Chapter 185 - Fizzling out (Patreon)

Seeing the shield mage dying so gruesomely, one of the griffin riders fled. Pareth turned to look at the four others and prepared to jump. They all fled. One of them fumbled his reins somehow and blocked one of his griffin’s wings, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Since the Vampire Skeletons were now free, Sofia sent them to finish off the unlucky rider while she jumped out of the ground and deployed her wings.

Thank the Lords. I can come out now. This guy took so long to die! The upkeep of [Graveyard of the Righteous] is expensive; die faster!

“...”

I know it’s all fake, and they deserve it, but it still feels like shit killing people…

Ugh.

Now to find the last one, do the birds have her location?

Focusing on sensing the many birds’ position, Sofia found that many were gathered around a certain point. Taking a bit of altitude, she confirmed where this was, the wall separating the central district and the slums district. The slums where Sofia had first appeared were now fully occupied by the invading army.

The inner district seemed to be where the main force of the Elves was barricading, and they were managing to hold the fort for now. But the unending army coming their way looked like it would soon overwhelm them. The black-robed mage was overseeing the operations there, likely trusting the water and shield mages to take care of the skeleton problem.

Little does she know.

Is what Sofia thought until she noticed that one of the fleeing griffin riders was heading straight for that place. Hmm. Would have been better if she stayed in the dark. If she is even more on guard, this will make assassination complex.

And I can’t forget that my assumption that she’s the last high-level mage of the human army is just that, an assumption.

I can’t be too careless. I was in too much danger already. Both getting caught in the fire attack and letting the water mage get close were huge mistakes. It all worked out, but I was lucky.

So I guess the better choice is to let Pareth handle it, true necromancer style.

Sofia ordered the skeleton crows from the book, which were still around, to regroup near there, and the Vampires were coming too. She decided against summoning more skeletons from the book, although it probably had enough fog for the Paladin squad to come out. She felt that it was better to make sure she could summon more for the next floor, and a five-minute break wouldn’t cut it for the book, which needed a few hours to fully re-fog.

Since she had a [False immortality] rune and the anti-tracking effect from VPPV, Sofia would be tough to find as long as she didn’t show herself, so she had no reason to put herself in any real danger. She moved a chair to face the window, let Pareth out directly outside the house, and calmly watched the events unfold while giving directions to the book skeletons.

Chaos took to the battlefield as both the army and the defending elves were shocked by the sudden skeleton invasion. The Vampire skeletons were the first to make contact, and they decimated the ranks of the human army. None of these soldiers could hold their own against these level 199 feral monsters. Their armor offered little to no protection against the Vampire’s claws.

The levitating black-robed mage seemed demoralized at the arrival of the skeletal troops. It confirmed the rider’s information that her comrades had failed, but she didn’t relent and prepared more spells while yelling orders at her soldiers below.

I wonder what motivated this assault in the first place. That’s a huge army to take on a random big city full of elves…

Pareth entered the battle, and he focused his attacks on the mage. Wielding a long spear gave him terrific range. The mage’s attacks did little to stop the giant Ogre from pursuing her, stepping on the panicked human troops as he did.

Sofia had the crows form aerial walls to prevent the mage from fleeing too far, they were too weak to hurt her, but they were also invincible. Their coordinated combined strength was enough to restrict her movements at least somewhat.

The elven soldiers were reactive; they had seen the crows harassing the human soldiers for a while now. Someone on their side must have decided to roll with it and ordered the heavily armored warrior elves to jump off the walls in groups to join the fray. They acted as cohesive units. By cutting paths through the human army and cutting off the streets they could use to retreat, they were facilitating the job of the Vampires. On the other hand, the elven archers and mages used this opportunity to stop protecting the walls and change targets. They attacked the griffin riders circling the battlefield in the sky.

The black-robed mage soon stopped fighting back and focused entirely on trying to flee. Turning her back to Pareth was her last mistake. An air-step later, he was in range to use his [Chains of the four seals], linking them directly from the mage to his body. He hit her with a gigantic spiked mace, sending her tumbling straight into the elven battalions still waiting behind the wall. Some of the higher-level elves, one of which bore the key target arrow over his head, jumped out from hiding and finished the human mage off before she even tried standing back up.

“Another one down… But the floor didn’t end. Is the city unsafe until the army is completely wiped out, or do they still have a hidden chief somewhere?

[Invaders remaining : 74333]

If they need to all die, this will take forever…

Also, I should dismiss the rune now… I might regret it if another strong human warchief shows up, but I’ll need all the mana I can get, especially if the army needs to be wiped out. At least if the elves tried instead of regrouping into their fortified central district, it could help.

I should give them a hint.

Sofia tried her best to remodel her bone armor in a style that resembled the ones the elves used, going so far as to add fake ear protection to her helmet. I don’t know if that’ll help, but it’s worth a try.

She opened the window and jumped out, flying out and landing on the tip of Pareth’s horns, one foot on each. [Way of the fool] was the only reason she could pull such flashy useless moves. She ordered Pareth to dismiss his weapon and come closer to the wall. It seemed some of the elven leaders were coming to address her, but Sofia didn’t wait for them.

“Citizens of Yurnia!

"Today, I stand before you as the bringer of change, the catalyst of hope amidst the darkness that has engulfed our beloved city! No longer shall we cower behind these walls, paralyzed by fear and uncertainty. The time for action has come!"

As Sofia raised her staff, a brilliant cascade of vibrant light enveloped her, casting an ethereal glow upon her armor. The gathered elven troops and civilians, captivated by the spectacle, held their breath in anticipation of her words.

"Look around you! The enemy leaders lie defeated, their power shattered before our very eyes! But still, their wicked army lingers, a looming threat to everything we hold dear. Will we allow them to trample upon our land, leaving naught but ruins in their wake?"

Blue lightning kept accumulating around her staff as she spoke, and the Elves Soldiers on the walls took aim at her, but none fired. Meanwhile, the human Soldiers below Pareth were still in panicked chaos. Some attacked him; some tried to flee; the Vampires were still wreaking havoc, now joined by the crows.

"Today, we stand united, our hearts ablaze with righteous fury! No longer will we cower in the face of adversity, for we are the guardians of this great city! Do not falter now, comrades, rise! Rise and reclaim what is rightfully ours!"

With a wave of her staff, the Angel’s bolt was let free, whistling through the sky with no visible target until it hit a low-altitude cloud and exploded. A carbonized griffin rider fell from the sky as its heavily injured and howling mount struggled to stay in flight.

Done with her demonstration, Sofia didn’t even wait for a reaction and ordered Pareth to turn back and run through the destroyed city, mowing down the human soldiers as he went.

I sure hope this will get them to move out because that cost me a lot of mana…

Sofia jumped off from Pareth and hid in another house as soon as she felt she was far enough.

It had been quite a while since I last tried so hard to speak well. Alith's casual speech rubbed off on me too fast. Totally her fault, not me being lazy...

Drawing another [Sun’s generosity] ritual and sighing at her dwindling reserves of gold, she stared at the ever-decreasing remaining invader counter. The sun was starting to set in the city. After the bulk of the elven troops finally decided to venture out of their fortified positions to recapture the fallen districts, the whole human army started to retreat.

The elves did not pursue the human forces out of the city. They were instead focused on rescuing their captured kin, all left behind in big cages on the outskirts of the battlefield.