章 13: Desperate situation
Chapter 13
In a large but old western styled decorated room, five middle-aged men gathered around a large circular wooden table. Their faces are grim after reading the reports of the scouts they have sent in the forest.
"It seems that the beast tide would be arriving earlier than expected." A man wearing a red robe with a long sword on his back said after he heard the news.
"Our preparation this time is better than the last beast tide. All the clans in the town have been preparing for this." A fat man with large prayer beads dangling on his neck said while stroking his black beard.
"This time we will let the youngsters participate with the defense. This would be a valuable lesson for them in strengthening their resolve."
"Yes, but I hope that the young master of the Mo family would not cause trouble. I've heard that he's been out of control. If he continues being a spoiled brat, I don't mind sending Nao'er to teach him a lesson." The man in a blue Daoist robe emanating a powerful sword aura said while looking at the man next to him.
The Mo clan patriarch felt a little guilty and annoyed at the same time. He knows that he had spoiled his Great-grandson a little too much, but what can he do? He only has one grandson and the only heir of their clan.
"Elder Bing, thank you for your concern, but no need to worry about my family matters. I will just lock that smelly kid at home to prevent disaster in the incoming event." The patriarch of the Mo clan said while waving his hand.
The group just nods as everyone thinks that would be the best action to be taken. But the Mo clan patriarch curses deep in his heart. Although his great-grandson is a bit mischievous he is still young and would learn when he grows up. Who are they to reprimand him on how to raise the juniors of his family? Albeit he is angry he still shows a smiling face to everyone on the table.
…
Meanwhile deep within the forest, two people are being chased by legions of gray colored ants. The young man dashed from tree to tree with ease while carrying a young woman in his arms as if it was nothing. Every now and then the young woman would send some fireballs towards some flying ants that would draw close to them.
"Shin, the number of flying Rock Ants are increasing! Whatever you are planning you have to do it now!" Cherry Lao shouted.
Although she is confident in defending, still looking at the number of flying Rock Ants she felt depressed. Even if she exhausts all the energy she has it would not be enough to clear even half their number. Even if worst comes to worst she ignites her gold core and makes it explode. It would still not be enough to clear even half of them.
"I think to end this we have to kill the Queen." Shin Jiao said.
"No! That would make things worse. They would slowly destroy the forest and that would cause too many beasts to run amok and cause more destruction in the outside world."
"Then, what should we do then?" Shin Jiao asked. Although he already has a plan, he should check more information so that he could make some adjustment to it.
"Actually the one's making the colony clear out the surroundings is the old queen. According to the records, the new queen doesn't have the ability to control all the Rock Ants yet. But the old queen can, the goal is to harvest enough food for the next queen to serve as nutrients so that it would become stronger and also produce more Rock Ants and fill their colony. So if we eliminate the new queen, the old queen will go berserk. But if the old queen is killed, the new queen would just retreat back to the colony along with the rest of the Rock Ants. I don't know if the records are true." Cherry Lao explained.
Seeing that Shin Jiao is listening attentively, she continued.
"I heard a story that, there was once a nascent soul cultivator from the city of Er, who went and tried to kill the old queen. Although he was successful, he still lost both his arms this is because he found out that the old Rock Ant Queen is a level 6 beast," she said while looking apprehensive on Shin Jiao.
"What?! Then there is no hope in forcefully stopping this. The only option we have is to try our best to escape. Hmmm… okay, I hope this would work. Cherry, I want you to hug me." Shin Jiao said with a sheepish smile.
"You... We are in a desperate situation now. You… you're not thinking of doing… that. Right?" Cherry Lao said shyly.
"I… I'm not thinking about that. I mean… Just…" Shin Jiao stuttered at the misunderstanding.
Without saying a word he lifted her up, then grabbed both her legs and carefully wrapped them on his waist. As if by reflex, Cherry Lao suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck. The thought-provoking position they have made both their faces turn crimson red. But Shin Jiao forcefully regained his composure and began to tinker on some materials while running as both his hands are now free. Cherry Lao, on the other hand, is still feeling uneasy. She wanted to let go and fly by herself, but Shin Jiao's speed in dashing from tree to tree is as fast as her flying speed through the air. Plus since she is only at the primary stage gold core realm, she would consume a lot of her spiritual energy and would, in turn, become a burden to Shin Jiao. Although she felt shy, she realized that her life is still more important than her dignity. Well, they already have feelings for each other so she just accepted and enjoy the feeling.
"Cherry, don't space out!" Shin Jiao shouted as he quickly jumped and evaded the attack of a flying Rock Ant.
"Sorry… I… I was thinking of something." She said flustered and angry with herself for being too emotional.
"Here, take this… It's an energy shield. Use it to block some of their attacks and later when I say the command, you must adjust the size to maximum by pressing on the red button." Shin Jiao commanded while still running and tinkering.
Cherry Lao felt a little confused at his actions. All she can see is him making something by combing some metal, a beast core, and a crystal. Then after finishing them he just throws them on the ground.
"How is this a plan? He's just wasting a lot of materials… or are those failed ones? Is this his first time crafting something?" Cherry Lao felt confused at the random action of Shin Jiao.
"Shin… We don't have much time!" Cherry Lao shouted as she now cannot rest in firing fireballs as the number of flying Rock Ants have multiplied by hundreds. Luckily she is holding a shield and is being carried by Shin Jiao, if she is alone and escaping in this speed, even if she goes in any direction, she would just use up her spiritual energy. In fact, she would have already fallen a long time ago.
Although Shin Jiao is acting in a relaxed manner, he is busy mentally multitasking. He didn't know if the chain reaction would suffice in stopping the flying Rock Ants, as for the crawling ones, although they are fast and relentless they are easy to deal with.
Shin Jiao is now feeling a little fatigue after a long time running. He cannot count how many contraptions he has thrown as he was busy dashing through the trees, eyeing the flying Rock Ants, and crafting. This is the first true challenge he has faced so far in his life. One wrong mistake and he could lose his life and also Cherry Lao.
But no matter how hard a person tries to not make mistakes sometimes one cannot control everything. It was at this time, that Shin Jiao suddenly noticed that in front of them is a cliff. But before he realized it, a strong force has suddenly bumped them. In his moment of neglect, he didn't notice that Cherry Lao was already overwhelmed and was unable to push back the attacks anymore.
After being hit, both of them fell to the ground. Then all of a sudden in the corner of his eyes while they are falling, Shin Jiao saw silver flashes from afar. Then all of a sudden booming sound followed after.
"Cherry! Shield now!" Shin Jiao shouted with a slight panic tone.
Cherry Lao gritted her teeth as her hand is still feeling the recoil of the attack making it numb. She lifted the shield high up in the air, then she pressed the red button as instructed by Shin Jiao. While waiting for the shield to activate, her eyes suddenly grew wide in fear. As she saw a series of towering explosions of white smoke, where everything that the white smoke touches turn to ice. She saw the flying Rock Ants falling from above the moment they are hit by the white smoke. Although she felt relieved that the creatures were stopped a sudden dangerous realization hits her, they are in the range of the incoming explosions.
But before she knew it something blew up from below them and they were suddenly engulfed by the thick white smoke.
…
When Shin Jiao and Cherry Lao was running high atop the trees, down below all over the forest the beast of every kind is running as far as they could from the incoming wave of Rock Ants. There are some higher level beasts that stayed and wanted to fight against the wave of Rock Ants, but when the wave hits the beast not even its bones are left.
Meanwhile, at the boundary of the endless Daemon forest, long lines of countless cultivators are grouped systematically, forming a wall to face the beast tide. On the faces of each cultivator shows excitement and fear at the same time. They are excited to gain some beast core and carcass as according to their old rules, the number of beasts will be divided into the total number of cultivators. So since the beast tide number is into hundreds of thousands, it's like 10 times more than the number of cultivators present, there is a possibility that each one would gain at least 5 to 10 beast cores and carcass. Although sometimes this is unfair, still the town of Dis has been doing this kind of thing for hundreds of years now, so no one objects.
And of course there are still those who excel and kill more than their share, and they usually receive rewards from the town council.
"I can't wait to kill my first beast. I will exhibit my prowess this time and gain my status."
"Ha! A greenhorn, eh. I guess this is your first time to face a beast. Let me advise you, something lad. If you face a level 3 beast, I suggest you fight with the group and forget about honor and status, as you cannot use that… when you're dead."
"Ha, ha, ha. Hey, old man! Don't frighten the kids. They might piss their pants off."
"Senior brother, let's make a bet on who has the most kills."
"Junior sister, I'll protect you no beast would be able to hurt you I promise."
These are the conversation within the crowds as they waited for the signal from the scouts. As everyone was tense while waiting for the thing that they have been preparing for a year. Each has been taught how to follow the formations and the killing arrays to effectively defend and kill the beast wave.
Sometime later…
"Hey! What's going on? Why are there no beast wave coming? If I remember correctly they should have been here by now. The beast wave has never been late before." One of the scouts said while he surveys his surroundings.
"Yeah, this is too weird. Maybe they found another way and went to other towns. What do you think senior brother?" another scout also chimed in while looking for confirmation on their leader.
The three-man scout has been waiting atop the tallest tree in the area for hours now, still, the beast tide has not arrived.
"This is not normal, I have a bad feeling about this. Junior brother Jiang, report to the front lines that the coast is still clear. Junior brother Min you stay here, I will go ahead and see what's going on." The scout leader gave them their order.
There are actually many scouts in the area, but the three are the best of them all. So they are the one who usually spots the beast tide first. But no matter how they waited and scan the area, they found nothing.
After receiving their commands, each went on their way. The leader of the scout dashed from tree to tree using a lightweight technique. He noticed that he has already traveled for about an hour and saw a number of some beast in the area but those are calmly roaming around as if nothing is happening.
"What's going on here? We clearly saw this morning the flying of the red birds, which shows that the endless forest was disturbed. But I have traveled for 100 kilometers already still no traces of beast tide here. This is too baffling." The scout leader murmured to himself.
Then when he was about to turn back, he saw from behind him a flying figure appear. It was an old man in a red robe, he is in the late stages of the gold core realm. When he saw the old man the scout leader immediately cupped his hands and bowed.
"Greetings 4th elder!"
"What have you found?" The old man asked while his gaze is sweeping through the area.
"Reporting to the 4th elder. I found something strange, the beast in this part are actually calm and there are no traces of beast tide here."
"Yes, this is too strange indeed. You go back now, I will continue the investigation." The old man said as he floated to the air and continue going deep into the forest.
The scout leader immediately turns around and was about to run back when he noticed from the corner of his eye two figures running. As a scout, his eyesight is not like any ordinary cultivator, as he could spot any tiny object from miles away. Although the two figure was around 2 kilometers away from him, he was still able to spot them.
"Hmmm… cultivators? One of them seemed to be wounded, I need to check this out." The scout leader murmured as he quickly rushed to the direction of the people he saw.
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