Xuan Zhen and Tie Ha'er, a pair of notorious scoundrels, led a group of seasoned ruffians, slowly trailing behind the Naga Royal Guard, picking off Naga kings like shooting rabbits.
"Xuan Zhen, aren't you guys being too wasteful? Three or four arrows for one Naga king. The cost of those arrows for the God-Slaying Crossbow likely exceeds the worth of a single Naga king."
Xuan Zhen shook his head. "Definitely not enough. These Naga are considered good. We can even use the corpses of this royal guard to refine crossbow bolts, and their armor is worth a pretty penny."
"It would be a true loss to use the God-Slaying Crossbow on those Orcs. Those impoverished Orcs, apart from their weapons, only have loincloths left. Anyone with a set of armor is practically a tycoon."
Tie Ha'er nodded. "That's true. Actually, this whole thing doesn't need to be so difficult. Elder Uncle is just too protective of his wings. If I had led the Iron Eater Beast legion to directly clash with the Naga guards, the casualties wouldn't have been that high. We could have saved a lot of war resources. Who knows how long this war will last?"
"Old Tie, that's short-sighted of you. Young Master values your Iron Eater Beast clan greatly. He'd be pained to lose even one. Good steel must be used on the blade. You can't have your men risking their lives for every kind of trash."
Xuan Zhen patted Tie Ha'er's large head to comfort him. "Besides, in Young Master's words, 'ride a bicycle to the bar, save where you can, spend where you must.'"
"The resources accumulated by Young Master and Little Brother-in-law are enough to fight for ten years or more. Why send your men to their deaths unnecessarily?"
"If nothing else, we've killed over 1,200 Naga kings just by herding them like rabbits. If you had led your men in a direct confrontation, out of these 2,000 royal guards, we would have lost three to five hundred good men."
"Ah, holy hell, Old Tie, look, isn't that the Demon Prince fellow leading people to chase us?"
Mid-sentence, Xuan Zhen saw the Demon Prince leading over 20,000 kings from the Divine and Demon races in pursuit.
Tie Ha'er froze, then widened his eyes. "Holy hell, it really is that bastard Demon Prince. Tell the brothers to retreat quickly, those punks are tough opponents!"
He then shouted to the 3,000 Iron Eater Beast Kings around him: "This is a tough one, brothers, let's bail..." then sputtered, "Damn it!"
These Iron Eater Beast Kings had already seen the heavily armored kings of the Divine and Demon races. Before Tie Ha'er could finish, they had already bolted, carrying the Great Shang kings on their backs, disappearing in a flash.
Seeing the situation turning grim, Tie Ha'er quickly followed behind the others, running back.
As he ran, he cursed, "You bunch of bastards, can't you wait for me?"
An Iron Eater Beast King beside him retorted unceremoniously, "Don't you start blabbering, you idiot. As if you're not a bastard. Hurry up and run. Let's call for reinforcements from Uncle and come back for revenge later."
Xuan Zhen, on Tie Ha'er's back, directly took out a crystal. In a short while, Lin Zhan's voice emanated from it.
"What is it, Xuan Zhen? Is there something so urgent that you'd use a Great Shang bloodline crystal?"
Xuan Zhen said anxiously, "My Young Master, just stop your blabbering for a moment."
"That bastard Demon Prince, he's directly leading the heavily armored kings of the Divine and Demon races and is chasing us like they're on aphrodisiacs, playing with their lives!"
Lin Zhan, who had already returned to the war fortress, was taken aback upon receiving Xuan Zhen's message. *Holy hell, is there such good news?*
He immediately gathered the remaining 3,200 kings of the Great Shang Ancestral Court Guard and 4,000 kings of the Lie Shan Clan's heavy armored guard.
He also went to the three races and requested 3,000 peak kings.
With the remaining over 5,800 Iron Eater Beast Kings, the group charged out of the war fortress like burly men who had just taken a potent aphrodisiac and were heading to a brothel, roaring with bloodshot eyes.
On the other side, the Demon Prince watched Tie Ha'er, who was about to disappear into the distance, and said dejectedly, "These Iron Eater Beasts look fatter than pigs, how can they run so fast? If they keep running, we'll reach the ancient Ice-Sealed Snow Mountain ruins soon, and that's Lin Lao Hei's territory."
Xue Feng beside him quickly said, "Cousin, I think that's enough. If Lin Lao Hei sets up an ambush ahead, our elites from these two races will be in danger."
The Demon Prince nodded secretly. After all, among the Divine and Demon races' king-level heavy armored guards, only these 20,000 could reach high-level kings. The rest were either not yet kings or were only in the early stages of kingship, making them easy targets.
"Cousin, I know these things. We've brought our most elite heavy armored guards this time. I reckon Lin Lao Hei wouldn't have expected me to go to such lengths. Even if he has an ambush ahead, he might not be our match."
"I want to take this opportunity to catch him off guard. The Divine race princess led the troops this time and lost nearly 5,000 kings from various races, including over 1,200 from the Naga Royal Guard. This is a significant loss!"
"Since the war began, our combined races have lost over 40,000 kings. Although we don't know how those 30,000 from the Lava Demon race died, it's a huge blow to our allied forces. If we don't capture these Iron Eater Beasts who are running to our doorstep, it will be difficult to lead our troops in the future."
Just as the Demon Prince and Xue Feng were speaking, Da Bai, who was beside them, said anxiously, "Brother, Little Brother, look, the Iron Eater Beasts ahead have slowed down."
The Demon Prince looked up and quickly raised his hand, bringing the running formation to an instant halt.
"Shields up, defensive formation."
Dark heavy shields were positioned at the forefront of the formation, and personal guards held up shields to protect the Demon Prince. The Divine race guards in the formation also drew their heavy bows, nocking arrows and pointing them forward.
Xue Feng frowned and scanned their surroundings. "Cousin, this is the site of the Ice-Sealed Snow Mountain ruins. It looks like Lin Zhan has arrived."
The Demon Prince nodded and shouted loudly, "Lin Zhan, you are a dignified Human Grand Marshal. Stop these sneaky tactics and come out for a chat."
As expected, Lin Zhan emerged from the mountain pass with a look of helplessness. He looked at the Demon Prince and said regretfully, "Alas, child, you've grown smarter. The old you would have charged in with your men long ago."
The Demon Prince, hearing Lin Zhan's condescending tone as if addressing a junior, suppressed his anger. "People grow, especially when facing an opponent like you, Grand Marshal Lin, who lacks integrity and honor."
Lin Zhan seemed not to understand the Demon Prince's sarcasm, putting on an expression of proud ignorance. "Alas, the silly you from back then was more likable."