Chapter 248: Fiend Lord of the Seventh Step (II)
The Fiends were coming fast, and right after setting out, Cai’er immediately saw them arrive at the bottom of the first mountain, preparing to cross it.
Just like the Fiends group that they had previously gotten rid of, this group was a Grand Fiend Cavalry. Each Grand Fiend rode a Nightmare Devil Horse, bursting forth with a deep red radiance. If not for this eye-grabbing aspect they had, Han Daosi wouldn’t possibly have seen them from such a distance.
Counting thirty-three of them, Cai’er silently approached from the side as she validated the exact count of the enemies. It was just as Han Daosi had said: one of the Grand Fiends was particularly powerful.
He was even more robust than the last Fiend Commander, and more importantly, had an inclined bat-wing on his back. The Nightmare Devil Horse he rode was letting out treads of fire as it stamped on the ground, occasionally emmiting red glints, just like charcoal red from the heat. This was at least a magical beast of the sixth step, and since it was this Fiend Commander’s mount, the commander would probably be at the seventh step.
Cai’er and Long Haochen once killed a Bloodthirsty Beta at the early stages of the seventh step, but this time, they weren’t as lucky. Furthermore, they had needed to use the combination of the bursting powers of Long Haochen’s Light Rain, Thrusting Hibiscus and her Spiritual Stove of Samsara.
In terms of real strength, although Long Haochen and herself were truly well-endowed, they would only at most be able to match a demon at the middle stage of the sixth step with the two of them.
This Fiend of the seventh step was already no longer only a Fiend Leader, but a Fiend Lord. With a single word of difference came a heaven-shaking difference of strength.
This Fiend Lord held in its hand a gigantic deep red sword. Dark red glints illuminated his pair of eyes, and Cai’er had already no doubt of his strength.
The most important basic quality for an assassin was to stay cool-headed. No matter what, an assassin always ought to act with utter prudence.
It was with a simple goal that Cai’er set for herself; to slow down the enemy while doing her utmost to assassinate him if any opportunity arose.
Hiding discreetly, Cai’er was just like a single entity that merged with the mountain, emitting no sign of human presence, to the extent that even an assassin with a much greater cultivation than her own wouldn’t necessarily be able to achieve that result.
The Fiend Lord led his group from the front, so Cai’er didn’t have any intention of acting blindly without thinking, calmly waiting for the Fiend Cavalry to pass before her, and until the last troop of this Fiend Cavalry would draw close to her, which was the timing she exquisitely waited for.
Nightmare Devil Horses’ perception wasn’t half-assed, but at this very moment, they hadn’t the slightest idea that they could have Cai’er at their back.
The so-called Slinking Technique wasn’t based on Invisibility, but on exploiting every element of the environment that could possibly be used for one to conceal his own existence. At this very moment, Cai’er was hidden in the shadow of the last troop member of the Fiend Cavalry. Despite the dusky environment, the sky was still lit by the moon and the stars, so Cai’er didn’t make her move impatiently, but prefered to calmly follow this Fiend Cavalry that was prepared to climb the mountain.
The Fiend Lord, who was the first of those mounted soldier’s ranks, arrived at an elevated peak above the Desolate Hissing Cavern, successively followed by the rest of the Fiend Cavalry. They seemed completely the same as a human cavalry, from their orderly arrangement to their soundless advance.
Just when the last of those Grand Fiends riding Nightmare Devil Horse started to climb the mountain, Cai’er made her move, hidden in the shadows.
Abruptly speeding up without any warning, she wasn’t discovered by any of the opponents, not even the Nightmare Devil Horse she passed. At this moment, the current her was just like a specter, whose spiritual energy burst forth in a split second, flashing out like a golden dagger.
With Cai’er’s current cultivation level, how could she be unsuccessful in launching a sneak attack against a Grand Fiend? Her dagger entered the back of that Grand Fiend’s head, before a second dagger cut its neck in the next instant, along with an important nerve in its brain.
Cai’er’s assassination was truly accomplished perfectly, to the extent that this Grand Fiend didn’t even let out a single scream, only a stuffy sound before falling down.
Cai’er didn’t stop at that, but down below, as that Grand Fiend fell down and his Nightmare Devil Horse started to react below, she smacked his body, sending it flying forward like an artillery shell. At this very moment, the golden dagger in her right hand pierced the Nightmare Devil Horse’s back.
This stab was truly accurate, aiming right in the chink between the Nightmare Devil Horse’s vertebrae. Infusing her tyrannically spiritual energy into it, she caused the Nightmare Devil Horse to let out a mournful howl before falling down on the ground, completely paralyzed.
Cai’er didn’t give any opportunity for this Nightmare Devil Horse that already lost all fighting capability to strike back, and using on that Grand Fiend corpse that was flying as a screen, she instantly withdrew into the darkness.
Retreating after a single blow, not insisting on zealously continuing fighting; this was what an outstanding assassin had to do in this situation.
Having suddenly being attacked in such a way, the Grand Fiend Cavalry was immediately caught in a state of disturbance. The Fiend Lord was the first to suddenly turn back, and with a roar, shouting a word in fiend language. Immediately, a dark red radiance spread out from his entire body, enveloping all the Grand Fiend of the cavalry inside. Every single Nightmare Devil Horse had under its foot a dark red halo extending to over two meters in diameter.
This Fiend was truly deserving the rank of lord, as this was simply a shocking amplification skill with an area of effect. Meanwhile, the Fiend Commander’s blood-red-colored eyes shone like red bullets, instantly sweeping to the direction from where Cai’er had just disappeared, and the huge red sword in his hand brightly shone with a gaudy radiance.
The red glint in Fiend Lord’s eyes was obviously a probing ability, but unfortunately, he didn’t find the target he aimed to discover. It was as if Cai’er had completely disappeared in the darkness.
A heinous look flashed through the Fiend Lord’s eyes, and with a shout from him, the Fiend Cavalry resumed its way, the only difference being that this time, the Fiend Lord didn’t stay at the top of the formation, but remained rather in the middle of it. With the Grand Fiends surrounding and protecting him, their speed had clearly slowed down by a lot.
He occasionally swept his pair of terrible eyes at the surroundings, looking for any possible trails he could find.
Of course, Cai’er didn’t leave from there yet, still remaining hidden in the darkness. It was only that this Fiend Commander was unable to discover her and no more. The death of a Fiend Soldier wouldn’t be enough to cause their ranks to enter in a frenetic state, but instead reinforced their defense. Cai’er discovered from this that except from the Fiend Lord that was situated right in the middle of the formation, these Grand Fiends also comprised two Fiend Commanders of the sixth step. At that moment, one was at the front and one at the back, acting like the head and the tail of the formation and making it a lot harder for Cai’er to launch another surprise attack.
The Fiend Commander was totally furious and didn’t even give the order to collect this Grand Fiend’s corpse or pay attention to the Nightmare Devil Horse that was heavily wounded. Behind this fierce and furious appearance was a loathing look, uninterruptedly increasing focusing his senses to find traces of Cai’er.
At this very moment, a light cry was let out from the Grand Fiend Cavalry’s first lines. The Fiend Lord and the Fiend Commander at the front had a rapid reaction, almost galloping at the same time.
As expected as a commander of the seventh step, when suddenly erupting, he appeared like a blood-colored ball of blood, shooting up from the Nightmare Devil Horse’s back and raising his heavy sword. As his voice erupted like a bolt of lightning, his blood-colored gigantic sword was waved in midair, breaking out with a gaudy blood-colored light, carrying a fishy smell. This blow simply covered an area of a tenfold meters, and was enough to break the mountain’s rock without a noise. Bloody light enveloped the surrounding, dissolving the rocks of the mountain, just like lava coming out from hell.
Unfortunately, no matter how strong this Fiend Lord was, his attack needed to hit to be effective. And at the same time his blow carried a great power, a screaming sound was resounding from his back.
The Fiend Lord suddenly turned around, looking right at the shadow that gradually vanished in the dim night. The attacks of those Fiend Commanders of the sixth step landed in the air, and the head of another Grand Fiend rolled from his Nightmare Horse’s back, his eyes appearing lifeless.
“Houu– –!!!!!” This time, the Fiend Lord was really totally furious. Letting out an ear-piercing roar in wrath, he immediately chanted a group of continuous incantations, causing a scarlet blood-colored light to burst out from him, turning into a thick blood-colored mantle enveloping the entire Grand Fiend Cavalry with it. This time, if Cai’er wanted to launch another sneak attack, she would have to go through his defense first.
Cai’er secretly sighed in silence. He truly deserved to be called a powerhouse of the seventh step, to be capable of making such a proper decision in the shortest time. If the Fiend Lord hadn’t used this area-targeted defensive spell, she would still have many ways to raid this group sneakily.
After the release of this area-effective defensive spell, the Fiend Lord led the Grand Fiend Cavalry to speed up in climbing the mountain. The Nightmare Devil Horses rushed with their full power, immediately arriving at the rear of the Desolate Hissing Cavern.
Cai’er wasn’t anxious from being unable to launch more sneak attacks, and kept following their group calmly. It was clearly not the time to go all out yet.
The Nightmare Devil Horses were truly fast, and the topography could not even be considered precipitous. From the looks of it, they were drawing closer and closer to the location of the Desolate Hissing Cavern.
Up ahead, a large area of thistles and thorns suddenly appeared. It had at least a meter height, and was exceedingly tough. The Grand Fiends at the front had no choice but to make use of their spears to open up a path for themselves, causing their speed to drop importantly.
The Fiend Lord seated in the middle of their formation had a red glint in his eyes, shouting a few words before the Fiend Commander of the sixth step immediately acted in accordance to it, lifting his long spear high up, and unleashing a dark red flame, immediately burning this group of thistles and thorns at once.
At the same time this thorny environment was burned, undulations of energy appeared from the middle of the Grand Fiend Cavalry’s formation, and an enormous silvery white radiance erupted from it.
The space was subject to a formidable lacerating power, causing the few Nightmare Devil Horses to whinny and jump up, their bodies flickering with red glints. But because of the defensive area-targeted spell released by the Fiend Lord, it didn’t lacerate them to pieces.
The Fiend Lord strode over the Nightmare Devil Horses with a snort, stepped over the ground as a dark red radiance filled with darkness and flames, rapidly suppressed the silvery light spreading in that space.
Still, this silvery light hadn’t been completely inefficient. At least, it got rid the defensive area spell prepared earlier by the Fiend Lord.