Chapter 500: Long Returns (1/2)
Chapter 500: Long Returns
In front of the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass was a slope two hundred meters long, a very precipitous terrain covered by snow and ice all year round. Its entrance acted as a natural fortress, only, after the experience of a year-and-a-half-long Holy War, the current defensive weapons of the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass were mostly either destroyed in the hands of the demons, or the reserves of magical beast crystals to sustain them were insufficient. Now it was fully reliant on manpower to resist the demon offenses.
In the distance, eight demon god pillars were glinting on the horizon, dispersing dazzling light. The large army of demons was flowing like a tide, rushing towards the Dragon Resisting Mountain.
It was reasonable for the Demon God Emperor to have assigned the Death Demon God Saminaga as commander for the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass. Launching attacks from the ground was indeed a true challenge, so aerial attacks had much better chances. Fiends were not only experts at flight and strong physically, but moreover, their clansmen were numerous. For sheer strength, aside from the Demon God Emperor’s Devil Dragon Clan, the Fiend Clan was the best. After all, Star Demons and Moon Demons were far from able to compare with the Fiend Demons.
Therefore, after the two sides had gone through over a year of repeated probing attacks and defensive battles to gather experience, now most battles were about the Temple Alliance having to resist the combined aerial and ground-based attacks of the demon armies.
On the ground, the ones leading the offense were mainly the Demonic Wolves and Demonic Bears. This wasn’t because of their expertise in climbing, but because of their capability of enduring the cold.
Because of this bitterly cold northern land, since the beginning of the Holy War the demon forces had undergone serious losses; but through constant reinforcement, the troops in the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass had almost entirely been replaced by those resistant to the cold.
Demonic Wolves are a powerful clan among demons. Standing in a way that is similar to humans, they have wolf heads, and their four limbs have sharp claws on their tips. As they climbed the walls, their claws kept letting out crisp sounds upon contact with the ice.
Compared to Demonic Wolves, Demonic Bears had a much harder time climbing. They had extreme strength, but when climbing, they would need their bear paws to create holes in the ice, and make use of those to keep their balance, which slowed down the process.
But don’t forget that among the eight great demon gods standing outside the area of the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass lay the Demonic Bears’ demon god Valefor, along with his main force. With him to supervise and lead them, the Demonic Bears spared no effort to follow the orders. Making use of their great strength, they steadily made their way up.
As for the situation in the sky, it was the stage for the Fiends. The omnipresent Fiends kept assaulting the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass relentlessly from the air.
Fiends of the sixth step or above have the ability of flight, but also can bear a lot of weight. Frequently, one would see some Fiends being carried by the ones with the ability of flight.
Fiends, Demonic Bears and Demonic Wolves. The attacks performed by the great fighters from these three races represented an enormous threat for the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass.
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But still, as the head of the Six Great Temples, the Knight Temple had plenty of trump cards for the situation. Above the city, a large amount of fully armored knights were lined up, glinting with the dazzling golden light that took the shape of a protective barrier, they blocked offense after offense from the demons.
The most balanced vocation for humans is indeed the knight. Knights were able to use some light magic while also being expert in close quarters fighting; more importantly, they could use healing magic. Therefore, even without other vocations to complement them in battle, knights are quite able to both defend themselves and kill the enemies.
At the same time, the Knight Temple has the greatest aerial force of the Alliance, which is their powerful Airborne Knight Regiment.
Depending on their kinds of mount, a knight would, after reaching the fifth step, either become an Airborne Knight or an Earth Knight. In other words, the Airborne Knight Regiment is only constituted of knights of the fifth step or above, reaching a total count of over ten thousand. This force is the main pillar of the Knight Temple’s army.
But as this Holy War kept on going, the Airborne Knights’ numbers kept decreasing. Now the Airborne Knights that retained the abilities of flight and combat were less than seven thousand. And even this was only because they were the greatest targets of priority for light-attribute support magic. Furthermore, they were only used after the greatest killing weapons or defending devices became unuseable, becoming thenceforth the main force in battle.
If one were to look over the situation from high altitude, one could see clearly that both sides were clearly lit in gold and black, confronting each other.
In terms of quantity, the Fiends occupied the advantage: they were twice as numerous as the Airborne Knights, and the most terrible was that some Fiends had Hell Demons on their back. Hell Demons have very powerful magic, and are expert in launching crowd-targeted spells. Therefore, the aerial demon forces were in no hurry to reach the close range of the Airborne Knights. As they confronted each other, the demon side only sent forward some Little Fiends and Grand Fiends, as the ones with the ability of flight were defending the remote-spell-using Hell Demons.
The Airborne Knight Regiment didn’t advance prematurely as the Hell Demons and their guardians weren’t the only flying demons. To the knights, the most important mission was to guard the defensive mountain pass and not to take chances.
The mounts from the Airborne Knights were very uniform, formed solely of the unified and cultured Heavenly Horses. As a magical beast race of the fifth rank and a subspecies of the unicorn-type, they are completely white, have no horn atop their head, and rely on their snow-white pairs of wings to soar above the horizon.
The united Airborne Knight Regiment also had a deep mutual understanding with their mounts, their battle forces being the most reliant on the association between the knights and the Heavenly Horses. Therefore, in balanced battles, the demons would certainly be no match for the Airborne Knights.
At the vanguard of the Airborne Knight Regiment stood a group of gold- and silver-colored knights. At least six Gold Essence Foundation Knights and a hundred Mythril Foundation Knights formed this group leading the Airborne Knight Regiment.
Both sides seemed to have reached a vague agreement, as none of their powerhouses of the ninth step appeared on the battlefield: only soldiers of the eighth step at most were present.
Immense barriers of holy light appeared in the skies, one after another resisting the magic bombardment from the Hell Demons. The Airborne Knight Regiment preserved a neat formation from beginning to end, ready to enter battle at anytime. Their holy light barriers could be described as an impenetrable defense.
Long Tianying stood in the highest area above the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass’ City. The city was formed with three layers, the bottom one being the most broad, where the army of knights underwent battle. The second layer was for the mages, all specializing in the ice element. In the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass, no reinforcement from the other Temples were present outside of these mages.
This was the great character and unquestionable integrity of the Knight Temple, that preferred to let the other five Temples provide assistance to each other.
Behind Long Tianying were over thirty people. Amongst them, half were clad in Gold Essence Foundation Armor, and the other half in armor reaching at least the Legendary Tier. Without a doubt, they were the true core of the Knight Temple. Every one of them were fully equipped and prepared to join battle at any time.
“Attention, the Airborne Knight Regiment is to go down to the altitude of a hundred meters, and release Glorious Halo and Thorny Halo.” Long Tianying’s severe voice was heard.
His sight was focused on the Demonic Wolves and Demonic Bears climbing upwards. Without a doubt, when the first batch of Demonic Bears climbed over the city walls, that would be the time the Fiends would launch the aerial assault.