Chapter 1054: Strategy
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
As Duanmu Lin’s voice faded away, Aquababe’s figure was seen approaching fast from the distance and appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye. A bit of fear could be seen on her face as she reported. “Chief, we’ve counted the number of demonic beasts gathering there, a total of 4,150. But we were unable to determine how many powerful ones are among them. Further, they are now rus.h.i.+ng towards our position, and we can expect them to reach our defense line in a little more than half an hour.”
“What?!!”
Duanmu Lin’s face drastically changed. He never imagined that the number of demonic beasts’ build-up was so many. Killing more than 4,000 demonic beasts was simply an impossible mission with their current forces.
Even if… Suppose they could eliminate all of them, it was highly likely that only a handful of cultivators would survive.
What should we do? Fight them head-on, or use hot weapons? But will modern weapons yield significant results?
Hun Sen, who just made a fool of himself, now had a completely different impression towards Duanmu Lin at this moment. He said in a deep voice, “Director Duanmu, you’re the commander-in-chief of this operation, please hurry up and issue a command! How do we defend against those demonic beasts?”
Duanmu Lin’s mouth opened, but no words came out. He didn’t know what to do. The news had shocked him, and he couldn’t think of any good countermeasure at all.
Suddenly, his eyes s.h.i.+fted to the interior of the mountain range. There, he saw dozens of cultivators with b.l.o.o.d.y appearances seething with a killing aura. They were flying lightning-fast towards his direction. He also knew the leader of those people, Jin s.h.i.+, who was the captain appointed by Tang Xiu for that group.
“Are you okay?” asked Duanmu Lin with concern after greeting him.
Instead of answering, Jin s.h.i.+ wiped off the blood on his face. He let out a severe cough and vomited a mouthful of blood. After letting out a sigh of relief, he then said with a weary face, “We’re okay, Director Duanmu. Although most of us are seriously injured, n.o.body died in the battle. Also, we’ve killed quite a lot of demonic beasts, nearly 100 of them.”
Nearly 100?
A horrified appeared on Duanmu Lin’s face. It must be noted that, so far, they had only been able to successfully kill less than 200 demonic beasts from every batch of demonic beasts that attempted to destroy the defense line they had laid down. Yet, Jin s.h.i.+ and his team had killed that many demonic beasts in just a short time. This was simply… incredible and unbelievable!
The other tens of people also had a change in expression, looking at Jin s.h.i.+ and the tens of Tang Sect’s disciples with incredulity. Only after a long while did they sober up and raise their thumbs up. n.o.body spoke because they thought that words wouldn’t be able to express their admiration towards Jin s.h.i.+ and his team.
“Jin s.h.i.+, the teams led by Tang Xiu and Mo Awu have all returned,” said Duanmu Lin. “Except for one casualty from Mo Awu’s team, the rest are still alive and are now in the rear area to heal their injuries. But Tang Xiu has entered the mountain range’s interior, and Mo Awu also led two others to catch up with him. You know more about Tang Xiu’s ability than I do, so I believe that you don’t need to worry about him. Hence, it’s best for you to take your time to heal now since I’m afraid we’re going to face a more brutal battle soon.”
Jin s.h.i.+’s face slightly s.h.i.+fted and he inquired. “Is this new wave of demonic beasts going to attack our defense line?”
“It’s been verified.” Duanmu Lin forced a smile and said, “The number has been also confirmed, which is more than 4,100 demonic beasts. This is the largest wave to attacks us yet, about tens of times the number from the previous ones.”
“If that’s the case, then we’re going back to recuperated,” said Jin s.h.i.+ without hesitation. “Also, please notify us at once when the demonic beasts charge at the defense line, Director Duanmu. We can join the battle at any time even if we are injured.”
“Alright.”
Duanmu Lin gripped his fist and slightly punched Jin s.h.i.+’s chest twice while nodding repeatedly.
****
Deep in the Himalayas.
Tang Xiu’s figure was as though a ghost as he moved fast without leaving any footprints on the white snow. He was now das.h.i.+ng fast towards the spot where the demonic beast tide was gathering. Duanmu Lin had ordered Aquababe to send him the precise coordinates of that gathering spot, so he traversed there at an extreme speed.
Something’s amiss.
Suddenly, Tang Xiu’s expression changed. He took out the Invisible Charm from the interspatial ring, along with several Raging Flame and Lightning Charms. As his figure disappeared, he lunged towards the mountainside nearby and stood there ten seconds after.
The heavy snow fell from the distant peaks. It was like an avalanche, but also especially scary. In the midst of the falling heavy snow, however, demonic beasts numbering in the thousands that were seemingly everywhere headed towards the blockade line.
There’s too many. The defense line won’t be able to withstand this onslaught. Once these demonic beasts breach the defensive line, it will pose a huge threat to the garrison behind, even bringing a devastating disaster to the common people living in towns and villages near Ugley.
I gotta find a way to stop them and buy some time for Duanmu Lin. The number of pract.i.tioners in China is quite a lot. Whether they are ability users, ancient martial arts pract.i.tioners, cultivators, and other pract.i.tioners, those here should only be one-tenth of the total number.
If Duanmu Lin has more time he can invite more powerful ones to come and fight against these demonic beasts.
Numerous thoughts swirled in Tang Xiu’s mind, and his murderous intent appeared and got more intense in his eyes the more time pa.s.sed. His eyes lingered at the demonic beasts. He could tell that such a demonic beast tide must have one demonic beast with high intelligence as the commander. As the adage said: you must catch the king if you want to disperse his underlings. If he could find that particular demonic beast and kill it lightning-fast, it would very likely cause a great impact on this horde of demonic beasts. It may even lead to its collapse and the cancellation of this attack.
As the horde approached, they were now only a little more than two kilometers away from Tang Xiu.
Right at this moment, the invisible Tang Xiu moved lightning-fast and instantly streaked up to 100 meters mid-air. He quickly unleashed all the charms he had prepared and thrown the lightning ones to the bird-species demonic beasts not far from him.
A blast of lightning flashes appeared from the sky and hit a large number of bird-species demonic beasts. Ear-piercing howls and screams were heard as several hundreds of these demonic beasts fell from mid-air. Although the lightning bolts evoked by the Lightning Charm were unable to kill them directly, the damage it wreaked was significant. Along with its paralysis effect, it made these beasts unable to act temporarily.
A few seconds after, several thousand demonic beasts on the ground raised their heads to the sky. Horror and panic could be seen from them when they saw the bird-special demonic beasts’ situation. But right at this time, Tang Xiu appeared in the midst of these demonic beasts while still being invisible. He instantly ignited numerous Raging Flame Charms as the blazing flames blasted out, creating a sea of fire that instantly burned several demonic beasts and set hundreds of others ablaze.
Riot wreaked havoc!
Whoosh… Roar…
The previously orderly demonic beast horde turned chaotic in an instant.
ROAAAAR!!!
A deafening beast roar steamrolled from a certain demonic beast group. A few weaker beasts close to the source were directly killed by the shockwave of the roar, whereas the rest quickly turned quiet and looked frightened. Finally, the chaotic horde began to look orderly once again.
In the midst of this horde, Tang Xiu’s eyes swept fast before they landed on a feline-like form standing on the horn of a unicorn-like demonic beast. Its small size was so insignificant and so difficult to spot that, had it not been for Tang Xiu’s sharp eyes, he would not have seen it.
I never thought such a small demonic beast turns out to have the ability to command a horde of demonic beasts. But it’s very likely that its small size is only one of its forms, but its actual strength is probably very strong!
The thought flashed in Tang Xiu’s mind as his body instantly bolted toward that particular demonic beast. At the same time, he unleashed the divine sword stored in his body as it instantly turned into tens of meters long colossus sword in mid-air. The next instant, a nearly 100-meter-long sword energy blasted out and crushed towards the small demonic beast.
It was a full all-out blow.
Primal Chaos Force frantically surged inside the eight extra-meridian channels in Tang Xiu’s body. Coupled with the might of the divine armament, the energy forcefully tore an opening in the midst of the demonic beast horde. Tens of demonic beasts were instantly killed by Tang Xiu’s swords, whereas a lot of others were pushed back forcefully by the sword’s might. Some even frantically run aside.
The body of the small demonic beast atop the head of the unicorn-like beast suddenly expanded. Its body instantly bubbled up into the size of a mammoth so big that the unicorn was nearly stepped on by it.
ROAAAAR!
Layers of black flames steamrolled toward the splitting long sword, while a giant flaming hammer crushed down at Tang Xiu’s divine sword.
BOOM…
The demonic beasts’ commander was badly wounded by the divine sword’s slash and was forced backward. The beast writhed in pain as a deep wound was left on its body, making its bones visible. If it hadn’t been for the demonic flame it unleashed and that outstanding hammer, Tang Xiu’s sword would’ve successfully slain it.
As for Tang Xiu, his body only slightly shook. After retracting the divine sword, he retreated in a flash. Pity that the aura he leaked out was too strong despite still being under the invisibility effect, causing the demonic beasts to frantically rush and attack him on the way back.
ROAAAR!!!
The demonic beasts’ commander let out a furious roar and issued an order to attack. It hadn’t suffered such a grievous injury for a long time, causing it to go ballistic and furious. It wanted revenge against the human who had injured it.
Since that one full blow had failed, Tang Xiu didn’t insist on engaging it any longer. He would only become surrounded should he do so, and he wouldn’t be able to leave unscathed even if he had the power to break through their encirclement.
His divine sword kept flying while unleas.h.i.+ng powerful violent sword qi that forced back the demonic beasts and lightly injured them. That particular demonic beast that was heavily injured, however, quickly left the horde and bolted towards the left side.
It wanted to escape, thinking that it was best to lead the horde from somewhere else.