Chapter 122 - Xiao De’s Ambush

Chapter 122: Chapter 120: Xiao De’s AmbushFor this battle against the Golden Lion, the Red Nation mobilized its top three legions, including the Luo Shen Army from the Luosi family. This army was famous throughout the Red Nation. It was this very army that had quashed the surrounding chaos when the Red Nation was founded, securing the foundation of the nation. Luosi joined the expedition to gain greater prestige as an heir.

"Are you sure you’re doing well in the Luosi family?" Lu Hong rode alongside Luosi, asking in a low voice.

"Yes, I’ve told you, it’s like a dream. No one expected Luo Bolun to support me fully. Within a week of my return to the family, I had seized control of the family power with lightning speed," Luosi carefully scanned Lu Hong and continued, "Speaking of which, you really did something, managing to kill Sa Re. At first, I was really worried that you would just die inexplicably. Thank God, you’re safe."

Recalling the incident in the border forest, Lu Hong also felt a bit fortunate. He had indeed almost certainly died.

"You dodged Sa Re’s assassination and didn’t come to find me? Instead, you went to the Demons and met powerhouses like Tong Ling; how did you come to know them?"

"This is a long story." Lu Hong explained all his experiences among the Demons, leaving Luosi astonished. Skeptically, she asked, "You managed to fight Tong Ling to a standstill?"

"To be exact, he lost to me!" Lu Hong stressed, "If he didn’t have that magic defense item."

Lu Hong subtly reiterated his own prowess. Luo Bolun’s gaze had not shifted from Lu Hong and Luosi since they rode together, full of resentment and hatred.

"Hey!" Tong Tang, noticing Luo Bolun’s resentment, whispered beside him, "Do you really dislike that guy named Tu Kulu?"

"So what if I do?" Luo Bolun responded without shifting his gaze from Lu Hong.

"That’s great, I also don’t like him." Tong Tang felt he had found a kindred spirit. Since Lu Hong had disrupted his plans, Tong Tang had harbored resentment against him. Trying to avoid Lu Hong since he was a distinguished guest at the Tong family, and knowing his father couldn’t simply eliminate him, Tong Tang hoped his brother would handle Lu Hong but instead, his useless brother just acknowledged Lu Hong as the leader.

What was truly unbearable for Tong Tang was that his beloved sister, Tong Ni, had been offended by Lu Hong!

"You dislike him too?" Luo Bolun finally shifted his gaze from Lu Hong and smiled at Tong Tang, "It seems we have something to talk about, Brother Tong Tang."

"Yes, let’s step aside to talk." Tong Tang nodded, and the two rode away from the group to plot in secret.

The allied forces of the Red Nation and the Demons crossed Tong City and arrived at a massive teleportation gate.

By then, a group of Demon guards had already fired up the magic crystals that ignited the demonic flames on the teleportation gate.

"Passing through this gate will take us to the Devil’s Great Plains, 3,000 miles from the Demon Court. We are on the eastern side of the Demon Court, while the Beastman Empire’s army is on the western side," Tong Ling pointed out on the map, explaining to Qi Rong, the leader of the Red Nation’s forces, "Once we enter the Great Plains, we must be ready for battle, as the current situation in the Demon Court is uncertain."

"There’s no time to delay; we can depart immediately, as the Empress of the Red Nation repeatedly instructed me to completely expel the Beastman invaders from the wasteland!"

"Great! Brother Qi, you are truly honorable; let’s go!" Tong Ling commanded, leading the way as he galloped into the teleportation gate. The Red Army followed closely.

"Soldiers of the Red Nation, follow me to the battlefield!" Qi Rong, not wanting to be outdone, led the massive Red Nation army straight into the teleportation gate.

"Tu Kulu, let’s go as well," Luosi took a deep breath, steadying her state of mind.

Lu Hong, however, paused to take a closer look at the massive teleportation gate. From the ancient serpent carvings on the gate, he was certain this was the same as the one he had encountered in his previous video game, where an ancient serpent, powerful as a Heavenly God, lay dormant underneath a vast battlefield.

"Shall we go?" Luosi urged Lu Hong, seeing he wasn’t moving, "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," Lu Hong shook his head, pondering that this desert battle could awaken the slumbering serpent, just like in the game.

"Is your Teleportation Scroll still with you?" Lu Hong grabbed Luosi, who had half-stepped through the teleportation gate, "Are you scared? Or wanting to go back?"

"The war may be harsh, but rest assured, I will protect you," Luosi chuckled.

"Protect me?" Lu Hong didn’t bother to argue with this silly girl: "I’m just checking if you’d have a chance to survive in case of an emergency."

"Tsh," Luosi pointed to a small pouch on her waist, "It’s all in here, don’t worry."

"Good, then let’s go." Reassured, Lu Hong joined Luosi in stepping through the teleportation gate.

Upon landing, they saw Tong Ling kneeling on the ground, the tens of thousands of soldiers who had crossed with them ready for battle.

Their tense focus wasn’t on a surprise attack from the Beastman army but on Xiao De, the Golden Lion’s deputy, who stood alone.

"You’re not so tough," Xiao De laughed lightly at Tong Ling, "I haven’t even put in much effort yet."

"Don’t be smug!" Tong Ling gritted his teeth, and Demonic Qi surged, gathering in the sky: "Ancestral Demon Kill!"

"Brother Tong, I’ll assist you!" Qi Rong also stepped forward, a silver spear appearing in his hands: "Silver Snake—Wild Dance!"

Facing their combined attack, Xiao De laughed, "Interesting," and his body convulsed suddenly. His human-like form sprouted thick brown fur, turning into a giant brown bear.

Transformed into a beastman form, Xiao De looked at Tong Ling and Qi Rong’s advancing offensive and roared to the sky, "Bear God!"

Before his words had settled, a colossal phantom bear, thousands of feet in height, appeared behind Xiao De, completely suppressing Tong Ling and Qi Rong’s offensive with just its arrival.

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

The phantom bear roared furiously, and a massive wave of earthy yellow color immediately swept across the plains. The skills ’Ancestral Demon Kill’ and ’Silver Snake Wild Dance’ collapsed instantly, and the backlash caused Tong Ling and Qi Rong’s aura to wither momentarily.

"Protect the Young Master!" Soldiers from the Demon Race and the Red Nation quickly stepped forward, covering the entire sky with demonic Qi and a spectrum of magic powers, trying to block the attack of the bear god.

"They won’t be able to stop it," Lu Hong’s face changed, realizing that the roar of the bear god was far beyond their level of comprehension, a divine power skill, something mortals could not withstand.

Seeing Lu Hong rushing forward, Louise hurriedly shouted, "Lu Hong, what are you doing?"

At that moment, Lu Hong had no time to answer Louise. He dashed forward to Tong Ling and Qi Rong and whispered, "In the name of the Steel Lord, summon the Steel Holy Sword!"

At Lu Hong’s call, a stream of gray light fell into his hands.

"Sword shield, deploy!" Lu Hong was not a Steel Guardian, but he could still invoke the holy sword by the lord’s command.

"Steel Fortress!" At that moment, Lu Hong could not care about anything else, and at the cost of sacrificing the stored power of the holy sword, he forcibly deployed the ultimate skill of the Steel Lord.

Unlike the forgotten space, the Steel Fortress that Lu Hong summoned now was like a massive castle, enveloping everyone present within it. The bear god’s roar crashed down thunderously, colliding with the Steel Fortress and causing a thunderous explosion.

"Who are you?!" Xiao De asked incredulously, looking at Lu Hong, "How could you possibly block the great bear god’s attack?!"

"Ugh!" Lu Hong was spitting blood at that moment and had no time to deal with Xiao De.

"Boss, are you okay?" Tong Ling knew he had been saved and quickly used demonic Qi to soothe the backlash Lu Hong suffered from the holy sword.

"I’m not dead," Lu Hong waved his hand, thankful for his advancement to the Second Transition; otherwise, just the cross-class activation of the holy sword might have cost him his life.

"Damn it! Damn it!" As the bear god’s roar was completely blocked by the Steel Fortress, Xiao De was furious. This plan completely failed, the mission given by the Prince was utterly ruined.

"You wait! Next time on the battlefield, I will definitely kill you!" Facing the continuously advancing army across the plains, Xiao De dared not stay long, knowing that even his strength was not enough to overcome so many people.

"Stop him!" Tong Ling was not willing to let the enemy go so easily; he immediately ordered the soldiers to pursue.

"No!" Qi Rong quickly intervened, "He must have some cards up his sleeve to execute that terrifying strike earlier; we must not act recklessly."

"Damn it!" Tong Ling stamped his foot in frustration. Receiving such a blow even before reaching the battlefield would upset anyone.

Xiao De fled back to the beastman position, where the Golden Lion was analyzing the demon race’s fortifications. Just as he looked up, he saw Xiao De kneeling before him.

"Prince!"

"What happened?" The Golden Lion asked with a puzzled look.

"I’ve failed, Prince. I couldn’t complete the mission you entrusted to me," Xiao De said with a whining tone, full of self-blame.

"Failed?" The Golden Lion was also stunned, then somewhat disbelievingly said, "You sacrificed a heavenly artifact and still failed?!"

"Yes, I failed," Xiao De explained. "Under the suppression of the plane’s law, the bear god’s attack merely reached the power of early Third Transition."

"That should have been enough to obliterate the demon race’s vanguard and their commander," the Golden Lion’s face darkened. This ambush by Xiao De was a carefully arranged plan by the Golden Lion.

To strike the demon race’s reinforcements, the Golden Lion had spent a great deal to obtain the divine artifact of the Furious Bear family, sacrificing it to exchange for a heavenly god’s avatar attack. Of course, if it weren’t for the suppression of the wild plane’s laws, the Steel Holy Sword’s Steel Fortress could never have been stopped.

"I almost succeeded, but then someone suddenly emerged from the rear of the army. He seemed to have summoned a sword and shield, and that sword shield must also be a divine artifact; otherwise, it couldn’t deploy a skill capable of withstanding the bear god’s roar," Xiao De tried hard to recall the details of what had just happened.

"What kind of skill?" the Golden Lion inquired.

"It was like a huge fortress," Xiao De sketched it out, trying to articulate the details he knew.

After hearing Xiao De’s description, the Golden Lion frowned, recognizing the skill Xiao De mentioned as the warrior’s ’Steel Fortress’ from the Third Transition class’s strongest defensive skill, ’Thick Earth’s Wall.’

Xiao De would not lie to him, so were there indeed Third Transition warriors around this year? The Golden Lion was as astounded as if he had seen a ghost; the Warrior Temple was said to have collapsed, so, where did this skill come from?