Chapter 103. The Dishonorable Legendary Combatants, Breaking Through Iron Skull Fortress
Blood stained the black iron walls red, while shouts of killing, the clash of weapons, and agonized screams rged into a single chaotic roar.
The Kroll soldiers climbed desperately over the corpses of their comrades. At last, several dozen of them broke through the rain of arrows and magical attacks, leaped onto the battlents with hoarse roars, and engaged the Silver Oakleaf defenders in hand-to-hand combat.
But at the very mont that slight breakthrough appeared, a burst of urgent drumbeats suddenly sounded from within Iron Skull Fortress.
Large numbers of reinforcents poured out from the depths of the fortress. They carried heavy shields and longswords, their formation neat and orderly. They were clearly an elite reserve force.
Like a wall of steel, those reinforcents instantly surrounded the Kroll soldiers who had just made it onto the battlents.
“Kill!” a Silver Oakleaf noble roared as he swung his sword and cut down a Kroll soldier.
The fighting atop the walls imdiately turned white-hot. Although the Kroll soldiers were fierce, they could not withstand the enemy’s overwhelming numbers, especially when the reinforcents’ equipnt and coordination far surpassed those of ordinary defenders.
In only a few monts, the first soldiers to reach the battlents were all cut down in pools of blood. Their corpses were ruthlessly shoved off the wall by the defenders, falling with dull, heavy thuds.
At that sight, the morale of Iron Skull Fortress’s soldiers surged. Once again, they poured down rolling stones and boiling oil, and the Kroll legions below were imdiately checked. Their charging formations showed obvious signs of stalling.
“Your Highness, the three noble legions have taken heavy casualties. Should we have them withdraw for the ti being?” Marquis Peter’s anxious voice ca from the Communication Crystal.
William sat astride Darwin’s back, watching the defensive line on the battlents stabilize once more, his brows knitting slightly.
The reinforcents inside Iron Skull Fortress had appeared faster than expected. It seed Silver Oakleaf had stationed far more troops in this fortress than the intelligence reports had indicated.
“Send four Knight Orders to support them. Have them follow the opening the soldiers make and push through,” William ordered in a deep voice.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Very quickly, four Knight Orders split off from the flanking formations. Their iron-shod hooves thundered against the ground as they charged forward, following closely behind the noble legions’ assault troops.
Dou Qi flickered around the knights as they tried to tear open the wall’s defensive line through sheer montum.
Yet this ti, Iron Skull Fortress’s defenders seed to have gone mad. The boiling oil and rolling stones ca down almost without pause.
The mages on the battlents were even more reckless, blasting at close range without regard for their own safety. The magical attacks were so dense that they nearly blotted out the sky.
The Knight Orders’ charge was forcibly checked again and again.
“Have the Mage Corps advance and suppress the firepower on the walls,” William ordered once more.
The accompanying mages quickly ford ranks and advanced forward under a storm of magical attacks.
Fireballs, ice spikes, and Wind Blades rained onto the battlents one after another. Explosions and screams rose and fell without end, and the defense atop the walls finally showed temporary signs of weakening.
But before the Knight Orders could exploit the opening, Silver Oakleaf’s mages imdiately struck back.
Several enormous earthen walls rose from the ground, blocking the path of the charge. Two of Kroll’s mages were even struck by the enemy’s Lightning Magic and fell on the spot.
The battle fell into a deadlock. Casualties among the siege force continued to rise, yet they still could not gain a firm foothold on the walls.
As William looked down at the battlefield locked in stalemate below, his face gradually darkened.
He could sense that Iron Skull Fortress’s defenders were fighting with everything they had. Every inch of the wall had beco the site of a bloody tug-of-war.
“Pass down my order. The Royal Seventh Legion is to press forward.”
With the Royal Seventh Legion’s forceful advance, and under the flanking cover of the noble legions at the front, the soldiers finally managed to climb the walls again.
In the fierce close-quarters fighting, they gradually tore out a patch of ground to stand on atop the battlents, shouting as they pushed forward.
But just as the battle seed to show the slightest sign of turning, several dazzling bursts of Dou Qi suddenly erupted from deep within Iron Skull Fortress. Like lightning splitting the heavens, they crossed hundreds of ters in an instant and blasted toward the Royal Legion soldiers atop the wall.
“Pfft...”
The screams stopped abruptly. The soldiers who had only just secured a foothold did not even have ti to react before the violent Dou Qi crushed them into mangled, bloody fragnts. In an instant, the battlents were dyed crimson.
William saw everything clearly from the dragon’s back, and his brows tightened sharply.
Legendary Combatants were actually attacking ordinary soldiers?
That already violated the battlefield’s unspoken rules.
“If they refuse to play by the rules...”
A cold light burst from William’s eyes as he said into the Communication Crystal, “Pass down the order. All Legendary Combatants are to enter the battle imdiately.”
The mont his words fell, twelve overwhelming auras shot into the sky from behind the Kroll legions. Aganzo, Keli, Irene, and the other royal retainers instantly turned into streaks of light as they flew toward Iron Skull Fortress.
The Dou Qi and mana swirling around them wove together into a formless pressure that made the air on the battlefield itself seem to freeze.
“Withdraw. All legions and Knight Orders are to break contact imdiately,” William ordered right after that.
The four attacking legions and Knight Orders received the order and retreated without hesitation, quickly and orderly pulling back from the battlents, away from the area that was about to beco a battlefield for Legends.
Five figures revealed themselves atop the battlents of Iron Skull Fortress. They were all Silver Oakleaf’s Secret Realm Legends. When they saw the twelve auras rushing toward them, every one of their faces changed.
“Kroll actually sent this many Legends?” the old man at their head cried out in shock.
“You’re courting death!”
Aganzo’s voice rang out like a great bell. With a single swing of his longsword, a fierce sword aura carved a deep trench across the battlents, forcing Silver Oakleaf’s Legends to retreat.
The Legendary Combatants of both sides directly confronted one another in the sky above the fortress. The collision of their imnse energies stirred violent waves of air, even shaking the clouds apart overhead.
Perched on Darwin’s back, William watched coldly.
Since the enemy had torn away all pretense, he had no objection to crushing their last bit of hope beneath absolute force.
“Have the legions get ready,” he said to Zoe beside him. “Once the battle between the Legends is decided, go in and take prisoners.”
Zoe nodded.
Above the fortress, the clash between Legends had already erupted. The radiance of Dou Qi and magic illuminated half the sky.
But the disparity between twelve and five was simply too great. Silver Oakleaf’s Legendary Combatants could not resist at all.
After only a few exchanges, they were already struggling desperately, and the glow of Dou Qi around their bodies had dimd considerably.
Seeing that the situation had turned against them, the old man leading them made a prompt decision. “Retreat!”
The five figures instantly turned and fled toward Silver Oakleaf’s interior.
However, one elderly Legendary Archmage was a fraction too slow because he had been casting spells to cover his companions’ retreat.
Aganzo’s sword light pursued him like a shadow, Irene’s magic sealed off his escape route, and the other Legendary Combatants quickly closed in. Several attacks struck him at the sa ti.
BOOM.
His mana shield shattered instantly. The old Archmage let out a muffled groan. The forbidden potion he had been about to take out was smashed on the spot, and his body fell straight to the ground, lifeless.
After dealing with the lagging Legend, Kroll’s Legendary Combatants did not pursue the fleeing enemies.
Keli raised a hand, and dozens of enormous fireballs condensed into being. With shrill howls, they crashed toward the walls of Iron Skull Fortress.
BOOM... BOOM... BOOM...
The deafening explosions shook the battlefield. Under the magical bombardnt, the sturdy black iron wall split apart on impact, and a breach dozens of ters wide was violently torn open. Amid the billowing dust and smoke, panicked figures inside the fortress could already be seen.
William gave a slight nod from the dragon’s back and ordered through the Communication Crystal, “Attack!”
The legion commanders, who had long been on standby, imdiately waved their signal flags. The noble legions took the lead, and their soldiers surged toward the breach in the wall like a tidal wave, their resounding battle cries echoing across the battlefield.
The Royal Legions behind them followed close after, advancing along both the breach and the siege ladders that had already been set against the walls.
With the deterrence of their Legendary Combatants gone, Silver Oakleaf’s soldiers still resisted, but panic could no longer be hidden.
The Kroll soldiers poured into the fortress over the broken walls and rubble, engaging the defenders in brutal street fighting.
Amid flashing blades and clashing steel, the sounds of resistance gradually weakened. More and more Silver Oakleaf soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered.
William slowly descended onto the battlents of the fortress on Darwin’s back. Beneath his feet were bloodstains not yet dried and weapons scattered across the ground. He looked at the slaughter within the fortress as it gradually subsided, his expression calm and unreadable.
“Count the casualties, treat the prisoners, and reinforce the defenses.”
He gave the order to Kru beside him.
“Send one squad to pursue the fleeing remnants. Everyone else is to collect supplies and capture prisoners.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
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