Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 605: Chapter 605. Retaliation Against the Phantom Brigade

Zue Du activated his mechanical armor’s ability, which released hot steam as it enhanced his overall speed and power. Even with the augmentation, he found he could barely keep up with Xin Wuming’s swordplay. Xin Wuming was as if using a hundred swords simultaneously.

Xin Wuming was using a sword art he learned from Echos’ military library, Death Blossoming Sword. This martial art was at the High-tier Practitioner grade. Each swing of his sword created a revolving image of swords that made it look like a flower with blades for its petals.

After just a few exchanges, Zue Du found himself trapped by rings of whirling bladed flowers. These flowers both confined and cut him. His sturdy mechanical armor bore many incisions. He was surprised by the sharpness of the enemy’s sword. His armor was low-tier runic grade. Aside from possessing the ability to enhance his power, it was also extremely durable. To leave multiple incisions on his armor required the enemy to wield a runic-grade weapon or have a cultivation level much higher than his.

Xin Wuming was neither. His cultivation level was the same as Zue Du’s. His sword was a high-tier engraved grade. It could become sharp enough to leave shallow cuts on Zue Du’s armor because it was enhanced by the arcane art, Gold Enhancement.

Xin Wuming had learned this art to the master level, which was the same as Yan Wang’s mastery. Yan Wang could clash with Amon’s ceremonial dagger, which was high-tier runic, using the same sword and art. Since Xin Wuming had reached the same mastery, the sword in his hand could perform the same feat. Thus, Zue Du’s armor was not impervious to Xin Wuming’s attacks.

Zue Du tried his best to block using his oversized right gauntlet. That gauntlet was thicker and had a harder outer shell. However, Xin Wuming’s sword play was too complex and swarming. He couldn’t block them all. He had no choice but to back away. Otherwise, the repeated slashes would sooner or later split his armor.

He channeled his aether into his gauntlet, and it fired a powerful shockwave from a nozzle above his fist. This shockwave halted Xin Wuming’s sword confinement, allowing him to move away. As he did, the sight of the battle on the ground drew his attention.

The enemies didn’t seem impacted by the assaults from invisible opponents. They remained orderly and in formation. It was instead their side that seemed to be struggling.

The thing that grabbed his attention the most was that one of the enemy battle puppets appeared to be grabbing something invisible. While that happened, the enemy soldiers fired their arrows in the direction where the battle puppet was grabbing. Those arrows stabbed into something, and blood spurted out of thin air.

Zue Du quickly realized this was not an isolated incident. This was happening all over the battle. Enemy battle puppets grabbed at empty air while the soldiers struck the invisible things the puppets were grabbing. There were also battle puppets who seemed to ignore Khode soldiers completely and ran around the place randomly.

Zue Du understood that those battle puppets weren’t running randomly. They were chasing his invisible comrades. The enemy battle puppets could somehow detect the members of the Phantom Brigade.

While Zue Du was distracted by the scene on the ground, Xin Wuming used One With The Blade. He transformed into a giant sword and sped forward. Zue Du was not prepared for the abrupt speed of the art. He only managed to sway back a little just as the giant sword crashed into his chest.

His armor took the brunt of the damage, but couldn’t completely negate the sword’s piercing power. Thanks to his swaying motion, the stabbing force was slightly redirected. The sword cut through his armor while the armor’s durability pushed the sword upward. The sword sliced past his left shoulder but missed any fatal organ.

”Arghh...!” He covered his bloody shoulder with his hand. The pain was piercing.

The giant sword didn’t let up. It changed direction and returned to him.

Zue Du forced himself to focus. The mechanical gauntlet in his right arm let out hot steam. His punching speed increased. He punched the side of the giant sword just as it arrived, forcing the sword to swerve in another direction.

An afterburning jet was released from the rear part of Zue Du’s gauntlet. The gauntlet detached then. The gauntlet chased after the giant sword and collided with it multiple times.

Finally, after multiple clashes, the giant sword transformed back to Xin Wuming. He swung the golden sword in his hand and smacked the flying gauntlet away. The gauntlet returned and reattached itself to Zue Du’s right arm.

When Zue Du let his gauntlet battle Xin Wuming, he analyzed their situation. The troops he led were losing. They encountered an unexpected situation where the enemy wasn’t troubled by their invisible assaults. They couldn’t cope with this turn of events and were instead performing badly. It was the opponents who fully utilized their sluggishness and dealt a detrimental blow.

He quickly came to a decision.

”Retreat...!!” He shouted. It was better to cut their losses than lose everything. They would regroup and reassess the situation.

Those who hadn’t been badly injured were grateful for the order. They hurriedly disengaged and started running. Zue Du himself did the same. The backpack of his mechanical armor produced a jet blast that boosted his speed.

Seeing the speed, Xin Wuming knew he couldn’t catch Zue Du. He didn’t try to. He turned his attention down. The battle hadn’t lasted long. Many Khode soldiers were still alive, including the invisible ones.

Xin Wuming released something stored in his space ring. In an instant, numerous glowing discs appeared around him.

Zue Du, who saw from afar, identified the discs immediately. ”Elemental mines...?”

The elemental mines only stayed still for a brief second. The next second, they flew forward. These elemental mines chased after the fleeing Khode soldiers. Many couldn’t outrun the mines. Even when they split up and ran haphazardly, it didn’t trouble the mines. There were more mines than the soldiers who ran.

The mines exploded upon impact. Even when the soldiers blocked the mines, they were still assailed by the resulting blasts. Only a few with strong defensive arts managed to survive the blasts and continue fleeing.

This was the other feature Amon asked Zhong Yuan to incorporate. He copied Khode’s defensive method at the border. The elemental mines were linked to the Faxien Radars inside some of the battle puppets. The battle puppets synchronized with the radars and identified the targets for the elemental mines.

Zue Du was far enough to escape the elemental mines thanks to the jet boost from his mechanical armor, but his comrades were not that lucky. Many perished. He could only watch it happen helplessly.

One of his nearby comrades, a captain of his force, was almost caught by an elemental mine. His gauntlet shot forward and struck that mine, causing it to explode before it reached the captain. He quickly approached the captain when the gauntlet returned to his arm. He grabbed the captain and carried him away.

”Th–Thank you, sir!” The captain said gratefully.

Zue Du only replied with a grimace. His shoulder was still bleeding, but the pain in his heart hurt more. He could only save the captain. He had to escape while listening to the cries and pleas from the rest of his troops that were getting blown apart by the elemental mines.

*

Later that day, Zue Du learned that what happened to his team also happened elsewhere. All over the front line, Khode’s forces that contained the Phantom Brigade were hit. They lost miserably because the invisibility of the Phantom Brigade was useless.

The ones who managed to escape gathered to assess their situation. Zue Du was disheartened to see so many didn’t make it back. The enemy’s elemental mines tactic caused their forces difficulty in fleeing. Even those with strong defensive arts had to stop to block the mines, but that allowed Echos’ soldiers to catch up to them. The result was the same. Only the lucky ones or those with extremely good movement arts managed to flee.

The situation was the same for the Phantom Brigade. Since their invisibility was useless, they were no different than the regular troops.

A regiment of three thousand was sent as the vanguard shock troops. One-third of the number was the Phantom Brigade. Fewer than three hundred returned here, with half being the members of the Phantom Brigade. They lost ninety percent of their vanguard force.

They came with the intention to trim down the enemy before the main force arrived. They never expected the enemy could retaliate so swiftly and effectively. They were the ones who got trimmed instead.

”General! We spotted the enemy approaching!” Reported a soldier whom Zue Du placed at the rear as a sentry.

”Damn it! Do they want to wipe us all out before they are content?” One soldier complained.

Zue Du didn’t waste his time cursing. He issued his command, ”Everyone, pack up! We will retreat further back. Help carry those who are injured. We will regroup with the main force. They won’t dare to attack us once that happens.”