Rise of The Demon General

The crowded mass of the Cryanid Flies flew through the hole in the barrier and rushed forward like a giant cloud monster. However, a net made of shadows greeted them.

This net was Hai Di’s Elder God Tentacles. Each of his art’s tentacles possessed many smaller tentacles that allowed them to cover a wide area. All the Cryanid Flies that touched this net of tentacles were eroded to nothingness.

Any Cryanid Fly that escaped the net came face-to-face with the domain lord himself. These Cryanid Flies stopped in their tracks and froze. They then burst apart as if someone had squashed them with strong pressure. Hai Di didn’t even use his domain yet. His aura alone, enhanced by the Law of Pressure, was strong enough to crush any Cryanid Flies that approached. These flies were only Higher Superior Beasts, after all.

Hai Di positioned himself at the highest elevation above the rest. He was alone up there, and he was enough. No Cryanids could pass through him from up there. Below him were his castle guards, supported by Devotion Faction members. They faced the Cryanids that came in from the midsection of the barrier’s hole. On the ground, the militia stopped the Cryanids from entering deeper.

Using the hole in the barrier, the Devotion Faction created a bottleneck condition. With how mindless the Cryanids were, they would ignore this disadvantageous setup and continued to pour in for the slaughter.

The militia, which was at first daunted by the Cryanid’s mass number, felt their morale lifted after this first clash. Perhaps, the Cryanid swarm wasn’t so scary, after all. All they had were numbers. If they could continue to control the number of Cryanids that entered, they could keep this up until the entire swarm was obliterated.

Some of the drafted citizens even became excited and uttered battle cries as they chopped the Cryanid Soldiers to pieces.

Sadly, the Cryanids weren’t as mindless as they thought the beasts to be. After around ten minutes, they noticed some of the Cryanids behaving differently. Most still crowded around the barrier’s hole, waiting for their turn to get in, but a portion went to the sides.

These Cryanids circled to the western and eastern sides of the city and attacked the barrier.

’There truly is someone controlling them,’ Hai Di thought. He tried to see ahead in the Cryanid swarm, but with the Cryanids grouping together like that, it was difficult to see. Unlike the higher-grade Cryanids that were larger than the average Cryanids, the Hyanids were said to be human-sized. So, it wouldn’t be that easy to spot.

As time passed, stronger Cryanids followed those who went to the city’s flanks. They also attacked the barrier. Since the barrier applied here blocked both sides, Hai Di couldn’t send people there to counterattack the Cryanids. Their ranged attacks would only assist the Cyranids in taking down the barrier.

He also could not adopt the same bottleneck tactic in those two spots. He didn’t have enough manpower for that. Even if he did, the Cryanids would only add more spots to attack. They had the numbers to encircle the entire city and attack the barrier simultaneously. If he opened too many holes around the barrier, it would no longer be a bottleneck.

Thus, it was only a matter of time before the Cryanids broke through the barrier on the other side.

”Tch!” Hai Di was incensed by the situation. He ordered two warlords to lead a portion of the faction members and prepare to engage the Cryanids once they broke through from those sides. The rest were to remain here and slaughter as many Cryanids as possible.

Hai Xuang and Xin Lie also noticed the situation. They sent some of their reserve forces to assist the two warlords.

After half an hour, the inevitable occurred. The barrier at those two spots collapsed, and the Cryanids entered. Battles ensued. Unlike the northern side, the battles here were more evenly matched. The Cryanids had numbers, while the cultivators were stronger and better equipped.

Nevertheless, the cultivators became tired as time passed, while the Cryanids seemed endless. Hai Xuang sent the remaining of the reserve forces to replace the tired soldiers so they could rest. However, it was difficult to organize in the chaos of battle. Most of the tired soldiers continued fighting because there were hardly any safe places to rest. The Cryanids that poured through didn’t all engage the defenders. They spread and went in all directions, destroying buildings and slaughtering weaker citizens who tried to hide.

After more than two hours, some of the Cryanids that had broken through from the other sides came to the rear of the militia, who were still fighting the bottleneck battle. The militia had been alternating its fighting force. Those who were tired were sent to the rear to rest. These resting militias were the ones ambushed by the Cryanids that sneaked in from the rear.

With the disruption from the rear, the militias panicked. They were normal cultivators who weren’t used to a large-scale battle, after all. Their formation became a mess. At this critical time, one of the Lower Primordial Cryanid struck. The Cryanid Burrower charged in through the hole, crushing many cultivators in the front row, burrowed into the ground, before bursting out amid the militia, ruining the militia’s formation even more.

Some of the stronger faction members had no choice but to fly down and engage the Cryanid Burrower before it sent the militias running in fear. This weakened the defender’s midsection formation. Another Lower Primordial Cryanid made use of this chance to break in.

A Cryanid Hivemind flew in, shooting sharp spikes from its body as it advanced. The spikes contained a weakening poison. These spikes pierced some faction members because their defensive art was not hardy enough. It became hard for them to regulate their energies.

Like the Cryanid Moth, the Cryanid Hivemind could also turn its fellow Cryanids into a frenzy. Not only that, but it also somehow powered them up. The Cryanid Flies that buzzed around the Cryanid Hivemind became faster and stronger.

However, the most dangerous aspect of the Cryanid Hivemind was its mental attack. It could project a mind blast that disoriented the mind. Very few could defend against a mental attack. One’s defense against this attack depended more on innate talent than on cultivation level. Hence, this attack proved dangerous for high-level cultivators. When they were disoriented, the Cryanid Flies struck, claiming high-asset casualties.

Hai Di couldn’t just sit by when this was happening. He rushed toward the Cryanid Hivemind, who noticed his approach. The Cryanid Hivemind responded with a mind blast attack. Hai Di felt the attack. It was as if someone struck his head with a hammer.

While most people would have lost their train of thought after such a mental attack, Hai Di wasn’t most people. He had a strong will. He should. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have become a domain lord. He resisted the dizziness in his head and retaliated.

The Cryanid Hivemind was in the range of his art. He pointed at it, and a dark cocoon imprisoned it, stopping it from moving away. The Cryanid Flies that were within the scope of his Dark Prison were pressed into the Cryanid Hivemind. They flattened from the pressure.

The Cryanid Hivemind would have been crushed to death by the Dark Prison if given time, but Hai Di wasn’t patient enough. He delivered another attack. He fired a Black Spear. The black light penetrated the Cryanid Hivemind’s large body, creating a gaping hole. It lost its life and dropped to the ground.

On the ground, the faction members had successfully slain the Cryanid Burrower. Nevertheless, it was but a fleeting victory. More Cryanid Hiveminds and Cryanid Burrowers entered the hole, followed by other strong Cryanids. The defenders’ formation in front of the barrier’s hole was completely messed up. They couldn’t utilize the bottleneck tactic as effectively as before.

”Tch! I will show you the might of a domain lord!” Hai Di exclaimed. He rushed out of the hole, blasting the Cryanids in his way, right into the midst of the Cryanid horde.

A dark sphere radiated out of him. It was his domain art. The sphere was so large that it almost covered the hole in the barrier. All weak Cryanids inside the dark sphere were crushed to death by immense pressure, while stronger ones were eroded by dark tentacles that lashed out of the sphere’s edges.

A voice called out to him. ”Father! Conserve your strength!”

A black arrow shot by and struck a Cryanid Hivemind outside Hai Di’s domain art. The Cryanid Hivemind burst apart.

Hai Di turned and saw Hai Lao. Followed behind him was the army of Devotion Faction members. This army wasted no time and engaged the Cryanid horde outside the city.

”Good! You made it,” Hai Di praised. He deactivated his domain art. He could obliterate the entire Cryanid horde with this domain art if given time, but it would take a lot of energy to last that long. Now that reinforcement had arrived, he chose to save up his energy.