260. Chapter 260: Act 27 – Expansion (8)
In the valley, the battle suddenly seemed to come to a halt and fell silent.
A sound of wings slicing through the air broke this sudden silence, but Tagib’s reaction was quick—beneath the dark ground of Jotungrund, there were creatures capable of flight, such as harpies or some dragon-like beings; among the spells passed down through generations by spellcasters, some were specifically designed to deal with the enemy’s air force. For example, numerous anti-air spells—just like the one the burrower shaman was casting at this moment!
It raised three fingers, the index and middle fingers pointed forward, forming a rough triangle with the thumb.
“Tas Dam! (Domain of Stasis)” Tagib pronounced the two runes sharply, and the shaman’s anti-air spell was one type of rune spell—legend has it that these two runes were once in the hands of the North Wind Witch, later lost in the land, and then widely circulated for use by mortal spellcasters.
In any case, Brendel understood that the meanings of the two runes were actually seizing control over the atmosphere from the North Wind’s incantation. Depending on the power of the spellcaster, the area of prohibition would vary.
A low-level shaman like Tagib was unable to strip more than ten units of flight capability.
And it was unlikely to cast a second time.
Brendel looked up and indeed saw that in front of that ram-headed banner, space froze, and the two archangels seemed to be locked by some invisible spell. They paused and then plummeted from tens of feet above the ground like meteors, crashing down heavily.
He witnessed the dust rising a hundred meters away.
“Ah!” Xi reflected the same scene in her eyes and couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise. However, in this moment of distraction, she was struck heavily by the front of a bear goblin’s flail.
“Don’t get distracted; it’s fine over there.” Brendel steadied the staggeringly retreating Xi, his expression showing that he wasn’t overly worried about the angels he had summoned. He shifted his gaze away and asked, “How are you hurt?”
Xi shook her head. The bear goblin’s attack after the stimulation was merely at the initial stage of silver and held little persuasive power against a golden-stage existence. Moreover, she had the physique of a divine envoy, with superior recovery and defensive capabilities.
Brendel nodded and helped the red-haired girl stand up, frowning as he stared at the approaching row of bear goblins. His current situation was equally grim compared to the predicament Tagib was about to face.
He glanced at the encirclement and whispered, “Retreat.”
Retreat?
Xi was taken aback. They had barely carved a bloody path through the millions to come here. At this moment, retreating would be like abandoning their efforts right before the banner of the burrower leader!
She couldn’t help but glance skeptically at the two angels, thinking: Does the lord really trust them that much? They knew their goal wasn’t just to k*ll Tagib, and without their flying capabilities, it was hard to believe they could still manage everything after that.
“Lord?”
“Follow my orders,” Brendel said coldly.
Xi was slightly startled and, after hesitating for a moment, reluctantly nodded.
……
On the other side, as Brendel had expected, Tagib was facing trouble as well.
As a burrower, it was a tribal leader with considerable experience. However, this knowledge was limited to the underground of Jotungrund, where the most it had encountered in the underground wars were the harpies from the dark marsh areas—especially for aerial forces; apart from these creatures, there was nothing else in Jotungrund’s depths.
However, it felt a sense of pride, for it knew not only of harpies but also feathered serpents and a legendary gigantic bird from the surface world.
Giant Eagles.
The giant eagle of the wind sprite was recorded in the history of Tagib’s ancestral clan. It chronicled a war in the surface world, and though it didn’t understand why its ancestors had come to this world just like itself, that ancient history etched a deep impression of a creature that flew higher, larger, and fiercer than the harpy.
Thus, when the sound of wings arose, it instinctively triggered a reflex within its heart.
It knew that whether it was giant eagles, feathered serpents, or harpies, or those dragon-like creatures in the underground world, they all shared one trait: if they lost their ability to fly, their actions on land would be cumbersome.
Tagib even extended this idea, believing that all creatures with flight capabilities would become clumsy if they lost their original mode of movement. Just like a burrower—even if it mastered flying spells, it would still stumble when in midair.
This was an easy-to-understand principle.
But Tagib obviously didn’t anticipate that in this world, there were also “amphibious” beings like angels and griffins, let alone dragons, which it had only heard of in legends.
This mistake was fatal from the start, and it missed the best moment to withdraw the frontline bear goblins to protect itself. As it waited hopefully for the two humans to fall into peril, it soon sensed another discordant sound:
The two ‘giant eagles’ that had been knocked down were rapidly charging towards it, their speed surpassing its imagination.
Only then did Tagib realize that disaster was looming. Yet, it had merely a few burrowers and a handful of burrower warriors around; these rabble stood no chance against the two archangels with silver-tier strength.
Sure enough, it soon ‘heard’ the sound of its guard squad breaking apart.
Then, it felt two cold blades pressed against its neck.
Being able to use weapons meant the opponents were likely intelligent humanoid beings, which obviously weren’t giant eagles. In that moment, Tagib seemed to understand the other’s intentions, but it lifted its head, trying to use the pride of a tribal leader to counter the forthcoming words.
“I… will not… surrender.”
This was a stammering sentence in Cruz, one it had learned during interactions with Grudin’s envoy.
But the two angels remained silent.
……
As Tagib spoke those words, the battlefield paused slightly. The burrowers had extremely sensitive hearing; even though it was just a conversation at the center of the battlefield, it was transmitted throughout almost the entire battlefield.
Brendel felt the change on the battlefield. He lifted his head and indeed saw that the ram-headed banner fell.
However, the burrowers’ reaction did not affect the bear goblins, who weren’t as keen of hearing. Under their onslaught, Xi, who was responsible for protecting him, was already drenched in sweat and continually retreating.
Brendel grabbed the girl by the back of her collar and, without waiting for her to protest, dragged her behind him, then swung his sword forward—he carefully controlled his strength so that he wouldn’t exhaust himself, while just right to use the blade’s wind to push back those large beasts.
Yet after that swing, even he couldn’t help but feel a wave of dizziness.
“Master?” Xi was surprised when she felt herself being grabbed by the collar, but when she realized it was Brendel, she didn’t resist, only asking in confusion.
“We’ve reached the place.” Brendel replied.
The red-haired girl turned back, only then realizing they had returned to the edge of the battlefield.
“What should we do now?” She gasped, asking somewhat perplexed. Although she had seen that the ram-headed banner had fallen, that didn’t signify anything; even if Tagib died, the burrowers at the lumberyard on the other side would continue their assault on Antinna.
The current situation was diverging from their original plan.
Brendel merely shook his head. While pulling Xi back, he snapped his fingers towards the forest on the slope, and soon, the two saw a silver flash rushing out of the dark forest.
It was their silver warhorse.
……
Facing the gazes of Crenshia and Vurn, Antinna finally nodded. “Pass the word; have the apprentices prepare their spells.” Although the burrowers closest to her were already dozens of feet away, the noblewoman kept her calm gaze fixed on that direction on the wooden wall—there, the mercenaries were engaged in a tug-of-war with those subterranean creatures—and answered in the same calm tone.
“Wait!” Juliette’s voice came from behind everyone. The few turned back to see her cutting down a burrower, carving a path from the other side to rejoin the group.
At the start of the battle, this female mercenary leader had stayed at the southern stockade wall while inspecting her subordinates, but now she finally fought her way back to their side.
Upon her appearance, she called out to those present.
Almost all the spellcasters present were from her team, and she knew very well the important role her people needed to play in this battle—but Juliette was worried that these individuals might not grasp the situation, as not everyone among the mercenaries had the opportunity to use spells on a large scale.
“Among all the spellcasters, only a few will use Silence spells. Others will need to form a formation to amplify the spell’s effects, which will also consume their inherent strength,” Juliette said, panting. “What I’m saying is, we only have one chance to cast such a large-scale Silence spell—I know it’s effective, but are you all sure you want to use it now?”
“There are no more options.” Crenshia replied: “If we abandon the walls, this battle can’t be fought anymore.”
“Only by pushing them down can we buy more time.” Vurn said this.
Juliette turned back to look at Antinna: “And what comes after?” she asked solemnly.
“After that,” Antinna lifted her head to glance at the stars in the sky; it was already well into the night, and then she calmly turned back and replied, “There will be no after; for the remainder of the time, we just need to wait for the lord’s victory message.”
This obvious answer left everyone momentarily dumbfounded.
……(To be continued. For more details, please visit the website, support the author, and support genuine reading!)
