by <unknown>
"I see it now!"
"I see it now! The glorious Pantheon of Demons!"
"Obliteration! Rebirth! Immortality!"
His companions of the same troop were shouting one after another. Even One Ear was shrieking that he had seen it before shaking his tail gloatingly toward Black Fire Stone.
Chapter 992: Black Fire Stone and the Sentinel (II) |
Black Fire Stone was a bit uneasy.
It was said that only the demons whose hearts were pure and loyal to their ancestors would see the Pantheon of Demons in the clouds.
Black Fire Stone thought that he deserved better—he had always been loyal to his ancestors.
Although he was not very clear who his ancestors, namely Pangu, Gonggong, Kuafu, Houyi, among others, were and what they did exactly, was he not the one who paid the most 'ancestral tax' every month? Also, he had been obedient and never violated any of the ancestral rules that the lords had told him.
This is all that silly woman's fault!
Black Fire Stone cursed in his heart. Because of anxiety, his eyes were packed with blood streaks quickly.
Noticing that he was the only one in the entire Brute Hammer Troop who could not see it, Black Fire Stone felt that his eyes were red and swollen and that the world was swirling before him. In his fury and apprehension, he seemed to see a colorful glow in the middle of the clouds.
"I see it! I see it now!"
Black Fire Stone did not know what the 'glorious Pantheon of Demons' looked like, but he was weeping in excitement.
"That is the Pantheon of Demons, our destination in the sea of stars!"
The gold-horned lord was waving his hammer while he roared, "Let's go, warriors! Show the cunning, cowardly human beings the awesomeness of the blood descendants of Pangu!"
At the front, countless crimson fireflies were leading the way. The Black-Horned Loading Bulls, the Shooting Star Iron Bulls, and the Iron-Tailed Brute Bulls… all the bulls seemed to be exuding flames. The demonic energy spurting out of their nostrils condensed into rolling red clouds in midair!
Together, they launched a messy, disordered charge toward the sentry posts of the human beings.
Black Fire Stone's head had been burned by the nervous stimulant. Lust for killing was quickly replacing his calmness. It was even more difficult for him to picture what the 'glorious Pantheon of Demons' looked like right now.
According to the lords, as long as he fought valiantly, he would be able to ascend into the glorious Pantheon of Demons, and he would never have to worry about how to till his barren farmland that was rife with Venomous Thorny Grass and Double Tailed Scorpions. There was endless ambrosia in the Pantheon of Demons. He would need to farm no more, mine no more, and just enjoy his life every day!
Black Fire Stone had no idea what 'ambrosia' was. He only guessed that it must be something very delicious.
But Black Fire Stone did not even know what 'something very delicious' actually tasted like. Since he was born, everything Black Fire Stone ate could barely keep him fed. His food had never been anything remotely close to delicious.
For some reason, in the last moment of his consciousness, a shining, greasy grilled chicken suddenly jumped out.
It was a picture of a human village that he had seen in his illusions.
It was a big, big, big village—so big that Black Fire Stone did not even know how to describe it. He had forgotten all the other details about the village, except for the greasy grilled chicken that was being roasted carefully and appeared succulent with oil dropping down nonstop. The picture had been etched to his brain, and he even remembered the burning sound when the grilled chicken oil dropped to the firewood vividly.
At every tough night in the military camp, after missing his wife and his two children, Black Fire Stone had been pondering one question. How did the grilled chicken taste exactly?
Was it as fresh as 'Bitter Grass Bug' or as crisp as 'Red Fern Root'?
Of course, Black Fire Stone had seen chicken and captured chicken before, but he had never had the privilege to eat one because they were too precious.
Moreover, the lords did not allow them to. The lords declared that bulls were born to eat grass. At the very least, black-blood bulls should eat grass. They could get a few bugs to fill their stomachs but nothing more. It was an ancestral rule.
If he ate meat and violated the ancestral rule, he would not be able to go to the Pantheon of Demons after he died. Not just him, his wife and his children would be forbidden, too.
I wonder, is there grilled chicken in the 'glorious Pantheon of Demons'? The ancestors will allow me to feast upon meat there, won't they?
Black Fire Stone thought a lot of things as he rushed forward.
The black-blood soldiers did not carry weapons or armor. Their mission was to charge at all the sentry posts, bastions, and fortresses after they were teleported to the Heaven's Origin Sector and clear the obstacles for the following troops of the coalition army. Or rather, they were asked to stuff the firing posts with their body.
Black Fire Stone was running fast. His burning head made him feel as if his blood was boiling. He seemed to have grown wings, and his soul gradually left his ugly, clumsy shell.
Thinking about the greasy grilled chicken, he was more and more energetic. Like a roaring gust, he quickly surpassed all of his companions, including One Ear, and charged at a human sentry post that was protected by more than ten crystal cannons.
A confused smile popped up on Black Fire Stone's face, but he shook his tail toward One Ear in retaliation for his friend's mockery a moment ago.
That was just One Ear, whose limbs were so soft that the guy could never outrun him. What a great waste of the muscles! No wonder his wife chose to marry him instead of One Ear, whose horn was thicker and bigger.
If I really make my way to the Pantheon of Demons in the sky and meet grilled chicken, I will certainly save half for my wife and kids!
Black Fire Stone frowned. With the few active braincells he had left, he pondered carefully how he could smuggle a grilled chicken out of the Pantheon of Demons.
He had never stolen anything in his life before!
One of the crystal cannons in the human sentry post in front of him shot out streams of dazzling, colorful brilliance, exactly the same as the 'glorious Pantheon of Demons' he had seen in the clouds a moment ago.
This is odd. Why is the Pantheon of Demons in the middle of human beings' cannons?
Black Fire Stone was baffled. Then he found himself flying high in the sky. His mouth was suddenly sticky, wet, and sour.
Is this the taste of grilled chicken?
Black Fire Stone struggled, trying to roll his tongue to taste the fabulous flavor more carefully.
He straightened his arms and waved crazily in midair, hoping to snatch the greasy, delicious grilled chicken.
…
In the human sentry post on the other side of the battlefield, a sentinel, with a long beard and a big red nose that betrayed his drinking problem, was watching the dense, continuously growing red spots on the light beam. He spat on the ground and mumbled, "I'm truly f*cking unlucky."
After the Battle of Dawn, since most of the towns and military bases of the federation on the Grand Desolate Plateau had been demolished, it was impossible to maintain a long supply line or to build an enormous war base in the north of the Grand Desolate Plateau.
Now, the federation had retreated to the Giant Blade Pass, where the elites were gathered. In the meantime, more resources would be dedicated to the construction of the crystal suit legions.
On the vast desert in the north of the Grand Desolate Plateau, the only defenses were the sparse sentry posts.
The sentry posts were established not for the purpose of resistance but to send out alarms and the details of the intruders when the army of demons appeared.
The federal soldiers in the sentry posts knew their responsibility and their fate when the demons came.
But that was ho
w a war went. The magical equipment of the Star Glory Federation was not so developed that it could completely replace the sentinels on the Grand Desolate Plateau, where the spiritual and magnetic environment was complicated.
The only thing that the federal army could do was reduce the duty duration of every sentinel, who would be replaced every seven days.
For every sentinel, as long as they were on duty for seven days, they would be given a one-month holiday and allowed to reunite with their family.
But the sentinel here had been on duty for seven and a half days.
The guy who was supposed to take his place had encountered a thunderstorm on his way, which had damaged his carrier. The vehicle was undergoing emergency maintenance. Therefore, the sentinel was forced to persist for one more day.
But the intruders were already here.
The sentinel was trembling hard. All of his fingers were dancing. He was apparently a thickheaded, unemotional man, and yet he was crying sadly like a little kid who had been wronged.
"F*ck!"
Crying, the sentinel cursed, "F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!"
The sentinel injected a sedative into his neck while crying before he picked up a cigarette. Then, he turned on the crystal processor and quickly inputted everything that he observed.
As the data and pictures were sent to the rear in the form of waves, the sentinel was more or less relieved, only to find that his snot had almost dripped to his lips.
The sentinel wiped off his tears and snot with his dirty sleeve. Then, he brought out his personal crystal processor from his pocket. As if he were touching the most precious gem in the world, he triggered a light beam.
This place was the frontier of the Grand Desolate Plateau. The electromagnetic environment there was too complicated for the soldiers to talk to the heartland of the federation directly. Besides, the federal army had its regulations, too. Soldiers were allowed to bring their crystal processor but not be connected to the Spiritual Nexus.
What the sentinel triggered was just a 3D photo stored inside the crystal processor.
In the photo was a smiling girl whose hair was curled and two vigorous boys.
The bigger boy was even grimacing at him.
The sentinel smiled. Then he suddenly recalled that he had told his wife that he had quit smoking. He hurried to extinguish the cigarette and picked his teeth with his tongue. It was not until then that he kissed the illusionary mystic rays, breaking them into shattered ripples.
The sentinel put the crystal processor down. He turned around and picked up a crystal cannon.
Such fixed crystal cannons could be controlled by the central crystal processor in the sentry post. He only needed to sit in front of the light beam and monitor the progress.
However, the sentinel still changed one of the crystals cannons from the auto mode into manual mode.
Generally speaking, a crystal cannon required three soldiers to be operated manually.
But the sentinel gritted his teeth and bashed the crystal cells into the magazine with all his strength.
Hum! Hum! Hum! Hum!
Electric arcs were dancing on the three rails of the crystal cannon, which spread to his arms and ripped apart his skin, flesh, and nerves!
The tears of the sentinel turned red. Glancing at the broken ripples on the light beam for the last time, he took a long breath and moved his head to the scope of the crystal cannon. With his left eye narrowed, he locked onto the demon that was leading the charge.
It was a mad bull.
He was running so fast that bloody sweat was seeping out of his body. The bloody sweat was then vaporized by the heat, making his enormous body even more hideous.
The mad bull was grinning hideously. His eyes, which were about to bulge out of his head, were brimming with madness. Bright yellow saliva was flowing out of his mouth, suggesting that he had been starved for a long time.
It was not hard for the sentinel to imagine what would happen when such a devil marched into a town.
The sentinel touched the trigger rune array of the crystal cannon hard with his fingers, or rather, fingerbones, before he mumbled, "Bring it on, b*stards!"
Chapter 993: Air Fight! |
When Jin Luanyun ripped apart the clouds in the sky of the Grand Desolate Plateau leading his 'Gold Eagle Troop', he did not see the 'glorious Pantheon of Demons'.
What he did see was the coalition army of demons that was surging like tides from the underground and marching on the vast desert in destructive waves. In just one moment, the ten or so sentry posts of the federal army were swallowed. The intruders dyed the gray desert black.
The battle progressed quite well.
The obstacles ahead had been cleared. The first batch of low-level demons had already steadied themselves and established a defense line.
Behind the defense line, teleportation arrays of an even larger scale were being built. Stripes and runes that took up hundreds of square meters were blossoming like brilliant works, guiding the way for the expedition army of a different world like burning torches.
The low-level demons and the smaller skeleton tanks could be projected to the Heaven's Origin Sector through the wormholes.
However, the demon emperors and the super-large devilish warships could only be teleported by constructed teleportation arrays, which would be the temporary bridges between the two Sectors.
In the war between the two Sectors, teleportation was the most critical step. It equaled to the 'beach landing' in ancient wars!
Jin Luanyun's 'Gold Eagle Troop', which was made of thirteen silver-blood demons of the Gold Crow Kingdom and thirteen biochemical beasts, had been assigned the task of ensuring the safety of the air during the 'beach landing' and to clear the possible hostile scouts.
In the previous instances that the Blood Demon Sector waged a war on the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Claw Clan, the Horn Clan, and the Insect had been the main force, most of which were pure ground troops. Only the Insect Clan boasted certain units that could attack from the midair, such as Ghost Face Silver Mosquitoes or Colorful Locusts.
This was the first time that the ace air force of the Blood Demon Sector had shown up in the sky of the Heaven's Origin Sector openly!
Jin Luanyun could not help but feel his heart racing and his blood boiling when he thought about that.
He was already determined to let the Cultivators riding on flying swords know who the real dominators of the sky were!
"Intense spiritual waves have been detected 170 kilometers away."
The 'Gold Eagle', Jin Luanyun's biochemical beast, keenly sensed the enemy from the south. The biochemical brain twitched violently while it searched for similar frequencies in the memory unit.
Very soon, the biochemical brain reported a result.
"The frequency of the enemy's spiritual waves is very similar to the waves when certain arts of the 'Agile Electricity Sect of the Heaven's Origin Sector' are functioning according to our database.
"The Agile Electricity Sect is one of the top five hundred sects of the Star Glory Federation. They boast an amazing skill named 'Heavenly Vision Technique', which grants them better eyesight than many high-resolution crystal cameras!"
Jin Luanyun understood it now.
They were the scouts of the enemy.
"Continue analyzing the firepower of the enemy. Pay special attention to the wind shear. Enter the turbulent area on our left flank and cover our demonic energy with the chaotic wind. Rapid fire when we are within 30 kilometers!"
Jin Luanyun issued commands to his subordinates. Through the biochemical nerves, he adjusted the angle of the feathers of his Gold Eagle precisely, accelerating its speed to a new height, while he dashed toward the Cultivators of the Agile Electricity Sect.
When he was a hundred and twenty kilometers away from the enemy, the Gold Eagle finally detected their details.
"Twenty-two 'Venomous Bee Armed Shuttles' have been detected. The armed shuttles of this model are usually maneuvered by
ordinary soldiers.
"Seven Cultivators have been detected, including four in the Refinement Stage, two in the Building Foundation Stage, and… one in the Core Formation Stage!"
When Core Formation Stage popped up in Jin Luanyun's head, he sensed excruciating pain!
A flying sword!
Over-the-horizon attacks were the advantage of the Core Formation Stage Cultivators. When they were still more than a hundred kilometers away from each other, and neither of them had locked onto the enemy, the Core Formation Stage Cultivator shot out a rampant flying sword toward him!
Jin Luanyun seemed to be able to envision the flying sword that was surrounded by electric arcs and darting toward him unstoppably through the clouds and win!
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
The eyes of the Gold Eagle were covered in multiple layers of membranes, and its pupils were enlarging and shrinking incessantly, triggering the optical cells on the retina to the maximum. The trajectory of the flying sword was determined in the blink of an eye. Detailed information jumped out of the biochemical brain, too.
"The Mystic Moon III flying sword is 1.7 meters long and weighs 55 kilograms. The body of the sword can accommodate 7.5 kilograms of crystals of the electricity class. The maximum shooting range is 150 kilometers. The best shooting range: 80 kilometers. The greatest feature about the flying sword is that it is surrounded by four tiny 'servant swords' as stabilizing fins. The master sword and the servant swords are restricted by the magnetic field. Together with the three groups of vector thrusting rune arrays, the flying sword can change the point of attack at the last phase of its trajectory. It is very difficult to dodge!"
The flying sword was designed for air wars. It boasted of heat tracing, demonic energy tracing, automatic aim, and multiple attack pattern technologies.
Jin Luanyun sensed that he had been locked onto.
He sniffed, and his lips curled into a confident smile.
