Chapter 289: Hero (II)

Chapter 289: Hero (II)

After arriving on the battlefield, the four Demon Hunt Squads had been separated by a short distance, and everyone could see the scene of Long Haochen defying the Moon Demon. Deep inside, Yang Wenzhao had always been keeping the same pride as the one Han Yu had before losing to Haochen. The only difference was that he appeared steadier than the Han Yu of that time, and concealed it a lot better than him. However, he now finally found out how cheap his pride was. When he saw the Moon Demon of the eighth step, all he thought about was to save his team from damage, whereas Long Haochen faced him head on.

Yang Wenzhao had already been admiring Long Haochen’s strength, but only now did he understand that it wasn’t only in strength that he was losing against Long Haochen.

After the two soldier grade Demon Hunt Squads, the next ones to follow were those from the 8th general grade Demon Hunt Squad. They were in the same situation as the two soldier grade Demon Hunt Squads, simply standing agape at Haochen’s side.

Afterwards, ordinary soldiers from the Six Great Temples returned, but they rapidly joined up with those five Demon Hunt Squads. Soon, more than a thousand people were already encircling Long Haochen and Cai’er.

On the battlefield, seeing someone save a comrade-in-arms was a frequent occurrence. Camaraderie between soldiers and brother-in-arms would frequently appear, due to the special relationship created between the savior and the saved person.

But how about someone saving dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of comrades-in-arms on the battlefield?

Right after Long Haochen led the 21st and the 22nd general grade Demon Hunt Squads to join the battlefield, they immediately became the target of their comrades’ attention. Facing the enemy with courage and resolve, successively killing demon powerhouses of the sixth and the seventh step, and rushing into the enemy’s ranks first, they became the vanguard of the counterattack.

Perhaps, ordinary soldiers couldn’t understand what kind of power they were, but the high-ranking military officers from the Southern Mountain’s City could naturally tell out that those were Demon Hunters. And according to their age as well as their cultivation, they should be soldier grade or general grade Demon Hunt Squads.

But what they did was far out of a lower grade Demon Hunt Squad’s field of action.

If it was a powerhouse of the eighth or the ninth step, or even a powerhouse of the seventh step that faced the Moon Demon, this wouldn’t have caused such a commotion. That powerhouses had to face enemy powerhouses was one of the unwritten rules on the battlefield.

However, Long Haochen’s outrageous act was to face a Moon Demon of the eighth step, when the strength he seemingly had was only at the sixth step. And what the spectators didn’t know was that he had actually just broken through the bottleneck of this sixth step.

Sixth step versus eighth step, what sort of concept was that?

The soldiers didn’t understand why a Moon Demon of the eighth step would appear on the battlefield on the ground, but they clearly knew that hundreds of their comrades died at the hands of this Moon Demon of the eighth step. Before even speaking of a counterattack, when he appeared, hundreds and thousands of fighters had been about to be wiped out at the hands of this enemy. This was the eighth step; and one may well imagine what kind of strength this represented.

But Long Haochen still chose to face him, disregarding everything to face the Moon Demon of the eighth step.

The soldiers that battled with courage and determination didn’t feel any of the Moon Demon’s attacks reaching them. But when they returned, the Moon Demon wasn’t there anymore, and the young knight that resisted the Moon Demon’s assault was lying unconscious on the ground, bedded on his comrade’s lap.

An officer from the Southern Mountain’s City declared with red eyes, “He’s a hero! Pay respects to our hero!” Saying this, he used his leftover arm to take off his helmet, and walked in Long Haochen’s direction, paying respect with a knight salute.

All the soldiers that managed to came back alive, including even the disabled, followed this officer’s lead and each of them paid respect with an extremely solemn salute towards Long Haochen.

This scene was extremely shocking: there were not only soldiers that payed their respects, but also the various Demon Hunt Squads, including even several of the commander grade Demon Hunt Squads that rushed back. Though, those had ashamed expressions, because members of Demon Hunt Squads at the commander grade like theirs were at least at the sixth step. But against a Moon Demon of the eighth step, they made the same choice as Yang Wenzhao, which was to put the priority on protecting themselves.

A short time later, a golden silhouette abruptly appeared out of nowhere, with a very loud bang. He was clad in an elegantly decorated dark golden armor, and at the time he reached the ground, everyone immediately bowed down to his dignified silhouette.

“Get out of the way, all of you!” The golden clad knight shouted loudly, suddenly taking off his helmet, and revealing his face. It was precisely the Saint Knight Chief Han Qian.

Maybe some external soldiers could not recognize Han Qian, but how could those coming from the Demon Hunt Squads not recognize this Saint Knight Chief? Making haste to step aside one after another, they let a passage be formed for him to go through.

Han Qian hastingly stepped forward, arriving before Long Haochen. Seeing this young knight unconscious, he immediately had a serious look. Instantly turning around, he slapped Han Yu’s face hard, causing him to stumble back from the shock.

“How are you protecting your master as a retainer knight? Why aren’t you the one falling unconscious?” Han Qian shouted these words full of anger, before hurriedly inspecting Long Haochen’s condition.

Because she felt the intense holy aura of light coming from him, Cai’er didn’t stop him.

Han Yu recovered from the tumble caused by his grandfather’s slap, but didn’t refute him in any way. Though blood still flowed down the corners of his mouth, he got up with difficulty, and stood at his previous position.

A short moment later, the expression on Han Qian’s face eased up, before becoming very grotesque.

Springing up again, Han Qian’s voice was transmitted afar, “I am the Knight Chief of the Knight Alliance, Han Qian. Each of you, officers and soldiers alike, should now return to rest and reorganize in your own barracks, instead of staying there. The life of this young knight isn’t in danger, and I can pledge this to you on the honor of the Knight Alliance. He will definitely recover.”

The officer that seemed to be the highest ranked among everyone present stepped forward. It was the same man who had shouted to the other soldiers before. He stepped up and kneeled down in front of Han Qian, talking in a loud voice as well, “Respected Senior Saint Knight Chief, we request to be told the name of the hero.”

Han Qian suddenly pursed his lips. Seeing that the eyes of everyone in his surroundings were turning red, he suddenly shouted even louder in response, “Stand up! No one here deserves others kneeling down before him. This knight isn’t the only hero here. Don’t tell me it isn’t the same for every soldier and officer that gave everything in this Southern Mountain’s City? You are all equally heroes!”

At these words, all the soldiers and officers were silent for a moment, before they suddenly broke out in cheers of joy one after another.

That’s right, they had finally won this battle. No matter how miserable this victory was, they had at long last repelled the enemy, and all of them were heroes, heroes that protected humanity.

The cheers didn’t last long, and soon, just as if it had been planned ahead, the cheers gradually subsided, before all the looks gathered by chance on Han Qian.

Understanding their thoughts, Han Qian nodded, “The one all of you call hero is called Long Haochen, captain of the 21st general grade Demon Hun Squad. Remember his name! As the auxiliary chief of the Temple Alliance, this is the kind of knight I respect.”

“Long Haochen! Long Haochen! Long Haochen!” The cheers started once again, but this time, only one name resonated all around.

To the Southern Mountain’s City, the previous course of events couldn’t even be called a battle, but rather a total calamity. As the southern strategic gateway of the Alliance, the defensive strength of the Southern Mountain’s City didn’t fall short compared to the Exorcist City. Only this time, the demon force had been especially formidable, and a huge part of the Southern Mountain’s City’s power was lost during the siege.

At this moment, although the enemy retreated, cleaning the battlefield’s leftovers was still extremely challenging. Many private houses had to be used as infirmary for wounded people to receive treatment. Commoners gradually joined the cleaning of the aftermath, their first mission being to get rid of the demon carcasses with fire.

After three entire days, the Southern Mountain’s City was completely swept clean, and all traces of the battle entirely burnt. By chance, the demons didn’t come back to launch other attacks over these three days. After sustaining such serious damage while besieging the city, their losses were even heavier than the Southern Mountain’s City.

Over these three days, Long Haochen, acclaimed as hero, received the best treatment from the Southern Mountain’s City. In fact, an important detail was that this city was the location of the Priest Temple’s headquarters. Over the course of this war, perhaps the city was lacking in numbers of powerhouses, but they were in no shortage of high ranked priests.

The Saint who used a forbidden spell during the last moments of the battle even treated Long Haochen personally, meanwhile raising his cultivation by a wide margin.

After staying in a coma for two days and two nights, Long Haochen finally woke up, finding himself in a room inside the headquarters of the Priest Temple.

As the headquarters of the Priest Temple, this had been the first target of the demon forces. By chance, it had had sufficient defenses, barely managing to avoid a catastrophic destruction. But the side of the Office Palace wasn’t as fortunate, and had already become a huge cluster of broken walls.

Sitting on his bed cross-legged, Long Haochen calmly started cultivating. Cai’er wasn’t far from him, but currently she looked totally indifferent. Instead of being on the bed, she was sitting cross legged on a nearby chair.

With his serious overconsumption and the severe wounds he sustained, Long Haochen could easily be called one of the most severely wounded surviving knights this time. However, with his constitution as the Scion of Light, he was also the one who gained the most benefits from this battle.

First of all, the overwhelming pressure from facing the Moon Demon of the eighth step caused him to break through to the sixth step, becoming the youngest Radiant Knight of the Knight Temple’s entire history, at the age of fifteen.

Along with the formation of his spiritual cavities, the Saint Spiritual Stove evolved once again. And after this battle, Haoyue went back to a deep sleep, before returning at some time to his own world without consultation. This seemed to be a good opportunity for his next evolution.

Not only that, but because of Long Haochen’s performance on the battlefield, enabling him to gain ample recognition from the Priest Temple, the Saint of the ninth step not only healed his external injuries, but also helped to improve his spiritual energy’s operating system, giving him some good from this setback. His external spiritual energy increased by at least two hundred over these two days, and his internal spiritual energy also increased by more than a hundred units.