Chapter 66-2: Dragons in the Northwest (2)
Chapter 66-2: Dragons in the Northwest (2)
After the two armies had reorganized their troops, Gilgen had summoned his remaining 20,000 or so troops onto the battlefield, so at the moment, the Skycourt Kingdom's army still held a number of advantages to the tune of around 8,000 over the Effer Kingdom's army. Furthermore, even though Gilgen was fighting on one leg, he was still far more formidable than the commanders among the Effer Kingdom's ranks, and the morale of the Skycourt Kingdom's army naturally received a significant boost with him leading the way.
Here, it would be unfair not to mention the Four Winds mercenary legion.
Just as Gilgen was tearing through the enemy ranks with unmatched power, he was approached by two figures, one of whom was carrying a woman on his back.
"Take this!" Kaiba immediately unleashed an all-out spear strike toward General Gilgen's waist from behind.
Gilgen could sense the power of the spear hurtling toward him from behind, and he didn't dare to ignore it. He immediately turned around, then lashed out in retaliation with his Zhu Yan sword. In doing so, he revealed an opening around his chest region, and a metal fist instantly arrived to exploit the opening.
In response, Gilgen raised his other hand, catching the oncoming fist right before it reached his chest.
Sherry had injected all of the power in his entire body into that punch, but it had been nullified with ease by Gilgen.
However, that still wasn't the end. All of a sudden, yet another figure emerged stealthily from the side, then unleashed an attack on Gilgen's wounded calf while he was occupied by Kaiba and Sherry. The third figure was wielding a pair of crimson crescent daggers, and they were giving off bone-chilling killing intent, much like the eyes of a starving wolf.
Gilgen was naturally able to sense the arrival of the third assailant, and he immediately forced back Kaiba's spear with his sword, then swiveled around before sweeping his Zhu Yan sword toward this third assailant. As his sword flashed through the air, it began to glow with bright crimson light, and a gust of fierce wind swept through the surrounding area.
In the face of Gilgen's formidable crimson sword energy, Georgina immediately planted a foot forcefully onto the ground, changing directions at the last second to just barely evade the attack. He then took a glance back at the burst of sword energy that he had just dodged, and a chill instantly ran down his spine. At the same time, he was extremely thankful for his own exceptional bodily control. Otherwise, he would've been split into two just now. Of course, for an assassin like him, superb bodily control was very much a necessity.
Regardless of what their intentions were, these three martial artists from the Four Winds mercenary legion had to be commended for their courage. Even though General Gilgen was clearly injured, he was still the most powerful warrior among the Skycourt Kingdom's ranks. Having said that, he was also the general of the Skycourt Kingdom's army, and killing him would be an enormous achievement. In the wake of such an alluring prospect, the three of them simply weren't able to resist.
In contrast with the ambitious trio, Lanyon was far more mature and reserved in his approach. He was leading the magicians of the Four Winds mercenary legion, and he was ensuring that they didn't catch the attention of the Skycourt Kingdom's magicians as they roamed over the battlefield. He knew that the Skycourt Kingdom's magicians were completely fixated on the more powerful court magicians, so they wouldn't pay any heed to magicians from a mercenary legion like them. Thus, he was able to comfortably attack the Skycourt Kingdom's troops while skirting around the edges of the battlefield with 100 or so magicians under his command.
Gilgen wasn't very interested in the young trio he had just been attacked by. However, his gaze was drawn toward the woman that was being carried on Kaiba's back.
"So you picked her up, did you? Is she your lover?" Gilgen asked as he cast his gaze toward Kaiba.
"What does that have to do with you?" Kaiba asked in a cold voice as he lashed out with his spear again. The tip of his spear flashed through the air in a glorious arc as it swept toward Gilgen, and his movements appeared to be quite graceful and effortless, but that didn't make the attack any less lethal.
"No. I just wanted to tell you that she has quite a nice ass," Gilgen said in an indifferent voice as he easily dealt with Kaiba's attack with his Zhu Yan sword, taking a subtle glance at the unconscious Gwen as he did so.
Kaiba was infuriated upon hearing this, but unfortunately for him, he was no match for Gilgen. At this moment, he was suddenly beginning to miss Kaiba. With his lackluster skills as a martial artist, his presence during this battle wouldn't make any difference to the outcome, but he possessed a sharp tongue like no other, so at least they wouldn't lose in the war of words.
The trio exchanged a glance, and after a brief moment of silent communication, they immediately formed a triangle, trapping General Gilgen at the very center. Even though their initial attacks had failed to achieve the desired outcome, that wasn't enough to discourage them.
Right as the three of them were about to launch another attack on General Gilgen, a thunderous draconic roar suddenly rang out from the horizon.
All of the people on the battlefield who weren't deaf clearly heard the earth-shattering string of draconic roars echoing throughout heaven and earth to the northwest of the Marrod Plain, completely drowning out all of the other sounds on the battlefield.
As a result, many people stopped what they were doing, then turned toward the northwest to see what was happening.
Of course, King Cameron, Princess Onean, Master Piro, Count Friar, and Erwin had also turned their attention toward the same direction.
On the city wall of Illingburn Fort, the unconscious Mistress Faye gradually awakened upon hearing the thunderous draconic roars ringing out in the distance. The concern on Lana's face eased slightly at the sight of Mistress Faye returning to her senses, and she gently stroked her teacher's hand as she said with a smile, "Teacher, Aiden has arrived!"
Looking out into the vast wilderness to the northwest, the sky had become extremely dark. It wasn't just a simple case of the natural light being concealed behind a layer of clouds. Instead, what had actually encompassed the entire sky was a series of enormous wyverns. Their wings were like masses of clouds that threatened to devour heaven and earth, and with every single flap of those wings, gusts of ferocious wind would be swept up along the entire landscape. At the same time, their deafening roars were sending violent tremors through the ground beneath them.
Everyone was looking up at the flight of approaching dragons with incredulous expressions. Throughout all of history, never had anyone heard of wyverns appearing on a battlefield. Furthermore, this was an innumerable flight of dragons that was encompassing the entire sky! Aside from the soldiers of Burmen and the church army, none of the soldiers on the battlefield had seen anything like this, and their throats immediately ran dry, while their hearts fluttered unsteadily. Even the most courageous of warriors had to admit that they were feeling a sense of fear rising up from deep inside their hearts.
Erwin was just as astonished as everyone else, but he still had the presence of mind to conduct a rough count, upon which he discovered that there were at least 30 to 40 dragons approaching the battlefield, and these wyverns were over twice the size of that fire dragon he had encountered in the mountain ranges last time.
King Cameron was staring at the flight of wyverns with shock and disbelief in his eyes. Never could he have imagined that the final trump card Lazaar had up his sleeve would be these formidable magic beasts from the Terarody Mountain Ranges.
Over the course of his long and illustrious life, Master Piro had seen many things, but even he was staring up at these giant creatures with a slack-jawed expression, and he was so incredulous that he temporarily forgot the pain of his injury.
Cameron was the first one to return to his senses, and he turned to stare at Lazaar as if he were looking at a ghost. He simply couldn't understand how Lazaar had managed to tame these magic beasts of the Terarody Mountain Ranges. This was something that no one had managed to accomplish in the past several thousand years, yet Lazaar had somehow pulled it off. Was this really something that was humanly possible?
Looking up at the flight of approaching dragons, Gilgen finally understood where Lazaar's inexplicable confidence was coming from. As it turned out, his final trump card was a horde of almighty magic beasts. After making that realization, Gilgen couldn't help but develop a sense of admiration toward Lazaar. After all, there was a very good chance that Lazaar was the first person in history to have ever incorporated magic beasts into battle.
Throughout the past several thousand years, there had only been tales of humans battling magic beasts, but no tales of magic beasts fighting for humans. As the pioneer who had shown everyone that this was possible, Lazaar was worthy of respect and admiration.
A ruthless smile appeared on Prince Lazaar's face as he turned to King Cameron. "This is the day that you die, Cameron!"
Even someone as restrained as Lazaar was no longer able to contain the emotions surging through his heart, and he had begun referring to the king directly by his surname.
Cameron was furious at the sight of Lazaar's triumphant expression, and he was just about to raise his sword against Lazaar once again when he heard a string of dragon roars ring out, followed by a flurry of cries of panic and agony.
He turned to discover that the dragons up above were releasing scorching flames out of their cavernous mouths, and the soldiers of the Effer Kingdom on the northwestern side of the battlefield were the first to be struck by the waves of fire. In the face of the ferocious dragon flames, all of the soldiers began to flee for their lives, and those who weren't able to get away in time were instantly reduced to ashes. The more powerful martial artists among them were able to rush through the sea of fire for a while, but it didn't take long before they were also reduced to charred corpses.
In what was literally only the blink of an eye, the battlefield between the two kingdoms at the center of the Marrod Plain had been plunged into complete disarray. Even the commanders and officials of the two armies were fleeing for their lives, and the ongoing war became the last thing on their minds. In the face of the dozens of wyverns wreaking havoc upon the battlefield, no one had any time to worry about military regulations or patriotic pride. The only thing on their mind was that if they couldn't get away fast enough, they would all be incinerated into ashes!
Thus, the armies of the Effer Kingdom and the Skycourt Kingdom, which combined for a total of over 80,000 troops, began to flee toward the southeast in a panicked frenzy. Meanwhile, the magicians in the sky above were flying around like headless flies. At a time like this, everything like discipline and formations had been tossed straight out the window, and it was truly a scene of rampant chaos.
The trio of young men who had been attacking Gilgen just a moment ago had also fled the scene without any hesitation. Gilgen cast his gaze toward the oncoming flying dragons, and he wanted to ask Lazaar why he wasn't instructing the dragons to spare the troops of the Skycourt Kingdom. However, there was no time to be doing that right now. With a swipe of his Zhu Yan sword, Gilgen unleashed a burst of sword energy, which he used to propel himself toward the southeast as he also began to flee the battlefield.
From the perspective of all of the flying dragons, the people running for their lives on the ground below were like tens of thousands of ants. Another merciless wave of dragon flames swept over the battlefield, and strings of agonized howls rang out immediately thereafter. In contrast with this type of one-sided slaughter, the battle taking place between humans prior to this had been like nothing more than a playground fight between children. What had been a battlefield between the two kingdoms just a moment ago had suddenly been transformed into hell on earth.
Meanwhile, the wyverns were thoroughly enjoying themselves. The more panicked and desperate the fleeing soldiers on the ground below became, the more pleasure the dragons derived from slaughtering them. Looking at all of the frantically fleeing soldiers down below, the dragons weren't in a hurry to harvest their lives. Instead, they intentionally flew over the fleeing figures, only to then incinerate them with dragon flames just when they thought that they had cheated death.
It was clear that these wyverns were toying with their prey, and upon seeing this, Erwin once again realized that these magic beasts possessed considerably high levels of intelligence. This was an observation that he had already made last time in the mountain ranges, but ever since he had been a child, everything that he had been taught about magic beasts suggested that they were renowned solely for being ruthless and unintelligent creatures. However, it was clear from the fact that Lazaar had managed to tame these wyverns that they were far from unintelligent.
Of course, Cameron, Piro, and the others were also perplexed about the very same things that were befuddling to Erwin.
However, there was no time for them to ponder these questions in this situation. The flight of dragons was already flying toward the southern battlefield, and it wouldn't be long before they arrived.