Chapter 501 The Onslaugh (1/2)
BOOK VI
THE EMPYREAN BLACKSMITH
VOLUME XXI
WORLD REBORN
CHAPTER 501
THE ONSLAUGHT
Lucky left behind no shadow as she darted through the innumerable ranks of the invaders. She had long since lost the count of how many she had slain, the print of it all having stained the leather armor and her already dulled blades of the daggers. The sweat trickled down her forehead, biting away at her eyes, yet she didn't even dare wipe it away from the fear of being blindsided. It was so sudden -- so abrupt. Just as they got the request for the reinforcements, before they even had a chance to properly organize, the swarm came, bounding the mountains, bounding the valleys, making numbers seem irrelevant.
They were at the doorsteps of the City of Sun, the first major city of the Empyrion. Barely ten miles away from it all, the City still felt the shockwaves of the battles ongoing. How many people lived in that city? Over four million, last it was checked. Most weren't part of the army, over half not even being dedicated cultivators, yet many still braved the weapons and the arts and charged out with the feeble army they were able to muster up -- less than two hundred thousand altogether, reinforcements included.
Opposite of them, however, stood a sea they could not even put a dent into; however many they felled, twice as many filled their numbers. They fought with the fervor and valor Lucky had never seen them with before, as though there was an inspiring wind blowing into their backs.
She thrust her right arm sideways, slicing as she manifested into the world briefly, taking the head of another General. That was the fifteenth she'd slain in just the half-hour they were battling, yet it hardly seemed to impede their ranks. The soldiers themselves knew what do without someone shouting at them, moving in concert as a proper army should. She still didn't quite understand how they were able to hold them back. No, she did -- through the beyond-brilliant effort of fewer than ten figures beside herself.
Ion led the charge of over fifty thousand, withstanding the central push practically all on his own. He took hundreds of Titulars by his lonesome, reaping lives like the incarnation of death on the battlefield. He appeared not to get tired or wrung from the sights, which inspired many more to reach into the depths of their souls for just a tinge more, to kill just one more before they themselves died.
Their left flank was protected by the brilliant duos of four young Generals, one of whom Lucky herself had taught a long time ago -- Rio, Xia, Yun, and Namia. The youngs poured their heart out, fighting without a moment's break, barely hanging on. They couldn't continue for much longer, Lucky knew. All reserves have their bottom, no matter how brightly they burn.
The left flank, the side with the most rugged terrain, was held up by Lucky, Lyn, Ty, Irot and over a hundred more Elite Shadows. Unlike other battlefronts, theirs was not the one of direct confrontation; rather, they darted and danced around the treed and hilly terrain, ducking around the tall and thick rocks, playing with the shadows to surprise their foe.
Nonetheless, despite the lack of the obvious signs, their side was perhaps the most gruesome; they held up against an outpour of cultivators, some ranging from barely being in the Core Realm to Universal Titulars. Corpses littered the streaks of makeshift roads as well as several patches of flatland, blood having already dyed the earth beneath in thick red.
She didn't know what had transpired at the Mountain Pass, but many familiar faces were missing. Too many, really. One thing was for certain, however -- they were bested. And they couldn't be bested no more.
Dragons were at the very least ten whole minutes away from reaching them. The closest one capable of actually impacting the battle on a large scale was Alison who was still good five minutes away. Lucky, however, suspected that she would have trouble boring through the demons of her mind to thrust herself into this hell.
Lino? Ella? Hannah? From the survivors, she knew they were stuck fighting the true soldiers of the Holy Army. The Primes and Descent. So long as they won, and so long as Lucky and the rest held out until their return, they would win. No, they would win either way; it was only a matter of how much will they have to sacrifice to achieve today's victory.
She felt a talisman inside her void shudder as she withdrew momentarily, letting Lyn take over her post. Gasping for breath, she reached into the void world and ripped open the talisman, a small, palm-sized screen lighting up in front of her eyes, quickly molding into a worried face of Allison.
”Lucky?! Are you okay?!” she cried out from the other side.
”I'm fine, I'm fine,” Lucky chuckled, finding it strange how her tensed muscles and muddied mind both cleared up immediately. Alison truly had a strange impact on the people. ”Where are you?”
”I'm over the Crossing,” Alison replied. ”I'm almost there. Hang on. Just hang on, please.”
”... prepare yourself,” Lucky said elusively. ”Before you come.”