Out of the six defensive fronts in the three countries, the two fronts in Hyrdurond had contact with the underworld forces. The ones in Aurebor were not yet because they were further away. It took a longer marching time, but the difference should only be a few days. The ones in Palgrost were also further away, and the underworld forces heading to this country were hampered by the navy. The defenders in those two countries had the luxury of a few more peaceful days.
While the Themisphere army was fighting in the Southern part, Hydrurond and many league factions were guarding the Northern part.
Dytess served as the commander of the Hydrurond army. Ragorth was appointed the commander of the league faction collectives. Janus and Hashi stood by his sides as his lieutenants. Megan from Evil Breakers was appointed the commander of the outworlder community. She was aided by Herald from Inquisition.
When they saw the demon army appearing on the horizon, everyone couldn't help but feel apprehension.
"Fighting a demonic army. This would have been exhilarating if this was a game. I never thought I would fight demons for real," Herald said.
"These demons aren't real. They are characters in a game made real," Megan said. "I have fought a real demon in the past."
Herald looked at her. "You mean… in the real world?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Megan didn't answer.
Although the combined league factions were many, their number couldn't be compared to an army. Hence, their total number was fewer than the troops defending the Southern part. But what they lacked in quantity, they made up for in quality. The levels and grades of league faction members were generally higher than the regular troops.
Additionally, Jack sent his trump card here, the Ancient Sect. The Southern part had the mobile fortress and rune tree, so he figured he should send this demon-fighting regiment here.
The five thousand ancient champions were pretty eye-catching with their shining armor. Agamon stood fast at the head. He was fully covered in his ancient armor, the same one he wore when he met Jack. Next to him were Hipponion and Atalente.
Aside from the Ancient Sect, Jack also sent his royal agents here. Duke Alfredo was appointed the leader. All the royal agents stood together except for Tetsuo, who stood a distance away. When Alfredo asked him to gather, he replied that he was better off fighting solo. This displeased the other royal agents, but they chalked it up to him being the newest recruit, so it would take time to get used to each other.
When the underworld forces arrived in this place, it was only an hour after the Southern front was hit. The defensives prepared here were largely the same. Well-built walls to stop the demons, traps to halt their charge, and siege weapons to soften them down.
Once the battle started, it didn't take long before the demons started climbing the walls, and melee engagement began. The Hydrurond army and league factions guarded the majority of the walls.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Half of the Ancient Sect guarded the middle, while the other half spread along the walls. The reason was, like Themisphere's Ancient Champions, they possessed an aura that debuffed demons. With them spreading out, their aura covered the entire defensive line, weakening the demons for everyone to fight.
The part that had the least difficulty in stopping the demons was the middle part, where the Ancient Sect was. Not only were the ancient champions all level 90 combatants with high grades but their skills and spells were also mostly catered to slay demons.
They were very eager to fight the demons. So much so that they jumped out of the wall and engaged the demons directly. This caused Dytess and Ragorth to worry. They worried these ancient champions' confidence would push them too far into the enemy's territory and got themselves surrounded. But despite their seeming recklessness, they stayed near the walls.
Among the ancient champions, their three leaders were the most eye-catching.
Atalente was very fast. Her movements were like lightning. She had a short-cooldown movement skill that allowed her to zip a decent distance. This let her move from one position to another constantly, confusing the demons that tried to catch her.
She used a skill similar to Asura. The skill produced only two extra arms, and they didn't carry any weapon, but this skill had no duration or cooldown. She practically had the extra arms all the time. She used her golden bow with these extra arms while her two original arms wielded two golden longswords. She was both a melee and a range fighter.
Hipponion fought with fist weapons. He was not as fast as Atalente, so it didn't take long before the demons surrounded him. As they did, his armor shone. The glow was brightest at the animal carvings on his armor. The glow on these animal carvings made them seem as if alive. Then, they truly came to life.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})The carvings popped out of his armor and turned into light-covered animals. Glowing lion, bear, boar, deer, eagle, snake, and fish moved around him. With a signal, these seven animals lunged at the demons. The lion, bear, and boar fought savagely in melee combat. The deer and fish were ranged attackers that sent wind and ice attacks. The fish could also submerge into the ground and deliver ambushing attacks. The eagle attacked from the sky, while the snake relied on fast speed to move around the enemies before striking.
Hipponion could also cast spells. His spells mostly derived from the druid and summoner class, allowing him to call even more summons to fight by his side.
As for Agamon, he didn't move much. His standard attacks were range attacks where he shot balls of energy at distant enemies. The circular disc behind him was similar to Jack's aureole when he was under War God Manifestation. This disc spun and glowed before Agamon fired a thick silver beam that dealt soul damage to a large number of enemies. The beam didn't deal as much damage as the War God Manifestation's final attack, but it could be used every five minutes.
Agamon also had a wide library of spells from the Inquisitor, priest, archmage, and elementalist classes. Besides those, he had unique spells that hurt demons the most. One of his unique spells allowed him to control a mass of demons at once. This spell only affected weak demons, though. Another spell was an AOE offensive spell with a decent chance of causing instant-kill effects to demons.
With these ancient champions, the defenders here had a slightly better situation compared to the Southern defenders.
Despite the superiority of the ancient champions, the defenders were outnumbered. The mid-section might be doing well because of the ancient champions, but it was not so everywhere. After some time, one part of the walls crumbled over another. The defenders were doing all they could to stop the demons from pouring through the crumbled walls.
Duke Alfredo and the other royal agents went around helping the parts most in dire need of aid. Aside from Tetsuo, the royal agents had been together for quite some time, so they cooperated well with each other. They knew one another's strengths and weaknesses.
Tetsuo might be acting on his own, but he followed where the royal agent went. He just kept a certain distance from them. A distance that was not too far that he still received the buffs from Elayne's music.
He used a handgun in his left hand to shoot the enemies as he moved. When a demon bat swooped down at him, green wings sprouted from his back. He equipped the mechanical claw in his right hand and flew up. He dodged the demon bat's charge using Air Skate, shifting to the demon bat's side, and punched the bat.
The punch was a standard attack, but it was powered by mana manipulation. The bat lost balance from that punch. Tetsuo chased after the bat while using Infinite Lightning Punches.
The other bats came to their comrade's aid. Without stopping his punches, his left hand that held the handgun spun around. He was using Gunner's Bulletstorm.
"Robinson, go and aid Tetsuo," Alfredo said.
Robinson transformed into his eagle form and was about to fly up, but they heard Tetsuo exclaim, "No need! You, people, take care of your side!"
The others were surprised that Tetsuo could hear from such a distance, but they were more surprised that he was paying attention to them while fighting. Perhaps he was not that lone of a wolf.
Tetsuo continued to battle the enemies that outnumbered him. He didn't appear to be in trouble. None of the demons were able to hit him. He might not have the graceful movements of a martial artist, but his movements were accurate. Even when the demons cast spells at him, he could sense and evade them in time before counterattacking using his handgun.
He didn't use any big skills. He mostly used standard attacks to grind down his opponents. As a level 90 eternal grade, his attacks were rather meek. The other royal agents wondered if he was just high in level but possessed few skills, but then they noticed his expression. He seemed bored.
A level 82 eternal daemon carrying a fiery axe barged in through the scores of demon bats. Its fiery axe came cleaving at Tetsuo. Its entrance had been so abrupt that Tetsuo had no time to dodge. He parried the axe using his mechanical claw.
He then gave the daemon a point-blank fire in the face. Before he could fire his gun a second time, multiple ice swords appeared around him. He dashed back just as those ice swords pierced his previous position. He traced the spell and saw it was from a level 93 mythical archdemon a distance away.
