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Chapter 553: Fierce Battle
"You're far too kind, Chief Nuo. I'm just a mere passerby in the primordial land, and I came to your territory by chance to request a map, I certainly wouldn't dare to get involved in a battle between your two races," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"My sincerest apologies about the map. This is the map that I've managed to compile thus far. Once the final few tribes arrive, I'll give you a complete one," Nuo Qinglin said as he summoned a white bone shard before handing it to Han Li, who accepted the bone shard, then inspected its contents momentarily with his spiritual sense before giving a nod.
The bone shard was similar to a jade slip, and it contained a detailed map of the primordial land. There were many missing areas, but it was certainly still much better than nothing.
"Also, I'd like to offer you a little something from our Beast Race in exchange for your services. Once we force back the Insect Race, we'll be sure to issue an additional reward," Nuo Qinglin continued as he pulled out a bone ring before handing it to Han Li as well.
Han Li accepted the ring, then injected his spiritual sense into it to find that it contained roughly 5,000 Immortal Origin Stones.
Han Li weighed the bone ring on the palm of his hand for a moment, then said, "Seeing as you're being so sincere, I can offer my services just this once. However, let me make this clear in advance: I won't take any undue risks. If the enemy is too strong, then I'll prioritize my own safety."
At this point, 5,000 Immortal Origin Stones was no longer a significant sum for him, but for the Calm Dawn Tribe, this was most likely quite a huge expenditure. Most importantly, Han Li had some other intentions and was only pretending to have been roped in by this reward to further his own agenda.
The other tribal leaders were furious to hear this.
"Why call upon him, Chief Nuo? He's clearly a coward!"
"Exactly! If you're so scared for your own safety, then don't come to the primordial land!"
"Everyone, we are currently facing a formidable enemy, so let's all look at the bigger picture here. Fellow Daoist Li, proceed as you please," Nuo Qinglin said with a smile, defusing the situation.
Han Li gave Nuo Qinglin a nod, then made his way off to the side.
Nuo Qinglin asked Nuo Yifan to keep Han Li company, then began to discuss strategy with the other tribal leaders.
Now that Han Li had a chance to take a closer look at the Beast Race army, he was rather taken aback by what he saw.
There were many tribes in the Beast Race, but three tribes clearly stood out in terms of population.
One of them was a tribe of extremely muscular, bear-like beings with thick black fur all over their bodies, looking much like Ulu from earlier.
The second tribe was the Calm Dawn Tribe, and at this moment, almost all of them were riding atop winged giant lizard beasts with large blue bows slung across their backs.
The final tribe of beings were extremely similar to humans in appearance, except their skin was green, and each of them had a single green horn on their head.
The warriors from these three tribes made up close to 70% of the entire Beast Race army.
Nuo Yifan could see the intrigue in Han Li's eyes, and she explained, "Those two tribes are the Violent Bear Tribe and the Monohorn Tribe, both of which are among the eight holy tribes of our Beast Race. Chief Ulu is the chief of the Violent Bear Tribe."
"What are the eight holy tribes?" Han Li asked.
"Our Beast Race has many tribes, and the eight most powerful ones among them are referred to as the eight holy tribes. Our Calm Dawn Tribe is also one of those eight tribes. It's a pity that only three have gathered here. Otherwise, there's no way the Insect Race would've dared to attack," Nuo Yifan said in a resentful voice.
A contemplative look appeared in Han Li's eyes upon hearing this.
All of a sudden, he raised his head and cast his gaze into the distance.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out from that direction, and black line appeared on the distant horizon before quickly expanding in Han Li's field of view.
A vast spirit insect army had appeared where heaven and earth met, and it was even more enormous than the army of demon beasts.
Behind the spirit insect army was a massive gray cloud with tens of thousands of Insect Race beings standing atop it, and they also seemed to outnumber the Beast Race beings.
Han Li swept his gaze across the Insect Race army, and his expression remained unchanged, but he was stunned to discover that the Insect Race had close to 30 Golden Immortals, which, once again, far outnumbered that of the Beast Race.
It seemed that the Beast Race was at a disadvantage in all measures, and unless it had some special tricks up its sleeve, it was most likely going to lose this battle.
Grim looks appeared on the faces of all of the tribal leaders upon seeing this, but Nuo Qinglin then declared in a resolute voice, "Chief Ulu, Chief Marlon, Chef Sahan, let's proceed according to the original plan."
The three of them stepped forward as they were called upon, and Han Li cast his gaze toward them.
He already recognized Ulu, standing beside whom was an imposing green-skinned man with a single green horn on his forehead. He was clad in a suit of green armor, and his face and body were riddled with scars.
Nuo Yifan informed him that this man was Marlon, the chief of the Monohorn Tribe.
As for Sahan, he cut a very diminutive figure, and his entire body was concealed with a large dark red cloak, thereby hiding his features.
The three of them cupped their fists in a collective salute toward Nuo Qinglin, then descended from the platform down into the Beast Race army.
Chief Ulu swept a hand through the air, and a crimson giant rhinoceros beast appeared by his side. It was so enormous that it resembled a moving fortress, and it was giving off an extremely formidable aura.
Ulu jumped onto the rhinoceros beast's back, then summoned a giant crimson ax, and he was instantly brimming with battle intent.
The crimson rhinoceros ascended into the heavens, carrying Ulu into the sky above the Beast Race army.
"Brave warriors of the Beast Race, our sworn enemies are up ahead, while our tribesmen stand behind us! We must defend the honor of our Beast Race! It's time to fight!" Ulu roared in a thunderous voice, priming the Beast Race army for the battle to come.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
All of the Beast Race warriors echoed, and the earth trembled in the wake of their collective voices.
The Violent Bear, Calm Dawn, and Monohorn Tribes were charging at the forefront, while the army of demon beasts also rumbled forward with tremendous power.
As for the Insect Race army, it accelerated even further upon seeing this, but all of the Golden Immortals of the Insect Race had stopped in their tracks to face Han Li and the others from afar.
The two armies were like a pair of formidable waves that were crashing toward each other with devastating force, causing heaven and earth to tremble violently.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this.
The armies of the two races had filled his entire field of view, and the atmosphere of battle in the air was getting even him a little worked up.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from behind him, and a series of giant fireballs were launched up into the sky before hurtling toward the Insect Race army up ahead.
One giant fiery cloud after another erupted within the Insect Race army's ranks, forming a sea of crimson fire that swept up all of the nearby spirit insects before incinerating them into ashes.
Han Li turned around to find that these fireballs had come from those black war chariots, at the front of each of which was a thick cylindrical barrel that was glowing bright red.
The spirit patterns on the chariots lit up, and a thunderous boom rang out as a fireball that was over 100 feet in size shot out of each of the barrels before crashing down upon the Insect Race army.
"Those are our Beast Race's Fire God War Chariots. They're extremely powerful, but the materials required for them are quite difficult to come by, and they're also very difficult to construct. If we could construct 10,000 of these chariots, they would be enough to wipe out the Insect Race on their own," Nuo Yifan explained, and Han Li gave a slight nod in response.
Right at this moment, a series of black shadows that were roughly 1,000 feet in size rose up from the Insect Race army, then exploded into vast plumes of tiny black shadows before hurtling toward the Beast Race army at an astonishing speed.
These tiny shadows were countless strange insects that were as tiny and sleek as tiny daggers, and they seemed to be extremely sharp. fr eewebn ovel.com
A chorus of agonized howls rang out from the Beast Race army as many Beast Race beings had holes punched into their bodies by these insects, resulting in countless casualties.
However, upon piercing through their targets, these insects would also explode and perish themselves.
"Those are Bone Needle Insects!" Nuo Yifan exclaimed with a resentful expression.
With Han Li's exceptional eyesight, he was able to see over 100 mountainous black shadows at the back of the Insect Race army. Each of them was several thousand feet in size, resembling giant silkworm cocoons, and they were constantly rising up into the air one after another.
The rate at which these cocoons were releasing Bone Needle Insects was far inferior to the rate at which fireballs were being blasted out of the Fire God War Chariots, but each cocoon contained an astonishing number of Bone Needle Insects, so there were many that managed to slip through the cracks.
This initial clash alone resulted in a huge number of casualties, but not a single warrior backed down.
The two armies were rapidly approaching each other, and at a certain distance, the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors suddenly stopped before rising up higher into the sky while raising their bows and nocking arrows.
These clearly weren't normal arrows, as evidenced by the blue patterns engraved upon them, and they were shot into the Insect Race army like rain.
Large swathes of Insect Race warriors and spirit insects were instantly shot down before falling out of the sky, and the arrows were so powerful that some of them even managed to pierce through several Insect Race beings in succession.
Not only that, but after piercing through their targets, the arrows would explode amid bursts of blue light, sending balls of blue flying spraying in all directions.
All of the Insect Race beings that came into contact with the blue flames were quickly reduced to sets of burning skeletons amid bloodcurdling howls.
The Calm Dawn Tribe warriors continued to rain down arrows relentlessly, severely ravaging the Insect Race army.
Right at this moment, an ear-piercing screech rang out, and a swarm of golden beings rose up from the Insect Race army. contemporary romance
These golden Insect Race beings all had wings on their backs and scythe-like arms that appeared extremely sharp, giving the the appearance of humanoid praying mantises.
Their wings were flapping rapidly, and they were able to move with extraordinary speed, pouncing at the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors as streaks of golden light.
The Calm Dawn Tribe warriors were forced to divert their attention to these humanoid praying mantises, which were instantly inundated by a volley of arrows that exploded into a sea of blue fire.
However, in the next instant, all of the humanoid praying mantises that had survived the assault flew out of the sea of fire, and even though almost all of them were carrying injuries, most of them had survived as they continued to charge onward, reaching the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors in the blink of an eye.
As a result, the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors had no choice but to put their arrows away in exchange for long blue sabers to engage in melee combat.