Chapter 993 - Strange Signs Amongst the Behemoths!

“Could all this be related to Masil?”

As Wang Chong thought about Masil’s last words, his brow creased even more. He knew all of Masil’s secrets already, and he had already won a complete victory in the battle of Psychic Energy, so Masil shouldn’t have been able to hide anything from him. Moreover, his control over the Behemoths was just growing more sluggish. It might have just been because he had been controlling them for too long. There might not have been any real problem.

With these thoughts, Wang Chong quickly calmed down and looked into the distance. On the ground, the King of Giants Ghareeb Hassam was in much better condition than expected, as he had not been struck in a vital point.

“Damn thing! Don’t give me another chance. Otherwise, I’ll eat you alive, tear you to pieces!”

As he crawled out of the ground, Ghareeb Hassam clenched his teeth in fury.

Wang Chong only sneered at these words. He understood Arabic and could understand everything this King of Giants said, but he did not argue or refute. He only quietly stared at Ghareeb Hassam and then gave the order.

Boom!

As Ghareeb Hassam raged and cursed, the sky overhead dimmed, and an enormous palm gave Ghareeb Hassam’s back a hefty slap. Rooooar! The enormous white bear withdrew its palm and roared after knocking Ghareeb Hassam unconscious.

“Still not smart enough!”

Wang Chong faintly smiled and swiftly turned the giant ape to begin striding toward the front lines. The battle was decided. The Skyquaking Army had fled and Abu Muslim and Ziyad had chosen to withdraw, so all that remained was to pursue the Arab soldiers. Unlike before, the Arabs had lost almost entirely elites in this battle. It was time to strike while the iron was hot and reap a greater harvest.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The giant ape swiftly strode forward. As Wang Chong observed the battlefield from its shoulder, he could hear countless panicked screams. More than one hundred thousand Arab cavalry had thrown aside their weapons and armor in their mad flight to the west. Behind them, the Tang army had gathered and was in hot pursuit.

Wherever the black tide of Tang soldiers reached, the Arabs would be cut down in great swaths. For the first time, the number of Arab corpses exceeded the number of Tang corpses.

“Now is the time for all of you to pay the price!”

Wang Chong had a smile on his face, but it quickly faded. He suddenly smelled a pungent odor carried along by the wind. He initially disregarded it, but he soon realized that this odor was only getting thicker, not fading away. Based on what Wang Chong could sense, this odor was coming from somewhere very close.

Drip!

The trickling and dripping of a liquid reached his ears. Though extremely soft, this sound was like a thunderclap to an expert of Wang Chong’s level. More importantly, the pungent odor multiplied in intensity.

“This is…?”

Wang Chong subconsciously turned his head, and witnessed a dumbfounding sight.

Black trickles of blood were flowing down from the giant ape’s left ear. The pungent odor Wang Chong had smelled had come from this blood. Wang Chong had been focused on the battlefield the entire time, but when he turned his gaze to the giant ape’s face, he suddenly realized that as this black blood dripped down, a look of pain appeared on the giant ape’s face.

“!!!”

No matter how slow Wang Chong was, he realized that something was wrong now. Wang Chong swiftly turned his gaze to the other Behemoths. Just as expected, he could also see grimaces of pain on their faces.

With regards to the weakest Behemoth, the Burning One, Wang Chong had only noticed that it was still spitting its flames, but only now did Wang Chong realize that the flames had lost all accuracy. He had only failed to see this because he had not ordered the Burning One to fire at any specific target.

Besides that, he could also see that the Burning One’s body was faintly trembling as if it was unable to stand steady.

Wang Chong’s heart sank and his face paled. Bzzz! A bolt of Psychic Energy shot through the air, burrowing through the center of the Burning One’s forehead.

“How could it be like this?!”

When he saw what was going on in the Burning One’s mind, he instantly found it impossible to keep his composure. Psychic Energy experts could control the Behemoths by occupying vital channels in their brains, and Wang Chong would have remained unconcerned as long as the channels remained normal. But when Wang Chong swept his Psychic Energy through the Burning One’s brain, he realized that this fire lizard was in an extremely poor state.

Although those vital channels in its brain were still normal, the rest of its brain was clearly withering away, some parts already black from necrosis.

This was what had made his heart sink like a stone.

“This shouldn’t be!”

Wang Chong’s mind reeled in shock. This situation was terrible news. But right now, he could not determine if this was simply a coincidence or if things were really as bad as he imagined. Bzzz!Wang Chong immediately withdrew his Psychic Energy and sent it into the white bear.

At first glance, the white bear’s brain did not seem as withered as the Burning One’s, but when Wang Chong scanned the other parts of the white bear’s body, his optimism waned. The white bear’s veins and arteries were beginning to bulge and crack. The white bear appeared fine on the surface, but its internals were a disaster zone.

In addition, as Wang Chong scanned the other parts of the white bear’s brain, he noticed that two channels related to Psychic Energy were showing signs of strain.

“How could this be!”

Wang Chong’s mind was trembling as he sent his Psychic Energy into the last Behemoth. Just as predicted, the last Behemoth’s brain was in similar disarray. Wang Chong began to sense an ill foreboding.

Is this because the minds of the Behemoths can’t endure long-term mental control?

This was the first possibility Wang Chong could think of.

The Behemoths were so enormously powerful that even Imperial Great Generals found them difficult to fight, but their weakness was their brains. Although they were massive, the four Behemoths, including the strongest Consecrated, had brains that were completely at odds with their body. This was why Wang Chong could control them.

But this sort of control had a price. Wang Chong had no way to confirm his speculation that the withering of their brains was due to Psychic Energy, but even if that wasn’t the case, it had to be related.

The Behemoths had the strength to dominate this battlefield. Anyone who controlled them would decide the outcome of the battle.

Wang Chong was currently facing a dilemma. He could control these four Behemoths until their brains completely withered away and died, or he could release his control of the Behemoths and delay their deaths. However, if this were to occur, the nature of the Behemoths would mean that they would certainly wreak havoc in the Tang army. Moreover, the fleeing Abu Muslim and Ziyad could use this chance to regather their army and launch a counterattack.

Such an event would result in defeat on the verge of victory.

Whoosh!

The winds howled around him, blowing his hair into disarray. Wang Chong stood unmoving on the giant ape’s shoulder, his mind in turmoil.

Release the Behemoths or watch them die—Wang Chong had to make a decision as quickly as possible!

“Chong-er! Hurry! Now is the best time to attack the Arabs!” shouted a vigorous voice from the ground. Wang Yan was riding toward Wang Chong on a bulky horse, his voice rousing his son from his stupor.

“Yes! Father, your child understands!”

Wang Chong blinked as his eyes refocused. He knew what he had to do.

The earth shook as the four momentarily still Behemoths slowly began to move once more, leading the army in pursuit of the Arabs.

“Fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh units, hear my order! All of you remain in the rear to guard against an attack from the Tibetans and Western Turks! The rest of you, pursue!”

Wang Chong’s voice rang out over the battlefield. Although the battle was won, Dalun Ruozan and his Tibetan soldiers still posed a problem. If they were attacked in the rear while pursuing the Arabs and lost Talas, they would have given up a major advantage for a minor gain.

“Yes, Lord Marquis!”

Energetic voices came from the rear. In the eyes of the soldiers, Wang Chong was a god. No matter how strong their enemy or how many there were, all of them believed with absolute conviction that they would emerge victorious.

Since he had made his decision, Wang Chong did not hesitate, ordering the four Behemoths to advance at full speed, causing them to even outrun the warhorses.

Each step of the Behemoths covered ten-some zhang, and in a few moments, they had caught up to the fleeing Arabs. Flames, bear palms, steely fists, and other kinds of attacks immediately began to rain down on the fleeing soldiers.

“Ah!”

Wretched screams filled the battlefield as the Arabs were mowed down. Sixty thousand, sixty-eight thousand, seventy thousand, eighty thousand… Nearly half of the two hundred thousand Arab soldiers had now died, and their losses were continuing to expand. This was an absolute nightmare to the Arab soldiers.

“Scram! Don’t block my way!”

“I’m a general! Get out of my way!”

“Ruuun! The Behemoths have caught up! ….AAAAAH!”

In front of the menace of death, everyone was the same, whether they were Tibetan, Turk, Arab, or Tang. The Arabs had been full of vim and vigor when they were chasing the defeated Tang, but now, they were bursting with fear. There was no cohesion in their ranks, horse and man trampling over each other as they fled.