Chapter 234: Grand Fiend Cavalry
Chapter 234: Grand Fiend Cavalry
It could be said that the previous battle’s earnings already surpassed the total profit they made during the three previous months. But of course, this was after omitting the gain of the Light Elemental Spiritual Stove.
The time of break was short, and under Long Haochen’s lead, they continued their journey, heading out of the Nareiks Province .
Bad luck hadn’t been accompanying them forever, and making use of the map, they passed through desolate areas as much as possible. A few days later, at the time the sunlight started to illuminate the sky, they finally made it out of the Nareiks Province.
And at this time, Long Haochen finally couldn’t persevere anymore.
Such a battle caused an enormous consumption on Long Haochen, who could be said to be totally exhausted both mentally and physically. As for the remaining injuries on his body, they were mostly from using Sacrifice, in addition to the overuse of his spiritual energy. During this period of continuous hurried travel, along with the burden he had from taking responsibility for leading the whole team, Luc Xi’s healing could only treat the symptoms but not the root cause, and as they finally arrived at a safe place, Long Haochen finally fell in Cai’er’s arms.
During the period Long Haochen was unconscious, the two Demon Hunt Squads discussed exhaustively before deciding to settle here to get some rest.
They were located in desolate hills. Ever since the largest part of Shengmo Dalu’s territory had been occupied by the demons, infertile land had become more and more numerous, and without manned power to plow it, weeds broke out everywhere from the original fertile land.
In a zone of hills, they found an unnoticeable area to reside in for the time being. So as to keep their identity as humans secret, they didn’t dare set up a tent, and just stayed in a rather hard to notice area in high altitude. They chose to reside in a cavern that could accommodate everyone to rest and reorganize tranquilly.
The reason for the decision to stay here and rest was simple: they reached a consensus, that the team needed Long Haochen to guide them, that without him, the whole team would be unable to bring out enough strength. Rushing impatiently would only produce the opposite of the desired result, and thus, it would be better to have some rest, letting everyone recover while cultivating to transform the arousal of their potential of the past battle into strength.
This time of rest lasted for a period of three entire days.
In these remote hills they chose to settle down, the terrain, entirely filled with grass and shrubs, was perfectly suitable to feed the Ironed Manes.
Actually, the injuries and overdraft brought upon Long Haochen’s body by his use of Sacrifice recovered after a single day, but he still decided to stay for two more days.
To any of the existing vocation, the moment after a big battle was also the most ideal chance to rise in power. Their goal was not only to complete their demon hunt mission, but also to improve their personal strength as much as possible. They didn’t need to rush blindly.
After his internal spiritual energy broke through the realm of the 3000s, Long Haochen discovered that his cultivation speed had increased clearly. It wasn’t only related to the presence of the Light Elemental Fairy Yating, but his own perception of the light essence contained in the external world had also increased greatly. In particular, Long Haochen discovered that three days after this battle, his own internal spiritual energy had increased by a total of more than a hundred.
In fact, he achieved the realm of the totally liquid spiritual energy, which caused an increase that could only be described as terrifying in his advancing speed.
But on the fourth day, his speed of advancement distinctly slowed down, sign that the effects of arousal of his potential caused by the previous battle vanished gradually. But after paying careful attention, Long Haochen noticed that if he put all his energy in cultivation, his internal spiritual energy would increase by at least twenty units on a daily basis.
Twenty, this was a terrifying number. According to this cultivation speed, after at most two months, he would reach the realm of the sixth step: Radiant Knight.
Of course, Long Haochen didn’t tell the others about this change, as he didn’t want to raise their hopes inadvertently. But he secretly took the decision that after the completion of this mission and returning to Holy City, he would train behind closed doors, striving to reach the level of Radiant Knight. If he really managed to raise his strength to the sixth step, they would be able to aim for even more challenging missions.
The Unwavering Manes set off again, heading into the depths of the demon territory.
Although they only needed to cover a distance of 2,000 km from the Temple Alliance to their present destination, in practice, they couldn’t possibly take a straight line continuously. After no less than seven days travel, they finally reached the central demon province, and drew closer and closer to their destination.
However, they had no choice but to reduce their speed in the end. This was because the nearer they were to the central province, the more demons they would run into, and they even occasionally met humans. However, these humans were almost all working in farms.
The attires belonging to the Moon Clan had an enormous utility, regardless of which demon tribes they ran across, all these demons would rapidly avoid their group. Unfortunately, after seeing the first looks of the other demons, they had no choice but to abandon these Ironed Manes that would easily arise suspicion, instead going on foot.
Long Haochen transmitted an order, that without his authorization, no one was to act against demons. Killing demons would raise their amount of contribution points, but would also increase their risk of getting exposed.
Examining the map and meticulously scouting the terrain, Long Haochen even made occasionally use of Han Yu’s Demonic Eye, to fly in high altitude for scouting or asked for the help of Li Xin’s Rose Unicorn to take him in the air, but the reason why he didn’t only ask for Li Xin’s help was naturally that a Rose Unicorn was excessively eye-catching.
They couldn’t go ask other demons, and could only rely on their own judgement and their map to determine the location, but this was undoubtedly a difficult task.
After ten days of extremely cautious travel, they could be said to be even more exhausted than after the previous battle.
“If we weren’t mistaken on the previous route, after crossing these mountain, we should arrive at the destination.” Long Haochen took a deep breath. Even with his cultivation as an Earth Knight, he couldn’t help but feel extremely exhausted.
Li Xin waved her hands with strength, “So we are finally about to arrive? That’s great. As long as we can complete the exploration of the cavern, our mission will be considered as a success.”
Lin Xin said in reaction, “There’s no time to lose. How about reaching the Desolate Hissing Caverns before getting some rest? We’ll pass this hurdle in a spurt of energy.”
Long Haochen replied after pondering for a little, “If no one has a problem with it, let’s start to climb the mountain.”
Just as they were preparing to start this operation, a distant group of people hurried in their direction. Everyone immediately stopped on their tracks as they didn’t believe that they would possibly meet friendly forces so deeply in the demon territory.
This was a cavalry, whose appearance surprised everyone. Each of these soldiers were Grand Fiends of the Fiend Clan that could be considered to be a central existence for all demons. They weren’t the most numerous neither were they the most powerful clan, but they had the most balanced population.
In terms of quantity, the Fiend Clan was only second to the Dual Bladed Demons, but the Fiend Clan wasn’t only formed of Little Fiends only capable to serve as cannon fodder. They were spread from the rank of the Little Fiends to the rank of Devil King, and the monarch of the Fiend Clan, the fourth ranked of the seventy-two demon gods, the Death Lord Samigina.
For this reason, although the fiend clansmen were very numerous, their level of strength was extremely disparate, from the weakest Little Fiends to the fourth demon god. Their force as a whole entity was also considerable, second only to the Devil Dragons’ tribe. It went to the extent that the clans of the two other demon gods above him in the ranking were far inferior to the Fiend Clan. The Death Lord Saminaga, known to his kins as Demon Ruler, was the only one whom all his clansmen listened to.
The Fiend Clan’s greatest characteris lied in its capability to evolve. It was simply the most expert demon race in evolving: even the weakest Little Fiend had the chance to advance to the level of Devil King with sufficient luck.
The fiend corps before them was constituted of Grand Fiends of the fourth step, numbering fifty. Their mounts were Nightmare Devil Horses.
Nightmare Devil Horses were entirely deep black, their body covered in deep red stripes and just like the fiends, they had on their fronthead a pair of horns, giving them appearances of terrible four-legged beasts. These Nightmare Devil Horses were, just like their masters, at the fourth step. Reportedly, the most powerful Nightmare Devil Horses could go as far as to reach the ninth step, becoming formidable Nightmare Kings.
The members of the two Demon Hunt Squads looked at the same time at Long Haochen. In a battle of twelve against fifty, considering that the fifty fiends were accompanied by fifty mounts, they didn’t have the slightest chance for victory. That was to say nothing of the fact that they already penetrated deep into the demon Central Province, where letting a single enemy go would result in big complications.
Long Haochen did a hand gesture, hinting his teammates to keep themselves calm. Walking to the front, his two hands behind his back, he wore a haughty expression on his face, swiftly approaching the fiend cavalry.
The team of Grand Fiends quickly got close. They were headed by a particularly tall fiend, whose Nightmare Devil Horse also looked a lot more imposing than the others. With a flash of flame, the Nightmare Devil horses arrived at twenty meters distance from Long Haochen before stopping. Then, the Grand Fiend riding it dismounted from it and walked towards Long Haochen’s direction.
This Grand Fiend Commander had a pair of spiral-shaped horns, bat-like wings, had an imposing build and a particularly immense claw, a fierce-looking appearance. His body carried an intense fishy stench, letting off a thin green vapor.
In the Fiend Clan, Grand Fiends belonged to the faction of absolute strength, and were expert in close-range battles, fearing magic, especially fire-type magic.
The fact he was able to grow wings testified that this Grand Fiend already possessed a cultivation at the level of the sixth step, possessing the ability of flight. At this level, he could be called a Fiend Commander.
“Enough, stand there. Don’t get closer with your filthy body.” Long Haochen ordered coldly.
Against the expectations, the fiend really listened and stopped over, but bellowed in response, “Even if you are a noble of the Moon Clan, you do not have the right to insult me, the Fiend Commander. Give me your name, moon demon.”
High ranked demons could all speak human tongue, and among them, the Moon Clan demons were the most fond of it. This was also the reason why Long Haochen spoke in a natural way to this Grand Fiend. But in comparison, the Grand Fiend’s human tongue was clearly a lot rougher and shakier.
Long Haochen snorted coldly, and he nimbly threw an insignia to this Grand Fiend.
The Fiend Commander made haste to catch it in his broad palm. Then, his dark green eyes violently shrank, and the insignia in his hand almost fell down. Suddenly stepping forward, he unexpectedly kneeled down before Long Haochen.
“Esteemed Moon Clan’s Viscount, I ask your forgiveness for my previous impulsive behaviour.” This Fiend Commander had immediately become a lot more refined. He still carried this insignia in his hands, but didn’t dare get closer.
With a white glow, the insignia returned in Long Haochen’s hand, precisely from the Saint Spiritual Stove’s attractive force. The Saint Spiritual Stove used a particular energy, and didn’t really have light properties, so Long Haochen didn’t fear to be found out because of it. The most important was not to let the opponent approach. They were after all humans, and thus, they would be easily be found out by demons with good sense of smell like fiends if he didn’t have this protective insignia.
“Stand up, stinky fellow. Tell me, where are you heading to?” Long Haochen said with a domineering expression, fitting his handsome appearance while giving off an impression of spoilt child. Nonetheless, this was the first time he took such a behaviour, which appeared clearly unnatural and shaky from him.
The Fiend Commander respectfully declared, “Honorable Moon Clan’s Viscont, we are reinforcements sent for the exploration of the Desolate Hissing Cavern by our clansmen.”
“The Desolate Hissing Cavern?” Long Haochen was extremely surprised, “What kind of place is that? How is it that I have never heard of it before?”
The Fiend Commander replied, “This is a cavern our Fiend Clan discovered. The grand Fiend Sovereign Samigina already reported its existence to our ultimate ruler, the Demon God Emperor. According to our Fiend Clan’s observations, it seems that this Desolate Hissing Cavern is a quite an uncommon place. Some of our troops were exploring it, when we received some signal requiring help and set out as reinforcements.”
Although he clearly felt terrified of Long Haochen’s status, he avoided approaching the subject of the Desolate Hissing Cavern, emphasising the fact that the Demon God Emperor already knew of this cavern’s situation.
Long Haochen snorted coldly, “If I’m not guessing wrong, this Desolate Hissing Cavern you are talking of should be on the other side of the hill, right?”
A great change appeared on the expression of the Fiend Commander’s face, unconsciously asking in reaction, “You… How do you know about it?”
Long Haochen replied proudly, “In this world, do you think there exists anyone surpassing my Moon Clan in wisdom? Be at ease, such a little cavern wasn’t enough to attract our clan’s attention. You may go accomplish your role as reinforcements. Get lost!”
At the same time these words came out of his mouth, he did a fast gesture with his right hand at his back, directed at his teammates.
This place was under mountains, in a plain location. Before these Major Fiend Troops appeared, it could be said that there wasn’t any living creatures there.
As if begging for forgiveness, the Grand Fiend Commander bowed to Long Haochen once again, before going back to sit on his Nightmare Horse’s back. With a wave of his hand, he led the cavalry of fifty Grand Fiends forward, to a relatively flat location. Considering the Nightmare Horses’ ability, they could manage to traverse it pretty effortlessly.
Since they were headed to the same direction, they made the trip together with Long Haochen’s group. Just when a third of the Grand Fiend Cavalry passed it, Long Haochen suddenly shouted, “Start!”
A massive figure appeared in front of him. Immediately, a dozen glints appeared on the members of the two Demon hunt Squads, and two beams formed of terrifying energy burst forth.
Long Haochen’s previous gesture had two meanings: to prepare for battle and to leave no one alive.