Chapter 19.5 - Crushed
“Everyone, prepare for battle!” Renfell snapped back to reality and ordered with a loud voice. His subordinates immediately scattered, forming an attack formation. All of their weapons uniformly adopted a standby position. As soon as Renfell gave the order, they would ascend the mountains and attack. Even though the enemies on the other side of the mountain greatly surpassed themselves, he had experienced similar situations many times before. Under Renfell’s lead, even if the attack failed, the losses from the enemy’s side would be much heavier than his own. Besides, wasn’t the one leading the attack Persephone, the one who, despite not being in the northern front for that long, already enjoyed legendary prestige?
However, Renfell soon found that the order he gave was completely unnecessary.
Persephone smoothly made her way through the flames of war as if she was a fish swimming in a rapid stream. It was impossible for Renfell to capture her movements; all he could see were flickering afterimages that left him staring in disbelief.
The blockade line was meticulously arranged and organized. The areas where firepower was placed depended on and supported each other. However, when facing Persephone who could immediately pass over all the area covered in firepower, this blockade line might as well have been full of holes.
She casually made her way through the bombardment while giving directions for fire from her side. Those soldiers inside the bunkers could only stare with their bloodshot eyes as they rained down bullets on the afterimages left behind in her original location, while in reality, Persephone herself had long disappeared. Meanwhile, after a few seconds, an artillery barrage would cover their world under Persephone’s instructions, blasting these bunkers high up into the sky.
Only ability users who were powerful enough could stop Persephone. Along the way, Persephone encountered a few individuals with strength that weren’t bad. They jumped towards Persephone ferociously from the bunkers they were hiding in, but these individuals with strength only equivalent to that of a dragonrider lieutenant commander who could turn the situation around were as helpless as little children in front of Persephone. With just a casual strike with her pencil on their foreheads, the bodies of these experts would become rigid, and then they would all fall down slowly. The only thing left in their stunned pupils were that snow white hand, and the dark black pencil in that hand.
The miniature guided missiles descended one after another, bringing these experts their final burial.
There were soldiers who attacked Persephone from the front, as well as those that tried to land a fatal attack from the rear, but even more discovered that when they saw Persephone, she had already arrived in front of them. There was no way to escape, so they could only fight to the death. Regardless of what their intentions were or how high their levels of ability were, there was no difference in their conclusions.
A man that was roughly thirty or so years old with a downcast expression suddenly jumped out from a bunker and followed two other ability users as they charged towards Persephone. Judging from the way of his charging, his level of skill seemed similar to the two others in front of him, which was around that of a captain or lieutenant commander. However, after both of his companions suffered a strike from Persephone’s pencil, his speed suddenly doubled and his strength erupted greatly. A fist smashed towards Persephone! On his right fist was a glove, and curling around that glove were electrical flames. One could tell with just a look that the power of this attack was great, and with its great speed, even the skies began to sound with ear-piercing sonic booms. In that instant, the power of this man increased by more than just half! He was obviously one of the leaders at the colonel rank.
When he closed in, Persephone’s pencil hadn’t even been lifted all the way up, only reaching his chest. The man revealed a sinister smile. The high voltage electrical flames even began to shine on Persephone’s face, making it flicker between bright and dark!
However, Persephone was actually smiling towards him! The smile was half sinister and half natural. She didn’t raise her hand and instead directly sent the pencil flying outwards! The pencil flashed past the man’s line of sight at an inconceivable speed and pierced into his chest!
A pa sounded, and the pencil shattered to pieces. The man felt as if he had been smashed into by a high speed train, and his body couldn’t help but fly backwards. Meanwhile, his chest was completely numb without any feeling. Only after he managed to lower his head with difficulty did he notice that his combat suit had unknowingly when disappeared, and even the armor made from composite materials had been completely shattered. Flesh had been blasted flying and rows of ribs were exposed!
The man revealed released a shrill scream. When he landed on the ground, he immediately rushed into the darkness without turning back, leaving all of his troops behind him. Persephone didn’t chase him, nor did she even waste the energy of giving his retreating figure a look.
Devastating explosions continuously erupted along Persephone’s path, sending all man-made creations back into nothingness. If one observed from a high altitude, Persephone was just like an enormous and invisible eraser, eliminating the scribbles mankind left on the great earth piece by piece. Even though each time the tactical firepower modules or guided missiles were fired was much more expensive than true artillery, in this type of battle, their enemy’s losses would be even greater.
In spite of the rain of bullets and chaotic shrapnel flying about, Persephone unexpectedly stood in the center of it all. She looked around her and muttered, “Hmm? Weren’t there supposed to be three colonels? Where did the other two end up hiding? Sigh, it’s been quite a while since I used my mysterious perception.”
This was what she said, but her hands continuously moved around. The pencil that hadn’t stopped for a moment even when she was killing people suddenly froze. Many people among the dragonriders and Blood Parliament knew that this was an omen that Persephone was going to carry out a slaughter.
In a different area, two figures seemed to jump at almost the same time, fleeing through the boundless mountain area with a speed that didn’t seem much inferior to Persephone’s. Behind them were ten or so figures that followed, and their speeds were enough to make normal people stupefied as well. However, the ones behind these fortunate individuals were out of luck. When the ones running frantically behind them raised their heads, what they saw was only a sudden downpour of bullets.
Persephone grabbed her hair that had scattered apart, and while coiling it back up, she walked down the mountain. For her, the battle ended here. As for the cleanup, that was her subordinates’ job. If she were to catch or even kill those fleeing individuals, she would have to expend quite a bit of energy, and doing something like that would already exceed the objective they were trying to achieve from this battle. When to start fighting and when to stop were things that Persephone learned through experience. Just like Su, she was also a master at selecting fights.
As he watched the dazzling goddess Persephone slowly walk through the battlefield of smoke and flames, Renfell’s expression became extremely complicated.
Persephone then passed by Renfell’s side without saying a word and walked towards her subordinates. The moment they passed each other, Renfell hear her laugh softly. “It’s just three colonels that can be casually crushed.”