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Chapter 555: Evenly Matched
Chapter 555: Evenly Matched
Chapter 555: Evenly Matched
Upon hearing the incantation from these gray-robed figures, all of the Beast Race warriors on the battlefield instantly became extremely excited, and some of them were even beginning to sing the war songs of their tribes mid-battle.
Compared with this strange incantation, the war songs of the Beast Race were more riveting and impactful, but it was the incantation that was more attention-grabbing to Han Li, and it was causing all of the blood in his body to churn in an involuntary fashion.
Han Li took a moment to regain his focus and shrug off that strange onset of emotion, and as he cast his gaze toward the battlefield again, he discovered that a layer of dark red mist was currently rising up over the Violent Bear Tribe warriors.
Crimson light emerged over the backs of all of the Violent Bear Tribe warriors, and projections of fierce beastly heads appeared within the crimson light, then bared their fangs in a menacing fashion before vanishing into their bodies in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li saw all of the eyes of the Violent Bear Tribe warriors turn bright red, while their bodies swelled several times further in size. In particular, the sharp fangs in their mouths were beginning to jut out, causing drool to flow down from the corners of their lips.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
A string of thunderous roars erupted out of their mouths, shaking the entire battlefield.
In that instant, the auras of all of the Violent Bear Tribe warriors had become filled with violence and bloodlust, and they resembled a pack of wild animals as they rushed at the Insect Race army in a frenzy.
On the other side, projections of beastly heads appeared on the bodies of the Monohorn Tribe warriors as well, but these projections glowed green, and each of them had a single horn on their head.
After these projections vanished into their bodies, the Monohorn Tribe warriors didn't grow any taller, nor were they filled with bloodlust like the Violent Bear Tribe warriors. Instead, bones that resembled sharp blades had come protruding out of their elbows and shoulder blades.
At the same time, eight sections of long and thin bones that resembled spider legs emerged from their backs, and each one resembled a steel spear that had been refined hundreds of times.
Additionally, all of the other Beast Race warriors had also been enhanced in different ways.
"Is this a bloodlust technique of your Beast Race?" Han Li asked.
Nuo Yifan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then shook her head as she explained, "Bloodlust technique? That's quite a fitting name, but that's not what we call it. Instead, this is our totem sacrificial technique. The grand elders of all of the tribes sacrifice their own blood essence to draw upon some of the power of the true spirits revered by all of the tribes."
Only then did Han Li realize that the gray-robed figures among the tribes were the grand elders of their respective tribes, and the projections that had appeared on the bodies of the Beast Race warriors were totem symbols of the true spirits that they revered.
"If the tribes can call upon the true spirits that they worship, then why don't they just summon the true spirits onto the battlefield?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression. "Surely that would easily put an end to this battle."
"Aside from the eight holy tribes of our Beast Race, each tribe worships their own true spirit, but this is not a true contractual relationship. Hence, the revered true spirits only provide some protection to the territories of the tribes. As for whether they're willing to lend their power to those tribes, that depends on how close the bond between tribe and true spirit is.
Having said that, our Beast Race has always been extremely reverent to our true spirits, so they're willing to help us under the majority of circumstances. Even so, it's very rare for any true spirit to personally descend onto a battlefield," Nuo Yifan explained.
"Is this not a major crisis that warrants their presence?" Han Li asked.
"There are many limitations on true spirits that descend through sacrificial techniques. In particular, if a true spirit is called upon outside of their territory, even the enhancements they'll be able to provide to their worshippers will be lessened, and it's certainly not possible for them to descend.
Here in the Dark Star Canyon, many of the tribes are already far away from their settlements, so that makes it even more difficult to summon any true spirits," Nuo Yifan explained.
Han Li gave a contemplative nod upon hearing this, and he felt like the relationship between the Beast Race and these true spirits was rather to that between the people and the Earthly Immortals of the Black Wind Sea. Of course, in the case of the latter, the connection wasn't as close as that of the former.
Right at this moment, one of the three gray-skinned giants that was tearing through the ranks of the Insect Race army suddenly toppled forward like a crumbling mountain.
Han Li's pupils instantly contracted slightly upon seeing this.
As it turned out, the ground beneath the gray-skinned giant's feet had suddenly caved in, and a Sand Beast that was even more massive than the giant had pounced out of the earth before opening its mouth, which was lined with circles of sharp teeth, before biting down upon the gray-skinned giant.
Han Li was immediately able to identify the Sand Beast as the very same one that had attacked the ship from Primordial Origin City, the one that was infinitely approaching the High Zenith Stage.
As the gray-skinned giant toppled forward, it was as if its head were being delivered into the massive Sand Beast's mouth, and a loud crack rang out as the giant's head was bitten off in an instant, sending blood spraying in all directions.
Blood began to gush incessantly out of the giant's headless body, which was tilting to the side, but even in its dying moments, it was still swinging its club at the Sand Beast with all its might.
A resounding boom rang out, and the Sand Beast descended back into the earth in the wake of the almighty blow. Meanwhile, the headless giant tumbled to the ground, crushing thousands of giant black ants that were too slow to get out of the way.
A burst of rustling then rang out as the earth churned incessantly, and countless smaller Sand Beasts rose up from the ground to inundate the gray-skinned giant's headless body.
Several seconds later, all of the Sand Beasts vanished back into the ground, and all that remained of the gray-skinned giant was an enormous puddle of blood.
The other two gray-skinned giants had witnessed the demise of the third giant, and they smashed the oncoming wave of man-faced scorpions into pieces with their clubs, then turned around and began retreating back toward the Beast Race army.
However, right at this moment, a short and green humanoid figure that was no more than six feet in height suddenly appeared at the back of the Insect Race army.
Han Li could see that its body was rather similar to that of a human, but its face was very strange and angular, and its eyes were completely black with no white sections within them.
Furthermore, there was a pair of thin and long antennae on its head, giving it the appearance of a giant humanoid grasshopper.
A strange call erupted out of its mouth, and the sound of flapping insect wings instantly rang out from behind the Insect Race army. Immediately thereafter, a dark green cloud rose up from the ground, then began sweeping toward the Beast Race army.
"Those are Green Locust beings! How are there so many of them?" Nuo Yifan exclaimed in a stunned voice upon seeing this.
"Is there a problem?" Han Li asked as he took a glance at the dark green cloud.
"The Green Locust Tribe devours everything that they encounter, and any place that they pass over is often left completely devoid of life. Hence, even in the Insect Race, they're ostracized and denounced by all of the other tribes. They live in swamps all year round, and there aren't supposed to be many of them, but it seems like their population has increased drastically of late," Nuo Yifan replied with tightly furrowed brows.
At this point, the dark green cloud had already caught up to the remaining two gray-skinned giants.
The giants were clearly also aware of how fearsome these things were, and instead of engaging the Green Locust beings in battle, they rushed back in retreat even faster.
Even though there was a vast number of Green Locust beings, they were unable to stop the gray-skinned giants in their tracks. Instead, they would surround the giants, only for the latter to charge straight through them, and the cycle would be repeated.
However, Han Li could tell that each time the giants broke out of an encirclement, their speed would be hampered, and by his estimates, they would only be able to escape seven or eight more times before they would be completely surrounded.
As the gray-skinned giants drew closer and closer, the reinforcements from the Beast Race army also arrived.
A series of giant winged lizards rose up into the sky, then circled around momentarily in the air before opening their mouths to release bursts of scorching black smoke that instantly inundated a large swathe of Green Locust beings.
The dark green cloud was instantly set alight, following which one Green Locust being after came tumbling out of the sky.
The remaining Green Locust beings instantly swooped downward to descend onto the Beast Race army, and these ordinary Beast Race warriors clearly didn't possess comparable physical constitutions to the gray-skinned giants.
In the wake of the Green Locust beings, countless pristine white skeletons were left behind, some of which were still in the process of carrying out whatever motion they had been in the middle of right before they died.
Finally, the two gray-skinned giants managed to escape from the Green Locust beings, but their bodies were riddled with countless tiny bite wounds, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
Their footsteps were quite heavy as they trudged back toward the Dark Star Canyon, and it seemed that they were going to take a rest before re-entering the battle.
However, what everyone had failed to notice was that a barely visible swarm of tiny crimson beetles with glowing tails like those of fireflies were flying toward the pair of giants, and they quickly wriggled their way into the tiny wounds on their bodies.
The two giants instantly stopped in their tracks and turned their gaze to the parts of their bodies that had been infiltrated by these insects, and a series of large red tumor-like growths instantly began to emerge from those wounds.
In just a few seconds, these growths had swelled to the same size as the giants' heads, and both of them were extremely alarmed to see this, but before they had a chance to do anything, the bulbous red growths exploded violently amid flashes of red light, blowing the giants into countless pieces and sending vast volumes of blood splattering down upon the entire battlefield.