Chapter 656: The Goddess Army's Thirteenth General
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The formation failed. The bone elephant was too quick and the riders were unable to exit its path in time. Many of them were stepped on, crushed beneath the elephant's feet. Their squelchy remains were scattered and stained across each of the elephant's subsequent footprints.
Fear began to take hold of their hearts, one which could not be kept at bay. The strength of that fearsome beast was far beyond what any of the fighters were expecting. Its unheeding rampage now sent chills down the spines of all who looked at it.
"Evacuate the shelter. Have everyone exit there at once," Lu Hui calmly decreed.
If they did not give up the shelter now, countless people would fall victim to the elephant and the place would be lost. By having the place evacuated, at least the fatalities incurred would be far fewer upon the shelter's destruction.
The order was relayed to Devil's Shelter. Without delay, the people there packed up their things and began to flee. But the berserk elephant was too fast, and it had already reached the gate before the majority of the people inside had even reached for their bags.
Anything that was in the elephant's path was stomped and crushed into dust. Even the ancient trees that were in its way were brought down with the littlest of difficulty.
This behavior even applied to boulders and craggy outcrops that were in its way. Ten meter high stones were smashed through instead of avoided. The sight of it fearlessly annihilating everything in its path made their hearts pound.
The faces of the inhabitants were all pale as the berserk elephant prepared to strike the walls of the shelter. The gutless sorts were paralyzed in fear.
The earth shook with each step of the berserk elephant. It did not slow down on its approach, and just as it had rampaged down the mountains, it seemed to be charging headlong into the walls.
"Big dumb elephant! I am the thirteenth general of the Goddess Army, Wang Yuhang. Your attempt to destroy this stronghold of prosperity will not succeed." As the tusks of the elephant almost shattered the gate, just as the final flicker of hope seemed to extinguish, a man appeared in the sky. He flapped his wings with great speed, shouting at the berserk bone elephant like a god.
The unstoppable berserk elephant heard his voice and stopped dead in its tracks. It turned around to look at the man in the air.
Everyone was flabbergasted. None of the other elites could pull its attention and attract it away from the shelter and yet, for this one man, the elephant turned to pay attention.
"Big dumb elephant! My bossman will not allow you to bring harm to the good civilians that populate this place. If your balls are as hardy as your bones, follow me to the Goddess Army so that we can bury you in the grave you have so happily dug for yourself!" Wang Yuhang shouted at the bone elephant at the top of his lungs, then he flapped his wings and flew away.
The berserk elephant trumpeted to the sky and followed Wang Yuhang.
No one could believe what they had seen, and they weren't even sure what was happening anymore. The man seemed to be able to contact the fearsome creature, the same creature that had ignored every other human. The fact that it so effortlessly followed the man after his speech was unbelievable.
Lu Hui and Lei Heng Wu were surprised. They knew exactly what they had just seen, and they knew Wang Yuhang was taking advantage of his profound unluckiness. They knew such a thing was possible, but they were mostly surprised by the fact that he had chosen to put his life on the line in an attempt to save Devil's Shelter.
"Holy crap! This man is OP."
"This Goddess Army must be some angelic force; it sounds so powerful!"
"They are Gods!"
"They rock. The Goddess Army must be a supergiant army."
"If a general had that much power, I wonder what the leader of such an army must be like?"
"Did you skip the part where he said he was only the thirteenth general? That means there are twelve others who are beyond him in power. The leader must be strong enough to tear the skies asunder, then!"
"Wang Yuhang; I will remember this man."
"The Goddess Shelter saved our lives. Woohoo!"
…
Han Sen lent his berserk sacred-blood wings to Wang Yuhang so he could distract the berserk bone elephant and lead it away. He did not expect him to have so much flair, however, and his boisterous act in the skies above the shelter seemed so genuine. People who did not understand what was truly going on would believe the bone elephant actually listened to what he had to say.
But the truth was that the berserk bone elephant was only chasing the man due to his terrible luck.
Han Sen and Zero went ahead first, thinking that the berserk bone elephant wasn't actually heading for Devil's Shelter. The shelter just happened to be in its way.
So, Han Sen made Wang Yuhang lead the bone elephant around Devil's Shelter. The beast could not fly, so there was no immediate danger and as soon as Wang Yuhang was done, he could return to Han Sen and allow it to go where it would.
The elephant followed Wang Yuhang away from Devil's Shelter for about fifty miles, then he took off further into the sky. The berserk bone elephant continued running forward, not paying any attention to Devil's Shelter.
"Bossman, your berserk sacred-blood wings are wondrous. Would it be against your desire if I requested that you lend them to me for a few days?" Wang Yuhang asked, with a big smile upon his face.
"Don't talk crap. Give me them back at once! And can I ask what kind of BS drivel you were spouting back there?" Han Sen took back his sacred-blood wings as he asked.
"I was raising awareness of the Goddess Shelter. A deed like this will garner us much renown, and you'll have people crawling over each other in a bid to be enlisted." Wang Yuhang laughed.
"And what is up with the thirteenth general nonsense?" Han Sen asked.
"Think about it! If people heard this, they'd assume we have swathes of elites in our ranks, enough so that we need at least thirteen generals to manage them all. And if I was the thirteenth, then people would naturally assume there were twelve others who were even stronger than me. We would become the bees-knees," Wang Yuhang explained, with a proud and boisterous expression smeared across his face.
Han Sen was not sure how to respond, but he ultimately believed it to be a good thing. If the Goddess Shelter were to become more well-known, then inviting elites into the ranks of its army would be considerably easier.
Han Sen did not know where he might find twelve other generals, but he figured he might not actually need them. Any candidates for future generals could begin at fourteen. There would be no reason for anyone to find out who the other twelve were, after all.
Han Sen wanted to see where the berserk bone elephant was going, so he followed its shadow from a good distance.
"Little Uncle, do you know which area lies ahead?" Han Sen asked Wang Yuhang, as he watched the bone elephant go further and further in a direction he wasn't familiar with.
"Hmm, let me think..." Wang Yuhang looked ahead and then, with a quick discoloration of his face, said, "I think this leads to the Haunted-Peach Forest."
"What is the Haunted-Peach Forest?" Han Sen asked.
"It is a peach forest. The peach trees there are massive, each one being at least one hundred meters tall. You can barely see the tops of such trees, and humans who go there tend to get lost with the greatest of ease. Furthermore, countless frightening monsters lurk beneath its boughs and many who enter there do not return."
After a while, Wang Yuhang lowered his head in thought. Then, he said, "Fortunately, this is the season of the peach flowers opening. It isn't the season of peach production, so it shouldn't be too dangerous."
"Why is that?" Han Sen looked confused.
"During the season for peaches, many powerful creatures visit there for a taste. That would also be the most dangerous time to even think about approaching the Haunted-Peach Forest," Wang Yuhang explained.
"But now it is the flower opening season, correct? If the elephant was hungry for peaches, why would he be heading there now?" Han Sen furrowed his brows.