Reaper of the Martial World

Book 8: Chapter 194: Upper (2)

The elders of this inferior upper tribe weren’t wrong. Moving a large army within this Region was incredibly difficult. If it was up to Dyon, he would have attacked them days ago before they had the chance to notice that their tributes were missing, but he took a cautious approach and bided his time.

With the help of his divine sense, Dyon could clearly see trouble before it came and dealt with it quickly. For that, he had the bronzed and cobras by his side, so although beasts became slightly more powerful as he moved toward the upper tribes, it wasn’t much of a problem.  

The real issue was moving a large army within a dense forest. Coordination became a nightmare. However, just as the twelve had said, any disadvantages Dyon faced, they faced as well. And… Unlike Dyon, they didn’t have a divine sense capable of stretching 10 000 km.

The army of 5 000 swept forward, surrounding the settlement of almost a thousand people like a horde of lurking predators.

Dyon was forced to split his troops into squads of 3 instead of the optimal 5, using his troops with higher mobility to sweep through the front and raise the alarms as his heavy infantry approached from the back.

Taking the initiative was incredibly important. If this battle turned into a skirmish, Dyon’s advantage of coordination and numbers would vanish. It was simply too difficult to fine tune the positions of several thousand with so many solid, immovable trees in the way.

This wasn’t Dyon only disadvantage either. Much of the settlement was built high up in the trees. Though the named and numbered tribes didn’t have anything you could truly call a weapon, the upper tribes took a large leap forward. Dyon’s senses had already trained on multiple archers.

However, he was prepared.

Dyon sent the bronzed forward, making use of their gliding abilities to throw the settlement into chaos. The archers were his top priority. In fact, whenever he was in a situation where he had to pick between the archer or their weapon, Dyon destroyed their weapon without hesitation.

As expected, taking advantage of his superior numbers was difficult. And, it only became more so after the 11 elder and the chieftain joined the battle. They became a backbone that was difficult to snap, and since they stood together instead of being as arrogant as Dyon would have hoped, the bronzed couldn’t take them out.

Still, Dyon’s equipment advantage began to shine through. Dwarf’s Diamond truly lived up to its name.

Dyon retrieved his high mobility units, covering their retreat with his own squadron of archers. Their duty had been accomplished, as of now, there was no point in risking their lives any further.

Unfortunately, Dyon didn’t have the benefit of sparing everyone as he had done up to now. He had to make his advantage clear if he wanted this battle to end even though it pained him to see the possible additional warriors to his army fall.

“It’s that cloaked bastard over there! He’s coordinating everything!” The chieftain snarled, swinging a large wooden club forward to knock several warriors back.

Seeing Dyon arrogantly sitting on Queen’s back, his face covered by a black cloak, made the already bad mood of the chief flare up.

As though to respond to his rage, a red formation suddenly appeared before the chief, shocking him to no end.

‘[Accelerate]. [Carnage].’

Dyon obviously had no intention of killing the chief with this attack. Despite it being the best Dyon could muster in his current handicapped state, the chief had a body comparable a step above a pseudo dao expert, but not quite within the realms of a dao expert. Unless Dyon brought out [Raze], which he was unable to do unless he had access to his full soul strength, putting a dent in him was a fool’s errand.

However… If it was a perfectly timed strike directly toward this mighty chief’s attacking wrist, it was a different story entirely.

A bloody red spear slammed into the chieftain’s wrist, but what was even more overbearing was the mental attack that followed suit.

‘How could I forget …’ Dyon’s eyes glowed as his strike worked far better than he could have ever imagined.

[Judgement] represented the pinnacle of what a soul path cultivator could muster with their strength. However, it wasn’t simply a powerful strike… It sent those who faced it to a hell on earth.

For those of the Ancient Battlefield who had only ever trained their bodies in their lifetime, how could they be prepared for such an assault on their souls? The physical damage of Dyon’s strike was no more than a faint white mark on the chief’s wrist, but even still, he froze in place, his weapon falling to their ground as a look of horror marked his expressions.

In the next instant, his shoulder and leg were pierced by two spears. Though the pain awoke him from the illusion, it was already too late.

With the fall of their chief, the morale of the upper tribe plummeted. The eleven elders fought valiantly, but there was a reason why they couldn’t claim the title of chief for themselves. They simply lacked the strength in comparison to their true leader.

The named and numbered tribes roared in victory.

In just half a month, Dyon had showed them something they couldn’t have imagined even in their entire lifetimes. They had actually taken down the arrogant upper tribe with just their own power. It was too inconceivable.

Even after battling for days without rest, they were brimming with strength. They wanted to know how far they could go.