Chapter 971: The Frost Spirits' Commander

Zhang Lie commanded, "Bring me toward your camp. I'd like to meet your commander."

The armored frost spirit asked, "You want to see our general?"

"I do."

The frost spirit nodded. "Very well. I'll lead you there immediately."

The frost spirits brought Zhang Lie and the warlords toward the alien encampment, which had been built atop a massive chunk of ground and rock.

Upon witnessing the arrival of Zhang Lie and his forces, the aliens looked toward him in a jumble of intent: some scrutinized him, judged him, curiously looked at him, warily looked at him, stared angrily at him, were cautious around him...

Zhang Lie instructed his troops, "Have a rest nearby for now. I'll meet with the frost spirits' commander."

The frost spirits brought Zhang Lie past the aliens, toward the heart of the encampment, a region sealed by ice. A chilly wind swept across them as the temperature of the air dropped precipitously. Zhang Lie's strength meant that he could bear with the change in the environment without any ill effects.

The frost spirits all lived in igloos. Many of them floated out of their igloos and considered Zhang Lie curiously.

The armored frost spirit beckoned Zhang Lie to the center of the icy region. A glacier lay there, and atop the glacier was a castle carved out of ice.

The armored frost spirit stood at the entrance to the castle and reported loudly, "General, the commander of the Zongming world would like to request an audience!"

A frigid breeze blew by as the gate to the castle opened wide. An authoritative voice spoke, "Enter."

The armored frost spirit brought Zhang Lie into the castle. Just like its exterior, its interior was pure ice, including all decorations and ornamentations. They entered a throne room deep within the castle, where a three-meter tall frost spirit sat on a throne.

Unlike the other frost spirits, the frost spirit commander's body looked solid and physical, rather than ethereal. He wore armor carved out of everlasting ice, with a dragonskin cloak tied around his neck, and he looked intimidating and imposing.

This was the frost spirits' commander, general of the white world.

Zhang Lie and the commander considered each other.

Given the aura of rime and frost the frost spirits' commander was emitting, it seemed as though he was almost at the level of a superior king, much like the four great lords of the xuluo.

The armored frost spirit bowed. "I'll depart and await further orders, Commander."

The commander turned to Zhang Lie "I expect my men treated you politely."

Did a sneak attack count as being impolite?

The commander continued, "Your troops are rather lacking in number, I see."

The white world had contributed a million troops, whereas Zhang Lie had brought roughly 900,000. The difference wasn't particularly significant.

In fact, they had gathered about the same number of alien forces from their respective jurisdictions. The Zongming world's summons had been particularly effective thanks to the scaleman world and its neighbors seeking revenge; the difference in troops came down to what the respective superior worlds could supply.

The frost spirits' general said, "The Zongming world is a newly evolved world, after all, and I understand it might not have too many forces to spare. I didn't expect anything of you in battle, so it doesn't matter."

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes. "The Zongming world might be a newly evolved world, but that doesn't mean our forces are inferior. We've brought less troops not because we can't bring more, but because more would be unnecessary."

"Hoh? It looks like you're rather arrogant, aren't you?"

"There's simply no need to bring more troops than I've already gathered. You don't have to worry about our strength, either—I can beat your million troops by myself."

The frost spirits' commander laughed. "Ha! I'll look forward to the demonstration of your strength in combat, then."

"What's the situation like?"

"On the battlefield?"

"Where else?"

The frost spirit commander shared whatever information he had. After all, they were comrades in battle, and regardless of how much the frost spirit commander looked down on the Zongming world's forces, it didn't make sense to cause any conflict at the moment.

"The death spirit king recently destroyed Blood Heaven and is still in the process of digesting his spoils. This shattered battlefield is the remnants of Blood Heaven, which was destroyed during the fight between the death spirit king and the blood king.

"There are four different factions currently present on the battlefield: the Zongming world's, the white world's, the death spirits', and finally—"

"What's the last faction?" Zhang Lie was quite curious.

"—the remnants of the blood world's forces," the commander replied.

Zhang Lie blinked in surprise. "There are troops who survived the battle?"

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"They're partly composed of citizens who managed to escape while the death spirits were attacking, and partly composed of warriors from Blood Heaven. Regardless of their provenance, they've all joined the forces against the death spirits."

The frost spirit commander asked, "Can you share your plans for the battles ahead?"

"I haven't made any special arrangements. At the moment, we're simply waiting for the forces from other worlds to arrive."

Suddenly, there was a hubbub from outside the castle. The frost spirit commander frowned and raised his voice. "What's going on?"

A frost spirit scout rushed into the throne room. "Commander, something's wrong! The death spirits are attacking!"

The frost spirit commander smirked. "It looks like our opponents aren't going to give us time to get ready."

Zhang Lie and the frost spirit commander marched out of the castle to see a hundred black octahedral crystals floating toward them from the skies.

The octahedral crystals looked like two square pyramids joined together at their base, one inverted and one not. Around each octahedral crystal floated three small pyramids. Zhang Lie had seen these octahedral crystals before—they were the battleships that the death spirits employed.

"It's time that we prepare for battle," the frost spirit commander shouted.

Zhang Lie shattered space and emerged at the center of the Zongming world's forces, shocking everyone in sight.

Zhang Lie didn't have time to explain. "Prepare for battle!"

The warlords mobilized immediately, and Hong Xi began dividing the aliens into mobile forces.

As expected, the superior worlds' forces were far more used to such rapid deployment. As they were starting to get ready, the superior worlds' forces had already set off—including a group of limbs without bodies, rolling heads, and struggling kidney-shaped objects with gills.

Waves of these monstrosities poured out from a corner of the battlefield, numbering a million in total. The alien forces that were in front of the monstrosities shrieked as they ran off in fear. The slower among them were devoured directly by the monstrosities, shocking everyone else in sight. It was as though the monstrosities were enemies rather than allies.

Those troops that were devoured by the monstrosities underwent a monstrous transformation themselves, and they also began attacking their allies. The monstrosities swept up everything in their path like a flood as they headed toward the death spirits' battleships...