Near the palace gate, the battle continued. The zombie army was almost routed. Only a few zombie soldiers were left. As a result, many demons went past these zombie soldiers and attacked the remaining of Boron's army, which also didn't have that many left. Some of the soldiers in Thelgrun's army had to fight the demons now.
"Surrender!! You've lost!" Thelgrun yelled at Boron's soldiers. "Do you want to lose your lives?!"
"We will fight for our lord till our last breath!" Odir shouted. He had many wounds on his body. He only had less than 30% HP left. He had been ganged up on by Helga and the others.
"And where is this lord of yours?!" Thelgrun asked.
This question caused Odir to look around. He couldn't find Boron.
"He has fled!" Serpent Boss came forward and said. "He escaped with the outworlder named Sizhad. I trailed after them to the edge of this cave hall but I had to turn back. There were too many demons for me to stay covered."
"Your lord left you to save himself. Is that the dwarf you want to follow?" Thelgrun bellowed. "Is that coward the lord you want to give your life for?!"
Odir gnashed his teeth. He didn't want to believe it, but the fact was Boron was not around. No one saw his body. If he had fallen, there would have been a commotion. Had Boron truly fled and left his followers to die?
Some of the soldiers in Boron's army started throwing down their weapons. "I… I surrender…," They said.
"Me too."
More and more followed.
"Get into the palace courtyard!" Thelgrun yelled. The rebellion was done. There was no point fighting this leaderless army anymore. They had the demons to worry about now.
Everyone ran to the diamond gate. The ones who still had high enough HP covered the retreat.
Helga cast multiple fire spells that had large AOE, burning the demons and slowing them down. He cast Fire Wall to cover her allies' retreat.
A black whip suddenly pierced through the wall of fire. This whip caught one native soldier. He was then pulled away. He was screaming as his body disappeared behind Helga's wall of fire.
Not long after, a large figure burst through the fire. As it did, the fire in the area it passed through died down. It was a large creature with four legs and two long arms. Its skin was completely pitch-black. It had a demon's head with two horns but its face was also completely black. Nothing could be seen from that face except for a row of crimson teeth and two narrow slits of crimson eyes.
Players who used their Inspect learned that this black creature was an Abyss Daemon. It was a level 86 rare elite. Following behind it were several demon knights and demon commanders riding the giant hellhounds.
"Retreat! Retreat…!!" Helga shouted as she continued to cast her spells. She focused her firepower on this abyss daemon, who seemed to have a very high resistance to magic. The creature brushed off her flames as she came at her with its four legs.
It swung its hand. A black whip shot out from that hand. The black whip was very fast and it snatched Helga's body. Grace, who was nearby, grabbed Helga before she was pulled away. Together, they resisted the pull. A dwarf soldier tried cutting the black whip with his axe, but his axe just bounced off without cutting the whip.
Paytowin was also nearby. He summoned his brave saber and cut the black whip with it. Unlike the soldier's axe, his brave saber cut the whip cleanly.
The abyss daemon turned his gaze to Paytowin. Its two narrow eyes burned fiercely. Paytowin felt as if his essence was ripped apart. He screamed from the pain. His HP went down as each second passed.
The abyss daemon was using Soul Burn, a skill Jack had experienced before. This eye skill dealt gradual damage but also had a chance of an instant kill. Paytowin was lucky enough that the instant kill was not triggered.
The soul burn ended mid-duration when Odir appeared behind the abyss daemon and backstabbed it. Helga also fired a flame burst which forced the abyss daemon back.
"Go!" Odir shouted. "I will hold them off! And President Thelgrun…!"
Thelgrun was at the diamond gate's side, urging everyone to enter. He heard Odir's call.
"Please spare my brother. He is just following me," Odir said.
"Brother, no!" Jobreak, who was Odir's brother, shouted.
"Go!!!" Odir yelled as his body broke into a hundred images and assailed the demons that tried to advance.
Helga stopped Jobreak who tried to go to his brother, "Don't waste your brother's sacrifice. Come with us!"
Jobreak was unwilling but Helga forcefully pulled his hand. They entered the diamond gate with the others as Odir fought the demons. Some of the dwarven soldiers chose to stay with this admiral. They were remnants of Boron's army who like Odir, felt great shame after finding the lord they chose had abandoned them. They couldn't live with this shame and chose to atone for it by using their lives to cover their comrades.
Thelgrun gave these warriors one last look before ordering his soldiers to shut the diamond gate. The gate slowly closed. After being spared by the siege weapon's bombardment, the gate's HP had slowly recovered to almost 5%.
Jobreak fell on his knees after the gate was shut. There was no way his brother could survive the onslaught outside.
Everyone took a breather inside the courtyard. The remaining of the surrendered Boron's army was gathered at one side. Their weapons were confiscated. Jobreak stood with them.
After the fierce battle outside, Thelgrun had only 1,100,000 troops left. As for Boron's army, only 50,000 went through the diamond gate with them.
Thelgrun sat weakly. This war had cost too much. His once great army was reduced to such a small number. Not to mention the damage to his capital. Even if he won this war, the cost and effort it took to repair and rebuild would not be small.
But he thought he should count himself lucky to still have his country. Unlike Hydrurond who had to take refuge in another country. He stood back up. He looked at the remnant of Boron's army. Boron's rebellion had failed, but he still had to punish these dwarfs who had followed his brother. He was about to address them when a soldier came to him.
"Mister president… the gate," The soldier said rather panicky.
"What of it?" Thelgrun asked.
"Its HP is reducing again. It is almost 3% now…," The soldier answered.
