Chapter 781: Another Proof of KingshipThe king of the bearmen glanced at the lotus flowers that surrounded him. He shook his head. "I have to admit, human warlord, that you're a strong opponent and worthy foe, but it's not as easy as you think to kill a king of the realm."
Fluctuations of spatial force surrounded the king of the bearmen and shielded him.
This world belonged to the bearmen, and their king could easily manipulate the world. If he wanted to leave, no one would be able to stop him, even if the king of the bearmen was still a novice with regards to the manipulation his authority afforded him.
In particular, he only had a weak understanding of space, and he was unable to teleport himself in the midst of battle like certain other kings.
Even so, Yang Ze, who wasn't particularly skilled with spatial manipulation himself, wouldn't be able to stop him. Unlike Zhang Lie, he wasn't able to halt or interrupt the king mid-teleportation, but he had predicted that the king would make use of such an authority to escape.
"Right, didn't you want to see your kin? All of them, along with the champion, are right here." Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NƟvelFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
Yang Ze tossed out a pile of heads from his extra-dimensional storage, spilling them all over the floor.
The largest among them was a head the king of the bearmen could recognize at a single glance: that of the bearmen champion.
.
The champion's skull was missing a few patches, and wooden stakes were stuck haphazardly over it.
Yang Ze smiled. "I used it as a base for some handicraft. You don't mind, do you?"
The king of the bearmen was immediately enraged. He regretted that the bearmen warriors had all perished, but it was only the natural course of events. However, the fact that those same warriors had had their bodies mutilated after death...
"I'll kill you!" The moment before the king's teleportation concluded, he forcibly terminated it—only to realize that he had been caught in Yang Ze's trap.
"Well, goodbye!" Yang Ze snapped his fingers, detonating the lotus flowers all around them. Even if the king wanted to leave now, it would be impossible.
Forcibly teleporting away would only spawn a spatial rift, one which would kill him instantly.
Yang Ze's trick at that crucial moment had paid off completely.
Back when Zhang Lie had spent the entire night drinking with the members of Team Zenith, he had mentioned that kings of the realm could make use of the innate authority of their station to teleport.
As a result, defeating a king of the realm was difficult, and killing one was even more so.
Yang Ze understood that he had to find a way to prevent the bearmen king from leaving.
Fortunately, he knew that the bearmen were a passionate race, but that would also prove to be the bearmen's downfall.
"Despicable human!" the bearman king roared out, moments before he was swallowed up by ten thousand lotus flowers in full bloom.
The destructive ability of those lotus flowers far outshone that of his other abilities, and the world itself seemed to shake so profoundly it felt almost as though it were tearing itself apart.
As the explosions interacted with one another, the ebullient water-attuned genetic energy resulted in even more chain explosions, annihilating the trees in the vicinity. Even Yang Ze, who had leapt up to avoid the worst of the explosion, was unable to avoid it entirely.
However, that Yang Ze was only ever a reflection created by [Mirrored Refraction].
The real Yang Ze was far further away. He had predicted that the simultaneous detonation of ten thousand lotus flowers would create a stupendous explosion, but the force of that explosion was even stronger than he expected. Even from far afield, Yang Ze could sense the aftermath of the explosion.
He hurriedly turned his back on the forest and ran off into the distance, but too slowly. A shockwave bowled him over, causing him to stumble and fall. He patted the dirt off his clothes, along with the leaves on his head.
He grumbled, "Damn it, I hit myself with my own attack! If I were any slower, I might have become the first hunter to kill himself with my own attack..."
Fortunately, there wasn't anyone around to see his disgraceful state.
Yang Ze turned back to see how much destruction he had wreaked, only to suck in a gulp of cold air. The forest he had been in had vanished entirely. In its place was a giant pit.
The water-attuned genetic energy that had filled the forest was now falling to the ground as rain. Simultaneously, the skies turned red, and blood began raining down from the heavens. It was likely that the rain would fill the pit and turn it into a lake, but he didn't know what color the lakewater would be.
In the center of the giant pit lay nothing more than a pile of bones, all that remained of the king of the realm.
One of those bones noticeably stood out from the others; it shone and gleamed like jade.
"This must be..."
Yang Ze stepped forward and plucked out that bone, from which he thought he could sense the fluctuations of the world. This was the proof of kingship!
Yang Ze was shocked that the previous king of the bearmen had dared to transform the proof of kingship into a bone, which he had inserted into his own body. Without killing him, there was no way to obtain that proof of kingship.
However, this also made life much easier for Yang Ze, since he was easily able to obtain the proof after killing the king. If the king had instead hidden the proof in some unknown location, that would have given Yang Ze a headache.
With the successful acquisition of the proof, Yang Ze had completed the task that Zhang Lie had assigned him.
Upon receiving his assignment, Sun Xiaowu had headed toward the wall bordering the greenskins' world.
Their skin was green, and their musculature four or five times as defined as a regular human. Each greenskin was a hulk. Their mouths, filled with sharp teeth, made them look more like humanoid beasts rather than intelligent lifeforms.
A few of the greenskins were even riding on rhinoceros-like creatures. Such cavalry was rather rare in the third realm.
The greenskin riders waved the flails they held as they loudly shouted, "Charge! Charge for the glory of the greenskins!"
The greenskin leading the charge had particularly dark green skin.
He shouted, "Break through the walls! There are large numbers of undefended humans and draconians behind it. We'll be able to do whatever we want with them—kill them, rape them, pillage their houses!"
According to the draconians' information, the greenskins operated on a strict hierarchy based on the color of their skin. The vanguard, whose skin was the darkest of all, was likely their leader.
He led a battalion of over ten thousand soldiers that were heading straight for the wall.
"Curious that they would favor greener individuals..." Sun Xiaowu murmured to himself.
Most humans were rather disturbed by the greenskins, especially ones with unusually dark pigmentation like the greenskin vanguard. His skin was a deep spinach-green, a color that offended human sensibilities.
The guards on the wall rushed toward Sun Xiaowu. "Sir Sun, the greenskins are coming! We need to make our move!"
"Indeed, it's almost time."
Sun Xiaowu leaped high into the air as gold-attuned genetic energy radiated from him like a second sun.
"[Blinding Flash: Hundredfold Echo]!" Sun Xiaowu's body split into over a thousand clones, so many they seemed to fill the sky...