"No, duke!" Quintus stopped. A few soldiers did as well.
"Do not stop! Keep going!" Duke Alfredo yelled. "This is an order, do not make me sacrifice in vain."
Quintus gritted his teeth. He then told the others, "Let's go!"
Everyone resumed their run again.
Duke Alfredo dual cast spells with both hands. A row of earth walls was erected on his two sides, forcing the chasing enemies to go through him if they wanted to continue their chase. He then prepared another spell. As he did, someone came to his side.
It was Laurent. Although Duke Alfredo was displeased that someone still stayed behind, he was not surprised to find the person to be his old friend.
"You shouldn't have stayed," Duke Alfredo said to him.
"I've promised Isabelle that I will keep you safe. I intend to keep that promise," Laurent replied.
Alfredo sighed. "I hope she didn't blame us both for not returning."
"As I said, I intend to keep my promise," Laurent said.
Alfredo felt his friend's tone was strange. He looked back and saw Laurent casting a spell with him as a target. He was enveloped by soft light when Laurent completed his spell.
"What do you..."
"Do not come back here. Do not make me sacrifice in vain," Laurent said.
Alfredo's vision was covered by bright light. He had to shut his eyes. When he reopened them, he found himself in a different place. He looked around and found Quintus and the others riding toward him.
"Duke Alfredo?" Quintus asked when he found the duke who had stayed behind was now in front of them.
Laurent had used the Teleportation spell, but a modified version that allowed the spell to target another person instead of the caster. It was not Mass Teleportation like the one Purple Mist had, so it could only teleport one person. But even if Laurent had such a spell, he won't teleport both of them away. That would just bring them back to their original situation where no one was blocking the chasing party.
Alfredo looked in the direction of the chasing enemies. He could see Laurent in the distance. A tall wall of light appeared where Laurent was standing. The two long earth walls that he had erected were also covered by shimmering lights, seemingly empowering them.
Alfredo knew Laurent's Wall of Light spell. It was strong but needed to be continuously maintained by the caster. Alfredo knew Laurent would be able to block those orcs for a significant amount of time as long as he stood there.
He had the urge to go back there but he remembered Laurent's last words to him. He clenched his hands.
"Goodbye, old friend," Duke Alfredo said and resummoned his steed.
He joined Quintus and the others as they rode at full speed. He didn't look back anymore.
Four days since Jack's shock army destroyed the supply carts. Jeanny was still chasing Abdu's army. Both her and Abdu's forces only rested one time in these four days. When the orc's army stopped, Jeanny wanted to take this opportunity to attack. But one look at her army and she knew it was not a wise choice. Her army was also similarly exhausted. Not to mention their number was less than half of their opponents.
Hence, they simply rested while the enemies they chased were resting. Both armies posted sentries that took turns in resting. When the orcs started to move again, Jeanny commanded her army to follow as well. Most of the players grunted a complaint, but they all followed.
Jeanny could only hope that the Jackal Crews delivered on their promise. She had been keeping constant messages with Trinity Dawn, but since Trinity wasn't familiar with the terrain, she could not be sure of their progress. But from the map display, she confirmed to Jeanny that they were indeed heading toward where the Jackal Crews said they would go.
On this fourth day, they arrived in the region where the dragon army was supposed to be battling with Verremor's first army. They could even see the smoke and heard explosions in the distance. They were not far now.
'I hope the dragon army had readied themselves for this sneak attack,' Jeanny thought. She then sent a message to Trinity, "Where is your position?"
"We have just finished planting the caltrops," Trinity replied. "I can see the enemies already. We will prepare to engage!"
Jeanny looked forward. She heard the orc army to the front shouting some battle cries. They must have seen Trinity's force. She breathed a relieved sigh, the Jackal Crews didn't play her. Her relieved expression was only brief, though. She steeled herself soon. The battle was at hand.
She looked back, everyone looked tired. But the enemies were in the same situation.
"EVERYONE, CHARGEEEE....!!!" She bellowed.
The troops behind yelled their battle cries as well. Despite their tiredness, everyone was glad this chasing game was ending soon. They could rest soon once this battle was over. Either rest in glory, or rest in death.
*
Abdu looked back. He had heard the battle cries from the back.
"Lord Chief, the chasing army behind is picking up in speed," One of his aides informed after receiving a report from the soldiers positioned at the back.
Abdu frowned. He looked forward again. A few enemies were standing in front. It couldn't even be called a proper army. He planned to just trample these humans while they continued forward. Why did the army behind pick up in speed? Did they think these few people in front could stop their march?
A memory abruptly came to him then, turning his eyes wide.
"STOP! STOOPP...!!" He shouted.
But his army had been marching at high speed, and they were too close already!
The front-most soldiers went into the area with caltrops. Their mounts disappeared as they stopped abruptly. The ones on the back who were still at full speed crashed into the one who stopped, causing both to stumble. This incident reverberated along the front line, causing the whole army's speed to slowly ground to a halt while the front part became a huge mess.
Abdu felt like he was seeing a repeat of what had happened four days ago when they charged past the fort at Slaughterer Plains. He couldn't believe his army was hit by the same tools again!
At this time, another battle cry was heard from a different direction. Abdu turned and saw many enemies rushing out from the mountain range from the side.
These were the Jackal Crew members joined by their guild soldiers as well as Corporate United's guild soldiers.
Behind, Jeanny's force also caught up to the orc army since they were stopping. The orc army was hit from two sides.
*
Not far away, the Dragon Army was similarly in a clash with Verremor's first army.
In the past few days, Verremor's army had kept themselves close to the border town. The border Town was called Thenitsa. It was one of the three border towns the orcs had occupied as the home bases for their invasion. With the ranged players placed on top of the town walls and wounded soldiers resting inside while the rest of the army fought in its vicinity, the first army had managed to limit their casualties during the absence of supplies.
But today, despite many of the soldiers not in full HP and also carrying almost broken weapons, Verremor's first army fought extremely ferociously in the field outside of the border town. Just as how they fought in the first few days when supplies were still arriving without delay. Today, the orcs fought as if they didn't care if they live or die.
The Dragon army happily took them on.
The leader of the dragon army, Emris, heard the commotion from far away behind his army and looked back. He used a spell that enhanced his vision and saw Abdu's and Jeanny's armies battling.
'So, there truly is a sneak army coming from behind,' Emris thought.
Yet, with how crazily the orc army was fighting today, he couldn't divert his army to guard the back. His army formation could collapse if he loosened the pressure on these orcs.
"I guess today will be our final battle then?" Emris said to Makubwa in front of him. They were both floating high in the sky. "You should know that at this moment, the sneak army you depended on is being halted."
Makubwa also used an eye skill that allowed him to see far. He had seen the situation of Abdu's army.
"That army holding our sneak army is only half the number. They won't hold them long. If you don't divert some troops to help them. You will be the one in trouble," Makubwa said. "Whatever it is. As you said, today will be our last battle in this war."
"Well, let's give it our all then, shall we?" Emris asked.
"Let's," Makubwa agreed. The club in his hand enlarged to an impossible size. It was now tens of times bigger than its actual size. It was as if a pillar of heaven, which Makubwa brought down on Emris.
The massive pillar just passed through the elder wizard. Copies of himself appeared around Makubwa.
"Hah! Can't you use a new trick?" Makubwa mocked.
"If it is working, why change?" Emris said back. Lightning, fire, and ice energies started shooting from all directions toward Makubwa.
Makubwa spun around using his massive club, creating a huge tornado. All the incoming elemental energies were swept as they touched the tornado. The tornado expanded and then consumed all of Emris' images that were floating around.
Makubwa stopped spinning and the tornado dissipated. He sensed something from above and looked up. From the sky, three elemental beings descended upon him. A firebird, a lightning dragon, and an ice tiger.
Makubwa lifted his club and used it to block the three elemental beings. The three collided with his club and they forcefully dragged Makubwa down at high speed. The war chief slammed into the ground and a huge elemental explosion occurred.
When the explosion subsided. Makubwa was standing on a crater. His club had returned to its normal size. He had dirt all over him but his HP was still almost full. The assault didn't hurt him much.
"As expected of Verremor's strongest war chief," Emris said from up high.
"Hmph. It will soon be my turn to drag you down," Makubwa responded.
