CHAPTER 101 - MOURNING DEATHCAP’S LETHALITY

The goblin army was already waiting beneath Huang Shengjun. The army numbered roughly 100 million strong and were segregated into four distinct battalions.

The first battalion consisted of 30 million Elite Hobgoblins and 10 million Unique mutated goblins known as Ogres. They were the vanguards of the army.

The second battalion, serving as the long-range units, were strategically placed in the middle. It consisted of 20 million Elite Goblin Slingers and Unique Goblin Archers each.

At the rear of the formation were the remaining two battalions. Both of these units specialized in long-range magic, with one battalion consisting entirely of Unique Burner Goblins, and the other, Unique Freezer Goblins.

The main fighting force of the army was frighteningly powerful, but the goblins commanding the entire army were by no means pushovers either. Over 1,000 Heroic goblins and 2 Goblin Lords sat atop fearsome wolves, positioned at the front of the army. Their superior equipment and the palpable sense of bloodlust they radiated clearly indicated their extensive battle experience. This represented the true strength Huang Shengjun possessed one year ago.

Undaunted by Huang Shengjun’s goblin forces, Han Wu countered by summoning his locust army. The locust army, taking to the sky, appeared to be a very chaotic swarm, but they too were meticulously separated into five battalions.

The first battalion consisted of regular locusts. However, after being reinforced by the Rank 4 Sacred Object Law of Gluttony, they had ascended to become Unique locusts, their collective strength now comparable to that of Hobgoblins.

The second battalion consisted of Heavenly Demon Insects. These units possessed distinctive horns and were notably more capable in battle compared to a regular Unique locust

The third battalion was made up of Abyss Bugs. These units primarily functioned as meat shields, due to their incredibly tough exoskeletons and dense bodies.

The fourth battalion consisted of Dark Curse Bugs. These units could seamlessly blend into shadows and spit out curse-infused venom, making them the primary assassins of the locust army.

The fifth and final battalion consisted of the recently hatched Primal Locusts. They were characterized by their immense size, impressive strength, and exceptionally tough exoskeletons.

Like Huang Shengjun, Han Wu possessed and commanded his very own powerful high-ranking locusts. His army contained hundreds of thousands of Heroic Locustmen, each radiating an intimidating aura. Furthermore, he also had three remarkably strong Locustman Lords commanding his army. Under their collective control, the entire locust army displayed a terrifying bloodlust.

The sight of Han Wu’s powerful army caused Huang Shengjun’s expression to turn grim. Having clawed his way to the top from the very bottom, he clearly knew how frightening it was to face an enemy with overwhelming numbers on their side, especially one that boasted so many high-ranking fighters. He made a silent vow to exercise extreme caution, or he would undoubtedly be defeated.

Huang Shengjun issued his orders, and immediately, his two magic battalions, the Burner and the Freezer Goblins, began their assault. He further activated his Divine Skill: Concentrated Fire from his Legion Aspect to aid them.

The Burner and the Freezer Goblin battalions each unleashed a colossal fireball and a massive glacier, respectively, at the approaching locust swarm. Han Wu immediately commanded his locusts to evade those overwhelmingly powerful attacks. However, despite their successful evasive maneuvers, the lingering extreme heat and intense cold radiating from the spells still caused injuries to a significant number of locusts.

In retaliation, Han Wu ordered his locusts to fly over the goblin vanguard, directly targeting the Goblin Slingers and Goblin Archers first. The locusts flew with remarkable speed and successfully attacked Huang Shengjun’s second battalion. The vanguard attempted to turn back to assist the second battalion, but they found their path blocked by a large army of Primal Locusts.

While Huang Shengjun’s vanguard and long-range units were occupied, his magic-wielding battalions in the rear changed their strategy, beginning to shower the entire battlefield with glaciers and smaller fireballs in an attempt to disrupt the locust forces.

Han Wu issued repeated commands for his locusts to prioritize the Burner Goblins and Freezer Goblins, but Huang Shengjun maintained his guard at all times, commanding the two battalions in the front to intercept and prevent the locusts from reaching them.

One hour later, with his rich experience in warfare, Huang Shengjun had managed to kill a significant number of Han Wu’s locusts. It was clear that if the current situation persisted, Han Wu’s defeat would be imminent. Yet, Huang Shengjun wasn’t content with mere victory; he intended for Han Wu to suffer greatly for his insolence.

Huang Shengjun fixed his gaze on the three Locustman Lords. Lord life forms are very valuable. I wonder how Han Wu would react if I eliminated all three of them in one go.

He chuckled at the thought, then secretly ordered his 2 Goblin Lords to focus their efforts on the three Locustman Lords and inflict a fatal blow on them as soon as the chance presented itself. He even promised generous rewards for those who managed to kill them.

The allure of rewards caused the 2 Goblin Lords to fully concentrate on the Locustman Lords. Han Wu, having already anticipated such a tactic from Huang Shengjun, smiled to himself with amusement and cunningly chose to play along with their strategy.

He instructed the three Locustman Lords to distract the 2 Goblin Lords while he deployed his Heroic Locustmen against the Heroic goblins. Even though the Heroic Locustmen were slightly weaker than the Heroic goblins, they relied on their overwhelming numbers to press the advantage. The latter were repeatedly pushed back, ultimately forced to rely on the surrounding goblin battalions to save their lives, before finally organizing a counterattack.

Han Wu had to admit that the goblins were quite formidable; all 100,000 of his Heroic Locustmen were still not able to defeat them head-on. He had, however, anticipated that, and he finally began to set his countermeasures into motion.

Before the battle had even started, he had secretly infected many of his regular locusts with the Mourning Deathcap’s spores and had sent them deep into the goblin army to infect as many goblins as possible. The Deathcap finally displayed its terrifyingly destructive capabilities as the embedded spores rapidly matured into countless smaller Mourning Deathcaps.

Blinded by their bloodlust, none of the goblins noticed the miniscule Deathcaps growing subtly on their bodies. These parasitic fungi absorbed their hosts’ life force, rapidly matured, and then began releasing even more spores into their surroundings to infect other nearby life forms.

In less than an hour, all four battalions of the goblin army were completely infected by the Deathcaps, their bodies visibly covered in them. As the Deathcaps steadily drained their goblin hosts’ life force, they continued to grow bigger, until upon reaching a certain size, they suddenly detonated.

The explosion itself wasn’t particularly strong, only blasting off a layer of skin on the Hobgoblins at most. However, each explosion released even more spores into its surroundings. These newly released spores could travel greater distances and were considerably more potent than those that came before.

Numerous spores embedded themselves precisely where the earlier blasts had taken place, quickly maturing and detonating again. The ensuing chain of continuous explosions caused significant injuries throughout the goblin ranks.

Huang Shengjun frowned; his assured victory now seemed less certain. He quickly activated the Divine Skill: Revitalize from his Earth Aspect. Life force surged out from the ground, mending the goblins’ wounds. However, Huang Shengjun hadn’t foreseen that this healing ability would also unintentionally nourish the Mourning Deathcaps, inadvertently causing them to grow even more rapidly.

Consequently, the next explosions were even stronger, severely crippling all four battalions of the goblin army. The spores again embedded themselves onto the goblins’ bodies. Given the sheer quantity of these spores, the next round of explosions would utterly annihilate the entire goblin force in a single wave. Huang Shengjun finally succumbed to panic.