Chapter 277: The Tides Of War, A Lesson
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"Don't you have something else to do, kid? Where I am going, you will not be able to go," Azmodeus said after a few moments of being bugged by the boy.
"Hey! I already told you that my name is Gang Hao! Use it properly, you big weirdo!"
Gang Hao held the completely ordinary stick in his hands, looking up at the giant red man like a vigilant guard.
"Sure… Gang Hao, go home. My destination is not a place for kids."
Azmodeus had not once bothered himself to look down at the spirit boy as he wished to find out how the general ecosystem was doing.
"Mister… You're a weirdo… My village can't have weirdos walking around looking at plants and objects with a weirdo gaze." Gang Hao nodded his head like an understanding senior as he held his stick to his chest, playing the part of a sword Immortal.
"..." Azmodeus, for the first time in a while, decided to see what the Spirit Boy was doing.
It was only after seeing that his troublesome meter had not gone down that he said, "Here, do you want a real sword? Not some stick?"
"!!!" Gang Hao's eyes immediately brightened as he stopped in his tracks and 'menacingly' glared at the crimson giant. "You have a sword…?" He asked.
"Yes."
"A real one…?"
"Indeed."
"Like a really, real, real one!?"
"Yes…"
"Mister… Are you not actually a weirdo!? My mom said that weirdos were mean and that you should never trust them… So are you not a weirdo, but a weirdo liar?" Gang Hao inquired, drool already coming out of his mouth upon imaging the sharp edges of a real sword.
"Kid… Just take the sword and shut up." Azmodeus took an ordinary Common Rank sword out of his Storage Space and tossed it in the Spirit Boy's direction.
*Piang!*
The sword landed in Gang Hao's hands, causing his eyes to shine like the most dazzling of jewels. He shot his head back toward the weirdo, planning to thank him. But when he looked up, all that remained were a few leaves scattering in the wind…
"Weirdo…? Where did the weirdo go…?" Gang Hao tightly clutched onto his shiny silver sword, already missing the presence of his only friend.
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Meanwhile, in a vast expanse of sky more than 10 Cosmos away, God materialized in mid-air. He looked around him and saw the Biome that was termed the Aeronautics Biome.
In this Biome, the Harpies had already conquered the skies and built massive floating castles. In these lavishly decorated castles, they lived out their lives like kings. They ate whatever they wished, slept with whoever they wanted to, and did whatever their hearts so desired.
This led to them naively believing that they were the only apex existences in the entire world. They lived their lives completely unaware of the organisms that wanted to take everything they had…
Today, like many others, just so happened to be a day in which the Forest Empire, as well as the Water Empire, Lava Empire, Ice Empire, and Acid Empire, made their advance.
Their original attack was sudden and unexpected; no one among the Harpies knew what happened until it was already too late…
The Forest Empire struck with overwhelming force, taking the Harpies by surprise as they used forest growth to create weeds that extended to the skies. They climbed the toughened weeds and vines, bringing the fight not to the skies but to the artificial forest growth.
After getting a strong foothold in the war, the Water Nation joined in the fray and conjured up universe-sized tsunamis. They had these tsunamis drown the flying bird people, making use of the powerful abilities of their Alpha Realm Experts.
The Aeronautics Nation fought hard, and they succeeded in holding back the two nations for quite a number of Epochs. But the moment the Lava and Ice Nations joined in, it was already over for the still-developing Aero Nation.
Of course, a tiger cornered to a wall would fight back with everything they had, surpassing all known limiters!
The Harpies produced a vast number of Peak Beta Realm and Alpha Realm Experts during the 'Ever War'. And right when they thought they might have had a small chance of winning this war, the Acidity Nation made the last blow. They took them right off their high horses, sending them barreling to the land below.
The skies were melted by the Acid Nation militia, leaving nowhere for the Harpies to run. Furthermore, their populations were reduced to a tenth of what they once were, while their Royals and Nobles died on the daily.
The Aero Nation was done for…
At least, that was before the appearance of a lone Harpy.
This Harpy had long, crimson-colored hair, the disposition of a fallen immortal, and the bearing of an indifferent god.
He appeared out of nowhere and took the entire war off balance, single-handedly thwarting the advances of the Forest Nation, killing those of the Water Nation, and blasting apart the Lava Nation. Hell, even the impenetrable fortresses of the Ice and Acid Nations lasted no longer than half a second before his overwhelming might…
The war that should've been an easy victory for the Elemental Nation Alliance was flipped right on its ass, leaving them as the losing side!
And all of this was caused by one man…
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"Status Report, Soldier!" A Harpy Commander demanded with his hands behind his back.
He stood at the very top of the skies, overlooking the sea of fire that had become their home. The world was set ablaze, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it…
Or so it would be if not for the one causing a sea of fire to overwhelm their enemies!
"Sir! The Crimson Harpy has descended once more, and this time he is attacking the centermost base of the Elemental Nation Alliance! We might actually win this thing!"
A Harpy Soldier gave the status report while standing beside the Commander, watching as the one-man army cleaved off the heads of countless powerhouses.
"Don't get too happy just yet… The war is far from over, and we have still yet to understand just who this 'Crimson Harpy' is. We don't even know where he came from when he arrived here 2 million years ago…"
An inexplicable gleam flashed past the Commander's stern gaze as he knew that an unknown factor like this one was not good for them.
Whether or not he was on their side or not didn't really matter; having such a strong person breathing down their necks was enough to put everyone on edge. And what did people most often do when faced with something they couldn't explain?
"They seek to erase it," the Commander murmured to himself as he pulled out a communications crystal.
After opening a channel with his direct superior, a conversation went underway. A conversation that decided the fate of the one who helped turn the tides of war…
...…