Rise of The Demon General

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ

Amon crawled slowly and silently to the one whose position was closest to him. He could not see his prey clearly, only his general position. He did not rise to check that he was going in the right direction. Doing that would only expose his position. Those boys said that they had taken Cat-eye pills. He didn't know how effective of a night vision ability those pills granted them, but he was not taking any risk.

He did not hear any more sound from those boys, meaning they were stationary. He took his time to make his way over.

Once he was in the vicinity, he still did not act recklessly. He circled around to a part where his back was facing a wall that had no openings. The three boys were paying attention to the entrances into this cavern hall, which were the various hole openings on the wall, and there were many. They would not waste time observing the part of the wall that had no openings, so that's the location Amon knew to be the safest for making an observation.

He rose a little bit after arriving at that spot. He took care to not make too much movement that could attract attention. He only rose enough for his eyes to study the surroundings. It took quite some time, but he was patient. He noticed a shadow moving around two to three meters in front of him, which was also the general area he guessed one of the boys to be.

After he saw that movement, he was sure one of the boys was there. He rose further up slowly. He only had one chance for an ambush. Once the first strike was made, the two others might know his position. So, he had to make sure this first strike took out one first. These boys all had higher cultivation than him. With luck, he should be able to sneak-killed the first one silently before sneaking to the others. Going against two will be tricky. Going against three was suicide. He had to try his best to make the first strike a silent kill.

He could make out the silhouette of the boy through the darkness. He could not be a hundred percent sure, but he thought the one in front of him was Lin Lang. The boy was having his back on him. He crept slowly to get closer, careful enough not to make any sound.

Amon had learned from experience that when sneaking, patience was the golden rule. But when one decided to strike, one also could not afford to be indecisive. Once he got into a range where he knew he could land a sure-hit, he executed Silent Swift Stab.

His Swan Dagger carried a streak of light as his body was pushed forward with explosive speed. Lin Lang must have realized something was wrong at the last moment because he jerked his body. But Amon focused his attention on his target as he approached. His hand that was holding the dagger shifted to follow Lin Lang's movement. The sharp blade landed squarely into the back of his target's neck with a soft sound.

After getting that close, Amon could see the face of his target closely. It was indeed Lin Lang. He was wide eyes with blood streaming out of his mouth as he choked. At the front side of his neck was the Swan Dagger's sharp end that had punctured from the back.

Though he could make no sound, his limbs swiveled around violently, breaking the stalagmites around, making noises. Amon was astounded. A cultivator's lifeforce was indeed tenacious. A normal person would have died instantly from such a wound.

But despite the strong vitality, Lin Lang's struggle still died down soon as he breathed his last. Such a fatal injury was not something his current cultivation could undo. There was a small crossbow in one of Lin Lang's hands, it now dropped to the ground.

Although Amon's sneak attack was successful, Lin Lang had also alerted his other two comrades. Who now no longer stayed hidden. Realizing Lin Lang had been ambushed, the two ran to his position.

'There goes the chance to finish them all with stealth,' Amon thought with pity, but he didn't dwell on it. Situations on battlefields were always ever-changing. Experiences had thought him to always adapt quickly.

It's too late to hide now, Amon thought as the two approached rapidly. One of them arrived first, who should be the closest one who talked with Lin Lang in whispers some minutes ago.

"You!" the person exclaimed when he was close enough. Amon identified the voice as Lin Bu. He was not talking in whisper anymore, so Amon could recognize the voice easily.

The Cat-eye pill was pretty good, Amon deduced. Lin Bu was still a distance from where Amon was. Amon could not see Lin Bu's face clearly. But from Lin Bu's reaction, Lin Bu could already identify him.

Amon could also see the shape of another crossbow in Lin Bu's hands, it appeared that the three intended to bombard him from far away while he was being illuminated by the Bright flare stone given by Lin Giru.

Another shadow was approaching some distance away from Lin Bu's back. Amon could not afford to wait until the two were together. He summoned a small round stone from his Space Ring. He injected aether into the stone as he closed his eyes, then threw the stone out to where Lin Bu was.

The Bright Flare Stone exploded with bright light. Lin Bu's eyes which were enhanced by the Cat-eye pill were immediately blinded by the extreme light as the stone was in too close proximity to him.

Amon dashed forward while still covering his eyes. Lin Bu was shouting hysterically as he lost his vision.

'What a kid,' Amon thought. A little bit of unexpected situation and they went into full panic. They even forgot to utilize those cultivation and martial arts they possessed.

Amon stored his Swan Dagger. With Lin Bu making such a fuss, he had no problem determining his position. With his eyes still closed, Amon let loose the full force of Bone Shattering Shadow Fist using his two hands. The sounds of six consecutive impacts were heard, with some cracking sounds accompanying the later impacts.

Without a continuous injection of aether, the Bright Flare Stone soon turned dim. Amon opened his eyes and found Lin Bu was struggling to stand. Blood was pouring out of his mouth as his eyes stared widely at Amon. The small crossbow was already on the ground as he lost the strength to grip it.

His eyes were still staring widely as if trying to make sense of what had happened when he slumped down to the floor. He seemed to still be alive but Amon did not go to check on him, because Lin Sora was already in front of him.

Lin Sora looked at Lin Bu who was spasming on the ground before looking back at Amon. Lin Sora was the quiet bunch amongst the three boys, but his disdainful gaze on Amon was the same as the others. At this time though, that disdainful gaze was nowhere to be seen.

The Bright Flare Stone was on the ground next to Lin Bu, so Amon could not use the same tactic against Lin Sora. It would have to be old-fashioned combat now. However, now that there was only one opponent, Amon had more confidence, despite his opponent having higher cultivation than him.

Lin Sora did not waste any time, he pointed his small crossbow at Amon and shot.

It would have been better if the guy came at him directly with his martial arts, but to try to use a ranged weapon against Amon one on one, it was laughable. As long as the ammunition traveled in a straight line, Lin Sora could forget about hitting Amon. No matter how fast the bolt traveled, Amon would have been out of its trajectory path. Amon had fought against ranged weapons so many times that his perception and senses allowed him to detect the moment just before the weapon was fired, thus he would already be out of harm's way.

A glint of consternation appeared in Lin Sora's eyes when he saw Amon's head tilt and his bolt fly past Amon's face with only an inch to spare. At the same time, Amon was running toward him. But his surprise only lasted an instant. His hand let go of the crossbow and he stomped his feet onto the ground. His mouth opened and a loud yell accompanied by a shocking shockwave exploded from his mouth.

This sudden move took Amon by surprise, it appeared he had underestimated this boy. The other two might just be inexperienced kids, but this quiet one was instead the cool-headed one. The boy was not flustered even when met with unexpected circumstances.

Amon managed to activate his Hardened Bronze Body just as he sensed the sudden danger. The shockwave blast hit him and he felt as if he got hit by a truck. His body was thrown back and he crashed into several stalagmites, destroying them all. When he landed on the ground, he felt pain all over his body. No bones were broken. His skin was still bronze. His defensive art had saved his life.