Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

Chapter 637: Chapter 637 Warm Fire Stone

When the West Fifth Army First Unit was preparing to take down East View City, unexpected incidents frequently occurred along the various battle lines of the Recovery Army.

Various groups of powerful small teams appeared one after another behind the army, like mosquitoes continually circling in the air.

Go hit them, and they might buzz away; if you don’t hit them, they bite left and right, and soon you’d be covered in bites.

Facing these small teams, different armies adopted different strategies.

Some, like the unit Yang Yu was in, sent out some elites to counter; others considered it not painful enough and continued to build up strength, prepared to launch a rapid attack. After they reclaimed the regions that were supposed to be recovered, they planned to clear out the harassing troops in the rear.

Different strategies yielded different results but ultimately did not slow down the army’s recovery speed.

At least by the end of the year, more than half of the Sailuomen Plain in the Feng Mang Region had been reclaimed, greatly boosting morale.

However, such smooth progress was not necessarily a good thing.

Somehow, rumors began to circulate wildly among the troops that “Humans must have seen our large assembly of forces and got scared, there’s no need for such careful marching.”

Although the National Guardian General reinforced rules that disrupting the troops’ morale was punishable by death, he could feel attitudes changing at every meeting.

The attacks after the new year might become an important turning point, but it was unclear which direction they would go, the National Guardian General couldn’t yet confirm.

The elites dispatched by the West Fifth Army First Unit patrolled the vast plain aimlessly for several days and still had not encountered the Luo Ze Elite troops.

If they went by what Yang Yu had speculated earlier, that elite troop’s personnel had been determined.

As long as there were no changes in personnel and no lowering of their Evaluation, their numbers would only decrease.

That meant, even if there was a next encounter, the Luo Ze Elite would probably send around thirty people.

After discussing with the Lu Hua Army, Kun Ya finally decided to leave about one hundred top elites to continue patrolling, to prevent any issues in the rear.

The rest, command was handed over to Yang Yu, who would lead them back to participate in the attack on East View City.

The Lu Hua Army also told Yang Yu that Minister Ming Dalak had sent the necessary items for his treatment, hoping he would use them immediately upon his return and not delay the siege.

Upon hearing that the “Racial Essence” bestowed by His Majesty had finally arrived, Yang Yu was already quite eager.

Having repelled so many Luo Ze elites, his Level had already reached seventy-nine, this time he wouldn’t have to worry about reaching the Level cap and missing out on Experience.

Without further ado, Yang Yu led his troops on a forced march back to the West Fifth Army First Unit.

In front of the tall black city walls, green tents punctuated the snowy ground, where countless soldiers were drilling in an orderly fashion.

The number of people here had doubled since Yang Yu left.

Since Yang Yu’s team had dealt with that group of Luo Ze elites, the Western Fifth Army Second Division was able to successfully join with the First Unit.

Unfortunately, whether it was their rear or the city they needed to capture, the West Fifth Army Third Division seemed at a loss and couldn’t join the Lu Hua Army in the siege.

Leading his troops into the camp, Yang Yu saw some strange Subhumans also training with the main forces.

Those people had black scales on their faces extending from the corners of their eyes to their ears in a black crescent shape; they dragged inflated lizard tails, adorned with serrated black patterns.

What was most striking was that these Lizard people, regardless of gender, had large orange-yellow eyes with vertical pupils, bright yet somehow eerie and mystifying.

“Welcome back. It has been tough.”

Upon learning that Yang Yu and his team had returned, the Lu Hua Army, holding a smoking pipe, appeared before them.

“They are members of the Striped Guardian Clan, highly skilled at climbing barehanded, sent by Minister Ming Dalak as helpers.”

“It’s hard to believe the Striped Guardian Clan can move freely in this kind of weather.”

“Generally speaking, this weather isn’t suitable for the Striped Guardian Clan to be active.”

The Lu Hua Army exhaled a thick ring of smoke and reached into his clothes, pulling out a black pebble,

“It’s a bit difficult to explain. Stretch out your hand.”

Stretching out his own hand and receiving the Black Stone, Yang Yu instantly felt a warmth emanating from the center of his palm; he opened the panel and saw the words “Warm Fire Stone.”

“This is…”

“The tongues of the Striped Guardian Clan curl up, and they keep warm by holding these stones in their mouths.”

For some reason, Yang Yu gripped the stone tightly, and immediately felt warmer all over.

If he could keep holding this stone during battle, there would be no need to worry about frostbite from the cold of Selovomen.

“So it’s like that, where do these stones come from? We absolutely cannot let the Luo Ze Empire get them.”

“You don’t need to worry about that; this is a treasure of the Blazing Fire Clan.”

At this point, the Lu Hua Army paused for a while, pondered, and eventually chose to tell Yang Yu the truth,

“This might not be the best way to put it. Each race has its unique festivals and rituals. For the Blazing Fire Clan, their most important festival is the Fire Birth Festival. On that day, Qinghe Volcano generates incredible heat that resonates with the flames on their bodies, causing the flames to turn an unprecedented bright white. They use that scorching flame to cleanse all impurities and seek the protection of their ancestors.”

What the Lu Hua Army had described was not much different from the information Yang Yu had gathered since the Blazing Fire Clan was also among the Racial Essences he sought to acquire.

“I’ve heard a bit about it. What does this have to do with the stone?”

The Lu Hua Army took a deep puff of his smoking pipe, and smoke leaked from each side of his mouth,

“All impurities… include the bodies of their kin who died the previous year…”

Looking at the black stone in his hand, Yang Yu felt a sense of unease and ventured, “This stone isn’t their…”

“Not at all.” After the smoke had cleared from his mouth, the Lu Hua Army explained, “This stone forms the base under their corpses.”

“…”

Silence fell on the scene, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Yang Yu took a sharp breath,

“That… General Lu Hua, since we’ve captured so many clothes from the Luo Ze Empire, I think I’ll just use one of those.”

“There’s nothing unlucky about them.” The Lu Hua Army raised his smoking pipe and gently tapped Yang Yu, “Different races have different attitudes towards death. The Blazing Fire Clan rarely gets sick; their deaths are all of natural causes. For them, death is another beginning, which is why the festival is named Fire Birth Festival.”