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Chapter 311: The Peak Half-Dragon
🕑 Added 2024-10-09 05:27:33 +0000 UTCRhett shook his head regretfully. "I can’t determine that. If we had a Wind-element Grand Magister or a Sky Knight, they might be able to tell."
"Well, we should have brought Locke along," Laedros sighed before continuing, "But no matter. Since there’s an orc army advancing ahead, we’ll charge them from the rear and catch them off guard!"
"Yes..." Rhett suppressed his excitement at the thought of getting closer to his advancement goal and nodded lightly. "There’s no time to waste. Let’s move out now."
The grayish mist rolled in with the night, blurring the surrounding landscape. Only in the southwest was there a brilliant display of lights illuminating the dark sky.
"Laedros, did you feel that? There was a strong fluctuation just ahead!"
After hours of marching, Rhett, running at the front of the formation, received feedback from his mental energy—a surge of Battle Qi and elemental energy ahead. He quickly informed Laedros.
"Yes, there’s definitely a high-ranking combatant engaged in battle!" Laedros' expression turned serious. He immediately waved his hand and shouted, "All troops, prepare for battle! The orcs are just ahead!"
"Yes, sir!"
A thunderous response echoed from the soldiers behind them.
A few minutes later, as they approached the battlefield, Rhett could feel the ground trembling slightly beneath his feet.
"Rurruru... Awooo... Roar..."
The distant roars of orcs grew louder. When Rhett and his troops arrived, they saw the orc army advancing, moving at a considerable pace.
This sight made Rhett narrow his eyes, and his heart sank. Typically, in large-scale battles, the larger the forces, the more likely they are to become entangled. If one side was continually forced to retreat, it usually meant they were at a disadvantage.
"Tucker, stay close to me and don’t move around!" Rhett instructed, pulling Tucker to his side as he began channeling his mental energy to cast his first spell.
Earth Dragon Technique!
From a thousand meters away, Rhett could sense the orc army, numbering at least two thousand, with nearly half of them being mid-tier orcs—clearly a force of elite troops.
As the commander of the regiment, Laedros immediately began organizing the troops, arranging for alternating waves of charging units while positioning archers and mages for long-range attacks to prevent the orcs from breaking through their rear line.
The orcs at the back of the formation quickly realized they were being surrounded and, with military discipline, turned and regrouped to prevent the cavalry from disrupting the overall battle rhythm. The orcs let out roars as they clashed with the human soldiers, who, undeterred, engaged the physically stronger orcs in fierce close combat.
However, the sudden appearance of the Earth Dragon on the battlefield caused a stir!
"Trouble! There’s a human army attacking from behind!"
Some of the orcs at the front of the battlefield were slow to react, but the message was quickly relayed among them.
"Don’t panic! Our leader is handling those two human strongmen at the front. He’ll be back soon to deal with those disrupting our rear."
Though the orcs were alarmed, their leader had already prepared them for this scenario. They didn’t attempt to confront the powerful Earth Dragon head-on but instead tried to spread out to the sides. The battlefield echoed with chaotic orcish roars, conveying orders that would take time for the humans to decipher.
Meanwhile, in the center of the battlefield, the commander and vice-commander of the Eighth Regiment were locked in a fierce battle with a Half-Dragon. Despite their combined efforts, they were struggling and bore several injuries. This Half-Dragon was larger and stronger than any Rhett had encountered before, with power reaching the peak of the ninth tier. It effortlessly swatted away a sword aura with one hand and kicked a heavy shield aside with a cold, toothy grin, clearly underestimating the two human officers.
However, when the Half-Dragon heard the orcs’ cries for help from the rear, its expression darkened. It glanced over its shoulder, catching sight of the massive Earth Dragon moving through the battlefield, its body radiating a fearsome power that made the Half-Dragon uneasy.
"Commander Phili, our rear has been surrounded!" an orc called out in a shrill voice, but the peak-tier Half-Dragon, Phili, twitched and roared furiously, "Shut up, you cowardly cat! There’s no need to panic—when Tailey returns, all of these enemies will be dead!"
"Our reinforcements have arrived! It’s you who will be annihilated!" came a furious shout from the Eighth Regiment commander. He wielded a golden swift sword, its light Battle Qi forming a crystalline shell around it. Each scale of the shell emitted a ray of light, quickly converging into a ten-meter-long sword shadow that lit up the battlefield, threatening to overwhelm the orcs ahead!
Phili, the peak Half-Dragon, cracked his knuckles, producing a series of heavy metallic sounds as his claws clenched together. He swung his arms from left to right like a massive sledgehammer, smashing the sword wrapped in light Battle Qi aside.
"Hmph!" The Eighth Regiment commander snorted coldly, his heart filled with dread as he faced the powerful Half-Dragon. He had originally been assigned to the frontlines but was redirected to this location to assist the Sixth Regiment in dealing with potential reinforcements sent by the orcs to target their flank.
It turned out the vice commander’s prediction was correct—this orc army was stronger than the average orc regiment, and their leader, the Half-Dragon, was at the peak of the ninth tier, nearly unbeatable by anyone short of a Saint. Even with the vice-commander at his side, they were struggling. If they continued like this, the Half-Dragon’s near-limitless stamina would outlast them, and it could even defeat them before then!
"Commander Heisent, should we retreat?" the vice-commander, stationed about ten meters to Heisent’s left and dealing with several sixth-tier Half-Dragons, asked, his tone filled with concern. Half a day earlier, they had engaged this orc army and had been following Heisent’s strategy of fighting while retreating. Now that reinforcements had arrived, their pressure would be reduced significantly.
"We must continue to retreat!" Heisent’s expression was conflicted. The current situation was temporary, and if they couldn’t wipe out this orc army quickly, and another high-ranking orc—especially the peak Shadow Tiger Tailey mentioned by the orcs—joined the fight, it would spell disaster!
"Alright… if you say so!" the vice-commander replied, though with visible reluctance. He swung his sword in a cross-shaped slash and relayed the order to retreat while fighting.
"Laedros, charge in and clear a path for me!" Meanwhile, at the rear of the battlefield, Rhett saw the orcs swarming toward him, targeting him as the Grand Magister. His brow furrowed slightly, and he urgently called out to Laedros.
After working together for over half a year, the two had developed a strong rapport, if not perfect synchronization. Laedros immediately guessed that Rhett wanted to move to a central position to cast a large-scale destructive spell. Determined, Laedros gripped his sword with both hands, channeling a massive amount of water-element Battle Qi into the giant sword, which compressed and swirled in complex patterns. The surrounding area became shrouded in an icy mist, freezing the blood and muscles of any lower-tier orcs that got too close, stopping them in their tracks or even causing them to collapse. Only the mid-tier orcs could resist the freezing aura and continue their charge.
In the next moment, Laedros' muscles bulged as he hurled the giant sword encased in water Battle Qi into the air, where it spun like a massive disc. The arc of light from the icy blade was as beautiful as it was deadly, slicing through the thick waists of orcs as it flew.
With a swath of orcs cut down, Rhett and Laedros found themselves in a small clearing. The soldiers they led let out a fierce battle cry, their morale high as they charged forward to engage the orcs in close combat.
While the knights fought at the front, the Earth Knight archers and mages stationed on the temporary earthen platforms at the rear rained down arrows and spells on the densest concentrations of orcs, creating an intense bombardment.
It was as if a meteor shower had descended upon the battlefield, reflecting the celestial display above. The two-thousand-strong orc army found itself under attack from both sides, struggling to maintain order.
Laedros seized the moment, positioning himself at the forefront to protect Rhett. As the icy sword returned to his hand, he charged forward, cutting down any orcs in his path like they were nothing more than straw.
"Just fifty meters more, and I’ll be in optimal range!" Rhett called out calmly as he followed closely behind.
"No problem!" Laedros shouted back, a smile on his face despite the chaos around him. He could see that there was only one peak Half-Dragon ahead. Although its power was terrifying, with Rhett’s and his own assistance in the coming battle, they would surely be able to bring it down!
The two of them cut through the orc army like a blade through flesh, causing even more panic among the enemy ranks.
"Rhett, I’ll leave things here to you. I’m going to help the Eighth Regiment’s commander!" Laedros said as he brought Rhett to the designated spot. Without waiting for a response, he leaped into the air, heading to the front lines to join the fight against the peak Half-Dragon.
"Damn humans!"
"Rip them apart!"
"Rargh!"
Seeing that Rhett was left alone, the surrounding orcs, their eyes red with rage, surged toward him. Among them were several dozen nightcat orcs, known for preying on weaker human soldiers. They were drawn by Rhett’s scent and closed in, their claws glinting in the light as they slashed at his head, throat, waist, and chest—all aiming for lethal strikes.
Stone Light Shield!
Facing this rabble, Rhett felt no fear. He focused on the battlefield while immediately summoning a defensive spell, layering it with the resonance of the Earth-element mastery, reducing any orc that dared approach to a bloody pulp. He then concentrated his mental energy. As an eighth-level Grand Magister, his mental power had reached new heights. The yellow earth elements quickly gathered in the sky, forming a radiant cloud that covered an area of tens of thousands of square meters, targeting a specific area hundreds of meters in diameter.
In an instant, the sky rained down stone spikes, each one resonating with the earth element, creating explosions upon impact.
Some of the mid-tier nightcat orcs managed to escape to the edge of the battlefield, but those who were even a little slower were torn apart, their bodies strewn across the battlefield within thousands of meters of Rhett’s position.
A wave of fear spread through the orc ranks.
For a moment, Rhett stood in the middle of the battlefield, towering over the others. None of the nearby orcs dared to fill the void left around him.
"Damn it!"
Phili, the peak Half-Dragon, was also affected by the massive disturbance. Glancing over, he saw the carnage wrought by the human mage and was furious. He cursed his bad luck for encountering not just a transcendent being but a Grand Magister specializing in Earth magic, whose influence on land battles was unmatched!
Suddenly, he noticed a dark figure leaping across the horizon. Phili’s heart leaped with joy, and a cold smile spread across his face. He abandoned his plan to interfere with the Earth Magister’s spellcasting, turning instead to deal with the three Sky Knights attacking him.
"You still have time to worry about your underlings? Better take care of yourself first!"
Laedros saw that the peak Half-Dragon was distracted and accelerated his charge, swinging his giant sword like a hammer. As he descended, he aimed to strike with the sword's tip, which now bore an icy spike. Even the toughest dragon scales wouldn’t withstand a direct hit.
"Hmph!"
Phili sneered, not even bothering to turn around. His massive, spike-studded tail, as long as he was tall, lashed at the ground before springing upward. The silvery scales deflected the ice spike with a single swipe, shattering it, and the tail's tip deftly neutralized the sword's momentum!
At the same time, Phili swiped his claws at Heisent and the vice-commander on either side of him. He didn’t aim for a vital spot—he didn’t need to. He targeted the largest surface area, where he could do the most damage.
Both Heisent and Vice-Commander Balu raised their shields to block the claws aimed at their chests.
But in that brief moment of defense, Phili’s mouth curled into a shark-toothed grin. He spun around with blinding speed, aiming to ram Laedros with his full force!
Laedros met the charge head-on, positioning his giant sword defensively. His extensive experience fighting Half-Dragons had taught him to expect this move.
But at that very instant, his battle-hardened instincts warned him of imminent danger. Every muscle tensed as he heard a whistling sound rapidly approaching from behind. Almost simultaneously, a black-purple claw slashed at him from behind.
In the nick of time, Laedros turned, bringing the hilt of his sword up to block the attack. The blade deflected the Half-Dragon’s claws, but the tail, moving too fast to react to, struck him hard in the waist.
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