“This ‘borrowing’ business is really paying off.”

“Patriarch?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, just continue…”

Zhang Dong was looking at the ever-increasing counter of his points going up. Since the first transformation of his flying fortress, he was going through the deserted cities and sucking up all of the resources. Sometimes they encountered small groups of demi-humans but with him around they weren’t much of a problem.

Thanks to them appearing in some places they were even able to test out the new defenses and cannons. The demi-humans that they were up against were remnants of the red-skinned ones. With their violent nature and lack of intelligence, they tossed themselves against the large flying fortress in the sky.

It seemed that they were lacking a danger sense, or could not identify spiritual energy to measure their opponent's power levels. Their bone spikes were unable to pierce through the translucent shield that this upgraded bastion had. It was holding up well against the members that were on the lower edges of the nascent soul. Thanks to this test he now knew that it would be possible to survive a prolonged siege.

The cannons on the other hand did slightly worse. While they had a lot of destructive power the aim wasn’t that great. They were not designed to hit fast-moving enemies that were in a small group but when placed against a tightly packed army they would probably be enough.

‘Zhi had to go out and finish their leader off but I can still place more of those cannons, trading out precision for ammo spam…’

Everything seemed to be moving in his favor, in the time it would take for him to arrive back at his lands this fortress would be outfitted with enough defensive power to act as a proper mobile bastion. With its help, he would be able to slowly force his way into the demi-human territory and perhaps take them out for good.

‘If I’m lucky I might be able to do everything before the last boss arrives, but I can’t count on that…’

He had already committed himself to the rapid war effort. The sensible approach would be to wait and fully upgrade this flying fortress to its last stage. For that to happen he would need to abandon his push into the enemy territory which would allow them to reconsider their tactics.

Even then he would still have a powerful impenetrable war machine that would probably allow him to easily win. The biggest problem with that approach was Wang Long who was a dark horse in all of this. His strength after killing everyone from the Soaring Dragon Sect was unknown and he would only get stronger.

The more time he had the more Zhang Dong worried, the system allowed anyone to reach an astonishing power level in a matter of seconds and his version was probably inferior to Wang Long’s. The only real advantage he had was his sect that he built up through the years. Without them around this flying monstrosity would not be able to function.

‘I just hope I’m not leading everyone towards their destruction…’

Zhang Dong knew what needed to be done but he was worried about the cost of lives that were at stake. His counterpart Wang Long treated these people like NPCs in a game, for him on the other hand they were just people. All of these people had their own thoughts and dreams but were also reliant on his will.

As the number one cultivator in the sect, they would not deny the call to battle if he issued it. There was no use in talking to them as they would certainly rely on him to make a decision. If he proved unwilling to make one, he would be a failure of a leader. Thus it was time to take the initiative again, the battle to end this war prematurely needed to commence sooner rather than later.

…

“So, Valentine has fallen, how many chiefs does that make now, huh? You there, answer me.”

A large man was leaning on his fist while sitting atop a throne made from bones. He didn’t look very pleased with the people here. The person that his large finger pointed at trembled but was forced to speak up.

“We have lost four Chiefs, my Emperor…”

“Four huh?... How could four of the ten great tribe Chiefs have died? Is that name only for show?”

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Silence fell upon the whole place, the sound of volcanoes exploding in the distance was the only thing that anyone could hear. Yet, before the man on the throne could raise his voice again another large person walked up and kneeled.

“Emperor, send me, I will bring you the heads of whoever is responsible!”

The man had a large horn protruding from his forehead, his body was covered by some kind of green moss. This being's features were similar to that of a tree, small branches were shooting out from his body along with leaves that seemed somewhat malnourished.

“We from the Treant Tribe will massacre the prey and…”

“... Who told you that you could speak?”

“M-my Emper…”

Before the tree being could finish the sentence it felt a massive force coming down on it. The sturdy-looking body made from hard and practically indestructible wood started to splinter. The tribe chief had made a grave error in speaking out, he had misread the Emperor’s mood and he would pay the ultimate price for it.

The other horned beings that were here started moving away as the entire throne room began to shake. A pillar of dark purple energy shot out from the center of where the tree demi-human was disabled. When it reached a high enough altitude it called something, a tiny sparkle up in the sky was now coming their way.

Everyone started to panic as they realized what was happening. The Emperor was truly angered by this tribe leader and if they didn’t escape they would also feel his wrath. Luckily for them, their leader didn’t seem to care as he remained seated in the same nonchalant expression while performing the strange magical art.

“N-no p-please Emperor, s-show mercy…”

The person from the Treant tribe called out but his calls were meant with silence. Instead, he could feel something approaching from the sky and on a collision course with him. When glancing up his vision was overtaken by a large orb of fire that soon collided with his crumbling body.

Everything suddenly exploded, even the powerful Chiefs were unable to hold on and had to retreat from the blasting zone. After opening their eyes they could not comprehend the amount of damage that was before them. The Emperor’s palace that had been there having a giant gaping hole in it, the only thing that remained in place was the Emperor himself who was still sitting on his throne with a bored expression on his face.

“That changes it to five…”

They could hear him mumble something but were unable to raise their heads to answer. After seeing this monster's might they were unable to do anything but shiver. Finally, after a small pause, their leader decided to stand up.

“I had hoped that they would have posed as an appetizer for my prey but he was already matured… I hope that he won’t be a disappointment …”

The Emperor that had a nice set of three large horns on his head surrounded himself with the same dark-purple energy while floating up. There he rose up so that all of the people that were still alive after a blast could see him.

“I will venture into the hunting grounds myself, all of you will join me, whoever retreats will die by my hand! No more mistakes, you all are a disgrace don’t even think of returning here alive if you fail!”

During the speech, the Emperor became louder and louder. His ferocious voice traveled through the whole area and started causing earthquakes. Yet some of the rubble started rising up from the ground. A small ball of rocks was quickly uncovered by the Emperor to reveal a pointy horn. The same that belonged to the Treant Tribe leader, it had survived the attack of the leader and was ready to be passed on to the next generation.

“You!”

The Emperor pointed to one of the other tree tribesmen that were trembling. This person that was pointed to had no other choice but to step forward and accept his fate. Normally it would be a great privilege to accept the tribe leader's horn but it would lessen this tribe member’s ceiling.

It was thrown towards the tree-like person’s forehead and quickly attached itself to it. The change was quite instantaneous as their body grew in size. In just a minute the person grew twice in size and was a mirror image of the old leader. His power had increased exponentially but it would not be able to reach a higher point than this.

“Your tribe will redeem itself by attacking the second path to the hunting ground, don’t fail me.”

“Yes, Emperor, it will be an honor!”

The new leader of the tree tribe just bowed their head and tried not to say anything that could provoke this Emperor’s ire. The message went through if his tribe failed in taking back the area where Valentine resided they were good as dead. It would be a battle for survival that they needed to take seriously.

“The rest of you will follow me, gather all of your best warriors, we will gorge ourselves on those bastards and remember, the golden one is my prey, whoever dares to touch him…”

During his short speech the earth continued to rumble but finally when it was over things started to calm down. But suddenly from the distance, a loud sound of galloping could be heard by everyone. No one else but the Emperor was looking in that direction and he was not surprised by the sight he was seeing.

A large Chariot was approaching his position, it was being pulled by two large flaming horses. Their eyes and legs were constantly covered by burning flames and it seemed as if they were running through the air. Each time their hooves connected with the air it was as if they had traction and produced a sound.

In a matter of seconds, the large chariot sped by the large demi-human leader but instantly stopped when to his side. The two steeds that were giving off a strange aura were even bigger than the man himself. Yet they were clearly subservient to his will which they showed by lowering their heads.

Without missing a beat, the three-horned Emperor jumped onto the battle carriage. There were no reins that he needed to hold, instead, he just crossed his muscular arms together while the flaming horses bolted toward their next destination…