Chapter 608 - 446: Mass Grave
Chapter 608: Chapter 446: Mass Grave
Thirty thousand, or even more!
The Six-armed Snake Demon had evidently anticipated a surprise attack and had reinforced its defenses here ahead of time.
A grim and chilling atmosphere descended upon the entire battlefield.
Though the Thunder Dragon Duchy’s Allied Army was elite, it didn’t hold an absolute advantage in numbers. With the enemy’s forces now doubled, a brutal and bloody battle had become inevitable.
"The plan is unchanged."
Gaius’s voice rang out.
"Understood!"
"We’ve been itching for a fight!"
Luke, Kadar, and the others replied in unison, their fighting spirit not waning but soaring.
Raylo took a deep breath.
He had already advanced to the Domain Level and was one of the main powerhouses in this battle.
The great battle was about to erupt. Just then...
AUNG!
A dragon’s cry, utterly different from any before it—one filled with savagery and majesty—suddenly thundered across the sky from the western edge of the battlefield!
The cry was like a proclamation from the Abyss, carrying an irresistible pressure that instantly drowned out every other sound on the battlefield.
The battle cries of the Human Knights, the hisses of the Snake-men—all were silenced by that single, overwhelming cry.
Everyone, Marshal Gaius included, stared in horror toward the source of the sound.
The western sky was visibly darkening.
It wasn’t because of storm clouds obscuring the sun.
Rather, it was a shadow so vast it blotted out the light of the sky, and it was approaching rapidly!
At the forefront of that shadow was an immense Giant Dragon.
Its body was covered in scales as dark as obsidian, each one shimmering with a cold, metallic luster.
Menacing Bone Spikes ran from its spine all the way to the tip of its tail, and its massive, membranous wings stirred the air into a gale as they spread.
It was the Black King!
"Th-that... what is that?!"
A young noble Lord cried out in shock.
"Another Giant Dragon?"
"What is it trying to do?!"
Amid the shock and tense watchfulness of the Thunder Dragon Duchy’s Allied Army, the Black King’s colossal form had already reached the flank of the battlefield.
An even more piercing draconic cry rang out.
The next moment, beneath the Black King’s sky-blotting wings, a black tide surged over the horizon!
An endless, black tide!
It was a terrifying legion composed of innumerable Demons!
At the vanguard were tens of thousands of Jackal-Wolf Folk. They were tall and powerfully built, howling as they wielded crude yet deadly Iron Head Hammers and Bone Axes.
Following them was the densely packed Dogman Legion. They were even more numerous, carrying crude Bone Bows or Bone Spears. Massed together, they formed a force that could not be underestimated.
In the center of the legion were hulking Ogres. They swung massive Wolf Fang Clubs, drool dripping from their mouths. The thick stench of blood in their nostrils only served to heighten their savagery and malice.
Farther back were countless Magical Beasts from the Black Stone Mountain Range: rabid Demonized Wild Boars, swift Terror Claw Dragons, and packs of Demon Wolves...
They converged into a chaotic yet lethal torrent, sweeping madly toward the flank of the Snake-man Legion!
In the sky.
Beside the Black King, a gaunt figure rode atop a vicious Bat Dragon. It held a Bone Staff aloft, muttering an incantation.
It was a Domain Level Dogman Wizard!
At its command, a dozen Bat Dragons and over ten thousand Demon Crows—a crimson storm cloud blotting out the sky—let out piercing shrieks and dove straight for the Snake-man Legion’s flank!
Forty thousand!
No, a massive army of more than fifty thousand!
A grand army of monsters composed of Jackal-Wolf Folk, Dogmen, Ogres, and all sorts of Magical Beasts!
For a moment, time seemed to stand still.
A visible stir went through the Snake-man Legion’s ranks. For the first time, an emotion called fear flickered in their cold, slitted pupils.
As for the Thunder Dragon Duchy’s forces, they had fallen into a deathly silence.
"Marshal."
Raylo’s voice roused everyone from their stupor.
"Now, our forces hold the advantage."
Gaius snapped back to his senses.
’An advantage?’
’This is far more than an advantage!’
’This is a complete rout!’
’An absolute, decisive victory!’
"Relay my orders!"
Gaius’s voice boomed.
"All forces!"
"Bypass the Mass Grave and attack from the right flank!"
"For the Duchy!"
"For glory!"
"Charge!"
The deafening battle cry finally thundered across the heavens once more!
All their earlier apprehension and tension transformed in that instant into boundless battle lust and fervor!
ROAR!
The Black King roared in the distance!
With a single beat of its wings, its massive body shot forward like a black meteor, the first to dive toward the Snake-man Legion’s flank!
WRAAAAGH!
On the ground, the endless Demon army erupted into a frenzy!
Tens of thousands of Jackal-Wolf Folk, swinging their hammers and bone axes, strode forward with bloodthirsty howls. Like a black tide, they bypassed the massive Mass Grave and smashed into the Snake-man Legion’s left flank!
The teeming hordes of Dogmen followed close behind, drawing their Bone Bows.
The Ogres pounded their chests, their massive Wolf Fang Clubs whistling through the air as they swung them.
On the other flank.
"Knights! Charge!"
Luke drew his Knight’s Longsword and pointed it forward.
"Crush them!"
The armored torrent of Mammoth Knights and Earth Dragon Knights began to accelerate.
The earth trembled violently beneath their iron-shod hooves.
Griffin Knights and Pegasus Knights soared into the air, forming a sharp attack formation that mirrored the movements of the Black King’s Bat Dragons and Demon Crows.
The war erupted, far more savage and on a much grander scale than originally planned!
After the initial fear and commotion, the Snake-man Legion’s lines displayed surprising resilience.
Piercing hisses rose one after another as Snake-man commanders brandished their Weapons, forcefully quelling the chaos in the ranks.
The dense phalanxes of Snake-men rapidly split their forces. One contingent slithered forward to meet the tide of Demons sweeping in from the left.
The other turned to the right, bracing to meet the torrent of Knights from the Thunder Dragon Duchy head-on.
However, in the moment just before the main armies clashed...
A series of bloodcurdling screams erupted from the rear of the Snake-man Legion.
The captured humans and other intelligent humanoid races were being slaughtered with even greater speed and frenzy by Snake-men wielding Long Spears and Curved Sabers!
One after another, still-warm corpses were mercilessly kicked down into the Mass Grave!
They were trying to complete the bloody ritual with all possible speed before the outcome of the decisive battle was known!
In the first moments of engagement, the casualties on both sides already numbered over a thousand.
At that moment, a figure slowly rose from the center of the Snake-man Legion.
It wore a hideous bone mask, revealing only a pair of vertical pupils that flickered with an eerie, green flame.
This was a Domain Level Snake-man Priest!
The instant it appeared, a cold, deathly aura spread across the battlefield.
It ignored the armies charging from either side, simply stretching out a withered, claw-like hand and aiming it at the battlefield as a whole.
VMMMM!
An invisible ripple of Magic Power swept across the land.
The next moment, a horrifying scene unfolded.
Across the battlefield, the bodies of those who had just fallen in the first wave of attacks—be they Jackal-Wolf Folk, Dogmen, or Snake-men shot down on the perimeter...
...and even the bodies of the prisoners who had just been executed in the distance, not yet thrown into the pit.
All the dead began to float eerily into the air, drawn by this unseen Power.
Hundreds, then thousands of corpses, like weightless puppets, swayed in the air. They converged into a gray river of death, flowing unstoppably toward the Mass Grave at the center of the field!
It intended to use the bodies of the fallen to fill the final gap in its blood sacrifice!
Just then, an aged yet commanding voice rang out from within the Thunder Dragon Duchy’s ranks.
"How dare you desecrate the dead in my presence!"
It was Master Herast, the Chief Court Mage.
His figure floated silently into mid-air, his gray Mage Robe stirring as if in an unseen wind.
He raised the Crystal Magic Staff in his hand.
"Wind, heed my command!"
In an instant, a gale erupted!
A visible vortex materialized out of thin air on the open plain.
At first, it was only the height of a man, kicking up dust and dead leaves.
But within the span of a single breath, the vortex expanded at a terrifying speed!
WHOOSH!
The wind shrieked like the wailing of ghosts and the howling of demons!
Guided by Master Herast’s Magic Staff, a colossal tornado connecting heaven and earth roared into existence!