Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix - Chapter 418

Chapter 418: The Burning Forest!
Meanwhile, as Asura approached Gaius and Lyndwrym to the far east of his territory, inside the great monster forest, a raging fire burned the wooden and thatch homes of the kobolds.

The kobolds lived in peace, or so they did a few days ago.

Before, the strange goblins invaded from the west. These goblins were armed with high-grade weapons and able to use strange magic to burn the forest and break the kobold elders’ barrier.

“Gigigigi!”

“Burn the dogmen!”

“Huhuhu die dogface!”

The goblin’s strength was overwhelming. No kobold could stand against them alone. Even the kobold knights and elders, who were once revered for their expertise, were rendered useless.

While the goblins enjoyed their victory atop the hills several hundred metres away.

The small force of Emerald Empire warriors all watched in delight as the monsters they intimidated now started killing their allies of yesterday.

“Hahaha, these weaklings were easy pickings! Did you see how pathetic the kobolds were? They are worse than the pig-faced orcs!” The goblin with the red armour said with a poor Emerald Empire accent, while the person he spoke to was none other than the second prince who sat drinking tea while the kobolds screamed for help.

“I didn’t know those little dogs were so stupid. They should have just surrendered the moment I sent the letter. To think they actually wanted to go to war.”

“Indeed. If they knew we had an alliance with the goblins, there’s no way they would have been so arrogant.”

The smarter goblins who could speak were kept out of battle and given slave contracts by the second prince, Shang Liu. However, the goblins didn’t realise that those contracts meant they would soon lose their lives.

Most of the Shang army was relaxed, thinking nothing could go wrong until the flames suddenly vanished.

“What’s going on?!” Shang Liu called out, his voice stern and echoing through the forest, while his men quickly rushed to address the situation.

“My Prince!” A member of the black-clothed guards around him called out with a shocked face. “The entire leading force of goblin troops has vanished!”

Shang Liu was taken aback as his face slowly grew grim. “Are you sure?”

“Y-yes! They have completely disappeared!”

“Send the next squad down there, now!”

Shang Liu couldn’t afford to fail. He refused to be put beneath his brother again, and with a failure this big, it would reach his father’s ears.

As Shang Liu watched his men rush away, the sky slowly turned dark, and a dark storm cloud appeared.

“T-this is.” Shang Liu felt a heavy pressure press down on him from the sky. In the distance, he could see a figure in the sky with crimson wings; it seemed to be some sort of monster. However, he couldn’t quite tell. “Forget it! Send the goblins, crush the last of the kobolds.”

***

Meanwhile, in the sky far above the forest, a beautiful woman danced among the clouds in her scarlet red and golden robes with her silky blonde hair flowing along with her movements as she adjusted her position with red feathered wings.

This woman was Hera, part of the family who served the Mu clan in the distant past, a girl who underwent a special ritual to fuse herself with a divine bird’s bloodline so she could protect the Mu clan under the name of a guardian.

Hera was the last female and maiden left to perform the art. She inherited the divine blood of the eastern phoenix, her true name Fèng He Ran.

Yet, despite the loss of the family’s superior and master clan.

The Fèng family maintained most of their important teachings, but her powers were only a fraction of the legendary guardian. First, she would have to meet the remaining members of the Mu family and swear herself to them as their protector.

“To think a Prince of the Emerald Empire would dare interfere with the dealings of the monster kingdom. The Mu Clan would never have let them do this!”

‘I see… that’s why!’ Feng He Ran realised the true reason they eliminated the Mu family because that was the only clan able to doubt or bring the emperor under scrutiny if they turned that family into sinners or those who committed treason.

Then, the Shang family would never lose their throne.

“Silly boy, I’ll teach you not to mess with the monsters or the Feng clan’s duties!”

Feng He Ran was one of the few people in the Emerald Empire who had mastered the art of fire creation.

With each of her steps, a beautiful lotus flame appeared under her foot, falling to the forest floor and exploding with a deafening roar, engulfing the surrounding area in a raging inferno. But she didn’t stop there.

Her flames rose high, burning trees and grass as they reached the goblin army rushing forward, consuming the goblins as they wailed for help.

‘Burn and fade, beg for forgiveness in the other life.’

She continued her dance as more flames appeared, spreading them like wildfire. However, no kobolds were burned or injured by her flames, and the trees were fine after her fire faded.

“Fire and flames purge the weak and punish the sinner. Let not your voice reach me.”

He Ran sang in a beautiful eastern language, like a poem and song mixed; the divine bird in her soul delighted and welcomed the destruction of the goblin army.

“You won’t get away with this!” Shang Liu panicked as he saw the approaching flames. “Goblin Knights, protect my life!” Although they didn’t want to, the moment he spoke, the slavery magic activated, causing them to walk towards him and activate their shield skills around his body.

“Hmph. As if mere goblins can block this!” He Ran spoke with a sneer as the flames grew even fiercer, covering her body as she focused on the prince.

Shang Liu struggled and pushed the goblins forward, his guards all grabbing him before their bodies were wrapped in a green wind and silver light.

Then, the flames erupted—however, once the smoke cleared, nobody was left from the Shang army, only hundreds of dead goblins, strange magic leaving the prince unharmed.

“A teleportation scroll.”

The goblins were not so lucky, having their bodies and souls destroyed by the powerful flames.

***

After the battle ended, all that remained were a few of the kobolds. Less than fifty of them survived. However, they protected their women and children at least, meaning this clan had a future!

He Ran’s body lowered from the sky, her face covered in sweat, with blood oozing from her nose as she looked to be in intense pain and struggled to breathe properly.

“Haa….ha…. it hurts….”

The moment she landed, two female guards appeared from a whiff of smoke, one of them catching He Ran in her arms and frowning at her.

“Princess, why did you use this spell? It was too much for your body!”

“There’s no other way. The Mu family has been wronged, and the Feng family will not allow the Shangs to keep doing what they want. Even if I must abuse the blessing the divine bird has given me, to save the empire and remove the Shang is our task! For that, we must find the Arachne queen or one of her daughters and help her take back the throne!”

He Ran’s face was pale, and her legs shook as the other guard, her friend took over and held her body steady.

“Rest up, we’ll teleport out of here soon. There was some information from our spies along the border that a small force is approaching Silvara—we are not sure if they mean to invade the empire or take part in the monster kingdom civil war.”

“Did the spies say who would be leading them?”

“Yes, apparently, their newly appointed prince would be leading their forces. We have noticed a detachment of orcs also approaching Lyndwrym, their number 500.”

He Ran nodded and sighed. “If the orcs are also coming to help the monster kingdom, then the Shang might panic and look to eliminate a significant portion of the forest before the Silvaran army gets far.”

“Our princess, should we meet with the Silvaran troops? Maybe we could team up with them and push back the Shang Together.”

“That’s not a good idea. They don’t know who we are. If I were the enemy, there is no way in hell I would trust some random people from another empire.”

“Princess, you are exhausted. We should head home and recuperate.”

“You are right. Take us to the capital!”

The guards nodded as a silver light enveloped their bodies.

***

However, the moment they left, a beautiful spider the size of a boulder crawled out of the bushes, her legs elegantly walking on the webbing she made with master balance, her eight eyes purple and filled with sparking light as she looked at the destroyed village.

“I see… That means my girls managed to reach Silvara safely… What a wonderful piece of news I heard.”

This spider was the mother of the young girls, once known as the most graceful and beautiful arachne queen. Now on the run from her enemies and after learning these facts. She stopped heading south, instead changing her direction to the east, further into the forest and away from the Silvaran army.

“My children, your time has come, and so mother will buy you some more time…”

With a deep breath, the spider’s body began rushing along her rapidly formed webbing, while a few moments after she left, various monsters of different tribes all arrived, where she lingered for several minutes before chasing towards the east, a strange dog sniffing the air to follow the scent of her webbing. 1