School Transmigration: I, Chosen as the Saint by Dragons at the Start-Chapter 171 --The End and the Pursuit

Just then, a carriage amidst the rubble shifted, suddenly soaring into the air and crashing violently against the giant ape’s face, splintering into fragments and sending wood chips flying.

Clearly, something beneath had propelled the carriage, stunning the giant ape with the impact.

With the carriage flung aside, Owen peered closer and spotted a thin barrier of light enveloping a few people at the core of the debris.

They weren’t dead, which was a relief.

It seemed the Cloud Domain’s generals weren’t entirely incompetent, having prepared contingencies.

This was convenient; leading troops wasn’t his forte.

Had Bunyon been killed, Owen would have found himself in a difficult predicament.

So, he bellowed, "Focus on combating Easthaven Realm’s cavalry. Leave the demon ape to me!"

Joy flickered in Bunyon’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by concern.

The demon ape looked formidable; could the saint truly prevail?

Owen shouted again, "Concentrate on fighting Easthaven Realm’s forces. Don’t worry about this side."

Bunyon’s heart steadied somewhat.

The saint of dragons was indeed an undefeated banner.

This time, Owen wasn’t in a playful mood and went all out from the start.

With a flick of his storage ring, he summoned his trident, aiming straight for the giant ape’s right eye.

The massive creature, standing over four meters tall, towered even as Owen was mounted, making the trident necessary to reach its target.

The giant ape’s eyes reddened upon seeing him, evidently recalling their previous humiliating encounter on the mountainside.

Then, the bone armor above its eyes suddenly extended, fully covering the right eye.

Owen’s spear, followed closely behind.

The trident, a legendary-tier arcanergy artifact, boasted sharpness and hardness far beyond ordinary blades.

The bone plate shattered, and the trident pierced the giant ape’s right eye, causing blood to spurt forth immediately.

This was Owen at full force, a sure hit, facing the demon ape’s sluggishness with absolute ease.

Yet, the bone armor offered significant resistance, preventing the spear’s tip from penetrating deeply.

Suspended in mid-air, Owen was plotting to withdraw and restrike when the giant ape let out a thunderous roar and grabbed him in a swifter motion than before.

Owen twisted away, leveraging his force to straighten the trident.

The weapon, bending like a bow, nearly shattered the ape’s eye socket with its arc.

With an angry roar, the giant ape’s grip tightened, and Owen immediately felt restrained, his blood and energy being pushed towards his limbs and head, leaving only one arm free to wave about.

He felt like a balloon, easily burst with a squeeze.

The demon ape’s grip seemed imbued with arcanergy that could bind and immobilize.

Owen was shocked.

Boswell had truly outdone himself, transforming a mere monkey into this monstrosity.

The giant ape, not one for courtesy, squeezed the moment it caught Owen.

With its strength, turning Owen into pulp would be effortless.

However, it suddenly felt its grasp empty, the satisfying sensation of compression gone.

Upon opening its palm, the little thief who had injured it twice had indeed vanished into thin air!

But there seemed to be something left in its hand, tiny and light.

Before the giant ape could examine it, it was whisked away by the wind.

Meanwhile, Owen reappeared behind it, not giving the demon ape a moment to react before launching another attack with his trident.

A cold light slashed across the ape’s ankles, slicing through the gaps in its bone armor, severing the Achilles tendons in one swift motion!

The demon ape howled in pain, turning to seize him while stepping back.

That step was agony incarnate.

Owen was equally startled.

Had he not timely deployed the Celestial Cicada Shedding, executing the Substitution Stratagem, he might have been squashed like a balloon.

The Mystic Technique from Principal Kendo proved its worth indeed.

The demon ape’s strength was indeed eerie and far from ordinary.

Bunyon was left agape, having almost lost hope, yet unexpectedly, Owen managed to escape.

Owen then delivered several strikes to the giant ape with his trident, channeling arcanergy, making armor penetration effortless.

Within seconds, the demon ape suffered severe injuries to its right eye and chest, and its left Achilles tendon was severed, stripping it of its former valor.

There’s a saying, "a broken drum beaten by thousands," indicating the armor around its wounds had fallen off, unable to withstand the Cloud Domain soldiers’ blades and spears anymore.

The pain drove the demon ape to retreat.

Supporting its body, it hobbled and scrambled towards the countryside, ignoring the arrows and spears flying from behind.

Any obstacles in its path were simply bulldozed through.

With one leg unusable but three limbs still capable, its escape speed was impressively fast under the circumstances.

The Easthaven Realm soldiers realized the tide had turned against them.

Achieving glory this day had become an insurmountable task.

The Cloud Domain soldiers grew stronger as the battle waged on, with many cultivators among them, bolstered by arcanergy and Mystic Techniques, proving too much to handle.

Fearing annihilation, Lord Jeff, despite his severed arm, was escorted by his personal guards to sound the retreat.

To call it a retreat was akin to fleeing.

The Cloud Domain army, spirits lifted, saw Bunyon appoint two generals to pursue the enemy fiercely.

In the camp, Owen hurried to Bunyon’s side, expressing his concern, "Are you alright?"

"I might have broken a rib," Bunyon, pale-faced, attempted to stand and salute but was stopped by Owen, "It’s nothing serious."

On the continent of Novalia, cultivators are rare, with those at the diamond-tier already qualifying as military leaders, and those at the master-tier could be appointed marshals upon enlistment.

The giant ape demonstrated strength nearing that of a grandmaster.

Entering the midst of an army, it truly became a war machine.

Had Owen not been present, the giant ape would likely have decimated the Cloud Domain’s supply team.

Owen spoke gravely, "You’re in full command of the next steps.

Don’t worry about my opinions."

"This..." Bunyon was somewhat astonished.

"Don’t mind me. I’m no expert in warfare; it’s best left to the professionals, especially when it concerns the lives of so many brothers."

Owen looked around; the Cloud Domain army had suffered significant casualties, particularly from the demon ape’s barrage, which directly killed forty to fifty people, not to mention those injured, which hadn’t been tallied yet.

"Yes, thank you for your trust, saint," Bunyon saluted Owen.

The campsite was a mess, with food scattered everywhere and many tents and wagons still ablaze.

But compared to the severe consequences of having their supplies raided, this loss was minimal.

Had the military provisions truly been plundered, the northern front would have surely been destabilized.

Owen told Bunyon, "You take charge here; I’m going after that ape."

Knowing the demon ape was severely injured and its threat significantly reduced, Bunyon nodded, "Be careful of Boswell, saint."

"You know him?" Owen was surprised.

Bunyon, with a wry smile, shared, "The Demon Puppeteer has pulled off quite a few stunts in the Cloud Domain. I’m somewhat familiar with his work."

Owen, without further ado, whistled sharply, and Berkeley along with others quickly joined him.

Mounting a fresh horse, he followed the trail left by the giant ape.

Before leaving the camp, he overheard Bunyon assigning additional tasks: "Go check on Aquaspirit Town, and make it quick!"

Indeed, with Nebrilliance having been attacked, the condition of Aquaspirit Town remained unknown, especially since the defeated Easthaven Realm forces had retreated in that direction.

However, the giant ape had fled in the opposite direction of the Easthaven Realm’s humanoid troops, making it impractical for Owen to inspect the town en route.

Tracking the giant ape was not challenging; its wounds were like waterfalls, leaving trails of blood that were distinctly visible even in the darkness of night.

The most crucial part was to keep it within sight, remembering its ability to alter size at will.

Fortunately, the terrain outside Nebrilliance was relatively flat, with only a few small hills and sparse large trees, mostly covered in shrubs—a landscape not favored by monkeys.

Owen and his party maintained a distance, ensuring the giant ape’s silhouette remained within their field of view.

A wounded beast is the most dangerous, and with their numbers less than ten, lacking military support, the best strategy was to gradually exhaust the demon ape’s energy.

Larger creatures struggle to sustain their stamina for long durations.

Owen wisely refrained from provocation, opting to follow at a safe distance.

Given the unknown capabilities of the giant ape, and with Boswell yet to make a move, Owen remained cautious.

Confidence is not arrogance; he had no intention of recklessly charging into a potential trap.

As expected, after about ten miles, the giant ape’s speed significantly decreased.

Traveling on three legs is challenging, especially with numerous wounds bleeding profusely, exacerbating blood loss with increased haste.

It was then that Isaac suddenly alerted him, "Look up!"

Owen looked up to see what seemed to be a large bird circling in the night sky, directly above the giant ape.

Strictly speaking, it was circling around the giant ape’s head.

"That’s another of Boswell’s demon puppets," Owen squinted, unable to discern from the darkness whether there was anyone riding on its back.

This meant that the rockwolf had not completed its task.

Just then, a series of wolf howls echoed from not too far away.

Owen followed the sound and soon spotted a black dot rapidly approaching from the distance, growing larger in his field of vision.

Speaking of the rockwolf, and there it was, arriving on the scene.

Its tongue lolled out, with white mist puffing from its mouth, and its panting breath could be heard.

Judging by its appearance, it had been running for quite some time.

"What happened?" Owen inquired as the rockwolf ran alongside his mount, "Where is Boswell?"

"On the bird’s back!" declared the rockwolf Mallo.

Following its assignment, the rockwolf had left the battlefield, tracking the scent of the demon ape all the way back.

Since it was sent by Boswell, retracing the scent should, in theory, lead them to its master, right?