“Stay in formation, don’t attack them alone!”

“Use the solar pills on them!”

“Drown them out with cannon fire!”

Everyone was shouting while a massive large-scale battle was taking place both up in the air and down on the ground. Loud shrieks of beings with wings were making regular communication difficult. Even though the demi-human tribes had fewer members their concentration at this point almost made the number equal.

‘There appears to be some type of secondary barrier at that central tower…’

Zhang Dong’s sword traveled in a horizontal line cleaving many red vampires in the process. He was advancing along with the vanguard that was composed of several nascent soul masters and core formation experts using battle formations. Keeping to their tactic they were forcing the monsters to battle them at a range while using various protective spells to counter their soul-draining capabilities.

Not that far away he could see the large gloomy-looking palace that was radiating dark crimson energies. Even though the moat had been drained out of most of the blood some of it remained. Their own protective barrier was also broken which now allowed some of the demi-humans to board some of the ships. Both sides were taking casualties but the United Element Sect was able to advance into the enemy lines.

‘That’s where their leader must be hidden but it doesn’t seem that he will come out on his own accord…’

Even when they were blasting the surroundings with cannon fire he could not see the vampire leader anywhere. What he was encountering were the demi-humans with the smaller horns that could not hold out against him at all. Even when they grouped up he just needed to use his swordsmanship to be victorious.

‘I’ve used a lot of Qi to destroy that barrier.’

This was not something that he chose to do, if he could then another full-power beam blast would be already flying towards the standing castle. His spiritual energy reserves needed to be conserved as the battle could shift at any moment. This is why he was engaging the monsters in close-range combat to conserve his power which was aimed at killing the vampire lord.

The assault was progressing smoothly and everything was within their calculations. Their enemies were certainly ill-prepared to protect their fortress. Probably due to the fast counter-attack they had not been able to reinforce their position. This war was supposed to last a hundred years and normally no sect would be able to stop their regular soldiers from advancing. There was just no reason to build up defenses if their side was assured of their victory.

Yet even though their defenses weren’t that great this didn’t mean that they could just waltz in there. Besides the red vampires, there were all sorts of strange zombie-like beasts down on the ground. Some of them looked like decomposing giants that would be tiresome to contend with as they were giving out poisonous mist with each step they took.

Up in the air were also various flying beasts, not only the demi-humans. They looked of course like giant bloodthirsty bats that were the size of elephants. Some of the demi-humans were using them as mounts and trying to ram them into the flying sect ships. Then to top it off there were various ballistas and cannons up on the towers. Even as he was flying forward they were trying to kill his mostly flying forces.

“Bahamut, come out.”

Zhang Dong pointed forward and before him burst out a small golden dragon that quickly started shifting in size. Soon enough he reached a massive size that overshadowed the other giant beasts that the enemies were using. Without needing to give him a command the dragon tossed itself into a bloody battle with the flying squadron of mounted demi-human soldiers.

“Everyone, keep advancing! Surround them and don’t let anyone escape.”

Even he could see that his side was winning but before victory could be claimed the fortress needed to be breached. For this purpose he would toss himself into danger, if he was victorious then less of his people would need to be sacrificed. It would be easy to just stand here and wait for the barrier to give out but twiddling his thumbs was not something he was inclined to do.

“Zhang Zhi, take command of the forces, I will go take the head of their leader.”

“Patriarch… Understood, I will do as you command.”

Zhang Dong could tell that Zhi wanted to tell him something by the tone of his voice. Normally a group of elite elders would be sent into the castle instead. The leaders of sects would very rarely endanger their lives or even take part in battles. Only when an enemy that could not be defeated by anyone else appeared would they act.

His descent was followed up by a giant explosion as he rammed straight into the main tower. The barrier there was ill-prepared to compete with his holy energies and quickly shattered. When on the other side he stopped in mid-air only to notice that the barrier was quickly mending itself back.

“It’s quiet… too quiet…”

The dark crimson barrier was making it hard to see the things on the inside and also on the outside. Zhang Dong expected to be assaulted from all sides the moment he entered this area but was left with no enemies. This was problematic as a simple fight between masters was usually easier than if one was trying to conceal themselves.

‘I hope that the slimy bastard doesn’t just flee somewhere…’

He had already witnessed some of the demi-humans abandoning their post to save their lives. This vampire lord would not be a hard opponent for him but anyone else would certainly die. If these monsters escape into the empire just more people would die and a lot of resources would be wasted to find them.

‘Would their leader kill him for failing his mission?’

This was the big question, if the vampire thought that he had no choice he would remain here. Demonic cultivators carried themselves in a similar manner, if someone failed their task they would be severely punished by their leader. If he was convinced that the Emperor would kill them after losing the fortress then he could not escape.

‘Probably the other demi-humans would not help him either but drag him to their Emperor for an execution…’

After analyzing their culture this was Zhang Dong’s impression of these tribes. They were barbaric people that loved to hunt other races. They had a clear strength-based hierarchy system similar to the ones in demonic sects where compassion was seen as a weakness. They would clearly abandon their allies if they deemed them unusable.

With that in mind, he readied his sword while venturing toward the castle. In front of him was a giant spooky gate with skulls for handles. When he approached it the gate doors started slowly opening themselves up. The moment they did he surrounded himself with a layer of holy energy. This was just in time as he was hit by a strong gust of wind carrying various curse energies with it.

“Hm… So I guess he wants me to go through this…”

It was clear to him that whoever was inside that castle was expecting him. If he walked inside he was sure that some strange trap would be activated. Perhaps he would be teleported into another location and put through some kind of maze with traps. The whole place also smelled of chaotic spatial energy which made things problematic.

‘Is that the plan? Tire me out by trapping me in some sub-dimension…’

He could think of a few things that Valentine was planning. The most basic approach would be to put him through some long course filled with monsters, traps, and pain. Then whenever he was tired or lost his focus the demi-human leader would show up out of the blue to deliver the last blow.

‘I bet he would bore me with some kind of long speech about me being stupid for entering his lair. I guess that would be stupid…’

Zhang Dong started rubbing his chin while looking at the front gate. While he did not think any of the traps inside would pose a problem, they would certainly put him at a disadvantage and also waste a lot of time. Thus he started backing away while instead looking around and also at his map.

“Hm… I see, that’s actually smart”

When looking up a person would normally think that the last boss would be right at the top of this tower. The building was really tall, taller than the biggest skyscraper from his old homeworld. But that was not the spot that he needed to go, instead, he focused his gaze on the ground below him where his enemy lurked.

‘Analisis complete, sending over coordinates.’

‘Thanks a bunch, Bob.’

While whistling around he moved his sword up into the air and performed a few practice swings. Then he focused his gaze up towards the peak of the tower that was hard to make out due to the dark crimson mist floating around it. With the sword in hand, he went into a thrusting stance as if he was going to push his weapon towards the sky.

His energies surrounded the blade causing it to glow brightly. The miasma that was in the air was pushed back as he covered the entire area with blinding lights. His gaze turned away from the top of the tower as he peeked to the side. There, a small creature that was an eye was promptly blinded.

He had been aware that something was watching him the moment he entered this area. Valentine had proven to be very cowardly during their fight but he could not flee due to his position. Thus instead of placing himself in the throne room that was up in the sky, he was down below. A large set of maze-like dungeons spawned throughout the underground reaching almost the same deepness as the height of the palace.

“Take this!”

Finally, his attack was complete and instead of thrusting to the top of the tower, he aimed it at the ground. His thrust was followed by a loud thunderous bang that caused almost all of the stained glass windows in this fortress to instantly shatter.

“... HOW! “

The speed of this sword art was truly immense and it split the ground like it was water. Almost instantly afterward he could hear the vampire lord screaming out in anger. Yet this was not over yet, his thrusts continued to be plunged into the hard soil producing a massive number of large perfectly circular holes.

“How could I not find you when you make yourself this obvious?”

Zhang Dong replied while halting his attack. His opponent hastily burst out from underground bringing with him a giant dirt explosion. His body was in tatters and each wound was radiating holy energies. Finally, the master of the fortress had revealed himself and it was time to put him down.