Rise of The Demon General

”Mother...,” Di Ying said weakly. She felt guilty. She had unwittingly put her mother in a position where she had to accept the demands from a human.

Di Yu had calmed down a little. She remained furious within, but no longer to the extent that she lost her mind.

”What’s it going to be?” Amon continued to push. ”As I said, we don’t have much time. If Mo Wang returns here before we bust you out, it will be my life at stake, and your daughter’s as well. Do you think Mo Wang will treat her better than I will? I will give you half a minute to make up your mind. If I don’t get an answer till then, I’m out of here.”

”If you leave, I will stay!” Di Ying threatened.

”We both know I have ways to force you to come with me,” Amon returned.

Di Yu uttered an earth-shattering roar. Amon expected her to throw another tantrum, but she said, ”Very well, fiend. You win. I accept your terms. Now get me out of here!!”

Amon grinned. ”You should have just accepted your fate from the beginning. All your anger did was just waste both our time.”

Di Yu growled menacingly at Amon’s remark, but Amon ignored her. He took out a potion bottle and walked toward the nearest chain that bound Di Yu. He opened the lid and poured the liquid inside onto the chain. The words of power on that chain flared brighter. The liquid was as if alive. It spread along the surface of the chain. Where it passed, the words of power dissolved. It was as if the liquid devoured those words of power.

The liquid was made of the new recipe from the 101 Primal Poison Tome, the Dispelling Poison, which poisoned an enchantment instead of a living being.

While the Dispelling Poison was efficient, the chain was too large and long. The liquid became thinner as it spread until it eventually dissipated. Amon touched the chain. It was no longer enchanted. The chain was made of unusually sturdy metal, but he believed he could break it in its normal state.

However, before he could act, a glow spread along the chain. In an instant, the words of power that had previously been erased were engraved onto the surface again.

”What...?” Amon uttered.

That was not the only thing that happened. A loud alarm sounded all over the place.

”Shit!” Amon cursed. That must be the warning system due to his tampering with the chain. Now, Mo Wang would know that an intruder was in Di Yu’s chamber for sure.

”What is this?” Di Yu asked. ”After all those talks, are you going to fail in breaking me out of this prison?”

”Amon, you said you can free my mother!” Di Ying demanded.

Amon ignored the two. They may panic, but he may not. He knew panicking over an unexpected outcome served no purpose. It would just make things worse.

”Hm...” He pondered his options while the two dragons pestered him. He didn’t have much time. Mo Wang might come any minute. He decided to ask the opinion of an expert before deciding on his next move. He took out Yuka’s prison box and opened the portal.

*

Outside, the battle between two of probably the strongest beings in the lower world continued to rage. The landscape around the place had changed. Everything was covered in flames. Mo Wang’s castle still stood, but was not unscathed. Even though it possessed no barrier, its structure was enhanced by words of power, allowing it to withstand tremendous impacts. Nevertheless, multiple parts of its outer wall had crumbled, while the rest of it was filled with cracks.

Mo Wang floated in the sky. He tried drawing the battle away to avoid further damage to his castle. He remained unharmed. He used lightning-element arts to attack from a distance. When Thien Huo approached, he used the teleport ability from his Law of Space to move away. Other than the earlier tail slap, Thien Huo hadn’t managed to land another hit.

As for Thien Huo, several long wounds were on his colossal body. They were inflicted by Mo Wang’s lightning attacks, empowered by the law of space that tore through space itself. These wounds were shallow, though. Despite the law of space enhancement, a noble dragon’s body was too hardy. Mo Wang couldn’t inflict a serious enough wound. That’s why he went with the scheme of using Amon as bait, so he could get close enough when Thien Huo was careless and dealt a strong attack to draw enough blood for his need.

Furthermore, these wounds closed rapidly.

”You don’t exhibit that healing factor when we last fought. What exactly have you done?” Mo Wang asked.

”I ate the Undying Body Pill,” Thien Huo answered.

”Undying Body Pill...?” Mo Wang uttered. The pill was a high-tier ancient grade. Those who consumed the pill were granted rapid regeneration ability for two hours. So long as the consumers didn’t suffer a fatal hit that killed them in one strike, they could rapidly regenerate all wounds. ”I thought human pills are ineffective for spirit beasts?”

”We, noble dragons, have a different constitution than common spirit beasts. Our body can utilize a pill the way a human can.”

”Hehe, I’m flattered. I know a noble dragon like you is proud to a fault. For you to rely on a pill like that to face me, that means you concede that you are weaker than me.”

Thien Huo growled. Such an insult was unbearable. ”Don’t be arrogant, human! You haven’t seen my kind’s true power yet!!”

Thien Huo’s body began to glow. As it did, the muscles in his body bulked up. At the same time, his scales stood, making it seem like he was covered in spikes.

Mo Wang was fascinated by the transformation, but another thing drew his attention. An alarm he never thought he would ever hear sounded from his castle below.

”What?” He was astonished. That alarm warned him that someone was attacking the chains that restrained Di Yu. The warning sounded only if the chains were damaged, which meant he could not ignore it. If the chains were broken, the freed Di Yu was the least of his worries. The Divine would not overlook this incident. He was not yet ready to face the divine. He had the means now, but he still needed time!

He hurriedly flew toward his castle. However, he sensed an incoming powerful attack. He teleported away just as a column of condensed fire washed over his previous location.

”Damn it! I don’t have time to play with you, lizard!” Mo Wang exclaimed. He executed rapid teleportation. Shifting bits by bits toward his castle.

Midway through, he sensed a pressure he had never felt before. This forced him to teleport away instead of toward his castle. A sea of flames washed over the air, forming a thick wall that blocked his path. The firewall was so thick that it covered his teleport’s range.

Without using an enchantment or a talisman, his teleport ability had a limited range. If he forced himself to teleport forward, he would reappear right in the middle of the sea of flames. From what he sensed from the fire, even he wouldn’t be unscathed if those flames burned him. The most astounding thing was that the firewall remained hanging in the air. It didn’t wane or fall to the ground.

Mo Wang turned around and saw similar walls blocking the sides, the top, and the bottom. He was boxed in. The only unblocked path was in the opposite direction, but Thien Huo stood guard there. His appearance was drastically different than before. His scales had elongated, making him look like a draconic hedgehog. From each of those spikes, fire burst out. The air around him combusted nonstop.

”That... Can it be dragon awakening...?” He had read records about noble dragons possessing such an ability. It gave the dragon an immense power-up, but at the cost of their lifespan.

Thien Huo exclaimed, ”I will vanquish you today, human! Then, I will save my sister and niece!”

Mo Wang was vexed. He didn’t have time for this shit. ”I already told you, I know nothing about your fucking niece!!”

*

Inside the underground chamber of Mo Wang’s castle, a giant battle puppet was walking around the room, inspecting each of the chains. Atop the battle puppet was a glass-covered cockpit. Inside the cockpit was an obese man.

”We don’t have time. Hurry it up,” Amon said.

”Screw you. This is an incredibly advanced enchantment, even more so than the gate that you asked me to study. I need several days to work out a way to negate the gate’s enchantment, and even that was only for a few minutes. You can’t possibly expect me to come up with a way to negate these chains in such a short time. I know I am a genius, but that’s it. I’m not omnipotent.”

Amon took out a bottle. ”I have a poison that can negate an enchantment, but it only lasts for a few seconds. The words of power on these chains can recover themselves. Can you find a way to prevent it from recovering?”

”What? You have such a tool? Why didn’t you just use that on the gate?”

”I only have a few bottles of this poison. Since we have time while waiting, I let you use your expertise for the gate.”

”More like you prefer to waste my time than your poison,” Zee Whang grumbled.