Steampunk Apocalypse! - 176 Mongol Invasion

With Sect Leader Li’s surrender, the war had finally ended. The Purple Origin Sect and Fire Dragon Sect had been defeated, and Xia, Wan, and Dongfeng had all lost their lives. An awkward silence descended upon the battlefield as Sect Leader Li, Sect Leader Fang, and Sect Master Long ordered a stop to the fighting. The remnant forces of each side eyed each other warily. Everyone had lost multiple love ones on the battlefield today, and their emotions ran rampant as a result. The three sect leaders continued their discussions in the sky.

With the war over, Ed cautiously watched the battlefield. If Dupe was right, then Mongolia should invade very soon while Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar invaded other territories in the south. The war would break out again, and the fighting would become even deadlier than before. While watching, a frown covered Ed’s face. ‘Where the hell is Tai?’ No matter where he looked, he saw no sign of him. Suddenly, he spotted Haru standing alone nearby. He seemed exhausted but appeared uninjured.

“Hey.” Ed called as he walked towards Haru.

A complicated expression covered Haru’s face as he glanced at Ed. “Forge.” He nodded, dropping the former honorific he used in the past.

“What happened with Bai?” Ed asked, ignoring the awkwardness between them.

Haru sighed while shaking his head. “I couldn’t beat him. We fought to a draw before the war ended, and afterwards, he went towards the Purple Origin Sect’s headquarters.”

“Eh, really?” Ed turned around to look at the Purple Origin Sect’s barrier. He hadn’t seen Bai pass him on his way down, but they could have easily missed each other.

Small pockets of conversation sprung up across the battlefield as the various cultivators finally started to relax a little. Now that the civil war was over, it was time for healing and reunification. The remnants of the sects would likely be absorbed into the Purple Origin Sect to centralize the country’s power. This was really their only choice, as otherwise they wouldn’t be able to effectively defend the country.

Suddenly, the sound of a winding horn bellowed throughout the area. Shocked, the crowd of cultivators all turned towards the north.

A tall brawny man sat atop a horse-like mutant beast at the peak of a faraway hill. The muscular beast had yellowish scales and a sharp horn on its forehead. The man sitting atop it had long messy black hair and wore fur clothes. He held a winding horn in one hand and a steam rifle in his other hand. The ground trembled as nearly a thousand identical beasts with similar looking men galloped up the hill to stand behind their leader. Each one wielded their own steam rifle.

‘So, that’s the so-called Great Khan?’ Ed rose an eyebrow curiously. He could now see why Dupe had said that the Great Khan’s military was weak. After all, they were bringing steam rifles to a cultivator war! Even if the Great Khan was comparable to the sect leaders, they could always work together to defeat him. His army would quickly be trashed, and then the sect leaders could focus their efforts on repelling the countries to the south. Overall, it should be a fairly easy victory.

Sect Leader Fang’s face grew dark as he and the other two sect leaders flew towards the Great Khan. Their discussions didn’t seem to be going well, as angry shouts could be heard even from far away. Finally, it seemed enough was enough, and Sect Leader Fang released his elemental clones to attack!

Surprisingly, the Great Khan did not return the attack. Instead, he led his horse backwards to hide within his own army. Then, a white light covered both him and his entire army. The Mongol Army became unusually coordinated as they all lifted their rifles simultaneously to aim at Sect Leader Fang. Their movements were perfect to the point of being eerily unnatural and discomforting to watch.

BANG!

A thousand steam rifles fired at once. The bullets seemed to be backed by wind, greatly increasing their speed. A huge elemental explosion followed, engulfing all three sect leaders. The blinding explosion was easily 500 meters in size! Such an explosion outclassed Ed’s mana-batteries when exploded many times over. Such an explosion would likely even push back a nightmare!

After watching for several seconds, an elemental breeze passed over the army of cultivators. Some felt their skin singed by heat while others felt freezing cold. Just the remnants of the terrifying elemental explosion were enough to terrify them.

Ed’s eyes widened in shock. This was far beyond what he had been expecting from the Mongol Army. Individually, they could be considered weak, but together, they were absolutely horrifying. It reminded him of his own forces in Harmony, such as his superhumans that used flames. They were ridiculously weak when separated, but together, they made for a terrifying air force. The Mongol Army clearly followed the same guidelines, except for the ground instead of the air. “Tsk.” He clicked his tongue. ‘So much for weak. Dupe was completely off the mark. Nexus must have supplied them with top of the line mana ammunition. Does the white glow covering their army enhance their abilities further? Or did it just allow them to coordinate better?’ He rubbed his chin. ‘Maybe I should set up a similar force in the future? Cavalry was the key to winning battles in the past, and with the strength of mutants it may become a viable strategy again.’

The elemental explosion slowly cleared, revealing the three sect leaders to be mostly unharmed. Li hadn’t taken any damage at all, and she continued to defend herself with a golden-black glow. Sect Master Long had similarly defended himself with golden flames. Chonglin had created an odd golden armor to defend himself, though his clones didn’t manage to withstand the explosion.

Not waiting for the sect leaders to recover, the Mongol Army immediately fired another volley. Another elemental explosion followed, and the Great Khan led his army forward towards the cultivators atop Mount Dongling.

Panicked shouts echoed as the cultivator armies hurriedly gathered into their formations. However, their forces were disjointed and unorganized. This was because they were really separate armies of individual sects uniting temporarily. Additionally, many of their officers had died during the earlier battle, and the deaths of other cultivators created many holes in their formations. If this was all they had to bring to the table, then the coming fight would likely be a deadly one.

Suddenly, the Purple Origin Sect’s barrier lit up brightly once again. Thousands of elemental giants began to spawn and walk towards the cultivator army.

“The Purple Origin Sect’s ancient formation will help us!” A cultivator excitedly shouted.

Similar shouts of joy rang out everywhere as the cultivators gained their reinforcements. With the elemental giants taking the brunt of the damage, they would win the war far more easily. It was the equivalent of receiving coal in the winter, and even the cultivators that had just lost their previous war were celebrating.

Soon, the Mongol Army reached Mount Dongling. Just as the cultivators prepared to attack, a series of agonized screams rang out. Shocked, the various cultivators all turned their heads in numerous directions.

“TRAITORS!” Someone yelled in horror.

“NO! STOP!” Another cultivator screamed as they watched an ice sword penetrate their chest.

The elemental giants had betrayed the cultivator army! Their ranks were devastated as the various types of elemental giants cut through their numbers with lightning, fire, and more.

The Mongol Army didn’t let this opportunity go to waste as they fired their first barrage. One-thousand mana bullets tore through the front line of the cultivator army, creating an elemental explosion identical to the one that had been used on the sect leaders earlier. Very few of the cultivators hit by the explosion survived. After all, most of them simply weren’t comparable to their sect leaders in strength. It’d be strange if many of them did survive such a horrifying attack.

Ed watched in pure shock as this happened. For once, everything had truly gone far beyond the scope of his expectations. First, he had wrongly expected the Mongol Army to be weak. Then he had expected the cultivator army to hold their own with the help of the elemental giants, but they had been betrayed instead.

“It’s Bai Fang…” Haru whispered under his breath.

“Mm.” Ed nodded in agreement, a grim look on his face. He was silent for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. “China is as good as finished. Even if they win, their forces will be nonexistent.” He turned towards the Purple Origin Sect’s barrier, a grin covering his face. ‘Well, at least I have an excuse to kill Bai Fang now. Sect Leader Fang can’t blame me for helping him out. I’m just a good person like that.’ He chuckled to himself as he walked towards the barrier.

The sounds of elemental explosions continued resounding throughout the battlefield. The cultivator army was being demolished from both inside and outside. The sect leaders would likely save them soon, but by then it would be too late. The damage would have already been done.

Ed ignored all of this as he placed his honorary elder medallion against the Purple Origin Sect’s barrier. Fortunately, it still worked for creating an opening in the barrier. It seemed that the medallions served as a key, and the combination could not easily be changed. Otherwise, Sect Leader Fang would likely have locked him out before the war, and Bai Fang definitely would have locked everyone out while carrying out his current betrayal.

Now back within the empty sect, Ed headed straight for the castle atop the mountain. He felt confident that Bai would be in the throne room he and Dupe had left just a short while ago. As he climbed the mountain, he became absorbed in his own thoughts. ‘The Earth Dust Sect still hasn’t appeared… The cultivator army is already being destroyed by just the Mongol army. Factoring in Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and maybe India, things are only going to get worse. Will Nexus make an actual appearance as well?’

Ed pushed open the castle gates. ‘Maybe I should flee the country after killing Bai? I need to head to India anyways, and there really isn’t anything else for me to gain here.’ He frowned. ‘But where’s Yuki? And where’s Tai? I need to know their whereabouts before leaving.’

Pushing open another door, Ed entered the main castle building. He walked past the elegant decorations and headed straight for the throne room. Looking down the gilded purple carpet, he saw two thrones. The Fake Yuki, now unveiled, sat in one. Bai sat in the other with his eyes closed while chanting in an odd language. Even with his previous soul experiences, Ed had never heard such a language before. He couldn’t make heads or tails of what any of it meant.

Suddenly, Bai’s eyes flicked open, and he stopped chanting. A smile covered his face as he stood from the throne. “I knew you would come.” His smile turned into a grin. “It’s your fault Sect Leader Fang didn’t allow me to marry Yuki. He only has himself to blame for today’s destruction of the Purple Origin Sect.” A blood sword formed in his hand and pointed it forward. “And you only have yourself to blame for your death today!”