Chapter 390: Encircle. First Contact with Demonic Creatures

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Edited by Aelryinth

Back in Bei Du’s military district command center…

“Oh boy, is that a… spiritual sword fragment?” The generals were all knowledgeable people with vast experiences. When they saw the scarlet light flying out of Zhang Che’s brow, there were people among them who instantly recognized it.

During the life and death duel, Zhang Che slew Zhen Liu too quickly. These huge figures from the military didn’t pay too much attention, and so not many people knew about it.

Also, although many people had their own guesses after taking only a quick glance, no one dared to be sure.

Now that Zhang Che had used it again, they could finally confirm it. That scarlet light was indeed a spiritual sword fragment!

However, from what they knew, a spiritual sword fragment didn’t seem to be that powerful, did it?

Slaying the epic-quality huge tortoise could be attributed to it having suffered a heavy injury. The shell on its back was already shattered, so killing it with the sword didn’t count for much. However, Zhen Liu had been wearing a six-star legend-quality armor, yet was decapitated with a single slash. That was too shocking!

What further confused them was that even high-tier beastmasters with spiritual sword fragments could only wield them within a few dozen meters around themselves before hitting a limit with their control.

Zhang Che’s spiritual sword fragment, however, had an attack range of over a hundred meters!

“Old Huang, I didn’t know your family was treating this prospective son-in-law so well!”

The generals thought the Huang family had provided Zhang Che with the spiritual sword fragment. Otherwise, where would a kid with such an ordinary background find himself a spiritual sword fragment? Not to mention being able to control it so masterfully!

Naturally it had to be because the Huang family had paid a huge price to develop him to this degree. After all, everyone knew that the Huang family’s research on beast world spiritual herbs was among the top in all of Hua Xia.

” Ai , it can’t be helped. The boys aren’t living up to expectations. I can only depend on my son-in-law.” Huang Juyun feigned a helpless look, while he kept cursing inside. -Since when did my Huang family have a spiritual sword fragment? It’s that kid’s extraordinary luck, finding it in the secret plane, alright?!-

Of course, he would never admit that aloud. He was also shocked by the range and might of Zhang Che’s spiritual sword fragment. He was guessing to himself that it was probably caused by Zhang Che’s abnormal rise in mental strength after reverse-killing the demonic flower when he was almost taken over.

As everyone knew, people had to be high-tier beastmasters to better wield a spiritual sword fragment at the very least, since their mental strength would be far greater than ordinary beastmasters.

Meanwhile, Zhang Che had come across a series of fortuitous encounters and gained such great mental strength. Naturally this wouldn’t be too strange for him.

—–

On the icy plains…

Following Zhang Che clearing a path through the exotic beast horde, the other twenty-two squads also bored their way through, one after another.

However, compared to how Zhang Che’s squad was in a leisurely, relaxed state, the other squads were doing much worse. Although they didn’t have any casualties, they had more or less lost a few subdued beasts, and some of their beastmasters were injured.

Seeing the state the other squads were in, the squad members under Zhang Che had a clearer comparison of his strength.

With that, they had simply started worshipping Zhang Che in their hearts, especially the women in the squad. Their gazes toward Zhang Che were simply filled with twinkling little stars.

After forcing a way through the exotic beast horde, they could see the closely packed demonic creatures a few hundred meters ahead.

Those demonic creatures came in all shapes and sizes. The only similarity among them was they were all black.

Zhang Che took a look at them, and all he saw was a spread of darkness, like a black forest laying before him.

Of course, it didn’t mean that there weren’t any other colors on them, only that they were predominantly black, making a strong visual impact.

“Attention to all squads, attention to all squads. Work together with the main force to eliminate the remaining exotic beasts. You’re not to launch an attack forward on your own!” the commanding officer’s voice came through the wireless earpiece swiftly.

Zhang Che and the others immediately looked back. They saw the main force had pushed their way in, and had punched the closely packed exotic beast horde full of holes, like a sieve.

After losing the powerful exotic beasts which the twenty-three squads slew, the battle had fallen into a deadlock.

“Go, we’ll kill our way back!” Zhang Che shouted. Riding on the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon, Zhang Che led his powerful babies and quickly slaughtered his way backwards.

The fifteen squad members cried out in acknowledgment, following behind him.

They couldn’t not follow him! If they fell behind and encountered a few powerful exotic beasts, although they might not die, they would possibly lose some of their subdued beasts! It wasn’t worth it!

The twenty-three squads quickly turned back and pounced on the stronger exotic beasts they could find, immediately alleviating the pressure on the main force to a large degree.

Gradually, the exotic beast started fleeing erratically.

Humanity wasn’t the exotic beasts’ arch-enemies, after all. They wouldn’t sacrifice themselves mindlessly after finding themselves overpowered. Naturally they would scatter and run for their lives.

Facing the defeated exotic beasts, the higher-ups issued another command. “Let them go!”

After close to an hour of battle, casualties had appeared among the main force. Naturally it wasn’t necessary to risk sacrificing more of their men in pursuit of those escaping exotic beasts.

Even a rabbit would bite when cornered, not to mention a desperate exotic beast!

—-

Another half an hour passed. There were no longer any exotic beasts left standing on the battleground. All kinds of exotic beast corpses lay on the bloodied ground, a thick smell of blood rushing up to the skies.

Luckily, every beastmaster here were veterans of the beast worlds. They didn’t show any signs of discomfort at this.

Moreover, they were all wearing beast card armors. Their bodies didn’t come in direct contact with the flesh and blood of the exotic beasts. Naturally they didn’t feel uncomfortable.

The suffocating smell of blood gradually spread to the surroundings, stirring up the demonic army opposite them.

So many exotic beast corpses were spread out on the ground, one could imagine how attractive they were to the demons.

As the demonic army grew restless, the beastmaster teams quickly reorganized themselves.

The twenty-three squads received further orders. They were pretty much the same as before: find and kill the stronger members of the demonic army, and ensure the main force’s formation wouldn’t be broken.

However, this time they weren’t allowed to advance prematurely, and could only be at the front of the main army.

After all, this was the first time the beastmasters were facing off against demonic creatures. They had no understanding of their opponents’ strengths and characteristics in battle at all. If Zhang Che and the others advanced too deeply and something happened to them, the losses would be too huge.

Zhang Che saw the demonic army a few hundred meters ahead standing in battle formation. His brow creased, and he turned behind and instructed his squad members, “Everyone be careful later on. Demonic creatures are unlike exotic beasts. They know about staying in formations and cooperation. I presume it won’t be too easy of a fight.”

“Understood, captain!” the squad replied in unison. Seeing the dark spread of demonic army ahead, they too were feeling nervous.

-Hmm, for safety’s sake, I have to stay close to the captain later!-

A gust of southeasterly wind blew the thick smell of blood towards the demonic army’s camp. The spread of darkness immediately went into motion, swarming towards the beastmaster army.

“Everyone prepare yourselves!” Zhang Che’s eyes narrowed. This time, he didn’t dare to get careless. He summoned all of his legend-quality subdued beasts and pets. Even the Unicorn, who was lacking in attack strength, was summoned to take care of any injuries that might appear among his squad members and the nearby beastmasters.

Facing these unknown enemies, he couldn’t be too careful!

As the demonic army drew closer and closer, everyone’s breathing quickened. A variety of subdued beasts formed a few lines of defense, resisting the demonic army ahead.

Other than the footsteps and furious roars of the demonic army, not a sound was produced on the side of the beastmaster army. Even the summoned beasts were silent, bracing themselves for the clash.

Finally, a row of demonic creatures with black wings and savage heads suddenly flew up from the black tide ahead, rushing straight at the beastmaster army at the front.

In front were naturally the twenty-three spearhead teams.

“Everyone, guard our flanks. I’ll take care of the front!” Zhang Che shouted. His babies were lined up neatly in formation, sealing the advance path. The Earthen Rock Demon stood right in the middle, like a mountain of stone.

The black-winged demonic creatures were extremely fast, crossing a hundred meters in the blink of an eye. They were within five hundred meters of the beastmaster army very quickly.

“Feel out their strength!” Zhang Che gave the Earthen Rock Demon an order to launch a probing attack. In the next moment, a gigantic rock spear suddenly appeared in its huge hand. With a swing of its arm, it hurled the spear forward.

A loud sonic boom rang out, heard by everyone within a thousand meters. The rock spear instantly streaked a few hundred meters, directly punching through a black-winged demonic creature’s body. Without losing any momentum, it kept going and skewered three more of the black-winged creatures.

Seeing the Earthen Rock Demon’s attack achieving merit, a wave of cheers immediately rang out from the beastmaster army behind.

Its attack had drawn the first blood in this battle!

Afterwards, the twenty-three spearhead teams’ powerful subdued beasts all made their moves, one after another. All kinds of elemental attacks shot forth, covering the heavens and earth.

The crowd watched as the black-winged creatures fell from the sky, one after another, like dumplings thrown into a pot of soup.

However, the black-winged creatures were too numerous. Many of them passed through the net of elemental attacks, continuing their charge towards the beastmaster army. A hundred meters away, they suddenly spun around in mid-air, and sharp bone spikes shot out from their backs, like a heavy volley of arrows raining down.

The volley of bone spikes were extremely fast. They actually broke through the speed of sound and produced a sharp reports, shrouding the line of subdued beasts in front.

At this moment, Zhang Che didn’t have the mind to care whether his babies could withstand those bone spike attacks. He stood dumbstruck on the spot…