Demon Beast Horde

Two weeks later, in the City Lord's Mansion, Ye Zong and various higher ups of the Snow Wind Family were in a meeting when suddenly, a Black Gold Ranked elder hurriedly ran into the room.

The elder reported in an urgent tone, "City Lord, it's bad! There is a massive demon beast horde approaching our city. At their current speed, they should reach Glory City in half a day!

Hearing what these words, Ye Zong abruptly stood up, his expression as dark as night. With the Dark Guild's plans with the Sacred Family being disrupted over and over again, he knew that at some point, they would lose their patience and take action. He just wished that there had been a little more time for Glory City's strength to grow.

Instinctively, he could sense that this demon beast horde was being triggered and controlled by the Dark Guild as part of their nefarious plans.

"What is the size of the horde?" Ye Zong asked.

"The size is estimated to be over twenty million! Our scouts tell us that the bulk of the beasts are Bronze and Silver Rank. However, there are numerous Gold and even Black Gold Ranked beasts as well! We haven't seen any Legend Ranks but we are unable to be sure right now." the elder replied, cupping his hands.

Hearing this, Ye Zong and the others in the room felt their hearts sinking in distress. If the size were only a few million, it would be something that Glory City could handle with some losses, but a twenty million strong demon beast horde was something that would seriously push the limits of their capabilities! If they did not respond properly, it could potentially spell doom for their city.

The previous demon beast horde that had destroyed many empires, killing countless numbers of experts and causing the human civilisation to enter into the Age of Darkness, amounted to over a hundred million demon beasts with multiple Legend Ranked demon beasts within. There had even been a demon beast that had unlocked divine wisdom and had reached beyond Legend Rank!

Humanity's dark history had made them well aware of how terrifying a demon beast horde could be.

"Sound the alarm immediately and prepare the whole city!" Ye Zong declared solemnly.

Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!

Very quickly the warning bells sounded throughout all of Glory City, further triggering a wave of more bells throughout the villages situated around the region. There was a sudden uproar of panicked voices and shouts, as faces looked at each other in horror, all knowing what the sound of the bells represented.

It was the very highest level of alarm indicating that a demon beast horde was approaching!

The City Lord's army, along with the forces from all the main families of Glory City, began to frantically laying down their defensive preparations. With their various positions on the front lines of defence along the borders of Glory City, the three sects had already made sure to build strong defensive structures in anticipation of a possible demon beast horde. Of course, none of them had predicted such a massive wave of beasts, and they all knew they would probably be able to hold on for awhile before having to retreat using the tunnels connecting their sects with the inner walled area of the city.

Prior to Yang Xin leaving her position as director, Ning'Er had already ensured that some important preparations had been made between the City Lord's Mansion and the Alchemist Association. The moment the bells started sounding, some of these protocols began to be activated.

Four teams of a five hundred guards each were sent to each border, and began digging pits all over the ground leading up to their defensive structures stretching about half a mile. Then, groups of alchemists began carefully pouring in an oily concoction that had been prepared into each of the these pits and the guards would then cover up them up with branches.

There was another group of people who were cutting down all the bamboo from nearby thickets and sharpening them into spears. Thereafter, they were pouring something within the bamboo spears.

Yet another group was loading massive rocks onto numerous trebuchets and catapults lining the walls at the border. These new weapons were created by the Du Family using Ning'Er's plans, and possessed incredible power and range. Next to them were specialised units controlling ballistae, terrifying weapons which could shoot bolts that were twice the height of a man. These were the currently the highest range weapons Glory City possessed, able to accurately shoot a bolt 2,000 feet in distance!

The main Patriarchs of each family stood at the Southern Wall as they observed all the preparations being implemented. There were still three to four hours before the first of the demon beasts appeared and they were waiting for instructions from the City Lord in the face of this devastating threat.

Shen Hong laughed out loud derisively as he looked towards the men digging pits in the fields. "What are all those soldiers doing? Do they really think they can impact the demon beast horde with a few little tricks? Such idiots!"

He had been prompted by the Dark Guild that the demon beast horde would be coming. His clan would make a show of defending the East border as well as they could before finding a chance to retreat inwards until they reached the ancient constructs near the City Lord's Mansion. This way, if they could see that the city would fall under the horde, they would escape to the Abyss Prison Realm.

Shen Hong was one of the few who secretly knew the method to breaking through the array because the Dark Guild had revealed it to him before. At the same time, their instructions to him were, if he could find a way to sneak attack Ye Zong in the mayhem, it would be his role to play in order to severely weaken the defence of Glory City! He licked his lips as he wondered if there would be such a wonderful opportunity.

Ye Zong had been briefed beforehand by Ning'Er of the purpose and effects of the preparations being put in place and so did not waste any energy responding to Shen Hong's cynical discouragement. However, some of the other Patriarchs could be seen looking out at the strange behaviour of the soldiers and shaking their heads as they listened to Shen Hong's words.

"From the scout reports we've received, the largest wave of attack will hit the Southern border because it's the largest access point for the demon beasts. There is a secondary wave of demon beasts which has split off from the main force, which is heading for our northern border. Therefore, these will be our two main critical points of defence, of which the excess will flow on to the Eastern and Western borders, which had far narrower access points from the mountain range."

The City Lord continued, "This is how we'll spread out the duty of defending Glory City! The Snow Wind and Winged Dragon forces will defend the most dangerous Southern border together. At the second most dangerous location, the Divine and Huyan forces will be responsible for the our Northern border. At the Eastern border shall be the Sacred and Chu forces, and finally, the Western border will consist of the Hong Yue, Ao Cloud and Feng Ming forces."

He looked at each of them in turn directly into their eyes. "The very survival of humanity depends on you. Do not desert your post and stand firm. If you find one defensible position broken, retreat through the escape tunnels to the outer walls. If those fall, then retreat towards the inner walls. But at each layer of defence, take out as much of the horde as you can!"

"Yes, City Lord!" Each of them in turn cupped their hands in recognition of his directives and went to their assigned borders. Shen Hong's bow was rather slight compared to the rest and as he turned away, he sneered maliciously, thinking about what it would feel to stab his dagger into Ye Zong's back and twisting it from side to side.

Almost hree hours later, they could see dust in the distance and hear distant roars as the demon beast horde approached.

"Xiao Yunfeng, where's your daughter? She put all these defensive measures in place but is not on the frontlines with us. Does she trust that our defences will hold? In the face of this disaster, I hope that I have made the right call in trusting her." Ye Zong muttered out as he wondered what twenty million demon beasts together looked like. Even an expert like him who had shouldered the burden for Glory City so long was feeling nervous at the gargantuan task ahead.

"I'm sorry, City Lord. She had sent a message that she was heading back to our home village. I'm sure she's on her way back to fight alongside us." The Winged Dragon Patriarch bowed in embarrassment.

Ye Xiu who was standing beside Ye Zong laughed out loud as he clapped the City Lord on his shoulder. "Is our valiant leader getting scared of a few demon beasts? Don't worry, our little Ning'Er is someone who has the best interests of Glory City at heart. She has done more than enough for our city, and even if we didn't implement her defensive preparations, we would have been in the same position - facing the demon beasts with brute force! At the very least, I'm liking how deadly these Du weapons are looking!"

Just as they were speaking three people flew into view and promptly landed next to them at the top of the wall. Xiao Yunfeng's expression relaxed a little as he saw that it was his beautiful daughter. Behind her, he saw a proud figure holding a grand silver halberd.

"Father! What are you doing here? Aren't you still recovering from the poison?" Xiao Yunfeng blurted out.

Ye Xiu went over and hugged the expert behind Ning'Er warmly. "The Silver Flash. I never expected to see you on the battlefield again but it brings back such memories. I look forward to fighting next to my old comrade again!"

Ye Xiu's eyes widened in shock as he sensed something. "What's this? You...you've actually reached Legend Rank!!"

The diminutive old man with flowing white hair turned his face to look at Ning'Er with tenderness in his eyes. "It's all because of my beloved granddaughter. I'll tell you all about it after we destroy every last one of them demon beasts!"

In fact, once her grandfather had completed his recovery using the abundance of healing Azure Water, the years of constant struggling against the insidious lightning poison in his body had refined his soul force and his control of it to such a high level that he was able to rapidly progress to Legend Rank using the blood crystals he had received. It was truly turning calamity into fortune!

Ye Zong and Ye Xiu felt a competitive spirit within them rise as they saw the undaunted spirit of the Silver Flash whom was part of the old guard for Glory City. The relentless courage and tenacious heart that allowed him to break through even at his advanced age to once again defend the city he loved. Stirred up, both of them released their Legend Ranked auras as well!

Ning'Er chucked out loud. "Looks like quite a few has made amazing progress in recent times. I want to congratulate Glory City in having more Legend Ranked experts other than Lord Ye Mo!"

As she cupped her hands and bowed to her seniors, she cheekily released her aura as well, for just an instant, leaving the three mighty men's mouths hanging open in astonishment. The looked at each other in complete confusion and horror.

"That aura. Did she..."

"She can't have."

"Did I just feel Legend...no, it can't be."

She walked to the edge of the wall and as they discussed among themselves, a powerfully built man with magnificent wings walked up beside her to look at the incoming death headed their way. In the time they had been away, Duan Jian had been able to quickly raise his cultivation to one star Black Gold Rank and at this point, even early Legend Ranked warriors would find it hard to break through his unparalleled defensive strength!

"If you guys would put a hold on your conversations..." she called out in a calm, clear voice without turning around.

"The demon beast horde is here."