Book 5, Chapter 153: Battling a Desolate Beast 1
Chapter 153: Battling a Desolate Beast (1)
While Su Chen and Eternal Night were engaged in a secret struggle, the battle outside Sky City had already reached a red-hot climax.
Starting three days ago, Sky City had sent countless brave, daring Harpies out to delay the Thousand Poisons Toad’s advance and slow it down. Their goal was to either redirect its route or wait for it to die on its own, which would happen as long as they were able to buy enough time.
A total of eight thousand Harpies, split into eighty platoons, had been sent out like moths plunging into the flame; each and every one of them had charged relentlessly at the powerful opponents, but at the very end, only twelve had been able to return alive.
Despite the high casualty rate, they had succeeded in delaying the Thousand Poisons Toad’s steps. Its advance was slowed down enough that Sky City had enough time to prepare for the oncoming siege.
However, that was as much as they could possibly do.
Today, the Thousand Poisons Toad had finally arrived.
Clouds of poison spread out in all directions, rumbling towards the city and painting an apocalyptic scene of poison raining down from the sky.
“The size of the poisonous clouds has shrunk. The Thousand Poisons Toad’s peak condition has probably already passed, and its strength must be declining. It will probably die in about ten days. Our warriors tried to lead it toward the wastelands, but unfortunately, they failed.”
The speaker was Lonely Skyleap, the highest ranking general of the Harpy army. He was also known by Lord of the Skies, Harpy Sage, and many more monikers. Additionally, he was also the person who was primarily responsible for protecting Sky City as well as Eternal Night’s most trusted confidant.
“That doesn’t surprise me. I can already sense the rumbling of its breath,” Eternal Night replied faintly.
The Harpies had also had some conflicts of their own with the Beasts, though they were few and far between.
If Kelesda was the most wanted criminal in Sky Country, then Demonic Emperor Deep Blue Flame was probably next in line. This Demonic Emperor was the leader of all Beasts within Harpy territory. He would appear from time to time and wreak havoc throughout the country.
This awakening of the Desolate Beast probably brought him the most happiness out of anyone else.
Thus, it was only natural that this Demonic Emperor would take advantage of the opportunity to make an even larger commotion.
The Thousand Poisons Toad had originally been led by Su Chen towards Sky City, but it was very likely that the Beasts were behind the toad’s continual advance toward the city during the last stretch.
This was also why Eternal Night was so insistent on fighting — he knew that his enemies would not be willing to let such a golden opportunity pass by.
“Unfortunately, the Halcyon Wing Clan wasn’t very useful and were only able to stall for this much time. It would have been much better if they had just held out for a bit longer!” another general standing beside him lamented.
That general’s name was Scarlet Sea Killer.
Eternal Night replied, “The battle will come regardless of if we want it to or not. Our opponent is now knocking on our front door. My children, are you afraid?”
“Of course not!”
The generals surrounding Eternal Night began to yell out passionately.
“Then let’s give this guy a taste of just how strong we Harpies can be,” Eternal Night said.
“ROAR!”
All of the Harpies emptied their lungs simultaneously.
Only hot-blooded men were worthy of seizing glory on the battlefield. Even the cultured, refined Harpies possessed some measure of bloodthirstiness. They demonstrated their strong desire to do battle, and expressed their more savage side to raise their spirits.
“Then the rest is up to you,” Eternal Night said to Lonely Skyleap.
A talented ruler knew when to intervene and when to step back.
Eternal Night was able to control the flow of the overall battle, but the exact execution of the battle plan was left to his trusted subordinate.
“We will not betray your expectations!” Lonely Skyleap replied, his brilliant gaze filled with confidence.
The Desolate Beast’s silhouette was already beginning to clearer and clearer in the distance.
Its body loomed over the Harpies like a mountain, causing them to tremble in trepidation.
It was as if a mountain were advancing on their position and gradually but inexorably filling up everyone’s field of vision.
The warriors couldn’t help but grow anxious when they truly beheld this gigantic beast.
In that moment, a thought flashed through everyone’s head: if that beast really ran into Sky City, who would win?
This question would never be answered, as at that moment, Lonely Skyleap issued his commands while the Thousand Poisons Toad was still advancing.
“Brilliant Light Company, activate the Heaven-Receiving Origin Formation and prepare to launch the first volley!”
He was a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master that focused on mastering soul power. Every sentence of his would penetrate deep into his soldiers’ hearts, causing them to obey his commands to the letter. This way, he didn’t need to worry about anyone misinterpreting his commands. If he were fighting humans, Lonely Skyleap could even say one command while silently transmitting another silently to confuse his opponents.
This battle took place on an almost supernatural level. It was similar in some aspects to how commoners fought, but it was also vastly different.
As he issued his commands, the ground around Sky City began to glow with light, and the profound, arcane inscriptions lit up brilliantly.
This was Sky City’s foundation, the Heaven-Receiving Origin Formation. It only had one function, which was to stabilize the flow of Origin Energy in the city, making it impossible for chaotic flows of Origin Energy to appear anywhere inside the city.
In other words, any Harpy attacking from within Sky City would be completely unaffected by chaotic Origin Energy, as any hint of that would be quelled by the Heaven-Receiving Formation. Just this benefit alone was enough to greatly increase the might of an army, and directly turn their numbers into raw combat strength. For this reason, it was Sky City’s most foundational Origin Formation.
After Lonely Skyleap’s order was issued and the Heavenly-Receiving Formation was activated, countless soldiers wearing reflective armor stepped forth into battle. They held not weapons in their hands, but rather mirrors.
Brilliant Light Mirrors.
The Brilliant Light Mirror was merely a Grade Six Origin Tool, which was not very high. As an attack, it could shine brilliant light at an enemy, but it’s area of effect was typically quite low, and its power was considered weak even amongst similarly ranked Origin Tools. Under normal circumstances, it was basically only able to compete against Grade Seven Origin Tools.
However, the mirror’s attacks had a very long attack range, and the power of its attacks was also multiplicative. Without the interference of chaotic Origin Energy flows, they became incredibly useful in battle.
All at the same time, the thirty thousand Harpy soldiers raised the Brilliant Light Mirrors in their hands, and poured the Origin Energy in their body into their mirror. Thirty thousand beams of harsh light converged into three hundred columns of light, which then shot towards the Thousand Poisons Toad.
These columns of light each contained the power of a hundred Brilliant Light Mirrors, and its power was additive due to the stabilizing effects of the Heavenly-Receiving Origin Formation. Thus, each of these columns was roughly equivalent to a Fifth or Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique. But when they slammed into the toad’s rough back, the toad didn’t even react. It merely shook its head briefly before continuing to trundle forwards, as if those three hundred columns of light had merely been small dots of light in its eyes.
Lonely Skyleap wasn’t surprised. After all, no Light Shaking Realm attack would be able to wound a Desolate Beast.
However, he didn’t tell his subordinates to stop. Instead, he barked, “Diverge!”
The three hundred columns of light started to dance across the surface of the toad’s body.
The goal of these attacks weren’t to create a pretty light show; rather, it was to search for the toad’s weak points.
As one of the Harpies’ most renowned generals, Lonely Skyleap had a well-defined battle plan in mind. He had never expected to defeat a Desolate Beast with such simple attacks. Rather, by first locating its weak points, he could target the enemy more effectively.
The Intelligent Races knew how to do this quite well, but the Beasts could not.
The three hundred thick columns of light flooded across the toad’s back. Lonely Skyleap and the dozen generals around him all stared intently at the toad’s back, watching for any changes in the beast.
These columns of light were still equivalent in strength to the attack of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Since those attacks could shatter boulders, they should still be able to elicit a reaction from the Thousand Poisons Toad’s body. Wherever one of these reactions occurred, it indicated that one of the Thousand Poisons Toad’s weak spots were there.
These vulnerabilities could only be detected through these relatively weaker attacks. Once they began to use stronger attacks, the Desolate Beast’s anger would be provoked. At that point in time, it would become much more difficult to methodically search the toad for weaknesses.
The generals very quickly came to a conclusion.
“The poison spouts on its back are weaker, but those are obviously not its vitals.”
“Its midsection is weaker, but that’s not its vitals either.”
“Its eyes are an important target, but it also has eyelids to protect its eyes.”
“Watch its underarm closely. You can clearly see……”
As the lights spread all over the surface of the toad’s body, the generals developed a rough understanding of the sensitivity and strength of different spots on the toad’s body.
At that moment, however, it appeared that the Thousand Poisons Toad had finally begun to grow irritated from the beams shining on it.
It tilted its head back to the sky and unleashed a thunderous bellow. Black clouds began to descend from the sky, covering its body.
“This guy can also conceal itself?” Some of the Harpy generals were stunned by the toad’s move.
“It’s not the toad. Deep Blue Flame is probably somewhere nearby,” Lonely Skyleap said.
Desolate Beasts lacked intelligence, but Demonic Emperors were just as smart as the average Intelligent Race individual. This was because Demonic Emperors had started their evolution process as was brought on by the changing conditions of their environment. They had chosen to discard the path of absolute strength that the Origin Beasts and Desolate Beasts walked along, and instead focus more and more energy on developing their minds.
With Deep Blue Flame present, the Thousand Poisons Toad was going to be much harder to deal with.
The black clouds concealed its body, causing the Harpies’ attacks to land on now unknown locations.
Lonely Skyleap quickly issued an order. “Combine your attacks to the thousand-Harpy level!”
As the soldiers followed his commands, the columns of light quickly converged from three hundred into thirty, but now, each column of light was ten times as strong as before.
This time, the Thousand Poisons Toad seemed to be able to sense the power behind the attack, and the light was so bright that even the black clouds had a hard time completely concealing them.
The Thousand Poisons Toad roared and howled angrily as poisonous fog spread in all directions. It seemed like the fog was actually going to hit Sky City before the toad itself.
Activate the Nine Dragons Hurricane Formation!” Lonely Skyleap barked yet again. His indifferent expression had finally shifted ever so slightly when he saw the ominous wave of poisonous fog rolling in.
The Nine Dragons Hurricane Formation was not a typical formation of Sky City’s. Instead, it had been specifically laid down in the past three days to deal with the clouds of poisonous fog emanating from the toad.
The Thousand Poisons Toad’s toxins were simply too potent. Even with Kelesda’s antidote, the Harpies were not totally immune to it. As such, the Harpies had constructed this Nine Dragons Hurricane Formation to help them deal with the waves of poison.
Using wind to keep the poison at bay was a good idea, but unfortunately, they didn’t have enough time to fully prepare. The real Nine Dragons Hurricane Formation would form nine massive wind dragons that were as powerful as twelve forbidden-tier Arcana Techniques being unleashed simultaneously. This time, however, the formation barely manifested three wind dragons, and they were obviously individually weaker than normal ones as well.
However, these three wind dragons were still able to stop the poisonous fog from entering the city.
Lonely Skyleap sighed, relaxing slightly when he saw this. However, that was soon replaced by worry. He was still doubtful about how long these three wind dragons could keep the poison at bay for.
However, he quickly discovered that those worries of his were no longer important.
Because the Thousand Poisons Toad had finally arrived.
It suddenly leapt into the air, preparing to send its massive body hurtling down onto the city.