Chapter 718

Chapter 718: Scarlet Blood Dragon Rider

The sun set over the mountain range.

“Kill!”

The clamor of fierce combat echoed beyond the valley. Everywhere, members of the Chi Clan fought against demons with their weapons.

As night approached, hundreds of demons gathered outside the valley, unable to resist the temptation of flesh and living souls, began moving closer.

But apart from the archers hastily assembled—about five hundred strong—there were no other long-range attack methods available. The sporadic shots from these archers were as ineffective as scratching an itch to these vicious demons.

Seeing this, the demons that surged out from the crevices of the earth grew even more ferocious, starting to assault the low and weak ramparts.

Boom!

After a dull thud, a deep black, rock-covered wet lizard wormed its way through the rampart. Its scales, rough and pitted like stones, easily shattered and pushed aside the city wall as it moved.

In the chaos, some members of the Chi Clan were caught off guard and directly bitten by the Sequence 6 Black Tide Lizard, swallowed into its mouth. Its sharp, dense teeth were like iron saws, effortlessly grinding the living beings into fine bones and meat.

Blood mixed with saliva dripped from the sides of its mouth. Soon after, this lizard searched for its next target.

In this melee, such scenes were just the tip of the iceberg. Some giant snakes with human face patterns and evil vultures with brown-gray iron feathers charged into the rampart, taking lives at will.

In the camp outside the valley, red demons, howling black dogs, and three-faced ghost apes—among many other demons—ran about, pursuing any life they could see.

To them, these fresh, tender souls were like delectable dishes, incredibly tempting.

“Fall back! Retreat into the valley behind!” A black-clothed man wearing a ghost mask stood on a high platform, shouting loudly to call the remaining forces to retreat.

After shouting, this demon-slaying envoy jumped down from the platform, drew his long knife, and killed several demons chasing after him, buying time for others.

For a moment, the camp was filled with shouts and clashes, interspersed with the howls of demons. On the ground lay the corpses of both sides, black and red blood flowing everywhere.

Both the Chi Clan and the demons practiced the Necromancer Sequence, making their battles exceptionally brutal. Sometimes, even if they were physically incomplete, they might not die immediately but continue fighting.

A sharp long knife pierced into the eye socket of a ghost ape in front, and with a twist of the wrist, it was quickly pulled out, dragging along red and white substances. A descendant of the Chi Clan’s military gate fought at a critical node in the camp, struggling to block various demons. Beside him was a group of comrades he could rely on.

They all wore wooden masks and wielded various weapons, exuding surging Nine Yin demonic energy. Compared to the demon-slaying envoys from other villages and towns, those from the valley were stronger and more closely knit. They had grown up together since childhood and experienced numerous battles together.

“Heh.” One of the burly men panted heavily, dragging a large hammer on the ground. Whenever encountering demons with tough scales that were hard to kill, he would step forward and use this massive hammer to “open” their defenses.

“Quickly evacuate everyone. Let’s slowly retreat.” A thin, tall black-clothed person noticed fewer people around the camp and more demons filling the area, calling out. This brought a sigh of relief to everyone.

At this point, the night was deep, and it seemed to be past midnight.

Seeing them about to push into the valley, a particularly strong giant ape ran out among the demons. It had three faces on its head, one crying and one laughing on each side, and two more faces on its shoulders—one angry and baring its teeth, the other terrified and screaming. In the dim light of the fire, it looked quite terrifying.

After this special Sequence 6 appeared, it leaped onto the high platform, struck its chest with great force, producing a sound like a drum, causing intense tremors. Some nearby weaker demons were knocked unconscious, while the black-clothed demon slayers not far away felt their hearts pounding violently.

With the giant ape’s movements, the demons that had been wandering and feeding on corpses at night turned their attention towards it.

Seeing this, the giant ape became even more excited, opening its blood-stained mouth wide on its shoulder faces, and shouting. Then, it grabbed a stone beside it and threw it towards the entrance of the valley.

The stone hit the sturdy wooden fence, creating a dull sound, raising some dust before falling.

Next, the giant ape pointed and gestured inside the valley, emitting strange cries, as if inviting everyone in, saying there was something delicious inside.

Thus, the originally scattered demons gradually

They should come over, starting to converge here.

“Damn it!” The masked black-clothed leader gritted his teeth, pulling out a short knife from his waist and forcefully throwing it towards the giant ape in the distance.

The short knife sliced through the air, disappearing in an instant in the darkness.

But unexpectedly, this strong gorilla caught the short blade with agility and snapped it with force. After catching it, it proudly opened its mouth wide, revealing blood-stained teeth, fully displaying its mockery.

Seeing more and more demons at their side, this small team of ten ghost slayers also gradually retreated under the Gate of the Abyss. At this moment, some archers on the tall battlements were shooting arrows, covering their retreat into it.

The gate slowly closed, then a crossbeam thicker than a person was placed across it, and rocks were continuously piled up, blocking this difficult-to-defend exit.

Now, the Abyss was nearly ten times more crowded than a few days ago, filled with people everywhere, huddled in this narrow valley. Those closest to the inner side were women and children, while part of the elderly and young adults were outside. Further out were many older but still strong individuals.

The long night stretched on, with only a few fire pots burning. At this moment, everyone held their breath, listening to what was happening outside.

Soon after, there was a noisy banging sound from the gate, which seemed to be various demonic beasts trying to break through.

In the sky above, dark figures kept circling, staring at the densely packed crowd below, looking for an opportunity to strike.

Near the shrine, several blazing fire pots illuminated several wizards and priestesses in splendid robes standing there. Although their strength wasn’t great, mostly only reaching tiers three or four, when they gathered together, countless cold, ghostly souls swirled around them. Even the flying demonic beasts in the sky were somewhat wary of them.

Despite these demonic beasts being part of the Necromancer Sequence, they were not of the same clan and had no familial ties, so naturally none of them wanted to be the first to be targeted by the concentrated fire of the people inside the valley. Thus, the situation remained at a stalemate for now.

However, as sounds continued to come from the gate, the people’s mood in the valley sank deeper.

Will we die today?

At this moment, many people couldn’t help but start thinking about this question. Some of those who were sad and heartbroken even knelt down and cried. They stood quietly in the valley, beginning to sing the ancient and desolate tune from the mountains at dusk.

This tune was originally sung when going up the mountain to cut wood or farm, meant to inform the family that they had safely reached the other side of the mountain.

If the tune suddenly stopped or disappeared one day, it would mean that the person entering the mountain had encountered an accident, and instead of calling friends and family to rescue them, it served as a warning to everyone not to come to this mountain again.

Time slowly passed until a hint of white appeared on the horizon.

The gate at the entrance of the valley still occasionally shook with impact, and some demons outside let out low growls before turning their bodies and constantly slamming against the sturdy gates, causing dust to fall from the walls.

Listening to these increasingly closer and oppressive roars, some people in the valley began to cry softly. Others stood silently in place, gripping their weapons tightly, but the nervous sweat made them loosen their grip repeatedly, calming their breathing.

Fight? Now they could hardly fight off any of the demons. If the gate opened, the weak families behind would probably all perish.

Flee? The mountains at dusk were barren and had no cover; now they were in the abyss and could flee nowhere. They would probably be pecked by the circling vultures overhead once they left the valley.

With no way out and no hope, the nearly 300,000 members of the Kui clan could only huddle in the abyss, waiting slowly, listening to the gradually clearer low growls, sinking into despair, awaiting the final moment.

Just as everyone saw the gate loosening and could glimpse the hideous demons through the cracks, a commotion arose from outside.

Immediately after, a loud cry echoed among the crowd.

“Quick, quick look, look up in the sky!” someone shouted in shock.

In the sky above, several rank-6 evil vultures that had been circling encountered a much stronger opponent.

One by one, crimson dragons with wings spanning nearly ten meters soared through the air. There were sixteen of them, each ridden by a knight clad in gold-copper armor. They were the Dragon Knights from the Evening Abyss Province, each a rank-5 existence, and their crimson dragons were the rank-5 in the Dragon Sequence—Red Scale Fire Dragons. Although their numbers were few, they were the most elite fighting force in the Evening Abyss Province.

These dragons glided through the sky, their scales reflecting vivid colors in the morning sunlight, with red light flowing between them like flames, covering the dragons’ bodies.

As these Dragon Knights flew through the sky, the Red Scale Fire Dragons spread their wings and rose, forming a massive triangle horizontally, covering the narrow sky above the abyss.

Seeing this, these rank-6 necromancer sequence evil vultures also rushed forward, letting out sharp cries.

The sound was so deafening that it seemed to shatter the eardrums of those around.

Many members of the Chi Clan in the valley turned pale upon hearing this, and some even fell to the ground convulsing and died. To counteract the shrill cry, some wizards joined forces to cast a spell, creating a thin light barrier momentarily covering the valley, blocking out external sounds.

But the battle in the sky had just begun.

The red-scaled fire dragon spread its powerful wings, carrying its dragon rider higher and higher into the sky, leaving the vicious vultures behind. Then they began to turn their bodies.

Under the thin azure sky above, these elite dragon riders raised their exquisite and thick lances, aiming one by one at the vicious vultures below. Subsequently, the intricate patterns on these lances began to glow one after another, spreading from the handle towards the sharp cone tip.

Thus, these dragon riders wielded four-meter-long blazing lances, together with the formidable fire dragon, diving down from high above.

As the lances and the dragons streaked across the sky, long trails of flames followed. At the very top of these flames, right at the tip of the lances, the heat was as intense as white-hot metal, distorting the surrounding air and vision.

With this synchronized dive, their forms rapidly plummeted from the sky, breaking through layer upon layer of air waves, finally turning into crimson shadows slicing through the heavens.

In the end, these dragon riders collided with the vultures ascending from below. But the clash ended the instant they made contact.

The blazing crimson lances directly pierced through the heads of these Level 6 vicious vultures, tearing them apart into countless fragments. Whether it was the hard bones, sharp iron feathers, or sharp claws, they were all shattered by the surging fiery impact, turning into a shower of flame ashes falling from the sky.

This was the ace card of the House of Plantagenet when they once campaigned against the Five Phoenix Kingdoms, dealing with all sorts of strange enemies and demons, which ultimately gave them the confidence to pacify the land. And in the homeland of dragons, the House of Plantagenet, the Dragon Sequence was undoubtedly the first sequence.

The battle in the sky ended in an instant; the scattered flesh and flames fell into the valley below. Some wizards hurriedly summoned Nine Yin Dao spells to extinguish the high-temperature flames, preventing collateral damage.

Then, the Chi Clan members in the valley watched the dragon riders soaring in the sky with complex emotions, despite their awe-inspiring and powerful presence.

To outsiders, these dragon riders were the pride and honor of the dynasty, coming to rescue them. But to the Chi Clan, these were the enemies who had defeated their ancestors.

During the war that led to the downfall of the Chi Kingdom, the current dynasty deployed tens of thousands of crimson dragon riders soaring in the sky. On the day of the decisive battle, they charged through the sky, under the leadership of the generals, repeatedly diving and harvesting the combat strength of the Necromancer Sequence fighters. Eventually, they burned all the mountainside to ashes, countless palaces and pavilions turning to dust and disappearing.

And what vanished was not only wealth, but also the knowledge, history, secrets, and cultivation techniques of many members of the Chi Clan. As a result, later generations lost their lineage, and the Chi Clan gradually declined, eventually struggling to huddle in this harsh land.

Therefore, although these Chi Clan members felt grateful for the rescue by the dragon riders, there was also a faint sense of humiliation, making their expressions complex.

“Thank you for the dynasty’s assistance.”

A wizardess dressed in black robes slowly emerged from the shrine, holding a white silk ribbon with gold embroidery in both hands, bowing deeply. She was Granny Ge Luo.

Although these members of the Chi Clan were not subjects of the dynasty, the shrine in the valley had formal recognition within the dynasty, and Granny Ge Luo was indeed a subject of the dynasty.

Seeing the elderly wizardess appear, these arrogant dragon riders stopped circling and slowly descended. Those in the valley retreated to make space.

Ten or so dragon riders dismounted from the red-scaled fire dragons, slowly approaching the shrine. The golden armor on their bodies was exquisite and solemn, possessing a unique beauty, and the scarlet capes behind them added to their majesty.

Upon reaching the open area before the shrine, these dragon riders were surprised to see Granny Ge Luo’s imperial decree scroll. They did not expect her to come from a prominent family in the Huaxu Continent, yet she remained steadfast in such a barren wilderness. This admiration arose in their hearts.

“Greetings, Lady Zi Qiu Ge Luo. We are here on the orders of the Governor to provide rescue assistance. We apologize for any delay.” After speaking, they bowed deeply and then stood up.

“Rest assured, Lady Ge Luo. The Xiyou army is already on its way and will arrive soon,” they continued.

“That’s good to hear,” Granny Ge Luo sighed with relief.

On the desolate plains dozens of miles away from the valley, thousands of demons surged forward, and a well-organized army formation slowly unfolded.

For a moment, the wind howled, horses neighed, and the battle was imminent.

(End of Chapter)