Battle Frenzy

That was the Flaming Spirit King’s chain. While breaking out from the circle of dwarfs, it already completed the soul connection technique with Wang Zhong. The green dwarf that specialized in the wood element was visibly afraid of fire. The flaming chains scorched its body instantly, and it writhed in agony. On the other hand, two of the three dwarfs that were rushing to help were obstructed by the golden crosswheel, unable to save the green dwarf. A faint afterimage appeared in front of the yellow dwarf.

It was a blurry and overlapping silhouette, extremely quick and unexpected.

“3rd Drive!”

Bang!

With a muffled sound, the yellow dwarf was punched in the chest by an immeasurable force.

The yellow dwarf froze as its eyes widened. The intense punch caused a crack to appear on its sturdy yellow body, which expanded to its whole body swiftly.

These dwarfs were not weak. Even if their power was restricted to a thousand Grassos each, they wouldn’t be any weaker than the average Initial Phase Heroic Soul Soldier. Even with the combat power of the Flaming Spirit King — which was considered topnotch among those in the same rank — defeating these dwarves single-handedly was hard, but it was too bad that Wang Zhong was their opponent.

Among those who were in the same rank as him, Wang Zhong had never encountered a worthy opponent.

A perfect burst of power combined with the 3rd Drive caused the yellow dwarf’s body to explode at once. Across from it, the green dwarf’s body was snapped in two by the flaming chain. No blood could be seen in its mutilated body, as even its organs resembled that of dry yellow branches, and traces of them being scorched by flames could be seen.

In the blink of an eye, three out of the five dwarfs were defeated. The blue and red dwarfs were caught by surprise and froze on the spot, too shocked to react and produce a counter-attack promptly.

These two fellows were supposed to be very weak, but…

Other than the dwarfs, even Aiolos and Mu Zi were shocked. Melee combat was not Mu Zi’s strength, but Aiolos was fairly skilled at that, and even he marveled at how adept Wang Zhong’s combat skills were. Evidently, Wang Zhong did not have enough fun just yet. He had always loved challenges, but these dwarfs didn’t pose any challenge to him once their power was restricted to his level; even Mo Wen was a better opponent.

“F*ck! Did you see that? Did you?” Simba shouted excitedly. “Wang Zhong, you are indeed the almighty Simba’s best student!”

Ham Sausage whimpered in protest. Simba was too enthusiastic, and its neck was almost distorted into a fried-dough twist.

Aiolos smiled. “That was quite an eye-opener. Let’s settle the other two!”

The light dwarf shrieked, getting anxious from the defeat of three of its underlings. It waved its scepter furiously, and its body turned into a stream of white light speeding towards Mu Zi.

Mu Zi, who had been defending all this while, seemed to be inspired by Wang Zhong’s fighting intent, or perhaps he had adapted to the light dwarf’s attacks. A glow alternating between black and white appeared in his eyes, and the coffin behind him instantly radiated an eerie glow.

Whoosh…

Mu Zi disappeared into thin air, and only a blue coffin remained where he was originally. The light dwarf’s expression changed suddenly, sensing danger. It ceased waving the scepter, and its body that was traveling at light speed stopped abruptly, but it was too late.

The blue coffin hovering in the air suddenly opened. It was as if the gates of hell were opened, as weeping and screeching sounds could be heard from the coffin; it was as though there were countless grieving spirits calling out from it. It was dark inside the coffin, seemingly bottomless like a black hole with a super-strong suction force.

The light dwarf couldn’t stop itself from moving forward due to inertia and was pulled in by the suction force. It didn’t even have any chance to shout for help before being swallowed entirely by the coffin.

Thump!

The coffin lid closed, and the glow from the coffin disappeared, as did the moaning and weeping sounds. Mu Zi appeared in front of the coffin again.

When he turned his head to look at the other fight, Wang Zhong’s battle was coming to an end too. The water dwarf had been defeated long ago, while the fire dwarf was in hysterical mode and launched a series of suicide attacks at Wang Zhong, seemingly wanting to perish together. However, a runic Subwoofer Cannon was already waiting for it.

Humm!

A wave of energy fluctuations overwhelmed the dwarf, as a mere one thousand Grassos of defense power was utterly useless in front of a Subwoofer Cannon at full power. Its whole body was blown into ashes at once.

On the other side, the dark dwarf had already become Aiolos’s chair, beaten to a pulp and lying lifeless under Aiolos’s butt. Judging from how laid-back Aiolos was, he had already been sitting there for quite a while.

He gave a thumbs up. “No matter how strong you are, there’s always someone stronger. I finally understood the meaning of that phrase today. I won’t belittle the Federation from now on.”

“True, the first time I met Wang Zhong was at a Level-9 creature’s nest,” Mu Zi said quietly.

“That’s nothing!” Seeing Wang Zhong’s fight with the dwarfs boosted Simba’s ego greatly, and he no longer thought that he was inferior to his mount now. “Look at who his teacher is! It’s the almighty Simba!”

“Aren’t you Wang Zhong’s pet?” Mu Zi asked curiously.

“What the hell! You f*cking Baldy!” Simba did not take this lying down. “I’m his teacher! Teacher! What’s more, I’m his first teacher! What pet, you imbecile!”

Pa!

Simba was slapped hard on the head. This dude became arrogant easily, but actually, Wang Zhong felt somewhat dissatisfied too. “Hey, guys. I’ll become prideful if you continue flattering me. It was pure luck that my Dharma Idol took this form. I’m still not sure whether this is good or bad. Furthermore, if the opponent’s power undergoes a fundamental change, my power won’t be of much use. Dimensional lifeforms like these dwarves have always been easier to trick anyway.”

Dimensional lifeforms were shaped by the power of the natural laws; therefore, they were particularly susceptible to Wang Zhong’s antics. However, if the opponent was human, more factors would need to be taken into consideration. It definitely would not be as easy to defeat humans. Wang Zhong had always been aware of this, but of course, it was undeniable that his Dharma Idol was insanely powerful too.

Aiolos shook his head with a bitter smile. “I’m not in a position to say much now, and it would be best if you understand this on your own, but you really should be proud of yourself. In our Hero’s Continent, you don’t need to be humble. I wish my fellow comrades could witness this with their own eyes. Their reactions would certainly be interesting!”

“You’re being too kind. It’s only because you two are here that I can go wild and bully these dwarfs.” Wang Zhong smiled. “It felt really good though!”

It made sense for Wang Zhong to keep a low profile in the Holy Land. Without enough power and understanding of how things worked in the Holy Land, nothing good would happen to a flamboyant person.

Aiolos nodded. “I look forward to how much stronger you’ll become 10 years later!”

Aiolos’s gaze fell on the wooden cottage that stood at the top of the hillside. Currently, the haze in the sky did not vanish even after the seven dwarfs were defeated; rather, the atmosphere became gloomier instead. This made the secluded cottage look all the more mysterious.

Huff huff…

A gust of cold wind swept through and rustled a few yellow leaves on the ground. The temperature around them dropped drastically all of a sudden. You could even see water vapor coming out of your mouth and nose when you exhaled.

Simba shivered, and his indignant expression turned into a wary one.

“Wang Zhong, Mu Zi, follow my instructions closely. If something feels amiss, you guys escape first. Don’t hesitate.”

Aiolos was more solemn now. They were at the same spot they stopped at last time, where he and Mu Zi retreated after sensing the horror and dread emanating from the cottage.

This time, the three brothers were here together, but even if Wang Zhong was there, the situation was not any less dangerous, and he didn’t want any harm to befall Wang Zhong here.

……

BOOM!

Towering ancient trees surrounded them from all sides, and the thick trunks were twisted in an elastic manner. In mid-air, branches smacked downward viciously from all directions, just like whips. They struck the ground and created countless dust clouds.

A team of nine people was at the center of these attacks. With superb cooperation, these people quickly took a step back at the same time, avoiding the attacks and retreating to a safe area.

“Small Eyes, Asher, your 9 o’clock! Lance, Feng, your 6 o’clock! Everyone else, watch your 3 o’clock!” Oscar shouted with his cap still on.

Right after he said that, a tree demon at their 9 o’clock direction attacked them again with several branches. Although it appeared to be smaller than the other tree demons, it had the fastest speed. It was a willow tree, and its branches resembled thick whips. Having missed on its first attempt, it fired its second round of attacks, violently lashing its branches at Small Eyes and Asher, who happened to be in the closest proximity. Every branch was as thick as a child’s arm and covered in barbs and radiated a green glow. They struck with immense power, as though they were going to rip the space apart!

A black glow emanated from Asher’s hands. Although he was the youngest in the team, he was holding an ancient object that certainly didn’t match his age. It was a black armguard covered with simple runes. Upon the injection of Asher’s Soul Power, the armguard expanded and became a huge round shield that was ink-black, protecting him and the girl behind him.

Pa pa pa pa pa pa!

Thousands of branches crashed down on the shield immediately, and the smashing sound was deafening. The shield appeared to be fine, but Asher fell over from that intense attack. For a soldier who had just reached the Middle Phase Heroic Soul Stage, it was not an easy job to handle this attack.

“Small Eyes!” Asher bellowed.

“Leave it to me.” The girl behind him who looked 17 or 18 grinned, and a gray hand mortar appeared in her hands.

Hum hum hum hum hum…

The gray hand mortar gleamed with a white glow and was able to reach beyond the black shield and lock onto the willow tree demon as its target.

She winked and smiled slyly. “Just give me the correct direction.”

Tacit understanding was when you seemingly acted in a way unrelated to the matter at hand, but your comrade was still able to make sense of what you meant.

The black shield reverted back to the armguard form on Asher’s arm, and in that instant, the branches lost their target and froze in the air for a while. The next moment, the roar of artillery announced the start of an attack.

An astonishing amount of firepower was unleashed. The huge mortar wasn’t a clumsy heavy weapon which fired slowly, but rather, it was like a machine gun.

Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang!

Hundreds of artillery shells were fired out consecutively. The willow tree demon felt a terrifying source of power aimed directly at it and halted its attack on Asher. It waved its numerous branches wildly at the artillery shells, but they were too concentrated and couldn’t be blocked completely. The artillery shells were like cannons firing at full power, destroying anything in its path! The ground was full of willow tree branches that were snapped and torn from the main body of the tree demon, which was then bombarded by artillery shells.

Surprisingly, this little girl was already at the peak of the Heroic Soul Stage.

“Ga!”

The willow tree demon could only screech in horror before the quick-fire snapped its body, which was five to six meters wide, in half.

Small Eyes was still unsatisfied. “Sister Feng, let me help you! Get out of the way, Lance!”

Immediately after she said that, the mortar was adjusted to the 6 o’clock direction, aimed at a giant-sized mahogany-tree demon king. Its movements were restricted by a peculiar power, and it could only move extremely slowly. A charming woman was floating in mid-air with a strange rune on her forehead. It gleamed with an eerie power and seemed to be suppressing the tree demon.

After hearing what Small Eyes said, the huge guy, Lance, was startled and retreated in a hurry. Before he stepped into the safe zone, the terrifying firepower had already started.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Smoke filled the air as the giant trees fell…

The battle was a short one since the nine people had great chemistry. Right after Small Eyes defeated the mahogany-tree demon king, the rest of the team ended their battles too.

“Small Eyes, are you trying to kill me?” Lance was furious. He had the situation under control, but this girl simply had to interfere with his battle. Who the hell would attack immediately, without letting others have time to process the warning? It was fortunate that he had fast reflexes and retreated in time. If he was any slower, he would end up just like the mahogany-tree demon king. Small Eyes was holding Murphy’s Tormentor Hand Mortar, an awfully expensive soul tool in the Holy Land.

The Wanderlust Team had put everything on the line for revenge this time. The last time they entered this secret realm accidentally, they suffered tremendous losses and could only flee in panic. This time, they spent their entire fortune on purchasing soul tools and came here under the lead of their team leader!

Small Eyes grinned. She had pointed ears, and although she looked human for the most part, those ears made her look alien. “Heh, I calculated your speed beforehand. Okay, okay. Just accept it and move on if you’re a man. If not for me, you would have had to waste more energy on getting rid of it anyway.”

“I know you like to show off, but save some firepower.” Oscar flicked Small Eyes’ ears. “We just arrived here. Just use the soul tool normally. Don’t inject your Soul Power and use up all your power at the beginning,” he said with a stern voice.

Small Eyes stuck out her tongue as she wiggled her pointed ears skilfully, “Alright, alright, I was just itching to try the new soul tool out!”

The nine of them were reunited again.

They chanced upon this fairy-tale secret realm and tree-demon forest previously, and only nine of them returned alive. Having lived in the Holy Land for many years, they had long accepted the idea of death since the cycle of life was inevitable. However, to be honest, how could they feel nothing when their comrades of many years died just like that?