CHAPTER 335 BEFORE THE WAR

"Retreat!" Rocky ordered hastily. It was possible to win if the three beasts worked together to defeat

this Trunk Giant but it would surely cost them too much.

The first priority of this trip was to stay safe. After all, he was not strong enough to take too many risks.

If he acted rashly, he would certainly meet his death here. The primary objective of this journey was to

seek rare treasures in the Myriad Beasts Ground, and the second was to collect different spirit-

manipulated beasts' samples. He didn't want to waste too much time outside the Myriad Beasts Ground

when it was so near. Thus, he decided to withdraw first.

Rocky and the three beasts made a detour to escape the Trunk Giant that was on patrol. The Trunk

Giant narrowly saw them as they crept away, but fortunately they entered the forest before it noticed

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Rocky felt like he could breathe again when he saw the Trunk Giant as it finally walked away,

seemingly clueless to their presence. He realized that he had underestimated the danger of the Myriad

Beasts Ground. It was too risky to pass through the forest in front of it. If it was already perilous along

its periphery, how much more within its lands? The plants in this forest were so dense that they even

blocked sunlight. The whole forest was immersed in suffocating darkness. Rocky dared not use a light

because he wasn't sure yet if they had indeed lost the giant.

'For the rare treasures, ' Rocky thought as he walked. He was so close to the Heavenly Stage now, that

it would be foolishness not to take the risk. As soon as he reached the Heavenly Stage, he could

reactivate the Holy Dragon Bead in his body. Although he could only regain part of the Holy Dragon

Bead's power by then, that was enough for him to grow stronger by leaps and bounds.

However, troubles kept coming after Rocky no matter how carefully he acted. After he and the three

beasts had walked for a while, they were greeted with a cluster of Venom Hounds. This kind of spirit-

manipulated beast was hard to deal with, especially since they came in packs. This pack seemed to

have at least a dozen, all rabid and looked ready to attack. Poisonous liquid was running over their

decayed skin. Rocky knew to keep clear of it and warned his beasts to do the same. As soon as the

liquid came into contact with their skin, he knew it would fester.

Rocky had met Venom Hounds before, but they were only at the second grade of the two-star level.

And the most number of hounds he had ever seen was three, nothing like what he was seeing now.

Dozens of Venom Hounds seemed to have materialized right in front of them, all of them at the second

grade of the three-star level. Even a squad of Earthly Stage spirit manipulators would be hard-pressed

to defeat this cluster of Venom Hounds. Obviously, it was almost impossible for Rocky and the three

beasts to pass through them.

Meanwhile, the cluster of Venom Hounds had encircled their prey - Rocky and the three beasts. They

left no path for escape.

Rocky, of course, would never easily give up. With his rich experience in fighting as a guide, he

remembered that fire was the mortal weakness of Venom Hounds.

"Uriah!" Rocky called. He did not need to say anything at all as Uriah already knew what he wanted.

It immediately roared and ran in front of Rocky and the two beasts. Its ruby scale stood up from its

body simultaneously. In a split second, waves of flames spurted out from its erect scale and stretched

out on its left and right sides, which shielded Rocky and the two beasts behind it.

When the cluster of Venom Hounds saw the furious flames, they cautiously kept their distance.

Despite the protection granted to them by Uriah, Rocky knew that they still had a dilemma. If he chose

to retreat, he had no assurance they would not be attacked from the back when Uriah had extinguished

its flames. However, if he chose to fight, he would waste too much time at such a stalemate.

All of a sudden, Rocky's eyes lit up. He looked at the direction which the Trunk Giant headed for. Then

he took out a bottle of the magical saliva and placed it in Rubygon's mouth as he gestured for it to run

to the Trunk Giant's direction.

After he was done with that, Rocky and the Rainbow Glow Unicorn stepped backwards under the fire

shield provided by Uriah. He was trying to find a safe spot, because a massacre was about to take

place soon.

After a while, a strong rumble seemed to grow closer to them. Rows of trees fell down to the ground,

and a colossal figure appeared. In front of the figure, a beast was running swiftly towards Rocky. It was

none other but Rubygon.

"Good job!" Rocky patted Rubygon's head and then took the bottle out of its mouth. His plan, where

Rubygon attracted the Trunk Giant with the magical saliva until it came to their location, had

succeeded. He stared up at the giant as it met with the cluster of Venom Hounds.

As the cluster of Venom Hounds saw the Trunk Giant, they all wore submissive expressions. They

looked like an embodiment of the classic phrase- dogs with their tails tucked between their legs. They

could instinctively sense how strong and powerful the giant was. On the other hand, when the Trunk

Giant saw the hounds, it gave out a deafening roar. As the cleaner in charge of the forest area, the

Trunk Giant immediately stretched out its long, thick nose and swept over the hounds. Two hounds

failed to run away in time and were sent flying against the sturdy trees. They fell to the ground with

weak whimpers and groans.

As the rest of the hounds saw this, they were enraged. They barked angrily at the giant, green fluid

flowing in abundance out of their mouth. Although the Trunk Giant was formidable, its opponents still

had the advantage of numbers. As one, all the hounds left rushed to the giant and attacked at the same

time.

An intense fight started right away. The battle caused a great uproar, the giant's loud roar mixed with

the snarls and howls of the hounds.

While all this was happening, Rocky and the three beasts were sitting, far enough away to be safe but

close enough that they enjoyed the intense fight.

An hour later, the Trunk Giant had defeated all the Venom Hounds. The hounds were all either badly

injured or killed while the Trunk Giant paid a huge price for its victory. The skin all over its body had

begun festering and the poison was invading into its body through the skin.

After a while, the Trunk Giant failed to hold on and fell to the ground with a loud crash. It had fought

and won in the end, but what a bitter victory it claimed.

"It's our time now, guys!" Rocky smirked and swaggered to the corpses with the three beasts. He took

out his tools and took samples from the dead bodies of the Venom Hounds and Trunk Giant.

At the same time, Marin was headed south of the main camp, towards the Rough Slope. She led five

thousand soldiers of the northeast military camp and five squads of spirit manipulators. They had

started off the front-line headquarters yesterday and traveled as fast as they could.

Half a day later, Marin and her army had arrived in a vast sloping field. It was only one mile away from

the Rough Slope. She decided that it was a strategic area and stationed her army in that field. As the

camp was set-up, Marin sent for several spirit manipulators. They were tasked to go to the enemy's

military camp in the Rough Slope for reconnaissance.

Two hours later, those spirit manipulators came back and reported promptly to Marin.

"They only left five thousand men? Are you sure about that? It's so few." Marin felt that something was

off about the whole situation. Logically, the Timber Deity Empire had spent a lot to occupy the Rough

Slope in order to destroy the Crimson Dragon Group's defensive line. Through this, they could take

advantage of that position to push the Crimson Dragon Group into a corner.

In other words, as long as the Timber Deity Empire still occupied the Rough Slope, they could intrude

into the Crimson Dragon Group through this gap of their defensive line. It seemed to be a careless

move for the Timber Deity Empire, that they only stationed five thousand soldiers for such a critical and

advantageous location.

"Go and check again!" Marin ordered after she gave it some thought. This was a delicate matter. She

had to have a clear and accurate information about the enemy's army before she made any decisions.

Only with the appropriate information could she give correct judgments and draw up effective

countermeasures.

Although the quantity of Marin's army was also five thousand, she could easily ask for soldiers from

other military camps nearby. In one day, she could gather reinforcements consisting of more than ten

thousand soldiers.

Thus, what mattered the most was not the quantity of armed forces she brought but how she could

quickly get the Rough Slope back, once for all and with the lowest casualty. She needed to hurry

though, before their enemies could send reinforcements.