Chapter 252: Act 19 – The Battle for the Lumberyard (6) (First Update, Explosion Today, Please Subscribe)
When the mercenaries discovered that the troglodytes had slammed heavily against their raised shields, not a sound was made; the immense force silently and suddenly lifted the front row of fighters, sending them tumbling toward the back row, creating a scene akin to a silent film—utterly quiet.
Everyone was stunned.
Juliette turned her head, her striking fiery hair whipping through the crowd. In the gaze of the female mercenary captain, on the other side of the battlefield, Brendel was lowering his weapon toward this direction:
In that moment, six ten-foot Silence spells accurately covered the entire front line of the battlefield—
The troglodytes were immediately thrown into immense panic; having lost their ability to judge sound, these beings from Jotungrund were like complete “blind men”—as if a person had suddenly lost all perception of the surrounding world.
Their immediate reactions were either to instinctively retreat or to wildly swing their spears in a futile attempt to protect themselves.
This chaos quickly spread among the troglodytes.
Thus, the front row of troglodytes collided with those in the back row or mistook their own for enemies, frantically scrambling about, either fighting amongst themselves or causing further chaos. Although several human mercenaries were caught up in this turmoil, most of them quickly freed their hands and, after a moment of astonishment, realized:
Victory seemed to be within reach.
This realization briefly flickered through everyone’s mind.
Brendel tossed aside the now-energy-depleted soul crystal—glancing over this way, the young lord seemed to have anticipated the battle’s outcome.
“Indeed,” Vurn realized, seeing the expression on the young noble’s face.
“These fools actually have this weakness,” Crenshia responded indifferently.
The silver-haired middle-aged man fixed his gaze on the front line and immediately ordered a flag change. The red-striped flag, symbolizing the charge, now waved high on the battlefield. The mercenaries in front didn’t need to hear any orders; seeing the distinctive flag indicated clearly what they should do next.
The warriors discarded their large shields and quickly drew their weapons—one moment they were defenders, and now the roles reversed—like an invisible wave sweeping across the battlefield as the mercenaries began their counterattack.
Blind troglodytes were utterly powerless to resist the organized attack of the humans. Though they possessed great strength, they were futile against an enemy they could not hit. Moreover, in a state of “darkness,” their instinctual panic caused them to retreat in disarray whenever they were attacked.
Thus, the first line of troglodytes began to crumble in chaos, while those at the back, supervising the battle, were equally incapable of receiving timely information about their front line; in their perception, the range of the Silence spell felt like a black hole, swallowing all sound feedback.
All who entered that black hole were instantly shattered, and the retreat of nearly a hundred troglodytes in the front line triggered a shake within the entire troglodyte army. Even those who retreated outside the Silence spell’s range found themselves unsettled by the flight of hundreds of their kin, unable to halt and assess their casualties; at first only troglodytes fled, but as the situation deteriorated, even the troglodyte warriors began to turn back, followed by the bear goblins—ultimately transforming this chaotic flight into a rout.
However, in reality, the battle was not as one-sided as it appeared.
In the mercenaries’ first wave of attacks, fewer than twenty troglodytes had fallen; their bodies lay scattered on the riverbank, left to be soaked by the water. Nonetheless, the troglodytes were far too consumed by their fear to reconsider their losses; they obeyed only their primal terror and fled screeching toward the opposite side of the river, lacking any formation or organization—pushing forward like a loose crowd.
Many troglodytes were trampled to death by their own kind, leaving a trail of bodies.
The mercenaries regrouped once they broke free of the Silence spell; under Juliette’s command, they skillfully divided into three wedge formations and pressed against the fleeing troglodytes. This method of herding was well-received by most; even though they hardly believed all this was happening, the stark contrast on the battlefield had thoroughly shifted.
Just as Brendel had said, this was merely a warm-up battle.
Meanwhile, on the edge of the forest.
The remaining thirty-plus troglodytes were currently surrounded by the Hushers’ cavalry. With three bear goblins having been killed by Brendel, the troglodytes had to confront two silver-tier archangels while facing nearly twice the number of humans; the outcome of the battle was already clear.
Brendel no longer needed to watch; he turned back just in time to see his mercenaries continuously pursuing the scattered troglodytes across the river. The young man hummed softly, realizing these fellows still hesitated, seemingly fearful of the troglodytes lurking within the lumberyard.
Estimating their speed, he frowned; at this rate, the remaining troglodytes would surely escape into the lumberyard. Though these troglodytes appeared ragged, the earlier combat had not caused significant injuries; their casualties were less than one-fourth, and not a single bear goblin lay dead.
If they were allowed to escape, it would be a futile endeavor.
Fortunately, when his gaze turned toward the distant forest across the river, he finally spotted that familiar figure.
The red-haired ponytail raced through the woods like a striking scenic view—that was Xi—
In fact, it was not just Brendel; Crenshia, Juliette, and Vurn also noticed the changes on the opposite bank, realizing that the red-haired girl who hadn’t appeared before had somehow circled around the river. The girl rode on a silvery magical warhorse, brandishing a long spear, and dashed out from the forest with a lengthy arc of electricity trailing behind her.
It was evident; her target was the lumberyard.
But before that, she blocked the fleeing path of the troglodyte army—
“Get out of the way!” Juliette was taken aback, feeling a slight tightening in her heart as she saw the red-haired girl standing solo in front of over a hundred troglodytes; after all, there were over a hundred troglodytes, including fleeing bear goblins, and the instinct for survival could easily trigger these creatures’ ferocity. Even a golden-tier warrior might not be able to escape unscathed in such a situation, let alone if they were forced to turn back, then the earlier victory could be called a failure.
However, Xi stood motionless, as if she hadn’t heard anything.
In the next moment, countless cyan light points emerged from the forest behind her—those were Wind Element Spiders. Every mercenary present recognized these little creatures commanded by Brendel; they knew how powerful they truly were.
Juliette gasped.
The Wind Element Spiders then began their attack; under Brendel’s command, they systematically forced the troglodytes to change direction—each beam of light that flashed down saw a troglodyte fall to the ground. The silver-tier attack power was simply insurmountable for the troglodytes, but they soon discovered that the right flank of their formation was the safest from attacks.
Thus, everything unfolded naturally; after the remaining twenty or so Wind Element Spiders guided the holy sword through a round of attacks, the already terrified troglodytes could only scream as they fled into the forest from another direction.
The red-haired girl stood unwaveringly among the troglodytes, yet no one dared to attack her; they could only obediently veer around her, flowing past like water around a stone.
But Xi did not retaliate; she waited until the last troglodyte’s back vanished into the forest before turning back to glance at the mercenaries catching up behind her, then she snapped the magical reins, halting the silver warhorse and positioning it sideways.
In her amber eyes reflected the view of the troglodytes in the lumberyard hurriedly closing the large doors affixed to the outer wooden fence, Xi smiled slightly. A gleam of determination flashed in her eyes, and then the girl raised her war spear—swinging it forward.
With a thunderous crash, everyone witnessed the lumberyard’s doors being launched high into the air, then shattering.
“Such a hassle,” Antinna frowned as she complained while watching the scene, “She broke the door; we’ll have to find someone to fix it later. Honestly, she should have considered that.” The noble girl emerged from the forest after the battle, seemingly unaffected by the previous fight, or perhaps this noble lady had simply grown accustomed to such living.
“Let her be,” Brendel chuckled, lifting his head to watch the numerous golden light points flying toward him. With around ten thousand experience points, it was enough to push the experience bar of his mercenaries forward by a notch—more than one-tenth.
After hearing Brendel’s words, Antinna no longer replied; she watched as mercenaries, under Xi’s guidance, surged through the gap in the eastern edge of the lumberyard. The remaining troglodytes were certainly no match for Xi and the mercenaries, and the battle was effectively decided.
“Unimaginable,” the noble lady murmured softly, “that these underground creatures would be so lacking in resistance to specific types of magic; logically, they should be quite aware of their own weaknesses.”
“That can’t be said,” at that moment, Husher approached from the other side, interjecting: “Miss Antinna.”
Antinna turned her head, her eyes flashing with a questioning expression.
“Troglodytes in Jotungrund are not a uniform group,” Brendel explained. “Jotungrund is like a vast nation, composed of different creatures making up this underground country. In addition to bear goblins, there are harpies and dog-headed shamans fighting alongside the troglodytes, and troglodytes themselves also have shamans—though you may not find one in such a small tribe.”
“Thus, they are naturally not as adept at dealing with magic as we are.”
“And so few?”
“Calculating that one mage is born for every thousand individuals, this ratio isn’t too small,” Brendel replied.
Antinna nodded thoughtfully, “I just didn’t expect that Jotungrund had such a nation underground, which is so different from what I’ve learned from books. While I knew about troglodytes, I used to think that beneath it is an uncivilized land unable to be touched by civilization; the world is truly wondrous.”
Brendel smiled faintly; it was normal that Antinna, living within a human-centric cultural system like Cruz, held such misconceptions. From a player’s perspective, this world seemed unimaginably vast.
“But just troglodytes are so fierce,” the noble lady furrowed her brows, “compared to the skeletal soldiers of Madara, they’re far stronger. It turns out there are such threats underground.”
“The creatures in Jotungrund share the characteristic of outstanding individual strength, which relates to their environment,” Brendel shook his head, gazing toward the lumberyard with a sigh. “But you find troglodytes fierce only because Erluin is too weak—if Cruz people were here, they probably wouldn’t say such things.”
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