Book 4: Near Blood – Chapter 147: Beast Race 2
Once the plan was set in place, the Heavenly Might Battalion’s movements began to grow at an even more unrestrained pace.
They withdrew most of their lower-level soldiers and only left behind a few small groups of elites that began to aggressively target Demonic Beasts and furiously attack them. They hunted these beasts relentlessly and harvested their Origin Crystals. At the same time, they sent experts to assassinate nearby Ferocious Race individuals, not giving them the opportunity to discover and report what was going on.
Without question, these activities were greatly aggravating the Beast Race, and groups of Demonic Beasts showed signs of gathering together.
In just two days, at the border of the middle of the Ferocious Race’s territory, a horde of Demonic Beasts were howling nonstop.
The human army didn’t have the ability to hunt any longer, because they were now facing a dense crowd of beasts that stretched for as far as the eye could see. These beasts were constantly howling, grunting, crooning, and uttering all kinds of strange sounds. They were so densely packed that it almost seemed like they were overflowing and piling on top of one another.
Demonic Beasts raced across the ground and flocked to the skies. All kinds of ferocious birds were soaring through the heavens, so much so that if they all spread their wings simultaneously, the earth would be covered to the point that not a single ray of light could pass through their plumage, making it as if nightfall had descended.
Li Chongshan sat in the Silvermoon Shuttle, watching the amassed beasts from afar. The scene of the wings blotting out the sun had shocked him quite badly.
“This might be the biggest Beast Wave that the Ferocious Race has ever experienced in the past thousand years.”
“It’s a large gift that we’ve left behind for them,” Cheng Tianhai added.
They all glanced at each other and laughed. This was the first time after they had entered the Ferocious Race’s territory that any of them had laughed freely like this.
“Look, they’re on the move now,” Chu Yingwan said as she pointed off towards the distance.
Everyone watched as the line of beasts began to advance.
The scene really did look like a massive ocean wave crashing towards shore down there. Now that they were on the move, the ground rumbled beneath their feet as they charged forwards one after another.
The large groups of Vicious Beasts were the first to start charging. They called out in a low voice reminiscent of a hunting horn as their powerful legs drummed up an intense vibration. There was an incredible number of them, and they came in all shapes and sizes — nearly a thousand unique species were present. The Beast Race didn’t distinguish between species when reproducing, so new species came about every day, and all kinds of strange amalgams were present amongst their ranks.
Behind them were large groups of low-tier Demonic Beasts that were responsible for controlling the movement of the Beast Wave at the most basic level. Even though these low-tier Demonic Beasts were only so-so in terms of strength, their intelligence was much higher than their Vicious Beast subordinates, making them an important relay point between the cannon fodder and the higher tiered beasts that were in command.
Behind them were the mid and high-tier Demonic Beasts. These Demonic Beasts served as the organizational backbone, and they commanded groups primarily composed of other Demonic Beasts. Actually, these groups were the main force of the Beast Race’s army. They didn’t make nearly as much of a commotion as the Vicious Beasts. Instead, they were calm and unruffled, and their pace was neither fast nor slow. Clouds of Qi revolved around them — Origin Energy clearly bending to their whims. Their footsteps were powerful and filled with confidence, making them feel somewhat like a human army. If you saw this scene, you would immediately realize why the Beast Race had the right to be at the very top of the food chain in this world.
Li Chongshan and the others weren’t able to see anything further back.
The Beast Wave was too large, and the endless horde of beasts made it impossible to peer past the horizon and see what was at the back even as the groups at the very front drew closer.
“Let’s go. If we don’t leave now, then we won’t ever be able to leave,” Shi Kaihuang warned.
Su Chen controlled the shuttle and left.
Cheng Tianhai sighed as he gazed at the wave of beasts. “Wouldn’t it be good if we could just eat them all?”
“One day, that will happen,” Su Chen replied with a slight smile.
Migu Altar.
Chalei stared at the sky aimlessly.
Standing on guard was a very lonely and boring thing. Most of the time, Chalei could only pass the time by counting the ants as they crawled by. One day, he had discovered an ant hive at the base of an old tree near the beacon, and gradually befriended the ants there afterwards. Every day, he would watch these ants hurriedly run back and forth, and would even occasionally toss some food to them just to watch them carry it away or fight over it with the nearby ant hive. This was his greatest source of entertainment.
Sometimes, Chalei thought about whether there was a god in this world; he thought that if there was a god, then he was probably like Chalei, looking down upon the mass of people on the continent. All the lifeforms here were probably like ants to him, busily bustling back and forth. However, there wasn’t much point to it other than to entertain the god. He wouldn’t help the lifeforms on Earth, but he might occasionally toss them some food or opportunities to entertain himself. However, he could also wreak devastation on them merely for entertainment’s sake as well.
To a divine being, everything was done for the sake of entertainment.
Chalei didn’t know if his thought process was right or not; he just knew that it was interesting to him. Actually, it was quite impressive for a Ferocious Race individual to have profound thoughts like this. But even the dumbest lifeform would become somewhat philosophical if they were to spend most of their time daydreaming everyday from boredom.
Today, nothing was different for Chalei. He sat in front of the old tree near the beacon and stared at the ants, totally bored out of his mind.
Suddenly, he noticed that the sky was turning dark.
What was happening?
Chalei lifted his head with curiosity. He watched as dark clouds seemed to rapidly advance towards his position.
No, those weren’t just dark clouds!
Chalei stared at the sky in a daze. He could clearly see the tens of thousands of ferocious birds flying through the air.
Heavens! How many birds were there in total?
They were so densely packed that they almost seemed to blot out the sun.
Beast Wave!
It was a Beast Wave!
Chalei finally reacted to the scene unfolding before him, and he hurriedly spun around to light the beacon fire.
The Ferocious Race’s beacons were specially constructed not to burn with physical flames but rather to shoot a beam of light made of Origin Energy into the sky. The beam of Origin Energy spread further and faster than a flame, which made it a much faster method for communicating information and commands.
Chalei’s responsibility was to light the beacons, and that was the only responsibility he would ever have. The same day that he completed his mission was the day he would die — there was no way for him to outrun those beasts.
However, Chalei was fearless. He had known what his fate would be from the very moment he had chosen to be a beacon guard.
Alerting his fellow Ferocious Race individuals was his sole purpose for existence and a testament to his fearlessness and courage. He was destined to enter the Hall of Heroes and be immortalized as an example and an inspiration for future generations.
He could die without any regrets!
In some sense, he had even hoped for this moment to come.
He ran towards the beacon, advancing courageously.
However, when he arrived at the beacon, he discovered that there were a few humans who had suddenly appeared next to the activation mechanism. At their feet lay a Ferocious Race individual.
“Nate!” he yelled.
“He won’t answer you,” a young human replied with a slight smile.
His smile was fleeting and his expression careless.
Chalei’s expression, however, was frozen.
Scheme!
This was all the humans’ scheme!
He stared viciously at that youth, then growled and charged forwards viciously.
Just as he was about to enter the human youth’s range, he suddenly changed directions and sprinted to the beacon as the inscriptions on his body lit up brilliantly.
He wasn’t afraid of fighting or of dying, but he knew that at this moment, lighting the beacon and alerting the rest of the Ferocious Race individuals was the highest priority duty.
Whoosh!
A cold blade light slashed through the air. Chalei’s body had been almost perfectly bisected.
Even so, his mutilated body continued to fly towards the beacon resolutely. Chalei’s gaze was focused as he stared intently at the activation mechanism in the middle.
Whoosh!
Another blade strike.
Chalei’s head went flying.
Even without his head, his will did not dissipate. Half of his body continued to fly forwards, and he raised his arm to activate the mechanism.
Just as he was about to activate the beacon, another human youth suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of the beacon.
He raised his hand gently and placed it on top of the activation mechanism, preventing Chalei from pushing it.
That was the last thing that Chalei felt.
Finally, his eyes closed forever.