Chapter 370: Battle Determination
Up in the sky, the elder in green had just bisected another three early-stage class five bee giants in two. His eyes caught the sight of Bai Yunfei flying in a different direction, causing him to mutter, “A flying soul armament? It’s not a very weak one either…
“But only a late-stage Soul Sprite? Is he the heir to a major family? What is he…
“Forget about him and focus on fighting.” The other Soul Exalt cut in as he delivered another sword stroke to the crowd of soulbeasts in front of him. Finding time to speak as he brought his sword back, he continued, “We don’t have time to think about people flying away right now. The warnings of this sudden wave were far too subtle. The officials didn’t care about it at first. We’re the first line of defense, so we must protect even a small town like this! Reinforcements will come quickly! There will be enough to stop the wave!”
The elder in green paused for a moment, studying the torrent of soulbeasts. “There has to be several tens of thousands of soulbeasts here, a soulbeast wave indeed… legends have it that the last one two hundred years ago resulted in the deaths of more than half the people in Beast Suppression Pass. I never imagined that I’d be the one fighting against a wave…”
He sighed, but his movements didn’t waver. Three blades of wind later, the elder managed to save several soul cultivators who were about to die to a soulbeast.
Not much time had passed since the battle first started, but the battleground was unbelievably fierce with roars and explosions coming from everywhere. Some soul cultivators were charging forward to clash with soulbeasts without reason, but most soul cultivators were were well-versed in fighting in conjunction with others. Many of them were in teams that emphasized team fighting, allowing them to fight in ways that covered both offense and defense, not allowing any soulbeasts to advance.
But… this was only the start of the battle…
……
Twenty kilometers away from the town, a village of thirty could be seen.
This area was where the most basic commoners gathered, the lowest of the low. Denizens who even Beast Suppression City didn’t care to protect the land they lived on. The only places they could live in peace were the places where no other human would dare live or even set foot.
Already over a hundred years in age, this village stood strong with the villagers living a very rudimentary life.
Despite living in proximity to the Soulbeast Forest like the braves, the villagers built their village in a remote area near the entrance of the forest where soulbeasts seldom left. A soulbeast or two might attack every month, but when banded together, the villagers were still strong enough to chase off or even kill a class one or two soulbeast.
When a class three soulbeast arrived, all they could do was run and hide, hoping that the soulbeast would ‘have its fun’ by destroying the village and going back to the forest when it was done.
The past few days in the village had deviated from the norm. In just the span of two days alone, three separate soulbeasts were seen roaming around. Two more soulbeasts walked around the edge of the village, and one time, a single soulbeast walked straight into the village. It was stronger than what any of the villagers had ever seen before. It completely destroyed two huts and injured several people before walking straight through the village.
Today, the villagers were horrified to discover that a great drove of soulbeasts were coming their way like a tsunami!
The signs came in the form of an earthquake at first. Another person from the western part of the village was quick enough to notice a drove of soulbeasts in the general area. Due to the relative distance between them and the village, the villagers thought they would be safe for now.
In time, they realized that the wave of soulbeast was only growing bigger and bigger. Eventually, they could determine that the soulbeasts were less than a kilometer away from the village!
And the wave was still growing too!
By the time all of the villagers had gathered in the center plaza, some of the soulbeasts near the edge of the town were already starting to move!
At last, a soulbeast was within the village. A soulbeast, shaped like a rhinoceros, slammed into a hut in the western part of the village, shattering it into pieces. Some debris from the hut struck down an unfortunate few people.
“Mommy… I’m scared…” A young girl bawled as she held the robes of her mother.
“Don’t be afraid, little one. Mommy is here. Daddy will protect us…” Her mother replied quietly, but her voice betrayed the fear she was feeling. It wavered with each word she said and her eyes reflected her terror.
The elderly, women, and children were all hiding in the central most part of the village while all available men were standing guard with weapons at the entrances. All of them were pale with fear. Some of them were even shaking as they clenched their weapons.
Yet, the men were determined.
A house could be torn down and rebuilt, but the lives of their loved ones could not. For that reason, they had to fight!
Xiao Yi was among the children hiding with their mother’s. He was being held by a middle-aged woman whose complexion was even worse off than the others due to her ailments, but her hands still held tightly to the hands of her son with amazing strength. “Don’t be afraid, Xiao Yi. We’ll be fine.”
“Okay!” He replied. “You too, mom! Xiao Yi will definitely protect you! We’ll all be okay! I still need to get you medicine. Big brother Bai Yunfei already said that he’ll bring back some stargrass, so we just need to wait for him to come back and you’ll be better!”
As he spoke, his head turned to look in the direction of the Town of the Braves, but all he could see was a horrifying black swarm of soulbeasts…
“Eh? What is… that?” Suddenly, Xiao Yi’s eyes widened just marginally when he caught sight of something strange. A spark of green light was flying over to them, approaching at a frightfully fast speed!
Before he could even cry out a warning, the light had already landed on the ground nearby!
“What… what’s going on?!” The sudden descent of the green light startled everyone nearby. With all eyes drawn to the light, everyone stared with bated breaths and anxiety-filled faces.
……
“Phew… am I on time? That’s good. The wave hasn’t reached here yet…” A single figure came out of the green light, muttering to himself as he inspected the area.
Of the villagers, Xiao Yi was the first to recognize this person. “Big brother Bai Yunfei, it’s you!!” He cried out in elation.
Hearing the voice, Bai Yunfei turned to look at Xiao Yi with a smile. “Hey, Xiao Yi. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine!”
“That’s good.” Bai Yunfei remarked. “This must be your mother?” He nodded at the woman behind him.
“Yep!” Xiao Yi nodded, “Mom, this is the big brother Bai Yunfei I told you about!”
Noticing that the mother and son’s hands were still being held tightly with one another, Bai Yunfei understood the situation the village was in. “Xiao Yi, stay with your mother and protect her well.”
“Of course!” An earnest nod was given.
“Haha…” With that taken care of, Bai Yunfei turned to the rest of the villagers who were still looking at him. “Don’t be alarmed, everybody. I came here to help. As long as you can protect this center, I’ll take care of the rest.”
Before anyone could say anything, Bai Yunfei leaped into the air and landed several hundred meters away near the entrance of the forest.
On the way here, Bai Yunfei was worried about what would greet him when he arrived. He thought that village would be in chaos with the soulbeasts attacking, but it seemed that his worries were misplaced.
Despite the relative state of calm the village was experiencing, Bai Yunfei was still doubtful. He originally planned on grabbing Xiao Yi and his mother and taking them away from this place, but his plans had changed.
He couldn’t just take the mother and son away, he’d have to protect the entire village to the best of his ability.
He wouldn’t go as far as to protect the village with his life, but expending all of his energy was a good compromise. As long as he possessed the energy, he wouldn’t allow any soulbeast to harm anyone standing behind him.
Cracking his knuckles with a satisfying pop, Bai Yunfei started to mutter to himself. “It’s a good thing that this is the very edge of the soulbeast wave. It won’t be as crazy here as is in the town…
“This will be a good test to see how strong I’ve gotten in the last two years!”
The Fire-tipped Spear materialized with a swing of his right hand. Pointing its tip at the incoming soulbeast, Bai Yunfei was ready to fight—
The soulbeasts would face his determination to battle!