Chapter 120: Ambush

Even though he had known that Danba wasn’t a simple character, Su Chen hadn’t expected Danba to have undergone such a meteoric rise to power.

After hearing Shi Kaihuang and the others’ explanations, Su Chen realized that Danba had been selected by Simotian to be a successor not long after returning from the Goldwater Ruins. Even though he had been defeated soundly there, all of the Ferocious Race youths who had gone in with him praised him and became his most loyal followers. Danba didn’t act arrogantly because of this; instead, he used his failure at the Goldwater Ruins as an excuse to create an image that he had no ability.

The three successors, upon determining that their opponent was weak, began to fight amongst each other. Danba took advantage of this opportunity to group up with the other two Divine Shrine successors and manipulate the chieftain’s successors into fighting one another. After defeating one, they teamed up to defeat the second. The third successor had finally realized what was going on and began to fight back with all his might.

The support from the chieftain made this successor much more powerful than the other successors, but Danba still won in the end.

It wasn’t until his victory at the very end that Danba made it known to everyone that the many years of his studies had given him strength that surpassed all of his peers. He had just been resisting the urge to fully unleash it.

And just like that, he was able to subdue five successors in just seven years and become the undisputed successor of the Gravel Lizard Tribe. Even the current chieftain, Barca Lunt, had nothing but good things to say about him.

This was one of the Ferocious Race’s good points — if you defeated the son I supported from behind the scenes, then the tribe’s future is in your hands. The tribes were all founded on this kind of philosophy, allowing them to persist on the Primordial Continent for tens of thousands of years without being wiped out.

“When we attacked Leguha Castle, we set up a Heaven’s Eye and sent out large numbers of scouts. We made extensive defensive preparations as well, but the Gravel Lizard Tribe still appeared out of nowhere. They were like specters, suddenly appearing behind us and sending us into disarray. If it weren’t for the fact that the chieftain had advanced prematurely and screwed up his positioning, we wouldn’t have been able to escape in the first place,” Chu Yingwan said in a heavy voice, her tone filled with fear at the thought of Danba.

There were quite a few instances where humans had been beaten up by the Ferocious Race, but it was their first time falling for a scheme. In Chu Yingwan’s eyes, the Gravel Lizard Tribe’s flanking ambush was executed beautifully. Even human generals would be hard-pressed to pull something like that off.

“I think they just got lucky.” Lin Shaoxuan was still a bit dissatisfied.

They were both successors, so Lin Shaoxuan’s prestige and status didn’t allow him to lower his head to Danba.

Even so, Danba hadn’t gained his reputation just from a chance success. He had made a name for himself long before this and had fought at the very pinnacle during the battle at Leguha Castle. As such, his dissatisfaction was merely that.

Everyone knew that he was just being stubborn for the time being, so none of them argued with him about it. It was Jun Moxie who said, “Since Danba has guessed our plan as well, then why haven’t we seen any movements from them yet?”

The Heaven’s Eye was on constant surveillance. The Heavenly Might Battalion had made even more preparations this time in comparison to the battle at Leguha Castle. They would absolutely not allow the ambush from back then happen again.

Even so, the patrol squads hadn’t discovered any traces of an army. The Death Region was as deathly quiet as before, and no sign of any movements could be seen.

“Could it be that Danba still hasn’t received the news?” Cheng Tianhai asked.

This wasn’t impossible.

The Ferocious Race soldier who had escaped a few days ago couldn’t have lasted long enough to deliver the news personally to Danba. No matter who he had passed the message onto, there could always be delays. In addition, Su Chen had gotten onto the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle immediately afterwards, so in theory he definitely should have been faster than Danba.

“The issue is, Danba might not have waited until he got news of the situation before moving,” Shi Kaihuang sighed.

A talented chieftain wouldn’t always wait for things to be confirmed before making a decision.

Speed is precious in war, and sometimes a split second of indecision made all the difference.

Guo Wenchang said, “But it’s also possible that they haven’t made a move yet, right?”

Shi Kaihuang fell silent.

A talented general also wouldn’t rashly make a move just based on a guess.

Mistakenly making a move could also have disastrous consequences.

So had Danba made a move or not?

This became a question in everyone’s hearts that no one could answer.

If Danba hadn’t made a move, that implied that they still had an opportunity to pass through the Death Region and leave this place.

If Danba had made a move, then there were probably troops of his lying here in ambush.

This really was a situation where both dangerous decisions surrounded them on both sides. If they gave up now, they would lose an opportunity to escape that they had been planning for a long time. But if they chose to continue, they would need to take a risk.

“I think that there’s no way that the Gravel Lizard Tribe is here. The Heaven’s Eye has been activated to its maximum strength, and all of the elite investigation squads have been sent out. It’s impossible for Danba to repeat what happened at Leguha Castle. If we can’t find them under these circumstances, it’s obvious that they aren’t here,” Cheng Tianhai said. “My recommendation is to continue with the plan and pass through the Death Region.”

Cheng Tianhai, who had originally been the most adamant opposer of this plan, was suddenly in favor of continuing on with the plan. The only reason for this was because he found a thrill in taking risks.

“We can’t. If Danba thought to send people to check the Yellow Dragon Forest, he’s definitely caught on to our plan. The likelihood of him setting up an ambush here is too great. I don’t recommend that we take this risk,” Guo Wenchang said. As the battalion’s tactician and the only civilian officer, he was naturally the most cautious.

“Since Danba sent people to investigate, there is no reason for him to not wait until he receives confirmation before making a move. I think that this is the last opportunity for us to carry out our plan,” Lin Shaoxuan said. He was also in support of continuing with the plan, but rather than him anticipating Danba’s movements it was more likely that he was hoping Danba would make a mistake.

“The scouting parties can only protect us against contingencies.” Shi Kaihuang’s attitude was very clear from the very beginning. He was also in favor for giving it up altogether.

“We’ll die if we stay and we’ll die if we go. Why not seize the opportunity?” Jun Moxie said. He was the one who had proposed the plan in the first place, so he was obviously not hoping for the plan to fail. His reasoning wasn’t flawed either.

“If we go, we’ll die for sure, but if we stay we might be able to find an opportunity to escape,” Chu Yingwan replied. She stood staunchly with Shi Kaihuang.

They were in a standoff, with three people on each side. Each of them had their own reasons and couldn’t convince the others to listen.

Everyone then glanced at Li Chongshan simultaneously.

He was the Heavenly Might Battalion’s commander and had the highest status present. His decision would also weigh the scales in one direction and break the stalemate.

Li Chongshan felt an immense burden on his shoulders.

He thought seriously about it for some time, then turned to Su Chen. “Prince Su, what do you think?”

Su Chen replied, “My advice is that we should leave immediately. I’ve exchanged blows with Danba before, and his intelligence is no lower than a human’s. Actually, it’s probably even higher. I had set traps for him before in the Goldwater Ruins, but even though I was able to kill his comrades, I wasn’t able to trick him and almost fell victim to him instead. I can guarantee that he isn’t a person who always waits until he receives information to make a move.”

“So why haven’t we seen a single Ferocious Race soldier lying in ambush? Don’t tell me that it’s because we were ambushed at Leguha Castle by them successfully. That was because they had set up a large formation in advance to conceal his troops. This time, we came prepared, and we won’t give him any such opportunity,” Cheng Tianhai said.

“So that’s why he must have come up with some other trick to deceive you to get you to charge right into his ambush,” Su Chen said without any hesitation.

“What kind of trick?” everyone asked at the same time.

Su Chen pointed at the Death Region and said markedly, “Have you checked that area with your Heaven’s Eye yet?”

Li Chongshan and the others glanced at each other before shaking their heads.

Guo Wenchang said, “An Origin Beast lies sleeping in the Death Region. No one can set up an ambush there.”

“But you guys are planning on going through that place,” Su Chen said.

“We’re going underground,” Jun Moxie corrected as he said proudly, “My land boats can travel four hundred kilometers beneath the surface. There’s no way we’ll awaken the Origin Beast.”

“But that means that the Ferocious Race also has a way to conceal themselves, right?”

“Yes. If they’re experienced in concealment and don’t go too far into the Death Region, it could be possible. But it’s absolutely impossible for a large army to be hidden in there,” Lin Shaoxuan said.

“So what if it’s not a large army but a small elite group?” Su Chen countered.

“An elite group of soldiers? For what?” Everyone stared at him in shock.

What would be the goal of sending a small elite team over here?

Su Chen simply said, “To awaken the Origin Beast.”