Trope World - Volume 1 Chapter 18 Escape

The pounding of millions of feet began to shake the earth. Every step of the march was synchronized. This wasn’t a normal army. Something from the grotto had military experience of some kind. This army was any general’s wet dream. Tireless, synchronized, and deadly. If I was to lead a force, this would be the type of force I would want. Their supply line existed to replace ruined equipment. Their presence drained an area of spirit energy. Worst of all their numbers were in the millions.

I tried to use my mana for cultivation again. As the energy moved through my body, I felt something went wrong. Jerking upright, I opened my mouth and dry heaved. A pint of blood erupted from my throat as my body pushed my mana out. Lighting my pipe, I tried to recover. The spiritual energy from the herbs merged with my cultivation and helped it slightly. It didn’t raise my stage but, I could cultivate it. My mana quickly recovered.

“There are no easy methods to cultivation.” Lazarus said. I sighed and nodded to his wisdom. If anyone understood that it would be a guy at palace formation. “Most of the forces have passed over us. Only the reserve and the supply line remain. We could make a break for the farmhouse.”

“Yea, it only took four days for the main force to pass over us. How many could be in reserve?” The minotaur snorted.

“Great, I’ll lead the way. Hopefully, you can drag me in if things get hairy.” I said and pried the iron wood boards off the door frame.

The door opened revealing a blackened hell scape where there once was a farm. Black, purple, and red flowers sprung up around the area. Unlike the spirit plants these flowers seemed to derive power from the undeath qi covering the place. In the spirit rice fields was a grove of trees. Their fruit were in the shape of heads of various animals. Currently, the head of the dairy cows grew from the trees. When the cow head saw us, it began to moo in earnest.

Squads of zombies broke off and began to jog in our direction hands on their weapons. “Human slave, if you comply with us freedom is yours if you join the monster lord sect.” I blinked; I had no loyalty to the black moon sect but I’m not one to change a good plan. Even with this army there was no guarantee it would win against the black moon sect.

I pointed my palm at them. Dragon breath filled my qi pathways and I cycled it to my palm before releasing it in a horizontal cyclone of destruction. Orange flames launched out twisting like a fire tornado. The zombies stood there shocked before the flames hit them and quickly reduced them to ash. I pulled my hand back as black qi rose from the zombies and flew towards my chest. The wyrmling happily used the remaining flames in the qi pathways to absorb the black qi. Only trace amounts of the undead qi and dragon fire qi remained in my pathways. Slowly, both were broken down into spirit energy and added to my cultivation.

Unfortunately, my actions weren’t the right decision. Black arrows were shot by skeleton archers in reserve. Only a quick block by Lazarus’s axe saved me from being impaled. “The farmhouse he bellowed.” I nodded and we ran for it. Zarina was held in my left hand. The spell formation let us in and blocked the fire from the skeletons. More undead were arriving siege weapons were being placed quickly around the spell formation.

Hertha opened the door for us and closed it behind her. “We need to get to the underground there is an old underground railroad leading to the Unbroken Mountains. If we can get there it will be a swift trip on a flying tent to Low Port.” Lazarus said.

We moved to the library. Lazarus tossed me a few scrolls. “Set fire to the rest. We don’t want Chu secrets getting into enemy hands.” I nodded and unleashed a quick burst of dragon fire. The library quickly went up in flames and we descended a set of stairs. Once the hatch to the stairs was closed symbols on the hatch glowed before it vanished before my eyes.

Once the hatch vanished the ceiling above us began to shake as the spirit formation was hit repeatedly. “How long will it hold. Will they storm the farmhouse or destroy it? How long will it take them to search the house before deciding we escaped? Will they decide we escaped or conclude we are underground? Who knows about this underground railroad?” I fired off the questions in rapid succession.

“I suspect they have the manpower to choose as many options as they like.” Hertha said. Lazarus grumbled his agreement.

The rumbles started growing more frequent. “How quickly can we reach the mountains?” The bull man shrugged.

“A day, two at the most.” I nodded.

We reached the bottom of the stairs to a field of grass that glowed green. Massive eyeless cattle roamed down here feeding on the grass. The bovine had massive ears and even larger noses than normal cattle. They looked nothing like normal cows. Each was at least in the 3rd stage of qi condensation.

“The starless grass is a treasure of the Chu clan. It is the only grass the Deep breed of black angus will tolerate.” Zarina let out a happy moo and ran towards on of the Deep cows with sagging milk heavy utters. As soon as she latched on the cow was ready to protest only to pause. For some reason the cow couldn’t move. “Another ability of the Golden cow, oppression. She can make any cow freeze in fear while suckling. A power only obtained over taking her first life.”

“How did the golden cow come into existence?” I asked. The deep cow was quickly dropping in cultivation. It began to shrink in on itself only it’s utters remained pink and healthy. Soon they lost their color too before Zarina let go and they crumbled into dust.

She moved on to another cow as I loaded my bags of holding in the cart. The cart was made of steel and was large enough to carry many cows. We loaded up the few cows that had no milk to give. In total we collected 10 before a boom nearly collapsed the ceiling. “It seems they broke through the spirit formation.” I nodded at Hertha’s words. Once everyone was loaded up Lazarus tossed a spirit stone in the furnace and the cart began to move. With more spirit stones it picked up speed as more shaking rang out. The grass began to die as we left.

Lazarus pointed his palm behind us and unleashed a deathly pale light. It shot out and exploded. The cavern shook and everything collapsed behind us. “Even is they discover the tunnel; it will be too late at the speed we are traveling.” Lazarus said.

“Yea it may take them three to four hours with their numbers to clear the entrance. Then another hour or so to send something fast down this tunnel.” I replied. Lazarus gritted his teeth but said nothing.