A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 5932

A thunderous boom split open the sky.

The five travelers spilled from a rent in midair, tumbling like loose stones before catching themselves above a sprawling range of jade-green peaks.

"So this is the Hundred-Beast Range?" Leopold asked, steadying his sword-calloused hands against the wind.

Vermilion Demon Lord hovered beside him, crimson pupils narrowing while he surveyed ridge after ridge of untamed wilderness.

All around, the land pulsed with life: distant avian shrieks carried on the wind; somewhere below, something enormous pounded through a valley, each footfall shaking loose pebbles from cliff walls. In the vault of heaven, a shadow with wings wider than a house glided past the sun.

Yet what drew every gaze lay to the northwest. Nearly a thousand miles off, a column of black-red resentment energy spiraled upward, and beneath it rolled the unmistakable thunder of battle—steel on fang, spell on spell.

"Not good!" Winslow muttered, face turning ashen. "That's Myriad Beast Valley. Malevolent Path Hall is already attacking it!"

"Move!" Jared barked.

Five streaks of light tore across the sky, racing toward the distant clash where dread smoke met screaming steel.

***

Beyond the defense formation of Myriad Beast Valley, the world had darkened as if noon had turned to dusk. More than 5,000 Soul Hunters massed in serried ranks, their black-iron armor knitting together like a living thunderhead.

In unison, they unfurled the Soul-Seizing Grand Array. Gray-white currents of reincarnation aura climbed the air, weaving an immense web that covered several dozen miles. Slowly and inexorably, the net tightened and hissed against the valley's shimmering shield, gnawing at it like acid on bone.

Inside the waning barrier, thousands of demon beasts answered desperate whistles from their handlers.

A Flame Lion belched roaring fireballs, a Thunderwing Golden Eagle hurled spears of lightning, Armored Rhinos formed a battering wedge, and a pack of Gale Wolves spun into a jade-green whirlwind. The beast tide crashed again and again, yet could not pierce the eerie gray web that smothered every spark of momentum.

Still more frightening were the three figures floating before the Soul Hunter Army.

To the left lumbered the Soul-Subduing Puppet General—two stories tall, wrapped in rattling Soul Binding Chains. Each ponderous footfall made the earth tremble.

On the right hovered a skeletal elder draped in tattered robes. He gripped a Bone Banner painted with a thousand twisted faces; a mere flick sent shrieking soundwaves that hammered the shield, leaving ripples that refused to fade.

And between them hovered an all-too-familiar foe—Soul Devourer.

Dark-red scale mail clung to his lean frame, six ragged wings spread like a carrion bird's, and his ash-gray eyes stared icily at the valley below. The reincarnation aura coiled into a spear in his fist; every thrust tore a fresh rent in the failing barrier.

Within the valley, atop a platform piled from bleached beast bones, Blaine Leedon—leader of Myriad Beast Valley and famed Lord Beastmaster—stood broad-shouldered beneath a cloak of stitched pelts, his crimson mane bristling like a furious lion's.

Beside him crouched his life-bonded partner, the Three-Headed Flame Lion King, each snarling head crowned in fire. Their combined aura burned hot enough to warp the air.

"Mr. Leedon, our southeast quadrant is about to give!"

A beastmaster, slick with his own blood, stumbled up the bone steps, voice hoarse with exhaustion.

Blaine roared, his tone like cracking boulders. "Send the Ironback Earth Dragon to hold that corner. Move all the earth-type beasts to the southeast corner and strengthen the defenses!"

"Mr. Leedon, the Bone Banner's wail is driving our beasts mad. They're starting to turn on their beastmasters!" another elder exclaimed, panic edging his words.

Blaine's jaw tightened. He glared at the banner high above, eyes glinting with resolve. "Lion King, come with me. We'll break through and destroy that banner!"

The Three-Headed Flame Lion King answered with a single sky-shaking roar.

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