Chapter 540 - In Charge

*Read chapter 536 to re-familiarize yourself with the current timeline.*

The wall of green flame was only a couple of feet tall and seemed to be broken from several places. Sitting atop Grey, Hao Xuan over it with ease. Still, he extended his neck slightly and peered towards the inside of the crater where the sounds of fighting were coming from.

*Whoosh*

But before he could even see properly, a gust of wind passed by his head. It was only a second later did he realize that it was a shimmering black arrow.

"What the hell!"

Hao Xuan swiveled his head back towards the source of the arrow and saw the fight that was taking place. A somewhat relieved voice came from a masked man to his left. He was standing relatively near the edge, a few dozen meters away from him.

"Oh, it's one of us," he mumbled upon hearing Hao Xuan talk in the native language of the beast world before looking away. He took aim and started firing one arrow after another towards the center of the crater.

Hao Xuan didn't know what exactly he meant by 'one of his own' but he didn't bother correcting him. Instead, he followed the arrow's trail and saw the source of the turmoil.

The crater itself was more than 4 kilometers wide. In the middle of it was a half-buried asteroid with a honeycomb design.

Surrounding this asteroid were strange creatures engaged in a bloody battle with human warriors.

The three largest of these creatures looked like earthly tanks from afar. They were a little over 7 meters in length, surrounded by a thick black outer shell. Shape wise, they looked a lot like horned beetles with the spear-like bony protrusions on their heads. Only much much larger and a lot more nightmarish.

Each one was standing on one side trying to protect the asteroid with their bodies while firing off bursts of fireballs every few seconds.

In front of them were hundreds of smaller creatures. These were standing on two feet and were over 3 meters tall. Each one was a little different from the other but overall they just looked like insects from Hao Xuan's point of view.

Thin, dark outer shells, jointed clawed legs and arms that ended in various weapon-like hands, if they could be called that. Their mouths had rows of small and large mandibles, pairs of shiny black eyes a little above them, and twitching antennae at the very top.

The number of arms, legs, eyes, and mandibles were different for each of these creatures but what was common in between them were their haggard states.

Most of them had cracks in the shells along their abdomens, arms, and legs. Some were even missing several limbs but none of them broke rank but stood in a neat line, between the attacking human warriors and the asteroid behind them.

Rows upon rows of human cultivators surrounded them from every single side. Most of them stood about 40 meters away, using various ranged weapons and tools to deal damage from a safe distance.

Every now and then the ant-like creatures would try to mount an offensive and breakthrough but would be dealt with effortlessly.

Those human warriors with melee weapons that had no means to attack from afar just sat leisurely at the front line and would hack any ant creatures to pieces that made it to them through the barrage of Qi infused ranged fire.

Hao Xuan saw the scenes unfolding in front of him with a furrowed brow. The humans outnumbered these creatures 4 to 1. If they wanted to, they could end this 'fight' in seconds.

Yet they sat there in delight, taking pleasure from causing these creatures pain. They howled with laughter and continued to converse amongst themselves like it was completely normal.

Hao Xuan urged Grey forward, stopping a few feet away from the masked man.

"Which power?" he asked emotionlessly.

The masked man fired off an arrow that hit an ant creature in the eye, yet it was not powerful enough to finish it, just blind it.

"Hah, that makes it an even 60," he said with a chuckle before throwing an inquisitive glance towards Hao Xuan. "Hall," he threw out the word before focusing back on the prey at hand.

"All of you are from the hall?" Hao Xuan asked, getting a nod in response.

Although the masked man seemed unbothered by Hao Xuan's presence, he was still keeping most of his attention on this new stranger.

Hao Xuan nodded understanding the situation a bit more.

"Who's in charge? Where is the protector?" he asked again.

The masked man had just pulled the bowstring back when he suddenly switched targets and aimed it at Hao Xuan's head.

This close, even Hao Xuan might not be able to avoid it.

"Why do you ask?" he inquired with a tilted head.

"Because you people are not supposed to be here. Now answer me before I rip your arms off and shove them down your throat," Hao Xuan replied in much the same manner.