Round 29: The Empire’s Attack (IV)
This was already the edge of the forest, where towering trees had given way to low shrubs, leading westward to a narrow stretch of grassland. Whether it was the forest, the grassland, or the shrubs serving as a buffer zone, everything was now engulfed in flames.
The six-legged, beetle-like armored war machines shook the ground with each step they took, while the armored wands on their heads and backs emitted various deadly spells from time to time—mostlyshaping energy spells such as fireballs or lightning bolts. Occasionally, an ink-green disintegration ray would be used to target giants or rock elements that seemed capable of posing a real threat to the safety of the armored war machines.
Behind the cover of these armored war machines, magi from Agus advanced in scattered formations. They didn’t walk on their own but rode on two-legged or four-legged mounts—some resembling horses, others simply being platforms with a standing area atop two legs. They unleashed a variety of area-wide magic spells, inflicting status effects such as weakness, paralysis, slowness, frenzy, and immobilization on the retreating elves, rendering them less agile and more vulnerable to the magical bombardment from the armored war machines.
Agus still adopted a methodical strategy, but this time it wasn’t about planting fortress-like structures deep in the forest—it seemed they were going straight for the Sleeping Forest itself.
Arrows shot from deep within the forest and behind dense shrubs had little effect on the armored war machines. As the iron-clad war machines moved forward slowly, the magi searched behind any burned stones or half-trimmed tree trunks for elf archers. Or perhaps they simply fired their spell-storing wands indiscriminately.
Jorice nocked an arrow and aimed without expression. The bushes around her were burning, emitting thick smoke. The smoke didn’t affect Jorice, nor did the lightning that flashed past her or the armored war machines circling overhead.
A fire element rushed forward at the magi of Agus, disregarding its own fate. Such creatures were summoned solely for destruction and to be destroyed—perhaps being destroyed sooner would allow them to return to the fire element plane earlier. Soon, intersecting ice spears shattered it into pieces, turning it into a pile of ashes that emitted wisps of smoke. Yet even as it fell, the fire element struggled to strike the front leg of one of the armored war machines, causing it to tilt and stagger, exposing the mage inside slightly from behind the force field shield.
Though it was just a little, it was enough for Jorice.
The arrow left Jorice’s composite wooden bow almost instantly and struck the mage in the eye. For some reason, the dark elves seemed to enjoy shooting at eyes.
Using the smoke and trees as cover, Jorice quickly changed position. Although it was already dawn and she could no longer remain invisible, she still appeared blurred, always using whatever was around her to shield her body as much as possible, moving lightly like a swallow soaring low.
Third one.
But overall, it did no good. Perhaps it would be best for the elves to retreat into the forest, but their pride and beliefs prevented them from doing so—seemingly they didn’t understand the concept of trading space for time, or if they did, they couldn’t act on it.
The female mage with tattooed patterns on her face walked at the back of the group, riding on a pitch-black steel spider. The junction of the spider’s chest and abdomen was shaped into a battle-platform-like structure that could hold a person, with intricate runes covering its entire body. As its eight legs moved forward, a faint magical glow emanated from them.
The mage did not participate in the attack, but wherever her gaze fell, intense attacks would follow, often causing heavy casualties among the elves. An arrow flew in at an angle, skimming past the mage’s hair and striking the spider, sparking sparks—not because of a miss, but because the mage had deliberately shifted slightly to the side.
The mage immediately turned her gaze in the direction of the arrow, her eyes clear and cold.
The mecha tank beside her seemed to receive some command; all its cannons turned in that direction, firing streams of various elemental rays—ice, fire, electricity—creating a storm of debris.
Joelis tumbled helplessly on the ground several times, barely escaping danger, with several wounds on her body—luckily, no negative spells affected her.
“We must retreat into the forest—we can’t hold on any longer!” an elf shouted at her, only to be blown away by the heat wave from an explosion.
“Even if we retreat into the forest, we can’t stop their advance…” Joelis thought despairingly, her legs weakening. The war had reached our homeland… Why are the elders still hesitating?
Several “doubt bombs” fell from the sky; it seemed Joelis had no way to avoid them.
A dark figure rushed over, grabbed Joelis, and leaped away from the range of the doubt bombs. It was a giant lycan with grayish-black fur. He set Joelis down, his sharp claws accidentally leaving more wounds on her. But the lycan didn’t bother apologizing; instead, he stared at the battlefield with blood-red eyes, furious.
“Thane?” Joelis breathed a sigh of relief, but then grew anxious again. “What’s with your appearance—has Fado arrived there too? Let her take command in my place and lead the warriors back to the forest… Agus suddenly has such terrifying weapons. We can no longer confront Agus head-on outside the forest…”
“Don’t worry!” Thane replied in a hoarse voice, then let out a loud howl—
Agus’s mecha fighter, patrolling the sky, noticed the lycan. The mage circled downward, ready to strike hard.
A diving eagle disrupted his plans—a pure white eagle with a wingspan of nearly ten feet, its eyes burning with fury, its claws aimed at the mage’s head—
The force field shield blocked the eagle’s deadly dive. The defensive devices on the mecha not only generated force field shields that lasted for an hour but could also be directed at will, just like manipulating a physical shield. If it weren’t for the fact that high-level mages had yet to develop a way to shrink their power cores, this alone would have put them far ahead of mages elsewhere.
The eagle made a shrill noise less than a foot above the mage’s head before being hit by a magic missile. It let out a mournful cry and scattered a few white feathers as it soared higher.
The vehicle flapped its wings rapidly, ready to chase after the white eagle and deliver a devastating strike.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, the mage saw a black object approaching quickly from below. It wasn’t an eagle—too big—making a noise similar to that of a fighter jet as it rushed forward, looking more like a ferocious demon.
Before the mage could react, the creature grabbed the wing, instantly stopping its movement and pulling the vehicle downward. In panic, the mage tried to attack with magic, but a gust of wind struck from above. The white eagle seized his head, pulled him away from the vehicle, twisted him violently—then threw him down with his neck twisted at an unnatural angle.
The brief but intense battle in the air stunned everyone who witnessed it. The female mage behind Agus’s army narrowed her eyes at the black monster plummeting along with the vehicle.
The white eagle dove down, landing on the top of a tree. By then, it had transformed into a Night Elf—Fado. After briefly assessing the battlefield, she unleashed a final flame spell. A magnificent, enormous column of fire descended from the sky, engulfing an Agus war machine almost entirely. It moved along with the advancing vehicle. Though this didn’t have much effect on the Agus war machines, which were protected by numerous defensive spells, it would likely take three or four such attacks before the soldiers inside felt heat and pain. But the druids waiting in the forest, upon seeing the fire column, rushed out in force.
It was the order for a general attack!
Though it was only a fleeting assault.
The main force of the patrol team had already been separated and surrounded in several areas by the Agus war machines and the magic cast by their mages. Arrows from the snipers hiding in the bushes kept taking down enemies. Although the Night Elves could no longer resist the powerful Agus mecha army, they had to rescue their comrades at all costs. To do that, they needed to push the front line back into the forest—even just a few dozen meters would be enough for the elves to retreat safely.
It seemed as though something was stirring underground. Vines began to spread rapidly. Tenacious branches broke through the soil mixed with ash and flesh, striving toward the dawn, fighting against the flames and smoke produced by the Agus war machines. They entangled around their steel limbs, frantically trying to find any gap to slip through. Though they still couldn’t stop the massive movement of the war machines—those steel monsters completely ignoring the vines clinging to them—the entangling spells cast by the druids were as ineffective as using ordinary fishing nets to catch great white sharks—but at least they caused some trouble.
A fan of blazing flames erupted from the front of the war machine, burning away the plants in its path and momentarily stopping the bombardment of distant spells. A giant gray bear roared as it charged through the gap created by the flame magic; its fur was scorched and curled, but this only fueled its anger. It stood upright in front of the war machine, its massive paws slapping against its armor, leaving deep gouges with each strike. With a furious roar, the bear pushed the war machine backward, pressing its over 1,000-pound body against it, its back legs sinking deep into the ground as it tried to flip the armored monster. The mages inside the war machine struggled to aim their wands at the bear, and the shaking vehicle made it difficult for them to concentrate on casting spells. Another war machine turned around and sprayed flames at the bear’s back, causing the flesh to sizzle and emitting a pungent smell of burning. Soon after, a giant werewolf transformed from Tharn descended and smashed into the top of the war machine, breaking the barrel of the weapon that was firing the Burning Hand spell with a single claw strike.
The night elves’ druids did their utmost—after using their last spells, they all transformed into beast forms and charged in for close combat, hoping to turn the tide with their strength. The night elf warriors, who had been trapped in a small area, joined them in the attack. Although it seemed like indiscriminate, overwhelming fire, not a single arrow ever missed a comrade ahead. No matter how narrow the gap or how fleeting the opportunity, the elf archers managed to seize it, displaying incredible skill. Meanwhile, Agus’s war machine units seemed to lose their edge, thrown into disarray by the night elves’ counterattack. Under the coordinated close and long-range attacks from the elf druids and warriors, they appeared utterly overwhelmed.
Fado, flying in the sky, knew full well that both their advantages and the enemy’s chaos were only temporary. If they didn’t withdraw quickly, the outcome would be total defeat—a fact evident in terms of both manpower and equipment. Fado suddenly noticed a female mage behind Agus’s battle formation. Having transformed into an eagle, her vision was so sharp that she could see a rabbit in the grass from thousands of feet above. She saw that this female mage was surrounded—or rather, protected—by a dozen of Agus mages, and the entire Agus front line was changing under her command gestures—seize the leader first!
But Fado didn’t recklessly charge at the female mage with the facial markings, thinking she could capture her as easily as catching a rabbit in the grass. The mages around her could tear her to pieces with a single magic missile each. Fado soared higher, searching the battlefield for the half-pyreforge creature that had come with them.