Chapter 1327: Buzzing echoes
All over the demi-human kingdom, Ersatz assassins emerged out of nowhere.
The Vanderbilt army found themselves in a bind as they were being assaulted in two directions. One from the Red Mankey soldiers led by the 3rd rank general, and the other, from the Ersatz assassins that had been hiding deep in the shadows.
They were already having trouble in keeping their positions, but the emergence of these new opponents had completely changed the tides of battle towards the demi-human side.
Now, Levi was fighting a losing war. Now, he was fighting just to survive.
"Damn it!" he cursed. His five Nascent Spirit generals were currently occupied, keeping the Magical Monsters at bay. So, they couldn’t help with this situation.
"Surrender now," said one of the hooded figures. "Vanderbilt Conglomerate. Your resources and your connections will be greatly appreciated. You will be of great use to the Ersatz."
Levi could only grit his teeth. As a heir of the Vanderbilt family, he had his own safety net in the form of a one-time use teleportation power that would allow him to get out of any dangerous situation. It was a Nascent Piece given by Yze Vanderbilt himself.
However, that would mean giving up on his own army. It was basically political suicide if he did that. And not only that, he knew that the Ersatz assassins would definitely use their voodoo to try and brainwash his soldiers into working for them.
The thought of elite Vanderbilt soldiers falling into the hands of the Ersatz was a chilling possibility that Levi didn’t want to even consider.
But...
He looked around. His soldiers were dying left and right. The once organized army was now simply a mob of people trying their hardest to retreat back into safety against the onslaught of the Red Mankeys who suddenly had the power of Maugnetics.
And they were running out of spaces to retreat.
"Surrender now," said the 3rd rank Red Mankey general. "We will welcome you into the arms of the Ersatz, no matter if you are a filthy human."
Levi held the Nascent Piece teleportation stone in his hand, just mere moments away from crushing it.
But at the last second, he suddenly heard a strange, buzzing sound.
Hundreds of prismatic beams suddenly fell from the skies, hitting the Ersatz assassins on their backs, incapacitating them within seconds.
"Huh?"
It was at this moment that thousands upon thousands of Mini Drones shimmered into reality, finally showing themselves onto the fray.
"I didn’t think that the Ersatz would have infiltrated this deep within the demi-human kingdom..."
Levi’s eyes widened. He recognized that voice.
It was Michael’s voice!
...
...
...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the demi-human kingdom, trapped inside a large cavern were Theresa and the Goldstone Coalition.
They had stepped into the Magical Monsters’ lair, inadvertently finding themselves into a trap.
Thousands of Magical Monsters, each one with the brute strength and power of a Nascent Spirit cultivator, was now bearing down on their entire group.
Caliburn and the Lionhearts were quick to respond. Their soldiers lined up into their formation, quickly creating the 1st form, which allowed them to manifest a giant wall of fire that protected them from the initial onslaught.
Their execution of the first form was noticeably better and more solid than when the Rebornian army used the form just a few days ago. However, even with this enhanced effect, they could not encompass the entirety of the Goldstone Coalition.
Chimeras, monsters whose individual body parts were made out of an amalgamation of other animals, charged towards the helpless humans. Blood and viscera painted the entire cavern a gruesome red.
The Nascent Spirit cultivators of the coalition stepped up, using their Nascent Armors and their Nascent Influence to push back against these chimera monsters.
Unfortunately, they were far too many and far too strong.
"Shit," Theresa cursed. "We’re at a dead end."
She knew the secret that this cave held. And she knew that if they died here, they would only make the Ersatz even more powerful.
After all, those eggs... they were made out of human remains. Human and demi-human alike.
They were being used as nutrition for these Magical Monsters. And somehow, the Ersatz was able to empower these chimera creatures into having the physical strength of a Nascent Spirit cultivator by embedding them with the Artifice in the egg.
Of course, Theresa knew that the only way that this was possible was if the Ersatz used the Artifice from a person that was already powerful, probably those in the high stages of the Body Formation realm, or even from the Nascent Spirit realm!
Which meant that if they died here, then all of their corpses would be used in order to further empower the army that the Ersatz was using here.
It was at this moment that she realized that this was far bigger than she originally thought. This wasn’t something that was based purely on the Chasm and the bridge. No, it was something that involved the entirety of the world!
"HAHAHAHAHA! You are all sustenance for my little babies..."
An Ersatz assassin appeared from behind the Magical Monsters, riding one of the biggest chimeras in the horde.
Theresa glared at the assassin and held the stone in her hands. She may be the only peopersonple who could stop the Ersatz from creating a powerful army that could conquer the world!
"I have to warn them," Theresa said. She looked at the stone in her hands.
Of course, she had her own teleportation item. A Nascent Piece, a piece from a cultivator’s very soul itself, was a very high price and was not given lightly. But she knew that this was a very important piece of information.
They couldn’t all die here and let the Ersatz get away with this.
And just as she was about to crush her stone, she heard a buzzing sound.
Everyone seemed to hear that strange, whizzing echo in the cavern. Even the Ersatz assassin stopped in his tracks as he looked around the cave, confused.