Chapter 487: This Is the Undead Scourge (Part 2)

Chapter 487: Chapter 430: This Is the Undead Scourge (Part 2)

“Also, have the Corpse Ghosts retrieve the bodies of the fallen Transcendents at once,” Leech continued. “Then send them back to the dungeons to be refined.”

“Understood.”

After receiving another calm and collected reply from Isis, Leech pulled on the reins. “Rocket, down!”

“KREEE—!”

Rocket spread its wings, gliding as it charged toward the very front of the line.

Guarding the front were Lisu Muma, the Elf White Deer, the female barbarian Lin Nuo, and others. The previous battle had left everyone with significant injuries and utterly drained their stamina, but now, their eyes were once again blazing with the will to fight.

They had been killing for so long that even if Leech wanted to live in peace with the Half-Beastmen, his own people would never allow it.

Everyone was in a killing frenzy.

“Charge!” Leech raised his greatsword.

His Horse-headed Eagle, Rocket, led the charge, with everyone else right behind him.

At that same moment, the ROAR of explosions erupted from behind them. The cannon fire, moving far faster than anyone could run, slammed into the Half-Beastman army. For them, that distance of a few miles was the line between life and death.

The Half-Beastman legion’s numbers dwindled rapidly.

By the time the dazed and confused Half-Beastman legion stumbled out of the bombardment zone, their numbers had been cut down to just over a thousand. This was partly due to the artillery throwing the Mad Beastmen into disarray, which caused them to begin slaughtering their own troops.

However, there were still over a hundred Mad Beastmen. Even after accounting for a few unlucky ones killed in the explosions and several more who were too wounded to move, the ninety-plus that remained still made the battle’s outcome unpredictable.

The two sides crashed into each other.

Death took center stage.

From the sky, the two armies colliding looked like a massive deerskin water bag filled with blood being ripped open. Their numbers were slashed at an incredible speed, leaving only a field of corpses and a sea of red.

Leech sprang into the air, dodging a Mad Beastman’s grasping claws, and landed atop its head, his greatsword in tow.

He gripped the sword with both hands, using his falling weight to plunge it through the Mad Beastman’s skull. The creature crashed to the ground, and Leech used the momentum to land on his feet and transition into ground combat.

The moment he’d jumped, Rocket had already pounced on another Mad Beastman, grabbing its body with its talons and hauling it up into the sky.

Against the Mad Beastmen, Rocket’s dive-bombing advantage was greatly diminished; it was far more effective providing support from the air.

Swinging his greatsword rapidly, Leech pressed forward on foot.

Neither Mad Beastmen, Warg Riders, nor the shorter Half-Beastmen could stop Leech’s meat-grinder-like assault.

He completely forsook defense. Blades and arrows CLANGED against his body, only to be deflected by his plate armor.

Some of the Transcendents deliberately moved to rally around Leech. They followed in his wake, letting him absorb the greatest pressure while they handled threats on the flanks. The Mercenaries also consciously tightened their formation.

After another thrust of his greatsword took down a Mad Beastman, Leech paused.

Even with his physique, he couldn’t sustain this level of combat. The Mad Beastmen’s strength was immense; his greatsword was already on the verge of breaking, and his plate armor was starting to warp. The force of the blows was so great he even coughed up a mouthful of blood.

He looked up at the high tower in the distance, his gaze crossing the battlefield to lock with the Half-Beastman noble, Kaqi.

Leech could clearly see him crack a cruel smile.

And Leech responded with a smile of his own.

Kaqi froze.

From his high vantage point, he had a clear view of the situation below. Leech’s force of over four thousand Soldiers had been slashed to just over two thousand. The wind itself carried the pungent stench of blood.

On Kaqi’s side, however, while the shorter Half-Beastmen had suffered heavy losses, not many of the Mad Beastmen had fallen.

Only Leech and a few of his Transcendents were capable of killing the Mad Beastmen, and they had accounted for fewer than twenty of them.

If this kept up, Leech would probably die of exhaustion first.

Once he was encircled by the Mad Beastmen, escape would be nearly impossible.

‘How can he still smile in a situation like this?’

“SKRAWW—!”

Suddenly, a vulture’s cry echoed from the horizon—it wasn’t Rocket.

Kaqi turned to find a troop of figures appearing behind his position. They were giants, nine feet tall, clad in heavy, gleaming silver armor. There were fifty or sixty of them.

They ran with incredible speed; clearly, all of them were Transcendents.

They were obviously attempting a sneak attack. Before Kaqi could even give an order, his Demon Beastmen moved to intercept them.

The shortest figure at the head of the group, completely encased in armor that looked like a tin can, blew a Demon Beastman’s head apart with a single punch.

“Palace Level!” Kaqi exclaimed in shock.

He hadn’t expected a Palace Level figure to appear on the battlefield. But after he focused his senses, he realized the opponent wasn’t truly Palace Level—at most, he was half of one.

Though his power was immense, he lacked any of the fine control characteristic of the Palace Level.

‘Perfect!’

As a Half-Beastman, Kaqi also had warlike blood. He usually maintained a noble’s elegance, but he would never pass up the chance to use an enemy’s skull as a wine cup.

‘The other battle is already won. This must be the little lord’s final, desperate gamble. I don’t mind shattering his illusions and showing him the true gap between a genuine Palace Level master and a half-assed amateur.’

Jonney seized the initiative, relying on his combat instincts and overwhelming power to kill three of the charging Demon Beastmen.

Suddenly, his opponent struck like a gust of wind. He was incredibly fast, and unfortunately, Jonney was not a speed-oriented Corpse Ghost. He could only watch helplessly as the enemy attacked and then withdrew.

A fist-sized hole exploded in his chest.

Jonney looked down in confusion, then looked forward again.

The Half-Beastman noble, Kaqi, stood there holding a fresh, still heart. He looked at Jonney and said, “You will never understand the difference between yourselves and the Palace Level.”