Nascent Teamwork (Part 2)

Long Haochen did not rely on Vengeance of Light to launch a powerful attack. He was the core of the team; faced with the demons' full-scale assault, he had to preserve the entire team's combat strength. How could he waste spiritual energy?

With a thunderous crash, Long Haochen, who seemed so tiny compared to the Emerald Twin Blade Demon, fearlessly slammed into its massive body. What was shocking was that the formidable Emerald Twin Blade Demon was sent flying backward by the impact, smashing heavily into the battlements.

"I'll do it." A cold voice rang in the ears of every member of the Soldier Grade One Demon Hunt Squad, causing Wang Yuanyuan and Sima Xian, who had been ready to support Long Haochen's attack, to abandon the thought at once.

A streak of dark golden light flashed and vanished. At the instant the Emerald Twin Blade Demon rebounded after crashing into the battlements, it pierced into the hardest part of its skull.

The light flashed, then withdrew. The Emerald Twin Blade Demon, which had been preparing to leap up and continue attacking, stiffened. The next instant, it crashed to the ground.

Dead?

Zhang Hairong, watching from not far behind, nearly had his eyes pop out.

That was an Emerald Twin Blade Demon! An Emerald Twin Blade Demon with an incredibly powerful body, comparable to a human Fifth Rank powerhouse! And it had just died like that?

The hardest parts of an Emerald Twin Blade Demon were its pair of blade-like forearms and its skull. Yet beneath that skull lay its central nervous system. With its central nervous system instantly shredded, how could it possibly survive? Not only had it died, its corpse was almost perfectly intact.

Zhang Hairong was not the only one who found it unbelievable. Even Long Haochen, who had experienced it firsthand, was equally shaken. He had faced Emerald Twin Blade Demons before and naturally knew how formidable they were. Yet this one had been killed in merely a few breaths. Clearly, it was not that the Emerald Twin Blade Demon had become weaker, but that he and his companions had grown stronger.

Without question, Cai'er had delivered the fatal blow to the Emerald Twin Blade Demon. She had not acted at all during the earlier battle, following behind Long Haochen like a shadow. Only now had she unleashed that earthshaking strike, instantly gaining ten Merit Points for herself.

Merit Points were not easy to earn. On their way to Demon Expelling Pass, Gao Yingjie had explained in detail how Merit Points could be obtained and how many they were worth.

When hunting demons, each ordinary Double Blade Demon killed was worth one Merit Point. However, this only applied to the first ten. After ten, they would only gain one Merit Point for every ten Double Blade Demons killed.

After all, compared to Demon Hunt Squad members, Double Blade Demons were simply too easy to kill. The first ten were merely a benefit for newcomers.

Emerald Twin Blade Demons, however, were always worth ten Merit Points. In other words, no matter how powerful they became in the future, killing an Emerald Twin Blade Demon would still earn them ten Merit Points. That was the difference in evaluation.

Of course, Long Haochen and the others had no time to count Merit Points right now. Long Haochen stepped forward, thrust the Holy Spirit Sword in his right hand beneath the Emerald Twin Blade Demon, then forcefully flicked upward. The Emerald Twin Blade Demon's massive body was immediately sent flying.

"Lin Xin."

A ball of red light lit up in Lin Xin's hand. In the next instant, the enormous Emerald Twin Blade Demon disappeared beneath the red glow.

"Captain, received."

When it came to wealth, even everyone else combined probably could not compare to Lin Xin. The storage ring on his hand, which looked like a fire diamond, possessed an enormous storage space. Naturally, he was the best person to handle such a valuable corpse as the Emerald Twin Blade Demon. As the one responsible for the team's finances, he had finally secured their first income.

In order to join the Demon Hunt Squad, Lin Xin had paid quite a price. The total value of the pills he had provided was likely already close to one hundred thousand gold coins. No matter how wealthy he was, he could not keep spending more than he earned. The appearance of the Emerald Twin Blade Demon also meant that the battle had entered its most intense phase. They were no longer merely facing Zelin Clan Dual-Blade Demons.

At that moment, an immense magical aura erupted from the direction of the city tower. Countless brilliant lights shot out like fireworks, hurtling toward the densely packed demon army below.

On a battlefield like this, there was no need to lock onto targets. Any spell that fell would inevitably hit something.

It was Long Haochen's first time seeing more than a hundred spells launched at once. The dazzling light instantly illuminated the walls of Demon Expelling Pass, as well as the night itself.

The demons clearly would not wait to be slaughtered. Blinding Purple-Black spheres of light rose from the demon army below, boldly meeting the descending spells head-on.

A closer look revealed that the creatures launching these Purple-Black spheres were a type of demon over two meters tall. They stood on three legs, had no arms, and possessed unusually large heads. Their three legs were thick and powerful, allowing them to move swiftly, while their enormous heads bore six eyes. The Purple-Black spheres gathered at those six eyes.

These were one of the demons' magical units: Magic Eye Warlocks, a massive demon race skilled in dark magic.

Compared to human mages, Magic Eye Warlocks were far inferior. As their bodies evolved, they could only acquire certain fixed dark spells. However, they made up for it with their sheer numbers.

Even the lowest-level Magic Eye Warlock possessed magical attacks equivalent to those of a Second Rank mage. They were clearly far more advanced than Double Blade Demons, and could be divided into five levels in total. The strongest, lord-level Magic Eye Warlocks, were Seventh Rank powerhouses.

Of the more than one hundred spells descending from the city tower, most were intercepted by the Magic Light Bullets fired by the Magic Eye Warlocks. Only a small portion landed among the demon army, erupting in dazzling bursts of light and slaughtering large numbers of low- and mid-level demons.

However, Demon Expelling Pass had stood unbroken for thousands of years, so it was obviously not that simple. Just as the first wave of spells finished bombarding the enemy, another hundred spells descended from the sky.

Previously, when facing the Double Blade Demons, the mages had been conserving their strength. Now was the time for them to display their power.

Almost the instant the previous wave of spells finished striking, the second wave blasted forth again. There was not the slightest gap between them. By conservative estimate, there were likely over a thousand mages on the city tower, and none of them were below the Fourth Rank.

With the mages' support, the pressure on the walls sharply decreased. At the same time, large numbers of warriors had already rushed up as reinforcements.

Unlike the original infantry, these warriors were all clad in full armor and were powerful fighters of at least the Third Rank. The Infantry Battalion quickly withdrew as they took over, completing the rotation.

The composition of these elite warriors was highly deliberate. Each group consisted of three people: a shield warrior, an axe warrior, and a berserker wielding a heavy sword. They fought in groups of three, each group operating independently, with at least two reserve groups behind them. Although the demons had deployed many powerful races in their full-scale assault, these warriors, supported by the mages and priests on the city tower, forcibly held back the attack.

At the same time, booming sounds rang out continuously from the direction of the city tower. It was possible to clearly see thick cannon barrels extending from the walls connecting the city tower and the battlements. Dense magical light gathered without pause before erupting into massive spheres of light.

Magic Guided Cannons. Powerful defensive weapons, each strike comparable to an attack from a Sixth Rank Light Element Great Archmage. There were actually more than a hundred of them at Demon Expelling Pass.

Compared to the war now erupting before them, Long Haochen and the others' earlier battle against the Double Blade Demons could only be considered child's play. This was the true war between humanity and demonkind.

Zhang Hairong shouted at Long Haochen and the others, "Retreat! It's time to rotate!"

The members of the Soldier Grade One Demon Hunt Squad still retained ample combat strength. Even Chen Yinger had recovered some spiritual energy. Faced with the demon army, they were truly unwilling to leave. But Long Haochen had promised Zhang Hairong that they would obey orders. After unleashing more than ten Light Slash Swords in rapid succession, he decisively gave the order to retreat.

"I haven't had enough yet!" Sima Xian's staff was covered in viscous liquid, but his spirits were extremely high. Wang Yuanyuan was the same. After retreating alongside Long Haochen, obvious dissatisfaction showed on her face.

Long Haochen glanced at them and said solemnly, "We are soldiers now. We have three months ahead of us, plenty of time to show what we can do. Quickly follow the battalion commander down."

Just as they began to withdraw, the dark mass of demon aerial forces had already arrived not far above the battlements. At least half the spells fired from the city tower and the Magic Guided Cannons were aimed at them. Yet some still slipped through.

A huge demon over four meters long suddenly dove from the sky. Its body was covered in black carapace, and its wingspan exceeded six meters. A dark, Wind Element dual-attribute Light Blade shining with blue-black light shot straight toward Zhang Hairong, who was directing the retreat.

"Battalion Commander, watch out!" Long Haochen was already leading the others in retreat, and his senses were extraordinarily sharp. Although that flying demon had descended under cover of darkness, he spotted it immediately.

This was one of the demons' notorious and powerful aerial races: the Wind and Darkness dual-attribute Marchosias Clan Beta Flying Demon.

Beta Flying Demons were true high-level demon troops, a race with a lineage. A race with a lineage meant that its clan chief was one of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods Pillars.

Among the Seventy-Two Demon Gods Pillars, some Demon Gods possessed their own direct armies. Although these direct armies had also developed from the various races of the Holy Demon Continent after being infected, they carried the bloodline of Demon Gods. The Beta Flying Demons were the direct clan army of the Thirty-Fifth Pillar Demon God Marchosias. Every Beta Flying Demon possessed strength of at least the Fifth Rank. Marchosias's personal guards were even Seventh Rank powerhouses known as Bloodthirsty Betas.

Demon Gods capable of possessing direct armies were at least ranked within the top thirty-six. Yet not every powerful Demon God had a direct army. For example, A'nan, the Seventh Pillar Demon God whom Long Xingyu, the Knight of Divine Throne of Judgement and Inquisition, had challenged, was a solitary powerhouse.

Charge.

Long Haochen stomped hard with his left foot and instantly shot into the air. Haoyue was linked to him in mind, and Little Green spat out a gust of wind that swept against Long Haochen's back, increasing his speed even further.

The white light of the Saint Origin Spiritual Stove burst forth in the air. With the help of Charge and Little Green, Long Haochen had already closed the distance to within fifty meters of the Beta Flying Demon diving down from the sky.