Chapter 2362: Group Battle (3)
Chapter 2362: Group Battle (3)
Battle. After battle.
Su Yu was exhausting the strength of both sides as much as possible. He wasn't even trying to kill anyone. As time passed, the number of active combatants dropped more and more. Before anyone knew it, more than twenty Masters of Laws on Su Yu's side had retired from battle. They had either suffered heavy injuries or detonated their daos during battle.
The myriad races were in a similar condition. Or to be precise, they were slightly worse off as they did not have the courage to actually detonate their daos. As far as they were concerned, living was better than dying, and being heavily injured was better than having a severed dao. Thus, nearly thirty of them had retired from battle due to their heavy injuries.
Immortal Pseudo Emperor had stopped healing them a while ago, as that would do more harm than help. He had to maintain enough strength to participate in the future battles. In short, the endless battles had resulted in damage on both sides.
***
"This can't continue."
Immortal Pseudo Emperor gnashed his teeth and said, "We can keep doing this."
Gone was his usual ethereal and refined appearance. Instead, he looked slightly deranged as he spoke while gritting his teeth, "Su Yu is a madman. He is sacrificing Human Emperor's people repeatedly. Perhaps he won't care even if all of them are dead."
He had noticed that almost all the heavily injured combatants on the other side were Human Emperor's subordinates.
Regardless of whether it was done to weaken Human Emperor or to force them into his world, there was no doubting that barely any of Su Yu's subordinates had suffered heavy injuries.
But this wasn't something the myriad races could do. Some of their people were already greatly weary of further battles.
Someone said, "Immortal Pseudo Emperor, we have no way of displaying our advantage in such chaotic battles. Our tier-ones won't be able to truly suppress their tier-ones. They only need to focus on gathering everyone up to suffer together."
Logically, this should be fine since both sides were suffering the same damage. The overall balance of power would remain. But some among the myriad races were starting to get displeased. They did not want this.
"At this rate, the tier-ones and tier-twos will still be around but all the tier-threes and tier-fours will die."
The speaker was an injured tier-three. He said unhappily, "We can't even do much in such a battlefield. How can we accept dying in this manner?"
Devil Pseudo Emperor snapped, "The other side is in the same situation! They will have the same dissatisfaction. We are competing in endurance!"
Easy for him to say.
Someone else said, "Yes, you won't die. You're a tier-one. But we...aren't. We will be the ones doing the dying. Even if you can achieve the ultimate victory, why does it matter if we have to lose everyone below tier-one?"
Even if all the humans below tier-one were to die, they would have died for humanity. They were different. They weren't of the same race.
Divine Pseudo Emperor frowned and said, "This is a ploy by Su Yu. Everyone can see this. The moment you start hesitating and grow fearful of further battles, they will be able to take advantage of your hesitation to press on and give us a massive blow. Since he's turning this into a battle of endurance, we have no choice but to face the challenge."
He inhaled deeply and continued, "From now on, Immortal Pseudo Emperor should refrain from fighting. Having one fewer tier-one won't make much difference in such chaotic battles anyway."
The pressure on the rest of them would increase, but he still opted to have Immortal Pseudo Emperor stay behind. This was a way to placate the others. Otherwise, the injured combatants would see no hope, slowly sinking into desperation. They were in a completely different situation than the humans.
Immortal Pseudo Emperor nodded. Here, Divine Pseudo Emperor and Immortal Pseudo Emperor had a slightly higher reputation than Devil Pseudo Emperor. Thus, Immortal Pseudo Emperor and Divine Pseudo Emperor would be the ones making the decision most of the time.
Devil Pseudo Emperor said with agitation, "Do we not have a counter for this?"
They were being completely reactive here. Sure, Su Yu had not benefited much from their battles so far, but it was still incredibly frustrating. Should they risk it and just go all out?
After a short silence, Immortal Pseudo Emperor transmitted, "A counter? It's very simple. As long as you can convince the injured Masters of Laws on our side to detonate their daos when their injuries grow heavy, I am confident we can kill multiple Masters of Laws in a single battle."
"..."
Devil Pseudo Emperor rolled his eyes. How would that be possible? He glanced at the heavily injured fellows. Some weren't even that heavily injured. They were merely pretending because they were too scared of dying.
Damn it!
At that realization, Devil Pseudo Emperor cursed inwardly. No wonder the humans did not fear them even with their superior number. Those on humanity's side had the courage to detonate their daos when they couldn't fight anymore. The myriad races did not have such courage.
Detonating one's dao would render one completely helpless. And many of them were the emperors of their respective races. They couldn't risk dying and causing the extinction of their races. This was the biggest difference between them and the humans.
The more Devil Pseudo Emperor thought about this, the more helpless he felt. He transmitted, "Are we going to stay reactive and allow the humans to do whatever they want?"
Immortal Pseudo Emperor looked at Divine Pseudo Emperor. In turn, Divine Pseudo Emperor looked at Devil Pseudo Emperor.
After a while, Immortal Pseudo Emperor's eyes turned cold as he transmitted, "There must be a reason Su Yu is doing this. I had a short discussion with Divine Pseudo Emperor earlier. We agree that at a critical juncture...we can throw all the injured fellows out. They can self-detonate, or we can be the ones blasting them apart. In any case, we'll use them to inflict heavy losses on the humans."
A chill crept up Devil Pseudo Emperor's spine.
How ruthless.
Immortal Pseudo Emperor transmitted, "This is our only choice. We have to sacrifice some people. Our people won't have the courage to self-detonate willingly. Su Yu's side isn't even trying to kill those from our side, but this is actually more damaging to us in the long run. More and more people will choose to take heavy injuries to avoid further combat."
He was not stupid. They could see that a few of the Masters of Laws on their side had deliberately allowed the enemies to heavily injure them. That gave them the excuse to retire from the front lines.
They were too cowardly. Yet nobody could say anything about this to avoid a full fracture of their alliance. Things would be much easier to handle if they were all from the same race instead of merely an alliance.
***
"Hu..."
Meanwhile, those from Su Yu's side were panting with exhaustion. Even Radiant King was greatly exhausted. He said, "We need to slow down, Emperor Yu. We really can't keep going like this. It's too tiring."
This wasn't only physical exhaustion. It was also mentally exhausting, as each battle was an intense battle that could result in death. Even Su Yu was breathing heavily. Some wounds could already be seen on his body.
But he still laughed as he said, "Yes, we're tired. But are they not tired as well? At the very least, we're all on the same side. Meanwhile, they have countless factions in their ranks. I believe some of them are already thinking of taking heavy injuries just to avoid further combat. That's better than exhausting themselves more and risking death, right?"
What?
Everyone shivered.
In short, this madman was thinking of continuing this.
They had gone through several battles in a row. Apart from the one unlucky soul to die in the first battle, nobody had died. But that only served to make these battles harder to endure as it felt as though there had been no result whatsoever.
That was none of Su Yu's concern. He looked at Human Emperor and transmitted, "I will keep everyone tired while waiting for your return. Rest a bit before returning and reinforce us with fresh combatants. I believe that will be the moment we reap a major harvest."
After some thought, Human Emperor warned, "Don't underestimate the myriad races. Those old fellows are quite ruthless and crafty as well. They must know that there must be a reason for us to engage in this war of attrition. Be careful lest they pull something big to ruin your plan."
Something big? Su Yu thought about it. What could they do?
After a while, he transmitted, "To reverse the situation, the only thing they can do is to push on even when you're rushing over. Or maybe...they will do something crazy as well."
His eyes flickered as he continued, "Maybe they're thinking of blasting my world apart. Are they going to try damaging my world?"
That would greatly reduce the combat prowess on Su Yu's side as well.
Human Emperor said, "That's possible. Immortal Pseudo Emperor and Divine Pseudo Emperor are ruthless leaders. I can see that some of them have been deliberately avoiding combat. They might set an example out of someone...or they might even catch those people by surprise and use them as a sacrifice to inflict heavy damage to your world."
Upon further thought, Su Yu agreed that there was really such a possibility. His world was not indestructible. With enough targeted self-detonations, his world could be broken through as well. Or at the very least, his connection to his world would be severed.
Human Emperor asked, "When do you want me to leave?"
At that, Su Yu looked at the injured powerhouses. The number was getting high. Almost all of the ones below tier-two were already heavily injured. Naturally, a vast majority of them were Human Emperor's subordinates.
After some thought, Su Yu transmitted, "Wait a bit longer. Wait until even their tier-twos are starting to accept injuries to avoid combat."
Human Emperor nodded.
Once again, Su Yu ordered, "Charge!"
Everyone was panting from exhaustion. Even Fat Ball's tongue was already lolling out of his mouth. This was too tiring. And he was already injured. Even so, he still had to fight repeatedly. He was already cursing Su Yu inwardly, calling him a demon and a madman. Even those on their side were already on the verge of collapse.
As for the myriad races, they only lasted so long because their top powerhouses had been forcing everyone to stick together. Otherwise, their army would have fallen apart long ago. Even the warlike individuals like Heavendoom and Martial Emperor were tired of so much fighting.
This was so exhausting. For most powerhouses of this level, one intense battle per year was already more than enough. But now, they were fighting ten intense battles per day. Or even more.
***
Rumble!
All sorts of dao powers erupted as the tired combatants clashed yet again. This was the ninth battle of the day.
This time, Immortal Pseudo Emperor did not join the battle. Rather, he stayed behind to heal their injured combatants. He was taking this opportunity to make some arrangements for his plan and identify the ones who had feigned their injuries.
At this point, both sides were already aware that the other side would definitely try something. It was still unknown who would be the one to prevail in the end. The number of injured combatants continued increasing.
Immortal Pseudo Emperor exhausted a lot of his power to heal their injured combatants, but there was a benefit to this. The morale on their side had improved significantly. With this, they knew that they wouldn't die. At worst, they would allow themselves to be seriously injured to flee the front lines.
***
After some time, the tenth battle erupted.
This time, Human Emperor vanished with a group of people.
Great Zhou King's character clones were put to use once again. It was hard to create convincing clones of powerhouses, but it was much easier to create convincing clones of injured powerhouses. Furthermore, he had the support of Su Yu's world. With Heavenbridge Marquis' help, Human Emperor's group vanished before anyone knew it.
In truth, Human Emperor was still greatly worried about the front lines. This was a mere skirmish before the actual battle. As long as the myriad races weren't completely stupid, they would definitely do something the moment he severed his dao. That would be Su Yu's greatest challenge.
"I need to return as soon as possible."
Human Emperor was greatly worried. He had to complete his fusion as soon as possible before having the others fuse with his world as well. And then, he would rush back with everyone to reinforce Su Yu. Otherwise, Su Yu would face the same predicament he faced all those years ago.
"Faster!" Human Emperor said solemnly, "Su Yu went upstream with his people to reinforce us, but more than half of us are gone. The moment I sever my dao, the myriad races will do something even if they have to pay a high price for it. They will try something so long as they aren't stupid. We don't want to be deserters, and we won't be deserters. Everyone, do complete the fusion as quickly as possible. We will return upstream as soon as possible."
Everyone nodded solemnly.
But soon, someone laughed and said, "Your Majesty, that guy is quite good at fighting. And he's quite brazen when fighting as well. Ten battles per day? I feel like I'm developing a phobia toward combat. When Giant Axe and the others claimed that he was crazy, I doubted them. But now, I believe them. He's basically a lunatic. Not even Your Majesty is so crazy..."
Human Emperor laughed as well. But next, he shook his head and sighed, "He's different...sigh. Forget it. I don't want to say more lest he gets all petty about it."
Su Yu was different. He had faced death too many times. All those experiences had tempered him into a person of unimaginable endurance. Ten battles? That was nothing for him.
It was only a matter of time before he drove the myriad races completely crazy.