Chapter 595: Chitra

"The tiger clan doesn’t seem to have any beast that has evolved into a Mythic Beast capable of fighting against General Mo," Maximilian murmured, rubbing his chin as he observed the battle. "Vyomendra has to fight both the War Marshal and the General."

Vyomendra, Mo Feng, and Bai Chengsheng moved their battle into the high sky. A couple of kilometres below them, the four commanders were fighting against the six Greater Spirit Beasts.

"Arthur, you weren’t promoted to Commander just to spectate," Gu Chen, the commander of the first battalion, snapped, crossing his spear against three of the beasts. "Come here and join the battle."

"Then who is going to command and support the army?" Maximilian asked with a shrug.

"We have vice commanders for that," Gu Chen declared, his eyes narrowing in annoyance at Maximilian as he pushed the beasts back.

"Well, my vice commander is inexperienced. I cannot let him handle the army alone."

"Y-you—"

Gu Chen was about to snap at Maximilian when a deep voice came from above.

"Commander Arthur, support the other commanders," Mo Feng commanded, his voice final.

"Hah... guess I have no choice," Maximilian sighed. He turned to Wukong and ordered, "Do whatever you want except exposing your true strength and killing senselessly."

"Yeah!! Finally, some fun!" Wukong laughed, a smile of excitement spreading across his face as he jumped off the sword, reaching the battlefield below. He wanted to face the deadly attacks being relentlessly unleashed from the Stronghold.

The sword left by Wukong became one with the one beneath Maximilian’s feet. He slowly moved upward, reaching the other commanders.

Commander Lin, Commander Jiang, and Commander Bai were fighting against one beast each, while Commander Gu alone was clashing against three, albeit he seemed to be struggling.

Since the True Sages couldn’t fly, they were all standing atop their flying artifacts.

Seeing Maximilian approaching, one of the demi-beasts that was fighting Commander Gu moved towards him atop a chariot that seemed like a belonging of the human.

"Are you the new commander of the fifth battalion?" the demi-beast, a tigress, asked. Her blonde hair was tied into a long braid, reaching the same height as her, ending with a thick whip. Similar to Vyaghra and Vyomendra, she had whiskers on her cheeks, but her beastly features were more visible than theirs. Small tiger ears sat atop her head, and her sharp fangs became visible each time she spoke. Not to mention her paw-like limbs, covered in tiger fur.

"Yes, I’m Arthur," Maximilian introduced himself in a calm tone.

"Arthur, do you know what happened to the previous commander?" the tigress asked, swinging her braid in her hand.

"I heard he died fighting a Greater Spirit Beast named Chitra," Maximilian answered, recounting what he had learned about the previous commander.

"Hehe~ guess what my name is," the tigress asked, raising her chin high and tapping the chariot beneath her with her paw. From her boastful tone alone, Maximilian realised that he was in the presence of a very commander slayer.

"Oh well, I request you to go easy on me, Lady Chitra," Maximilian chuckled, remaining completely calm. His demeanour somehow annoyed Chitra. It was as if he were looking down on her.

He truly was.

Although he didn’t share the ideals of his race, in the end, he was a dragon. Pride ran in his blood. It wasn’t as though he could change what he was born with.

"Hah! As if!" Chitra retorted, launching the entire chariot towards him.

Before it could reach him, Maximilian swayed his arm forward. Numerous swords shot out from the one beneath his feet, forming a defensive ring in front of him.

The chariot struck against the swords with a heavy bam, stopping in its tracks.

"Wh-what kind of treasure is that?" Chitra gasped, her golden-brown eyes widening as she barely maintained her balance on the chariot’s roof.

She poured even more Soulforce into the chariot to break through the sword formation, yet it didn’t move an inch.

"Break!" Maximilian commanded, forming a hand sign.

Flickers of white lightning appeared on the surface of the swords. The lightning travelled into the chariot, leaving numerous cracks along its wooden surface.

Just before the lightning could reach Chitra’s feet, she jumped off. The chariot broke apart completely, its debris falling to the ground like rain, scattering broken wooden slabs and fragments everywhere.

"It really wasn’t just a flying artifact!" Lin Feng gasped, witnessing the whole exchange from a few hundred metres away while engaged in his own battle. "The swords can also multiply and even channel Common-Class Lightning. It must be a Legendary-grade artifact."

"What a freak!" Maximilian sighed, shaking his head. "Even amidst the battle, he is more focused on my sword. If I unleashed Calamity-Class Lightning or Death Lightning from the sword, he might have abandoned the battle and jumped at me to take the sword."

Maximilian, as a lightning dragon, could unleash White Lightning of the Common Class, Crimson Lightning of the Calamity Class, and unclassed Black Lightning of Death. To avoid attracting too much attention, he deliberately only used the white lightning.

Now that the flying chariot was destroyed, Chitra landed on the ground on all fours, her predatory gaze fixed on Maximilian. She released low growls at him, her sharp fangs becoming visible beneath her lips.

"What are you going to do from the ground?" Maximilian asked in a mocking tone as the blades returned to the main sword.

His words pissed her off even further. But then, the muscles of her face relaxed, her lips curling into a smirk as her eyes shifted towards the army of low-tier cultivators in front of her.

"If you won’t come down, I will slaughter all of them," she declared as she bolted towards the army on all fours.

"R-run, that’s the Mad Tigress Chitra!" one of the cultivators declared as he took several cold steps backward, the colour draining from his face. The others also seemed equally terrified as Chitra drew closer.

They released multiple strikes at her, but she slapped the attacks away like mosquitoes.

Just as she was about to hurl herself at them, multiple swords struck the ground before her, forming a defensive wall.

"Isn’t it beneath a Greater Spirit Beast to attack the low-tier junior cultivators?" Maximilian asked, reaching the top of the vertical swords that had just stabbed into the ground.

"How hypocritical of you, human," Chitra snarled, her voice rumbling with fury. "You invade our homeland, spill the blood of our kind, and then have the audacity to condemn us for defending what is ours? Know your place, filthy human. You have no right to judge us."

"Now that you put it like that..." Maximilian murmured, rubbing the back of his head. "You are probably right."