NOVPUB
Chapter 187: The End of the Battle
Aldrian unleashed a slash that covered the entire battlefield—a strike he named Slash of the Vanguard, as it would pave the way for his own series of sword techniques. After developing a few techniques, he realized he needed to arrange them in a specific order. The Slash of the Vanguard would serve as the opening strike in his yet-unnamed series of sword movements, and ending with The Slash of the End—just as he envisioned.
However, at this moment, the Slash of the Vanguard proved to be devastating for the devil army, as this single attack alone could bring about their end. Once Aldrian completed his slash, the arc of energy stretched across his entire line of sight, traveling at more than three times the speed of sound. The swing of his blade sliced through the air itself, cutting it before reaching the charging devils army who attempted to advance toward him.
The giant Black Rock Snake could only watch the incoming energy slash. As an Emperor-stage beast with developed intelligence, he sensed the immense power within this attack. But because he was charging forward at full speed, he couldn’t halt in time. The devastating energy slash split his massive body horizontally from mouth to tail, killing him instantly. 𝚗ov𝚙𝚞𝚋.c𝚘m
In the moments before his death, the Black Rock Snake was gripped by shock at the sudden turn of events, unable to comprehend how this young man could unleash such a powerful attack. Initially, he had fixated on the young man, sensing he was the strongest here, especially as he floated above the battlefield. Acting on instinct, the snake had dashed toward Aldrian. As a beast that can grew stronger by devouring others, it was natural for him to target the strongest opponent.
He didn’t even have time for regret as his body was split in two, and the slash continued its path, flying toward the devils behind him. The energy of the slash destroyed all incoming attacks aimed at Aldrian and cleaved through the bodies of the devils. The slash severed various body parts—many were decapitated, others split from the upper body or the belly, and for the luckier ones, it only took their lower halves.
The devil’s commander, seeing the incoming slash, managed to dodge by a split second, but both of his legs, from the upper thighs down, were still struck. Blood splattered everywhere as he fell to the ground, grunting in agony from the loss of his legs. The slash energy continued its path, forming a crescent moon shape as it swept across the battlefield, killing all the devils charging toward the town. Fortunately, the Rivas family’s soldiers never broke their defensive line to charge into the devils, so the attack only claimed the lives of the enemy forces.
Behind the devils’ rear line lay a vast grassland, and beyond that, a forest stretching toward the horizon. The slash flew in that direction, heading toward the horizon until it disappeared from Aldrian’s sight. However, he knew the slash’s energy would dissipate somewhere between the initial border of the Doria Empire and the devil territory, based on his estimation.
The people who witnessed the execution could only widen their eyes in silence. They had just seen the darkness of despair, but suddenly the battle ended with a quiet stillness, leaving only a small number of devils who could be easily dealt with by the Rivas family’s forces. Even the remains of the devils’ wyverns, who had observed the strike, began to retreat north, intent on reporting the situation. Amid the scattered corpses across the battlefield, sounds of pain-filled grunts could be heard. Not all of the devils had died instantly from Aldrian’s slash; some had only been struck in non-fatal limbs, like their legs.
However, witnessing this display of power, some soldiers began to question Aldrian’s actions. "If you have such power, why not unleash it from the start to avoid unnecessary casualties?" Some felt anger toward Aldrian, frustrated that he had held back despite his obvious strength.
Aldrian could sense the displeasure among them, understanding that their frustration and anger stemmed from the loss of their friends and comrades. He knew why they felt this way. However, he had his own reasons for this—he wanted to observe how the devils fought against the empire and how the empire’s forces fared against the invasion. He needed to understand why the empire was losing ground, aside from the presence of the devils’ spies. After watching the battle unfold, he finally grasped the differences within the devil army, drawing on his own experiences.
"They seem stronger and more ferocious. There’s something strange about them," Aldrian thought. He had already fought devils before, and from all his experiences, this one felt different. It was more like fighting a ferocious beast than a human. He had heard that devils with lower-level cultivation struggled to control their desires, depending on the nature of their negative energy.
This was also one of the reasons why all devils infiltrating other territories had a minimum cultivation requirement—to make their infiltration easier, as they could control their tendencies and negative energy much better. It was evident that all of Aldrian’s encounters with devils had been with middle to high-ranking ones.
Devils who chose to cultivate the energy of Wrath would have tendencies toward anger, while those who cultivated the energy of Lust struggled to control their desires, and so on. However, Aldrian didn’t expect it to be this bad, he couldn’t believe that they would disregard their own lives and deaths.
"The devils... they must have done something inside their territory to make them like this."
He could only put that aside for now and teleport to one of the devils still alive. To be exact, he teleported beside the devil commander, who had already lost both of his legs. The commander dragged his body with his hands, leaving a blood trail on the ground. He couldn’t use his escape talisman, as it had already been destroyed by Aldrian’s sword strike, which had split the pouch containing the talismans.
He had already spent too much energy, and his mount, the snake, had been killed by Aldrian’s sword slash. He could only hope to escape from this place as quickly as possible and recuperate.
But unfortunately for him, Aldrian suddenly appeared beside him. He raised his head to look at Aldrian’s calm expression.
"Wai—" Before he could say anything, Aldrian already grabbed his head and touched his forehead. The devil commander could only helplessly stay still as Aldrian to look through his memories. Aldrian, not wanting to face the devil lord’s presence, instantly destroyed the seal and the seal’s mindscape before the devil lord could appear. He didn’t want the devil lord to know he was here; after all, there would be a right time for their meeting.
The Rivas family’s commander watched as Aldrian suddenly appeared and touched the devil commander’s head. He thought it must be some kind of mind-reading technique. Earlier, before Aldrian unleashed the Slash of the Vanguard, he had received a voice transmission from Aldrian telling him to lie down. He didn’t know what would happen, but he trusted Aldrian’s words and immediately complied.
Fortunately, he had followed Aldrian’s instructions to lie down, or else he would be dead like the other devils—or at least have lost some body parts. The terrifying sword strike and all those abnormal techniques made him want to know the identity of this young man. He then saw that Aldrian had finished with the devil commander, and without hesitation, he decapitated the devil with his hand coated in sword intent, instantly killing him.
The Rivas family’s commander decided to approach Aldrian and ask him. However, as he drew near, he noticed Aldrian’s expression was frowning. He thought that whatever information Aldrian had gathered from the devils must not be good. Still, he bowed and said to Aldrian,
"Excuse me, sir. I want to thank you for your help. Because of your efforts, we were able to minimize the casualties in this battle and secure a victory here."
Aldrian then looked at the man, the brave commander who had fought at the forefront, battling the devil’s commander even while surrounded by devils. For him to have held his ground against the devil’s commander and his mount, he must be a powerful cultivator within the Rivas family.
"You’re being too modest, Commander Krul. It was the effort of many soldiers who sacrificed themselves that gave me the time to unleash my technique. You should be thanking them," Aldrian said. Of course, he knew the commander’s name, as he had just seen his information.
Commander Krul smiled and nodded, appreciating Aldrian’s humility. Despite such immense power, Aldrian didn’t downplay the efforts of the soldiers. However, Krul couldn’t help but harbor doubts. How could someone so young possess such strength? Was this man using a disguise to appear younger? Or perhaps he had concealed his true cultivation level so others wouldn’t realize his true abilities?
"By the way, Commander Krul, which way to Ilyon Town from here?" Aldrian asked.
"The Ilyon Town is that way," Commander Krul said, pointing in the direction. "If someone uses traditional methods or flying, just keep heading that way, and you’ll find Ilyon Town about 800 kilometers away."
He wasn’t sure why Aldrian asked this, but he answered anyway.
"Alright, thanks, and by the way, I got some information from this guy—looks like the Lust Devil is in this region." He gestured toward the dead body of the devil commander.
