by Tinalynge
“Forward!” He called as he sped to the front of the troops, his eyes constantly searching the horizon. He was aware that the opponents had ballistae, and he had no intention of being hit by any of them. Some of the beasts took to the sky, others dug underground, and finally some ran on the bloodsoaked ground moving through the places where they had fought earlier. A massive amount of corpses were still lying on the ground, and the air was filled with a foul stench. A stench which the beasts sensed far more than the humans, but unlike the humans, they liked this smell. This was not a bad smell; it was the smell of rotting flesh something most beasts would enjoy. The humans not so much, but to them, the stench was no different than the scent of a flower or of a living human, albeit much stronger.
Moving through the battlefield, everyone felt their adrenaline pumping. Their senses were sharpened to the limits, and their bodies taut ready to attack at any moment. The groups were all by each other’s sides. The five man groups were certainly going to wreck havoc today. It was now time to show their true strength.
Marching across the battlefield did not take long for the human army to appear. Their entire army scrambled into their positions. Clearly they had been alarmed by the loud noises that Hui Yue made earlier, but he was not particularly bothered by the fact that he alerted them., Instead he was gratified because he would feel like they were in the wrong if they were to truly attack them while they were unprepared.
“Stop!” Hui Yue called out, and every beast stopped. Looking at the many humans flooding to their positions in front of them he said, “Remember what I taught you” With a voice that made the heavens shake and the ground tremble. “Do me proud and let us move on, win this battle!”
Hearing his voice, everyone started to move. The groups split up from the main body of the army colliding straight into the massive body of humans. As soon as the two sides met, the scent of blood was in the air. Limbs were severed, beastly roars of pain could be heard, and the screams of dying humans filled the air.
At the back of the army, Hui Yue was hovering in the air, and right behind him were thirty nine Saints. None of them showed any signs of participating in the war, they all just quietly watched the battle unfold.
Hui Yue had previously given into his beastly instincts to participate in the war, yet the result had been horrible. He managed to deal with the enemies, but in spite of that, he had been out cold for seven days following the battle. “I cannot afford to fight like that,” Hui Yue mumbled as he looked at the many beasts below.
“Seems like this group is far better than I expected,” Hui Yue said casually as he observed a group which he had seen earlier during the training. The group consisted of Lightning Struck Panthers. Although these animals were not used to being in a group, they worked incredibly well together. All of them were on the offense, yet at the same time, none of their backs were open to the enemy. They all managed to constantly have their backs against each other.
Scouring the battlefield, Hui Yue saw a pack of Winged Scorpion Tailed Lions. These were normally pack animals, and they always hunted in groups. Which was obvious due to how well they were fighting. One lion watched everyone’s back while the others grouped up and defeated one target after another; their teamwork was so astonishing that Hui Yue raised an eyebrow in surprise.
One more group took Hui Yue’s attention because they were offensive as well. All of them stood in a group and had their backs together. Like this, they inched further and further into the enemy lines killing any humans who jumped at them.
These three groups were all so far into the enemy territory that they were swamped by humans jumping at them from all directions, but none of the humans succeeded in wounding any of these highly skilled beasts.
Smiling Hui Yue shifted his glance to the front of the battlefield. A looked where the majority of the groups were battling against the humans and even watch them. This scene caused him to smile with satisfaction. Flapping his wings for a moment, he flew closer to the Saints and closer to the edge of the battlefield to get a closer look at how many beasts had fallen.
Looking at the ground, a few beast corpses were spread here and there, but the losses were nothing compared to the mountains of human corpses piling up all over. Blood flowed from the ground, and the stench of death was everywhere. The beasts who had completely transformed used both their teeth and claws to fight. The beasts from underground shot through the earth to attack whoever was standing at the front, and then beasts from above would dive downwards avoiding the ballistae to their best ability. They would grab humans only to toss them away or drop them from high up.
The humans were being pushed backwards slowly but surely; they stood no chance against the massive beast horde, and even the cavalry decided to stay back not entering the battle as they had done previously. The only opponents were these weak humans who only managed to kill a small fraction of Hui Yue’s army. They killed so few that the only thing it amounted to was enraging the beasts who had lost someone from their group. The entire beast army was getting more and more enraged, and the human corpse mountains continually grew. Looking down, multiple beasts had human limbs in their mouths while others shredded them with their paws.
Flashes of white, silvery, and golden light constantly shone on the battlefield alongside red mist energy. Seeing how everyone was busy fighting, Hui Yue was grateful for his army, but he still felt that the Siban Emperor was too cold to sacrifice so many of his servants willingly just for the sake of removing a few beasts. Thinking this, Hui Yue’s eyes went to look at the city wall right behind the battlefield. Experts far stronger than the ones on the ground were patrolling the top, looking down with various expressions. Some showed an expression of worry and grief for the citizens below, others were completely passive and showed no form of remorse. Another group seemed to be filled with excitement as they watched the slaughter below. Seeing this, Hui Yue could not help but feel deeply disgusted. Although beasts were egocentric, they still had enough decency to support each other. Enough decency to avenge their fallen and feel grief for their comrades. Some of the humans on top of the wall were even more savage than the beasts fighting on the ground.
Wresting his eyes away from the common soldiers, Hui Yue glanced further down the wall. He saw a part just above the gates where a small house was visible. Looking at this house, Hui Yue suddenly felt a shiver run through his body and slight fear emerged in his heart as he saw two black cloaked men standing outside the door. The two experts were clearly the same kind of people he had run into previously in Riluo City, and back then they caused him serious problems.
“I was weak then! No one says that I need to be worried about them now,” Hui Yue comforted himself, but deep inside worry was growing stronger and stronger. “It is time we became serious. The quicker we win this war, the better,” Hui Yue ended up telling himself as sweat appeared on his forehead, and he nervously gnawed on his lower lip. Crusaders were never good news.
Chapter 274 - The Massacre
* * *
Chapter 274: The Massacre
Having noticed the Crusaders, Hui Yue could not allow for the war to drag on. They were a dangerous group of humans, and Hui Yue still did not know where they came from. This caused him to fly towards the Saints.
“I need your help,” He said in a quiet voice. So low that only the ones he wished to hear could hear what was said. Every Saint around him instantly looked at him, focused on what he was about to say.
“Those black clothed men, the Crusaders, do any of you know whom they belong to?” He asked causing everyone to focus on the black cloaked men. Their complexion turned pale, and their faces finally turned serious.
“The Crusaders belong to An He.” Wan Qiao finally said, “We don’t know much about them. They never show any part of their skin, nor do they speak or show any human traits. Though I do know people refer to them as silent death. For them to be here, An He must be supporting the Siban Empire!” As she said this, all the Saints felt the
ir hearts tremble in fearsome already considering how to retreat, but Hui Yue was in deep thought.
“I don’t think he is here,” Hui Yue finally said, and his words caused the Saints to stop and look at him surprised. “What do you mean?” Even Wan Qiao thought An He was hiding away somewhere ready to appear at the right moment to crush them all.
“If An He truly wished to destroy us, then he would not have sent the Crusaders but arrived in person,” Hui Yue said slowly, still pondering on the thoughts he was now speaking out loud. “An He can deal with us all on his own. If he was truly here, do you think that he would actually wait for us to massacre all the citizens? I assume he would be in a hurry to kill us instantly. Still, we need to be careful. We do not know how many Crusaders are here, nor do we know how strong they are.”
Hearing Hui Yue’s calm evaluation the Saints slowly relaxed. They too understood what Hui Yue was saying. They understood that the chances of An He being here were incredibly low. Slowly, all of them returned to the same feeling they had before.
“We need to get rid of the soldiers today.” Hui Yue said with a fierce expression on his face. “We need to get rid of the soldiers so that we are capable of starting the siege the day after tomorrow.”
Hearing the order, the Saints nodded their heads and Hui Yue once more flapped his wings until he was right above the battleground.
“Beasts!” He called out. His voice booming throughout the area and could easily be heard inside the walls as well. A voice which made the citizens fear that the walls might not hold.
“Beasts!” He repeated, his voice reaching every beast in the entire battlefield below him. “Fight like there is no tomorrow! Tonight, I wish to see every single human die! Let the weak willed escape, but kill the rest. Slaughter them as they have slaughtered magical beasts in the past! Let their blood run dry. Let their corpses fall! Don’t let them have time to counterattack. Release your inner beast!”
The voice rung through the air which filled with screams, roars, growling sounds, and beasts’ howling. The sounds of weapons colliding against claws, against teeth, and against other weapons. The voice boomed into the city itself and made its way through the many small streets. It rung in the ear of all the citizens who were currently afraid of how this war would end.
Watching from above, Hui Yue saw how the beasts become even more ferocious. They jumped at the humans, bit at them, shredded them with their claws, and ate parts of their bodies. One person fell after another. The beasts completely controlled the battlefield, and as the moon finally set in the evening sky, only a handful of humans remained. Looking at these humans, Hui Yue sighed deeply. “Withdraw!” He called out, and the beasts followed his command. This human army had already been completely crushed. The handful of soldiers which remained would either escape or enter the city. After which, Hui Yue would have to deal with them alongside the second phase of the war.
“You sure we should not kill them all?” Wan Qiao asked curiously as she looked at the few humans who had managed to survive. Her eyes were filled with killing intent, and her body radiated her will to kill.
“It’s fine,” Hui Yue said with a small chuckle. “These humans will be gone tomorrow. Also, tomorrow, we will not battle. Tomorrow we need to clean up the many corpses so that our machines can come close to the city gates. If we see any humans, then we can easily kill them all.” He said not caring about the humans in the least. What he thought was most important was to calm down and relax before they got ready for the siege. It was one thing was to simply kill enemies, but quite another to deal with the experts within the city.
The city walls were filled with experts who were standing in lines, so close that it would be difficult to make space for the beasts, but Hui Yue had a great idea of how he was going to deal with the war. He would not give up even if An He were truly here.
Seeing the beasts retreat the hearts of the few humans quivered. Tears fell from their eyes as they went to the city gate and started slamming against it, constantly yelling out loud to be let in.
“Let us in! We fought long and hard for you. Don’t leave us to die out here!” “Let us in you! We are really going to die!” “Open the gates you asshole! We fought for you, now let us live!” Voices yelled, and as the words were spoken the expression of some of the guards on top of the city walls were filled with disgust while others were filled with pity. No matter what the soldiers did or said the gates never opened.
The night grew long, and the soldiers kept trying to convince them to open the gates, but in spite of that, nothing happened. As the first rays of sunshine lit up the city gates, the soldiers sent a final glance at the wall around their beloved capital before they all shook their heads and quickly left the battleground moving towards the Taiyang Kingdom. “I hope you lose the war. Treating your faithful soldiers this way is not acceptable,” One of the soldiers mumbled as he turned his back against the capital he had sworn to protect. A promise which no longer bound him as he was thrown away by the ones he swore to work for.
Hui Yue woke up all the experts as soon as the rays of sunshine reached their camp. “Today we clean up the corpses. Today we pave our way through the battlefield so that we can bring out our weapons. This is no longer going to be easy; now we will fight seriously. Our opponents are incredibly strong, as strong as we are, and we cannot allow for them to gain the upper hand.”
“Today we will be moving the corpses. Stack them a bit away from the actual battlefield as we are going to need a place for our machines. Tomorrow is the day when the real war begins!” Hui Yue had gotten better with his speeches, and the beasts were already riled up when they heard the voice of their Grand Marshall.
Moments after, all the beasts moved to the battlefield where they had been the day before, and with an entirely carefree attitude they started gathering the corpses, stacking them in mounds on both sides of the battlefield. Some corpses were gnawed on while others were tossed away instantly. The beasts were quite calm as they moved the bodies around, showing no signs of discomfort although death surrounded them on every side.
“So they are not going to use the arrows while we clean up, huh?” Hui Yue said as he leaned back against a tower which they would be using in a bit. His eyes now saw everything in a grayscale, but his eyesight had improved by twenty times as he had changed his eyes to that of a wolf.
The beasts were swift as they moved away the corpses, but the soil, which had been hard as the battle began, was now muddy. This was obviously caused by all the blood which had rained down upon it. Moving the weaponry in such conditions would not be easy, but Hui Yue was stubborn. The following day would be the start of the real war even if it meant that he needed to use the Saint ranked experts as mules.
The day went by swiftly, the human corpses and beast corpses were placed in different groups. As the evening was about to arrive, a ditch had been dug and within the ditch, all the beast corpses were placed nicely by each other’s sides. The entire army gathered by the side of the ditch, and they all kept silent as they respectfully said goodbye to their comrades. Some of them had known each other from birth, others had become acquaintances during the training, but everyone more or less knew everyone. They all decided to give their silent prayers to the beasts who had fallen in battle.
The entire beast horde stood in front of the ditch for almost an entire hour before Hui Yue rose his head and nodded to beasts by the side who slowly and carefully started to put soil on top of the corpses showing respect to the beasts who laid down their lives for the sake of allowing the beasts freedom.
Looking at the eyes of all the beasts, Hui Yue saw a determination he had never seen before. He noticed that it was no longer just killing intent but also an unwavering will to win this war. He too felt like everyone else as his full attention was focused on the battle to come the following day.
“Excuse me, Lord. Uhh, Grand Marshall!” Someone called out, and Hui Yue stopped in his tracks as he was about to leave the burial groun
ds. Right behind him was one of the experts who had been burying the beasts. He was clearly an Emperor, but the respect he showed Hui Yue was the same as one would treat a Saint. The respect he showed surprised the young man.
“Do we want to bury the humans too?” He asked while standing two meters away at a respectful distance, something which caused Hui Yue to raise an eyebrow in surprise. He decided not to comment on the respect he was shown if anything it proved that these beasts indeed saw him as their leader during the war.
“No,” He said with a gentle voice as he answered the question he was given. “I have a plan for them, but for now, just leave them there to remind the ones on the wall that we have already gotten rid of a major part of their army. It should make them feel uncomfortable, even if only a little.” Looking at the expert in front of him, Hui Yue almost started laughing at the spontaneous expression on the soldier’s face which clearly showed that he had no idea what was going on.
“Just leave the corpses for now,” Hui Yue said as he walked forward until he could place a hand on the confused expert’s shoulder as he gave it a small pat. “The corpses will serve a great role later on in the war so make sure no one touches them.” Hui Yue’s face was filed with a smile as he nodded to the beast and turned around to converse with the Saints about their plan of attack.