Book 4: Near Blood - 149: Cove
Muliu Castle, Black Rain City, Iron City, Flowing Blood Tribe...... Place after place disappeared upon meeting the Beast Race’s onslaught. They were like an island in the middle of the ocean; once the ocean surged, it could only resign itself to a fate of being swallowed up.
This disastrous catastrophe was closely tied to Su Chen and the others’ movements, who had used the Silver Moon Shuttle to assassinate the guards at border outposts. As such, information spread very slowly, and the Ferocious Race didn’t have enough time to retreat. This made the Beast Wave’s destructive power wreak unprecedented devastation on the Ferocious Race.
Three days before the Beast Wave arrived, a total of twenty-six beacon-guards were ambushed, and all of them suffered tragic fates. It wasn’t until three days later that a few Ferocious Race individuals who had managed to escape delivered news of what had happened and the Ferocious Race tribes finally became aware of what kind of storm was brewing.
At this moment, a few of the tribes near the border had already begun to retreat. Large groups of Ferocious Race civilians could be seen fleeing desperately in their attempt to escape across the plains. The formerly desolate, lonely plains had become a bustling trail very quickly.
“Now the Ferocious Race’s central regions have completely become no-man zones,” Li Chongshan said as he gazed down at the scenery below from his vantage point in the Silver Moon Shuttle.
“When the Beast Wave passes, they will return,” Jun Moxie laughed coldly.
“If we had known that the Ferocious Race would try to run like this, we would have left a few squads down there to loot the abandoned villages,” Cheng Tianhai said.
No matter how much he had calculated and planned, when he saw the Ferocious Race individuals fleeing desperately for their lives, Cheng Tianhai still felt like he watching a herd of fattened sheep run away while that he just couldn’t slaughter no matter what.
Chu Yingwang scoffed, “You really are useless. What would pillaging a bunch of refugees do for us?”
Cheng Tianhai said with conviction, “I come from a poor family unlike you, Miss Chu. We had split our copper coins in two when we used them.”
“Was only the midwestern area emptied out?” Su Chen suddenly interjected.
As soon as he spoke, everyone fell silent and turned their attention towards him.
Shi Kaihuang replied, “Beast Waves are not that uncommon amongst the Ferocious Race. These past few years, everyone that lives near the border has some experience with them, and they know which directions the Beast Wave will expand towards and how much damage it can potentially cause. As such, they have a general idea of how to proceed even without being told anything.”
“But those reactions are made under the assumption that we humans didn’t interfere, right?” Su Chen countered.
Everyone was rendered speechless.
Yes, all of the Ferocious Race evacuees’ reactions were made under the assumption that no humans were pulling the strings behind the scenes.
However, in reality, it was the Heavenly Might Battalion that had triggered the Beast Wave and increased its size, and it was also because of the Heavenly Might Battalion that the Ferocious Race’s alarm systems had been rendered ineffective and subsequently suffered serious losses.
Everything had changed because of the Heavenly Might Battalion, so wasn’t there something else that could be done?
Indeed, Su Chen said, “I want to increase the area that the Beast Wave affects.”
“How much larger?” Li Chongshan asked.
“As much as possible,” Su Chen replied.
Everyone glanced at each other.
Su Chen’s thought process was bold and frightening, but there was an obvious question: how could they make it happen?”
“Of course we’ll do it by angering those guys even more.”
This Beast Wave had occurred precisely because the Heavenly Might Battalion had angered the Beast Race, and the Beast Wave had grown larger because of this as well. As such, to further increase the magnitude of the Beast Wave, the simplest method would be to enrage them even further.
“Just killing them one at a time isn’t going to be enough to make them angry,” Guo Wenchang said.
During times of peace, killing one person was a big deal, but during a war, thousands or even tens of thousands of deaths were normal and accepted.
Since the Beast Wave was already underway, the Ferocious Race’s counterattack was totally reasonable, and even the Beast Race wouldn’t think that the Ferocious Race was fighting back to provoke them. As such, continuing to slaughter beasts wasn’t the best tactic at this point in time. The Beast Drawing Medicine could be useful, but it wouldn’t be able to attract that many beasts, and neither would it be able to entice them for long either.
“That’s why we need to think of a new idea,” Su Chen said.
“What idea?” everyone asked simultaneously.
Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, “The Beast Race has come out in full force, so there are probably not too many Demonic Beasts back at home defending against the Ferocious Race, right? What do you all think of sneaking into the Beast Race’s territory right now?”
Sneaking into the Beast Race’s territory?
Everyone was badly startled.
Chu Yingwan said, “Trying to get around the Beast Race to enter their territory won’t be an easy matter. After all, the original plan was just to take Talah Castle.”
“The plan to take Talah Castle won’t change. Just have the Heavenly Might Battalion continue on their current course, with you all continuing to lead the troops. As for mounting a surprise counterattack against the Beast Race, just leave that to me.”
“Leave that to you?” Everyone was stunned.
“Yes, leave it to me. I can shapeshift and infiltrate the Beast Race’s territory easily, and I have the Silver Moon Shuttle, which will let me escape quickly, and the Raging Sun Shuttle, which is incredibly durable and powerful. More importantly, I am the one who proposed the plan, so I should be the one to carry it out. Also, my doing this might redirect Danba’s attention towards the Beast Race, giving us a better opportunity to escape.”
They were all rendered speechless when they heard his words.
It had to be said that this expedition wouldn’t be like the others; there was a tremendous risk involved. Even though Su Chen had made tremendous contributions towards the Heavenly Might Army, and he had turned around their dire situations, his own life hadn’t never really been at risk.
Going in alone, however, would place his own life in significant danger, and his will to volunteer himself also earned the respect of everyone present.
After a long pause, Li Chongshan said, “Su Chen is willing to die for the Heavenly Might Battalion; I, Li Chongshan, am extremely grateful.”
As he spoke, he knelt down and bowed to Su Chen.
Su Chen was badly startled, and he hurried to try to get Li Chongshan to stand back up.
However, everyone else present also knelt down and bowed to him. Only Shi Kaihuang remained standing with a slight smile on his face; as Su Chen’s instructor, there was no need for him to pay respects to his own student.
Su Chen felt quite bad for accepting everyone’s bows. Actually, he also had some selfish motives for going to the Beast Race’s territory this time, but he couldn’t tell them the truth and so, he could only accept the saintly role they had given him.
After a long discussion, everyone finally decided to not change the original plan and to continue their attack on Talah Castle. However, they had to factor in the danger of the concentrated Beast Race horde, so after taking Talah Castle, they would immediately retreat to the east.
After deciding on a plan, everyone left.
A trace of excitement flashed across Su Chen’s eyes as he watched everyone leave. “The Beast Race’s territory is a place where countless people have wanted to go to before. I’m finally going now.”
The Beast Race’s territory had been off limits to all Intelligent Race individuals for the past ten million years. Numerous people wanted to go in and explore but all had failed in the end.
Apparently, that place was filled with natural treasures that no one had harvested. There were large quantities of spiritual medicines, many of which didn’t even exist in the human world, not even in anyone’s wildest imaginations.
Su Chen had a lot of money, but money can only buy things that had a price tag.
The Beast Race’s territory contained many treasures that were priceless.
Those things couldn’t be bought with money even if you tried.
The Beast Race’s territory was abundant in resources, attracting the fantasies of many, but very few people had ever dared to brave the dangers of that place.
Anyone who could go in and come back out alive would make a handsome profit.
Naturally, Su Chen had always been hungry for such an opportunity.
Now, this opportunity had finally shown itself.
The Beast Race had left in full force, and Su Chen had his shapeshifting technique and the ability to escape in the blink of an eye. Most importantly, however, Su Chen also had tons of empty Origin Rings...... Rings that needed to be filled by something...
Filled with the countless resources and abundant riches of the Beast Race.