Way of the Devil

Beyond the grasslands and mountains, on a vast, yellowish plains, the soft grass swayed with the wind like a lion’s mane.

“Rumble…”

A faint trembling sound came from far away across the plains.

As the distance closed, huge patches of gray lines slowly surfaced on the horizon. They sped toward the grasslands and mountains.

Huge beasts that resembled rhinoceros wore thick, silvery gray metal battle armor. Every individual was five meters tall. They were stampeding, growling as they went.

Red fire golems more than two meters in height flew in the skies. They followed the war beasts in the vanguard. They occasionally shot fireballs which ignited patches of land when they landed.

Between the war beasts were densely packed half orcs clad in gray armor.

Their bulky physique and strong muscles were exposed. Their skin had red veins that pulsed with red light.

These half orcs had fierce-looking fangs and protruding lips. Their skin was slightly greenish-gray, coarse, and full of wrinkles. Most of them wielded round shields and iron axes, while a minority wielded heavy spears.

“Uoooh!!!!”

On a small mound, a big and tall orc covered in a black cloak raised his head and roared furiously. He was significantly taller than the half orcs, and wore a worn dark crimson armor. On his left arm was a greenish-black sun pattern.

“I, Sun Chaser Eibenhagen! Have come, as promised!” the orc shouted toward the empty skies.

There seemed to be thunder in his voice. It resounded in the heavens for a long time before it dissipated.

The great army marched past him toward the mountains. However, the Sun Chaser ignored them. His eyes were trained on the skies.

“Hiss…”

Suddenly, a black dot appeared in the skies.

Shortly after, the black dot expanded into a black spot the size of a soccer ball. The black spot suddenly spread open like a giant’s eye. It tore a huge, deep, and pitch-black rift.

The twenty meters huge rift abruptly appeared in the skies above the grassland. It immediately attracted countless gusts of air, which surged into it.

The wind blew with growing intensity. Countless huge beasts and orcs looked up into the skies.

“Swoosh!”

All of a sudden, a black shadow shot out of the rift. It suddenly spread out and enlarged above the grassland.

“Flap!”

Huge wings which spanned more than 20 meters suddenly unfurled. With a large amount of dense black air, the black shadow revealed itself in an instant.

It was a huge pitch-black dragon.

“King of Ashes…” the Sun Chaser shouted. “I’ve come as promised! It’s your turn now!”

The black dragon had three peculiar eyes as well. His three eyes were wedged in the middle of his face in a pyramidic arrangement, and resembled three glittering rubies.

“Let’s begin, then… It’s time for the holy land to have another master…” His deep voice was mixed with a drawn-out dragon cry.

“Hiss, hiss…”

Vague, soft noises kept coming from the black rift behind him.

“Kah!”

All of a sudden, a strange black bird with four wings dashed out of the rift with a squawk. This strange bird had no eyes. Its entire head was dominated by its large mouth.

With the black bird’s appearance, countless black shadows swarmed out of the rift like bees.

Amid a cacophony of flapping wings, countless strange birds charged out of the rift in a frenzy. They charged toward the green grassland and mountains with the great army beneath them.

************

Holy Dragon Temple.

“He’s here,” the three-eyed holy dragon spoke in a solemn tone as she slowly stood up and cast a distant gaze into the heavens. “I can smell Ashes.”

“He’s not the only one. There are others,” one of the holy dragons below added in a deep voice.

“It’s the Scorching Sun Tribes…” The three-eyed holy dragon regained her calm composure. “What about Gray Star?”

“He’s made his preparations, and is about to depart,” answered one of the holy dragons.

“Tell him to hold it. Ashes seems to be attacking from there. Let’s open up the defenses of this area,” ordered the three-eyed holy dragon.

“…Uh… understood.”

The other holy dragons could guess what their queen wanted to do.

The direction which Ashes’ great army was coming from meant they would have to get through one of three passes. The three passes of the Holy Land were the Day and Night Ravine, the Devil Moon Valley, and the Poison Dragon Pool.

In other words, the final pass was right where the disturbance was.

“Knowing Ashes’ great army, isn’t there a possibility of them joining hands?” said one of the holy dragons, worried.

It would be bad for them if their enemy rode on the momentum of their plan of driving the wolf to devour the tiger.

“It’s alright. We can’t defend that area to begin with. We won’t make it even if we divert our forces now,” another holy dragon spoke slowly.

***************

Lu Sheng had managed to subjugate all the other tribes in the vicinity in a day. Other than the area where the hill giants were, the other areas were included, in name, under his cold frost tribe’s rule.

With only slightly more than a dozen members, the cold frost tribe had become the overlord of this vast area, and they lived up to their name.

However, what puzzled him was that he had heard that some holy dragons had taken flight from the Holy Dragon Temple to come at him before this. However, after waiting for some time, he could not see any incoming parties.

This left Lu Sheng confused.

During noon on the second day, he gathered the tribe leaders of the nearby tribes in the great hall of their new base.

The poison dragon king, grassland wolf king, forest wolf king, three-tailed scorpion king, bear king, and the leaders of the other small tribes had all gathered here.

Within the hall of the remains, big and tall black stone pillars had supported the entire ceiling above their heads.

Lu Sheng sat in the middle of two pillars while the other tribe leaders spread out to his sides. The red-eyed lizard and single-horned python were also present among the leaders.

“Other than the Poison Dragon Pool, I’m sure all the others have brought what I asked for?” With Lu Sheng’s immense body that was more than 10 meters in height, he was still at least six meters in height even after he sat down. With such a height, it resembled a scene where an adult was facing children as he faced the other tribe leaders.

The tribe leaders produced the inheritance atlases of their respective tribes obediently. Stacks of rags were continuously presented before Lu Sheng.

He glanced at them and found that most of them were similar. The atlases structured individual systems around the Veins.

“White Ash, how many of our tribesmen have awoken Frost Power?” he asked casually.

White Ash stepped forward, and responded reverently, “Your Majesty, in reply to your question, a total of three had awakened Frost Power. They are now further advancing their power according to the orders you’ve given the last time.”

“Mm-hm.” Lu Sheng looked toward the other tribe elders now. “I won’t be wasting time on meaningless words. Since you are all under my command, I want every tribe to send some elites over. I want to form a patrol corps to survey our lands every day.”

If he wanted to fulfil Black Bone’s wishes, he naturally had to strengthen his grasp of the territory he had just obtained. These tribe elders were currently being controlled through the intimidation of his power. If some other, more powerful force came, they would undoubtedly waver.

Hence, Lu Sheng had to think of some way to control these tribes.

“Esteemed Majesty Black Bone, what you mean is for us to form our own patrolling corps and patrol the surrounding area?” the bear tribe elder asked in a deep voice.

“That’s right. I need you to form another army to deal with the ragtag army under the Holy Dragon Temple’s command. I wouldn’t want any of us to be captured or threatened while I fight against the Holy Dragon Temple,” Lu Sheng said calmly.

Under his charge, the three tribes with the greatest strength were the bear tribe, the three-tailed scorpion tribe, and the poison dragon tribe.

If he had an allied army formed by these three tribes which he would personally take command of, he would not be afraid even if the holy dragons came sneaking up on them like last time.

After all, the main mission of this allied army was to protect the other tribesmen.

“My tribe supports this fully!” The three-tailed tribe elder shook his faint purplish pincers and said in a dark tone, “I’ll have them pay for everything they’ve done to us! Naturally, if the war doesn’t go in our favor, we can’t be blamed for retreating first, Your Majesty.”

The three-tailed scorpion tribe was the only tribe which had submitted to Lu Sheng of their own accord. In truth, they were notorious criminals wanted by the Holy Dragon Temple.

They had been the cause of the complete annihilation of several tribes from their hunting. Even after they were warned, they acted more brazenly instead of tidying up their act.

“That wasn’t a request, it was an order.” Lu Sheng glanced at the three-tailed scorpion king. “I don’t care if you’re willing or not. There’s no need for a second voice under my charge.”

“My tribe wasn’t even afraid of the holy dragon queen back then. Do you really think that you’re more powerful than the dragon queen, Your Majesty?” The three-tailed scorpion king chuckled and snorted.

The special characteristic of this tribe was very mysterious. They were known as three-tailed scorpions, but it would be more apt to view them as a tribe that was only controlled by a single three-tailed scorpion king.

The other tribesmen were actually a part of the three-tailed scorpion king. This tribe was also extremely skilled in hiding themselves by tunneling underground. If one did not kill off all the other tribesmen, it would be impossible to actually kill the three-tailed scorpion king.

“You can try me.” Lu Sheng cast a dry glance at the three-tailed scorpion king. His nine pairs of eyes flashed red.

“Alright, alright…” The three-tailed scorpion king raised his pincers high and made a surrendering gesture. “Alright, Your Majesty. I was in the wrong. My tribe will surely carry out our duties as you’ve ordered. Please leave that to us.”

“That would be best.” Lu Sheng retracted his gaze and continued to prepare the next step.

All of a sudden, a green figure flew toward them and landed softly outside the great hall. It was a poison dragon.

“Your Majesty, there’s movement outside the mountains. There seem to be an incoming great army of unknown origin,” the poison dragon quickly reported.

“How are their numbers?” Lu Sheng had currently unified the tribes and was suppressing them with his unparalleled overbearing manner. He sent out some of his subjects and had formed an internal intelligence system in no time.

The poison dragons were the swiftest among them. Hence, they served as the messengers between the other tribes.

With the aid of a few tribes that were skilled in sensing vibrations, they formed a complete reconnaissance system. They were able to relay any movements in the surroundings to Lu Sheng very quickly.

Naturally, the pretext was for these tribes to work together completely. However, under the great pressure Lu Sheng was exerting on them, nobody would dare to pull any stunts for the time being.

“A foreign army?” Lu Sheng frowned. He’d initially planned to push toward the Holy Dragon Temple and flatten it in one fell swoop. If he conquered their land, he would be ruling over the entire mountains. He did not expect there to be any detours before he even made a move.

“Yes. It seems to be a joint army formed by half orcs and black stone birds,” replied the poison dragon carefully.

“It looks like the Holy Dragon Temple’s nemesis, Ashes, has come,” the bear king spoke slowly.

“Ashes?” Lu Sheng could not find this term in Black Bone’s memories.

“It’s a turned holy dragon who has turned his back on the path. Unlike the other holy dragons, he’s the only black one,” said the bear king in his deep voice. “I’ve seen it from afar before this. The might which covered the heavens and the earth might even surpass yours, Your Majesty.”