War (7)

Of the four hundred-odd cavalry, less than thirty percent remained, and casualties continued to climb as the riders fled in every direction. Meanwhile, the spearmen suffered devastating losses under volley after volley from the hobgoblin line regiment. Gaps opened within their once-tight formation, and the men in the rear grew so terrified that they shrank from stepping up to fill the breaches before them—to their eyes, doing so was nothing short of throwing away their lives. Fortunately, after several volleys, the hobgoblins depleted their ammunition. They tossed aside their "firesticks" and drew sharp blades. Ogres and lizardfolk surged forward alongside them in a frenzied assault. The retinue of Cinder Nest collided violently with the coalition's main force, the Eagle's Claw. This was the fiercest clash on the front lines. "For Cinder Nest!" "For our great Red Dragon master!" Duoluo led from the front, spearheading their ferocious charge. Swinging the Bloodfire Battleaxe with immense strength, he smashed several terrified spearmen into pulped flesh. The nearby soldiers who witnessed this horrific sight broke down in terror and fled in all directions. The coalition's once-sturdy battle line was torn wide open by Duoluo's brutal breach. Behind him, the monsters roared in fanatical cheers and flooded through the gap, tearing into the ranks with claw, fang, and blade to press their advantage. Hobgoblins hacked with swords, lizardfolk hurled bone spears, ogres swung massive clubs, and kobold sorcerers spewed gouts of flame. "Enemies!" The ogre Datou roared with head lowered, bringing his club down to flatten a heavily armored soldier, armor and all. Instead of pressing the attack, he glanced around, ripped a chunk of flesh from the mangled mess, and slipped it into his mouth while no one was looking, a blissful expression spreading across his ugly face. "Canned men, tasty." "Can't let Boss find out. He told Datou not to eat canned men. If I eat 'em, he'll hit me again." Datou muttered under his breath. Little did he know that Langpu was monitoring the battlefield through magical charms carried by the ogres, watching the scene with a darkening face. "Datou! You're sneaking food again!" Langpu's furious voice suddenly barked right next to Datou. Terrified, Datou clapped both hands over his head, an ingrained reflex to shield his skull from being cracked by a club. Yet when he looked around, Langpu's towering figure was nowhere to be seen. Bewildered, he scratched his oversized head and mumbled, "Strange... I clearly heard Boss's voice..." "Did I mishear?" Soon enough, however, the scent of fresh meat caught the attention of his simple brain, driving the thought away. "Never mind! Back to smashing canned men!" Datou gave an excited roar and threw himself once more into the bloody fray, all to fill his belly. To these monsters steeped in red dragon blood, killing was as routine as eating and drinking. For the humans, it was quite another matter. "Help—!" "Let me go, I don't want to fight anymore!" "They're demons incarnate!" "Let me out of here..." Seeing their comrades cut down one after another in gruesome agony under the monsters' frenzied onslaught, many soldiers broke under the psychological weight, desperate to flee this horrifying meat grinder. "Deserters will be executed!" Disciplinary officers in the rear barred the retreating soldiers, cutting them down without mercy with executioner swords to force them back into the fight. Yet this only slowed the panic; it could not stem the overall tide of retreat. "This cannot continue." Watching his battle line being shattered like brittle tinder by the monstrous army, Robert frowned deeply. He summoned the commander of the North Wind Eagle Guard. "Aiden, it's time for your unit to move. Stop them." "Yes, my lord." Aiden took the order, vaulted onto his giant eagle, and took flight with a beat of wings. He raised the Eagle Screech Silver Sword aloft, unleashing its piercing screech into the sky. "North Wind Eagle Guard, prepare to charge!" Over a hundred giant eagle riders climbed high into the sky, then went into a steep dive amid ringing eagle cries. "Fight for the Duke!" "Charge with me!" Giant eagles swept low over the ground, casting crisscrossing shadows as they brought down lances and longswords. Under the Eagle Guard's massed charge, the monster army suffered heavy casualties; even a few thick-skinned ogres were impaled by lances plummeting from above. After several passes, bolstered by aerial support, the collapse of the Eagle's Claw slowed, and their front line even showed signs of pushing back. Yet the North Wind Eagle Guard had evidently forgotten that they were not the only ones in the sky. Just as they completed another dive and began their slow climb— *Roar—* A wyvern's roar split the air. The Redscale Conquerors descended from the heavens trailing fire. They had long been circling above the clouds, watching for an opening. The moment the Eagle Guard relaxed and exposed a vulnerability, Alger acted decisively and gave the order to attack. "For Cinder Nest!" "Charge!" Alger held up the Everburning Greatsword. They unleashed a collective Dragon Roar Charge. Accompanied by thunderous roars, seventeen atavistic wyverns breathed scorching flame at once, unfurling a rolling sea of fire before them. The North Wind Eagle Guard were still climbing slowly in tight formation, never imagining an assault would fall on them from above. When the dragon roars sounded, the giant eagles were overcome by terror, helpless to dodge. And when the guards looked up in panic, their vision was swallowed whole by fire. *Boom!* Flames raged wildly across the sky. Eagles caught fire in clusters, tumbling toward the earth like blazing fireballs. Alger's timing had been virtually flawless. In that single Dragon Roar Charge, the majority of nearly a hundred eagle riders were burned to death—nearly an entire regiment wiped out. "Scatter! Scatter!" "Pull back! Retreat!" Aiden screamed himself hoarse. Now he finally understood how the Sixth Eagle Guard Regiment had vanished down to the last man. Cinder Nest possessed a terrifying aerial force of its own. Not just mindless wyverns—they had aerial knights! *Roar—* With the Redscale Conquerors' charge, the wyvern alpha, Smaug, let loose a prolonged screech. The wyverns scrambled into the air, hunting down isolated eagle riders across the sky. The chimera's three heads roared in unison as it beat its draconic wings, leading two females of its kind into the fray. The battle in the sky grew ever more chaotic. Fire, arrows, and lances crossed in wild disorder. Three chimeras, over a hundred wyverns, eighteen Redscale Conquerors, and the remaining two hundred North Wind Eagle Guards fought a perilous aerial battle, none daring to lose focus for an instant—a single lapse of attention meant death from any direction. Bodies of humans and monsters plunged continuously from the sky. On the ground, stripped of their aerial support, the human armies were shoved back once more as the monsters advanced, retreating amid endless wails of agony and mounting slaughter.