Chapter 509: Confrontation of Two Armies

The commander of the empire of stars' forces yawned. "I'm going to go have a nap. Wake me up when you're done. Deal with them quickly, you hear?"

Before the forces of Renhuang arrived, a flock of birds flew across the sky. Some were regular-grade, others mutated-grade, and yet others superior-grade. They filled the sky, blotting out the sun and darkening the entire world.

None of these birds seemed particularly strong, but each of their claws held a vial.

A general of the army frowned as he looked up at the birds. "An aerial attack?"

He dispatched a few archers to shoot down the birds; another group of fighters flew into the sky to engage in melee combat.

As the birds perished, the vials burst open in mid-air, splashing their contents on the fighters below. At that point, none in the empire of stars' army knew how serious the problem was.

The archers and fighters killed most of the birds in the flock, but the birds didn't show any proclivity to fight. As though they were just passing by, the birds scattered once they crushed the vials of potion between their claws.

A heavy mist descended on the army, and a few cracked glass vials dropped on them.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Given the sura's constitution, however, they could easily shrug off being hit by a glass vial or two. Such attacks would cause them no harm; they even incited laughter among those who were hit.

The generals frowned. "What do the forces of Renhuang think that they're doing?"

"Surely they aren't just trying to disgust us with these antics?"

In the middle of the army, a nightmare was starting to bloom.

"Maybe they're just giving up on defending entirely."

Just as one fighter finished speaking, his eyes bulged and he dropped to the ground, his body spasming as it dissolved. Startled, his comrades jumped back, only to find themselves losing their balance and falling to the ground as well, dissolving bit by bit...

"Poison!" a sura general hissed. "All fighters, retreat! Don't let the poison land on your skin!"

By the time the generals reacted, it was too late. Over 70% of the sura fighters had been poisoned, and all those who had been poisoned were slowly dissolving.

This genetic poison affected not their bodies, not their immune systems, but rather their cells and genetic code themselves. It was far stronger than any infection known to date, and it spread more quickly than any virus.

The rare few survivors yelled as they backed away from their dissolving comrades. Some tried to dispel the poison, but to no avail. The sura didn't have the technology or equipment to deal with poison of this nature; even the Yeluo couldn't claim that they understood it fully.

The poison had been developed by chance, not intent. Despite their best efforts, the Yeluo hadn't been able to make any progress toward an antidote. If someone were to concoct a similar poison targeted at the humans or at the Yeluo, the Yeluo would have no recourse—such was the strength and complexity of the poison they had invented.

The generals frowned when they realized that standard antidotes had no effect. The poison had also landed on the generals, but all that it inflicted on them was paralysis. The generals of the empire of stars were as strong as sura kings in their own right, and they were by and large immune to poisons and toxins.

However, Renhuang had somehow managed to manufacture a poison that was effective even against the sura generals, and worse, could be produced in such great quantities as to be applied to all their forces at once.

The thirty-to-one ratio of numerical superiority that the sura had boasted about was completely pointless after the release of this poison—no matter how many troops the sura had, this poison could destroy them all.

Zhou Liao glanced open-mouthed at the scene. "To think you had such a devastating secret weapon..."

Once the poison had been released, the forces of Renhuang took advantage of the sura's panic and confusion to charge forward. This was their best opportunity to strike.

The generals gritted their teeth. They had to prevent the Renhuang forces from striking them now! The large majority of their fighters were incapacitated; it would be a one-sided slaughter.

A few of the sura generals rushed forward, appearing in front of Renhuang's forces. Their bodies were aglow with genetic energy. As generals of the army, they were each comparable to a sura king in strength, and it wouldn't be impossible for them to hold back a hundred thousand forces for some time.

However, they had underestimated the strength of Renhuang's forces.

Renhuang's army continued charging forward despite the sura generals' appearance; instead, a barrage of purple flames shot toward the sura fighters.

Countless arrows of purple flame shot out of Sun Mengmeng's bow like a meteor shower, tinting the air purple and giving the world a phantasmagorical appearance. The air turned dry and arid, as though a cataclysm was nigh.

"You dare?!" The sura generals tried to protect as much of their forces as possible, but Sun Mengmeng had launched so many arrows that it was nigh impossible.

Under the brilliant purple sky, the sura fighters began to burn, drowned in a sea of purple flame.

Very quickly, even the sura generals were unable to defend their troops any longer—they were being attacked by Team Zenith themselves.

"[Netherworld's Torrential Flame]!" Sun Mengmeng's hand blurred as she shot out an entire field's worth of arrows. A frightening fan of flames poured out from Sun Mengmeng's bow, swallowing up the sura forces whole.

"[Heaven's Judgment]! [Tiger's Howl, Dragon's Bellow]!" Fang Yi's spear took on the aspect of a dragon of the winds and a storm tiger.

"[The Boundless Blade: Shark's Wrath]!" Yang Ze swung down with his greatsword, and the giant shark flicked its tail and launched itself forward.

"[Goldenscale Palm: Split]!" A frightening golden punch shot forward like a golden blade before exploding in the middle of the sura forces.

"[Dance of the Incandescent Wyrm]!" Li Feng summoned dozens of serpents, flaring with blinding light.

"[Avatar of the Fae: Earthbound Prison]!" Zhou Ying stomped on the ground, her feet seemingly becoming rooted. The patch of ground beneath and all around her began to glow green, and hundreds of jade-green roots flew into the air.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Sun and Moon]!" A black sun and white moon revolved around each other, sending ripples of genetic energy spreading out around it.

Even the young leaders of the four prime races, caught up in the moment, attacked the sura forces...