Icetail Fortress was a city with nearly one million population. The city is located approximately 129.1 Km (80.21...miles) away from the former capital of the Northern Frost Dragon empire. But now that the whole Empire has been officially taken over by the Istarin Empire, the Aurora Frostreach was no longer considered the Capital.
Icetail Fortress was located on top of the mountain that was 2,250 meters (7381.89 feet) tall. For the most part of the year, the temperature on top of the mountain where the city was located has always been low. This city experiences more snowfall than any other city within the Southern region.
And being situated at the top of the mountain has always made this city extremely tough to conquer or capture. Another reason why this city was given the name Icetail Fortress is because of its impenetrable defense system. Since its formation, not a single army has breached the city's impenetrable defense system. This was something that all of the citizens of this city were proud of.
But today it looks like that was about to change. For the first time in its history, it looked like Icetail Fortress City was going to lose the battle. Because the army that they were currently fighting weren't humans, or beast-man or elves or Dragons or Mermen....the army that they were currently facing were strange spiders that had transparent bodies.
The appearance of the strange white-looking spiders started around 10 in the morning. The city's people were doing their work and were continuing with their lives just like any other day. There was a slight excitement among the population as they had become a part of the Istarin Empire. But most normal people ignored this matter. However, they were relieved to know that there won't be any civil war in this Empire because of this annexation.
Around 10 in the morning, a strange thing happened. A small white spider with a transparent body and red eyes appeared in front of the Icetail Fortress City's northern entrance. The guards didn't know what kind of monster this spider was until the spider killed a normal woman in front of them and sucked the woman's life force. Realizing the danger of this spider, the guards immediately killed the spider.
But as soon as they did that, they were alarmed by the watchtowers that a horde of countless white spiders was heading in their direction.
All four of the city's entrances were completely shut down. The 3-star defensive Dome was activated. All the 25,000 guards that guarded the city and kept the public order were deployed to fight the enemies. And the battle started.
When the guards of 25,000 started fighting against the Soul Devouring Spiders, at first everyone thought that this was going to be a tough battle but in the end, they were going to win. But just a few minutes later, they realized how wrong they were. The Soul Devouring Spider's numbers kept increasing with each second. More and more Spiders marched towards the city.
As a result what had started as a battle between 25,000 troops against around 100,000 Soul Devouring Spiders quickly changed into the number of Soul Devouring Spiders rapidly increasing. The number of spiders went from 100,000 to 150,000 to 200,000 to 300,000 and kept increasing.....
The pressure on each soldier increased as more Soul Devouring Spiders kept coming and joined others to attack the soldiers as soon as possible. Even though the soldiers used magic cannons, arrows, and long-ranged spells, nothing worked. The number of the Soul Devouring Spiders was ridiculously high. Within a few minutes, things took a worse turn for the city as the number of troops started falling from 25,000 to 20,000 and then 15,000.
What made the situation even worse was the fact that unlike in normal battles where even if a troop was seriously injured, the chances of him surviving were still there. But in this battle, as long as the soldier was even injured the Soul Devouring Spiders would use this invulnerability to kill the soldier, and then a few of the Soul Devouring Spiders would suck the soldier's life force before moving on to the next target.
The situation had already gotten out of hand. Fortunately, 50,000 Istarin Empire troops were dispatched to Icetail Fortress. All of the cities, towns, and even villages where it was reported to be attacked by Soul Devouring Spiders, reinforcements from the Capital of the Istarin empire were sent there immediately under Watson and Spencer's command. Among the 50,000 Istarin troops there were 100 powerful Dragonians.
As long as 50,000 Istarin troops joined the battle, the other soldiers were able to take a deep breath of relief but that relieved feeling did not last long as the number of Soul Devouring Spiders kept increasing. All of the Istarin Soldiers felt despair after seeing the ever-decreasing number of Soul Devouring Spiders.
The sight of the relentless wave of Soul Devouring Spiders was demoralizing to the troops. As the number of spiders continued to surge, a thick cloud of despair settled over the battlefield. The once coordinated and valiant soldiers of the city, now worn out, were quickly losing hope.
"Why... why won't they stop coming?" a soldier gasped, his eyes wide with terror, glancing around the battlefield where his comrades were being overwhelmed.
"I can't take it anymore. It's like fighting against the tide!" another soldier cried out, his voice trembling with exhaustion. Sweat dripped from his brow, mixing with the dust and grime of battle.
"I feel so tired. My hands are numb," complained one soldier, dropping his weapon momentarily to shake out his aching hands.
"We've been fighting for hours, and it feels like we've achieved nothing," said another, looking out at the sea of spiders. "Every time we take one down, ten more appear."
A veteran soldier, scars adorning his face, tried to rally his comrades, shouting, "Stay strong! Remember our families and our city. We can't give up now!"
But his words felt hollow, even to him, as he saw younger soldiers, many fresh out of training, with tears in their eyes, their spirits broken. The situation was dire, and everyone felt the weight of it. To make things worse, many of the soldiers were almost out of Mana and were beginning to feel extremely tired to continue the battle. This battle was really demanding. They had to engage not just one Soul Devouring Spider but rather a whole lot of Spiers at once while keeping their guards up as if they were careless even for a second, they would lose their lives.
"You think the reinforcements will make it in time?" a young soldier asked hopefully, trying to look for some light at the end of the tunnel. But even he knew that might not be any reinforcement. As 50,000 reinforcements were just sent 30 minutes ago.
"I hope so," replied his friend, gripping his weapon tighter. "But we have to keep fighting until they arrive, no matter how hard it gets."
All around, the once mighty army looked defeated, not by the enemy's might, but by the sheer endless numbers they faced. The mental strain was clear; every soldier was pushed to their limit, battling not just the spiders but their own growing despair.
Another 10 to 15 minutes passed. By now, the majority of the soldiers had grown really tired and they were almost out of Mana. The moment some of them ran out of Mana, they were defenseless against attacks from the spiders and were killed as a result of it. The situation was only getting worse and worse.
While the troops were mentally and physically exhausted but kept fighting regardless. Suddenly all of them sensed a strong presence on the battlefield. The presence was so strong that they felt their bodies being paralyzed in fear for a second. Even all of the Soul-Devouring Spiders stopped attacking and sucking life force from dead soldier's bodies as if acknowledging the presence of this Soul Devouring Spider.
"That's....." The Commander of the troops took a step back in deep fear. Drops of sweat began rolling down his cheeks as he gulped nervously while staring at the Peak 5th-order Soul Devouring Spider. The size of this Soul Devouring Spider was 10 meters. It was a Female Soul Devouring Spider. The stomach of this spider was slightly larger compared to other spiders; indicating that this female spider may be pregnant.
The appearance of Peak 5th-order Soul Devouring Spider changed the whole tide of this battle. From the beginning, their chances of winning this battle were really low. And with the appearance of Peak 5th-order Soul Devouring Spider, no their chances of winning this battle were zero. After all, who the hell in their ranks could take on a peak 5th-order cultivator? Even the commander himself was a Beginner 4th-order cultivator. Even if the Dragonians joined hands and fought this Soul Devouring Spider, the chances of them winning were basically zero.
The sight of the monstrous Peak 5th-order Soul Devouring Spider had struck terror into the hearts of the already under-pressured soldiers. The overwhelming pressure emanating from the massive creature was unlike anything they had ever felt before. Their fatigue seemed to intensify tenfold, making the ground beneath them feel like a quagmire, pulling them down.
"It's over..." One of the soldiers dropped his weapon, his hands shaking uncontrollably as he stared, wide-eyed, at the enormous Soul Devouring Spider. His once fierce determination had been replaced with overwhelming dread and fear.
"We've lost...." Another soldier murmured, his voice devoid of hope. His face was ashen, and his eyes carried the look of someone who had seen the abyss.
"Is this... is this the end?" A third soldier whispered, tears streaking down his dirt-covered face.
"We can't... we can't beat that," a young recruit stammered, his legs failing him as he sank to the ground, defeated.
Even the hardened veterans, who had seen countless battles, were dumbfounded. "By the gods... I've never seen anything like it," a grizzled sergeant muttered, clutching his chest as if trying to calm his racing heart.
Nearby, two soldiers leaned against each other for support, their shoulders slumped. "Even if we had the energy to keep fighting... how can we stand against that?" one of them said, his voice heavy with resignation.
The morale, already fragile, crumbled in the face of the titanic spider. All of the troops lost their hopes and felt that it was useless to continue this battle when the winner of this battle already had been decided.
The Peak 5th-order Spider slowly stepped forward. The other Soul Devouring Spiders moved out of the way for her. All of the other spiders showed immense respect to this Spider. The Peak 5th-order Soul Devouring Spiders had used its cultivation Aura to suppress all of the troops.
Before she could take the lives of any soldier, suddenly thick grey roots rose from the ground. Under everyone's disbelieved and shocked gazes, the Soul Devouring Spider found herself bound with the grey roots.
The Spider tried to break herself free from these damned roots but to her horror, she realized that no matter how much she tried, she couldn't even move an inch. Realizing this fact, for the first time, she felt fear in her heart. Since she was a Peak 5th-order cultivator, her intelligence was really high; as high as humans. She immediately became cautious and tried to sense any Powerful cultivators around but she found no one. This made her feel confused and wonder who had done this to her.
Even with her monstrous strength of being Peak's 5th-order powerhouse, she couldn't break these damn grey roots. The next second she felt the roots tightening around her body, making her feel suffocated. Before she could do anything, she felt her mana was being sucked from her.
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