Extortion has provided me with a sizable amount of primeval stones as well as a few interesting gu worms. Getting more gu worms however will have to wait until after the beast wave is over, right now everyone is scrambling to buy gu worms of all kinds. The prices of offensive gu, defensive gu, movement gu and healing gu are at an all time high, the only type of gu worm that's become cheaper are logistics type gu worms.
The price is likely to crash after the beast tide is over, so I sell what unneeded gu worms I have while the prices are sky-high. All-in all, the sales net me around five hundred thousand primeval stones, more than all of my extortions combined. The highest value gu worms were the Xiong Clan leader's, which I sold to Gu Yue Bo and Mo Chen.
The village is being fortified in preparation for the beast tide, most missions are now either contributions to the fortification effort, or extermination missions. As an elder I theoretically no longer have to take missions, practically not doing so in a time of dire need would be frowned upon. It's a good thing that I couldn't give less of a flying fuck about that. Gu Hao gives me an exasperated look. "Look, even the most braindead clansman can realize that you're going to leave the village soon. You either need to start taking missions or have an excellent performance during the battle, who knows what the clan leader might do otherwise."
Reaching rank 3 with an aptitude of 44% is impossible, everyone in the clan harbors suspicion regarding me doing so. They're not going to do anything just yet however, the clan needs as many combatants as possible to fight againI st the incoming beast tide. I smile. "How many times do I have to tell you not to worry about me? I have my own methods to deal with my issues, you should be more concerned on advancing to rank 3."
Gu Hao's aptitude is just barely enough to allow him to advance to rank 3. Chi Lan pokes Gu Hao in the ribs. "He's right, you know love? You always worry too much about everything."
Gu Hao begins tapping his finger on the tavern's table. "I can't help but worry. There's never before been a beast tide this large in the recent history of our clan, it's not even a certainty that the Gu Yue clan will continue to exist after the beast tide, even if we survive the clan can be weakened enough to be unable to survive the next beast tide!"
If the clan leader and enough elders were to die the clan would become extinct, any gu master with a brain would leave the village for brighter shores. The gu masters that remain would then get themselves killed in the next beast tide. "The Jia caravan will arrive after the beast tide. Worse comes to worst you can join up with them for a while, especially if you advance to rank 3."
Gu Hao nods. "You're right, right now we need to focus on surviving. We can worry about what we'll do afterwards if we actually live through this beast tide."
Chi Lan sighs. "Here he goes being all doom and gloom again, attempt your breakthrough first and then make your plans. You blabber like an old lady when you're stressed!"
I nod, agreeing with Chi Lan. "She's right, attempt the breakthrough first before worrying about dying in the beast tide."
Gu Hao takes a deep breath. "Fine, I'll try to breakthrough to rank 3 before being 'all doom and gloom' again, happy love?"
Chi Lan smiles, before leaning on Gu Hao. "Very. Now that that subject is over with, there's something that the three of us should discuss in private."
It's probably something related to the Chi faction. "Sure, let's go to my study and talk about it." This will be the second, and most likely last, time that I use that room.
Gu Hao, Chi Lan and I get comfortable as Shen Cui prepares Gu Yue Bo's personal blend of tea. "So, what is it that you want to talk about?"
Chi Lan and Gu Hao both look a bit uncomfortable. "I don't know what happened between Chi Lian and you for you to join the Mo faction, but we've been told to offer you a hundred thousand primeval stones for ensuring Mo Yan's death."
That's awesome. "Tell him I want fifty thousand in advance and a hundred thousand after the deed is done."
They both blink in confusion. "What?""Pardon?"
I smile. "I wasn't a real member of the Chi faction at any point in time. I just blackmailed Chi Lian into pretending that he's giving me his full support. I had a number of things to hide, he was a pretty good smokescreen."
Gu Hao spends a small amount of time thinking about what I'd just revealed. "I see, that makes a lot of things much clearer now. I had always wondered why Chi Lian was so cagey about your membership."
Gu Hao does manage to breakthrough to rank 3 in the end. It's a good thing he hurried with his attempt, otherwise he wouldn't have had enough time to do so.
Another notable incident that occurs is the arrival of a group of mortals seeking shelter and safety from Gu Yue clan's villages. I wasn't personally present for either their arrival or the meeting about them, so most of what I know is from the resulting rumors.
Simply enslaving them isn't really an option because they are already slaves, the elders mainly debated on whether to kill them or chase them away. In the end it's decided to simply chase them away.
The second group to arrive was immediately slaughtered to a man. Noone else dared to come afterwards.
—
Luli and I's game of chess is interrupted by the sounding of the village alarm, the beast tide has come. I give her and Cui a quick kiss. "Stay in the true basement, keep wiggles with you in case anything happens."
I've dug a public basement for the tavern, underneath which the true, secret basement lies. If the first basement gets found by the wolves the smell of the people inside will obscure the existence of the second basement. It's also much deeper, well-stocked and overall safer than the one above it too.
Luli and Cui both give me resolute nods. I head over to the designated meeting zone for the Mo faction. Mo Chen immediately gives me orders once I arrive. "Fang Yuan, you are to lead Mo Yan's group and defend the southern wall."
That wall is the most remote and isolated one. In theory it will also be the easiest to defend as well, the beasts are hungry and attracted to the mortals inside of the village, not to us gu masters. I give Mo Chen a nod. "Alright, we'll defend the southern wall. Follow me!"
I don't bother checking the abilities of my new underlings. None of them are above rank 2 and my battle strength is already comparable to the battle strength of a rank 4 gu master. The southern wall is a five meter wide, twenty meter high wall of solid stone.
I jump directly to the top of the wall, from where I have a good view of the surrounding landscape. The beasts aren't visible just yet, so I've got some time to kill. Mo Yan is the first to reach the top of the wall. "What are your orders, honored elder."
Go die. "What is your cultivation rank and specialty?"
Mo Yan stands at attention. "I am at rank 2 peak stage, my specialty is stealth and information gathering."
I give him a nod. "You are to make a team and prepare to scout the beast tide before they hit us. Choose however you believe to be appropriate."
He cups his fist and bows. "Junior will obey the honoured elder!"
Sending him on his lonesome would be a bit too suspicious, he'd be just as likely to give lip service and agree only to hide himself away afterwards. Letting him make his own team according to his desires should guarantee he leaves, if I'm lucky enough he'll just die from some absurdly stupid mistake.
I wait patiently for either the beasts to arrive or for my scouts to arrive. It's half an hour later that a bloody and beaten scout arrives.
Her body is littered with bite marks and claw cuts. Her bloodied clothes are both dishevelled and tattered. The scout begins talking, her breathing irregular due to her injuries. "We were attacked by two frenzy lightning wolves, none other than me survived! The beasts will arrive in less than five minutes!"
Mo Yan's dead, that's good news. "Go to the healers, they'll patch you back up."
The news that two thousand beast kings are coming to attack this side of the wall has dropped their morale all the way down to the shitter. "I'll take care of the frenzy lightning wolves, you take care of the rest of the rest of the beasts. The safety of the village lies in your hands!""
That seemed to cheer them up some, hopefully they'll make for good meat shields if nothing else. The beast tide quickly comes into view, a literal wave of lightning wolves rushing towards the walls. I turn to a random gu master to my right. "You're in charge while I am busy fighting the frenzy lightning wolves."
He nods, before giving his first orders. "Prepare to fire moonlight gu!"
The wall's height is just right enough to allow the moonblades of rank 2 moonlight gu boosted by little light gu to strike the wolves beneath. The first to arrive is the pair of frenzy lightning wolves. I teleport underneath the leading wolf and punch it in the stomach, wounding it and sending it flying thirty meters into the sky,
The second wolf lunges right at me, I sidestep it's lunge before preparing myself for a killer move. Rank 4 thunder roar gu uses more than half of my primeval essence, boosting it with the amplify effect gu uses another quarter of it.
I manage to get the timing right with the rank 2 soundwave gu and amplify effect gu. The killer move 'Thunder Wail' has been successfully used!
The frenzy lightning wolf to my right, whose attack I've just side-stepped, is almost instantly killed. Blood gushes out from each of its now mangled body parts, showering me and the nearby lightning wolves in blood.
The wolf I'd sent into the sky fares much worse. It's farther away, so the shockwave it faces is weaker. Sadly for it it hasn't hit the apex of its flight just yet. The wolf is still shooting upwards, forcing it to endure the shockwave for longer.
The corpse that lands cannot be recognized as having come from a wolf, it just looks like a pile of meat, bones and organs. The lightning wolves around me are turned into paste by the shockwave, regardless of whether they are bold lightning wolves or regular lightning wolves.
I teleport back to the wall. "I've taken care of most of the beasts and the frenzy lightning wolves. I'm all out of primeval essence now, so the rest of the battle is up to you."
Going by the stunned looks on their faces, I'm going to assume that their morale is doing much better now. The man who I put in charge is quick to rally the men. "Our honoured elder has done his duty! It is our time to honor our Gu Yue clan!"
The men and women all cheer, their spirits raised by my triumph over the pair of thousand beast kings. With the most dangerous wolves killed the rest of the battle has been made much simpler for the clansmen.
There's five hundred beast kings remaining in the beast tide. Their newly appointed leader shouts. "Focus on the bold lightning wolves, they are the only ones that have a chance at breaking our wall!"
The wolves are almost in range. "Prepare to use the moonlight gu!"'
They are in range. "Fire!"
A volley of moonblades fires at the incoming beast wave, most of the blades are aimed right at the largest wolves, severely wounding them. One of the bold lightning wolves opens its mouth and fires a lightning bolt at a female gu master, almost killing her. Beasts can still use wild gu, their abilities can be unpredictable.
With the hundred beast kings wounded the rest of the battle is much simpler. None of the bold lightning wolves have any wild gu capable of penetrating the wall, allowing the Gu Yue gu masters to fire indiscriminately into the horde of wolves below.
This time the wolves do not retreat. There's no food left for them on Qing Mao mountain other than human flesh, they have to either succeed or starve. Three more gu masters are wounded by unexpected wild gu, one gu master is killed.
In the end our total casualties are Mo Yan's team and five gu masters, of which four gu master's will make a full recovery.
The same can't be said for the other fronts however. From atop the wall I can see that the northern section, where Mo Chen is, has been breached. Him, Chi Lian and three more elders are desperately trying to hold off a lightning crown wolf king.
The lightning crown wolf king is a mutation of the lightning lycan king, the myriad beast king of the lightning wolves. The lightning lycan king is much more intelligent, capable of almost human-like planning and intelligence. The lightning crown wolf king trades that intelligence for more power.
If this was a lightning lycan king they would be dead, the inferior intelligence of the lightning crown wolf king is the only reason that they can buy time, it's stupidity allowing them to outsmart it again and again.
The fight is going in the favor of the wolf king despite the efforts of the elders. My tavern is located in the southern section of the village, the battle reaching it is unlikely now that I've defended the southern wall.
"What are those things?!" A woman shouts, before pointing behind me.
Turning around reveals a black wave coming towards the village. As it gets closer I realise what it is that I am looking at.
A giant wave of bladewing blood bats is approaching the village. A voice sounds in my head before I can do the smart thing and bail. 'This is the trump card of our Gu Yue village, do not attack them!'
I turn the woman who shouted. "Did you hear that voice too?"
She gulps nervously, before nodding. "Yes, I-" The bats rush above us towards the wolves, their loud chittering drowning out any conversation.
I see the clan leader leave the shrine building, before he rushes towards the lightning crown wolf king. The bladewing blood bats quickly make short work of the lightning wolves, easily hacking them apart with their bladed wings.
It's a different story with the lightning crown wolf king. It roars, killing all of the bladwing bats in a radius of twenty meters around it and severely injuring the ones in a range of forty meters. Two elders are caught in the attack, killing them instantly. That was a wild rank 4 thunder roar gu.
Gu Yue Bo arrives and immediately fires a moonblade into the side of the lightning crown wolf king, wounding it. That only seems to make it fiercer however.
"Our clan leader will defeat the beast king and save our village!"
"If that beast king is not slain, our Gu Yue village will no longer exist!"
"We need to assist the clan leader!"
"Are you an idiot?! Our moonglow gu don't even have the range to attack the beast king, its roar would kill us instantly!"
All of the Gu Yue gu master's keep an eye on the battle between Gu Yue Bo and the beast king. If Gu Yue Bo loses, the village is done for and everyone is going to run away. Even the gu master's who are currently engaged in combat make sure to give their battle an occasional glance.
Gu Yue Bo steps into the range of the lightning roar gu, which makes the beast king use it immediately. Gu Yue Bo leaps backwards out of the range of the roar, throwing a red moonblade at the beast king as he does so.
The moonblade lands, the wound it leaves behind is much smaller compared to the one left behind by the previous moonblade. This wound however is bleeding profusely, slowly weakening the wolf.
The lightning crown wolf king's next move is to lunge at Gu Yue Bo. He barely manages to dodge, using a movement type gu to glide away from the lunge. Another red moonblade is thrown, this one lands on the hip of the lightning wolves back feet. Going by the severe bleeding, it managed to hit an artery. The wolf will be dead in a few seconds from the enhanced bleeding, all Gu Yue Bo needs to do is survive the next one or two exchanges.
The lightning crown wolf king turns around, its maw dripping saliva in anger and frustration. Another lunge towards Gu Yue Bo is taken.
Gu Yue Bo slides away from the lunge, only for the wolf to activate the rank 4 lightning roar gu right as it dashed past him. A white barrier appears around his skin to block the lightning roar gu.
He is turned into meat paste anyway, the vibrations passed unhindered through his barrier. Gu Yue Bo is dead.
The lightning crown wolf king is on its last legs as well. It lands right into an apartment building, demolishing it from the speed and force of its lunge. It takes a few shakey steps out of the rubble, before falling down dead.
Exterminating the rest of the beasts proves to be simple for the Gu Yue clansmen. With most of the elders now free to join the extermination it's not long before all of the wolves are dead.
The beast tide is over.
—
AN:
Something that I'm curious about:
How do the fight scenes feel?
Are they exciting, bland, weird, etc?