983 Decisive Moment (1)
The battle continued with the enemies going further and further away. If this continued, Qiel would definitely defeat Damian and bring back enough reinforcement to turn the situation around.
However, to reach her, Noel and the others had to cut their way through these numerous demons.
Finally, the flying squad returned to the north wall before dropping everything they had around the gate.
After that, the city gate on the north wall was finally lowered. The first two people that emerged from the gate were none other than Dimitri and Anna.
Lightning Piercer.
Shadow Gate.
An enormous lightning strike flew toward the demons, hitting one of them and electrocuting everyone around. On the other side, a giant circle appeared on the ground and started swallowing the demons as though it were a gate to hell.
There were two Spirit Masters that accompanied them. They were the two original direct subordinates of Howard.
Their original task was to bring a total of fifty elite soldiers with them and protect them as they tried to break through the demon army.
"Kill them!" Laufey obviously wouldn't allow them as he sent forth the demons.
The demon army shifted a little bit, positioning themselves to stop Anna and Dimitri.
Four Superior Demons also came forth. The Ancient Demon Tree sent the roots to crush the soldiers behind Anna. This was also another reason why it would be hard to break through the enemies.
If only the two of them reached the other side, it would be hard to stop Qiel and those numerous demons. At the same time, the demon army would do everything they could to kill as many soldiers as possible.
"I will create a path for you, young lady Anna." Dimitri took a deep breath as his shadow began to return to his body, forming several tattoos. At the same time, a red horn appeared on the left side of his forehead. "True Spirit Body."
The spiritual energy inside Dimitri's body erupted, causing the ground to reverberate. Even Laufey, who was commanding the demon, noticed Dimitri's action. "He is really going to activate his True Spirit Body."
He couldn't help but smile, realizing that everything had gone according to Qiel's prediction. Even if Dimitri could last for a while, they could just wear him down first before defeating him.
"Shadowless Body." Dimitri's transformation wasn't as grand as that of Duke Briton. However, that was exactly why he had the shadow power. If one took a look at his body, they would notice that there was no shadow underneath him. It was because he controlled every shadow in the world. And if he still had his shadow, that shadow would also be affected.
With a single wave of his hand, numerous roots suddenly emerged from the ground.
"!!!" In every single root, there was a black shadow spiraling to the very tip. Two more Superior Demons charged forward, blocking their path.
Dimitri stepped forward and raised his blade.
"Shadow Explosion."
The moment Dimitri waved his blade, the shadows of every living thing felt like they were being pulled back.
The wave of energy coming from his sword caused an extremely powerful shock wave that launched all the shadows away. And obviously, the shadows ended up pulling up the real bodies, clearing up their path.
Laufey gritted his teeth. Even though he knew that Dimitri was strong, he never expected that he would be this strong. Just like Duke Briton, if he wanted to cause massive destruction, it wouldn't be hard for him.
The low level demons couldn't withstand the pressure from that blade, causing them to have their bones pulled out of their bodies and ultimately killing them.
Now that there was a gap, the soldiers increased their pace, making sure that they didn't get left behind.
"Kill them!" Laufey gritted his teeth. This wasn't enough. He should weaken Dimitri even further. "Even if they get past you, just chase after them."
This was also Qiel's scheme. If they could chase after Anna and Dimitri before Qiel turned around, flanking them from two sides, even with the True Spirit Body, they wouldn't survive.
However, the water inside the ditch suddenly rose, startling Laufey.
'This power… Isn't he supposed to be…' Laufey gasped and hurriedly shouted, "Not good. Hurry up and back out! Superior Demons, hurry up and form a barrier to redirect the water to avoid all of us getting killed."
"Tsunami."
The water started to fall forward, creating a raging wave that swept the battlefield.
All of a sudden, Duke Briton stepped on the north wall, looking at the entire situation much more clearly than before.
The Superior Demon Tree hurriedly created a barricade with its roots, but Duke Briton sent forth multiple creatures to take it down. Meanwhile, Milfa had returned to her position, taking over Duke Briton's job.
'There are still ten minutes left.' Duke Briton thought before waving his hands, controlling the waves so that the enemies didn't chase after Anna and Dimitri.
Laufey furrowed his eyebrows, thinking, 'So, that's what they want. Duke Briton still has some time left, so they want him to stop the demons from chasing after Anna and Dimitri. At the same time, even if Duke Briton has exhausted his power, his expertise on the battlefield is much higher than that of Noel or Howard.
'In other words, there will be two commanders on top of that wall, allowing them to create two separate actions. This is not looking good, but I still have enough strength to resist them.'
Laufey hurriedly arranged the yellow flower to gather the demons so that they could block off the waterway connected to the river. As long as there wasn't enough water, Duke Briton's strength wouldn't do much.
Qiel didn't care about this because Duke Briton didn't have much time left on the battlefield. This also showed Laufey's ability to command the demon army.
Because he ordered the demons to stop the flowing water, Duke Briton could finally isolate them.
The raging water suddenly shifted as if it had its own will. However, what actually happened was that the left side had a higher flow rate than the right side.
Duke Briton actually pumped out more water toward the left side, causing a small flooded area that separated the left side and the army in front of him.
"!!!" Laufey widened his eyes in shock. Something was going on, but he didn't know what Duke Briton was trying to do.
Duke Briton glanced at Aerton. "Go!"
Aerton nodded. He was tasked with doing everything that Duke Briton ordered. So, he immediately sent off the signal for the flying squads to exterminate all the demons on the left after they were isolated.
"!!!" Laufey widened his eyes in shock. "Wait a minute. Don't tell me, he is…"
Laufey reacted a bit too late because the flying squad had gone straight to the demons that were trying to fill up the waterway with soil.
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
The demons were so focused on dealing with the soil that they didn't react fast enough to the bombardment.
Laufey trembled, his face was pale. "He… he actually wanted me to use all the demons that had the ability to control earth or soil and eliminate all of them. He knew that they would be the most dangerous ones because they could create a bridge that could reach the top of the wall. Qiel actually wanted to use them as a trump card, but Duke Briton saw through it and eliminated all of them."
That was right. The Demon Tree was dangerous, but it was still only a single tree. There were other demons that could manipulate the earth and form a staircase to the top of the wall with that power.
Qiel originally wanted to wait until the sky turned dark before building complex staircases all around the wall. This way, the people on top of the wall didn't realize that their doom was about to come.
Hence, eliminating them would cause the demon army to suffer an insurmountable loss. Even if they wanted to reach the top of the wall, they would need to make a lot of sacrifices. And there was no guarantee that they could actually win or not.
Laufey knew that he had made a huge blunder.
Duke Briton simply smiled as if everything had gone as expected. "You are too young to fight me on the battlefield, brat. Better call that old woman or a genius like Noel Ardagan if you want to fight me."
This was the second intention of Duke Briton using his True Spirit Body early. Even if he couldn't fight anymore, he could still command the army.
"Release all we have and mow them down. We will reduce their number as much as possible before dusk." Duke Briton commanded.
"Yes, Sir." Aerton hurriedly passed the message to others.
Howard let out a long sigh. The second stage of the battle was almost done. He had to recover first before they could move on to the third stage.
But before that, there was another place he had to go. Howard rushed back to the bottom of the wall where Clara fought against the Superior Demon Crocodile.
With both of them here, the Superior Demon would die sooner or later.
Even the Gem Lord was impressed by how the situation developed. He had never thought that Noel could gather all these people.
"It seems that I haven't made the wrong choice. Well, I'll be enjoying the wealth of the Ardagan Family after this battle and passing on my mantle as an elder of the Tower Association. I wonder if the Earl allows me to enjoy my peaceful retirement in his city…" The Gem Lord playfully smiled.
He would get twenty percent of the mine's shares. If he retired, it meant that he could spend the rest of his life researching things without any pressure.
And with this battle, the Ardagan Family would definitely soar into the sky, becoming the perfect place to retire.
"It seems that I have to contribute much more than this if I want to retire here. While I don't have the fancy True Spirit Body, I still have enough strength to kill a Superior Demon and thousands of lower level demons." The Gem Lord became a bit energetic, as if his future was on the line.
There were two other people who worked extremely hard. While they didn't have a fighting role, they still played a fairly important role in this battle.
The first one was Rose. She had been stationed inside the city in case their strategy against the underground demon failed.
But since the strategy succeeded, her role turned into that of a support and analyst of the battle. With the sense and power she had trained when she was with the Demon Banner Army, Rose actually knew how she should move the troops.
After seeing the number of injured people that had been brought down from the city wall, Rose said, "Bring the injured to the east ward. Also, send another one hundred people to the wall."
"Understood." A soldier immediately left her to bring the message.
The women and kids were moving around the town with bandages and hot water, helping with the treatment of the soldiers. And Rose was the one controlling everything.
Charlotte was looking at her from afar while shaking her head helplessly. "It seems that my successor can help not only with administrative problems but also on the battlefield. I'm glad."
Jasmine sighed. "My knowledge is not related to this, but help me with the number of herbs, will you? I will create a farm both for food and medicinal herbs after this battle."
"I know. Anyway, we rested long enough. Let's continue treating the others."
"Yeah."
On the other side of the city, Livia was shouting at the men who were carrying boxes after boxes. "Bring those boxes over there. These boxes are immediately sent to Tristan."
Yes, Livia was also playing an important role. While she was good at fighting, her identity as the second princess caused her to work as someone working behind the table even in the Greenwood Kingdom. And Noel took advantage of this and made her the supervisor of their logistics.
She had been sending supplies of the flying squad's bombs, demon crystals, and runes.
With these two women working on their jobs, the wall wouldn't fall.
That was why Anna and Dimitri could chase after Qiel. As expected, the one that would determine this war would be their battle.
