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Chapter 127 - Counterattack
🕑 Added 2019-08-17 12:45:17 +0000 UTC
With my presence, the humans don't dare to advance anymore - until maybe another Chosen Knight shows up. Folke had no trouble getting past me while invisible, though it was a huge gamble on his part since he knew I'm able to pinpoint his location somehow. Thus, as long as I'm here, the battle in the tunnel behind me won't be disrupted by any further participants.
Kamii and Terog are fighting the invisible Folke. Even when the former knows where he is, he's still a formidable opponent. In a way, she's doing it all on her own, as the boar demon isn't much help right now. It seems that her cursed arm isn't just strong, but also incredibly sturdy. Sparks fly out of nowhere when she uses it to block attacks from the Mirage Knight - more often than not for her ally rather than herself.
Zancrax and Ireyo are brute-forcing the battle against Colart. Using his granite armor as a shield for herself, she weaves in and out of combat with her giant cleaver-like weapon, shredding iron shields with every strike. While the minotaur can't do much with his large size, he keeps the Knight of the Iron Veil's attention on him by repeatedly trying to charge through the latter's defenses.
To be honest, the battle is at a pretty low level compared to what I've witnessed or participated in before. When one can throw a punch that creates shockwaves blowing away everybody in the vicinity, seeing people fight it out with feints and strategy is refreshing though. At my level, thinking too much is a waste of time, as a single attack can decide it all.
I notice from watching them that Kamii is really using her eyes to follow Folke's location. Is she able to see through invisibility with them after all? Maybe all cursed beings have modified eyes as well as some other expression of corruption, such as her crab arm or Hestia's black wings.
That reminds me that the fallen angel is fighting in the sky. Several demons as well as a few Fatas have already rained down from above, some hurt and performing a crash-landing, but most of them dead. The few demons that make it to the ground alive are instantly hacked to death by the humans that cover the entire slope before the gates.
I have to consciously avert my eyes from that truth so that I can keep my sanity. How can I not do something while my people are dying? But Zenlith is hovering his finger over the win button - or at least it's his victory condition - so I have to let this play out within the confines of his scenario.
But I forgot to tell him that if he should use the Imagination Engine to destroy the entire continent, I'd be coming after him until he's dead. It would still be my loss, but he won't get away with it alive at least.
Suddenly, Terog screams, and I return my focus to the fight behind me. It seems that Folke landed a cut on his forearm with an invisible blade after Kamii saved him from it all this time. Luckily, it's not too deep, and he's going to walk away from this with just another scar to adorn himself with - provided he survives this fight.
"What's the matter?" I hear the Mirage Knight taunt his opponents. With my Chaos senses, I know exactly where he is, but his voice does seem to echo unnaturally. Maybe that's part of his personal fantasy too.
"Damn you!" Terog appears to lose his cool, as he swings both his arms wildly. Then Kamii pulls him back by his belt, though I see a cut appearing on his face just above the eye. She just saves his life once again.
"Calm down." The little dark elf continues to stare into thin air, exactly at where Folke is, and chides her partner. "Don't lose your cool."
"I didn't." The boar demon replies in a defiant tone, but to me it looked totally like he did. But then he looks ahead with a broad grin before turning to the other battle. "Zancrax, tag!"
Out of nowhere, as if that had been planned from the beginning, the minotaur charges straight into the wall. I'm just as surprised as the Mirage Knight at this sudden development, especially because my Chaos senses tell me that he was just crushed against the tunnel wall by that.
At the same time, Kamii has switched over to attacking Colart without even looking at what just happened. She gets three hits in before the Knight of the Iron Veil attempts to attack her. However, right at that moment, Ireyo swings her broken sword on the chain attached to its handle, aiming at his legs. He has to jump and messes up his momentum, causing the rapier to miss the little dark elf.
She gets four more hits in, at which point the shields bend under the force of her attacks. But instead of taking his distance and taking away the targets for her to build up her combo on, he increases the defenses, not knowing the truth about her power. That will prove to be his downfall.
One strike, and several iron shields are bent out of shape. Another strike, and Colart loses control over them, as they're no longer suspended in midair and fly past his face as dangerous projectiles. He raises his rapier to create more, but it's already too late; Kamii's strike lands on the last remaining shield, which is propelled into his midsection. The crushing sound results from both armor and bones breaking. Then he's flung backward against the wall, from which he slides down lifelessly.
In an instant, they turned the battle around and dispatched their enemies, two powerful Chosen Knights, with nearly silent coordination. The way they split up initially was to lull them into a false sense of security. After all, even with Zancrax and Ireyo's physical strength, they could never get through Colart's defenses. At the same time, Kamii was weighed down by Terog's inability to see their opponents, which resulted in an unfavorable position of the two.
But when the minotaur steps back to reveal the crushed remains of Folke, I realize how he was able to pinpoint his location even without anybody pointing the right way. On the Mirage Knight's right shoulder, far away from any other wounds, is a splotch of blood - left there by Terog's seemingly furious swings. The boar demon used his own blood to place it in the knight's blind spot.
That shouldn't have been enough for him to be defeated. It's impossible that Folke never got an enemy's blood on himself before, so the timing had to be right. After all, when he cut Terog, the blood on his weapons instantly disappeared. It means he has to be aware of it - or refresh his invisibility at a set interval across his entire body. An interval the boar demon seems to have figured out during their fight.
After all, he had been cut several times before without ever letting out his voice. There are a few more wounds all across his body that I didn't notice because of the color of his clothes and armor. So that scream was to get Zancrax' attention, and his outburst was to put blood on Folke in a place he wouldn't erase before the next interval of activating his invisibility.
The minotaur saw the floating splotch of blood and without a moment's hesitation, charged him into a wall. Kamii saw it and knew that the Mirage Knight was out of commission, so she immediately turned her attention to Colart.
And just as they had to use a trick to take down the elusive Folke, defeating the Knight of the Iron Veil was just as straightforward as his personality. Not knowing about the little dark elf's combo curse spelled his downfall.
A roaring cheer echoes through the tunnel as the demons on the other side who witnessed the conclusion to the battle raise their voices. On the other side, the humans stare with their jaws hanging open as their two champions were killed right before their eyes.
"I can leave this place to you then?" I ask Kamii and her party without turning around. Terog stares at me with a dumbfounded expression, then sighs in resignation. He was the only one wounded in this battle, so he might have been thinking that with me here, he could get some rest. Instead, I'm making him continue fighting right away.
But I have to get an overview of the battle situation again and can't stay on the ground forever. While these four have won against the two Chosen Knights, demons have been continuously falling from the sky, wounded or killed by Fatas. I fear that Hestia could be one among them eventually, too.
"Go." Kamii points at me with her cursed arm, discerning my concern for the others fighting elsewhere on the battlefield. She gives me a smile filled with confidence, and my heart jumps at seeing a rare expression from her. "We got this."
Not saying anything more, I jump up only to realize that Colart's shields are still there. If he's dead, how come-
"He's still alive!" I shout into the tunnel, but see Zancrax getting smashed into the wall next to Folke by something invisible. Terog is next as he was leaning against the minotaur due to his wounds. Then the same fate befalls Ireyo, who lets go of her giant sword.
Only Kamii is able to avoid the invisible attack. She pulls on the chain of the rabbit demon's weapon with her cursed arm, then rolls across the ground to swing it at the still collapsed Colart not too far away. He has raised his arm weakly, but his fantasy is still strong.
The weapon is deflected by something invisible again. That means Folke is also still alive, and able to cast his magic on his partner's shields. He isn't moving from where he was embedded into the wall, and remains visible. This must be their last-ditch effort to at least take Kamii and her party down with them.
Then the shields become visible, meaning that the Mirage Knight must have died. Zancrax, Terog, and Ireyo are being pressed against the wall by a multitude of small iron shields that are misshapen or incomplete. But even then, they're still capable of crushing them to death.
Colart's arm suddenly wavers before he lowers it.
"We lost..." He mutters with his last breath, and the rapier rolls out of his relaxing hand. It seems that even though he just attacked their backs when they thought he was dead, he still thinks himself chivalrous to 'let them go' instead of killing them in his last moment.
Witnessing their champions' last-ditch effort fail, the morale of the humans in front of the gate hits rock bottom. Seeing that, the person riding on a horse further in the back, most likely a division commander, orders a temporary retreat. This should give Kamii and the others some time to take a breather.
But when I look outside, I see that the assault on the walls is still ongoing. Nowhere have the defenders faltered yet, and humans and ladders fall left and right, only to be replaced by more moments later. This is the standard portion of a siege battle, it seems. With the dragonkin and giants used earlier, they don't seem to have any further tricks up their sleeves for the time being.
The battle in the sky is slowing down visibly. The Fatas are becoming tired from all the maneuvering as well now, and many retreat on their own without waiting for orders. They may be powerful individuals, but as a species that views itself above humanity, they don't work well within a chain of command led by a human - even if it's Zenlith in disguise. I'm sure even the Fatas don't know that it's really him.
Hestia's black wings stand out among all the winged beings in the air. Even from here, I can tell that she's wearing an excited smile on her face as she relentlessly attacks her former brethren with her golden spear and corrupted light magic. I'm happy to see that she's having fun, though I'm afraid that she might become reckless out of overexcitement.
When I reach the top of the gatehouse, I find that Chandra's troops have made their way through the enemy army and successfully burned or tore down all remaining catapults. That means Exla no longer needs to maintain the barrier above the wall and can join the fighting once something big comes our way again.
But Chandra is still behind enemy lines, and everybody is descending on her contingent from all sides. Even if they're made up of the fiercest warriors of the Dominion, they won't last with that much of a difference in numbers. And with Korenga held back by Halthor, now completely separated from the already isolated troops under the Ajura clan leader, they don't have as much power to break through defensive lines.
One look at Zenlith tells me that he will no longer tolerate my involvement. His smile has disappeared, and his glare is directed straight at me. Time and again, his gambits have failed or produced only poor results. Now that two of the Chosen Knights have fallen and the artillery was destroyed, he must be feeling restless.
For now, the battle for the wall is in favor of the demons though. Whenever a human reaches the top, a burst of flames greets them. The Bakari clan usually prefers to fight in the field, but when they direct their tribal fire magic well, they can defend battlements near indefinitely.
That means I can only stand here and pray that Chandra makes it out of there with the majority of her troops still alive.
Korenga and Halthor's duel has taken them halfway across the battlefield, and they're now approaching the edge of the mountain on the left from our position - back to where the Ajura clan leader's charge began. It seems that the Thunder Knight purposefully directed her there so that they can fight without incurring any collateral damage.
The fact that he's still keeping up with her is incredible. He must be Zenlith's star pupil, which means he should be the strongest Chosen Knight. But he'll eventually tire, as Korenga is indestructible and only ever stops when she falls asleep at night regardless of the situation. After all, Mataku hit her with incredible mass, and she was completely unhurt by it. I doubt Halthor possesses even a fraction of that Crawling Chaos' strength.
That's when I see movement coming from the enemy camp. A caravan of bull-drawn carts is carrying cargo covered in white cloth. The fact that dwarves are driving those means that whatever they were forging has been finished and is ready to be used in battle. Maybe they're special shields that will allow those scaling the walls to defend against the bakari flames. Or they contain weapons with which they'll get an advantage over the armored troops defending the gate.
Whatever the case, we'll be ready for it.
A few hours have passed since Colart and Folke fell, and Chandra's troops have disappeared into the forest they first charged out of on the other side of the enemy army by now. It was a bloody struggle through the humans' ranks with most likely many losses of their own. The forest is now on fire, most likely an attempt to smoke them out or burn them alive in case they're still hiding there. They need to take a long way around to return to behind the wall, but I'm sure they're fine.
The contents of the carts have been distributed among the enemy soldiers, but they were able to keep things under wraps even from the argus demon's eyes. For now, there's an uneasy quiet before the storm - even while humans continue to climb the wall and get thrown back down again. Whatever they cooked up will doubtlessly be put into motion before the sun sets in a few more hours.
I couldn't sit still all the time and decided to walk on the ramparts to inspire my troops. Raising my voice in some places, helping out by throwing ladders off in others, I show the defenders that I'm with them. Wherever I go, their morale is raised, and they fight with newfound vigor despite being tired after a day's battle.
"Something is coming!" The argus demon in the tower announces, and I look across the battlefield. A company of about a thousand soldiers wrapped in uniform cloaks is marching toward us as the common conscripts in mismatching equipment makes way for them. They must be some kind of elite.
"Brace yourselves!" I'm still on the left section of the wall, so I shout out this inspiring command in place of Rhosk, whose voice doesn't carry all the way here. The demons don't cheer and instead quietly prepare their bodies and minds for whatever the enemies are throwing at us now.
The human army retreats from the walls and take their ladders with them. It seems that this new force doesn't need to come up here, so maybe they're all mages? So far, very few mages have joined the battle, most of whom only cast some attack spells which were intercepted by our own.
But if they're all magical warriors, we won't be able to defend against that. The quality gap of magic knowledge between the demons and the humans is huge. Inborn tribal magic seems to be the extent that the former is usually capable of - for example the bakari fire and wind magic of various flying races. The only reason there has been a balance between their powers is that mages capable of warfare are rare.
The Chosen Knights were the first departure from that status quo. They're the type only those incredible individuals like Chandra can oppose in direct battle. Colart and Folke's defeat also came at the hands of such demons, with the help of Kamii.
After all, I've never heard of a demon like Ireyo, capable of wielding such a massive sword like it's a toy - even if it's broken. Zancrax is also special: He wears full armor that looks like it was cut from solid granite, while all other members of his race rely on their spiked tower shields and their thick hides for protection, wearing only the bare necessities to cover vital parts. But even with that armor which might in itself weigh a ton, he's as fast as any other minotaur. Terog may not possess any such outstanding traits, but he makes up for it with experience and wit.
We don't have that many such individuals among the defenders though. Even if this is a vital battle, the vast majority of them has been left in the capital in case of another sneak attack. The Maid Corps also consists of outstanding members of each demon race, including ones they're the sole representatives of because Alverost only created them as prototypes.
In other words, despite being more numerous than the defenders of Arkaim were when it was attacked, there are relatively few members of quality within this increased quantity.
The company of cloaked soldiers come close enough for the lamia archers to shoot a them. But the arrows are blown off-course by wind mages among them. Maybe they really are all mages, but none of them seem to be carrying any catalysts. This makes me wonder whether or not they're all Chosen Knights.
Their numbers are pretty small, so it's entirely possible that they were only trained recently. But even if that's the case, as Chosen Knights, they pack powers that demons can't hope to oppose.
They line up in front of the wall and pull off their cloaks to reveal elongated rods that don't look like staves. They lift them with two hands, one at the back and one in front, and point them toward us. The first row gets down on one knee, and the second lifts the same kind of rod toward us. Is that...?
"Get down!" I scream, but it's drowned out by the sound of explosions, as a storm of bullets mows down any demon unfortunate enough to stand between the crenellations.
Several projectiles hit me, but they only open holes in my matter and pass through without causing any harm. I stare across the battlefield to see the smoke that emerged from the gun barrels get blown away by the breeze. These are natively forged weapons rather than the sci-fi laser rifles that Alverost's troops had. They use gunpowder to propel the bullets, as I see them reload with practiced movements.
But that first volley was a huge blow against the demons on the wall. Over a hundred lie dead, many more are wounded, but the hit to the morale is far more severe. To those who don't understand the concept of guns, they were just hit with some magic that nobody can even react to.
"Exla!" I turn to the cloud girl, who understands and raises her hands to create a barrier once again before the next attack comes. But from the corner of my eyes I see Zenlith, in the guise of Lucianus V, raise his arm and give the signal for his troops to advance once again.
"He shut me out!" Exla suddenly says with a desperate look in her eyes. It seems that he's had enough of his sister's meddling and completely took away her rights in the Imagination Engine. "I can maintain my body, but I can't produce any outside phenomena anymore."
So at least she should be safe from getting killed right now. But without her, the enemy gunners can keep the defenders down while their troops climb all the way up to the battlements. Once a section of the wall falls, all hope is lost.
The Fatas are in the process of retreating, and some overeager demons continue to chase them - including Hestia. But if the enemy decides to try shooting at flying targets, they'll be at risk.
"Rhosk, give the signal for the air force to retreat!" I order the Kirali commander. He was lucky to avoid any harm in that barrage just now, as even his hard scales wouldn't have protected him from it. There are very few demons who could remain unharmed after that. "We might have to abandon this wall."
He nods grimly and gestures at the signal archer. This is only a forward defensive position, but it is the best fortification between here and the actual city of Erbilan. Only the walls of the fortress city itself are on part with this one's defenses.
But Chandra hasn't returned yet, so if we leave now, she might run into the human army occupying this place later. We can't keep defending this position as we have before, but we also can't just abandon it either.
That's when the second volley comes in.
