While most would assume that the position of General was being held by the cultivator with the strongest grade, that was not how it worked in most Royal Battalions. After all, being a General in the Royal Battalion required special affiliations and connections to get things done.
That person would have to be a brilliant strategist for his men, one who kept his sound mind during high-pressure moments. While being the strongest within the battalion would definitely be a nice bonus, it was not necessarily needed since the General usually did not go into the frontline to fight.
Yet despite being a General, Hou Fei was in the midst of battle.
He was currently fighting at the front alongside his other officers since they needed every capable man on deck to stop this new Monster Horde wave from passing through the Border Walls. Admittedly, the Royal Snakes and Tigers were able to manage their circumstances far better than their counterpart. Yet, Hou Fei had a gut feeling that they would eventually break down and end up in the same situation as the Horses.
Instead of asking Jin to reinforce the Royal Horses, he had requested the dungeon supplier’s presence in their own region. It wasn’t that he feared for his own life or that of his soldiers, but the Panda Remnant prefered for one wall to break rather than jeopardise all the walls alongside the Dongguan-Huizhou border. If they managed to keep their portion of walls intact, the military could concentrate on containing the fight only in Dongguan.
Plus, his soldiers were already familiar with Jin and the Royal Tiger General Ya Bai knew of his existence, promising an easier time to cover everything up especially when they knew all about the existence of the portal trucks and how ‘special’ Jin could potentially be.
Not to mention, the District Guardian of Tiangong was at the borders of Dongguan along with a group of Demon Exorcists and more should already be on their way at the behest of JODE Chancellor Ma Ge. As much as Hou Fei did not want to admit this, Grandma Yuan was far stronger than him not just in terms of Cultivation Grades but also in conducting Demon Warfare.
Being one of the very few veterans still alive after the Second World War, Grandma Yuan had experienced enough to deal with something like the present situation. Else, she would not have remained as the District Guardian, a title that only a few held to this day. (Peace times surely degraded the number of ‘war’ based cultivators)
“Sorry I am late.” Jin apologised when a portal suddenly appeared right in front of Hou Fei as he smashed one of the skulls of a Bone Spirit Boar Demon.
“Finally! I was worried you wouldn’t show up!” Hou Fei said as he noticed that Jin was wearing a black hood and a half Panda Mask. “Only you?!” Hou Fei questioned since it appeared as if Jin was not taking the current situation seriously.
“You should know that I’m never alone anymore. Just get your troops to fall back and regroup. I will take it from here. Tell them not to hit anything that has a bluish-black aura. Those are allies.” Jin answered as he took out his System Driver.
“Need me to cover you a little? I can make a mini-explosion plus a smokescreen. Not as vibrant as Peppers though.” Hou Fei offered as they saw another Bone Spirit Boar Demon charging towards them.
“Please do.” Jin accepted as he placed the System Driver on his waist and a belt automatically appeared.
“Get ready” Hou Fei warned as he threw a grenade and a smokescreen grenade simultaneously while putting up a temporary shield barrier for his own master.
“You call that – nevermind.” Jin was expecting something more spectacular, thinking that his Panda Remnant was just being ‘humble’. Still, that distraction had allowed him to transform into System Rider Panda with the black hood intact. (The extra light from the System Rider did help quite a bit too!)
“It is what it is.” Hou Fei dragged his voice, but there was a slight grin that he had successfully bluffed his Master.
The Bone Spirit Boar Demon was unfazed by the explosion though it did slow down enough for the System Rider to grab it by its tusks. Enraged as it was, the Bone Spirit Boar Demon hunkered down ready to give a tremendous shove.
“Oh, you remind me of our very own piglet. He definitely trained me enough for this moment!” Jin said as he reminisced Mr Oink in his first form. After which, the metallic panda steel mask on Jin’s helmet opened its lower jaw, and a beam of Panda Yawning was shot out from it, obliterating the Demon.
“User, take note to conserve Maqi even though you have your crystals as a backup. System foresees you having many ‘boss’ fights soon.” The System reminded Jin.
“I thought those Banned Emperor chums were in Dongguan?” After which, Jin took out a Black Sludge Crystal and placed it at the right side of his waist before activating it with his Maqi. Sure enough, a few of the Demons who had been charging forward suddenly changed direction and headed towards him instead.
“The System believes a group of at least 20 are controlling these Demons. Else they should not be able to coordinate such a wide-scale attack.” The System informed him as it regulated the System User’s Maqi output via the System Rider suit by using the crystals to conserve enough energy while ensuring it still works.
“Glad to see I do not have to pour that much into it to ensure it keeps working,” Jin said as he nodded to Hou Fei as if he was ready to proceed.
“Nice. Let’s do this then. Time is sorta of the essence.” Hou Fei replied as he cleared his throat and shot a red flare upwards, indicating a retreat.
“Fall back and regroup!”
“Don’t drop this. It’s an identifier.” Hou Fei said as he placed his hand on Jin’s shoulder and attached the badge which the Royal Tiger General, San Ya Bai had given him. “Also, please don’t die, Master. I don’t want to have to answer to Ming for having his grandson go before me.”
“Same goes to you. I would not know how to explain it to Grandpa if you died under my watch.” Jin replied as his hand started to glow with Maqi.
“You, what?” Hou Fei was a bit confused about Jin’s reply, but he had already moved deeper into the jungle.
“Zeru, Milk. Ready?” Jin asked as he slammed his hand into a Bone Spirit Snake Demon and performed a Lazy Panda Swipe.
“Ya bet!” Milk answered as she appeared out of the portal with the very same cape that Jin was wearing, causing her to glow with a bluish-black aura.
“Same with me.” Zeru emerged out of the portal next and did a sweeping slash, killing anything that tried to creep up on them.
“Good. Now go find those Banned Emperor bastards and stop the source of this. I will lure out the rest.” Jin ordered, and the two bellators nodded their heads and left a trail of carnage on their way to fulfil their objective.
As for Jin…
