97: Chapter 97 We Won

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape slowly lowered its head, blood gushing wildly from the gory hole in its chest.

It was stunned.

In these past five years, it had never been injured.

It never expected that a Third-Order human could leave a mark on its body with a broken blade.

"Roar——!!!"

A furious roar shattered the firmament.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape went completely mad.

It brandished its palms, larger than a truck, carrying terrifying power sufficient to crush boulders, and swiped madly at that streak of golden lightning.

With each palm strike, the ground was smashed into massive craters several meters deep.

The violent gusts of wind swept the surrounding remains of buildings into the air, turning them into dust.

But every strike hit nothing but air.

That golden figure was like a true bolt of lightning, weaving between its palms and slithering through its fingers.

Azure electric arcs tore through the night sky, leaving behind fleeting afterimages.

"Too slow."

Lin Mo's voice came from overhead.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape looked up and saw that figure standing on its nose bridge, frowning slightly.

"Roar——!"

It swiped a palm at its own face.

Lin Mo vanished.

The next second, he appeared at the back of its neck.

He slashed down with his blade!

Lightning exploded, carving another wound so deep the bone was visible.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape turned around in a fury, its tail sweeping out like a steel whip!

Lin Mo vanished again.

He appeared three meters in front of it.

Those golden eyes held a hint of mockery—or more accurately, disappointment.

"Is that all?"

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape's breathing was heavy like a bellows, its scarlet eyes bloodshot.

It couldn't understand.

Why couldn't it catch him?

That human was right in front of it, so tiny, so frail, yet he was like a phantom, impossible to touch.

Every time it thought the opponent was surely dead, that figure would either dissipate like smoke or instantly teleport hundreds of meters away!

What made it even angrier was that the human began running toward the areas where the beast horde was densest.

Lin Mo's figure flashed, appearing in the middle of a group of Fourth-Order ferocious beasts.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape chased over and brought its palm down!

"Boom——!"

Four Fourth-Order beasts were smashed into pulp, their blood staining the ruins red.

Lin Mo appeared in another group of beasts.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape struck again!

"Boom——!"

Another seven or eight beasts were killed, their wails echoing through the night sky.

Lin Mo flashed again.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape gave chase.

Every time, Lin Mo managed to vanish just in time, leaving the beasts that couldn't escape to bear the fury of the enraged giant ape.

One. Ten. A hundred. A thousand.

Half a city block was reduced to dust under the Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape's violent attacks.

The remaining beasts finally began to panic.

Their king had gone mad...

It had started attacking indiscriminately, friend or foe...

The next second, the tide-like beast horde began to flee frantically, wanting to get as far away from this battlefield as possible.

But the enraged Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape didn't care about that! It only had eyes for that golden figure; anyone who dared to stand in its way was asking for death.

The battlefield was in complete chaos.

The surviving soldiers hid in the distance, watching this scene, their eyes nearly popping out.

"He... is he walking that giant ape?"

Someone muttered, their voice trembling.

"It seems so..."

"Is that giant ape stupid?"

"It's not stupid, he's just too agile; it can't catch him at all!"

Someone rubbed their eyes fiercely.

"My goodness... aren't Fifth-Order Beast Kings supposed to be highly intelligent? How does it look no different from a regular beast?"

Liu Jianguo stood on the ruins, watching that golden figure weaving around the giant ape, and suddenly smiled.

But as he laughed, tears began to fall.

"This kid..."

"He really is a monster."

After a long silence, Zhou Zhiyuan asked with a strange expression, "How is a peak Fifth-Order Beast King so stupid?"

Liu Jianguo thought for a moment, the corner of his mouth twitching, "How would I know..."

Zhou Zhiyuan: "..."

The chase continued for a while longer.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape chased until it was panting, its physical wounds hadn't increased, but the trauma in its heart had piled up like a mountain.

It stopped in its tracks, gasping for breath.

That golden figure stood fifty meters away, looking at it with calm composure.

He wasn't even sweating.

Those golden eyes even held a hint of a smile.

As if watching an amusing performance.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape's fury burned to its peak.

It opened its mouth, preparing to unleash a wide-range attack; even if it had to level this area to the ground, it would tear that human into shreds!

But just then——

"Roar——!!!"

From afar, within the layered mountains, a heaven-shaking beast roar came.

That sound was even more terrifying than the Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape's roar, making people's eardrums ache.

That was the Seventh-Order beast king, Earth Roar.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape's body stiffened abruptly.

It turned its head to look in the direction the sound came from.

The fury in its eyes was gradually replaced by unwillingness.

It knew.

This was the order from Earth Roar.

Retreat.

It slowly turned its head to look at that golden figure.

Those scarlet eyes were full of anger and unwillingness.

That tiny human had been remembered by it.

It opened its mouth and let out a low roar.

That was not a horn for attack.

That was an order to retreat.

"Roar——!!!"

The roar echoed across the battlefield.

The surrounding beasts felt as if they had been granted amnesty and retreated frantically, like a receding tide, quickly disappearing into the ruins and darkness.

The Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape took one last look at Lin Mo.

That look contained all the unvented fury.

Then, it turned and leaped into the darkness.

Disappearing into the distant mountains.

...

On the battlefield, only corpses were left, along with those humans who had survived the disaster.

Lin Mo stood in place, the golden lightning slowly dissipating from his body.

He fell to one knee, gasping for breath, his mouth full of the taste of blood.

The battle just now had seemed relaxed and easy, but in reality, every dodge had exhausted all his strength; fighting above one's rank was not so easy, and even for him, he was nearing his limit.

"We won..."

He said softly.

The next second.

The whole world seemed to stand still for a moment.

Then——

"We won——!!!"

No one knew who had shouted first.

That voice tore through their throat, carrying sobs, trembling, and the fear and despair that had been suppressed for an entire night.

Immediately after, a second person.

A third.

The hundredth.

The thousandth.

Cheers erupted like a tidal wave, drowning the entire ruins.

"We won!"

"Jiangcheng has been defended!"

"We survived! We all survived!"

People hugged each other, crying and laughing.

Some knelt on the ground, kissing the earth beneath their feet.

Some roared at the sky, tears mixed with blood flowing into their mouths.

A young soldier stumbled over to a corpse; it was his comrade-in-arms, who just half an hour ago had said to him, "After this fight, brother will treat you to a drink."

He knelt down, hugging the corpse, and wailed.

"Brother... did you see... we won... we won..."

The people nearby didn't pull him away.

Because they were also crying.

Throughout the entire battlefield, there was crying everywhere.

It was the crying of those who had escaped death.

It was the crying of those who had survived the disaster.

Liu Jianguo stood where he was, watching all of this.

His legs suddenly went weak, and he nearly collapsed to his knees.

He was held up by the adjutant beside him.

"Captain!"

Liu Jianguo waved his hand and steadied himself.

He looked at the golden figure in the distance, his eyes rimmed with red.

Then he walked over.

Step by step.

Passing through the soldiers wailing in each other's arms, passing through the civilians kneeling in prayer, passing through the corpses and blood covering the ground.

He walked up to Lin Mo.

Then——

He suddenly fell to one knee, cupped his hands, and bowed his head in salute.

"Jiangcheng Defense Force Commander Liu Jianguo, on behalf of the four million citizens of the entire city, kowtows to thank you for saving our lives, little brother!"

The soldiers behind him came to their senses, and upon seeing this scene, they actually all knelt down in unison.

"Kowtow to thank you for saving our lives, little brother!"

"Kowtow to thank you for saving our lives, little brother!"

The voices rose wave after wave, resounding through the clouds.

Lin Mo was stunned.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But he saw Liu Jianguo's figure kneeling on the ground, saw those soldiers covered in blood yet still kneeling straight, and saw the civilians in the distance surging toward this side.

In their eyes, there were tears, laughter, gratitude, and a kind of emotion he had never seen before.

It was called hope!

Lin Mo was silent for a second.

Then he reached out and helped Liu Jianguo up.

"Get up."