Chapter 185. Too Clever by Half
Woooo...
The low blare of war horns echoed over Despair Fortress.
The fortress walls trembled faintly beneath the deafening roars of dragons and the bellowing of giants.
The Lesser-Dragon Rider Legion sent by Kalgari spread its wings wide enough to blot out the sky, and dragon breath poured over the walls like molten lava, only to be stopped by a layer of pale golden magical barrier.
Three thousand Gold Mages stood in formation atop the fortress, their staffs all pointed toward the heavens.
Their chanting merged into a surging torrent, twisting elemental power into an airtight defensive net. Every blast of dragon breath that struck it sent showers of light scattering through the air, yet it never managed to tear open this line of defense.
Below the walls, the Frost Giant Legion swung its massive spiked ice hammers and smashed them into the gates. The granite doors were already covered in cracks like spiderwebs, yet under the continuous reinforcement of the mages’ repair magic, they slowly knit themselves back together.
From the battlements, the soldiers of the Gold Legion poured down a rain of arrows. Enchanted arrows pierced through the lesser dragons’ scales, and cries of agony rose one after another.
The corpses of fallen lesser dragons piled up into small hills outside the fortress, while the Frost Giants’ enraged roars were mixed with cries of pain as Fireballs scorched their bodies.
Inside the fortress command tower, Karen, commander of the Gold Legion, clenched the hilt of his sword as he stared at the deadlocked battlefield outside, his brows tightly furrowed.
The diving assaults of the Lesser-Dragon Riders and the mages’ countermeasures had reached a strange balance. The Frost Giants’ brute force was being neutralized by magic and the fortress defenses. Casualties were mounting at a shocking pace on both sides, yet neither side could push forward even a single step.
“Maintain the rhythm of the chanting!”
Karen roared into the Voice Transmission Crystal, his voice hoarse with strain.
“The mages of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Gold Legions are to rotate their rest shifts. Don’t let the barrier show even the slightest opening!”
Below the walls, the leader of the Lesser-Dragon Riders fixed his scarlet vertical pupils on that golden barrier, his claws tightening around the reins.
“Have the giants smash open the foundation of the wall. The edges of the magical barrier always have weak points.”
With furious roars, the Frost Giants shifted toward the base of the walls. Their enormous ice hammers struck the ground with howling force, sending frozen soil and shattered rock flying everywhere. The foundations of the fortress began to groan under the strain.
The Gold Mages on the walls immediately diverted half their strength into reinforcing the foundations with magic. Their chanting rose sharply, and even the air began to ripple with heat.
This grinding stalemate had only just entered its most punishing stage.
The tremors in the foundations spread upward through the walls and into the command tower. Karen hurriedly steadied himself, then glanced down and saw the Frost Giants’ hammers smashing deep craters into the base of the walls. Sure enough, ripples had begun to spread through the light patterns at the edge of the barrier.
He instantly roared into the Voice Transmission Crystal.
“Left-wing mage battalion, reinforce the foundations at once. Use Earth-Binding Curse!”
On the walls, two hundred Gold Mages specializing in earth magic immediately turned and pressed the tips of their staffs into the fortress stones. Their chanting rumbled low like thunder.
At the base of the wall, countless yellow-brown magical chains shaped like vines suddenly rose from the earth, wrapping themselves tightly around the Frost Giants’ ankles and hammers, dragging their movements down until they were as slow as a moving picture stretched thin.
Amid the giants’ furious howls, the shaking at the foot of the walls noticeably weakened.
The Lesser-Dragon Riders below seized the instant the barrier fluctuated.
More than a dozen lesser dragons exhaled dragon breath at the same time. The dark-red flames struck the point where the light pattern was thinnest, and the barrier abruptly caved inward. A few sparks slipped through into the fortress and ignited the canvas along the battlements.
The soldiers rushed in at once to put out the fire. Cold sweat beaded on the mages’ foreheads, and the barrier’s radiance visibly dimmed by several degrees.
“Send in the reserves!”
Karen’s voice was bloodshot with strain.
“Bring up the Sun Core.”
“And have the Magic Crystal Cannons fire at full force!”
Two soldiers pushed a metal platform inlaid with crystals onto the wall. The orange crystal floating above it suddenly burst into a blinding radiance like a miniature sun.
The mages poured their mana into the crystal, and the barrier was instantly dyed with the color of molten gold. The rebounding dragon breath charred the lesser dragons’ scales black, and several of them let out shrill screams as they plummeted to the ground.
The Magic Crystal Cannons continued firing without pause. Even when they were pushed into overload, no one dared stop until the cannons were completely ruined.
Watching his companions fall from the sky, the leader of the Lesser-Dragon Riders showed a flicker of wariness in his draconic eyes.
He suddenly blew a bone whistle. The Frost Giants actually ceased their assault and began retreating to the rear, while the flock of lesser dragons beat their wings and pulled back as well.
Karen frowned as he watched the enemy’s movements, and then sudden realization struck him.
“Not good! They’re trying to circle around to the western valley. That’s the barrier’s weakest blind spot.”
In the woods of the western valley, a scout from the Gold Legion lay flat across a tree branch. The moment he saw the Lesser-Dragon Riders and the Frost Giants entering the mouth of the valley, he immediately shouted into a Communication Crystal.
“The west side is under attack! The enemy is making a detour!”
Inside the command tower, Karen slammed his fist onto the table, seized his sword, and rushed for the door.
“Notify all cavalry. They’re coming with me to block them in the west. Half of the Gold Mages from the Fifth Legion will move with me. The rest are to hold the main wall.”
By the time sunlight broke through the clouds, the clash of metal was already ringing through the western valley.
The charge of the Gold cavalry collided head-on with the diving lesser dragons. Knights’ lances pierced into dragon bellies, while dragon claws tore through cavalry armor in return.
Karen swung his enchanted longsword and hacked through the wing of one lesser dragon, then turned and roared behind him,
“Push the crystal platform to the mouth of the valley! Seal off their retreat with the barrier!”
When the golden barrier lit up across the mouth of the valley, the Lesser-Dragon Riders and Frost Giants finally realized they had walked into a dead end.
Ahead of them stood the Gold Legion holding the line to the death. Behind them, the magical barrier was steadily tightening.
The battle of attrition that had been deadlocked at last turned into trapping turtles in a jar.
Meanwhile, at the altar, William continued to lead his legions in repeated clashes against the legions of the Orc Alliance.
Neither side was gaining any real advantage.
Because Kalgari, commander of the Orc Alliance, had shifted all of his main force to Despair Fortress, the troops left here were only ordinary Orc legions. They were holding this position solely by relying on their advantage in numbers.
As he watched the battle become more and more bitterly deadlocked, he took out a Communication Crystal and notified the Barbarian Royal Court, urging them to gather their legions and send reinforcements as quickly as possible.
William also received news from Despair Fortress at that moment.
The instant he learned the fortress was under attack, he broke into a smile, and the tension in his heart eased at once. He immediately urged Darwin forward and plunged into the Barbarian legions, chanting spell after spell and condensing magic to slaughter the Barbarians.
Suddenly, Kalgari’s furious roar echoed across the altar. He hurled the Communication Crystal to the ground, where it shattered into a spiderweb of cracks, the fragments reflecting the rage burning in his eyes.
“An alliance? These Barbarians don’t understand the meaning of an alliance at all!”
He kicked over the Barbarian maid at his side.
“The High Priest insisted on waiting for them to ‘submit voluntarily.’ Well, look where that’s gotten us. The Royal Court is sitting still, and we’re nailed down in this cursed place!”
His deputy’s voice trembled.
“Commander, the human legions’ offensive is getting fiercer and fiercer. The western line is about to collapse...”
Kalgari drew a deep breath, his knuckles whitening as he clenched his fists.
He looked outside the tent. The sounds of slaughter drifted in through the canvas, and the wind carried the stench of blood and grains of sand against the hanging flap.
“Then it holds, whether it can or not.”
He tore the beast-fang ornament from his waist and threw it to the deputy.
“Take this and go to the Ironspine Tribe in the north. Tell them that if they send troops to reinforce us, all previous disputes will be wiped clean. I, Kalgari, swear it in the name of the Orc Alliance.”
The deputy caught the ornament and hesitated.
“The Ironspine Tribe has always remained neutral...”
“They have old grudges with the humans.”
Kalgari cut him off, his gaze as sharp as a blade.
“Go!”
The deputy had only just rushed out of the altar when, at that moment, an Orc soldier covered in blood came stumbling and crawling inside.
“Commander, the eastern side has been torn open. We can’t stop the humans’ Gold Legion at all. The line is about to break!”