Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 607: Chapter 607. Entering Tusha Valley

Xuang Feng led the split army directly, which numbered thirty thousand soldiers and twenty thousand battle puppets installed with fast-moving legs. Wai Kung was in charge of the rest of the army, which was marching with their supplies.

Everyone rushed with haste. A part of the army arrived earlier than the rest. Xuang Feng and the fastest batch reach Tusha Valley in only seven hours. The rest of the troops, including the battle puppets, arrived two hours later.

Despite arriving earlier than expected, they were too late. They saw a line of Echos soldiers already lined up at the valley’s mouth opposite them.

”Damn it!” Wai Ling cursed. She accompanied Xuang Feng in this march. ”They must have done the same as us, splitting the army and rushing here using the soldiers with the fastest movement speed.”

Xuang Feng didn’t make any remarks. He wore a contemplative expression, which prompted Wai Ling to ask, ”Is something the matter?”

”I found the placement of their soldiers odd,” Xuang Feng answered.

”How so?” Wai Ling asked.

”If it were me, I would have stationed our people near the area where the valley began,” Xuang Feng replied. ”The narrow path through this valley is long. By guarding the spot near the valley’s entrance, we have space to move back when the pressure increases.”

”I see... Since they guard the rear, it doesn’t take long for us to break through their barricade if we can push them back,” Wai Ling grasped Xuang Feng’s explanation.

Xuang Feng nodded. ”Once we break through, their chokepoint tactic is no more. We can continue to pour through and overwhelm them using our superior number.”

”Then what are we waiting for? Let’s attack them!” Wai Ling urged.

Xuang Feng remained silent.

”Feng?” Wai Ling asked.

”I’m not sure...” Xuang Feng said. ”I doubt the enemy took that position without realizing this point.”

While they were conversing, one of the soldiers beside them said, ”They are moving.”

Xuang Feng and Wai Ling returned their attention to the Echos soldiers in the distance. The enemy was slowly walking toward them.

”I know!” Wai Ling exclaimed. ”They must have only arrived here like us. They were surprised to see us here. That’s why they stopped. They were reviewing the situation. They are now resuming their advances to control more areas of this valley. We must beat them to it!”

Xuang Feng seemed conflicted. Could it be that simple?

Their original plan, if this valley was already occupied by the enemy, was to wait for the main force before attacking it together with the force from Steam Water City. Yet, the opportunity before them did look enticing.

”Feng!” Wai Ling urged.

Wai Ling’s call made Xuang Feng steel his heart. He realized then that his previous defeat might have left a deep scar in him. This scar made him fear the enemy’s every move. Perhaps the situation was truly as simple as Wai Ling said. If he missed the chance to take control of the valley because of the insecurity in his heart, he would regret this to no end.

He took a deep breath before yelling his order, ”Tech specialists, unload the Yuanxu Cannons and assemble them. Talisman masters, erect a dome barrier around the cannons. Wai Ling, I leave you in charge here. The rest of you, we will charge forward. We can’t let the enemy take control of this valley. Forwaarrddd...!!!”

The first batch that arrived with Xuang Feng numbered almost twenty thousand. Though the valley was wide under normal standards, it was narrow for a crowd this large. The ones on the side and rear had to wait for those in the front to move forward before there was space for them to enter. Xuang Feng and the others at the Martial Realm flew into the sky to give space to those at the Human Realm.

Xuang Feng saw that the enemy stopped advancing after they charged. The enemy took a defensive posture, waiting for them to arrive. Could it be that the enemy stopped because they were intimidated by their charge? A doubt resurfaced inside him, but he quickly dismissed it. They had acted. It was not the time to second-guess their action.

When they passed the mid-point of the valley, they heard a series of explosive sounds.

Xuang Feng looked to his right, which was where the sounds came from. The first thing he noticed was the light from multiple small explosions high up on the walls of the mountain range. The second thing was the elemental balls flying toward them.

”Brace for impact...!!!” Xuang Feng yelled to warn his troops. He quickly took out a talisman and activated it. The talisman created a dome shield that protected the area around him.

While his expertise allowed for such quick use of the talisman, the others were not that skilled. They were still registering Xuang Feng’s warning when the balls arrived. Some with quick reflexes used their defensive arts before the balls landed.

Various elemental explosions wrecked Khode’s troops that crowded the path of the valley.

Xuang Feng was flabbergasted. He recognized these attacks were shots from Yuanxu Cannons. He looked at where he saw the small explosions. Those were the muzzle blasts of the Yuanxu Cannons. They were situated very high on the mountain. The high elevation allowed them to travel a great distance and hit them down here in the valley.

While he could understand how the cannons achieved such a long range, he was confused about how the enemy brought those Yuanxu Cannons up there. The wall of the mountain range was steep. It had many ledges that could allow someone to place the cannons, but they were small. Some might be large enough to barely fit the Yuanxu Cannons, but there was not enough space for the tech specialists to work when assembling the cannons.

Little did Xuang Feng know. Amon placed the cannons already fully assembled. He could do that thanks to his black space ring. The cannons also had special legs that attached themselves to the wall behind them instead of to the ground. This allowed the cannons to gain stability despite the small ground surface.

All the operators of the cannons were Beginning Mystic Stage soldiers who could fly, so they were not troubled by the height and could move around the cannons with ease. Yong Huan led them by instructing the angle and direction to fire.

Xuang Feng tried his best to use as many shield talismans as possible to protect his troops, but he was only one man. He couldn’t protect everyone. It was also too late to erect a dome barrier using talismans. To erect the dome barrier, many talisman masters needed to assume positions and link their talismans together. They couldn’t do that under this bombardment. They didn’t erect the barrier earlier because the barrier was not mobile. It was only suitable to protect static objects. Hence, the dome barrier was currently only protecting their Yuanxu Cannons near the entrance of the valley.

”Spread out! Use the ground near the foot of the mountain!” Xuang Feng commanded.

They were too crowded. One explosion easily took out a lot of them. Hence, he commanded them to spread out. One side was a ravine, and the other side was the mountain range. There was a large enough area for them to tread on before the steep wall of the mountain range. The problem was that the land was rocky and slanted. It was not suitable for a large group of people to march on. However, they had no choice. The soldiers on the right side quickly moved into this rocky area.

As they moved in, they noticed many previously hidden Echos soldiers revealed themselves. These soldiers hid behind the many large rocks and crevices at the foot of the mountain range. Each of these soldiers carried long metal sticks.

Xuang Feng remembered those long metal sticks. The enemy called them rifles. Before he could warn his people, the Echos soldiers fired their rifles.

The rocky and slanted terrain gave Khode’s soldiers difficulty in moving. They became easy targets for the rifles. Many fell on the first barrage. The Khode soldiers were at a loss about what to do. Advancing made them targets for the rifles, while retreating subjected them to the bombardment from the cannons.

Xuang Feng ordered the flyers to attack the soldiers carrying the rifles, but the enemy revealed they had many Mystic Stage soldiers floating above those riflemen. There was even a giant flaming bird amidst those enemies. Any flyer attempting to approach the riflemen would have to go through them.

While Xuang Feng was still racking his brain for a solution, another crisis presented itself.

From below the ravine emerged several Martial Realm Echos’ soldiers. Most of Khode’s Martial Realm soldiers were trying to get to the riflemen on the opposite side, so only Human Realm soldiers noticed these emerging enemies. All the Human Realm soldiers could do was stare at these emerging enemies since they couldn’t fly.

Accompanying the flying Echos soldiers were battle puppets equipped with flight units. Neither these soldiers nor the battle puppets attacked, though. They simply floated at a safe distance.

Suddenly, many glowing discs materialized around the floating enemies. Khode soldiers who were watching quickly identified these glowing discs as the elemental mines. These discs immediately moved after they appeared.

In a short time after Khode’s troops entered the valley, they were besieged from three sides. They were assailed from afar by the Yuanxu Cannons, rifles, and elemental mines, and they could do nothing to fight back.