Rise of The Demon General

These changes stunned all five elders, especially Nao Thu, who stood the closest to Amon. He instinctively broke his mental connection with Amon and jumped back, but not before one of the tentacles from Amon’s shadow suit grabbed him.

Each of the five battle puppets targeted a different elder the moment they appeared. The largest one, the Titan Battle Puppet, lunged at Nao Dongli. This was because out of the five elders, Amon knew only Nao Dongli could deal with the battle puppets. Unfortunately, Nao Dongli reacted quickly. All the Battle Puppets, including the Titan Battle Puppet, stopped before reaching their targets. They were as if running into an invisible wall.

”Ahh...!” Nao Thu screamed in pain as his leg was eroded.

”Xin...!!” Nao Zuanyi exclaimed.

Nao Xin immediately acted. She looked at Amon. In that instant, Amon felt like something had crashed into his head. His mind went blank.

Amon’s shadow suit remained enveloping him, but it had turned static. Its eight tentacles, which had been reaching out to everyone in the room, stopped moving. The one grabbing Nao Thu also loosened. Nao Dou pulled Nao Thu back. He was still crying out of pain. His leg almost fell off because a chunk of its flesh was gone.

The Titan Battle Puppet’s eyes shone.

”Shit!” Nao Dongli reacted in time when he forced the puppet’s head to look up. Two bright beams shot out of those eyes, but they crashed into the ceiling instead of him.

He shoved his hand. All the Battle Puppets were sent crashing into the wall. While the normal battle puppets were helpless, the Titan Battle Puppet possessed many weapons. The plates in its chest and lower torso opened. The inside of its chest was glowing.

Nao Dongli hurriedly forced the Titan Battle Puppet to turn to its side, just as it fired its core beam. The beam pierced the wall and destroyed the buildings next door.

As for its lower torso, the open plates revealed multiple warheads. This was a new weapon Zee Whang had installed in the Titan Battle Puppet. Those warheads shot out, and a heavy volley of homing rockets flew toward the elders.

”Grrhh...!!!” Nao Dongli gritted his teeth, exerting all his mental power. The rockets were redirected and flew back. They hit Amon and his battle puppets, resulting in consecutive explosions. The explosions destroyed half of the village hall.

The explosions startled half the villagers who still gathered outside. As for the other half, they took the explosions as a signal to act.

”Now!” Nao Mei exclaimed.

She had recruited quite many villagers to their side ever since she agreed to join Amon’s cause. During the gathering, she had secretly sent telepathic messages to her allies to take positions behind those she didn’t recruit. Upon her order, these allies unleashed their mental powers at the unsuspecting villagers.

With the village hall half-destroyed, the elders witnessed this rebellion. They were stunned by the sudden chaos.

”What have you done? Stop!” Nao Zuanyi exclaimed. She flew out. As she did, her mental power spread. It shrouded everyone’s minds in an illusion. This stopped the turned villagers’ sudden aggression.

”Everyone, calm down and stay put,” Nao Zuanyi uttered. Her voice was like a powerful sedative. Everyone found themselves extremely relaxed and at peace.

”You can’t control us anymore!” Nao Mei exclaimed. Out of everyone, she managed to break free. Nao Zuanyi spread her power too much. This weakened her control.

Nao Mei used her power to send mental messages to her allies. These mental messages struck her targets’ consciousnesses and helped them return to reality.

”Why do you betray us?” Nao Zuanyi asked Nao Mei.

It was Nao Pei who answered, ”We have had it enough of being your prisoners!” He used telekinesis and hurled the rubble from the destroyed village hall at Nao Zuanyi.

Nao Zuanyi could also use telekinesis, but hers was only at the second tier. She couldn’t win against Nao Pei if she fought using telekinesis alone. Instead, she used hallucinations to mask her position. In Nao Pei’s eyes, she was in multiple places. He couldn’t tell which one was the real one. He knew the elder could also render herself invisible, so none of the Nao Zuanyi he saw might have been real.

All he could do was spread his projectiles to cover as much area as possible. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. The illusions gave Nao Zuanyi enough time to channel her mental power into her persuasive voice again. ”Nao, Pei, stand down,” she uttered.

Nao Pei’s expression became blank. The projectiles he pushed toward Nao Zuanyi dropped to the ground.

”Pei, snap out of it!” Nao Mei shouted. She again sent her mental power into Nao Pei’s mind to help him regain control.

”Not so fast!” Nao Xin exclaimed. She used her mind blast.

Even though Nao Mei had a higher-tier Sea of Consciousness than Amon, she also couldn’t endure Nao Xin’s fourth-tier mind blast. Her head was as if struck by something hard. She toppled backward and fell on her back. Her eyes were all white.

”Ugh...! I can’t shake off this dizziness.”

Nao Xin turned and was surprised to see Amon was already moving. ”How do you recover that fast?” she asked. Her mind blast could paralyze a normal person’s mind for at least an hour. Even elders with fourth-tier Sea of Consciousness like them need one minute to recover. Amon’s Sea of Consciousness was only at the second tier. He shouldn’t have recovered this early.

Amon lunged at Nao Xin while throwing flying knives at everyone. Nao Dongli’s telekinesis stopped the knives before they travelled far. Amon also felt the telekinetic pressure push at him again.

Amon threw more battle puppets out. The previous ones had already been destroyed in the explosion, except for the Titan Battle Puppet, which charged back at Nao Dongli. Amon also had his Lightning Flying Knives out.

”Hrgghh...!!” Nao Dongli had difficulty stopping so many things. All of which targeted different things and boasted strong power. Spreading his power like this weakened it. He could only halt their movements instead of moving them as he wished.

Amon used the body-strengthening meridian points technique. His physical strength increased. This strengthening allowed him to move again and approach Nao Xin.

”Stop moving!”

Upon hearing the words, Amon’s body stopped involuntarily. His vision also changed. Everything vanished. He was in a world of nothingness.

”I’ve used my power on him. Xin, kill him!” Nao Dou exclaimed.

Nao Xin revealed a dagger. She thrust it at Amon and was surprised to find it unable to pierce Amon’s protective shadow suit. Her cultivation was too weak.

”I will finish him!” Nao Thu yelled. He remained in pain but had recovered his wits enough to fight. He focused his thoughts on Amon.

Amon’s shadow suit couldn’t block mental power. He felt as if his brain was pressed from all sides. ”Li...!” He called. The illusion that veiled his eyes was soon lifted. He could see his surroundings again.

”He broke my illusion! Xin, blast him again!” Nao Dou exclaimed.

Nao Thu still needed time to break Amon’s mind. Hence, Nao Xin used her mind blast again. Her blast struck. Amon’s mind went blank again. But as that happened, a weird laughter surprised everyone.

”Hahahaha!”

Nao Xin looked up and saw another battle puppet. This one looked more like a spirit beast than a humanoid. Her surprise didn’t last long. The moment she laid eyes on the puppet beast, its open mouth clamped down on her. With a swift chomp, the puppet beast bit her in half.

”Xin...!!!” Nao Dou, Nao Thu, and Nao Dongli cried simultaneously.

”Hahaha!” The puppet beast was Bo Wu. Nao Xin was too close to Amon, allowing Bo Wu to jump her the instant it emerged from the black space ring. It now turned its attention toward Nao Thu.

”No, you don’t!” Nao Xin’s death fueled Nao Dongli’s anger, letting him exert more power. His telekinesis threw a couple of the battle puppets and Amon’s lightning flying knives at Bo Wu.

Bo Wu dodged them all by turning into a shadow. It continued moving toward Nao Thu.

”This one has a mind!” Nao Dou used his illusion, causing Bo Wu to lose its sense of direction.

”Reveal yourself!” Nao Dou exclaimed, and Bo Wu returned to its physical state.

Bo Wu was looking at Nao Dou when it reappeared. Nao Dou didn’t waste the opportunity. He used possession when their eyes made contact.

While he was glad his power hit its target, something surprised him.

”Hackk...!!” He looked down and saw Nao Thu, whom he was holding, had a large dagger stuck in his throat. The dagger had chains linking its hilt to Amon’s vambrace.

”What...!” He remembered now that a mind blast lost effectiveness when used on the same target within a short period. Amon could already recover quicker than expected to Nao Xin’s initial mind blast. He should have expected Amon to recover way faster in this second one. This oversight had cost them another elder.

Amon pulled his Corrupted Justice, severing Nao Thu’s neck.

”Bastarrdd...!!!” Nao Dongli roared. His power exploded. All the battle puppets surrounding him, including the Titan Battle Puppet and Amon, were blown out of the village hall.

Outside, Nao Zuanyi had pacified all the rebels with her power. Only when Amon and the others flew out of the village hall did she look back inside. She was devastated to see the corpses of her two partners.

”No! You monster! I will make you suffer for the rest of your life!!” She exclaimed in rage as she flew toward Amon. ”Look at me...!!”

Amon couldn’t stop himself from obeying. He looked at her. As they locked eyes, he felt his sense of self evaporating.