Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 335 Before The War

"Retreat!" Rocky ordered hastily. It was possible to win if the three beasts worked together to defeat this Trunk Giant but it would surely cost them too much

The first priority of this trip was to stay safe. After all, he was not strong enough to take too many risks. If he acted rashly, he would certainly meet his death here. The primary objective of this journey was to seek rare treasures in the Myriad Beasts Ground, and the second was to collect different spirit-manipulated beasts’ samples. He didn't want to waste too much time outside the Myriad Beasts Ground when it was so near. Thus, he decided to withdraw first.

Rocky and the three beasts made a detour to escape the Trunk Giant that was on patrol. The Trunk Giant narrowly saw them as they crept away, but fortunately they entered the forest before it noticed them.

Rocky felt like he could breathe again when he saw the Trunk Giant as it finally walked away, seemingly clueless to their presence. He realized that he had underestimated the danger of the Myriad Beasts Ground. It was too risky to pass through the forest in front of it. If it was already perilous along its periphery, how much more within its lands? The plants in this forest were so dense that they even blocked sunlight. The whole forest was immersed in suffocating darkness. Rocky dared not use a light because he wasn't sure yet if they had indeed lost the giant.

'For the rare treasures, ' Rocky thought as he walked. He was so close to the Heavenly Stage now, that it would be foolishness not to take the risk. As soon as he reached the Heavenly Stage, he could reactivate the Holy Dragon Bead in his body. Although he could only regain part of the Holy Dragon Bead's power by then, that was enough for him to grow stronger by leaps and bounds.

However, troubles kept coming after Rocky no matter how carefully he acted. After he and the three beasts had walked for a while, they were greeted with a cluster of Venom Hounds. This kind of spirit-manipulated beast was hard to deal with, especially since they came in packs. This pack seemed to have at least a dozen, all rabid and looked ready to attack. Poisonous liquid was running over their decayed skin. Rocky knew to keep clear of it and warned his beasts to do the same. As soon as the liquid came into contact with their skin, he knew it would fester.

Rocky had met Venom Hounds before, but they were only at the second grade of the two-star level. And the most number of hounds he had ever seen was three, nothing like what he was seeing now. Dozens of Venom Hounds seemed to have materialized right in front of them, all of them at the second grade of the three-star level. Even a squad of Earthly Stage spirit manipulators would be hard-pressed to defeat this cluster of Venom Hounds. Obviously, it was almost impossible for Rocky and the three beasts to pass through them.

Meanwhile, the cluster of Venom Hounds had encircled their prey - Rocky and the three beasts. They left no path for escape.

Rocky, of course, would never easily give up. With his rich experience in fighting as a guide, he remembered that fire was the mortal weakness of Venom Hounds.

"Uriah!" Rocky called. He did not need to say anything at all as Uriah already knew what he wanted. It immediately roared and ran in front of Rocky and the two beasts. Its ruby scale stood up from its body simultaneously. In a split second, waves of flames spurted out from its erect scale and stretched out on its left and right sides, which shielded Rocky and the two beasts behind it.

When the cluster of Venom Hounds saw the furious flames, they cautiously kept their distance. Despite the protection granted to them by Uriah, Rocky knew that they still had a dilemma. If he chose to retreat, he had no assurance they would not be attacked from the back when Uriah had extinguished its flames. However, if he chose to fight, he would waste too much time at such a stalemate.

All of a sudden, Rocky's eyes lit up. He looked at the direction which the Trunk Giant headed for. Then he took out a bottle of the magical saliva and placed it in Rubygon's mouth as he gestured for it to run to the Trunk Giant's direction.

After he was done with that, Rocky and the Rainbow Glow Unicorn stepped backwards under the fire shield provided by Uriah. He was trying to find a safe spot, because a massacre was about to take place soon.

After a while, a strong rumble seemed to grow closer to them. Rows of trees fell down to the ground, and a colossal figure appeared. In front of the figure, a beast was running swiftly towards Rocky. It was none other but Rubygon.

"Good job!" Rocky patted Rubygon's head and then took the bottle out of its mouth. His plan, where Rubygon attracted the Trunk Giant with the magical saliva until it came to their location, had succeeded. He stared up at the giant as it met with the cluster of Venom Hounds.

As the cluster of Venom Hounds saw the Trunk Giant, they all wore submissive expressions. They looked like an embodiment of the classic phrase- dogs with their tails tucked between their legs. They could instinctively sense how strong and powerful the giant was. On the other hand, when the Trunk Giant saw the hounds, it gave out a deafening roar. As the cleaner in charge of the forest area, the Trunk Giant immediately stretched out its long, thick nose and swept over the hounds. Two hounds failed to run away in time and were sent flying against the sturdy trees. They fell to the ground with weak whimpers and groans.

As the rest of the hounds saw this, they were enraged. They barked angrily at the giant, green fluid flowing in abundance out of their mouth. Although the Trunk Giant was formidable, its opponents still had the advantage of numbers. As one, all the hounds left rushed to the giant and attacked at the same time.

An intense fight started right away. The battle caused a great uproar, the giant's loud roar mixed with the snarls and howls of the hounds.

While all this was happening, Rocky and the three beasts were sitting, far enough away to be safe but close enough that they enjoyed the intense fight.

An hour later, the Trunk Giant had defeated all the Venom Hounds. The hounds were all either badly injured or killed while the Trunk Giant paid a huge price for its victory. The skin all over its body had begun festering and the poison was invading into its body through the skin.

After a while, the Trunk Giant failed to hold on and fell to the ground with a loud crash. It had fought and won in the end, but what a bitter victory it claimed.

"It's our time now, guys!" Rocky smirked and swaggered to the corpses with the three beasts. He took out his tools and took samples from the dead bodies of the Venom Hounds and Trunk Giant. At the same time, Marin was headed south of the main camp, towards the Rough Slope. She led five thousand soldiers of the northeast military camp and five squads of spirit manipulators. They had started off the front-line headquarters yesterday and traveled as fast as they could.

Half a day later, Marin and her army had arrived in a vast sloping field. It was only one mile away from the Rough Slope. She decided that it was a strategic area and stationed her army in that field. As the camp was set-up, Marin sent for several spirit manipulators. They were tasked to go to the enemy's military camp in the Rough Slope for reconnaissance.

Two hours later, those spirit manipulators came back and reported promptly to Marin.

"They only left five thousand men? Are you sure about that? It's so few.” Marin felt that something was off about the whole situation. Logically, the Timber Deity Empire had spent a lot to occupy the Rough Slope in order to destroy the Crimson Dragon Group's defensive line. Through this, they could take advantage of that position to push the Crimson Dragon Group into a corner.

In other words, as long as the Timber Deity Empire still occupied the Rough Slope, they could intrude into the Crimson Dragon Group through this gap of their defensive line. It seemed to be a careless move for the Timber Deity Empire, that they only stationed five thousand soldiers for such a critical and advantageous location.

"Go and check again!" Marin ordered after she gave it some thought. This was a delicate matter. She had to have a clear and accurate information about the enemy's army before she made any decisions. Only with the appropriate information could she give correct judgments and draw up effective countermeasures.

Although the quantity of Marin's army was also five thousand, she could easily ask for soldiers from other military camps nearby. In one day, she could gather reinforcements consisting of more than ten thousand soldiers.

Thus, what mattered the most was not the quantity of armed forces she brought but how she could quickly get the Rough Slope back, once for all and with the lowest casualty. She needed to hurry though, before their enemies could send reinforcements.