Chapter 903: Red Phoenix Demon Venerable
"As for the northern part of the fortress..."
"David, you will lead all members of the Demon Slaying Legion, along with ten billion puppet troops, and stand by!"
Ling Zhan spoke solemnly.
"Yes!"
David accepted the command resolutely.
Mordes, Basil, Ye Qingling, and the others had no objections to Ling Zhan's order.
Ling Zhan had already explained it before.
Under his leadership—
There would be no difference in merit distribution between commanders and regular soldiers.
The prerequisite—
Was that everyone fought with equal dedication!
On the battlefield, anyone who gave their all, fought bravely, and showed no fear of death would receive fair merit.
Even Ling Zhan himself, as the supreme commander who should rightfully claim the top credit, would choose to split it evenly.
It wasn't that he was trying to buy loyalty or pretend to be a saint.
The truth was, did merit still matter to Ling Zhan?
Yes…
Not anymore.
Ling Zhan's current strength was on par with world-class powerhouses.
He was essentially the combat ceiling of the lower world.
Even though he was only around level 160.
At this level, the resources he needed could only be provided by his system. Though merits could still be exchanged for resources, their usefulness had greatly diminished.
After the Demon Extermination Final Act succeeded—
Ling Zhan planned to request only one reward:
A collection of all universal skills worldwide, as his reward.
As for the rest—
Equipment, pills, items—he didn't need any of it.
In terms of gear, Ling Zhan now had a full set of divine equipment, plus a divine weapon.
As for pills, he still had many high-grade ones, just hadn't found time to exchange them for Divine Crystals. He had consumed almost every attribute-enhancing pill already—specifically the Eternal-type pills.
Items…
He had the Fairness Holy Seal, a Death Substitute Strawman, spatial teleport scrolls, and various self-made poisonous bombs… etc.
He simply didn't need anything else.
So now, all he had to do was complete his universal skill set.
Thanks to daily system missions, Ling Zhan had already unlocked beginner skills from all classes.
Now he just lacked the universal skills.
Even an F-grade universal skill book was a treasure to Ling Zhan.
Because with his 'Omnipotent' talent, any skill learned would be raised to SS-grade.
In other words…
An F-grade universal skill book was equal to an SS-grade one.
Every skill meant another method he could use.
Therefore…
Ling Zhan had no intention of hoarding merits, instead distributing them to those who fought for him.
Additionally—
David currently had the highest level in the Demon Slaying Legion and was second only to Ling Zhan and the three divine beast girls in strength.
So no one had any issue with him leading the team.
The layout was complete.
"Move out!!"
With Ling Zhan's command—
Whoosh!!
Forty billion puppet troops split into four massive armies.
From above, not only did they fill the entire fortress, they overflowed!
The number was simply terrifying!
It included troops from all camps, towers, and fortresses.
Technically speaking—
The original count was twenty billion.
Because Ling Zhan had extracted their souls and turned them into puppets using Soul Control, the number doubled to forty billion.
Normally—
Controlling forty billion troops with discipline would be impossible.
But fortunately, they were all puppets.
And controlled by Ling Zhan.
They were like robots—executing commands precisely, without any deviation.
Thus, they marched with discipline, following Yun Man, Chang Yue, Meng Shuang, and David into their respective spatial portals.
It was a truly spectacular sight.
Orderly and efficient.
No real army could compare.
So—
In some ways, these puppet demon soldiers were stronger than the Kingdom coalition.
At the very least, they obeyed commands with 100% loyalty.
As the four massive armies entered their spatial portals—
Ling Zhan ordered his clones to claim all camps, towers, and fortresses!
Previously, this entire region was marked in red on Red Phoenix Demon Venerable's fortress map.
Now…
Whoosh!!
[You have successfully claimed Ogre Camp!]
[You have successfully claimed Valley Tower!]
[You have successfully claimed Amos Fortress!]
...
Message after message appeared on the information panel.
The region shifted from red to blue!
Once the claims were complete—
Ling Zhan, expression indifferent, stepped into the spatial portal.
Red Phoenix Demon Venerable, huh?
I, Ling Zhan, am coming for you!
...…
...…
Inside Lemoris Fortress.
At the very center—
A massive palace forged from countless bodies and blood stood tall.
Inside, bird-like sculptures of all shapes lined the halls.
In the deepest part of the palace—
On a throne made of bones and flesh, sat a hulking figure with wings stretching several meters wide.
This figure…
Was a bird-beast humanoid, towering and muscular, exuding terrifying power.
At his side, over a dozen women leaned against him, unclothed.
All of them were from the Harpy race.
Birdfolk.
Their arms were wings, their legs were bird-like talons.
Their eyes were empty, filled only with despair and numbness.
As for fear…
Crunch!
A cracking sound rang out.
The giant bird-man lowered his head and bit a Harpy woman in half.
Rip!!
Blood splattered.
The nearby Harpy women trembled, but quickly fell silent again.
Numb.
Accustomed.
They were simply waiting for their own deaths.
This was the Red Phoenix Demon Venerable—feared by all birdfolk creatures!
He devoured all bird-type beings!
His favorite food? Divine bird beasts!
But since all captured divine beasts had already been eaten, he now treated Harpies like snacks.