Chapter 74: The Price of Recklessness

The cruciform sword spun forward, its blade, etched with a chilling gleam, landed precisely on the dragon’s body, piercing deep into its bones.

In the midst of crisis, seeking a fleeting turning point, Cai’s impromptu action had truly paid off.

Roooooar!

The enraged roar echoed one last time as the Bone Dragon, consumed by pain, completely lost its mind. It thrashed wildly, its massive body slamming against everything around it.

Tree trunks as thick as a man’s waist snapped in half. Natural boulders the size of heads were pulverized.

In a flash, the once picturesque mountain landscape was utterly devastated by the immense force, transforming into a scene of utter ruin.

****

It was not until the blood-stained cruciform sword, which had rolled to the ground, was picked up by a pair of delicate, equally blood-soaked hands.

It was not until the Bone Dragon’s colossal body was utterly shattered by a piercing blade of light.

Only then did silence finally descend.

Through the recent battle, Cai had realized the inadequacy of her own strength.

Therefore, she had merely aimed the cruciform sword at the Bone Dragon’s previously wounded areas, gradually accumulating damage until it was finally destroyed.

That crucial, life-threatening injury, however, was not one Cai had inflicted.

The girl who had accomplished that feat currently lay in someone’s warm embrace, her expression one of contentment as she drifted into unconsciousness.

“Big Sister, she…”

Wang raised a hand, cutting off Cai’s unfinished words. It wasn’t out of impatience, but rather an eagerness to tell her the news.

“Little Eagle, she’s alive! And it’s not just her; I’m alive too, all thanks to your desperate struggle!”

Wang carefully helped the unconscious Little Eagle to her feet, gently carrying her up the mountain.

Cai had offered to assist, but Wang was resolute and wouldn’t yield on this particular task.

As Cai hesitated, a spirited shout of recovery echoed from ahead of them.

“Come, follow me home! Let’s go meet our ‘family’ there!”

The distant soldiers had not surrounded them, which meant they had no intention of assaulting the mountain.

After all, for those who had lost their courage, the immediate priority was not to turn their blades outward, but to unite within.

****

As Wang slowly ascended the mountain with the two girls, the three Legion Commanders, who were still alive for now, prepared to execute the plan that had matured in their minds.

The three Legion Commanders, terrified by the Demon Leader’s strength, lacked the courage to launch another attack.

They knew such a move would result in catastrophic losses, so they shifted their focus to You.

These three, along with the soldiers and generals under their command, universally believed that the sole reason for their heavy casualties was You’s misguided leadership. They blamed his reckless orders.

Even though it was these very three Legion Commanders who had temporarily handed command to You, such details were irrelevant at this moment.

Now, the three of them secretly mobilized a portion of the troops in their camp, uniting to eliminate You at the first sign of his negligence!

The three Legion Commanders thought:

‘If the plan succeeds, after eliminating You, we will gather the forces of our three nations and annihilate all the soldiers You brought from his own country.’

It was precisely because the seven great nations harbored mutual animosity, always hoping for the other’s misfortune, that the three Legion Commanders conceived this scheme.

With the achievement of destroying another nation’s fresh forces, their fate upon returning home would not be too grim; they would at least have a way to account for themselves before their kings.

And even if they suffered some troop losses while dealing with You, they firmly believed that the small price was far more worthwhile than directly confronting the Demon Leader.

This plan to eliminate You had to be an open strategy, not a covert one, meaning it could only be executed head-on.

After all, in the preceding battles, You’s soldiers had sustained minimal losses, which meant his eyes and ears were now ubiquitous throughout the allied army.

With the assistance of those individuals, the three Legion Commanders could not employ any tricks, unable to secretly assassinate You without anyone knowing.

Therefore, they could only openly mobilize their subordinate forces, just as they were doing now, to completely surround You’s tent.

After encircling You’s large tent, they then deployed superior forces to block You’s loyal soldiers from entering the encampment.

This plan, which proved even simpler and more brutal in execution than anticipated, was, to be frank, highly practical.

For any army, once its core commander is lost, even a mighty host of thousands will inevitably dissolve into a scattered mess.

Having successfully restricted the lower-ranking soldiers, the three ‘Life-and-Death’ ranked Legion Commanders, in the very next moment, led their hand-picked personal guards, brimming with confidence, into the tent.

“You’re dead, kid!”

It was unclear who had uttered such an ill-fated declaration, but when the unwelcome guests stormed into the tent, You, their target, remained unperturbed in his seat.

“You’re here? Why did you take so long?”

From You’s perspective, he had been waiting for a long time for this group of people to come and kill him.

He wasn’t afraid of his life being targeted, but he feared that these fools, who were walking straight into his trap, wouldn’t have the courage to step inside.

You raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist!

As he made this gesture, a single arm, covered only in decaying flesh, suddenly emerged from beneath the ground where the Legion Commanders stood, slowly writhing like growing wheat.

The scene was utterly bizarre, causing observers to feel their scalps tingle and the hairs on their heads stand on end.

Had they not bitten their tongues, they would surely have screamed, letting out undignified cries of terror.

With a crisp cracking sound, cracks began to appear in the ground around the arm.

Before long, the cracks grew larger and more numerous.

The ground seemed to breathe, constantly rising and falling.

The three Legion Commanders, standing mere inches from this eerie sight, watched with faces contorted in fear.

They felt an urge to flee immediately.

However, there wasn’t enough time, for an obstacle now stood behind them.

In the previous moment, shattered earth flew aside, and a pallid skeleton burst forth from underground, its decaying stench immediately filling the tent.

“Looking at it as an enemy, the same monster has become much more disgusting than before…”

As one Legion Commander uttered these words, the personal guard standing beside him trembled with fear, the trepidation in his heart causing his weapon to shake.

Of course, whether it was disgusting or not was beside the point.

Now, all three Legion Commanders were astonished, for they had not expected that You still possessed the power to create undead!

The holy energy within him seemed limitless.

By this measure alone, perhaps *he* was the true monster!

As regret began to stir in their hearts, the skeleton, imbued with an aura of death, slowly rose from the ground. The heartbeats of the three Legion Commanders quickened with each passing moment.

They heard the creaking of joints as the skeleton moved, and watched as its skull slowly turned to face them.