Book 4: Near Blood - 211: The Final Battle 3
Very quickly, however, this extravagant performance of calculations depleted his consciousness energy, making him feel like it was impossible for him to continue.
“So there is some expenditure involved?” Su Chen rubbed his temples. Even with his current level of consciousness energy, he was still unable to maintain it for too long without feeling exhaustion. Obviously, performing so many calculations was extremely taxing.
“Making some calculations about the environment actually uses up so much consciousness energy. How much consciousness energy is needed to support Menelaus’s Consciousness Network or the Lord of the Dreamrealm’s Dreamrealm? Right, they didn’t rely on themselves alone but also on the assistance of their fellow species members. But the amount of consciousness energy needed to combine an entire race’s consciousness energy into forming a massive consciousness realm must be exceptionally shocking, I’d imagine,” Su Chen muttered to himself.
The higher he went, the more he was in awe of those standing at the very top, and the more he felt his own achievements paled in comparison.
Su Chen’s first reaction to obtaining this new battle technique was to notice his own weakness. This was a direct indication of his progress.
That was fine; only by having a goal set before him would he be able to continue to work hard and advance.
He was off to the side, musing on his gains and losses, but the situation on the battlefield had drastically changed.
The bloody, floating palace behind the front line of Beasts.
The massive floating palace revolved in the air as it advanced. A formless pressure enveloped the battlefield, and as the pressure continued to spread, the heroic, powerful Ravagers actually began to tremble, no longer daring to move. The Demonic Beasts took advantage of the opportunity to devour them.
Even so, this was just a side effect. The floating palace itself was the most frightening object. The bloody palace constantly emitted bloody streaks of Qi that revolved around it like a bloody wind. As soon as the wind came in contact with a Ravager, it would infiltrate their body and then tear them open from the inside.
A few of the stronger Ravager warriors weren’t affected by the pressure, but this bloody wind ended up killing them.
However, it wasn’t like the Ravagers were totally helpless against the Beasts’ castle.
The thirty-six Thunder Rhinoceroses pulling along the large imperial carriage advanced. Le Feng, who was standing at the very front of the carriage, raised the Vitality Totem high. Intense waves of orange light constantly emanated from the totem. Everywhere the light went, the Ravagers present seemed to suddenly have received some form of divine protection, enabling them to fight with incredible ferocity. Most frighteningly, they were able to recover no matter how badly they had been wounded.
The Vitality Totem conferred upon them powerful lifeforces, more than vigorous enough to endure most wounds.
Surrounding the imperial carriage were large, sturdy baffles, behind which poked out shiny, metallic spearheads. These God-Slaying Spears had been constructed out of Stargold Siderite and were covered in unique Ravager inscriptions, giving them quite a mysterious, deathly aura. Finally, concealed behind these baffles were Demon-Slaying Crossbows. The killing power of this formation was easily imaginable.
Even though the Ravagers had the lowest intelligence out of the five Intelligent Races, they still had more creativity than the Beasts.
As the baffles were pulled open, the God-Slaying Spears jabbed forward, penetrating the oncoming Demonic Beasts. Those powerful Demonic Beasts were actually torn open by the sharp God-Slaying Spears as bursts of energy exploded deep within their bodies.
Wherever the God-Slaying Spears went, they wreaked explosive havoc in wave after wave. They reaped lives like a scythe cut down grass. Even the Vitality Totem would have had no way of saving them.
Very soon, not many guards could be seen around either the floating castle or the imperial carriage. They both continued to advance unrelentingly, the blood-colored wind and the God-Slaying Spears simultaneously attacking the opponent in wave after wave, crashing into the defensive barriers and causing light to splash everywhere.
As the two began to close in on each other, silhouettes began to appear on top of the floating palace.
Those silhouettes were all of Demonic Lords of all shapes and sizes, each of them ferocious-looking and exuding a powerful, tangible pressure. The final three Demonic Beasts to appear were at the King level, each of them able to compete against the Lightning Serpent that had attacked Swallow River City back in the day.
The blood-colored floating palace probably contained another realm inside, since these three Demonic Kings were all massive, their figures large enough to blot out the sun. They cast a shadow over the ground.
At the same time, a large number of Ravager officials charged out of the imperial carriage. They were all the Inferno Tribe’s fiercest warriors. There were also dozens of Inferno Tribe Ancestors nearby, each of them wielding bone staffs and chanting strange chants.
These chants caused the figures of the Ravager officials to bulge and expand, and the totemic inscriptions on their bodies lit up brilliantly. Power emanated from their bodies as if it had physical substance, giving them an incredibly wild, unrestrained aura.
They were not as big as the Demonic Beasts, but if the Demonic Beasts were boulders, then they were iron.
Underneath the layer of iron skin hid a level of strength that was difficult to fathom. One of the Ravagers immediately locked horns with a charging Demonic Lord as soon as he appeared. As he stopped the charging Demonic Lord in place, his arms continued to expand until his arms were as thick as a normal human’s legs. Power effused out of his arms seemingly without end.
“Goodness...... A bunch of freaks!” Su Chen couldn’t help but sigh in disbelief when he saw this scene from afar.
The highly-tempered waves of energy appeared in front of him again and again, causing Su Chen’s blood to begin to heat up.
However, he very quickly suppressed this sentiment.
At this moment, the show had only just begun.
He turned to glance at his surroundings. A Sickletooth Beast was charging in his direction.
“You’ll do,” Su Chen muttered as he leapt at the Sickletooth Beast. The Origin Conduction Tool on his body lit up as he activated it to the greatest extent.
As they collided, the defensive barriers surrounding Su Chen suddenly dimmed. An instant later, the sickle-shaped tooth slammed into him, generating a large flurry of sparks.
The barrier shattered, and the sickle-shaped tooth sliced across Su Chen’s body, causing blood to splash through the air. The violent momentum sent him flying, and his blood splattered all over the ground.
“Hurry, save the general!” Blatch howled with urgency.
The large number of Ravager guards assigned to him charged over, determined to protect him with their lives. They charged at the Demonic Beasts in order to protect Su Chen and make sure that he wouldn’t be further injured, even using their own bodies to defend him. The human soldiers all retreated immediately from the frontline, surrounding Su Chen.
Su Chen glanced at the wound on his body. The sickle-shaped tooth had cut across his entire body. If it wasn’t for his powerful physique, he might have already been cut in half.
“I have no way to continue fighting right now, Blatch. You’re in charge of everything here,” Su Chen said. “I’m going to go see His Majesty.”
“Yes, sir!” Blatch yelled.
“All of the human soldiers, come with me to see His Majesty,” Su Chen yelled as he retreated along with the human soldiers. Because it was his command, none of the other Ravagers took any exception to this.
Su Chen hurriedly retreated to Anubi’s side and said, incomparably ashamed, “Greetings, Your Majesty. Lontu was useless and was injured in battle. I have no way of continuing to fight for now.”
Anubi said, “I saw your brave battle, Lontu. You did very well. You can step down and let the Ancestors treat your wounds.”
An Ancestor was already nearby and began to treat Su Chen’s wounds. Because Su Chen’s physique was very similar to that of a genuine Ravager, he began to quickly recover with the help of the high-level Ancestor.
As he endured the Ancestor’s treatment, Su Chen pulled out an item and began to play around with it.
It was a stone in the shape of a white goose craning its neck towards the sky. Its appearance was incredibly lifelike.
“What is that?” the Ancestor asked.
“A harvest of my adventure. It’s pretty great, huh?” Su Chen said with a smile.
The Ancestor shook his head, indicating that he had no interest.
“Hm?” Goncourt suddenly made a noise of astonishment.
“What is it?” Gucha asked.
“The Scarlet Heart’s palace is on the move. It’s leaving the imperial carriage,” Goncourt said, his gaze focused.
Gucha saw it as well. His expression shifted slightly as he said, “How strange. Why would it suddenly change directions now?”
The troops located at the two wings hadn’t defeated the Beasts yet and had no way of completing the encirclement. If the Scarlet Heart wanted to escape now, no one would be able to keep him here.
An instant later, however, they realized that something was off.
The floating palace was heading right for them.
At the same time, large numbers of Demonic Beasts began to fill in where the palace had been earlier, chasing after the imperial carriage and driving the distance between them wider.
“Not good! Our position’s been compromised!” Gucha yelled.
To attract the Scarlet Heart and resist the terrifying pressure this Demonic Emperor could unleash, Gucha and Goncourt had sent most of their elites to guard the imitation goods so that they could resist the enemy’s attacks. As for where Anubi was, only Gucha and Goncourt had remained, but when faced with so many Demonic Beasts, the hordes of Demonic Kings and Demonic Lords were more than enough to occupy them.
“Leave, now!” Gucha yelled loudly, and he and Goncourt began to escort Anubi away.
However, as they left, the palace began to change directions. In addition, because of the gaps left behind due to their sudden movements, the palace’s advance was even faster than before.
“They know we’re here!” Gucha’s expression was steely. “How could this be? How do they know?”
The blood-colored floating castle was like a charging bull in their eyes, rampaging in their direction relentlessly. Because most of the Ravagers were unaware that the “emperor” in the imperial carriage was a fake, not many soldiers were sent to chase after the castle, allowing it to advance rapidly. And even though the imperial carriage had begun to change directions, its already slow speed was further hindered by the Demonic Beasts chasing after it.
This resulted in two uneven battles.
From the point of view of winning this conflict, this split was more advantageous for the Ravagers. After all, the Beasts were the ones who had charged into the Ravager encirclement. However, to the Ravagers, this battle would be a tragic loss even if they were to wipe out all the Beasts if anything happened to their emperor.
“We must retreat immediately, Your Majesty,” Su Chen said at the right time.
“No! We cannot retreat!” Gucha said loudly. “If we retreat now, we will all have lost. The morale of our troops will collapse.”
“The soldiers don’t know that,” Su Chen replied. “Are you trying to put His Majesty’s life in danger?”
“It’s all you......” Gucha stared at Su Chen angrily. “It’s your fault that we ended up in this kind of a situation.”
“There’s no such thing as ‘ending up in this kind of situation’, General. The battle will be won; we just need to put it on hold for now. As long as the imperial carriage does not fall, the soldiers will believe that their emperor has been with them the entire time.”
“Then what about the Origin Bone Scepter and the Vitality Totem?” Goncourt asked.
“I’ll go and retrieve it. I’ll pit myself against the Beasts for His Majesty, for the Divine Shrine, and take back the important treasures to our kingdom. I can guarantee that there will not be any losses,” Su Chen said fearlessly as he retrieved the white goose stone.
The blood-colored floating palace was growing more and more violent.