The Steward Demonic Emperor

Chapter 497: Total Victory

Tuoba Tieshan frowned at the flaming corona and a bad feeling overcame him, “Just what are you planning? Is that an ambush?” 

“Ha-ha-ha, the few you see here are the only ones that can fight. What ambush?”

“Then…” Tuoba Tieshan looked Dugu Feng dead in the eye.

Dugu Feng’s mouth perked up, “Ha-ha-ha, Tuoba Tieshan, you fell for it. There’s no getting out of this one!”

Tuoba Tieshan squinted, “Forgive this old man for not making sense of anything you just said.”

“Tuoba Tieshan, just like you said, we’re short on manpower, robbed of the option to meet you in open battle. Victory can only come by taking the leader. No matter how important the main camp is, the Commander had to be safe at all times, to lead the army. Marshal Zhuo figured you’d ditch the camp and hide among your troops.” Dugu Feng snorted.

Tuoba Tieshan gasped, “What’s the point of striking my camp then?”

“Bait.”

Dugu Feng laughed. “In Marshal’s immortal words, all big guys like to work it, either openly or hidden. Whether we stormed the stand-in commander’s camp or fifth went for it, both would achieve their purpose as bait, to flush you out and have you explain your grand plan in a glorious fashion, ha-ha-ha…”

Tuoba Tieshan flushed and coughed.

Explaining the enemy’s ploy was one of the rare joys of a commander, filling him with pride. Yet to use such a glaring weakness had the old man embarrassed.

[I’m not one to be haughty, just a bit prideful. Is that so bad?]

Tuoba Tieshan cooled and asked, “What’s the point of it all, just to take a bite out of me?”

“Hardly, though it did do the trick… getting sir to stick out his neck.” Dugu Feng grinned.

Tuoba Tieshan shuddered and his instinct screamed at him.

Slaughter Wolf mocked, “What good will knowing do? I don’t see any men you can spare to take him out, do you? “

“Not one extra. They’re all you see.”

Dugu Feng’s confidence never dropped though, “Provided the fifth brother knows your location, he’ll be sure to come killing. All that’s left is to surrender.”

“Fifth? Humph, you only sent him?” Slaughter Wolf sneered, “Is your memory on the fritz? Commander just said that Zha Lahan is there. He’s not coming back. Even if by some miracle he does slip away, by the time he gets here the commander will be gone, to say nothing of us still being around. Yet you are still sticking to that preposterous notion that he’ll even touch commander?”

Dugu Feng showed a vague smile, “Wanna bet? Fifth will come any second now with Zha Lahan in chains and you’ll be soon to follow.”

“There’s no way one division holds so much power. That will be outrageous…” Slaughter Wolf kept on looking down on them.

A cry came just in time to cut him short, “General, w-what is that?”

“And here he comes.” Dugu Feng grinned with his brothers.

Slaughter Wolf’s side stared with dumbfounded and goony looks.

A black swarm was flying from the main camp right towards them. What were written off as birds, a closer look found them to be men with wings.

This ruthless and savage division had no one else in the lead but Luo Yunhai.

“W-what the hell is this?” Tuoba Tieshan didn’t fare any better.

Dugu Feng felt generous today, “That is the hundred thousand strong Flying Tiger Army our Marshal trained himself, under fifth’s command. “

“F-Flying Tiger Army? As in really flying?!” Tuoba Tieshan was slack jawed.

For all his military career, he’d never heard or seen such a division. Dugu Zhantian did attain flight, through a desperate move, but it was short lived and because of an art. Many soldiers died to fuel the dragon soul’s skill. 

While these men each flew by themselves. 

“An army has Qi Condensation experts as soldiers, Bone Tempering experts as elites with a seldom Profound Heaven or Radiant Stage here and there. But when flying, they’d leave their division. While half this team is made up of Radiant Stage and Profound Heaven Stage experts and the rest are Bone Tempering men with wings, truly a flying division. Their hundred thousand can beat a million without any problem. Commander Touba, let’s see you get out of this one!” Dugu Lin grinned at the Quanrong.

Slaughter Wolf blurted, “Profound Heaven and Radiant Stage experts make half of it? That means there’s fifty thousand experts?”

Tuoba Tieshan was speechless, his mind a wreck.

He’d never come close to even considering the possibility that Zhuo Fan would pull something like this against him.

He knew Zhuo Fan was shifty, outstanding and a prick, but this was too much. No human could pull this off, not a normal one that is.

Tuoba Tieshan’s decades of bloodshed on the cruel field of battle had put him face to face with countless opponents. But no one came close to the likes of Zhuo Fan. He was damn sure there wouldn’t be a second either.

[He’s not human!]

“Tuoba Tieshan, give up.” Luo Yunhai was on top of him with his men. Their crushing aura choking the enemy.

Slaughter Wolf brought his men to the front, “Protect the commander. Slaughter Wolf Division, help me block him!”

“Yes, sir!”

The men howled.

Luo Yunhai shouted, “Formation~, charge!”

Like a guillotine from the heavens, the two sides slammed into each other.

Whoosh~

Flying Tiger Army ran Slaughter Wolf’s division through, killing close to a hundred thousand and maiming half. Slaughter Wolf himself didn’t fare much better, trailing blood on his way to kiss the ground. 

Luo Yunhai’s team just kept on going and going…

The other wolves tensed. Slaughter Wolf was the strongest of them all yet he couldn’t do a thing.

Looking back at their commander, they all knew they had to meet the enemy if they were to protect him.

Sky-piercing Wolf, Howling Wind Wolf and Blood Shadow Wolf were the next to go. The three divisions fused into a mighty attack to meet the Flying Tiger Army’s charge. Even behind the formation’s aura, Luo Yunhai felt the pressure.

“Scatter!”

Luo Yunhai made prompt decisions.

The three wolves hit nothing but air.

“Gather!”

Luo Yunhai was behind the wolves while the Flying Tiger Army was behind him, ready to attack.

The wolves’ morale hit rock bottom.

They knew how to fight ground battles and could jump, if the situation demanded it. But switching formations wasn’t done on the fly.

While the Flying Tiger Army had free movement all around them, and could scatter and gather on a whim.

The sudden strike from behind had driven them to the brink of despair.

Whoosh~

Flying Tiger Army’s charge took down even more men this time. The wolves were flung into the air, out of this fight and out for the count.

It was hardly an effort to reach Tuoba Tieshan. Looking at his distraught face, Luo Yunhai smiled, speaking from above, “Commander Touba, you’ve lost. Surrender now.”

Tuoba Tieshan sighed and shouted, “Soldiers, stop fighting. The Quanrong army… has lost!”

Tuoba Tieshan choked on those words. Getting them out sapped him of every bit of strength, slumping to the ground.

He had never known defeat and now his first one had proved to be devastating.

Touba Lian’er went to him in tears. Tuoba Liufeng, the stand-in commander, was every bit unwilling, but relented in the end.

Everything was going like clockwork, until this freak team showed up, turning everything upside down.

[All say Zhuo Fan is shrewd, but pulling out this trick is a complete cheating, ha-ha-ha…]

Tuoba Liufeng mourned his fate…