Evon’s shadow soldiers began to screech and yell in agitation when they saw the number of enemies increasing, and Jason looked up to see that Evon was looking down at him with a new light in her eyes! It was obvious that she hadn’t expected Jason to have so many powerful soldiers, and Jason wondered if there was still some sanity left in that head of hers that told her she was seriously outclassed.
"Hahahahahaha! Summoner! Summoner! He’s a summoner! He has a lot of monsters! That’s unfair! Unfair! It’s unfair! We also have monsters! We don’t have enough! No, we don’t have enough! He has too much! Yes, we can still fight him! Kill! Kill! KILL! KILL HIM! KILL HIM! We need to be complete! ATTACK!"
Evon suddenly screeched loudly as she pointed to Jason, and the shadows all charged towards Jason’s Legion like a river of darkness! Trigon and Ragnar both let out massive roars that shook the shadow world to its foundation as they took off into the air, and Jason’s soldiers followed them as they charged forward!
ROARRR!
Ragnar was the first to reach the enemies, and he went straight for the largest of all the monsters! Ragnar slammed into a giant beast that looked like a rabid gorilla with a long tongue that came down and was hanging out of its mouth, and it took the monster to the ground in one hit! The world rumbled from the impact, and more tremors ran through the region as more monsters clashed in the middle of the battlefield! Jason watched as his Legion began to tear through the shadows like they were nothing! The stronger rooks in Jason’s Legion were far stronger than the Shadows, and this allowed them to bring down three or four of them all at once! The Sovereign was a wrecking ball of destruction as he used his sword to tear into shadows left and right, and even though he couldn’t use his mana to burn the enemies, Jason could tell that he was still just as dangerous without the mana! Ragnar and Trigon were teaming up with the other dragons to take on the flying monsters and large giants, and this allowed the weaker rooks like the Dragonborns and the superhumans to handle the monsters on the ground!
But as Jason watched the battle go on, he realized something that he had overlooked just a few seconds ago. Jason could still use his subordinates, and he had access to his Alternate Dimension, but he didn’t have any access to his magic anymore, and this meant that Jason could no longer resurrect any subordinate that died in battle. This wouldn’t have been an issue since Jason could tell that his subordinates were more powerful than the shadows, but it became a problem when Jason saw that the shadows were constantly being reborn from the dark swamp, no matter how many times his subordinates killed them. Jason realized that this could become a serious problem! It didn’t matter how much stronger his subordinates were anymore; if Evon’s shadows could resurrect while his subordinates couldn’t, then this would become a one-sided battle before long.
’So this is what it feels like for someone else to fight me. It’s... irritating.’
Jason quickly called on Azrael, and he commanded him to bring forward all the undead soldiers from the Alternate Dimension! Azrael rose from the shadows and towered over the battlefield with his massive build! He raised his staff in the air and activated [Necrotic Reanimation], and thousands of undead soldiers suddenly appeared from within Jason’s Alternate Dimension and flooded into the Shadow world! Giants, Wyverns, Dragons, undead superhumans, and Dragonborn! Magical Beasts and every other form of creature that Jason and Azrael had ever killed poured out in waves, and by the time Azrael was finished, there were more than two thousand creatures there! Jason commanded all his subordinates to reorganize into a new formation! They were now going to focus more on trapping the shadows in one region without killing them. The shadows could just respawn every time they were killed, so they would leave the shadows alive and just move them away so that they couldn’t interfere in the actual battle!
’Seems like you’re having a hard time. Want my help?’
Jason heard a voice echo from inside his head, and he frowned when he recognized it as Esdeat. Jason really thought this bastard would have vanished with the [Death’s Mirage]. What the hell was he still doing here?
’Oh, I just thought I’d come see how you were faring, and imagine my surprise when I see that all your mana has been locked away. Haha. Do you know what wouldn’t ever put you in a situation like this? Qi...’
Esdeat had a cheeky tone in his voice as he spoke to Jason, and Jason couldn’t help but think that Esdeat sounded like one of those shady salesmen who would usually call Mira to sell some stupid insurance policy. Esdeat wanted something from Jason, and he wanted Jason to ask for it. But Jason wasn’t even going to bother himself. Jason looked up to see Evon watching him from the top of the hill with a hard look on her face. Jason knew that the moment he killed her, he would gain the Attribute from her, and this would all end, so he just had to end this before she could bring up any other mad variables! Even though a lot of unpredictable things had happened already, Jason was still certain that he had enough power to take Evon down in his current state.
’Hey! Why are you ignoring me!? Come on! Just ask me what I’m talking about already! It’s Qi! Qi! Haven’t you ever heard about Qi!? Cultivation! Immortality! What young boy hasn’t heard about it for crying out loud!? Are you even listening to me right now!?’
Esdeat was almost having a meltdown from Jason ignoring him, and he shouted for Jason to listen! Esdeat realized that this was an opportunity! As much as Esdeat hated to admit it, he knew that there was almost no chance of him ever coming back to life again! In fact, there was a higher probability of him vanishing back to the River of the Afterlife than there was of him regaining his mortal body! And if there was one thing that every Cultivator desperately wanted, it was to see their cultivation technique grow and evolve into the next generation of cultivators. And regardless of how much of a bully Jason was, Esdeat couldn’t deny that Jason was one of the most suitable inheritors for his cultivation technique! Jason was smart, and he had potential that was greater than anything Esdeat had ever seen! Esdeat desperately wanted to pass on his teaching to Jason, and for that, he first needed to make Jason grow an interest in Qi and cultivation!
Esdeat called out to Jason again, and Jason felt irritation bubble up from inside him when he heard the bastard ranting on and on! Jason already knew that Qi wasn’t something he should overlook. From what Jason heard about the Eastern Mountain Cultivators that Esdeat was a part of, they had been strong enough to stand up to the Primordials for a long time using their cultivation, so this meant that Esdeat wasn’t actually pulling Jason’s leg. This could be a legitimate way to get stronger. But Jason also knew that it wouldn’t be that easy.
Azrael thrust his staff forward and commanded the undead creatures to charge towards the shadows! The shadows were clashing with the Legion subordinates, and it almost looked like they were evenly matched, so there was no way the Legion could push back against the shadows, but once the undeads joined the mix, it was a lot easier for the battle to shift in one direction due to the added numbers, and they began to push back against the shadows and shift them to the side!
Jason watched his plan unfolding with a calm expression, and Jason finally asked Esdat a question absentmindedly.
’Is Qi something you can teach me in thirty seconds or less?’
Esdeat blinked in shock.
’What...?’