Castle of Black Iron

On September 3rd, south of the Kalay Mountain Range...

Watching a team of hundreds of demonized puppets in the woods, Zhang Su sprung up and rushed towards those demonized puppets as fast as a lightning bolt with a battle call. When he was 10 m away from them, he had already released his battle qi. Before the front row of demonized puppets realized what happened, they had been exploded into pieces by Zhang Su.

The demonized puppets shrieked and rushed towards Zhang Su dauntlessly...

Closely after Zhang Su, the other 7 elites of this demon hunting squad charged out of the brushwood from both sides of the hillside and darted into those demonized puppets with weapons in hands like tigers entering the flock of sheep.

In a split second, a fierce battle broke out on that hillside, which was filled with shrieks of demonized puppets and roars of human fighters...

Over the past two months, such ambush operations would break out many times a day for these senior fighters above LV 9 dispatched by Hurricane Corps in Kalay Mountain Range. However, no matter how many demonized puppets did they kill, they would always see more and more demonized puppets. As a result, they had to retreat, retreat, and retreat. During the past two months, the special elite troops of Hurricane Corps retreated all the way from the northernmost part of Kalay Mountain Range to its southernmost part. After retreating another 100 miles, they would enter the south of Blackson Humans Corridor...

During the past two months, this demon hunting squad of 10 elites had lost 2 members when they met a squad of demon corps. They collided with each other in less than half a second. In a split second, the woods were filled with shiny blades.

The squad of demons was composed of 10 LV 9 iron-armored demons. By contrast, the demon hunting squad was composed of 9 LV 9 fighters and 1 LV 10 strong fighter.

The result of that battle was that the demon squad was cleared at the cost of losing 2 members of the demon hunting squad.

After the battle came to an end, before they started to collect their battle companion’s corpses, numerous demonized puppets had appeared in the woods. Therefore, Zhang Su had to issue the order to leave. Before leaving, the only thing they could do was to light the ”glorious bombs” on their battle companions. ”Glorious bomb” was like a super tiny white phosphorous gel bomb, which was carried by the elite squads of Hurricane Corps. With them, the members of the squad could set a fire when needed. In this case, the ”glorious bombs” would turn the corpses into ashes as soon as possible in case of being profaned by demonized puppets.

...

Like each ambush that happened before, this time, it took the elite squad less than 10 minutes to kill over 100 demonized puppets on the hillside. After that, Zhang Su had to issue the order to retreat.

More and more demonized puppets were rushing out of the woods, followed by the endless demonized puppets corps.

”Retreat!” Zhang Su issued the order while he released his battle qi and exploded some demonized puppets in front of him into pieces.

When Zhang Su brought up the rear, the other members of the elite squad quickly sprung up and broke the encircling demonized puppets while stepping on their heads and shoulders and evacuated towards southwest...

With weird shrieks, the demonized puppets kept chasing after the elite squads. However, they were gradually lagged behind. Therefore, they could only roar towards the back of the squad...

When the following demonized puppets corps arrived, the sparse corpses of demonized puppets on the hillside became the rations of the demonized puppets corps. After picking up the bloody flesh, those following demonized puppets with grim, bloody eyes kept chewing them while blood flew out of their mouth. Meanwhile, they moved towards the south.

After the elite squad disappeared behind a hill, the over 1,000 demonized puppets who kept chasing after the elite squad finally slowed down and started to move towards the south at a normal speed. These demonized puppets became the vanguard of this troop then...

After two hours, this hillside where the battle broke out just now had been covered with demonized puppets. Numerous demonized puppets moved out of the woods and poured towards the south while releasing a disgusting and terrifying smell. No living being was left wherever those demonized puppets passed by.

The same horrifying scene was happening in many places in the thousands of miles of long Kalay Mountain Range from west to east.

About 200 million demonized puppets would move out of Kalay Mountain Range and enter the south of Blackson Humans Corridor...

...

After 3 hours, Zhang Su’s squad arrived at a secret supply point about 50 miles away from the battlefield just now. While the two members stood sentry, the others started to take a rest and eat food.

Zhang Su checked the wounds of the members of the squad one after another; at the same time, he shared the remaining all-purpose medicament and pressed meat with them.

Even LV 9 fighters would also suffer wounds in such a fierce battle. Those demonized puppets showed their extremely undying vitality in such a battle. Thankfully, they were just bruised. Only one squad member had a deep wound on his shank.

After 3 hours, the periphery of the wound had started to turn black. Taking a deep breath, the wounded member cut off those black skin and flesh from his shin.

”What’s the matter, Brad?” Zhang Su walked towards him and gave him a vial of all-purpose medicament. After that, he started to clean the wound for that battle companion.

”Si...” The man gritted his teeth as his forehead was oozing sweat, ”A demonized puppets’ head had been chopped off for quite a while so I thought it was already dead. However, when I moved to its head, I got a bite on my shin. F*ck, it bit off a piece of flesh...”

Although being a white tough guy, he could speak Hua language very fluently.

As demonized puppets carried a special biotoxin, whenever being bitten or scratched by them or being sprinkled by their blood on one’s wounds, humans would suffer a risk of being infected. Although they would not die at once, their battle force would be sharply weakened as a result.

After daubing a vial of all-purpose medicament onto Brad’s wound, Zhang Su dropped his own vial of all-purpose medicament to Brad.

”Ahh, head, what about you then?” After catching the medicament, Brad asked with a bashful look.

”It’s okay, I don’t need it for the time being...”

Brad didn’t say anything. He just raised his head and bottomed up that vial of all-purpose medicament.

”After resting for half an hour, we will evacuate...” Zhang Su issued an order after taking a look at the watch on his wrist.

Everybody knew what did the word ”evacuate” mean. Therefore, they all let out a deep sigh.

It was indeed the time to evacuate. Based on the moving speed of demonized puppets, the vanguard of demonized puppets corps would enter the south of Kalay Mountain Range by the next sunrise.

After issuing the order, Zhang Su leaned against a rock and started to gnaw his pressed meat.

After fighting over 2 months in Kalay Mountain Range, the entire squad understood that they had to keep their minimal battle force so as to survive themselves no matter how many demonized puppets were in front of them. With the minimal battle force, they should at least be able to handle super iron-armored demon squads or escape. Compared to those demonized puppets, the iron-armored demon squads were real tricky forces of the super demon corps. Sometimes, iron-armored demon squads were mixed in demonized puppets; sometimes, they acted independently. Therefore, they were very tricky.

Over the past two months, Zhang Su’s beard had been as long as 3 cm. His skin became a bit swarthy. Besides, he turned thinner than before. His combat uniform was so dirty that its color could almost not be identified while releasing a dense smell. All the other members of the elite squad were like him. They had not taken off their clothes during the past two months at all. Fleas could be seen on them while their hair contained white flea eggs. Even immortals would look like beggars after fighting over 2 months in such an environment.

All the elites looked like savages and beggars. However, they became more capable and vigorous than before.

By this chance, the members of the squad started to catch fleas and insects by fingernails. They would squeeze those fleas and insects to the death. Although his eyes were closed, Zhang Su always heard faint claps ”Pah” ”Pah” ”Pah” ”Pah” beside him.

It became this squad’s only interest to squeeze fleas and flea eggs by their fingernails when they were relaxing themselves during the past two months.

Only after less than 10 minutes, they had heard two cries of chickadees from afar.

The moment they heard that had all of them sprung up at once and entered the combat mode. After seeing Zhang Su’s gestures, they silently formed a combat formation and moved towards the far while lowering their bodies...

...

Zhang Su and his team members ambushed behind a thorn bush at the end of the reeds on the riverside. Everybody held their breath and watched the swaying reeds silently...

Some living beings were moving towards here from the reeds. As there was a supply point in the nearby, if the arrivers were also an elite squad of Hurricane Corps, they should have sent a secret signal so as to confirm their status in case of misunderstanding.

However, there was no secret signal.

Having just cut off more than 0.5 kgs of flesh from his shin, Brad seemed to forget about the pains. Narrowing his eyes, he licked his lips and grasped tightly the black matte long sword. Meanwhile, he faintly lowered his body and prepared for launching the fatal attack towards his target.

According to the swaying reeds, they realized that the opponents might contain 5-10 living beings.

...

When the first person drilled out of the reeds, all the onlookers became stunned.

Six people drilled out of there in total, instead of being iron-armored demons or demonized puppets. In combat uniforms, they all looked extremely fatigued.

Zhang Su’s squad didn’t rush towards them; instead, they just observed them in the hidden place...

A thin and short guy raised his head and sniffed forcefully before murmuring something. The other 5 people with collars over their necks then became intense at once as they prepared for defense.

”We’re demon hunting squad of Guang Republic, I’m Lieutenant Colonel Prague, the head of the squad. Can the surrounding friends show yourself? As we’re all humans, please give way to our brothers.” A tall, tough guy muffled as he kept glancing around with shrewd eyes and ax in hand.

After making a gesture, Zhang Su and the other members stood up one after another.

”We’re the 27th squad of the special elite squad of Hurricane Corps, Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun Country. I’m Zhang Su, the head of this squad...”

Out of military etiquette, Zhang Su also revealed their background as he stood up.

Watching Zhang Su and the surrounding guys and hearing their background, those guys became reassured at once as they hushed and put away their weapons.

”Son of a b*tch. One of your squads set a fire in the mountain over 600 miles from here. Thankfully, we ran faster than those demonized puppets; otherwise, we’ve long been charred flesh!” The tough guy with ax swore as he gazed at that supply bag at Zhang Su’s waist and forcefully swallowed his saliva.

Zhang Su directly threw that supply bag to him, which still contained some pressed meat.

That tough guy instantly caught the supply bag and opened it. He then shared some pressed meat with his brothers. After that, he put one piece into his mouth and chewed it.

”Any more?” The tough guy asked unclearly as he chewed forcefully.

Zhang Su threw a glance at the other two team members. Two more supply bags flew towards them.

”What about your partners?”

After hearing this question, those guys became silent for a second as they stopped chewing. The tough guy replied with red eyes, ”They’ve gone!” After that, he started to tear off his pressed meat while gritting his teeth...

Zhang Su and his team members became silent too. Over the past two months, far more than these guys of Gung Republic had sacrificed in Kalay Mountain Range...

In less than 2 minutes, those guys had eaten up their pressed meat as they looked a bit more spirited.

Watching them finishing the food, Zhang Su opened his mouth, ”Where are you going? Back to Gung Republic?”

Lieutenant Colonel Prague became silent for a second before replying, ”One month ago, our demon hunting squad received a piece of domestic information for the last time when Gung Republic was experiencing a large-scale riot. The president disappeared overnight. The greater part of the congressmen had escaped away. I’m afraid that Gung Republic has already perished. Since the riot broke out, our supply has been cut off. Therefore, we don’t know where to go. As human fighters, we’ve already been conscientious and responsible. The demons will break through Kalay Mountain Range in two days. We just want to leave out of this motherf*cking place...”

Watching their frustrated faces, Zhang Su suddenly asked, ”Do you want to join Hurricane Corps?”

”Do you want to keep fighting here?” After exchanging a glance with the others, Lieutenant Colonel asked.

”No, we will also evacuate from here. We’ve tried our best. We will go back to Huaiyuan Prefecture!”

”What about the future? Do you plan to fight demons to the death or leave Waii Sub-continent?”

”Leave first. We will have a chance to fight demons in the future. The holy war has just come to a start!” Zhang Su replied without any hesitation.

Prague threw a glance at his partners. After exchanging a glance with each other, they faintly nodded.

”Well, we’re in!”

”After joining Hurricane Corps, the corps will make an investigation about your background. If you’re innocent, you will be the official soldiers in active service of Hurricane Corps. After that, you will take the positions which could match your abilities. However, now, we have to leave out of here. You have to follow my command for the time being. Am I clear?”

”Do we have food?”

”Of course, enough food!”

”If we encounter demons, who will fight?”

”Together, I will bring up the rear!”

”I agree!” The Lieutenant Colonel Prague gave a salute to Zhang Su solemnly. Zhang Su gave one salute to him too.

After making brief introductions to each other, the two squads converged into one and evacuated towards the south...

”By the way, how did you find us just now?” Zhang Su asked Lieutenant Colonel Prague.

”Jessie, his nose has saved us more than once in Kalay Mountain Range!” Prague patted the short guy’s shoulder.

...

At midnight, after 8 hours of rapid march, Zhang Su finally led the 10 people out of Kalay Mountain Range.

The moment they left Kalay Mountain Range had they felt something flying over their heads. Closely after that, they heard rumbling thunders...

All of them raised their heads as they saw six colorful meteors colliding in the sky...

’Knights’ combat?’ Zhang Su instantly led all the others to a hidden place as they held their breath and watched the fierce battle in the sky with widely opened eyes...

The 6 meteors were fighting in two groups, 3 ones in one group. They moved so fast just like two groups of triangles which constantly changed its shape. The colorful knight’s battle qi and battle skills shot into the sky, making all the stars lose their brilliance...

After one hour, the two groups of meteors separated from each other. One group moved towards the north while the other became a bit stagnated before moving towards the south. However, when the three meteors flew above the heads of Zhang Su and the other guys, one of them suddenly lost its brilliance...

Before Zhang Su and the others realized what happened, the meteor had already appeared right a few meters above them.

”Ahh, fight them to the death!” After knowing that he was discovered by a knight, Prague became stiff all over as he was going to pull out his saber. However, he was stopped by Zhang Su at once.

In the next second, all the members of special elite squad of Hurricane Corps including Zhang Su walked out of the woods and gave a salute to the knight, ”Corps leader!”

’Corps leader?’ All the other guys who had just joined Hurricane Corps were so shocked that they widely opened their mouths.

Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see Zhang Su here. Therefore, he became reassured. As he descended and watched those elites of Hurricane Corps like savages and beggars, he gave a solemn salute to them.

”Well done. The No. 7 evacuation point is not far from here. There’s an airship waiting for you. The 27th squad is the last batch of Hurricane Corps in Kalay Mountain Range. Hurry up. As I’m here, demons and wing demons would not arrive here for the time being. You can have a good sleep in the airship tonight!”

After hearing that Zhang Tie was going to bring up the rear for the elite squad of Hurricane Corps in the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range, all the elites became moved, including Zhang Su. With red eyes, they felt something rolling in their throats; however, they could not say it.

Everybody gave a military salute to Zhang Tie once again before continuing to evacuate towards the south.

Since the beginning, Zhang Tie and Zhang Su exchanged a glance with each other.

Zhang Tie saw them off...

With a sound of the wind, Elder Lan of Lan Clan who had met Zhang Tie in Selnes Theater of Operations and an elder of Ou Clan had arrived at Zhang Tie’s sides.

They both watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look.

The two elders also noticed the squad of soldiers downside here just now; however, they didn’t understand why Zhang Tie came down here.

Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards the two elders, ”Zhang Su, my cousin was here. I came to greet him and let them go back as soon as possible!”

Although it was not difficult for a knight to identify people downside there; however, Zhang Tie did it when he was in a 3-in-1 state. It was amazing.

Elder Lan and Elder Ou found an amazed look from the opponent’s eyes.

”The vanguard of demonized puppets would enter the south of Kalay Mountain Range tomorrow. After staying in the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range for over 2 months, it should be the last night we stay here. Two squads of Lan Clan are still inside. I’m afraid they’ve already sacrificed. After tonight, we will go back to Jinyun Country and arrange Lan’s corps to evacuate from Waii Sub-continent. We should leave out of here sooner or later!” Elder Lan let out a sigh.

Elder Ou faintly nodded, ”As we’ve lost the support of humans, we should leave out of here as soon as possible.”

Watching the gloomy Kalay Mountain Range in the far, Zhang Tie faintly frowned as he nodded. Over the past two months, the situation in the southern human countries had been deteriorating. When the vanguard of demonized puppets corps entered the south of Waii Sub-continent tomorrow, it would be the last straw which crushed the camel...

Zhang Tie didn’t know what would happen after tomorrow. There was one point that he was sure of that more and more people would die after tomorrow...