Chapter 368: Millions of People
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Report! Report! The airship is going down!"
A piercing shriek blasted through the air as the final airship in the sky emitted columns of purple smoke, falling towards the ground. It smashed into the plains outside Orida Fortress.
Boom! Immediately after, the magic crystal that was powering the airship exploded, causing a 90-foot-wide cloud of deep purple smoke to rise from the wreckage.
The ten or so Winged Howlers that were flying away from the wreckage were instantaneously engulfed by the smoke, perishing.
Looking around, the dead bodies of the Dark Army numbered at least over a thousand. However, that was but a slight dent in the Dark Army's forces. At the fortress entrance, the Dark Army was like a flood of black, surging towards the fort.
There were 30,000 people posted on the first wall. At this moment, there were only 8,000 left. The rest had fallen in battle.
"Arrows!"
"Fire!"
"Block them! Shoot down those winged demons!"
From the second wall, the officers were constantly shouting instructions, making the battlefield sound very chaotic. Everyone who could fight was fighting, and the battlefield was just one big mess.
As the overall commander of the Light Army, Duke Abel no longer had any control over the direction of battle.
Boom! Whoosh! Clang, clang!
Spells were constantly exploding around. The second wall was also armed with magic cannons as well as a few low-level Battle Magicians. The magic spells rained down on the battlefield.
Some of them were effective, others merely grazed the demons and ghouls, unable to inflict any serious injuries. Although the Divine Gear had disappeared, the ghouls were still very powerful. Their life-force was tremendous, and until now, there were still 20,000 of them left.
As for the high-level demons, there were also many of them left. Three hundred demons still lived, from an initial count of 500. Every single one of them was at least Level-7 in strength. They swept through the battlefields, and no one was able to stop them.
Boom, boom, boom!
These were the Fordor Flaming Demons assaulting the fortress gates. Gradually, the anti-magic gates over a meter thick were slowly changing shape.
Screech! A Winged Howler swooped down from the sky onto the fortress walls, screeching and swinging around a broadsword that blazed with dark demonic fire. Wherever it went, no one could block him.
Fortunately, because of the fighting with the Yabba airships earlier, there were not many Winged Howlers left. There were only ten left. If there were any more, this battle would essentially be hopeless.
"Shoot! Shoot them down!"
Facing the threat of the Winged Howlers, the only means to deal with them were to use the Dragon Ballistae and the Yabba musketeers to attack from afar.
This was only somewhat effective, but unfortunately, the demons were too strong. Especially for those demons that were over 9 feet long, their wings were extremely tough and could act like two giant shields. Even if they were attacked from afar, they would not receive much damage.
The Winged Howlers rapidly cleared out a space on the fortress walls, enabling the ghouls and demons below to climb up and find their footing to battle.
The Light Army was rapidly losing the advantage in the battle. Even worse, the casualty rate among the Light and Dark armies were roughly equal. However, in this defensive battle, adding up all the Yabbas and dwarves, the total army was only 80,000 strong.
Meanwhile, the Dark Army had 80,000 elves, over 500 high-level demons as well as numerous low-level demons which numbered over 90,000. This was almost twice the size of the Light Army, and furthermore, they were stronger too.
If the casualty rate kept up this pace, eventually, the Light Army would be completely wiped out, handing the victory to the Dark Army. Orida Fortress would soon be overrun!
In a small tower behind the wall, Duke Abel and the Dwarven King of the Mountains, Riel, were gathered. As for the the Yabba airship formation commander, he had long since perished. There was no need to talk about the High Elf Magicians, as each of them had fainted and would not be able to do much for a while.
Dwarf King Riel surveyed the top of the city wall, his eyes bloodshot. In his opinion, it was only a matter of time before the second wall was breached too.
"Ahhh! Kill them!"
"Save us!"
As all sorts of sounds of fighting reached the tower, Dwarf King Riel exhaled slowly. He said, "Duke, I can't sit by any longer. I'm going to fight!"
He was a Level-7 Warrior and was ranked amongst the ten strongest of the dwarven race. His weapon of choice was two war hammers. Without waiting for Duke Abel's reply, he dashed out of the tower, shouting in rage, "My Warriors! Great Hammer Riel is coming!"
As he shouted, he dashed towards a Winged Howler. His war hammer shown with yellow light as he smashed it towards the demon.
Although the dwarves were a short race, their bodies were thick and strong, and their life force was immense. Not only that, they had immense strength. Dwarf King Riel ducked to avoid a Winged Howler's swipe of the wing and immediately arrived in front of the demon. He swung his hammer towards the demon's kneecap.
Smash! The demon's leg crumpled, and he fell down to the ground, losing his balance.
Dwarf King Riel dashed onto the demon's body, swinging his war hammers. The hammers fell onto the demon's head like rain, and under three seconds of attack, the demon's head was smashed into a paste.
He immediately dashed towards another Winged Howler. This time, he ran into a Level-8 demon.
His opponent was fast and had long since noticed him approaching. It swiped its wings, blowing the ten human Warriors surrounding it away. It then drew out a sword knocking aside a ballista arrow aside. Now, it turned to face Dwarf King Riel, dashing and swinging down its sword.
"Die, dwarf!"
Even though he had not reached the Dwarf King, the force of the wind from his attack buffeted Dwarf King Riel, making Riel unable to open his eyes. The thick demonic energy was suffocating. Against this speed and strength, Dwarf King Riel had no way to defend or dodge.
Is this it? Dwarf King Riel rubbed his red nose. He didn't even attempt to dodge, but rushed forward, roaring, "Let's go down together!"
However, he still underestimated the strength of a Level-8 demon. With a mere wave of his sword, the demon cut off Dwarf King Riel's path. Then, with a second wave, the sword continued slashing towards Riel.
"Die together? Dream on!" The demon laughed.
The demon's sword was six feet long, ten inches wide, and it blazed with dark demonic fire. Getting cut by it would undoubtedly result in one turning into a meat paste.
Looks like this is the end. Dwarf King Riel sighed. In the end, all he could do was to raise his hammer and block in front of him.
Bam! Suddenly Dwarf King Riel's saw a flash in the corner of his eye. Immediately after that, a streak of lightning struck into the Winged Howler.
The electricity was terrifying, and it immediately paralyzed the demon.
Reinforcements? Dwarf King Riel's heart suddenly lit up with hope. He turned to look and saw a human Warrior wearing a Silver-White battle outfit. He held a one-handed sword in his hand which sparked with electricity and was dashing over.
"Dawn Swordsman Kanorse!" Dwarf King Riel instantly recognized the figure.
Kanorse also recognized him. He laughed. "Commander, leave this demon to me!"
In the midst of his laughter, Kanorse dashed forward, appearing beside the Level-8 demon.
Crackle. The electricity flashed, and the demon who had just regained feeling in his limbs was paralyzed once again. Kanorse slashed out with his sword, cutting off the demon's legs.
The demon lost its balance and knelt down on the floor, exposing his neck. Kanorse swung his long sword, decapitating the demon.
He did not stop after slaying the demon but immediately went to seek out another demon on the fortress wall.
The Dwarf King looked at him, mouth gaping. "The Dawn Swordsman eh. Truly powerful!"
Kanorse was the first to arrive at the battlefield. After him was Nana, followed by 2,000 Silver-White Shield Warriors who were responsible for guarding Link and the magic formation.
These were all elites of the kingdom, and their addition to the battlefield caused the tides of battle to swing.
Nana did not act on her own. It was as though she received some order, and she followed closely behind Kanorse, killing the demons that escaped him.
Both of them were top experts. Although they were cooperating for the first time, after killing about ten demons, their cooperation started to improve. As they fought their way towards the walls, demons fell to their swords. None could stand in their way. From afar, they looked like they were splitting the waves.
Once the Dawn Swordsman arrived at the scene, the human soldiers received a boost in morale. The previously depressing atmosphere started to improve rapidly.
However, this was just the last burst of strength before death.
Those who understood the flow of battle knew that the addition of Kanorse and the Silver-White Shield Warriors could only delay the eventual fall of the wall. They could not reverse the battle.
…
In the tower behind the fort, Duke Abel was also excited. However, just then, a calm voice reached his ears. "Duke, at this rate, we are sure to lose."
The duke turned his head and saw Link walking in.
Link took five minutes to walk here from the top of the fort. In this five minutes, Link recovered 3000 Dragon Power points. The Dragon Power within him was almost full again, and under the influence of the pure Dragon Power, the fatigue he felt from operating the magic formation had also disappeared.
Duke Abel did not doubt Link's words for a second. In truth, he had also realized subconsciously that the fortress would eventually fall.
"Sir, what should we do?"
Link had a plan in mind. "We only have about 15,000 men left. These are all precious seeds among our Warriors. We must keep our losses to the minimum. Importantly, Kanorse, Dwarf King Riel, and the outstanding talents must survive… Right now, let's have everyone begin to retreat into the fortress to the Magic Tower."
Link decided to use the area of effect of the Dragon King's Wrath magic sword and his newly found swordsmanship skills. With the terrain advantage, he was confident in blocking the Dark Army all by himself.
Of course, the reason he dared to do this was because the Dark Army had no more experts that could single-handedly rock the battlefield. All the high-level Magicians had retreated, and no one could hinder him. With his boundless Dragon Power, he essentially had unlimited energy.
He was probably the strongest on the battlefield right now!
"Sir…" Duke Abel could not quite believe his ears.
"Trust me. Right now, the Dark Army is all gathered on the fields, and I have a magic spell, a very powerful spell that can deal with them. If our soldiers are mixed in, they will undoubtedly get caught up in the attack."
At this point, Duke Abel did not raise any further disagreements. He said, "I understand. We will start the retreat now."
Then, he turned to his deputy, "Go, sound the horn, order the retreat."
Half a minute late, Hoorrrnnnn, a sharp horn blasted through the air. This was the signal for retreating. The soldiers on the wall did not know what was going on, but this was a military order. They immediately started pulling back from the city wall.
"Quick! Quick! Retreat into the fortress!" An officer shouted, directing the troops.
In the Black Forest, Lawndale smelled that something was off. "What's going on? They could clearly defend the fort; why would they retreat now?"
The black-haired girl said doubtfully, "Could they be preparing to release another powerful spell? But their Magicians must be spent from dealing with the Dark Serpent, aren't they?"
When the Dark Elves' Silver Moon Council high-level Magicians used the Legendary magic spell, the 100 of them who participated in the spell were all drained.
Even if the opponents had talented High Elf Magicians, they were dealing with a Divine Gear. The drain on them would definitely be larger. How could they possibly have the strength to release another powerful spell now?
She could not understand. Neither could Lawndale.
Lawndale said, "If they want to retreat now, then this is our chance to break through the fort in one shot!"
"No, something's wrong. We can't attack, we must retreat. They must have some secret killing move!" The black-haired girl shook her head. She instructed a Winged Howler beside her, "Go, send my orders, have the soldiers retreat!"