volume 2 - Chapter 121 (1/2)

Chapter 121 – The Final Battle (9)

The Elven commander took off his pointed helmet which had a few streaks of gold painted over it to distinguish him as a commander. He shook his head, and his beautiful silver hair fell down like a waterfall. He exhaled slowly, and looked coldly at the battlefield’s messy appearance. The Lizardmen’s corpses were strewn over over their Elven grounds with blood forming into moving streams. There was a piercing stench of blood in the air, which would have made normal people queasy in their stomachs, but it was the scent of victory to the Silver Elves.

[No. This is not victory yet.]

Hewjil had escaped. Nalaethar’s men wanted to chase it but he stopped them from doing so. He flicked his sword once in the air to remove blood from it and placed it back into the sheath. The ornate design of the sword’s hilt glittered in the sun as he signaled to his men to gather up and get ready for their next move, not wasting any time.

The Nightsong Tiger brought back the other team of Silver Elves. He frowned when he saw Nalaethar’s appearance. The latter already appeared cold and distant, and the blood on his armor added on a disconcerting feeling to him. However, this somehow made him look seductive even to the Nightsong Tiger for some odd reason.

“Commander.” The Nightsong Tiger’s surprise only lasted for a short while: “I think our battle here is over.”

“Yes.” Nalaethar nodded.

The flag on the building was still upright, but no one knew how the battle between the mercenaries and the Lizardmen progressed.

“We can’t call this a victory yet.” Nalaethar said: “We must abide to our original plan and return to the agreed meeting place right now. I hope that your lord has fulfilled his promise instead of wasting his life.”

“What?” The Nightsong Tiger interrupted him: “Our lord’s orders are different. We’re supposed to clear out the remaining lizardmen in the backlines if it came to that.”

Nalaethar looked at him with arrogant indifference.

“You saw that monster as well, and it is much stronger than what your lord had described in his plans. Even with our powers at their peak, we would need at least three of us in order to fight it to a standstill. Do you truly believe your lord can take it on by himself for so long? He is in grave danger.”

“But…..”

“There is no time left for arguments. The choices before you are your lord or Amandina, and the importance of your lord outweighs her. Do you truly need to choose? In the battle against the Dragon of Darkness, there is no room for benevolence. The standards for judging the situation lies in the conclusion of the battle.”

The Nightsong Tiger could not help but look at Amandina’s direction. Brendel clearly ordered the mercenaries to protect her.

Nalaethar shook his head: “Very well, human, I will tell you a secret. I have already asked Amandina to place your lord’s safety as priority before she went off to command the mercenaries. I have no intention of going her aid. In our history, putting our lives before defeating the Dragon of Darkness was to give up hope for the continent’s future. This is why Medissa sacrificed herself for her sister, no matter how unthinkable of a choice it might appear to you.”

He straightened himself and raised his hand, and the Silver Elves gathered before him.

“Move out!”

============== Amandina’s POV =============

Nalaethar and the Nightsong Tiger understood Amandina’s situation.

The mercenaries and her were in dire straits. There were simply too many openings in the ruins for the Lizardmen to go through. The cover for the mercenaries was also inadequate and were easily in range of the Lizardmen’s crossbows. Even if they retaliated with their own ranged attacks, it was not effective in stopping the Lizardmen warriors from pouring in.

However, this showed off the Mercenaries of Lopes’ strong fighting will. The furthest three mercenaries faced off against the initial hundred Lizardmen, giving up their positions twice and took it back two times as well by using Exploding Crystals.

The reinforcements that Amandina sent out to help them were rebuffed by the enemies’ numbers, and the three mercenaries were ultimately overwhelmed by the Lizardmen warriors who swarmed them angrily with weapons and shredded them into pieces. The last person waited till his final breath and detonated the last Exploding Crystal on himself, causing the largest damage to the Lizardmen’s numbers since the start of the battle.

Almost twenty Lizardmen were taken out from that blast.

The battles after that were no less bloodier than the first one. The Mercenaries of Lopes were the ones in charge of defending the riskiest chokeholds, and almost every time they battled it was a melee fest that guaranteed corpses. After exchanging twenty two Lizardmen for another four mercenaries, the enemies finally broke through the outer positions and began to invade the ritual hall.

The remainder of the mercenaries retreated into the building and defended there, but it was not a plan they could hold on to because there was less and less room to defend against the enemies. If the defense lines were pushed back any further, they would have to retreat to the roof.

Amandina held on to the flag and continued to watch for changes in the battlefield, waiting for an opportunity to order the mercenaries to charge into the enemies’ weak points. Each mercenary’s death made her heart feel heavier. When Brendel was leading these men there was not even a single death, but it was just her mere ten odd minutes of commanding them had caused them to suffer serious injuries and even led them to their deaths