ALL NOVEL Chapter 774
We retreated and regrouped with the soldiers who had withdrawn earlier at the main castle of Crossroad.
Of the three mobile walls we had deployed as forward bases, only two returned. We positioned those two in front of Crossroad and formed a new defensive line.
"The Apocalypse Knights are composed of four units. They advance separately, each collecting their 'materials'," I calmly explained.
"They extract the essence of plague, war, famine, and death from the humans they've defeated. And based on these collected essences, when they regroup..."
I couldn't help but sigh during the explanation.
"They combine again."
It was the last phase combination gimmick that was starting to get tiresome. Take it easy, you monster bastards!
"When there's one knight from each unit, they combine into a single Knight of Doom. An entity that successfully combines like this becomes a complete being that can handle plague, war, famine, and death all by itself. When this happens, they become ridiculously strong."
So theoretically, if they don't lose a single knight during their advance, it's possible for 444 Apocalypse Knights to combine into 111 complete beings.
Well, this is just in theory.
"But we've already blunted their spearhead. Their numbers have been greatly reduced."
The captains of each unit survived, but their subordinates were almost completely wiped out.
The subordinates who didn't fall at the forward base are still being shot down by Damien's aerial sniping.
"The ones who survive until the end, probably the captains of each unit with high probability, will tenaciously advance in some way and try to reach the walls of Crossroad."
The combat situation during their advance isn't really their main concern.
Their goal is for all four units to regroup in front of the main castle where the real war will take place, regardless of how they detour. That's why they fought moderately and then retreated.
It's also the reason they didn't care much whether their subordinates lived or died.
Their main objective is to create one Knight of Doom by combining the four captain-level knights who have collected essences from the battlefield.
"We need to show them that this judgment itself was wrong."
As per our strategy, we've blunted their spearhead.
Especially thanks to Lucas's efforts, the fourth unit, the Blue Knight unit, is completely wiped out except for the captain.
Now, if we can just prevent the captain-level knights from combining, it's essentially game over. We have several means prepared to prevent that.
I shouted towards the heroes and soldiers who were getting into defensive positions.
"Alright, we can see the end of this defensive battle! Let's all do our best!"
***
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The centaurs are charging.
The four units of Apocalypse Knights, split into four directions, each collected the necessary essences from their respective battlefields.
Now they were heading towards the southern plains spread out in front of Crossroad.
"..."
"..."
The captains of each unit, confirming each other's presence from afar, nodded.
Although their numbers were greatly reduced, the captains of each unit were safe.
That's enough. The essences of the fallen subordinates are attributed to each captain, so if only the captain-level knights survive and can combine into a Knight of Doom, the siege is still possible.
It's still possible to end this world...!
Ta-at!
The four units that broke through valleys and forests via different routes simultaneously entered the southern plains.
And slowly, they adjusted their course towards the center of the plains to set a rendezvous point. That point was exactly in front of the walls of Crossroad.
"Assemble!"
The Blue Knight captain roared, raising his giant ice scythe.
He intended to absorb the other three unit captains as soon as they all converged in front of the walls, becoming a single entity.
"Bring doom to this world! The iron hammer of repentance!"
The speed of the cavalry and centaur units on the plains was truly incredible. In no time, the walls of Crossroad came within reach.
Saaaaaah!
As they entered within a certain distance of each other, white, red, black, and blue auras burst forth from the bodies of the four knights and connected.
The Blue Knight captain shouted fiercely.
"Come!"
The bodies of the White Knight, Red Knight, and Black Knight captains began to dissolve and scatter into acid, fire, and water in an instant.
As he tried to absorb them through the connected magical pathways, the Blue Knight captain commanded:
"With sword and famine and death and beasts of the earth, kill the whole wor-"
And the next moment.
Click-!
An unknown activation sound rang out from atop the walls of Crossroad,
Whoosh...!
A strange sensation of time and space being compressed enveloped the Blue Knight captain's entire body.
"...?!"
With a dizzying flash, he felt as if his whole body was being thrown to the other side of the world, and the next moment.
The Blue Knight captain found himself teleported alone to the edge of the southern plains.
"What...?"
The stunned Blue Knight captain frantically looked around.
He was definitely right in front of the walls of the human world just moments ago, but suddenly he was forcibly moved to a place far away... to the edge of the plains far south from the walls of the human world.
This was the effect of [Start Over!], the highest-grade defensive artifact of the human side, but.
The Blue Knight captain had no way of knowing its true nature.
And the effect caused by this simple, if simple, artifact returned with massive repercussions.
In front of the Crossroad walls where the Blue Knight captain had temporarily disappeared.
The White Knight, Red Knight, and Black Knight captains, who had entered a standby state for combination, lost their target for power transfer and fell into a momentarily defenseless state...
"Aim."
The commander of the human side was not one to miss such an opening.
"Fire-!"
Bang! Bububububoom-!
The cross-fire that rained down tore the three knight captains to shreds.
If they were at full strength, they could have easily withstood this level of bombardment and even launched a counterattack.
But they were all in the process of gathering their power to transfer to their comrade. Naturally, they were not in a state to fight properly.
"Aaaagh...!"
"Kuaaa!"
"How could this..."
The three knights fell miserably, spraying acid, fire, and water.
Their subordinates were no exception. Not many had survived to begin with, but even those who remained all fell helplessly under Crossroad's bombardment.
***
"As expected."
I smirked as I looked down at the annihilated enemy lines.
"It's the golden rule to attack the enemy while they're combining...!"
It might sound like I'm taking the villain's stance, but who cares!
The best strategy against combining enemies is always to beat them up during the combination.
"Well done, Lilly! And the alchemist team!"
As I gave a thumbs up in praise, Lilly and the alchemists who had brilliantly deployed [Start Over!] smiled sheepishly.
"Now, that's that! Lilly, we need to prepare for the next step, right?"
"Yes, yes. Please work me to the bone..."
Lilly sighed and wheeled her wheelchair forward.
Then she joined Dearmudin, who was preparing a joint aerial magic circle on the other side.
"Hnnnngh...!"
Dearmudin was preparing his magic while sweating profusely.
Lilly also took a deep breath before starting to cast her magic.
After confirming that the magic circle was being prepared, I looked south again.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
In the distance, at the edge of the southern plains, the Blue Knight captain who had been forcibly teleported could be seen charging alone.
Although his subordinates and comrades had already been annihilated, he still seemed to be overflowing with fighting spirit.
He still maintains the form of a giant ice knight. In fact, he's incredibly strong even in that state alone.
However.
"If you show your attribute so obviously, it's the golden rule to counter with its weakness attribute, right?"
After all, if it's ice attribute.
Then all we have to do is beat him with its counter - fire attribute!
"I'll go first!"
Junior used [Elemental Disassembly] that she had memorized in advance on [Lord of Crimson] against the Blue Knight captain.
Zing-!
[Elemental Disassembly] hit accurately, cutting the Blue Knight captain's magic defense in half.
"Casting complete!"
Following that, Lilly, who had been gathering magical power, opened her eyes wide.
Various magic support artifacts connected to Lilly, and Junior and Bodybag assisted Lilly's magic.
"Here we go-!"
Lilly is not fundamentally a combatant.
It's been quite some time since she retired from field work. Her main job is artifact management.
But she consistently helped in battles in various ways, and she was trained on the battlefield while managing artifacts.
And at the end of all those battle experiences, she finally succeeded in awakening.
She learned her ultimate skill.
And today is the debut of that ultimate skill!
Whoosh!
A wall of flames appeared in front of the charging Blue Knight captain.
Crash-!
The Blue Knight captain easily broke through that wall.
And then.
"...!"
He discovered a new wall spread out behind it.
Crash! Crash! Crash-!
He broke through three walls in succession, but
"...?!"
Beyond that, the walls of flame stretched endlessly.
Because Lilly is generating them in real-time right now!
The name of this ultimate skill, which reduces the power and size of the [Fire Wall] Lilly used to use and then fires dozens of them in succession, is [Fire Wave].
It's a simple magic that just deploys walls of flame in succession, but.
What is the virtue of a flame mage in the first place?
Simple structure, and therefore powerful effect. This is it.
Sizzle...!
The ice armor on the Blue Knight captain's body, which seemed like it would never melt, began to slowly melt from the edges.
Whether it's ice formed with spiritual cold or whatever, there's nothing it can do against the walls of fire that keep crashing in succession.
The Blue Knight captain looked around as if trying to find a detour belatedly, but already the procession of flame walls adjusted by Lilly was closing in, surrounding the Blue Knight captain.
In the end, he had no choice but to charge.
Crash! Crash! Crash...!
After breaking through dozens of flame walls in succession.
The Blue Knight captain was still intact, but his ice armor had gradually melted, reducing his massive size somewhat.
"Excellent, Lilly!"
The one who praised Lilly's ultimate skill was Dearmudin.
At the fingertips of Dearmudin, who had received the magical power of dozens of people through the joint aerial magic circle, a giant flame spear was nestled.
"Let this old man add a handful to your military exploit!"
And Dearmudin flew up into the sky magnificently using his robe [Old Phoenix], then used that ascending power to execute a powerful spear throw.
Zwoooong-!
A giant streak of flame spear shot out like a beam of light, and the next moment it hit the center of the Blue Knight captain's body.
Crack...
The sound of something breaking and splitting rang out.
Crack, crack, craaaack!
It was the sound of the ice armor worn by the Blue Knight captain breaking apart.
Boooom!
The flame spear that had properly pierced exploded.
The next moment, cracks spread all over the ice armor, then it shattered and melted simultaneously.
"Aaaaah...!"
Though in agony, the Blue Knight captain was still holding back from swinging the scythe in his hand until the end.
The failure of the Apocalypse Knights was already a foregone conclusion.
If so, his intention must be to deliver a final blow to our defense line with that scythe imbued with ice and death.
The Blue Knight captain, who finally reached right in front of the Crossroad walls, pulled back his ice scythe with all his might.
"The flame mages have set the stage for us."
Watching this scene, I raised my hand and drew a circle.
"Let's end this!"
Then Damien, still mounted on La Mancha, who had been waiting for my signal, fired a sniper shot from the sky.
Thud-!
The falling magic bullet accurately lodged into the Blue Knight captain's scythe.
"...?!"
With this alone, the final blow the Blue Knight captain was preparing was thrown off course, and its power was greatly reduced.
And in front of such an enemy commander-
"Hup-!"
Evangeline, who had deployed her armor [Snow White] and jumped down from the wall as if flying, stood blocking with her shield raised.
Evangeline's shield [Shield of House Cross] now houses three ice spirits each after repairs and enhancements.
Those spirits whirled around, covering the shield with ice,
Craaack!
It easily absorbed the Blue Knight captain's ice scythe attack with the same attribute.
Ice shards and snow powder whirled violently in all directions. But Evangeline succeeded in fully receiving the enemy commander's blow without being pushed back.
"Lucas, this is the opponent you were dealing with... I'll leave the finishing blow to you."
"Yes, my lord."
Lucas, who had been waiting for my order, lightly kicked off the edge of the wall, flew in at a speed invisible to the eye, and landed in front of the enemy commander.
Drawing his two swords, he spun as if dancing.
Slash! Slash! Slaaash!
After delivering dozens of sword strikes while grazing past the Blue Knight captain, he stopped spinning and sheathed his two swords again.
Click.
And at the same moment the two swords entered their sheaths,
"...Ah."
Boom-!
The Blue Knight captain's entire body burst outward with a flash as if exploding from the inside.
This was the end of the forty-eighth defensive battle.
--TL Notes--
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