?Silver Knight managed to reduce some of the bolt's power. But the demonic energy put on it by the Flesh Golem was too much, and Silver Knight couldn't do enough to save everyone around them. The best she could do was reduce the casualties by plunging the bolt into the ground and halting its advance as much as she could. However, that still left several of the people in the front dead since they took on the brunt of the attack when the bolt pushed through the ground and into their formation.
The force and shockwave of the bolt were enough to push Silver Knight and their division backward. And the ones that survived fell to the ground or held onto the ballista for balance. Most of Silver Knight's special attack division survived. But the bolt had ruptured the ground where the ballista stood. So, Silver Knight had to move it to a better place before they could begin shooting again.
However, it remained to be seen if the other special attack division and the Golden Wolf Legion would last that long.
After the roar, it seemed like the Flesh Golem decided to stop holding back and saving demonic energy. Its body noticeably surged with power as its skin and flesh rippled before all the damage that Hassandra and the others managed to inflict disappeared as if it had never been there.
With Hassandra leading the assault, she had managed to outpace the Flesh Golem's regenerative speed, thanks to the combined efforts of her invisible string and the other mages. But after the surge of demonic power, all of the Flesh Golem's specs rose, and its regenerative speed became several times what it was before.
And its improved strength and regenerative speed weren't the only things that posed a threat to the special attack divisions and the Golden Wolf Legion. After the Flesh Golem stopped conserving its demonic energy, its entire body oozed a grey, nearly translucent fog.
The fog of condensed death attribute demonic energy spread out across the battlefield and quickly began eroding everything living that it touched. Vatel was the first to retreat.
"Fall back!"
And as soon as Vatel dashed out of the grey fog, General Scoll's voice reminded the others to also step outside the fog's range.
Thankfully, the Flesh Golem seemed content with letting the fog chase away the pests buzzing around it without doing anything itself. Or maybe it couldn't rashly move while using up so much of its demonic energy. Whatever the case, the special attack divisions and the Golden Wolf Legion successfully retreated from their battle with the Flesh Golem.
However, that retreat came with the acknowledgment that they couldn't defeat the Flesh Golem. It stung their pride. The Flesh Golem wasn't even properly at the transcendent level, yet it had still trounced less than a hundred high level combatants.
The combatants were mostly from transcendent factions. And while their factions might not be as powerful as the Tribe of Death, they hadn't expected to be so soundly beaten during a battle between high level beings. Some of them hadn't even just been beaten. Several of them died.
What was supposed to be a simple excursion to a proxy war taking place in a mortal realm had turned into a battlefield they weren't even sure they would be able to leave with their lives intact.
Well, the battle had been deathly serious from the beginning for the natives of the mortal realm. But most of the people from the transcendent faction didn't really care about that. They weren't forcefully conscripted or dutybound to fight in the war. Most of them had participated because it was an opportunity to gain real-life battle experience, make some achievements, and pass the time.
Some of the combatants from various transcendent factions even started stepping even further back and clamoring to be let through the Alliance's troops so they could leave the battlefield.
The Alliance's troops, which were made up of mostly Mortal Realm natives, didn't have a choice in whether to participate in the battle or not. Even if they wanted to flee, they couldn't. The people with slave collars were proof of what would happen if they tried. And dying a free man was better than dying a slave.
The combatants from the Transcendent Realm and their attitude naturally pissed off the Alliance of Kingdoms' troops. And they had no intentions of letting anyone pass through their ranks without explicit orders from their superiors. And since most of the officers in the military were also from the Mortal Realm, the resistance toward the transcendent factions' combatants' shameless retreat rose through the ranks. Eventually, it reached the point where General Scoll had to step in personally to dispel the brewing conflict.
If General Scoll didn't do anything soon, the transcendent factions' combatants, who were filled with fear from their encounter with the Flesh Golem, would quickly begin to panic and act irrationally. If they did that, it wouldn't take long until internal strife broke out within the army. And although the Alliance's troops outnumbered the combatants, the combatants were stronger, and it would lead to losses on both sides.
General Scoll didn't want his army to sink into internal strife, and he definitely didn't want his troops to die because some brats, who weren't ready for war, had stepped onto the battlefield.
However, he still delayed giving an order. Just like the other natives of the Mortal Realm, the combatants' attitude irked him. Besides, he was busy thinking of a solution to the Flesh Golem and the Tribe of War. And he had to find that solution before the two mana storms decided to move.
Eventually, General Scoll sighed and used his voice magic to communicate with someone so that only they heard his voice.
"Kahglia, it looks like I have to ask you for a favor."
"Great, you're coming with me to meet the old man after this, then."
"I'll ask my superiors to let me go."
"Who?"
"During this four, the four kings. Afterward, I'll probably go back to the Obsidian Kingdom."
"Kingdom? Not Empire?"
"Yes."
"Then it doesn't matter. You're coming with me."
The woman's voice didn't allow for any discussion, and General Scoll could only sigh again.
"Can I bring along my subordinates?"
"We'll see."
General Scoll sighed again and cut his connection with the person he asked a favor from.
"Sir?"
Riella noticed General Scoll sigh three times in a row and naturally wondered if he was alright. She was even more worried after he closed his eyes, despite the brewing internal strife at the frontlines.
But General Scoll just shook his head to signal that nothing was wrong. Riella, unable to do anything else, just waited along with Cooper and Denebra. If the general wanted them to do something, he would order them to.
And since he wasn't saying anything, there was nothing to do but wait. The general had obviously talked with someone when he sighed. And although the general didn't seem very happy, since he didn't do anything else, the situation would resolve itself.
Now it only remained to be seen in what way and if the general's preparations had been enough. Not that any of his subordinates doubted him.
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