Rise of The Demon General

"You are getting this backward, human," Krassazh returned. "Today, you are our prey!"

Krassazh delivered a barrage of lightning punches, which Hai Di blocked. Hai Di felt the heaviness of the punches familiar. The realization came soon.

"This... You are the one who ambushed me fifteen years ago!!" Hai Di exclaimed.

"That I am," Krassazh admitted. He increased his punching speed. The two exchanged blows at close range.

Out of Krassazh’s two companions, who were locked down by Hai Di’s energy prison, Sirrixx was the one who broke free first, thanks to her higher cultivation level. However, she couldn’t help Krassazh because another Hai Di was blocking her.

This was Hai Di’s shadow clone. It could fight like a separate entity. Hai Di didn’t split his shadow clone into too many clones as he did when he fought Yao Ai, hence it was powerful enough to give Sirrixx trouble.

Crazukth also broke out of his prison not long after. Another shadow clone was waiting for him.

While the two were occupied by his shadow clones, Hai Di planned to defeat Krassazh quickly. Unfortunately, it was not an easy thing to accomplish. Krassazh’s Hyanid physique gave him strength and toughness to fight Hai Di on equal footing. Moreover, Hai Di had expended a lot of energy before Krassazh showed up.

"What exactly do you think you can accomplish by invading so far into our territory, insect?" Hai Di asked as he delivered a flurry of attacks. "You should know that as soon as your existence is made public, humans will band together to drive you out. Come to think of it, you will give me a good excuse to rally every human under my banner. None of you will be given the chance to return to the misty border."

"This is interesting. You are assuming you will live through this battle to lead the humans in the future battle," Krassazh returned. "Before this battle is over, you will fall. Humans will lose their protector and will have no choice but to negotiate with us to share the mainland."

"Don’t be absurd! No human will negotiate with disgusting insects like your kind."

"On the contrary, we have already negotiated with one of your kind a long time ago. How do you think we get to this stage?"

The statement made Hai Di rethink the series of events leading up to this. On the surface, the Cryanid invasion had happened too quickly. The Cryanids’ swarm might have the massive numbers to pull off a serious invasion, but what had allowed them to hit the heart of the Devotion Domain was a series of seemingly unrelated circumstances. Now that he thought about it, everything had been too convenient for the invasion. Did someone truly conspire with the Hyanid to bring about this result? If so, who was this traitor to humanity?

He would get to the bottom of this, but first things first. He must vanquish the enemies before him.

After several bouts of close-range melee, Hai Di understood he couldn’t score a quick victory this way. He opted for this method to conserve energy, but he understood he didn’t have the luxury of time. Hence, he disengaged and delivered a barrage of demon palms.

Krassazh was forced to retreat as he defended against the demon palms using an arcane art that infused his fists with gravity energy. Despite successful blocking, he could feel that the carapace protecting his arms had thinned due to the demon palms’ erosion. After blocking all those palms, he retaliated by flicking his fingers. Many grey pellets shot out.

Some of these grey pellets were bigger and faster. These bigger pellets weren’t aiming at Hai Di, though. They targeted the area around him. Those large pellets exploded midway, releasing many smaller pellets that were now aiming at him. All of a sudden, Hai Di was as if being surrounded by fireworks. Countless grey pellets targeted him from every direction.

"Child’s play!" Hai Di exclaimed. He spun, and a thick black fog radiated out. None of the grey pellets could punch through the black fog.

The black fog dispersed only after Krassazh cut through it with a lightning kick, which Hai Di blocked.

Krassazh wasn’t alone. Following him were many Cryanid Flies. Hai Di was reminded again that the enemy’s army surrounded him. He unleashed another black fog, which vaporized the Cryanid Flies.

As it happened, several Cryanid Ticks hid among the destroyed Cryanid Flies. Poisonous fumes were released upon their deaths. Hai Di refused to retreat despite the poison. He heaved, and a powerful wind blew the poison fume away.

The dispersed fume revealed a strange grey snake that lashed toward him. He was surprised. He didn’t sense this snake, and it was too close now! He resorted to using his left arm to block the attack. The grey snake turned out to be made of gravity elements. It coiled around his blocking arm before melting into the arm.

Hai Di’s arm wasn’t hurt by the attack, but it didn’t mean that the attack failed. He soon felt that his left arm had become unusually heavy. It took an effort even to lift it.

"Do you also think my Encumbering Snake is child’s play?" Krassazh asked. The Cryanid Flies and Ticks approached again to aid him.

"Hmph!" Hai Di harrumphed. He released his domain art. It consumed a lot of energy, but against many opponents, this move was the best.

The approaching Cryanids were annihilated by the black domain, while Krassazh felt his movements become sluggish, even after using his domain as well. Even when Hai Di delivered attacks using only his right arm, Krassazh had trouble keeping up.

Thankfully, reinforcement arrived. Sirrixx and Crazukth came with their domain arts active. They had managed to destroy Hai Di’s shadow clones. While the clones were powerful, they could be destroyed with one clean hit.

"Give it up, human lord! Your reign has ended!" Krassazh exclaimed.

*

Hai Lao saw his father’s predicament, but he couldn’t provide help. Ublaith was in his way. All the arrows he fired were destroyed by Ublaith’s weapon, which was a whip with serrated edges. Hai Lao had been firing arrows not only at Ublaith, but also to strike Hai Di’s opponents in the distance, but Ublaith’s whip covered a wide area. It destroyed any arrows Hai Lao discharged. None of those arrows got past him.

As for his siblings, Hai Bang and Hai Ying, they engaged the Cryanid King and Arrasixx. Arrasixx was only at the Beginning Supreme Stage. She was not Hai Bang and Hai Ying’s opponent, but she was an expert at long-range battle. She also used a bow like Hai Lao. Hiding behind the Cryanid King, she let the Cryanid King engage Hai Yang and Hai Bing while she disrupted the two humans from a safe distance.

Additionally, many Cryanids supported the Hyanids. Hai Lao, Hai Bang, and Hai Ying were the ones having trouble.

In his worry, Hai Lao didn’t notice a Cryanid Hivemind approaching. The Cryanid Hivemind ambushed him with a mental assault, which caused him a severe headache.

The headache slowed his responses. Ublaith managed to close in. The serrated edges of his whip squeezed each other and condensed. It became a long spear with spikes along its pole, which he thrust in Hai Lao’s direction.

Hai Lao tried to block with his bow, but the headache prevented him from blocking effectively. His bow was knocked aside, and the spear pierced his left arm.

"Hrghhh...!!" The pain forced his mind to focus again. He unsheathed a couple of small knives from his belt and threw them at Ublaith.

Ublaith dodged the knives, but Hai Lao’s Law of Pursuit enabled the knives to return and stabbed Ublaith in his back, preventing him from chasing Hai Lao.

Ublaith gritted his teeth. Thankfully, Hai Lao’s hastiness when throwing the knives didn’t let him channel too much energy. Ublaith’s thick carapace also prevented the knives from piercing too deeply.

Ublaith swung his spear, and it unfurled into a long whip again. "It’s over, human! You can’t use your bow with only one arm!"

Hai Lao dodged Ublaith’s whip. "That’s what you think!" He used his right hand to grip the bow and his teeth to pull the string. A large, dark arrow materialized following the pull. When he fired, the arrow was a thick beam of darkness.

Ublaith could sense that the dark beam was not to be underestimated. He dodged it, but the beam changed direction and came back at him. He used a movement art that let him glide at high speed, dodging the dark beam multiple times. Yet, the beam was persistent. It wouldn’t let him go. He even resorted to grabbing the nearby Cryanids and throwing them at the beam, but the beam tore at them without slowing down.

Ublaith understood that weak Cryanids were not enough to block the beam. Seeing no choice, he grabbed the Cryanid Hivemind that had helped him earlier and used it as a shield. The Cryanid Hivemind burst apart upon being struck by the dark beam, but the beam also stopped afterward.

Hai Lao was panting. Using the Doom Arrow consumed a lot of his energy, but he should be able to execute it a couple more times. He was about to use it again when he heard his father’s cry.

He turned and saw that while his father managed to behead one of the Hyanids and cut off the leg of another one, Hai Di also suffered a strong strike from the Hyanids. Hai Di’s chest had a long scar with blood pouring out of it.