Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 692: Chapter 692. A Gamble

When the Soul Flayer realised its life force was sucked, it focused its attention on it. It not only learned that Sura Yao was the one responsible, but it also knew that its life force leaked through the injury she had struck earlier.

The Soul Flayer quickly directed the dust it absorbed from its minions to seal the injury from which its life force was leaking. However, that injury persisted. In fact, if it didn’t attempt to heal that wound, the wound would worsen the longer its life force was drawn. Its action in healing the wound counteracted the rate of deterioration. The wound came to a state of equilibrium. It neither healed nor worsened.

It knew then that to stop this power that leeched on its life, it must deal directly with the source. Sura Yao was now its primary target. It again gathered light-element aether in its mouth and fired another laser beam.

Amon was one step ahead of the Soul Flayer. Once he sensed what Sura Yao was doing, he knew she would take the Soul Flayer’s attention. The Beta Puppet came before Sura Yao just as the Soul Flayer fired its laser beam. It blocked the beam using its energy shield.

Amon didn’t save Sura Yao out of kindness, but as long as Sura Yao distracted the Soul Flayer, he and his Alpha Puppet were given more leeway in offense. He commanded the Alpha Puppet to attack the Soul Flayer’s right flank while he assaulted its left, effectively putting the Soul Flayer in a pincer position.

Sura Yao had healed enough to move. She no longer went on the offensive like before. She moved away when the Soul Flayer came for her. The Beta Puppet followed and stayed near to protect her.

The Soul Flayer saw the predicament it was in. With Amon and the Alpha Puppet’s interference, it couldn’t catch Sura Yao, and the number of wounds in its body kept mounting. The zombie beasts it absorbed to heal itself were growing thin.

”Damn you all!!” It cursed. It decided to take a gamble.

What few zombie beasts remaining inside the cavern turned into dust, including zombie Xa Li and zombie Huang Er, who were fighting Xan Chi. All this dust flew into the Soul Flayer’s mouth. The amount of dust gathered was more than doubled from before.

”He is using that glowing dust move again. Everyone, move away!” Amon warned.

”Die! All of you...!!!” The Soul Flayer exclaimed as it released the glowing dust in its mouth.

Because the dust amount was higher, the intensity was also greater. The entire cavern was covered by a glowing dust storm.

The Beta Puppet used its protective barrier again to defend against the glowing dust. As for the Alpha Puppet, it used its jet boost to fly toward the Beta Puppet, but the glowing dust storm hit it before it could enter the barrier.

Amon tried placing as much distance as possible, but the glowing dust storm still caught up. He didn’t just fly in a random direction. Where he was heading was where Lin Li-in-disguise was. The dust storm covered everyone’s view. It also masked everyone’s cultivation senses because each glowing dust radiated energy.

Under that coverage, Amon got Lin Li into the black space ring just before the dust storm hit. He then relied on his Elder God Veil to tank the glowing dust.

Just like the Elder God Tentacles, the dark suit of his Elder God Veil eroded the glowing dust while the glowing dust eroded his dark suit. As the two ate each other, Amon felt his protection slowly thin.

He didn’t stop moving while that was happening. The glowing dust clung to his dark suit. Their heaviness made it difficult for him to move, but he continued to move away. From what he observed when the Soul Flayer used this ability the first time, he suspected that there was a limit to how far the glowing dust could move away from its source.

His suspicion was right. He could see that the glowing dust grew thinner the further away he travelled. He finally came out of the dust storm’s area of effect after entering one of the caves around the cavern. The dust that had already clung to him remained on him. It continued to eat at his dark suit. By then, they were thin enough that some part of his body was revealed. Luckily, he was hidden inside the cave, so no one saw him.

He threw his dark suit aside as if he were removing a real suit. The glowing dust clung to that suit, but some sprinkled on him. He felt a terrible burning sensation from the dust. The amount of dust that hit him was few, so he didn’t face any danger except for receiving light burning scars.

”Lin Li, come out,” Amon commanded.

Lin Li came out again.

Amon instructed, ”Transform into a random middle-aged man who projects an aura that copies my infernal cultivation.”

Lin Li did as she was told.

”Sorry,” Amon said. He scooped a handful of the glowing dust, still eating his dark suit by the side, and sprayed it on Lin Li.

Lin Li screamed in surprise. The glowing dust immediately burned her skin. Thankfully, it was only a small amount, so it lasted only a while and didn’t cause too much damage. Visible burn marks were seen on Lin Li’s body, though.

”I can’t use the Elder God Veil again for some time,” Amon explained. ”You will have to pretend to be the demon cultivator.”

”... Yes, brother,” Lin Li replied.

Amon peeked outside. The glowing dust storm had receded.

He told Lin Li, ”Stay with me. Like before, I will give you instructions via our mind links about what to say.”

Lin Li nodded her understanding.

Amon came out of hiding with Lin Li following closely. He observed the devastation. All the zombie beasts were gone. As for his battle puppets, they had become melted metal. They weren’t even worth scavenging in that condition.

He didn’t see Xan Chi. He didn’t know if that man had perished or had escaped into one of the many caves around the cavern before the glowing dust storm hit.

The Alpha Puppet was in a pitiful state. All its outer layer was gone. Its inner parts seemed badly damaged. It lay on the ground, unable to get up. It twitched around like a broken toy. Amon couldn’t tell whether its precious power source was still intact. He didn’t have the time to check for now.

The Beta Puppet fared better because it had barrier protection, even though Amon could tell that the barrier was down before the glowing dust storm ended. The Beta Puppet suffered much damage to its outer layer, but not as badly as the Alpha Puppet. It could still move properly.

Sura Yao was still alive thanks to the Beta Puppet’s protection. She had many burned wounds, but those wounds were rapidly healing. Amon chose to have the Beta Puppet protect Sura Yao instead of the Alpha Puppet because she was now the key to defeating the Soul Flayer.

Sura Yao’s rapid healing was because she still sucked the life force out of the Soul Flayer.

The Soul Flayer itself was upset by the result. It had sacrificed a large number of its minions, but failed to take out all the opponents, especially the bothersome human who kept sucking its life force. Now that it couldn’t heal itself anymore because there were no more minions to be used, the injury from which Sura Yao drained its life force was worsening. Lesions spread from that injury, and it started to bleed.

The Soul Flayer lunged at Sura Yao, but Amon was one step ahead. He had the Beta Puppet carry her away. Amon didn’t know the effective range of her ability, so he had the Beta Puppet maintain the current distance as best as possible.

Amon also threw his flying knives. Those knives were useless against the Soul Flayer’s hard body, but he targeted its wounds. The knives couldn’t penetrate deep enough, even by hitting those wounds, but they caused the Soul Flayer enough pain to distract it from catching Sura Yao.

Suddenly, they heard a beastly roar. Xan Chi, with a body full of burned wounds, charged out of a cave. The Soul Flayer happened to be near that cave when he charged out. It was too obsessed with chasing Sura Yao that it didn’t register Xan Chi’s presence.

Aside from having many burned wounds, Xan Chi was also bigger, and his body was filled with dark red veins. It was the telltale sign of his special constitution, the Rage Blood. He slammed his hammer into the head of the unsuspecting Soul Flayer.

Normally, a strike from a Peak Spirit Stage won’t trouble the Soul Flayer much, but Xan Chi’s Rage Blood gave him an insane strength boost. The slam sent the Soul Flayer crashing into the ground. The concussion even gave him an excruciating headache.

Xan Chi pushed on. He was above the Soul Flayer, ready to squash its head into a pulp.