Chapter 390: Chapter 23: All Who Are Mighty, I Elbow Strike
The Yonglan Knights had always been the sharpest blade in Westheid’s arsenal. In matters of combat and slaughter, they had never once disappointed.
However, even if they couldn’t match the flanking assault of the Yonglan Knights, the Stringed Swordsmen and Qinghui Guard who took over the frontal battle were by no means outdone.
The Glowing Light and the String Ensemble intertwined. The two were remarkably similar—complex, elegant, versatile... and flashy.
Layer upon layer of the ensemble’s music empowered the Qinghui Guard. Amidst the elegant melody, the Guards’ movements grew increasingly swift. The Purity People returned the favor in kind, generously unleashing the many Enhancement Techniques of the River of Qinghui and applying them to all without distinction.
It wasn’t a perfect loop, but at least they were coordinating. For versatile combat professions like these, which relied heavily on enhancements, crucial metrics included how many buffs they could stack and their uptime. With two versatile professions capable of mutually buffing each other, the effect was like using one foot to launch off the other.
Once the reserves took over the battlefield, the Demon defenders were clearly overwhelmed. The Elf followers, in particular, were utterly routed. They were powerless to stop the allied army from pouring into the City in the Lake, and they were at a complete disadvantage in the ensuing street-to-street fighting.
Thus, the Master of Decay’s true vassals had to step up to the front line. These Spirit Monsters, having received the Demon’s boons, were far stronger than they had been thousands of years ago due to the metals used in their construction. Each Bone Demon was a monster in its own right, a veritable one-man army.
Especially within the City in the Lake, the narrow battlefield negated the allies’ advantage in firepower, forcing them to confront the might of the Ancient Spirit Monsters head-on.
The allied advance was slowed by the Bone Demons’ resistance. It wasn’t until Mephit and his Yonglan Knights broke through the flank and joined the fray that the faltering offensive reversed its decline and the line was stabilized.
However, despite the addition of Legendary Powerhouses, the Master of Decay was not without his own chieftains equivalent to the Legendary Celestial Rank. The towering, broad frames of the Cannibal Bone Demons continued to rampage across the battlefield, devouring flesh and blood.
"Wait, doesn’t it seem like there are fewer enemies?"
In a lull in the fierce fighting, someone noticed that the Cannibal Bone Demons defending the City in the Lake seemed to be gradually falling back. The enemy line they had been unable to crack was dissolving on its own.
"They’re not fleeing... It looks like they’re redeploying..."
"Look over there! Duke Qinghui and the Demon’s true form seem to have fallen from the sky!"
The duel in the distant sky had concluded its first phase. Of the two supreme beings clashing across the heavens at speeds mortals could not follow, one had finally been struck down. Judging by the massive silhouette, it was easy to tell that the Master of Decay had lost the upper hand.
"They’re after Duke Qinghui! They must be moving to surround him!"
No one was confused for long, for the Bone Demon army’s objective was perfectly clear: they were rushing to support their master.
"After them! We have to support Duke Qinghui! Move, move, move!"
With the Bone Demons abandoning their positions, the allied army, not to be outdone, immediately gave chase. If this was going to devolve into a dishonorable mob attack, then Duke Qinghui’s side certainly had no shortage of loyal Warriors willing to die for him!
In a battle between apex Powerhouses, mortal soldiers were not as useless as ants. A sufficient number could form a human shield with their bodies of flesh and blood. If nothing else, they could at least drain their opponent’s Magic Power. Such sacrificial tactics were actually quite common once a battle devolved into a war of attrition.
After all, while everyone might start out observing the etiquette of honorable duels, a true life-or-death struggle abides by no such rules. All means become fair game.
To give their own Powerhouse even a sliver more of a chance at victory, such sacrifices were necessary.
Even setting aside the Qinghui Guard and Yonglan Knights, many among the Stringed Swordsmen were willing to serve as cannon fodder—not the Swordmaster Captains who had previously spoken with Westheid, but those who were motivated simply because Duke Qinghui was fighting their mortal enemy.
’He helped us fight the Celestial God’s Shadow, so why should we be precious about our own lives?’
’Don’t underestimate the dedication of the Fanatic Realm!’
However, when they frantically rushed to the crash site on the outskirts of the City in the Lake...
They did not find the scene they had imagined, of Westheid besieged by the Master of Decay and the Bone Demon army. Instead, Duke Qinghui looked completely at ease.
In fact, "at ease" was an understatement.
There, amidst a veritable sea of Bone Demons, Westheid charged left and right, smashing his way through their supposedly impregnable formation.
But the weapon in his hands was neither a great hammer forged by the Glowing Technique nor some profound and powerful Magic.
It was a Skeleton Giant.
The skeletal construct, far larger than Westheid himself, was being swung around by the Warrior with a single hand. The massive Bone Demon sovereign was being wielded with frenzied force, its own body now a club used to pulverize its vassals.
Compared to the Skeleton Giant, Westheid was so small as to be almost insignificant. Yet, the absurd scene of an ant moving an elephant was playing out right before their very eyes. The allied army was so stunned that they temporarily forgot they were on a battlefield, halting their advance for the first time since the fighting began.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!—
The ancestral king of the Bone Demon race, a Celestial God’s Shadow possessing a steel body comparable to a Divine Structure, was being tossed about with no dignity whatsoever, like a mere tool. One moment he was being slammed down like a pillow, the next he was being used to mop the floor. The gems and Runes on the Skeleton Giant’s armor were ground to dust, its crown toppled off, its grand robes were shredded, and its Blade Spear had been flung to who-knows-where.
"Hah! His Majesty is making a mockery of the Demon! Your Majesty is invincible!"
