Chapter 789: Striking the Mammoths
Who in the world would believe that these woolly mammoths could constitute a friendly race? The guards who had told Li Feng this turned around, not daring to face him.
"[Dance of the Incandescent Wyrm]!" If Li Feng were to let these gigantic boulders strike the wall, the wall would likely topple immediately. He hurriedly stepped forward, summoning hundreds of serpents flaring with blinding light.
The hundreds of serpents turned all the boulders to dust.
As Li Feng cast his skill, the woolly mammoths began a furious charge toward the wall, causing the ground to shake. Clouds of smoke and dust rose up from their stampede.
"[Birth of the Holy Dragon]!" A light dragon descended from the heavens like a beacon of shining light. Li Feng leapt up to the head of the dragon, his sword gleaming brightly as though it had been dipped in liquid light. As he raised the sword to the skies, it glowed and expanded, morphing into a huge blade of light.
At that moment, Li Feng looked like a god descending from the heavens. As the dragon swooped downward in the direction of the mammoths, the silvery-white mammoth emerged from its pack, a black froststeel shield before it. The shield that the silvery-white mammoth held was over two meters thick, twice as thick as the shields the other mammoths were carrying.
The mammoths were so large they looked essentially like moving walls, and the silvery-white mammoth the centerpiece of that wall. Its shield glinted and glimmered with light, distinct from the shields that the other mammoths possessed.
Li Feng's white dragons smashed against the froststeel shield, denting it with the force of the impact and sending even the silvery-white mammoth stumbling back a few meters.
Subsequently, Li Feng leapt high into the air, the sword in his hand flashing. Just as he was about to strike the mammoth, the nearby mammoths all leapt up and raised huge hammers from behind their shields.
Thirty mammoths in total jumped up, forcing Li Feng to redirect his attack and sweep his sword forward.
Li Feng cleaved the sky, tearing apart the night and slashing at the veil of chaos.
The white radiance exploded among the mammoths, tearing apart their bodies and sending fresh blood spraying into the air.
As the silvery-white mammoth saw its kin being killed, it howled in outrage and tossed its thick froststeel shield toward Li Feng.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"[Arclight Dragon's Imprint]!" Li Feng waved his left arm, around which a torrent of light-attuned genetic energy was gathering. It took the form of a gigantic dragon's claw, bearing down on the mammoth and piercing through its shield in mid-air.
The silvery-white mammoth leapt high above the ground and howled, sending a flurry of wind and snow shooting straight at Li Feng.
"[Birth of the Holy Dragon]!" Light gathered by Li Feng's blade. As he struck, dozens of dragons fell from the skies like meteors, each giving off starry light.
The nascent blizzard was halted with brute force. As the dragons swooped down, the silvery-white mammoth waved the giant hammer it held in its trunk and smashed apart dragon after dragon.
However, Li Feng's attack targeted not just the silvery-white mammoth, but rather the entire herd of mammoths. The mammoths all raised their shields to defend themselves against the onslaught of the dragons.
Li Feng scowled as he leapt back up onto the wall. "Why are all the mammoths so practiced with their shields?!"
They rapidly and comfortably switched between offense and defense, and were far more skilled with their maneuvers than their human and draconian counterparts.
A human guard beside him explained, "The mammoths' living conditions are terrible, and they've had to learn to do this to survive."
Li Feng grumbled back, "We can't let these mammoths roam free any longer—they'll take over this world one day if left unchecked!"
After the mammoths blocked the dragons' descent, they charged forward once more. Their massive bodies meant that they were each tanks in their own right, and their combined assault would surely be able to take down the wall.
"[Arclight Descension]!" Li Feng waved his left arm, around which a torrent of light-attuned genetic energy was gathering. A gigantic light dragon's head appeared to his back, exhaling white light with every breath.
White ripples of energy struck the mammoth forces with such force that they were forced to halt their assault.
The silvery-white mammoth smashed its hammer against the ground, causing a shockwave of energy that counteracted Li Feng's skill.
"[Light's Bulwark: Draconic Fist]!" Li Feng punched forward, his right arm covered by radiant scales. The image of a white dragon appeared over Li Feng's arm, coiling around it and shooting out as Li Feng howled.
The silvery-white mammoth smashed this manifestation apart even as Li Feng morphed into a beam of white light and closed in on it.
"[Light's Bulwark: Dragon's Teeth]!" This time, the silvery-white mammoth was unable to react in time. Li Feng's arm, charged with concentrated light-attuned genetic energy, pierced through the mammoth's chest.
Li Feng attempted to extract his arm from the mammoth's body, but he found himself unable to do so. The mammoth had bunched its muscles up tightly, forcibly trapping Li Feng's arm.
Li Feng raised his head in shock, only to see the mammoth let out a terrifying grin. A wave of frost swept over its skin, freezing its blood and Li Feng's arm.
Subsequently, the silvery-white mammoth raised its hammer high and smashed it down where Li Feng's body was. Li Feng blocked the attack with the gigantic sword in his hand, but the mammoth was so strong that Li Feng was forced to grit his teeth as he infused genetic energy into his arm deep within the mammoth's body.
The next moment, the mammoth's chest glowed with light—and burst in a terrible explosion. Blood and slivers of red ice exploded like shrapnel. Li Feng shot back as the other mammoths came to their leader's aid.
"[Birth of the Holy Dragon]!" Dozens of sword slashes emanated from Li Feng, each with a starry splendor reminiscent of the Milky Way. The stars in the night sky shone brightly with the sword slashes, imbued with the power of the vast expanse of the galaxy.
The sword slashes approached the herd of mammoths, which raised their shields in an attempt to block the attack.
However, their shields had been severely weakened by repeatedly blocking Li Feng's attacks, and they were all sliced apart by Li Feng's slashes. The mammoths exploded in a shower of blood as Li Feng released a deep breath upon sheathing his sword.
The humans and draconians cheered. As they began to clear the battlefield, Li Feng began to meditate. He was planning to raise his strength to the utmost before entering the mammoth world.
One of the draconians came over to him. "The draconian sage bade me come over with information about the mammoth world."
Li Feng frowned. "Isn't this a trial from my captain, Zhang Lie?"
The draconian shrugged. "The mammoth world is extremely large. Surely you wouldn't want to have to search all that land for traces of the mammoths?"
"I suppose that's reasonable..."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe draconian continued, "Because the mammoths used to be on good terms with the draconians, their side of the wormhole isn't guarded by a wall. We've just erected the wall on this side, too."
"No wonder it looked so haphazard! If even a single mammoth had reached it, I'm sure it would have collapsed."
The draconian added, "However, the mammoths don't even need a wall to defend their world.
"Why?"
"It wouldn't be able to stop a strong individual, and large armies would falter just upon entering the world. Weaker individuals and smaller armies, on the other hand, don't even pose a threat."
Li Feng blinked. "Is their world that uninhabitable? In what climate do they live? A desert? A wasteland?"
"No—a frozen tundra, a world covered in ice!"
"So that's how it is!"
"The mammoths' world is bitterly cold. In your units of measurement, the average temperature is around -30 degrees Celsius. Snowstorms perennially rage over the world, and there are frequently blizzards and flash freezes. There's never good weather and barely any sunlight. These are the conditions that produced the mighty mammoth warriors we faced today."
No wonder they didn't need any defenses.
"Because of how difficult it is to survive in their world, the mammoths have always been open to trade, and we used to be one of their best trading partners. The humans imparted them with several techniques that would greatly improve their survival under such terrible conditions.
"As you know, there are hardly any plants that can survive the climate, so the mammoths are forced to hunt for a living. In order to be successful in their hunt, they would need strong constitutions as well as battle tactics and techniques. That was how the mammoths ended up being so proficient with their shields."
Li Feng folded his arms. "You've bred mighty enemies indeed."
The draconian shrugged. He didn't seem at all regretful or angered. "The mammoths have always been friendly and kind toward us, and we could hardly expect their betrayal."
"That's only to be expected. You gave them the key to their strength—the reason the mammoths were friendly and kind was because they were weak! After they learned tactics and formations from you, they managed to thrive even in their bitter climate, strengthening their herd and resolving the problem of their immediate survival—and giving them the opportunity to start thinking about attacking other races."
Li Feng emphasized, "Under such conditions, they must have learned the need to be vicious, both to others and to themselves. Otherwise, they would have been claimed and eaten by genetic lifeforms long before. The only reason they were kind and friendly was because the draconians and humans were stronger than they were at that point in time, and they needed our cooperation."
The draconian's face finally fell. "It's as you said. However, we realized it too late, and they began to move against us at the worst possible moment."
Li Feng cocked his head curiously. "But even so, you don't seem to be too upset?"