Queen Dongfeng's face was dark, the words spoken were the same as the ones she spoke a while ago, but she was at the receiving end this time.
"What conditions you have?" She said on the surface while sending a different message to the pilots of the ship.
{Prepare for retreat, and do it quick,} (Queen Dongfang)
"How about we start with cease fighting?" Rex said.
Joy flashed in her eyes, she still kept the act together and was about to speak when Rex interrupted her.
"The second your side stops attacking and your soldier leaves the ships, my side will also stop their attacks, then we can talk," Rex added.
Her eyes turned cold, stop attacking? Leaving the ship? Once they really do that then what would be left to negotiate? They would only be waiting for their death by then.
She could see that Rex was toying with them.
{Your Majesty, the preparations are complete,} A message was transmitted to her from the communication jade.
Queen Dongfang's eyelids flickered, she didn't plan to fight anymore, even if they managed to defeat the Leeches, there was still Rex to defeat and Lerna hadn't made her appearance yet much less the mysterious Shadow Lord himself.
She operated, suddenly the armour on the giant disintegrated, its tough body started to disperse into dry barren soil, the Leech imprisoning it fell to the ground and got buried under the mountain of soil. The silhouette of Queen Dongfang shot out from the dispersed giant heading towards the main ship.
Andusk was comforting the Generals all alone, four Predator-Type Combat Bots were backing him up from the sides but then he received a message from Rex and quickly used Instant Transmission leaving the ship without tacking back the bots.
…Boom…
Queen Dongfang landed on the ship's deck, the second he disappeared, she didn't stop after landing, she dashed towards the Combat Bot nearest to her, a one-handed hammer appeared in both of her hands.
The Combat Bot raised its hand towards her, the ray canons were charging up getting ready to take the shot but their charging speed wasn't faster than a Sky Body Formation expert like her, she struck the bot with the hammer and its head flew away like a ball. The Combat Bot was about to self distract but maybe it was due to her experience or wits, Queen Dongfang kicked it out of the ship.
The same thing happened with the other bots, while she was fighting the bots, the ships weren't idle they turned to the right and started to fly away, gradually increasing their speed.
Black Steel Kingdom's ships had two main specialties, the first was their capacity to carry large numbers of soldiers and flying for a long time without stopping, the second was the quick acceleration that made them perfect ships for escaping.
At the time of Azure Empire's invasion the kingdom didn't fight but surrender to save their forces and reduce the damage, this alone shows that how much the kingdom focuses on saving its strength, if she isn't forced, Queen Dongfang would rather throw away her face and retreat rather than fighting to the death.
The ship's speed increased with every passing second, the centipede Leech came out of the soil mountain noticed their movement, it raised its head and looked at the ships in the distance, Queen Dongfang expected it, she was ready to delay it until the ship catches enough speed.
Tai Qiu was under the intense siege of the two Leeches, at this time he too noticed the ships flying away, his eye widened in shock. Queen Dongfang ignored his requests of retreating several times earlier but now she was retreating without informing him, even an idiot could understand that he was left behind to stall the two Leeches.
"You Bitch Stop For Me, My Father Won't Leave You Alive!" Tai Qiu shouted trying to break free from the Leeches' siege but failed to do so.
Queen Dongfang completely ignored his words like she didn't hear him, she manipulated the earth below her and attacked the Leech again and again obstructing it in its chase.
The flying speed of the ships almost doubled in a few seconds, Queen Dongfang divided her attention to look in the direction of the Green Mantis Ship which wasn't moving from its position, she was having a bad premonition, and to make it worse she just noticed that the Leech stopped chasing them.
"Increase the speed to full capacity, I don't care if the formations get destroyed I want the ships to enter the Azure Empire territory before midnight," She shouted.
The Generals nodded without saying a word, then they separated into groups of two, one group for each ship, and went to the pilots to help them control the overloading formation.
Queen Dongfang saw the tiny figures of Leeches and Tai Qiu disappearing in the distance that made her slightly relived, she then looked at the path ahead of the ships.
All of a sudden, she narrowed her eyes, she saw tiny silhouettes fighting in the distance, as the ships got closer, she was able to recognize the familiar figures, they were Tai Qiu and the three Leeches.
Queen Dongfang was shocked, but she instinctively reacted, she ignored him and focused on attacking the centipede Leech leaping towards her, the ships had now caught up good speed so a moment of delay was all she needed to escape.
Tai Qiu noticed the three ships heading towards him and his eyes shined, he didn't think that they would be foolish enough to come back by mistake.
'Did she finally realize her mistake and came back to save me?' Tai Qiu thought.
"Hufff Good… You Are Smart, Come Help Me And I Can Let Go Of The Previous Grudges… Huh?" Tai Qiu was saying but before he finished speaking, the ships passed by his side without showing any side of stopping.
Tai Qiu was dumbfounded.
"You Old Slut!!!!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
The Leech behind him punched his back and threw him on the ground.
Tai Qiu crashed on to the ground making a deep pit, he coughed out a mouthful of blood and looked in the direction of the disappearing three ships, when he was still thinking why were they trolling him, he saw the ship again heading in his direction.
Queen Dongfang saw the four silhouettes in the distance and her face turned stiff, she figured out that they were trapped into some kind of illusion formation but she was unable to find a fault in it, there weren't many illusion type formations that could trap an expert like her, as a result, she had stopped worrying about them a long time ago and paid the price right now.
"Queen what should we do?" A middle-aged woman standing behind her asked.
Queen Dongfang was silent for a few seconds, she then turned towards the direction of Green Mantis Ship and spoke.
"Change the direction of advance, prepare for battle, we will break past them," She ordered.
The woman nodded and relayed the message to all other Generals.
Under her command, the ships changed direction and headed towards Rex.
At first, they seemed like they were getting closer to the Green Mantis Ship which relieved her worries but soon, she realized that no matter how long did they travel they couldn't close the gap of the last few kilometers.
Her expression fell drastically.
Under her distressed gaze, Rex walked on to the deck of the ship and smiled.
"What do you think of my advanced version of Hundred World Illusion Array? I call it Thousand World Illusion Array," Rex said in a proud tone.
Queen Dongfang sighed deeply.
"Stop the ships," She ordered her soldiers. She now knew that they have completely lost.
During the whole fight, Rex didn't deal a single direct attack, his real battle strength remained a mystery, still, he won.
In her eyes, this type of opponent was the hardest to deal with, on the battlefield.
"What do you want? We can retreat, and this battle can end here," Queen Dongfang said.
"Hehehe… I will make it simple for you, leave all the soldiers and ships here, you alone can leave, how about it?" Rex said with a smile.
"Impossible! You are too much," Queen Dongfang hurriedly denied.
If she agreed then the battle power of her kingdom will fall overnight, the remaining soldiers won't have faith in the kingdom anymore.
"Haha… I was just joking, how can I make such a foolish request?" Rex laughed.
Queen Dongfang heard his words but her worries didn't lessen in the slightest.
As to prove her right, Rex suddenly stopped laughing and spoke.
"If anyone of you wants to leave this place alive then you all have to surrender with your lives, your kingdom, and all the resources will be ours, break your connection with Azure Empire, and work for us, without signing the contract to prove it right, you are not going anywhere," Rex said in a cold tone.
His voice was loud and clear, every soldier on the three ships including the beastman on his own ships heard him.
Queen Dongfang's eyes widened, even Azure Emperor wasn't so blunt and domineering.
"You dare," She said through her gritted teeth,
"No, I dare not, I am really scared, how would I dare? What can I do compared to the grand Azure Empire? After all, I only have a dozen or so Calamity Lords under me, and those useless creatures that can't even take down two experts like you after so long, tch… tch… I wish I was like Azure Emperor, having the patience and scheming mind to spend decades and sow discords between others before attacking from shadows, alas I am too petty-minded to go through all that effort.
The most I can do is, use your deaths to set an example for our other enemies, then go to the Black Steel Kingdom to plunde- borrow the treasury of the Royal Family, hmmm… A kingdom without a king won't look that good, I know! I gonna do you a last favour and take the kingdom under our organization's command, my goodness, why am I so kind? Anyway, I wonder what name should I give to this newly earned kingdom," Rex said with a pondering look on his face.
Queen Dongfang looked at him with red eyes, she was fuming with rage.
When she was first told that a force was standing against Azure Empire she expected them to be another ambitious but ignorant group of cultivators who had underestimated the empire by a big margin, and now she realized that only a monster like him could confront another monster in like this.
A Sky Body Formation expert alone is a huge addition to any top tier force, it was the reason why Azure Emperor had agreed to her wishes and let her rule her kingdom like before under his command, she wouldn't have gotten this treatment if she wasn't a veteran Sky Body Formation expert. Anyone would want to add her to their organization to increase the overall battle strength but Rex just didn't care. His words made her feel like she wasn't a Sky Body Formation expert but just another random Dao Comprehension stage cultivator that can be found anywhere in Middle Realm.
"My Queen, ignore him, we are willing to sacrifice ourselves and fight to the death here," The woman standing behind her said.
Her words acted like a trigger, the Generals who had just gathered behind her and the soldiers laying quiet until now all flared up.
"Yes, we are willing to die with you…"
"Whatever the Queen says, we will follow!"
"My Queen we will make way for you, please leave, our Black Steel Kingdom will surely rise in your hands…"
"Yes, it's better to die than surrendering to him…"
Countless angry soldiers shouted from behind her, raising the morale of each other, as their voices combined to reach a new height, their battle intent also surged to the brim.
'Quite amusing, she has good soldiers under her command eve when following such a corrupt empire,' Rex thought.
Queen Dongfang was quiet the whole time, she raised her right hand signaling them to stop, everyone behind her quieted down at once.
"What if we surrender? What would you do?" She spoke in a low tone. As an experienced warrior, she could tell that there was no chance of escaping anymore, if it was only their life then she still had the option to fight till the end, hoping that the younger generation from the Royal Family will inherit the kingdom after her.
But Rex's earlier words clearly clarified that he won't be leaving the kingdom alone even if they all died here, with the battle strength she has just seen, he could indeed do what he said, the Azure Empire might not put too much emphasis on saving her kingdom once she died, she could predict that much.
Rex smiled, he looked at the six Generals behind her, who shouted to fight till death a moment ago, all of them had Core Breaking peak stage cultivation base, the oldest one of them looked like a middle-aged man, which showed they were all talented cultivators, having around 20% chance of stepping into Sky Body Formation stage in their lifetime.
"You will be treated as normal humans, your lineage can continue albeit the new king of Black Steel Kingdom would be decided by me, you, the current Queen, will cut your ties with the Royal Family and the six Generals behind you will lose their status becoming the citizens of Frozen Flame City from now on. As compensation for this, I will help you regain your youthful body and guarantee that at least three of your six Generals will achieve the Sky Body Formation stage in the next hundred years, that is, of course, if they don't die in battle or due to unexpected case scenario. If I fail to fulfill the contract or cheat in any way then you will be free from the contract after 100 years," Rex said.
Everyone was silent.
If earlier, his sharp words were like thorny whips ruthlessly striking their faces then his current words were like the sweetest melody that seemed almost unreal to their ears.