Rise of The Demon General

Hai Lao surveyed the chaos inside the city. Plenty of Cryanids had broken in. ”Sorry, father. We are late.”

Hai Di waved away his son’s apology. He said, ”Now that you are here, we should go on the offensive. We suspect someone or something is directing this Cryanid horde. They must be in the midst or rear of the horde. We will punch through them and get rid of this mastermind.”

”Understood,” Hai Lao replied. He sent the signal to the warlord commanding the army to convey Hai Di’s order.

The army began to push in. Hai Di and Hai Lao joined the army’s advance. With support from the army, Hai Lao didn’t have to exert too much energy. Nevertheless, the Cryanid horde still outnumbered the Devotion Faction army by more than fivefold. Half of the Devotion army was in the South, dealing with the zombie plague. Moreover, both halves of the armies had already undergone two major wars, so their shortage was understandable.

Even though they were much inferior in size, they had no problem cutting through the Cryanid horde. The reason was Hai Di’s presence. Even without using any art, Hai Di’s aura alone exuded pressure on the enemies. This slowed them down, making it easier for his followers to defeat them.

Unfortunately, the Cryanids had aces up their sleeves. Cryanid Burrowers sneaked from the ground and burst amidst the Devotion Faction army. The higher-level soldiers in the army sensed the incoming and warned the others, so there were not many casualties. The Cryanids’ aces were not the burrowers. It was instead what they carried inside them.

Their gargantuan size bestowed them with an inner pocket to carry something, even when that something was a battalion of human-sized soldiers. They opened their mouths wide and regurgitated the battalions that lay in wait inside.

When these battalions emerged, the Devotion Faction members thought that they were cultivators wearing dark armor. But upon closer inspection, they realized it was not the case. Those who emerged were humanoids with insect exoskeletons. Each of these creatures exuded cultivation auras.

”Hyanid?” Hai Di said after seeing the creatures. They fitted the description. Yet, the stolen report from the Mercy Faction indicated that only a few were spotted during the Cryanid plague years ago. The number of the Hyanids here was staggering. If all the emerged Hyanids were combined, they could make an army of their own.

These Hyanids went into battle mode the second they appeared. They tackled the nearest faction members and fought more like wild beasts than humans. Despite their wildness, they could perform martial arts and arcane arts.

The faction members found that fighting the Hyanids proved more troublesome than the Cryanids. The Hyanids possessed the natural strength and durability of the Cryanids, but had a variety of attack patterns thanks to their usage of arts.

The Cryanid Burrowers that released the Hyanids disappeared back into the ground. After some time, the Cryanid Burrowers reemerged and released more Hyanids. It was unclear whether those were the same Cryanid Burrowers from before or a different group. What was clear was that the number of Hyanid increased with time.

Hai Di frowned at this development. They were already outnumbered to begin with. The Hyanids put them even more at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, but that was not the most troubling issue. He had ordered his army to push into the enemy midst, all to locate these Hyanids, which allegedly controlled the Cryanid horde. But when they showed up, they were not what he expected.

He had captured a few alive, but from the look of it, these Hyanids acted like wild beasts. He tried talking to them, but they didn’t respond to his words. No matter how he looked at it, these Hyanids didn’t possess the mental capacity to lead an army.

Hai Di crushed the head of the last Hyanid he captured. He looked around. He had no idea where to hit to defeat this enemy that was wreaking havoc in his territory. The only plausible way was to kill them all. In his frustration, he used a powerful move that unleashed several Demon Palms. The black palms advanced, obliterating any Cryanids and Hyanids they made contact with. The palms ended after striking the Cryanid Burrowers and Cryanid Hiveminds, killing them.

He moved away from his army, ignoring Hai Lao’s call for them to stay together. He figured that by fighting alone, he could reap higher kill counts. He didn’t have to worry about hitting his own people. The Cryanids and Hyanids, of course, welcomed his decision. They possessed no fear of death. They rushed at Hai Di and swarmed him.

Hai Di let them get close before releasing a thick black fog. The fog washed over them and eroded them. The frontmost Cryanids and Hyanids turned into dust in a matter of seconds. Hai Di followed up by firing a barrage of black spears.

The black spears shot in all directions. They punched through all that they touched. Every Cryanid and Hyanid in Hai Di’s vicinity dropped from the air and into the ground below.

With the air around him clear, he directed his attention to the ground below. He again unleashed several giant-sized demon palms. The palms crashed into the ground and flattened the Cryanids and Hyanids down there.

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Far away, on a hill overlooking the Venal Virtuous City, Amon watched the unfolding battle with Surressh by his side.

”The strongest domain lord is truly something,” Amon remarked. ”It will take a lot of sacrifices to take him down.”

”Easy for you to say, it’s not you who makes the sacrifices,” Surressh said.

”Give me a break. The ones you are sacrificing are the Cryanids. They are expendables from the start. Even the Hyanids currently fighting are not true Hyanids. They are the ones you altered from the captured humans, aren’t they? You haven’t sacrificed anyone from your race. Speaking of which, when will Supreme Leader Krassazh and the others make their entrance? They do join this war, don’t they?”

”They do, but we must weaken Hai Di further first. We can’t afford to waste this golden opportunity.”

”A golden opportunity I provided. I hope your Supreme Leader does not forget that.”

”Despite our appearance, we are an honorable race, Amon. We will honor our deal.”

Amon turned. Behind him was the prison box. Its portal was open. Surressh exited from there earlier.

Surressh asked Amon, ”Where are you going? Are you not going to watch this till the end?”

”I doubt we can stay as spectators for long. I have a hunch we might need to join the fight. I am going in to make preparations. Keep watch over this portal.”

After speaking, Amon released several battle puppets to help keep watch, including the Titan Battle Puppet.

Surressh didn’t understand why Amon said those words. From his perspective, everything was going as planned. Their side had the advantage. It was only a matter of time until the enemy was exhausted. When Supreme Leader Krassazh appeared, the battle would come to a close.

Surressh didn’t think too much about it. He nodded and returned his attention to the battle ahead.

Amon went to Zee Whang’s workshop after entering the portal. Zee Whang was uncharacteristically outside his Neo Supreme Puppet at the time. Amon asked, ”Are my requests ready?”

Zee Whang picked up the weapon on the table and showed it to Amon. It was the Broken Justice. He said, ”I can’t do anything to temper it into a full sword again. Its craftsmanship is beyond me.”

”Kind of weird hearing you say that. I didn’t realize you have the capacity to be humble.”

”Tch! Whatever. While I can’t do anything to repair the sword itself, I have modified it as you requested.”

The Broken Justice remained the same. It was still a broken sword, but its hilt was now attached to a long chain. The other end of the chain was joined to a vambrace. The chain was among those that used to restrain Di Yu. When the chains lost their power source, Di Yu could break the larger chains, but not the smaller ones. The smaller ones were made of even tougher materials, and this was the chain attached to the Broken Justice.

Amon accepted the modified weapon. He equipped the vambrace on his right arm. He then tested it. With the chain, he could throw and retract the Broken Justice, increasing his reach, just like when he still used the Xian Cloth. It wasn’t as flexible as the Xian Cloth because he could move that cloth at will using his mind. Nevertheless, he had enough expertise with a rope dart to utilize this modified weapon.

He put it to the test. He threw and swung it around.

”Whoa! Be careful with that thing!” Zee Whang exclaimed.

His concern was pointless. Amon’s precision and control were uncanny. The Broken Justice flew around at high speed but never hit anything. Amon finished his test by catching the Broken Justice back in his hand.