Rise of The Demon General

When Amon came to the Northwest border for his mission, he planned to obtain the cooperation of the warlords currently fighting the Cryanid Plague. He figured that if he was to investigate the reason behind the Cryanid’s drive to invade the Mercy Faction, he would have no choice but to venture beyond the border.

From the tales he had heard about the misty border, it was not a place someone ventured into alone. While he had a hidden puppet army, or even if he had the luck of sneaking through the misty border without being preyed upon by powerful spirit beasts, he still had the Cryanid army to deal with. To investigate the Cryanids inside their nests, he would need an army filled with powerful cultivators just to survive.

However, a second option revealed itself during the battle outside Defunct Edge City. This option appeared when he heard the humanoid Cryanid speak human language. If a creature could be communicated with, then it could be bargained with.

Nevertheless, this second option presented many uncertainties and was potentially high-risk. If only Wan Luan or Ru Xou had agreed to cooperate with him, he would have stuck to his original plan. But since they rejected his request, he decided to brave the risk. If push came to shove, he would sacrifice his entire puppet army to cover his escape.

Unexpectedly, Xou Liang and his friends offered to accompany him. Their small team served him no purpose. He couldn’t utilize them for either his first or second options. He thought about chasing them away at first, but ultimately decided to let them tag along. He figured having a few extra expendable pawns wouldn’t hurt.

He was now making full use of his last expendable pawn.

"Sir Amon! How could you betray Her Ladyship’s trust? I will–Hrrghh...!!"

A sharp blade pierced out of Xou Liang’s chest. The blade came from one of Amon’s battle puppets behind Xou Liang. The battle puppets didn’t exude any aura. Additionally, they had been acting like they were forming a defensive circle. Hence, Xou Liang wasn’t alerted when one of them approached him from behind.

After he was stabbed from behind, two more battle puppets grabbed his arm. At the same time, Amon’s arm swung at him. A swordlight zoomed past his neck, and his head dropped from his shoulder.

"This should prove my determination," Amon told the humanoid Cryanids. "I am serious about working with your kind. Otherwise, why do you think I came all the way here for?"

The female humanoid Cryanid uttered, "Hmph! Even if you are serious, how can a weak human like you help us with our conquest of the mainland?"

"I can work from within to provide you with information and help you determine when and where to strike," Amon answered.

"Killing one of your kind does not necessarily serve as proof of your claim," the male humanoid Cryanid said. "For all we know, he might be an ignorant pawn who didn’t know he was being used. Your kind is known to sacrifice your own for trickery. You likely sacrifice him to gain our trust, only to stab us in the back later. Tell me. What benefit can you possibly get from helping us?"

"Did I not say I would give you only half of the land in this realm? The other half is for me. We will share this land," Amon answered.

The female humanoid Cryanoid laughed. Her laughter sounded weird and creepy.

After the laugh, she turned to her male counterpart. "Master Ublaith, let’s just kill this human. Why are we wasting our time?"

"Patient, Arrasixx," Ublaith responded. "It was the elder who told us to meet this man. While I don’t take him seriously, we must respect the elder’s words."

Ublaith looked at the broken battle puppet parts near his feet. He said, "I understand the humans have the expertise to make the automatons... Battle puppets, I believe they are called. This one can communicate with voice. My information gatherers told me that such an ability in a battle puppet is rare. This makes you an expert among your kind."

While Amon made the request, it was Zee Whang who installed the vocal component on the battle puppet. Such a component existed in the lower realm, but served nothing to increase the battle puppet’s combat capacity. Hence, it was rarely used.

Ublaith observed the battle puppets surrounding Amon. "Seeing that you have many more of these battle puppets, perhaps you are not as weak as your cultivation. Nevertheless, I still don’t see the value in allying with you. We will certainly not depend on whatever intel you offer."

"I see. Does this mean you reject my offer?" Amon asked.

"I want to... But my elder asked me to bring you to him. So, I will bring you to him."

"Hm... I refuse."

"It was not an offer."

Ublaith released his cultivation aura. Amon could sense the male humanoid Cryanid’s cultivation level then. While it was weaker than Yao Ai, the power was not too far. Amon estimated his cultivation level to be within the same Devil Realm as Yao Ai, probably the Overlord Stage.

’Shit,’ Amon cursed within.

He was ready to release his puppet army for a distraction, but he heard new incomers around him. From each of the entrances into the cavern, a Cryanid Whale emerged.

While Amon wasn’t afraid of a Higher Mythical Beast with his current power level, he couldn’t defeat such beasts in the blink of an eye. Furthermore, the Cryanid Whale had a vast body that covered almost the entire tunnel. He would have to slay them to get past them. With an Overlord Stage targeting him, he couldn’t afford the time to do that. In other words, he was trapped.

"I wish to abide by my elder’s wish, but if you resist, he won’t blame me for accidentally killing you," Ublaith said. "So, will you come with me or not?"

"... Alright. Lead the way," Amon replied. He stored all the battle puppets around him back into the black space ring.

Ublaith frowned at the scene but didn’t say anything. He turned and entered the tunnel he came from. Arrasixx gestured for Amon to follow Ublaith. Amon obeyed the instruction. Arrasixx walked behind Amon. The Cryanid Soldiers marched with them, forming a thick perimeter. There was no way Amon could flee.

Since the situation had come down to this, Amon resorted to trying to get close to his captors.

"By the way, I haven’t properly introduced myself. My name is Amon, and I occupy the Slayer rank in the Mercy Domain."

"We know. We heard what your friend called you," Arrasixx said curtly. "As Master Ublaith had said, we don’t care about humans’ territorial arrangements. You are all prey to us."

"What exactly is your kind? I never found any mention of beings like you in the history records of this realm. Are you an evolved strain from the Cryanids?"

"Don’t be ridiculous. We are different from these Cryanids. We call our kind the Hyanid."

"Arrasixx. No need to explain anything to him. Our responsibility is to bring him to Elder Xlasstazh. That’s all."

"You are right, Master Ublaith. Thank you for reminding me."

The two Hyanids stopped speaking afterward. Amon made a few attempts to communicate, but he was ignored. Since it was that way, Amon could only follow in silence.

Amon was taken through multiple turns. Anyone else would be confused if they had to go through such a maze, but Amon remembered every turn. All the tunnels they passed through were filled with Cryanids. They entered a cavern much larger than the one where they met. This cavern was also filled with Cryanids, but mostly the not-yet-born ones. It was filled to the brim with giant eggs of the Cryanids.

Amon looked at the ceiling. Cryanids Flies covered every inch of the ceiling. They watched vigilantly over the eggs. This was the Cryanid’s lair, and Amon believed there were more caverns such as this one.

He was proven right as they passed through several more caverns filled with the Cryanid eggs. Not long after, they entered a humongous cavern that made the previous ones look like small rooms. This colossal cavern was an underground city. No Cryanids were spotted inside this cavern. They stopped outside the entrance. This cavern was inhabited by a different species, the Hyanids.

Amon saw various Hyanids, old, young, and some were children. They did various activities, such as cleaning, trading, and moving around. The Hyanid kids were playing with others around their age. All of them exuded a cultivation aura, but at different levels. A majority were weak cultivators. If not for their distinctive appearance, he wouldn’t have been able to differentiate them from humans.

There was, however, one human activity he could not spot among these Hyanids. That activity was leisure. He could not spot a Hyanid who was motionless. Each one was doing something. No one was resting. If there was a trait that made the Hyanids inhuman, it was that they didn’t seem to possess the capacity to be lazy.