Chapter 17: Facing It

With the scorpion tail wrapped around his neck like that, Black Panther thought Li Mingxing had done it on purpose. But when he saw the astonished look in Li Mingxing’s eyes, he understood at once that Li Mingxing had lost control of the position. So Black Panther swiped a claw at Li Mingxing beneath him.

But at that very moment, Li Mingxing laughed, and the scorpion tail coiled around Black Panther’s neck stabbed straight into the beast’s mouth.

Struck by this sudden thrust, Black Panther let out a cry as well. Yet Li Mingxing had already seized the opening, thrusting his own forepaw into Black Panther’s mouth and driving it downward with force.

At that point, Black Panther had no way to escape Li Mingxing’s attack. Its main weapon, its mouth, could no longer be used, and its foreclaws were useless too: one was entangled by Li Mingxing’s scorpion tail, while the other was pinned beneath Li Mingxing’s remaining claw.

Then Li Mingxing gave a soft laugh and opened his mouth to bite Black Panther’s neck. On the first bite, he discovered that the panther’s skin was remarkably slick and oily, and his jaws could not break it.

But Li Mingxing had not bitten simply to tear the skin. The place he aimed for was a technique he had learned from his battle panther: seize the enemy’s throat and strangle it to death.

Of course, the black panther understood this tactic as well. But its bite was already blocked by Li Mingxing, and there was nothing it could do now. Fortunately, it was a fairly powerful creature, with excellent lung capacity, so it would not be suffocated to death so quickly.

While Li Mingxing held the black panther down, his subordinates joined forces to kill the remaining three beasts in the camp. The two purple wolves died beneath the blades of a swarm of harpy maidens, while the bull was slain by the Black Stone Warrior.

Elsewhere in the camp, large numbers of beasts also fell to Li Mingxing’s centaurs and harpy maidens.

Even so, these beasts had taken a heavy toll on Li Mingxing’s forces. His army was now reduced to only one third of its original size: a little over eighty centaurs, and about two hundred and thirty harpy maidens of the two kinds.

And many of them were wounded as well, still without any proper defensive formation. If someone launched a sneak attack now, Li Mingxing’s forces would suffer terribly.

Seeing this, the gray dwarves who had first followed Li Mingxing immediately went into action. They gathered together of their own accord and began treating the wounded with the medical tents they had brought.

Meanwhile, the Black Stone Warrior, axe in hand, had come to Li Mingxing’s side. Glancing at him, he asked, “How is it now? Do you want me to help?”

At that moment, Li Mingxing could not speak at all, and only nodded. Seeing his assent, the Black Stone Warrior swiftly raised the great axe in his hands and brought it down toward Black Panther’s neck, heedless of the fact that Li Mingxing was still biting there.

Faced with such an attack, Li Mingxing did not move at all. He understood that if he shifted even slightly, he would only make it easier for the Black Stone Warrior to strike him instead. So he closed his eyes and stayed completely still.

Then he felt a rush of blood in his mouth. Great torrents of panther blood poured into Li Mingxing’s mouth, and then a coin-like object slipped down with the blood and into his belly.

From this, Li Mingxing knew that the black panther was dead. Only then did he release his claws and slump heavily to the ground, saying to the Black Stone Warrior, “Next time, I’m never charging to the very front again.”

Before the Black Stone Warrior could reply, a voice came from afar. “Do you think you are truly safe?”

Li Mingxing looked up and was astonished to find that he seemed to have been surrounded by Amazons. These women were holding bows and javelins, staring intently at Li Mingxing’s troops.

And because they were now in the forest, Li Mingxing had no idea how many such enemies were hidden behind the trees and in the grass.

At that moment, the harpy maidens under his command were about to take flight, when the voice shouted again, “Do not move, or we will begin our attack.”

Now Li Mingxing understood. He had been fighting those beasts for far too long, and his losses had been far too great. If not for that, he might already have destroyed this place and fled.

Thinking this, Li Mingxing snorted coldly. “Raise all the blowguns. They have so many people that they can’t dodge anyway. I’m not afraid of whether they’re afraid of death.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his troops moved at once. The white harpy maidens raised the blowguns in their hands.

The centaurs and the others stood in front of the harpy maidens, as if they already understood their own role: the harpy maidens’ living shields.

As for the blue harpy maidens, they also began preparing their great spell. This time, Li Mingxing had no intention of holding back. All the harpy maidens, led by the harpy queen, chanted the spell together at the same pace. This spell had reached the very limit of what the harpy maidens could imagine, both in control and in power.

The Amazon women warriors saw this clearly as well. That voice shouted once more, “Stop at once! Do you want to die?”

Li Mingxing replied carelessly, “If we stop, we die too. Better to take our chances. Maybe we’ll have you for company in the end.”

“You need not think about it.” At last Li Mingxing heard another voice. Following it, he looked over and saw, among the Amazons, a beautiful woman holding a golden wooden spear, glaring at him in fury.

Li Mingxing smiled at her, paying no mind to who she was, and ignored her presence entirely. “Am I wrong? You can see it yourself: there are more than a hundred harpy maidens on my side. When all that power of lightning gathers together, you understand how terrifying it will be. Destroying everything within twenty miles should not be a problem. Even if you can run, can you really run twenty miles in one breath?”

With that, Li Mingxing fixed the Amazons with a hard stare. “And under a lightning strike, if any of you think you can run, then go ahead and run now.”

The Amazons, hearing this, did not know what to do. Then the first voice cried out, “We Amazons may be women, but we never run away. We—”

Before she could finish, Li Mingxing cut her off. “Yes, never run away. Only ambush people from behind, and once the ambush is over, vanish without a trace.”

At that, the voice had nothing more to say. By then the spell on Li Mingxing’s side was slowly taking shape. Looking at the three harpy maidens behind the Black Stone Warrior, Li Mingxing smiled and said, “It’s almost ready. You can prepare now. Twenty miles—find a way to run.”

As soon as Li Mingxing finished speaking, a voice rose from the Amazon side. “Sisters, do not wait any longer. Shoot them dead.”

Li Mingxing looked over and saw that the speaker was the Amazon he had previously ignored. Still, it was clear that she held considerable prestige among the Amazons, for after hearing her words, Amazon women warriors were already preparing to attack Li Mingxing.

Then the voice that had first spoken with Li Mingxing said, “Fall back. Have people block every possible retreat.”

At this command, all the Amazons immediately sprang into action. Only the Amazon Li Mingxing had ignored remained there shouting, “Chief, we can’t just let them go like this.”

“I know. But I also know that if we do not decide now, the thunder will fall very soon.”

“But they may not have the courage to release the thunder,” the ignored Amazon shouted.

“But they might.” The voice rang out loudly. “Everyone withdraw, and block every road.”

At these words, all the Amazons swiftly ran off. Only then did Li Mingxing finally breathe a sigh of relief. In his view, blocking roads was the most boring thing in the world. There was no road in this world that could be sealed completely; there were only passages carved open by lives thrown against them.

Thinking this, Li Mingxing glanced up at the sky again. For some reason, he still felt uneasy. He could not understand why, with such an obvious gap overhead, the Amazon chief still insisted that her people block every route of escape.

Could it be that the Amazons had already secured reinforcements, and those reinforcements would come from the sky?

Thinking of this, Li Mingxing could not help looking up. At that instant, he suddenly felt as though someone in the sky was watching him.

He grew tense. He detested such surveillance. But he also knew that for the moment, he could not escape. If the Amazons truly joined forces with the other tribes, even if he were to perish together with them in a storm of thunder, it would be too late.

Li Mingxing now had to find a way to get his men moving, to wear down the enemy one by one through motion. Even if that failed, he would have to charge into the enemy tribe’s camp and destroy everything he saw.

If it truly came to that, Li Mingxing might be forced to assault the place where the enemy had blocked the roads, and then he would once again be faced with one trap after another.

Just as Li Mingxing was aching with trouble, the Black Stone Warrior ran over and said, “My lord, something is not quite right with the troops.”