Chapter 577: Traitors One and All

"[Heaven's Judgment]! [Tiger's Howl, Dragon's Bellow]!" Along the breadth of Fang Yi's spear rose a dragon of wind and a tiger of thunder. As they twined around each other, the tip of the spear gleamed, crackling with concentrated power.

He pierced two sura kings in as much time it took to draw breath before glancing toward the remaining sura kings with a challenging stare.

The sura kings stepped back subconsciously. Eventually, one sura king suddenly yelled out, "What are you all waiting for? We charge together!"

As the sura king's voice rang out, several among the Renhuang forces struck at their allies.

Their allies fell, and those around them stared at the traitors with consternation. Who would have expected betrayal to struck so keenly?

"We've simply made the logical decision."

Sun Mengmeng glanced around her, seeing if she recognized any of the traitorous races. One group was the Goldherald clan, and another the Tangsan. The Tangsan would carry their forefathers' ashes with them, thinking that it would bring them strength. Before any major events, they would pray to those ashes hoping to be blessed.

Sun Mengmeng hadn't expected such a major clan to betray them.

The Goldherald envoy bowed his head apologetically. "The sura promised us lavish gifts and generous compensation. Now that so many sura kings have perished, there's land and resources aplenty for all of us. Once the sura take you down, we'll be awarded part of the conquered land for our own. If the sura are willing to sign a treaty with us and treat us on equal footing, why should we work with you underdogs? I do all this for my clan, for my race, for my family and children."

Among the defecting races were those that had once been subordinate to the sura, and those that had been secretly persuaded by the former races.

Most of the alien races had joined Renhuang's army in order to secure profit for their own race. Only a few truly viewed the sura as their enemies.

Now that the sura were promising them even higher rewards for victory, they naturally flocked to the other side. With one fell swoop, the sura weighted the scales further in their favor.

The members of Team Zenith watched this happen without any emotion. They had anticipated that the sura would do something like this, after all, but some of their allies couldn't help but turn enraged.

"Are you all crazy?! Once we perish, do you think they'll treat you as well as promised?"

"The moment we no longer become a threat, the sura will turn on you. Wake up! You're just a dagger to be used against us, a dagger that'll be discarded the moment it becomes useless."

"Haven't you seen what the sura have done to their enemies? You'll be next. They can't trust any of you—you've already betrayed a force once, and you can easily do so again."

Those races that had betrayed the sura refused to listen to any reason; the die had been cast. In fact, as some of the allied races recognized just how disadvantaged they were, even more began to defect from Renhuang's forces.

With the allied troops in turmoil, the sura charged forward. The allied races were trapped between the sura onslaught and the defecting races, and the battle turned more chaotic than ever before.

The sura king who had given the signal to defect stared at the scene with a mocking smile on his face. "I told you all, didn't I? Just the barest hint of stress, and this so-called army will collapse."

Beside him, another sura king licked his lips. "You, demoness of purple flame, Sun Mengmeng! Why don't you come be my concubine? I promise I'll treat you well!"

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

His words sent the other sura kings into a frenzy. "No, she's mine!" "I had my eyes on her first!"

"Hold it, you fools! We still have to catch them all first."

The sura kings were so confident in their victory that they had already begun dividing up their expected spoils.

"You guys can lay claim to all the rest, but the goddess of nature is mine!"

"They're humans as strong as us sura kings, aren't they? I really am quite interested in seeing them for myself."

"The maiden of sun and moon belongs to me!"

Yang Ze smirked at the squabbling sura kings. "Surely you don't think you've won already?"

The sura kings shouted back, "Your so-called alliance has already fragmented. Do you think you can turn the tides of war?"

Yang Ze laughed again. "Renhuang has never had to rely on any alien race, and it never will. It's time to use our secret weapon, isn't it? I can't stand the sight of these trash anymore—let's have them all rot away!"

The other members of Team Zenith nodded, and Yang Ze called out loudly into the air, "Unleash the weapon!"

The skies clouded over, and the flapping of wings drowned out the sound of battle. Everyone raised their heads to see countless flocks of birds taking to the air, controlled by the crag eagles.

"What do you think you can accomplish at this point?" None of the sura kings seemed concerned. The sura fighters punched upward almost in unison, shattering the vials and dissipating the powder within.

The human hunters and forces from the four prime races each tossed out the vials of poison that had been distributed to them beforehand, but the sura fighters only watched on stoically.

They had seen such tactics being used in the initial skirmishes against Renhuang. Those tactics had quickly become obsolete once Renhuang's forces learned that the sura had come up with counters for them.

"Your resistance is futile!" a sura king called out.

Some of the other sura kings began to laugh and titter, but they quickly noticed that something was wrong. What the subsequent flocks of birds had dropped down on the sura army wasn't vials of poison, but rather the corpses of sura fighters!

The sura were enraged and incensed by this vile act. This was the greatest insult that the humans could bring to bear against them; the sura didn't fear death, but despoiling their bodies after death was a grave insult.

As the sura fighters clamored for vengeance, a cry rang out from their side of the battlefield.

"Calm down!" Everyone turned to the sura king who had spoken, some in rage, some in anger, some in bafflement. "The scales of war have tilted in our favor. The humans are clearly trying to enrage us, and we can't fall into their trap. Remain calm and logical."

Another sura king shouted back, "Our victory is all but determined. No matter what Renhuang does, it meets its end today. Kill them all!"