Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 667: Chapter 667. An Emotionally Shaken Enemy

After having one of its legs severed, the Winged Qilin lost most of its mobility. It couldn’t turn into light again. It could only use its eye-flash assault to strike the Alpha Puppet that had maimed it.

The Alpha Puppet wasn’t as durable as its counterpart. The light implosion sent it reeling. A dent was visible where the implosion hit.

The Winged Qilin backed away while limping. All the while, it continued to unleash the eye-flash assault on the Alpha Puppet. The Beta Puppet reacted and came to the rescue. It blocked the second and the subsequent implosions before the Alpha Puppet suffered further damage.

During its retreat, its beastly instinct made it turn its head. Its majestic horn clanged with something solid. At the same time, he felt something stabbed into the stump of its forelimb. It looked over and saw it was Amon. The thing that hit his horn was Amon’s ceremonial dagger. Amon’s arm, which had turned pitch-black, was jabbed into its still-bleeding wound.

Amon used his concealment art to stealthily approach the Winged Qilin. He delivered two assaults simultaneously. One was using his ceremonial dagger, attempting to decapitate the Qilin. Unfortunately, the Winged Qilin had sharp instincts. It managed to block the dagger using its hard horn.

Amon, however, had a contingency attack. His Poison Claw jabbed into the Winged Qilin’s open wound. He then swiftly pumped the Cold Stiff Poison into the Qilin’s circulatory system.

The Winged Qilin could feel the intrusive poison entering its system. Mid Mythical Beast, like the Winged Qilin, was roughly equivalent to an Intermediate Spirit Stage cultivator. While Cold Stiff Poison couldn’t instantly kill beings of such power, it could still affect them.

When the pain registered, the Winged Qilin uttered another heart-rendering cry.

Amon didn’t relent. Mercy was never his virtue. The Winged Qilin flapped its wings and kicked its legs frantically, but Amon clung to its wound. His strength was way above the spirit beast. Without its special abilities, the Qilin was never Amon’s match.

After sensing that the Winged Qilin was weakened enough, Amon let go of its wounded stump. He grabbed its horn and forced it to expose its neck. His other hand held the ceremonial dagger. With one steady swing, the dagger bit into the Qilin’s neck. Its scale was harder than most spirit beasts’ hide. Amon failed to decapitate it with one swing. He did it with the second one.

”Nooo...!!!”

A massive water geyser exploded where the Earth Elemental was. The water this time was powerful enough that it destroyed half the Earth Elemental’s sand body. The Earth Elemental tried to reform itself, but a torrent of water and wind assailed it. This torrent broke apart the remainder of its body.

Shou Zou shot out of the ground and headed directly for Amon, who was holding the Winged Qilin’s head like it was a trophy.

”I will have your life as payment for what you did...!!” Shou Zou shouted in rage.

The Beta Puppet came in Shou Zou’s path. Behind it was the Alpha Puppet. The Alpha Puppet’s Morningstar fist was detached while held by a steel chain, turning it into a flail. With this flail, it could attack the opponent while remaining protected behind the Beta Puppet.

”Rargghh...!” Shou Zou’s body spun rapidly.

The stream of water trailing behind Shou Zou followed his spin and turned into a water hurricane. This hurricane deflected the Alpha Puppet’s flail and struck the Beta Puppet’s shield. Both the puppets couldn’t stop Shou Zou’s fierce advance. The impact hurled the two away.

Repelling the battle puppets didn’t mean Shou Zou had a free path to Amon. A wall of sand and rock suddenly blocked his path.

”What?!” He was surprised. The sand converged and formed a giant humanoid shape. It was the Earth Elemental.

”I guess your pet didn’t tell you everything about this Earth Elemental before I cut its head off,” Amon said. He was standing atop a rock plate held by one of the Earth Elemental’s tentacles. ”Defeating an Earth Elemental takes more than destroying its body.”

Shou Zou gritted his teeth. ”It might not be enough to cause the death of the Earth Elemental, but it is enough to cause yours...!!”

He lunged forward and delivered multiple rapid slashes. The sand tentacles kept obstructing his way. The impacts caused water, wind, sand, and rocks to fly everywhere.

”Hehe,” Amon chuckled. Anger was a double-edged sword. It helped its wielder draw extra strength, but it also numbed the mind. Amon preferred fighting such emotionally shaken enemies. It was easier for them to make mistakes.

Shou Zou swung his axe nonstop. While his assaults were to destroy the sands and rocks barring his way, his every swing produced wind and water waves that struck targets in the distance. These waves were all directed at Amon.

Amon adjusted his position accordingly. The Earth Elemental’s blockade had already weakened the waves. Hence, they had lost half their strength and speed. Amon had no trouble dodging or parrying them.

Even on a precarious chance when Shou Zou managed to break through the Earth Elemental’s entire blockade, the Beta Puppet swooped in to save Amon. The Alpha Puppet, on the other hand, sneaked behind the Earth Elemental’s sand and rock covers, delivering ambushes at opportune moments. It was not detectable by cultivation sense, which made it an ideal ambusher.

Amon didn’t fight Shou Zou. He just moved around. His role was now as bait. He steered Shou Zou into a disadvantageous position, assisting his Alpha Puppet in scoring a hit.

In a short time, Shou Zou’s body was full of wounds. Although these wounds were not life-threatening, they were still detrimental to his condition.

Shou Zou finally realised his disadvantage after noticing the numerous wounds on his body. After becoming a Lord Stage cultivator, very few could threaten him. Hence, he had forgotten the fear that usually accompanied a life-and-death confrontation. From the beginning of the battle, he never considered this battle to be one such confrontation, until now.

The concern about his own mortality began to creep into his heart. It offset the wrath that held sway over his mind earlier. This let him think more objectively. He stopped his reckless charge.

”Oh, you seem to have snapped out of it,” Amon said with a smile. ”Well, never mind. We have gotten enough free hits.”

”Hmph! I admit you have surpassed my expectations,” Shou Zou harrumphed. ”But all you do is rely on your tools. Do not think these are enough to defeat me!”

”Of course. I utilise every available resource to defeat my opponents, not just tools. That’s because I am prepared to fight opponents stronger than me, unlike losers who only fight those weaker than them. You can be the strongest being there is, but you will still be a loser if you only defeat weaker enemies and never prevail against a stronger opponent.”

”Hmph! Don’t talk like you have already won! As I said, these three tools you have here are not enough to defeat me!”

”That’s where you are wrong.” Amon’s grin turned wider. ”You seem to forget I have more tools at my disposal.”

Shou Zou heard a mechanical screech from behind. He turned and saw a giant hawk puppet speeding toward him at high speed. He responded in time and swung his axe, which cut the hawk’s bladed wing.

The hawk puppet lost half of its wings, but didn’t stop its assault. Its body unleashed countless lightning bolts when it passed Shou Zou. Shou Zou’s Lord Stage protective barrier cushioned the lightning, but he still felt stung.

Next, he heard mechanical growls and saw a giant wolf puppet and a giant bear puppet lunging at him. His body was numb from the electrocution just now, but he could still move. He executed a wide swing, and both puppets were split in two.

The assault didn’t stop. More battle puppets arrived. These were a portion of the Royal Puppet Army, which possessed flight units. They came due to Amon’s command. The battle with Kazhan’s army had progressed much in the First Demon Army’s favour. The Kazhan Army had lost half its force. Even if the Royal Puppet Army was completely pulled away, the Kazhan Army couldn’t turn the tide. However, Amon left most of the puppets to keep the Kazhan Army surrounded.

”Pah! These are weak puppets! They meant nothing to me!” Shou Zou exclaimed. His axe spun around him, cutting battle puppets in droves.

”There is no such thing as meaning nothing. In this situation, they mean distraction and disruption,” Amon replied.

Upon Amon’s words, Shou Zou found something casting a shadow from above him. He looked up and saw a cloud of sand. It was the Earth Elemental. It turned into a sandstorm and descended on him. Battle puppets continued to come at him from all directions, which limited his ability to move. All he could do was use a defensive art. Water streamed around him, forming a protective orb, just before the sand buried him.

The sand buried even the battle puppets too close to Shou Zou. Amon didn’t mind. They were expendables. The sand swirled and tightened, forming a pressurised prison. This sand had tentacles that held several cone-shaped rocks. These rocks started spinning and were pulled into the sand prison. Like giant drills, they pierced into the sand.