents of water flooded their rears, the ships became back-heavy, their bows pitching violently into the sky. Utterly unbalanced, the relentless current slammed the vessels sideways directly into the jagged golden stakes. Even if they wanted to turn, they couldn't.
On the shore, Van Thien rushed to Bao Uyen's side, lifting her gently into his arms.
"Bao Uyen!"
Her eyes slowly fluttered open, looking up at him. "Brother Thien…"
Relief washed over Van Thien. He supported her weight. "You're safe now. What happened back there?"
"It's fine... I managed to save you, didn't I?" Bao Uyen offered a weak, gentle smile.
"Yeah."
The two siblings then turned their eyes toward the Red-Eyed Black Dragon.
Watching his proud armada collapse into a graveyard of scrap metal, the tyrant erupted in pure fury.
"Dammit!"
"If that's the case…"
"All forces, abandon ship and storm the shoreline!"
"There are only four of them!"
"We will crush them beneath the weight of sheer numbers!"
Hearing the command, the surviving horde of alien soldiers leapt across the wreckage, advancing frantically toward the land.
Seeing the incoming swarm, Van Thien immediately carried Bao Uyen to an elevated vantage point.
"Bao Uyen, stay right here. Do not move from this spot, no matter what."
"But what about you?" She clutched his hand tightly.
"I'll be fine." He offered a reassuring nod. "Be a good girl, wait for me here."
With those words, he sprinted down the slope, lunging directly toward the advancing alien legion.
He whispered under his breath:
"…8%"
Instantly, his body erupted into a roaring aura of deep cyan radiance.
FLASH!
BOOM!
He closed the distance, burying a rapid succession of punches into three vanguard soldiers, blasting them into the distance.
Five more soldiers armed with heavy spears ambushed him. Van Thien leaned his frame back, unleashing a devastating 360-degree sweeping kick.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The five attackers were sent flying. Ten more rushed him, thrusting their spears simultaneously. Van Thien intercepted the hafts with his bare hands, utilizing his raw strength to lift the enemies off their feet and hurl them away.
Wrenching a spear from their grip, he faced twenty more oncoming soldiers. He locked his grip on the weapon.
FLASH
He dove into the fray. Ten soldiers swung their batons at his head, but he parried the assault.
CLANG!
He deflected their weapons upward and delivered a brutal horizontal sweep of his spear.
BOOM!
The shockwave blasted the ten soldiers away. Yet, the remaining horde converged from every single direction, completely surrounding him. Planted firmly on his spear, Van Thien vaulted into the air, unleashing a rapid flurry of aerial kicks.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
Another ten collapsed, yet the alien soldiers kept flooding the shoreline like an unstoppable storm.
Ten. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred soldiers converged upon his position simultaneously.
He was relentlessly driven backward, pinned deep into the shoreline.
Watching from above, Bao Uyen's heart hammered with intense dread.
The pocket was tightening by the second. The suffocating pressure was absolute. The legion kept coming without end. Van Thien had reached the absolute limits of his endurance.
BOOM! THUD! CRASH!
A rapid succession of spear-strikes battered his frame. A final, concentrated blow slammed into his chest.
"Agh…!"
Van Thien was blasted through the air, his body covered in severe lacerations, blood dripping heavily from his arms. He desperately forced himself back to one knee. Before his eyes, the alien legion surged forward like a roaring avalanche.
"KILL THEM!!!"
Van Thien stood amidst the dust, his body entirely broken. For a fleeting second, he believed this was where his journey would end.
But then—
The wind abruptly shifted directions violently.
THUD…
A war drum. Low. Deep. It resonated across the battlefield, yet it distinctly did not belong to the present era.
The entire alien legion froze in their tracks. Van Thien heard it, yet he couldn't comprehend its origin.
THUD… THUD…
The drumbeats persisted, slow in rhythm, yet carrying a massive gravity that struck directly against their chests.
The surface of the river vibrated. From the center of the receding torrent, a beam of light breached the water. A battle standard emerged. Its colors were heavily weathered, its edges frayed by the passing of centuries, yet the moment it billowed in the wind, the entire space seemed to bow in reverence. The ancient light rippled outward, touching the water, filtering through the air.
THUD…
A silhouette… materialized.
THUD…
Another warrior appeared beside him.
THUD… THUD…
Dozens. Hundreds. Then thousands.
Phantoms of ancient warriors marched out from the depths of the river. Their faces were obscured by mist, their forms translucent, yet upon the right arm of every single warrior, two distinct words were branded deep into their flesh: "Sát Thát" (Slaughter the Invaders).
They wore weathered battle tunics that bore the scars of a hundred glorious campaigns. Their hide breastplates manifested amidst the thick fog—not polished or pristine, but saturated with absolute, terrifying power. The hems of their robes billowed fiercely in the sea breeze, moving in perfect synchronization with their steady advance, creating a sweeping silver ribbon across the waves. In their left hands, they held wicker shields painted with fierce tiger faces; in their right, they gripped long spears. As tens of thousands of spears were raised toward the heavens simultaneously, the river surface looked as if it were blanketed by a dense forest of brilliant silver thorns. Faintly, beneath the mist, features of absolute courage and serene composure emerged—sharp jawlines paired with ancestral tattoos.
Down in the water, Yet Kieu surfaced completely. But behind his back, he was no longer alone. Hundreds of legendary divers, bare-chested and donning black headwraps, gripped their iron spikes as they breached the foaming waves in unison. Bare-chested and clad in traditional loincloths, they stood like monolithic pillars amidst the rushing currents. The water washed over their massive, heavily muscled chests. They formed flawless lines, entirely unyielding. Their eyes were sharp as razors, their composure freezing. Upon their flesh, intricate Giao Long (Dragon-Leviathan) motifs were intricately tattooed across their abdomens and thighs. Every single diver held a rusted iron spike, its sharpened tip radiating an ice-cold, lethal gleam. Without a single shout, they silently deployed into flawless formation, completely sealing off the escaping enemy vessels, transforming the riverbed into an open tomb waiting to swallow the invaders
And amidst the dense thickets of the vẹt, sú, and đước mangroves, spanning across the twin ancient lim trees of Giếng Rừng and the historic shipyards lining the Bach Dang River, the white mist suddenly thickened to an absolute density. From within the shroud, thousands of phantom archers materialized, their lower bodies submerged in the current, their bows pulled back to maximum tension, aiming dead at the water. The archers wore light armor, their heads wrapped in traditional axe-head cloths.Their sharp features materialized through the fog—their eyes reflecting absolute concentration, cold, precise, and lethal. Their expressions were completely tranquil to lock their breathing rhythm. Their postures were as motionless as boulders; not a single breath was drawn, not a single plate of armor clinked. Only the hems of their tunics fluttered softly in the wind. They stood frozen in mid-draw, and the thousands of arrows notched upon their bows were no longer made of wood or stone—they were forged from a thousand years of sacred ancestral aura, radiating a brilliant, golden light that pierced through the suffocating fog.
Every single weapon was locked onto the enemy front lines.
The central battle standard flared, revealing the grand ancestral character: Trần (陳), billowing proudly against the roaring wind.
Van Thien's eyes went completely wide.
"This is…???"
A low, resonant voice echoed from behind him. Not loud, yet filled with absolute gravity. Tran Hung Dao stood tall.
"It is not that they have returned…"
"…It is that we have never left."
Bao Uyen trembled violently, her eyes locked onto the Great Lord.
"My Lord…"
THUD.
The Great Commander slowly lowered his hand.
"This river… has never belonged to the invader."
"To advance, to retreat, to strike, or to hold… all parameters are governed solely by us!"