Divine Beast Ascension

609 Surrender or be Slaughtered

Underground, there was a sea of troops in Prodson uniforms on standby. The army faced a wide tunnel, the same tunnel everyone had used to enter the underground chamber. Spread out between the rows of Prodson soldiers, more than a dozen stone columns were holding up the ceiling.

A handful of early-perennial officers were stationed by the companies of soldiers. But the most powerful men were at the front, standing at the entrance of that wide tunnel.

“Are you sure we have to stay this far back?” the man at the very front asked with an annoyed tone.

The man directly behind him nodded. “Yes. Otherwise, that ape might sense us and ruin everything. It’s harder to sense an empty, underground passage compared to a hidden passage filled with cultivators.”

The leading man nodded as well but sighed in disappointment. “Fine…”

Then, the leading man turned to face his army, declaring, “I, General Sowyer Ockar, alongside the famous Rakan Prodson, will lead you to victory! At best, they have a few mid-perennials! As a high-perennial stationed directly under the territory leader, I will cleave through their forces and kill the enemy commander!”

“Hoohh…” the soldiers gave a hushed yet unified cheer, making sure to not get too loud and get caught by accident.

Pointing to the man beside him, the general continued, “Rakan Prodson, son of our benevolent territory leader, will also challenge, behead, and pulverize all who dare to invade us!”

“Hoohh…”

.....

“Forell will pay for their insolence! For their stupidity of kneeling to merciless beasts!” General Ockar added. “Those apes dared to deny us trade and have even declared war on us. They’re threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of people right now, as we speak. And Forell willingly joined the side of those demonic apes!”

“Hoh. Hooohh…”

“Join me! Together, we’ll kill the enemy commanders and leave not even a single traitor to humanity alive!”

“Hoh. Hoh. Hoh. Hoh…”

More hushed chants ensued. A few soldiers stopped their feet as well, but their officers reminded them to stop right away, not letting such a foolish act spread amongst the troops.

The general then turned his back to the troops and fixed his gaze on the tunnel, eager for the imminent signal.

… crr, crr… crr, crr…

The slightest of tremors appeared. And the waiting army immediately got excited.

“That’s the signal! The falling rocks have trapped our heinous foes!” General Ocker announced with a booming voice. “It’s time! Now, we march–”

Fw-fw-fwhirrrl! Crunch-ch-ch!

Cutting off the general, everyone felt a spike of active essence appear at the center of the eager army. All eyes, including the perennials ready to lead the charge through the exit, darted toward a figure running through the air. Also, they spotted the three wind blades that the uniformed figure had fired off, along with the stone columns those wind blades had destroyed.

“KILL HIM!” General Ocker barked as soon as he realized an Iron-Forell rat had infiltrated their most secret operation.

Fw-fw-fwirrrl! Crunch-ch-ch!

The nearest perennial officers all took off toward the spy. Yet, they didn’t launch random shots, not with the nearby Prodson soldiers so tightly gathered. That’s when the perennials of Prodson realized something all at once.

The intruder wasn’t just a fast, wind-wielding perennial.

As a few perennials attempted to close in on Lambier, he effortlessly sped up again to fire off three more wind blades, targeting more stone columns in place of mortal troops. And the nearby perennials had no shot of catching up to the perennial, especially while they refrained from throwing attacks that could harm nearby troops.

Those ready to lead the charge had that same epiphany. As the general started to leap toward the intruder, Rakan Prodson zipped away, carried by the wind. Rakan gave chase to the fleeing spy before General Ocker gave another order.

That saved the general some headache, letting him grind to a quick stop and reassume his position. The general thought, *Even if part of the ceiling collapses, you can’t stop our advance!*

Then, out of the corner of his eye, another uniformed figure rocketed into the tunnel during that moment of General Ocker stepping away.

Sowyer howled in fury, giving chase immediately. “GO!! They won’t stop us–”

FWOOSH! Crack-crunch!

Interrupting the general’s shout, flames exploded out of Marsel’s axe as he hacked into the tunnel’s ceiling. Boulder and stone rubble collapsed into the tunnel as the general never stopped the chase.

“You! Will! DIE!” General Ocker howled at the top of his lungs.

The general weaved and sped through the collapsing ceiling. Behind him, the army’s march was instantly ground to a halt by the impassible debris. But the general refused to let the infiltrator flee freely.

“... AaaAaaagGghhh…”

Shouts of fear and frustration rang out behind the general, muffled by the growing debris of the tunnel.

Frosted appeared around the general’s armor and icy spears appeared in his hands. He doggedly threw every spear the moment it took shape. “Since I might as well destroy the passage with you inside!”

Marsel wasn’t worried. The passage was about to end and his part of the plan was practically finished.

FWOOOSH-SHH! CRUNCH! Crunch-ch-ch!

With a smirk, Marsel cleaved through the rest of the passage’s ceiling with a single attack, letting loose one of his most powerful attacks. He ran past the falling rocks and broke a few unavoidable boulders along the way. Sprinting out of the no-longer-hidden passageway, Marsel leaped through the rubble of the boulder that formerly concealed the underground camp.

*********

On the road, while Hurdo leaped and pummeled the cliffside, the Forell forces began their charge as well.

Hurman and Kuldar kept leading everyone, almost breaking away from the army as they eagerly ran to confront whoever dared to attack them first.

“We don’t know where the other hidden passage is,” Hurman reminded his old friend. “So keep your eyes peeled and be always ready!”

Kuldar’s deep frown of disgust returned. “Of course!”

They marched on at full speed for a few moments. And the hidden passage was still nowhere to be found. Yet they weren’t worried in the slightest.

FWOOSH-SH! CRUNCH! Crunch-ch-ch!

A stream of flame suddenly erupted out of the hillside, about a dozen or so krin ahead of Hurman and Kuldar.

“There!”

“I’m on it!”

As the flames quickly cleared up, Marsel appeared on the road. His sprint never stopped, though. Marsel merely changed directions and ran toward his incoming allies.

C-Crunch!

More rubble was blown apart as someone appeared only a second behind Marsel. But that man’s gaze stiffened in fury and bafflement when he spotted the Forell army and the leading perennials only a few steps away.

However, Sowyer wouldn’t cower easily.

“I’m General Sowyer Ocker! Surrender, or face total annihilation–”

Yet again, the general was ignored and cut off by those in the Forell army. Kuldar even started to run past the general with nary a glance.

But when General Ocker was about to shout and attack Kuldar, his war-ready senses were triggered by someone else.

Ch-chting! C-crack…

A halberd, instantly covered in frost, appeared in the general’s hands. With it, General Ocker parried and blocked a pair of swords swinging down on him.

“... Hurman Practor?” Almost going into a daze, the general was startled to get a nod from his opponent. “A mid-perennial?!”

“Guilty as charged. And that’s Commander Practor, to you, leader of the Iron-Forell forces,” Hurman casually remarked.

Chting! Crrrack!

As the general swung his halberd, a trail of icicles appeared on the ground as well. When the axehead of the halberd lashed out toward Hurman, icicle lances also shot out of that trailing ice.

And, keeping his nonchalance, Hurman’s sidestepped and parried the halberd with his frost-covered sword. When he stepped even closer to the incoming icicles, Hurman’s sword clad in earth veita challenged the icicles head-on. Each icicle within reach of that blade was instantly carved in half, all the way down to the base.

General Ocker finally took a step back after getting a feel for Hurman’s abilities. And, though Sowyer wouldn’t admit it, he was surprised to see the ground under his halved icicles also parted by the lingering earth essence.

“You’re good. And you’re a legitimate mid-perennial,” General Ocker stated. “But you’re no match for me, a high-perennial raised on the battlefield! Surrender, before I have to slaughter your men along with those monsters!”

But Hurman just stood there, signaling for his army to stop and not get involved.

Only a few people continued to run ahead. And some no longer needed to disguise themselves, so they stored their helmets to let their hair out. They rushed toward Kuldar, who had started creating a thick wall of ice to block the people breaking through the rubble of the tunnel.

“... Surrender! Or be slaughtered!” General Ocker shouted once more, gathering an enormous amount of ice and essence around his halberd.

Still, Hurman was unfazed and uninterested. “... So which one do you wish for?”

General Ocker barked back, “Surrender, of course!”

Hurman nodded. “Very well. The moment you drop your weapon, I’ll accept your complete surrender.”