48 Leader of the Beast Horde

Rumble! Rumble! The earth was slightly trembling and pulsating with the footsteps of a thousand demonic beasts.

The City Lord army was calm in the face of this throng of beasts as they had ample experience fighting with demonic beasts before. Most of them had even weathered previous horde tides as well, so they were not scared of the incoming assault.

The only difference now was that other neighboring cities didn't send their reinforcements to assist in fending off this round of demonic beast horde tide. As mentioned by Wallie Dawson to Kael, the cities are now observing this scene quietly, waiting to see if Fledgling City had the capacity to grow and become the overlord of the Myriad Lower Region. If they couldn't tide through this storm, then all was well. However, if they managed to repel the beasts, then Fledgling City's presence in this Lower Region would have a lot of extra weight.

The student cultivators on the other hand, were slightly shaken. Some of their faces went a bit pale as well. During their hunts for demonic beasts in the Black Heart Forest, they had never experienced such a massive wave of enemies coming for their lives. There was a lingering sense of fear taking root in some of their hearts.

However, being cultivators, their hearts remained strong in the presence of fear. In fact, for some of them, the fear caused something new to develop in them - a sense of battle will. The thirst to be part of a war caused them to evolve in their mindset in the span of a few seconds ever since the advent of the demonic beast horde. This evolution would be greatly beneficial in their fight that would take place later on.

After roughly one minute of waiting, the demonic beasts finally entered into plain sight. Many of them rushed out of the Black Heart Forest and made their way onto the grassy plains separating Fledgling City and the Black Heart Forest. When they were about 400 metres away from the human cultivators, they stopped in their tracks.

Kael was standing on top of the city walls when he saw the sight and he sucked in a breath of cool air. The number of demonic beasts was too staggering! There were around 2000 of them, twice the number that the intelligence reports had stated!

The troops and student cultivators also realized this fact when they saw the ballooning amount of demonic beasts and their faces had an ugly expression on it as well.

There were all sorts of demonic beasts in the throng of the beast horde; beasts that looked like leopards, tigers, boars, snakes, apes etc. None of them had a unifying characteristic that was a weakness that could be exploited on.

"The sentient demonic beasts came prepared this time, to bring so many at once. It seems that they are bent on eradicating us…" Kael thought to himself. He ruminated for a few seconds before he started giving orders, transmitting his voice throughout the whole region using spiritual energy.

"Don't fear! This is a number that we can deal with! Remember that you are in possession of lethal weapons and sturdy armor! It's not a problem for us to take on the attacks that is twice of what was estimated." Kael's command gave a sense of relief to the soldiers and student cultivators.

"That's right! With this set of weapon and armor that was created through the special forging technique, I'm equivalent to a Commoner Rank Middle Phase cultivator. Normal Commoner Rank Lower Phase beasts are no match for me!"

Agreement sounded in concordance amongst the troops and cultivators. They felt more confident to face the horde now after hearing Kael's command.

The demonic beasts seemed to have noticed the human cultivators bracing themselves for a fight, and they responded instinctively, flaring off their auras in an attempt to intimidate their prey.

Kael noticed the sudden outburst of the demonic beasts' auras. About three-quarters were of the Commoner Rank Lower Phase, while one quarter was of the Commoner Rank Middle Phase. He sighed relief in his heart silently. This was something that the army and student cultivators could manage.

"Don't be afraid nor be intimidated by them! We can do this! Remember to stick to your defensive positions!" Kael shouted once again.

Richard Duran and Patten Eagle, who were by the side of Kael this whole time, suddenly interjected. "What about those of Herald Rank? We don't see them…"

Just as Richard Duran finished his words, there was an explosion of aura amongst the demonic beasts. There were actually two Herald Rank Lower Phase demonic beasts and two Herald Rank Middle Phase beasts!

The demonic beasts slowly revealed themselves by coming out of the throng and standing right in front of the other beasts. The two Herald Rank Lower Phase demonic beasts were Snow Wind Apes. They were known for their tough endurance and powerful fists.

The other two Herald Rank Middle Phase demonic beasts were none other than the Black Line Drakes that Kael had met in the abyss in the Inner Region of the Black Heart Forest when he was out on an expedition with the Darram trio.

"As expected… they really came…" Kael muttered to himself. The Black Line Drakes must be here for revenge over what happened previously.

"Patten Eagle and myself can deal with the Snow Wind Apes. However what about the Black Line Drakes? It seems that all the forces of the Black Heart Forest are mustered this time…"

"Have no fear…" Suddenly, there was an explosion of aura from within the human cultivator ranks.

Wallie Dawson appeared on top of the city walls in a flash. Herald Rank Late Phase! And he was very close to reaching the Guardian Rank! With that, the Black Line Drakes would be hampered by him.

The human cultivators cheered at the presence of Wallie Dawson. His presence gave them utmost confidence.

However, at that moment, suddenly there was an eerie cackling sounding from within the depths of the beast horde tide.

"All of you seemed to have forgotten about the leader of this beast horde…"

At this moment, even Wallie Dawson's expression seemed grave.