Drums of War

by Tinalynge

  Laying a hand on her shoulder, the Grand Marshall shook his head with a sad smile. “It really is not your fault that you followed the orders of this young man. He is far more skilled in warfare that any of us could have imagined.” He said with a sad smile, “No one blames you for anything, but we need to make sure that you are still useful for his Imperial Highness, and sadly, as you are now you are not worth anything.”

  “I will be of help?” She asked in a low voice as hope sprung to life in her eyes. The Grand Marshall smiled to her as he nodded his head, “This will be a great service to his Imperial Highness. All you need to do is sit here and let the Crusaders help you.”

  Li Meilin was like a small girl, her face lit up in happiness when she heard that she could be of help to his Imperial Highness, so much so that she forgot everything that had made her worried moments before.

  “Stay in the seat and let these gentlemen take care of you,” The Grand Marshall said as he patted her on the head once more before he turned around and left the tent. As he left, he ensured that no one was capable of seeing inside the tent. He stood at the front, his eyes closed and a stern and uncomfortable expression on his face. Any expert who walked past him was curious as to what could have happened, but no one dared ask the question.

  Suddenly a scream pierced the silence of the camp. Quite a few guards within the camp rushed towards the sound only to see that the Grand Marshall was standing in front of the tent. His hands clenched around the tent opening, not allowing for even the smallest glance to look inside the tent and determine what happened.

  The scream vanished as soon as it arrived and many of the experts started questioning whether or not they had truly heard a scream.

  The Grand Marshall felt a cold sweat spring forward on his forehead as he too noticed the sudden silence. There were no sounds of movements within the tent; there was nothing. The surrounding had become as silent as a grave, yet Li Meilin had, without a doubt, screamed only moments before.

  Suddenly the tent which he held opened up, and the Grand Marshall took four steps back to not be right next to the cloaked persons. His eyes glanced at the cloaked men, and he took a heavy breath when he counted six cloaked figures, all of which left the tent not saying a word. None of them showed even the smallest bit of skin, and they proceeded to slowly moving back to the imperial city.

  Looking into the tent, the Grand Marshall saw four drops of blood on the chair in which Li Meilin had been seated. Nothing more was visible, and the woman vanished together with the Crusaders. As for how it was done only the Crusaders knew.

  Chapter 72 – Rivers of Blood

  Watching the Crusaders move back to the capital, the Grand Marshall nervously removed the sweat on his forehead. The few drops of blood on the chair were almost as daunting as the Crusaders had been. The Grand Marshall clapped his hands, and two experts entered the tent.

  “Remove this chair and bring me a new one,” He said with a ruff voice, and as the task was being dealt with, the Grand Marshall quickly sat down. His hands covered his eyes for a moment as he thought about a way to deal with Hui Yue.

  “The idiot made an astonishing defense, but he forgot one thing,” The Grand Marshall said with laughter as he realized what they needed to do. “Bring out our archers. Let them march forward and rain arrows upon those beasts who are trapped in their own defenses. To attack our archers, they’ll need to leave the defenses they built around themselves. With them leaving through that small entrance they created, it will make it easier for soldiers to overwhelm them.”

  The Grand Marshal’s orders were instantly shared with the soldiers. The archers gathered at the front, ready to march; however, as they were about to start walking, they soon found that the ground in the middle of the two camps, the place where they fought yesterday, was still littered with corpses. Blood ran in rivers and limbs were spread across the ground. Moving through this, it was impossible not to constantly step on the dead and see the birds and animals gnawing on the many corpses. The sight of flesh and bone sticking up here and there was truly horrifying. The sight made the soldiers shiver and made them think that at the end of the day it could be them laying on the ground. Although they understood what exactly it was that their Grand Marshall meant, they were still the ones on front lines, and they had an ingrained fear of the beast horde in front of them.

  “Don’t look down. Look up and get ready! Giving your life to save the country is the pride of any soldier!” The Grand Marshall yelled out, and it caused everyone to grit their teeth as they forced themselves to nod. Although they might die, their families would live on. Winning the war was all that mattered.

  ….

  Hui Yue was hitting himself when he saw the many archers coming his way. His eyes were filled with anger as he knew that it was impossible for him to send out his troops to deal with the archers, and although the opponents were fewer than they had been the day before, they were far more dangerous. Sending one arrow after another past his defenses, Hui Yue knew that there would definitely be more casualties today if he allowed this to continue. Instead, he activated his golden Wu Wei wings and flew into the sky.

  “Anyone who can fly, follow me! Pick off the archers and make sure to be careful. But get rid of those damn archers!” He yelled before he took to the front and flew up high in the air. He flew above the arrows and suddenly dove down picking up a human whom he brought with him into the air before he dropped the still living human into the sea of arrows. A ruthless expression was evident in Hui Yue’s eyes.

  Although he was human, and although he wished to inflict as few casualties as possible, these beasts were doing what they had been ordered to by Hui Yue, and now they were digging their own grave.

  One bird after another took to the skies and followed Hui Yue to help him in his attempt to kill the archers. One archer after another archer closed their eyes to never open them again, but just as Hui Yue thought he had the things under control he felt an imminent sense of danger.

  “F*ck!” He swore as he saw a massive arrow slam into the body of a One-Horned Eagle by his side. The arrow was strong enough to slam all the way through his body, and a surprised expression was evident in the bird’s eyes as he plummeted to the ground. His life was gone before he hit the ground.

  Looking to his side, Hui Yue found that the humans had found another four ballistae looking weapons, and the heavy arrows were slamming against the beasts in the skies. One after another fell to the ground as the arrows from the archers kept raining in the skies. Screams of the beasts could be heard, and Hui Yue grit his teeth in anger.

  “Beasts!” Hui Yue called out. His voice boomed in the skies as a flash of lightning followed rolling thunder. Rain started to pour down, making it harder for the archers to keep sending wave after wave of arrows at the beasts. Hui Yue had had enough, “Attack! Attack the humans and force them to retreat!” He yelled out loudly, and the beasts who were defending themselves against the rain of arrows transformed to their beastly forms. Some jumped across the ditch; others ran through their openings, but all the beasts rushed at the archers. But as soon as they left the confines of the defensive perimeter a wave of human warriors appeared with an attempt to overwhelming the beasts. Unfortunately, these humans were all weak with the strongest being a Duke. These experts were far weaker than the King and Emperor ranked beasts. The mist energy within all their beast cores was released, and flashes of light could be seen on the ground. The flashes were reflected by the skies lightning which descended onto the battleground charring beasts and humans alike.

  Hui Yue went to the ground and started fighting alongside the many beasts. His body changed to that of the wolf-man and his claws constantly swiped at the sea of humans in front of him. His teeth bared in a constant sneer. The humans were overrunning them. They came from the front, the sides, and the back to throw themselves at the beasts. They used their lives to drag them down so that one of them could manage a lucky strike and kill a beast.

 
Howling to the sky, Hui Yue saw how one human after another was slaughtered. Their corpses falling to the ground. The ground which was muddy from all the rain and blood. Rivers of blood appeared beneath the corpses and running through the battlefield.

  “Push forward!” Hui Yue yelled out, and the many beasts did as ordered. Taking a moment to look around, Hui Yue saw how one group after another had found their partners. The groups were working well together and ensuring that none of their members became overwhelmed. One step at a time the beasts managed to push the humans back. The archers had long since stopped their rain of arrows and threw themselves at the beasts. They all fought for their lives, fought to take at least one beast with them to their graves.

  Suddenly Hui Yue stood up, and his eyes narrowed as he gazed into the distance. The ground started to tremble, and he felt that something was coming. Knowing what warfare was like, he instantly guessed that a company of riders were on their way, and just as he came to that conclusion scaled horses appeared off in the distance. King ranked experts rode upon the horses and their weapons glistened in the rain reflecting the lightning.

  “Get ready!” He yelled out loud and all the beasts looked at the threat that was coming their way. Taking a moment, the entire army gathered up and found their groups they worked with. Although some of the groups now only had four experts, the majority still had five. With their backs against each other, their eyes stared sharply at the riders. Their faces slowly showed excited grins. This was the first time the entire army would be able to fight someone of their own strength, not just swipe away weaklings.

  Seeing that the riders were closing in on the beasts, the surviving foot soldiers rushed backwards, not staying to be trampled under the horses. “Gather up!” Hui Yue called, and all the beasts gathered closer to each other. Everyone’s eyes were focused on the horsemen. Hui Yue knew that he could call for the Saints to assist him in the battle that was to break out, however if he did so, they would be at a disadvantage. Even if the Saints did not do much, they would still have to use their Wu Wei on something other than fighting the Siban Empire’s Saints. Something Hui Yue could not afford.

  Currently, Hui Yue did not know how many Saints the empire had hidden behind the city walls and using his Saints this early was something he was not going to do unless absolutely necessary. Instead, he gritted his teeth and howled out loudly. He felt how both mist energy from his beast core and the golden Wu Wei flooded his meridians and exited his body as they merged together to form a massive wolf head which was growing larger and larger. Its color was a mixture of the red mist energy with golden streaks here and there; golden streaks from the Wu Wei which were mixed with the mist energy.

  The wolf head continued to grow. It grew and moved further and further into the skies until it was over fifty meters up in the skies. In total, it was thirty meters large and twenty meters above Hui Yue’s head. The size was utterly terrifying, so terrifying in fact that all the weaker experts were rushing away from the battlefield. All knowing immediately that just the shockwave created by this attack would be more than capable of killing them.

  Howling loudly, the wolf head above also howled, and the sound of the winds picked up. The entire area was filled with lightening strikes, and suddenly the wolf head no longer howled at the heavens above; instead, it was now faced the many humans on the grounds. The mouth opened once more, but no sound could be heard instead a massive shockwave left its mouth sweeping up all the experts in its way reducing them to nothing but a meaty paste. The massive amount of blood mixed with the ground making it even muddier.

  One shockwave was not enough, and the beast head constantly looked for more and more opponents. Every time it opened it’s mouth the weaker experts were reduced to nothing. After having removed all the lower ranked experts within range, Hui Yue moved the head just over him. He turned around and looked at the corps of riders that were rushing towards them. His red eyes had a cold gleam within them. Looking at the young man anyone could tell that he was merciless.

  “Eat!” Hui Yue said seriously as he pointed to the many humans and horses, and the head above him started moving. It moved swiftly towards the humans who were charging towards them as its red eyes shone with a murderous glint. The wolf head was as swift as the wind itself and met the soldiers riding on their horses. The wolf head opened its mouth and as soon as the beasts and their riders arrived near the mouth of the wolf. The energy released seemed to envelop the many riders, and as the energy vanished nothing was left behind, no beast nor human. Instead, this mist energy slowly merged back with the wolf head giving it an eerie white glow. This mist released a howling sound.

  Watching this, Hui Yue smirked. This attack was far stronger than what he had expected. It was an attack that constantly increased in strength the more souls it absorbed. It had just now grown so much in strength that Hui Yue started to feel in danger as the powerful strength was starting to tear his body apart.

  Chapter 73 – Recoil

  Seeing the wolf head constantly growing, Hui Yue could not help but smirk as he felt strength filling him. As soon as a soul was consumed by the wolf head, extra energy would enter Hui Yue, energy which was seemingly quite similar to that of mist energy when it entered his beast core.

  This strength was astonishing for Hui Yue. He felt his entire body shaking with immense strength, so he leaped forward rushing towards some of the riders who were still alive. While everything around him was affected by the shockwaves from the wolf mouth, Hui Yue could run through the wolf head built from his own energies with no problem. Looking at the many experts in front of him, he could not help but feel excited to smash into them. To see just how astonishing his newfound powers were, but he also felt a sense of urgency as the powers within him were starting to rip him to pieces.

  Hui Yue could feel it inside of him. His beast core was shaking uncontrollably, and Hui Yue felt sick to the stomach as he had a feeling that if just a tiny fraction of the energy were to enter it, it would shatter into thousands of pieces. As for what would happen to Hui Yue in that case, the white-haired young man had absolutely no idea.

  Gritting his teeth, he decided to try something different and with but a thought, his arms turned into front legs with paws, claws, and strong muscles. His legs quickly turned to hind legs, and his entire body now resembled that of a massive wolf. His senses all changed once again, and the heavy scent of blood was everywhere. The colors of the world had gone dim and was now in a grayscale, but even so, everything was far more vivid. The smallest wrinkle on the riders’ faces could be seen, and even the scent of fear was something that Hui Yue could pick up on. Knowing that his prey was already filled with fear, the red wolf could not help but bare his teeth in a grin as he knew that he would win this battle.

  Pouncing in front of the large wolf head, Hui Yue arrived in front of a green scaled horse with one horn. Its hoofs were not proper hoofs but instead had four claws. Its teeth were not those of a herbivore; these horses were clearly meat eaters.

  As soon as the horse saw the wolf approaching, it instantly charged towards the beast. It showed no signs of fear which a normal horse would have felt had it stood in front of such a massive wolf. The horse’s teeth were sharp, and they constantly tried to bite the wolf, but Hui Yue’s nimbleness had increased to unbelievable heights, and he swiftly dodged each and every bite from the horse. Feeling how energy was still flooding into his body, Hui Yue knew that he did not need to be sparse with his energy. One swipe after another appeared each followed by a red shockwave, and although its scales protected the horse, it was incapable dodge two swipes in a row. Both of them connected on its chest causing it to bleed from a rather long, deep wound.

  The horse let out a resounding neigh before it once more charged at Hui Yue. This time, its claw-like feet were at the front angrily trying to reach the wolf who once more elegantly managed to avoid them. Seeing that, the horse, although seriously wounded, intended to keep fighting as long as it could. Whether or not thi
s was due to loyalty, or simply because it was blinded by anger, Hui Yue did not know nor did he care. Because a blue thread of light appeared in front of the wolf, and at a speed so swift that the King on top of the horse was incapable of reacting, the blue thread wrapped itself around the rider. This instantly caused him to lose all the energy he possessed.

  Seeing the shock and disbelief within the eyes of the rider, Hui Yue knew that the small thread of blue light had done it’s job well. Now he focused solely on the horse. He jumped forward and opened his mouth as far as he could before he closed his jaws on the neck of the animal. Once more he tasted the fragrant blood. As a human, eating human blood was frowned upon, but as a wolf tasting blood was intoxicating. It made him want to savor it fully, to bite harder and taste the raw meat beneath the skin.

  Hui Yue almost lost himself to this astonishing taste, but just as he was about to give in to the pleasure a sharp pain arrived at his chest which caused him to look down. He saw his own blood flowing out. There was blood on the front leg of the horse, blood which, according to it’s scent, belonged to Hui Yue.