Rise of The Demon General

After anxiously waiting for what seemed like hours, Xou Liang finally saw Amon walk out of the portal. Amon shut the box. The portal vanished then. The box itself disappeared soon after.

Xou Liang stood up and asked, "What now?"

"We continue our exploration," Amon answered.

"Hold!" Xou Liang exclaimed before Amon walked away. "I can’t agree to continue wandering around aimlessly with unseen dangers around us. You have these battle puppets. Make use of them. Have them scout the area ahead to ensure it is safe before we proceed."

Amon gave Xou Liang a stare for what Xou Liang thought was uncomfortably long. Finally, Amon answered, "Of course. In fact, I have already sent a few ahead to scout. There is a large empty cavern ahead that we can use to hide. We will stay there until my battle puppets find what we are looking for."

Xou Liang nodded. He was glad Amon wasn’t unreasonable.

Amon led the way. He turned left at an intersection. "Both ways lead to the cavern, but that one has a strong spirit beast guarding it. I lost contact with a battle puppet there."

Amon took several more turns. After some time, they arrived in the large cavern mentioned by Amon. Many large rocky terrains were scattered around the cavern, providing excellent hiding points. However, they were unsure if the spirit beasts shared their disadvantage of having their cultivation senses dulled. If it weren’t the case, hiding would instead backfire on them. The spirit beast could approach them without them noticing.

Amon countered this by summoning more battle puppets and placing one at each of the cavern’s entries. He, of course, swept the cavern first to make sure no spirit beast was already inside there.

Next, he called Yuka out, who marveled at the energy in the surroundings before she pointed in a direction. She vanished again soon after. Amon summoned more battle puppets and sent them out to scout in the direction Yuka had indicated. Afterward, he sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.

Xou Liang was astonished at the number of battle puppets Amon could conjure. He didn’t understand how Amon achieved that feat. Seeing Amon relaxing by cultivating eased him as well. He looked around first to ensure the battle puppets were stationed at each entrance. After ensuring that, he joined Amon in cultivating.

*

Several instances of spirit beasts entering the cavern happened during the long hours of waiting. Thankfully, none were as strong as the Primeval Scortaur. Amon reacted after being warned by the guarding battle puppets. Xou Liang didn’t have a connection with those puppets. He reacted when he saw Amon act.

The only time they were almost caught unaware was when a burrower spirit beast appeared. It was the wide-faced spirit beast they had encountered on the surface before. They heard a soft rumble before the ceiling crumbled. Three of such spirit beasts came at them.

Amon had already felt the danger before he heard the rumble, so it was not a problem for him. As for Xou Liang, he was glad the burrowing spirit beast came at them from the ceiling instead of the ground. He had time to move thanks to the distance between him and the ceiling.

The spirit beasts themselves were weak. They were not a menace if their surprise factor was taken out. Amon and Xou Liang swiftly defeated the three spirit beasts.

After almost a day of waiting, Amon finally said, "Found them."

"The humanoid Cryanid?" Xou Liang asked.

Amon shook his head. "The cryanids, but if those bugs are around, their masters should not be far. However, there are too many of them. I can’t have my battle puppets go in any further without disturbing them."

"So... What should we do?" Xou Liang asked. He hoped Amon didn’t ask them to cut through the army of Cryanids to get to the humanoid Cryanids. Even if the ones barring their way were only the weakest Cryanid soldiers, they would still run out of energy before they could get to the enemy leaders.

Amon glanced at Xou Liang. Xou Liang felt weird from that glance.

"I want to try something with my battle puppets. We will continue waiting here like now," Amon said.

Xou Liang didn’t object. He was glad Amon didn’t suggest fighting through the Cryanid horde.

*

A few hours passed, and Amon stood. He told Xou Liang, "Do not attack."

Xou Liang was confused by Amon’s order. He was still wondering what it was all about when he saw the battle puppets in the direction Amon was facing move away from the entrance. Footsteps were heard from inside the tunnel. The footsteps became louder, and two figures emerged from the tunnel. Both had the appearance of humanoid insects.

Xou Liang became tense. He heard Amon’s voice again. It sounded sterner this time. "Do not attack."

Xou Liang didn’t act, but he remained tense. He watched the two humanoid Cryanids, who stopped near the cavern’s entrance. He knew these two were not the same humanoid Cryanids as the ones they had fought when the Cryanids attacked Defunct Edge City. He knew this not because of their appearance. He couldn’t differentiate one humanoid Cryanid from the other. They looked the same to him. What made him sure that these two were different humanoid Cryanids was their bearings.

While Xou Liang’s cultivation senses were dulled, he could tell that both humanoid Cryanids were stronger than the ones they had fought.

The one standing behind, who seemed to have the figure of a female, actively released an aura of a Beginning Supreme Stage cultivator, allowing them to sense it. It was probably an attempt to intimidate them. As for the one who stood at the front, he had an aura that Amon and Xou Liang couldn’t grasp, but even with their dulled cultivation senses, they were sure that this male humanoid Cryanid was stronger than his companion.

The two stared at Amon and Xou Liang in silence.

This silence was dispelled by the marching sound of thousands of feet. Countless red eyes lit up the tunnel behind the two humanoid Cryanids. These red eyes revealed that they were Cryanid Soldiers.

The tunnel behind the humanoid Cryanids was not the only one from which Cryanid Soldiers crawled out. Many more emerged from the other cavern’s entrances.

"We... We are surrounded...," Xou Liang said anxiously.

The battle puppets that kept watch over the entrances moved back to near Amon. They formed a perimeter before Amon and Xou Liang.

The Cryanid Soldiers stopped advancing after entering the cavern, except for two behind the humanoid Cryanids. These two crawled forward, carrying junk on their backs. They dropped the junk in front of the leading humanoid Cryanid before returning to the back.

It took Xou Liang a few seconds to realize the junk dropped by the Cryanid Soldier was a battle puppet’s broken parts.

The leading humanoid Cryanid finally spoke, "This automaton said you want to negotiate. Personally, I don’t find the need to communicate with unevolved apes like your kind, but our wise elders thought differently."

"Ne–Negotiate...?" Xou Liang asked confusedly. He turned to Amon with a questioning look.

Amon ignored Xou Liang. His eyes were fixed on the humanoid Cryanid who spoke.

"Why do you wage a war with the Mercy Faction?" Amon asked.

"Mercy Faction?" The humanoid Cryanid uttered a weird voice that sounded like a chuckle. "We don’t give a damn about the apes’ territorial names. You are all the same to us."

Amon nodded. "I suspected as much. "Your army kidnapped many humans in this war. Before the war, the Cryanids also captured many humans in secret. Is that the purpose of this war? Do you desire the humans for something?"

"You don’t need to know why we want your kind for. All that is to know is that you are our enemy, and we will not stop until we take all the land in this Demon Realm from your wretched hands."

Amon could hear a deep hatred in the humanoid Cryanid ’s voice.

"If your wish to talk with us is to persuade us to stop our invasion, then you have wasted your time. You came all the way here for nothing, but don’t worry. Your family back home will soon experience the power of the brood. As for you, this will be your..."

"I will help you."

The humanoid Cryanid stopped his speech. He was not the only one surprised by Amon’s words. Xou Liang looked at Amon with a face showing disbelief.

"I will help you," Amon repeated. "But I will not give you all the land in this realm. Half. We will share this land."

"Sir... Sir Amon... What are you talking about?" Xou Liang asked.

Amon ignored him. His gaze remained on the humanoid Cryanid. "You should have experienced it in this war. The human army is not something you can defeat. The ones fighting your army are just a small fraction of the human force in this realm. The reason you have not been wiped out yet is that we have our own infighting. If you push us too far and force us to band together, even hiding inside this misty border won’t save your kind. If you are not delusional, you should understand the truth in my words. You can’t win this war alone, but with my help, you can."

"Sir Amon! What are you doing? This is treachery! I won’t stand by and let you do this!" Xou Liang exclaimed.

"Hehe," the humanoid Cryanid laughed lightly. "It seems that your partner doesn’t agree with you."

Amon grinned. "He is not my partner."