“Push them back! Don’t let them reach the ships!”

“They are unable to get through our formations, attack and kill them all!”

The ground exploded along with the demi-human that was trying to run away from a large fleet. Instead of the maddened charges into their enemies, the invaders were finally retreating. The ground they walked on was quickly becoming barren and devoid of any life as the constant cannon fire riddled it with massive holes.

Yet, some of them were unwilling to turn their backs on the enemy. They were clearly lacking anyone in a proper leadership position. Part of them continued to fight while others just kept running. It didn’t help that their numbers consisted of mixed tribes, with their leaders dead they could not find common grounds.

‘It’s going well but these lands won’t be livable for a while…’

Zhang Dong along with some other sect elders floated in the sky. They were observing their soldiers performing their tasks while they conserved their strength. All of the nascent soul masters here could easily perform the same task as the flying ships but they needed to remain vigilant. Only when the demi-human leaders appeared would they be allowed to act.

A few days had passed since their fleet had left the initial location. Not soon after they encountered the first resistance force. These demi-human remnants were unable to get past the hail of spirit bullets and defensive formations. Their advance couldn’t be stopped and they slowly approached the second fortress at the other bridge.

If they were able to capture it, then Zhang Dong believed that he would be able to keep everything in check. Even if their Emperor appeared, with a proper defensive line he would be unable to press his forces into his lands. In the chaotic passageway anyone would be a sitting duck, not even the strongest nascent soul master would be able to survive. Even if they did, he could always teleport to confront the strongest demi-human himself.

“How are our new friends doing?”

While observing the battlefield he decided to message Zhang Kuo who was the commanding officer of the flagship, Argus 1. Through the years they had managed to make five more of the same class of ship.

“The mercenaries and vagabonds have been giving our troops some ranged support and are acting as a good distraction, their fighting power isn’t substantial but their numbers make up for it to some degree.”

“Good… leave them be for now but prioritize our own sect members.”

To Zhang Dong’s surprise, they received even more reinforcements after progressing through the lands. Word of their advancement into enemy territory had reached everyone in the empire. This resulted in even more cultivators wanting to participate.

The reason for them participating was clear, they wanted to gain fame, glory, and treasures. This wasn’t that odd, sometimes when larger sects went on sect cleansing excursions other people would join up to reap the rewards. They would be integrated into the vanguards and used as meat shields. It was a dangerous strategy but one that could allow for quick progress.

‘I’m not sure that death is even on their mind, luckily they came of their own volition so we won’t have to pay them anything.”

There was a downside to this kind of force, they would certainly make a run for it if their side started losing. Sometimes these cultivators would even try to rob the allies if they started to flee. This kind of force was a double-edged blade that could turn on them at any moment. Yet with how much stronger the United Element Sect was, this would probably not be a realistic concern.

“Do we have any information from the front?”

“Yes Patriarch, the demi-humans have started to flee towards their fortress, their forces have been seen retreating from other areas in the north as well.”

“Are they gathering their forces?”

“We belave it is so.”

It was uncharacteristic for the demi-humans to gather at one location. They tended to work in smaller groups only composed of people from their own tribes. Even when working together they would abandon the other tribes to save their own.

‘If someone is gathering them in one spot…’

Zhang Dong had a bad feeling about this, everything pointed towards one answer, there was someone strong there. Either the Emperor had ordered them to finally work together or he might have appeared himself. From all the information they received there were no other demi-humans that could order the tribes to work together besides their Emperor.

‘This could actually be the final battle then…’

He had hoped to arrive at the other fortress before something like this happened but he might have been too slow. This golden fortress that was upgraded wasn’t very fast, they would need a few more days to arrive at their destination. This gave enough time for the demi-humans to gather their forces to defend.

‘But will they all sit still and just defend or…hm?’

“Flying enemies coming from the Northeast!”

While he was thinking about a potential fight with an end boss, a group of flying enemies appeared. They belonged to the demi-human tribes but looked different from the remnants they were encountering. Their facial features were more aligned with lizards and all of them were sitting on flying mounts.

“Are those wyverns?”

At first, it looked that his new enemies were riding on small dragons but they lacked certain features. Bahamut, his dragon familiar had a set of arms to go together with the large wings that were attached to his back. These creatures on the other hand had webbed wings where their arms should be.

“GAO!”

“Oh, you want to go have fun with our new friends?”

Bahamut was flapping his small wings next to him, it was clear that the little dragon wanted to help out. After a small nod from Zhang Dong, the small creature bolted towards the far away swarm of wyverns. The demi-humans had little time to react to the bright light that indicated the transformation into the giant dragon.

‘There really isn’t much to do for me here…’

Zhang Dong remained in his upright position and with his hands behind his back. It felt a bit strange to sit back while his allies did all the work but he needed to conserve his energy. With the looming threat of the Demi-human Emperor, he needed to be in top shape.

‘Is the Emperor a body refiner as well? He will probably be hard to kill if I engage him from close range. This new sword should be even able to cut my body apart, hope that’s enough

While he was trying to strategize he paid attention to what his forces were doing. Bahamut had dived right into the middle of the swarm of smaller winged creatures. The people that were riding them were holding spears and bows. Yet even when those projectile weapons connected with his dragon’s golden scales, they could not penetrate them.

This improvement of a soul beast was much stronger than its past counterpart. With ease, it devoured the smaller creatures and their mounted owners. The sect ships gave some support by firing their large cannons but the dragon could not be denied. Bahamut continued to toy with them around all the way until something close to his size appeared.

‘Hm, what is that… a giant scaled bird?’

To his surprise it was not a dragon instead, it was a large black monster bird that was covered in scales. On its back, it was carrying a man that was holding a large spear. This man was part of the lizard race and had a large horn protruding from his head.

‘A demi-human tribe leader? … Can Bahamut handle him by himself?’

Zhang Dong wanted to rush in but instead, someone else decided to show up. Huo Qiang jumped onto the back of the golden dragon as if he was going to challenge the demi-human to a mounted battle. His familiar wasn’t amused but was convinced by his master to allow the red-haired brute to have his fun.

“This Huo Qiang will be your opponent!”

While his friend normally only used his fists for combat it didn’t mean that he couldn’t wield weapons. He was still a nascent soul master that had gained insight into many combat arts and could also proficiently use armaments. Thus before the clash started a large spear appeared in his hand that mirrored the demi-human one.

This demi-human was on the level of the other leader types but thanks to his faction system and Bahamut, Huo Qiang could level the playing field. There was one important thing that this flying fortress allowed him to achieve, it could generate the same buffs that he could activate at his main sect.

Just like when they got a power boost when Wang Long attacked, all of his sect members could be given buffs. Everything used up points but with the golden palace generating them constantly the buff could be activated throughout the whole battle.

For the time being, he just watched as Bahamut bit into the monster bird's long neck. In response, it tried to sink its beak into the dragon’s side but was unable to penetrate through those golden scales. Both of the large beings started thrashing around while the two men riding them clashed with each other as well.

The spears connected to generate a massive burst of energy that caused all of the other flying monsters in close proximity to explode. They just couldn’t stomach a clash between two experts at such a high level.

‘Huo Qiang’s opponent is stronger than him, but…’

It was obvious that if this was a fair fight that his friend would lose in a direct confrontation. The only reason that he was holding on was due to the buff and his partner that he lent him. Bahamut was clearly stronger than the monster bird that this lizardman was riding on and with it out of the picture it was two against one.

Surprisingly after the creature was dead the rider spawned their own wings. It seemed that he was some kind of human wyvern hybrid. While the wings allowed him to fight up in the sky they weren’t as good as a cultivator's flight technique. The mobility that Huo Qiang could output allowed him to continue the clash for much longer than he would be able to.

‘Are they testing us or did one of the tribes want to hunt the strong prey?’

The fight was coming to a close, together with Bahamut, Qiang was able to push his enemy back. Yet this was suspicious, it was as if these demi-humans were stalling for time. They had a strong force but it was nothing compared to his and the leader would soon be dead.

“Kuo, start advancing, we have lost enough time here…”

With a bad feeling in his gut, he turned away from the fight that was ending. If he was correct then there was no time to lose, they needed to get to that fortress and clear it out.