Ascent of Hero on the Dragon Throne

At that point, Thor and Joss had already returned. Obviously, there weren't any other wounded left. All the villagers had died.

"Captain, what just happened here?" Thor and Joss asked as their faces turned pale.

Rocky's eyes turned cold the moment he sensed an aura of power equivalent to that of a spirit manipulator beyond the Earthly Stage from beneath the ground. However, Rocky was certain that it wasn't a spirit manipulator.

"It must be a spirit-manipulated beast... It seems that a wild spirit-manipulated beast attacked the village," Rocky said with utter certainty.

All of a sudden, sand and stones splashed with a bang in the middle of the village. Something was about to rise from beneath the ground. The ground was trembling as the intense aura grew stronger that it was getting hard not to notice.

"It's coming!" Rocky said as he tried to stay sharp.

Bang!

After another deafening noise, a giant figure abruptly rushed out from the ground. It incessantly flapped its two iron wings as it produced gusts of sandstorms. The sand and stones thrown in the air almost blocked everyone's vision.

Startled by the unexpected giant figure, Thor and Joss turned pale in an instant. Apart from them, the spirit manipulators who were on standby out of the village were all stunned by what they just witnessed.

Rocky was the only one who remained calm.

"It must be at least a three-star wild spirit-manipulated beast at the second grade. I could sense that its aura's definitely stronger than Uriah's. Its power is equivalent to a spirit manipulator at the fifth grade of the Earthly Stage. I guess it must be a war beast," Rocky analyzed with his sober mind.

The giant wild spirit-manipulated beast had two heads as if it was wearing a pair of helmets. With its body covered in black, it looked terrifyingly ferocious. It was in the shape of a big beetle with six vigorous and forcible legs that seemed like thin pillars. Its cyan big eyes were fiercely glaring at the three of them.

All at once, as if it was attracted by something, the wild spirit-manipulated beast roared and ran towards them.

"You two should take the villager to the other spirit manipulators and return to the northeast military camp as soon as possible to inform Commander Marin about the current situation here. Ask her to send people here for support." Rocky gave orders to Thor and Joss.

"Captain, what about you? We shouldn't leave you here by yourself," Thor asked while looking at Rocky.

"We have already disturbed it. Do you understand? I've been spotted so I have to distract it and buy as much time as I could," Rocky replied.

"That's too dangerous!" Joss cried out.

"Spare me the lecture. That is an order. Go now!" Rocky shouted as he noticed that the armored spirit-manipulated beast was approaching.

After glancing at each other, Thor and Joss had no other choice but to follow his orders. They carried the injured villager to meet the spirit manipulators out of the village and headed straight to the northeast military camp together while escorting the Three Powers at the Gehenna Border. They travelled as fast as they could until they finally arrived.

As for Rocky who was faced with the dash of the armored spirit-manipulated beast, he rapidly retreated with Uriah.

come back yet.

"Deputy Commander Chen, do you have any news about the sixth team and when they will return?" Marin asked.

"I'm afraid not. In theory, they should be the first to return since their route is the shortest and safest. Knowing this, it's definitely strange that they still haven't returned. I'm worried that they might've encountered something unexpected," Deputy Commander Chen said anxiously.

"Commander Marin, the sixth team is composed of underperforming members. It isn't a wise decision to assign them to escort army provisions," Evan, the team leader of the first team, pointed out arrogantly.

Upon hearing that, the other team leaders all whispered into each other's ears. Like Evan, they all thought that the sixth team was a bunch of useless losers.

"Evan, don't be impertinent!" Deputy Commander Chen scolded.

Marin just frowned. Though a little unhappy, she couldn't deny the truth mentioned by Evan. For the sixth team, it was really beyond their abilities to escort army provisions successfully. However, she also had her own considerations, especially after Rocky became the team leader of the sixth team.

To some extent, Marin acted on impulse when she decided to send the sixth team to carry out the escort mission. Because of Rocky's cynical attitude and her curiosity towards him, she was desperate to know more about Rocky's real power. She wanted to know what Rocky was really counting on, his power or his luck. Therefore, the escort mission was a challenge for Rocky. If Rocky failed to live up to her expectations, she would make other arrangements. Once anything went wrong in the sixth team, Rocky would suffer the consequences as the leader.

At that point, a guard came in and reported, "Commander Marin, the sixth team has returned."

"Ask Rocky to report to me at once," Marin ordered upon hearing the guard's words.

"Well... Rocky isn't with them. Also, the spirit manipulators of the sixth team seem to have had a narrow escape from something unexpected..." the guard replied as he wore a weird expression.

Hearing that, Marin immediately frowned. The other team leaders snickered. They all took pleasure in the sixth team's trouble.