Chapter 436: Capturing the Sura BarracksThe sura general shouted again, "We're members of the sura! Listen up—if you head any closer, we'll attack you!"
The sura troops behind him all cackled. "General, it doesn't look like they're going to listen to us! We should strike first, I say!"
The sura fighters couldn't wait to strike. "Let them have a taste of our strength!"
"They're nothing more than a motley group of fools, arrogant enough to think that they can defeat the sura! We'd better teach them a lesson or two."
"We'll be able to deal with them in no time at all. General, there's no need to worry so much—we aren't so weak that we won't be able to teach them a lesson."
Opposite them, Zhang Lie commanded, "Charge forward and slaughter them all!"
His forces roared out as they charged forward, led by a vanguard of rock giants. The Yeluo and humans rushed out behind them, and the crag eagles attacked from above.
The enraged sura general mimicked his actions. "Troops, charge!"
However, his indecision had cost him the battle. The rock giants shot forward with a speed that belay their bulk, knocking aside and steamrolling whatever sura troops were in their way.
The sura found their weapons completely ineffective against the rock giants.
Watching this display, Zhang Lie finally understood why it was that the nomadic rock giants were able to terrorize the entirety of the second realm, why they didn't fear even the sura. The rock giants were killing machines on the battlefield. Their armor was impenetrable, their bulk and strength was massive, and even if their limbs were sliced off, they could be regenerated from the earth itself.
"They're just like mechas!" Li Feng praised.
Indeed, their bodies seemed almost to be gold-plated, they had tremendous strength, they weren't worried of any injuries, and they had a core nestled deep inside them. Except for their inability to fly and their lack of weapons, they could pass for a mecha—no, they were stronger than any mecha, because mechas couldn't self-regenerate, but the rock spirits could.
The mechas—no, the rock spirits—surged forward, battering down any sura that got in their way.
The chief of the Yeluo shouted, "We can't lose to those rock-brained fellows!"
The Yeluo all began throwing vials at the sura, which exploded within their midst and diminished their physical abilities.
The sura fighters reacted with consternation. Their bodies were resistant to all sorts of toxins and poison, but the ones that the strange bronzed fighters had tossed at them did seem to have a significant deleterious effect.
"Charge forward with me!" Su Hong yelled out, leading a squadron of human fighters deep into the sura lines. The crag eagles coordinated with them and dove down into the midst of the sura, causing confusion and no small amount of disturbance in their ranks.
The sura general had hardly expected these alien races to be so coordinated and impactful. "These troops came from that direction..."
The only forces in the sura kingdom that could stand up against them were, the general thought, the bloodwinged dragon riders of Xuechi. He could hardly have known that it was these exact forces that had completely eradicated those riders. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NʘvᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
The sura fighters had no choice but to fall back after being so soundly defeated.
The sura general roared as he unsheathed his blade, gleaming with blood-red energy, and sliced at the nearest rock giant, whose armor gleamed faintly with a red sheen.
The sword strike left nothing but a faint white mark on the rock giant's armor, which vanished almost instantly. The chief of the rock spirits announced, "I, vanguard of Renhuang, shall be your opponent!"
Zhang Lie considered his pronouncement speechlessly. He had never given him that title or that role!
The rock giant slammed a fist down on the sura general and crushed him into a pancake.
The result of the battle was obvious; the rock giants and the Yeluo's potions made quick work of the sura.
None of the sura survived the battle. Those who had made the greatest contribution were undoubtedly the rock giants. As a result, they claimed all the weapons that the sura forces possessed. After the battle, they sat down in the field and began consuming them ravenously.
Zhang Lie glanced at the map that he had found within the general's tent. "We've successfully exterminated one of the sura's barracks. Let's keep going."
They headed toward the next closest marked point on the map.
The rock spirits were all very happy—they simply had to destroy a swathe of powerless sura, and then they could snack on their weapons!
For the rock spirits, regular rocks were like plain rice, whereas high-quality and precious ores and minerals were like meat and vegetables. Gems were candy. The sura fighters' weapons were forged from high-quality ore and were essentially delicacies. No rock giant would tire of consuming them.
After consuming all the weapons in their vicinity, the rock spirits' armor had all become gold- and steel-plated, and they seemed far stronger than before.
Zhang Lie beckoned his forces forward, deeper into enemy territory. Their target was the capital of Xuechi. There was a giant fortress along the way from the barracks at which Zhang Lie was located to the capital itself, and it blocked the most direct path forward.
The sura in the fortress quickly noticed the troops from Renhuang—Zhang Lie had no intention of hiding or taking a detour, and they were marching in plain sight.
"It looks like... there's an army coming our way?"
"What sort of army?"
"It looks like a number of alien races cooperating to invade. Quick, inform the commander!"
The commander dispatched a number of fighters up to the watchtower to identify the targets. He didn't make a move himself; a group of alien fighters wasn't enough to necessitate or be worth his involvement. Instead, he sent his deputy, Shi Yuan.
Shi Yuan glanced at the approaching forces from afar and counted, "A few hundred steel giants, a few hundred birdmen, a few hundred bronzed fighters, along with three thousand or so humans. Five thousand in all."
Beside him, a sura fighter asked, "Are they here to invade?"
"Yes, I expect so."
"How can you be so certain, Deputy Commander Shi?"