577 Savage Battle
The initial plan of Immortal Knight's strategy was pretty simple. Zeroa fueled the altered elemental crystals with her mythical flames, overcharging them. She could trigger them with a burst of energy, which was exactly what she did.
The overcharged elemental crystals had been spread out evenly across the prophesied battlefield to cause maximum damage and destroy their enemies' formation. That worked out very well.
Following the successful attempts to stir chaos in the council's army, the well-hidden warriors revealed themselves and charged at the enemies from the front with the majority of the Trilance's power, and the flanks using the great prowess of their Elite forces and the reinforcement.
The formation of their attack was like the colliding blades of a scissor. The overlapping section of the blades was the area where most Summons and Awakened collided with each other, whereas the tapering ends of the blades represented the powerful forces that charged at the enemy. Slowly, the blades tightened until the scissor snapped shut, cutting through everything stuck between the blades.
The Immortal Knight led his people onto the battlefield. They attacked the left flank where most blazing pillars had erupted.
Taking advantage of the chaos and the lowered morale of their enemies, the Immortal Knight and his soldiers gained a foothold on the battlefield within seconds.
Holy Power circulated through the Immortal Knight's body. His strength skyrocketed while his presence intensified. The enemies facing the Immortal Knight trembled while the allies around him felt calm, all of a sudden. Their wildly beating hearts and the uncertainty that bugged them for the last few hours dispersed, and their morale as well as the focus on the battle ahead heightened.
The Immortal Knight's sword was coated in dazzling light and the ground under their feet crackled suddenly. Siegfried Dracoon's movement speed changed from one moment to the next. He accelerated suddenly, his holy movement technique granting him a burst of strength and speed.
The instance right after he executed his movement technique, raging winds conjured behind him. The wind burst forth and pushed against his back, further accelerating Immortal Knight's movement speed. Sparks exploded around his feet and small blazing flames exploded whenever he kicked the ground.
The earth seemed to make way for the Immortal Knight whereas the wind and flames pushed him beyond his limit. He was among the first to reach his enemies, a massive group of Summons. There were Knights, Mages, ordinary Warriors, and Archers. They were troubled and still shocked due to the sudden eruption of the blazing azure pillars, but they reacted faster than the Summons around them. The Knights jerked around, lifted their weapons and prepared for the impact.
However, before they encountered the Immortal Knight head-
on, raging winds blasted into their faces. Loose grains of soil were carried through the air, splashing right into their eyes, forcing them to take a step back and rub their eyes to remove the dirt. They couldn't keep their eyes open to face the Immortal Knight head-on.
Siegfried was astounded at the great synergy and teamwork of the three Lesser Elementals that had partnered up with him. The corner of his lip curled upward, and he made his move. He strode to the side, twisted the heavy broadsword in his hands and struck out. Despite the heavy weight of his weapon, it whizzed through the air like a feather. The heavy broadsword cleaved through the closest Knights, two with one strike, killing them on the spot.
Simultaneously, several fireballs manifested around his head. They fired toward the Mages and Archers, who'd already cast a spell and nocked an arrow on their bowstring. The fireballs were a little slow, but they diverted the Mages and Archers enough to miss the earth spikes that shot out of the ground.
Surprised squeals and pained screams resounded through the vicinity, resulting in carelessly released arrows flying past the Immortal Knight. Meanwhile, the Mages didn't even manage to release their spells. Their feet and calves had been pierced with earth spikes, forcefully disrupting their spellcasting. Their spells broke down, revealing several gaps that could be used to end the Mages in one swoop.
But the Immortal Knight couldn't charge through the dozens of Mages and Warriors that appeared in front of him. He could disrupt the Mages using the Elemental Might of his partners, but it was a little difficult to use the Lesser Elementals' weak prowess to kill dozens of enemies at once.
Fortunately, the Immortal Knight was not alone. The Forest Elven Adventurers and a handful of the territory's strongest Archers and Sharpshooters were present, and ready to aid the Immortal Knight at once.
Lilica was the long-range unit's captain. She used her 4-Star Soultrait, Weakness Detect, to detect the weakest points in the enemy's forces and strike them with her fellow archer companions. Precise Aim, her other 4-Star Soultrait, allowed Lilica to hit every arrow in the bullseye, reaping the lives of one Tier-2 Summon after another.
Pheli didn't stay behind with the other forces either. She and Liopham moved closer to the frontlines to use their Soultraits with more precision. Liopham used Rage of the Primal to attract the attention of the strongest forces, leading them closer to the Immortal Knight where Siegfried could stall time.
It was better to push the strongest enemies in Siegfried's direction rather than allow strong Summons and Awakened to deal with the weaker Holy Knights. Simultaneously, Pheli was there to unleash Battle Cry, her second 4-Star Soultrait, enhancing her allies' strength considerably.
Pheli observed the battlefield intently and exploded her Repelling Shield wherever it was deemed necessary. She protected one of the Holy Knights who was nearly cut in half from a war axe plunging on his head. The Repelling Shield did not only block the war axe, but it absorbed a portion of the war axe's force and released it right back. The Champion Summon fighting the Holy Knight was surprised and lost balance. He couldn't even react in time as the Holy Knight initiated a counterattack.
The Holy Knight's vibrantly glowing Holy Sword sliced across the Champion Summon's throat. A fountain of blood gushed through the air and the Champion Summon collapsed to the ground, choking on his blood. He died mere seconds later.
While Pheli and Liopham chose to take the risk and approach the front, Mika and Opars stayed back. Opars's hand pressed tightly against Mika's back. He released Energy Imprint, refilling Mika's body with Energy as the young Forest Elf used his two Soultraits, Arrow Duplication and Pierce together.
He nocked an arrow on the bowstring and pulled the bowstring back while raising the bow high into the air. There was no need for Mika to aim precisely. All he had to do was shoot the arrow straight into the crowded areas where his enemies had gathered. That was exactly what Mika did. He released the arrow a second after he pulled the bowstring back and watched the arrow duplicate into two arrows…four arrows…eight arrows…sixteen arrows before inertia pulled the arrows back to the ground.
The individual force of the arrows was not extraordinary, and it was hardly enough to kill a Tier-2 Summon if they weren't hit in a vital spot, but Pierce enhanced the penetrative force of the duplicated arrows drastically. Each arrow that hit an enemy would impact the enemy's combat prowess. Even if the effect wouldn't affect some of them drastically, the tiny disruption in their power and concentration might become the crucial factor in deciding between life and death!
Mika didn't eye his arrow for long. There was no time to do so. He sensed the impact of three energy influx, indicating that his duplicated arrows had reaped the lives of three enemies, but he was already on the way to release his second batch of duplicated arrows. He used Duplicated Arrow and Pierce together once again, triggering both Soultraits several times as he pulled the second arrow nocked on the bowstring back.
The Forest Elves' combat prowess was tremendous. They were natural hunters and their expertise with bows and arrows was exceptional. Archers were always of great use on the battlefield where large-scale armies collided.
But then again, there would be a time when ordinary arrows would lose some of their magic. Their use against metal armor sets, strengthened physique, and various other means to block physical projectiles decreased drastically. They wouldn't be as efficient as they were against Tier-1 and Tier-2 Summons at some point.
However, that issue was a concern for the future. However, the Immortal Knight and the Forest Elven Adventurers were pretty sure that they wouldn't have such an issue in the future either. They had various advanced arrows that required mere bits of energy to pierce steel armors and the highly durable physique of Tier-3 Summons and Awakened.
Such arrows were quite expensive, but they were worth the price. Furthermore, there were also other means to improve an arrow's power. The Elemental Might of the Lesser Elementals was one of such means.
The Lesser Elementals' Elemental Might strengthened ordinary arrows, set them on fire, and covered them in raging winds to decrease the air resistance and accelerate them, along with providing other means to improve their prowess drastically.
But the Forest Elves and the Archers supporting Immortal Knight were not the only powerful unit under Siegfried's wing. Many more powerhouses were fighting next to the Immortal Knight.
The Holy Knights fought side-by-side, utilizing their Holy Formation to elevate each other's prowess, allowing them to fight opponents that had higher combat awareness and more years of experience.
Some Holy Knights died, but their deaths weren't for naught. Whenever a Holy Knight died, they released a burst of power that strengthened their allies temporarily while shaking their enemies to the core.
