Above The Sky
Chapter 726 - 726 6 Total Annihilation!

726: Chapter 6: Total Annihilation!

(6000, first update) 726: Chapter 6: Total Annihilation!

(6000, first update) “South Ridge is in trouble.

Barton Hennil hasn’t returned, but all of our undercover agents have been eliminated.”

The Fiery Flame Land’s South Ridge Special Operations Headquarters, located inside the notch on the north side of the Bison Mountain Range, primarily sits deep within a natural cave in the belly of the mountain.

Earth Ascenders expanded and transformed it, equipping it with an information room, a small Alchemy Laboratory, a signal base station, an arms depot, and various other functional facilities.

It could be said to be a miniature war Advance Base.

From this place, the Fiery Flame Land Special Operations South Ridge Squad Leader Nemo sent an emergency communication to spies and undercover personnel throughout South Ridge, “There must have been a powerful Spirit Energy User who arrived in South Ridge.

He/She can directly see through the disguises of those in hiding.

Nauman City is fully mobilized.

Until we rebuild our intelligence network, we have no knowledge of their movements and goals.”

“Be on alert, you could be raided at any time!”

Nemo Narik, ‘Frost-Eroded Guardian’ of the Second Power Level and a ‘Will Projection’ Spirit Energy User, oversees all of Fiery Flame Land’s intelligence work concerning South Ridge.

Aside from acting together with the Ironwing Dragon Group to confront the Third Power Level adversaries among the Mount Entrance Inspector Knights and the Marquis’ Knight Order, he basically could mobilize all of the Fiery Flame Land’s personnel in this area.

It was a glory and yet a responsibility—if anything happened, this meticulously thorough Spirit Energy User, even bordering on obsessive-compulsive, would surely notify everyone he should inform.

He ensured that they could respond correctly in advance to the dangers they might face.

—But even prophets cannot save everyone.

What more could mere reminders from Spirit Energy Users accomplish?

Truly smart people need no one else to sense the breath of danger, whereas foolish thugs, even if someone tried to rescue them from their plight, would still look back three times with every step forward.

Take, for example, some Mountain People within the Leyan Territory.

“That bastard from Fiery Flame Land wants us to watch out for a surprise attack by the Empire’s riffraff.”

In Leyan City, a merchant’s large residence, the original owner already expelled, seated in the master’s chair was a burly middle-aged man with a full beard.

He wore black bearhide, his uncovered right hand seemingly encased in a layer of green rock, while on his left waist hung a massive iron slab, its blunt end well-angled and streaked with traces of blood and flesh.

His voice was not gruff; it was quite resonant, but the expression full of mockery on his face created a stark contrast with his tone, “They say someone is coming to raid us—maybe from Nauman City, maybe from Indigo Mountain.

Either way, it’s dangerous, be prepared.”

“Are they trying to scare us into scurrying off, leaving this lucrative spot to more obedient dogs who will listen to them?

Huh?”

The various Mountain Huntsmen and warriors in the hall erupted into boisterous laughter, and the burly man slammed his iron rod on the ground, raising a cloud of dust, “I’ve long seen that Labor (Baron Leyan) as nothing but a cur, occupying the sacred land of our ancestors to serve the Imperial People.

Treating the herbs and Spirit Energy plants left by our forebears like commodities, growing and selling them like common weeds—it infuriated me.”

“His death at the hands of the Imperial People serves him right!

It showed us the outcome of trusting the Imperials and also the fate that awaits those traitors who cozy up to the Empire!”

“This is their fate!” the Mountain People cried in unison.

“But boss,” one of the crowd asked, “what exactly should we do?

Since those bastards of Fiery Flame Land are taking it so seriously, something’s definitely going to happen.”

“What’s there to worry about?

It’s not as if we lack company,” said the burly man with a sneer.

“Labor’s tribe has held the castle firmly.

We won’t leave, and neither will they—then we all just sit tight here.”

“Let’s just keep the entrance to the Holy Ground secure.

We don’t have much food, so we’ll just outlast them.

Unlike us, they don’t have some rich fools delivering supplies.”

Elsewhere.

“There’s another message from Fiery Flame Land.”

A giant, standing three meters tall with a dark copper complexion, stood atop Leyan Castle, his deep blue eyes overlooking the entire Leyan City.

Respectful report sounds came from behind him, but he did not respond immediately.

The deep gray hair proved the Ascender was of an advanced age, yet his eyes sparkled with intelligence.

He gazed at what had once been the quiet and peaceful small city of Leyan.

Now, Leyan City was in a sorry state, not just from famine and the chaos following the loss of its Lord, but the fighting between the Independent Villagers and those such as himself, closer to the Empire, was the main reason.

If it weren’t for the warning from the Huai Guang Church not to involve the civilians in their struggle, just the recent few days’ conflict in the city could have resulted in hundreds of casualties perhaps.

But these were trifles.

Compared to how the tribe could recover losses during this opportunity, or how to truly seize the initiative from the Empire’s hands, the Mountain People, long since tamed by the Empire and turned into its subjects, were not worth mourning (the inhabitants of the Leyan Territory were half Mountain People and half Imperial People, and due to long-term cohabitation, it was basically impossible to distinguish between them).

“Speak,” he said in a steady voice, “Don’t tell me it’s that same spiel again about ‘supporting us as chairman of the Federacy of the Mountains after independence’?

Tell Fiery Flame Land I don’t believe the Mountain People can truly be independent.

Don’t make empty promises; they can deceive those fools from the Mount Entrance Tribe, but those rocks in the mountains have no clue about the Empire’s might.”

“But if the price is right, I wouldn’t mind tripping up the Imperials in secret, say destabilizing the Spirit Soil of the Holy Ground, so they can’t fully take back Leyan Territory.

As long as they can pay the right price.”