88 Chapter 88 (1/2)
Matt slung the large cleaver weapon over his shoulder and headed out while Feng Liena followed after him. He could feel multiple beings in that area, they were mostly in the core formation. After the two arrived closer to the scene, they could see the battle unfolding.
The first person Zhang Dong saw was someone he was familiar with, he could see his name thanks to the system and it was Huo Qiang. It was the red-haired man that he saw before entering the secret ground. There was another person with him, an older looking gentleman with mutton chops that looked injured. He was wearing the same clan pattern on his torn up robe, it being of the same clan that the burly red-haired man belonged too. The two were standing back to back while surrounded by some monsters, it weren't goblins this time around but orcs. There were quite a lot of them and Matt could even see an ogre amongst the group. Most of the monsters were in the middle stage but there were some in late stages of core formation.
The two cultivators were both in the late stage of core formation, so all things considered they were quite strong. There were many green skins that were evaporating into dust after getting slain but they just kept coming at them. Matt wanted to jump in and help the two guys out, but when he looked to the side, his big sis was just scoffing and walking in the opposite direction.
”W-wait, where are you going? We have to help them...”
Matt asked while looking between the battle zone and the female cultivator that had furrowed brows and a rather cute frown.
”Pff, just leave those bastards be, we don't need to help people like them out.”
The woman moved her face to the side, Matt caught on fast deducing that there must be some animosity between her and the people that were fighting. Though this didn't really sit well with him, the more party members they got the better their chances of survival would be. He was sure they could talk it out in the end, if not he could always show his hand to reel them in. He tried out some reverse psychology to get his team leader to follow him into battle.
”Ah, it's fine to be afraid elder sister. There are so many of those monsters, it's only natural that you are hesitating. Just leave this to your little brother, you can just watch from afar.”
You could see the pink-haired girl fuming with rage the moment Zhang Dong insinuated that she was afraid of the monsters. He didn't stay long enough to hear her complain as there was no time, he just bolted for the battle area and felt that the lady followed behind him soon enough, at least she could offer him a bit of range support with those wind techniques.
The two fighters weren't aware of Zhang Dong and Feng Liena as they were fighting for their dear life. The two belonged to the Huo Clan, this was a fire element type clan with the younger-looking youth being the strongest son of the current clan Patriarch. The man next to him was one of his bodyguards that his clan sent out with him to this secret ground. The dark palm sect had requested help from them and promised riches and even cultivation resources if they managed to figure out the testing grounds. Being the proud clan that they were, the Patriarch decided to send quite a force consisting of the three strongest core formation experts from his clan beside himself.
They all miscalculated that the whole expedition thing was a hoax and that the dark palm sect didn't actually expect anyone to return from it. Being the stuck up clan that they were, they expected riches and an easy payout even though it was known that the previous exploration attempt failed. They naturally thought that the reason was that the people sent were just too darn weak, the Zhang clan was just a middle-sized clan and the Huo Clan was a grade above it in strength even before the previous one lost most of their fighting potential.
Huo Qiang was quite lucky in the beginning, he found one of his clan elders just a couple of days after being spirited away into the wilderness. After about a week they even found the second one as well, so now they were all together and fighting with the monsters in their own little group. But, the creatures just kept coming and coming. They had to constantly move and fight, the monsters were everywhere and they were getting harder to defeat the more time passed.
The life-saving trinkets and talisman started getting used up, they only had a few out the rest was locked in their storage rings. Soon enough they came across the large Orc tribe village, the three masters weren't that good at sneaking around so they were spotted by the green skins while trying to avoid the settlement.
The monsters poured in like moths attracted to the flame while the three tried to escape, but they found themselves surrounded. One of their clan members tried buying them some time so that they could escape. He burned his cultivation base making himself burst into a flaming inferno opening up a path for his two clan members to escape. The plan didn't work though as even though they managed to run away from that group another one was waiting for them around the corner and they were surrounded by them again.
”What's wrong with these beasts? Don't they fear death at all?”
The red-haired man said while the gauntlets that he was wearing on his hands glowed red. He delivered a devastating blow to one of the nearby orc's sending the creature flying back, it's head broken as its body collided with a close-by tree. The two cultivators were quite strong, but the monsters just kept swarming them not caring for their own safety whatsoever. The two men were getting tired slowly, their spiritual energy was getting drained as they landed attack after attack, killing the monster mobs one after another in quick succession.
”Young Master, you must save yourself. You are the future of the clan, you must not perish here!”
The mutton chop beard elder said, his fists were also covered by some kind of glove weapon along with his legs. From the way the two were carrying themselves, it looked like they were close range specialists. The older man had a robust build as well, his body was already battered and bruised from the prolonged fighting. He was tasked with protecting this young master of his, he was a one in a million genius of the Huo clan, his only fault was that he was quite the womanizer.
The elder was contemplating doing a suicide rush as the other clan member, but before that could happen he heard a strange sound coming from afar. It sounded like thunder and lightning, but there were no clouds above them. The monsters were focused on the other two cultivators so they didn't pay attention at the white-haired cultivator that was charging at them from behind, coated in lightning.
Zhang Dong burst to the scene, swinging the large goblin cleaver with one hand and his charged up sword with the other. Feng Liena just stood up on one of the large trees and started blasting the creatures with her ranged attacks, not keen on getting into a close melee fight.
The orcs finally noticed the other intruders as they were flanked by Matt's charge, he managed to decapitate a couple of them with his two-sword style that still needed some work. The Huo clan cultivators saw this as a chance and started battling their enemies with more vigor as some backup had arrived. They recognized the white-haired man from the clan assembly but didn't know why he was helping them. They were sure about one thing, this Zhang Clan Patriarch was a lot stronger than they had thought, by the way, he was cutting into those monsters, he must be in the great circle they thought.
”Thanks for the assistance brother!”