Volume 5, Chapter 57 – Death Match

“To claim to be a Holy Son guided by the gods, but now it seems you’re nothing special.”

Ignoring the cold evening wind brushing against his face, Chazo Lian stood on the watchtower built by his subordinates, gazing at the busy figures on the city wall three kilometers away. Below the watchtower were densely packed beastman soldiers, standing ready.

Unlike the thirty thousand soldiers who had surrendered to Fia, these fifteen thousand were Chazo’s elites. They were mainly Lionfolk, followed by Bear-folk, Wolf-folk, and other races. Since most beastman races could achieve universal conscription, the beastman dynasties in history had never had the tradition of forming a standing army like human and elf kingdoms.

However, Chazo was different. Most of these fifteen thousand soldiers had been selected since they were young and had undergone rigorous training before being approved to step onto the battlefield. Unlike ordinary beastmen who would disobey orders once they entered a battle state, they could form formations and advance and retreat in an orderly manner. They could be called the elite of the elites of the Cold Night.

With such an army in hand, and now having successfully arrived at the city gates, Chazo’s gaunt, sallow face was already filled with the joy of impending victory.

The Demon General of Absolute Death, dwelling in Chazo’s necklace, laughed in agreement.

“If she were truly favored by the gods, her god would surely have told her our whereabouts. Looking at this, they are completely unprepared. The so-called Holy Son is probably just someone who was lucky enough to get a divine weapon and then declared herself chosen by the gods. The Weeping Mountains are a place one can enter but not leave. It’s not strange for predecessors to die inside with their divine weapons.”

“Haha.”

Chazo laughed. He leaned his hands on the railing of the watchtower, his face filled with the confidence of holding great power.

“Then can your plan be stopped?”

“No. I’ve prepared until now. How can I just stop? Whether she is a Holy Son or not, I must ask her personally to know the answer. More importantly, this morning I had a feeling of being uncomfortable all over, as if I were being watched by something. Have those beastmen under you with keen senses pay more attention. There might be something unclean mixed into the camp.”

“Is that so? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Chazo frowned and looked down at the necklace. “Our Lionfolk are naturally keen-nosed. If there were anything abnormal, my subordinates would have reported it to me long ago. Since I haven’t heard anyone mention it, it should be fine. Your premonition must be wrong.”

“…I hope so.”

The sapphire on Chazo’s neck flickered, indicating that the Demon General was thinking.

“The sky is about to darken. It’s almost time to go down. As the commander-in-chief, standing in such a high place is too dangerous. You’ll be treated as a target.”

“This place is three kilometers from the city wall. What means do they have to hit me? Unless it’s an Eighth or Ninth-Tier powerhouse. If they had that kind of strength, we might as well not fight and just surrender.”

Though he spoke irritably, Chazo’s body obediently turned and walked down the watchtower. The Demon General was right. As the commander, he shouldn’t be in the most conspicuous position, even if he was certain the enemy’s magic couldn’t reach him.

In the wars of the World Tree Continent, exposing high-tier combat power to the enemy’s eyes prematurely was a very dangerous thing. Taking the initiative meant exposing oneself first, and thus being targeted by high-tier magic casters or warriors hidden in the enemy army, especially assassin-type high-tier combatants. No one knew where they would appear, or if they had already quietly approached. So, unless it was absolutely necessary, or preparations had been made to prevent being sniped, the later the high-tier combat power appeared, the safer it was. Their existence itself was a deterrent.

While leaving the wooden watchtower with [Flight], Chazo hinted in a regretful tone.

“If you had called your brothers and sisters, the war could have ended quickly. To be honest, after seeing the Holy Son’s city with my own eyes, I suddenly don’t want to turn it into scorched earth. A city of three or four hundred thousand people in the Cold Night can be counted on one hand. It would be too pitiful to destroy it completely. I want to defeat the Holy Son and then turn her into one of my own, preserving this place. If the Cold Night wants to develop, it can only expand towards Silvar in the north and Alfrieg in the west. I don’t expect to fight Silvar, but Alfrieg is worth a try if they’re willing. Let your brothers and sisters help us end the war quickly and make the Holy Son retreat in the face of difficulties. That way, fewer people will die.”

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“I have my reasons for not letting them come. In the end, isn’t it for your sake?”

The Demon General snorted impatiently through his nose.

“If I were to bring my brothers and sisters over, I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to handle it. Inviting them is easy, but sending them away is difficult. Not everyone is as easygoing as Lust. Gluttony, Greed, Fear—if one comes, you might be able to handle it. If all three come together, the entire Cold Night will suffer.”

“Ugh.”

Chazo’s expression stiffened. He remembered the price for borrowing fifty War Behemoths from Gluttony—he had demanded three thousand beastmen. Thinking of Gluttony’s title, and then of Lust’s terrifying sexual orientation that spared neither men nor women, he could roughly imagine the fate of those three thousand beastmen he had forcibly taken from the villages.

However, he still asked defiantly.

“What about the remaining two? I remember there’s also Knowledge and Watcher.”

“Those two… they can be invited, but if you can’t offer a reward that satisfies them, you must be prepared to bear their wrath. Knowledge craves knowledge he doesn’t know. Watcher longs for young girls. You might think young girls are easy to find, but if Watcher sees a young girl being bullied, he will fly into a rage and slaughter an entire city. I don’t think your Cold Night can guarantee that he won’t see wandering young girls.”

“Uh.” Chazo wanted to refute, but couldn’t find any argument. In the end, he could only sigh as if giving up and admit helplessly, “You’re right.”

Even human kingdoms couldn’t achieve streets without beggars and slaves, let alone their Cold Night. An ordinary beastman family would have at least ten offspring in a lifetime. And for particularly fertile races, like Rat-folk, Pig-folk, and the like, they could give birth to seven or eight in one litter, and the gestation period was less than a year.

The population exploded, but the land couldn’t grow enough food. Children who couldn’t be fed would naturally be abandoned. Coupled with the frequent wars and natural disasters, beggars could be seen all over the streets in any city. The security was so bad that one couldn’t go out at night at all.

“I didn’t expect you to have thought so much. I misunderstood you.”

“You’ve only lived for thirty or forty years. It’s normal that your vision is not as good as mine. Wait, look over there.”

The Demon General suddenly indicated in Chazo’s mind, telling him to look at the gentle slope outside the Fire Cat Tribe’s city, to the front right of the army. Even with the excellent night vision of the Lionfolk, Chazo could only see a barren patch there, nothing else.

He was naturally puzzled.

“What’s wrong there?”

“Hoh, used camouflage magic? It seems they want to ambush you. Now is not the time to possess you, so I can’t let you see the situation there. But I can tell you that there is a troop of more than a thousand people there. Those cat-people are all strong and hidden in the snow. They look like elites.”

“What about the leader? Is the Holy Son there?”

If he confirmed that the Holy Son was hidden on the hillside, he could immediately let the Demon General possess him and bombard them from afar with ranged magic. Although he couldn’t use Sixth-Tier magic—casting large-scale spells required a considerable charging time, and the preparations were extremely grand, making it a strategic spell that would be immediately detected by the enemy—just using Fifth-Tier magic was enough to inflict huge casualties on the enemy’s elites. Of course, the premise was that the Holy Son didn’t react in time.

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“The leader…” As if observing, the Demon General’s voice grew softer. “The distance is too far. I can’t make them out.”

“I see. I’ll have someone go to the right to intercept later. Are there any other ambushes nearby?”

“No more.”

“Alright.”

After the brief communication, Chazo finally flew from the watchtower into the military camp. The generals standing here had been waiting for a long time. By the light of the torches, one could clearly see the confident expressions on their faces, just waiting for his order to launch the attack.

“Your Majesty, the sky has darkened. Can we begin the attack?”

A Lionfolk general took the initiative to step forward. Beastmen were naturally wild, especially the Lionfolk. Combat was their innate instinct.

Without the leisurely atmosphere of his earlier discussion with the Demon General, Chazo’s expression was serious. He looked up at the dark sky covered by thick clouds. Before the attack, he had deliberately used [Weather Manipulation] to cover the sky. The Lionfolk naturally had excellent night vision. Fighting at night was extremely disadvantageous for the enemy, but for them, it was like a fish in water.

It’s time.

He took a deep breath of the invigorating cold air, then gave the order.

“Pass my command, begin the siege!”

…

“WUUUUUUUUUU——”

Both sides’ preparations had long been made. When Chazo gave the order to attack, the battle horns of both camps sounded one after another. Siege engines were pushed to the front first, followed by the magic casters and crossbowmen who pressed forward.

Generally speaking, although the lethality of low-tier magic was still stronger than crossbow bolts, its flight distance was often shorter. Coupled with the fact that the enemy was standing on a city wall tens of meters high, the attackers almost had to endure several rounds of arrow rain and magic from the defenders before they could attack. The casualties were often more than ten times that of the defenders.

However, the eagle-knights trained by Chazo could make up for this shortcoming. The two-meter-long eagles were agile. Besides the rider, they could also carry a magic caster and an archer. Letting the eagle-knights set out first to tie down the magic casters and archers on the city tower from high altitude made it easier for the people below to get into position. Especially against a city tower without the protection of magic casters, the eagle-knights often only needed to take out pre-loaded boulders from their storage items and drop them from high altitude to cause huge casualties—provided they could hit.

As the eagle-knights rose into the air, the first contact between the two sides began in just a few minutes. The magic casters and archers on the city tower, in order to prevent the eagle-knights from approaching, shot magic and arrows into the air. But because the eagles were a good two or three hundred meters above the ground, ordinary magic could not reach this height, so they were just making useless efforts. As for the occasional arrows that flew in front of the eagle-knights, they would all be bounced off by the magic shields deployed by the magic casters on the eagles, causing almost no damage.

Only two or three eagle-knights fell in the first round of attack. By this time, the eagle-knights had already swooped down from high altitude. Along with them came boulders, one meter in diameter, smashing towards the city wall.

“Get down!”

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“Where are the magic casters? Hurry up and use a magic shield!”

Before the shouts faded, the boulders had already landed on the city wall one after another. Although the eagle-knights did not dare to get too close to the top of the wall due to the arrows, resulting in poor accuracy, as long as one boulder landed on the wall, it often meant five or six casualties plus cracked battlements. Even a slight graze from a boulder would instantly tear the flesh of a cat-person.

For a time, the top of the wall was filled with the screams and cries of the cat-person soldiers. Some even fell off the wall because they were too close to the edge and were affected by the vibration of the boulders.

It was a completely one-sided result.

If the Holy Son did not bring out high-tier combat power, the comparison of casualties would be extremely significant.

Chazo, who had quietly hidden himself in the siege team, sneered inwardly. The reason he was here was because if he stayed in the military camp, he would not be able to react immediately if there was a sudden change on the front line. Therefore, following the siege team was the best choice.

The attack of the three hundred eagle-knights continued. They took turns in groups of one hundred, diving towards the city wall and then pulling up, continuously inflicting casualties on the soldiers on the tower. Hindered by these eagle-knights, the soldiers on the tower were basically unable to organize an effective defense to stop the rapidly advancing siege team below.

However.

Just as the eagle-knights launched a new round of dives, a towering flame suddenly shot up from the top of the wall without warning. Against the backdrop of the night, a Flame Greatsword, formed of orange-red flames and a dozen meters long, slashed straight at the diving eagle-knights. Because they were in the middle of a dive and found it difficult to change direction, the two sides collided violently under everyone’s watchful eyes.

Then, feathers flew everywhere, and smoke from charred fur rose. Even from hundreds of meters away, everyone seemed to be able to smell the pungent burnt smell in the air. One after another, the corpses of the eagle-knights fell straight to the ground like kites with broken strings.

Even if the magic casters on the eagle-knights had deployed magic shields at the first moment, they still couldn’t withstand this sword strike that illuminated the night sky. A name appeared almost simultaneously in people’s minds.

There was only one person in the Cold Night who held a Flame Greatsword and possessed such strength: the Holy Son Nola.

Couldn’t hold back so soon?

Chazo sneered ferociously. He suppressed the bleeding in his heart and tightened his grip on the necklace on his chest—training eagle-knights was extremely difficult. Even losing twenty or thirty of them was unbearable for him.

The Holy Son had already appeared. Next, he only needed to quickly approach the city wall with the siege team, and then, while she was focused on the eagle-knights, he could suddenly strike and severely injure her.

Just as the Royalist Faction’s only presentable person was him, the Holy Son Faction’s only presentable person was also Nola. As long as the two of them decided the victor, the course of the war would basically be set.

I hope the eagle-knights can last a little longer.

Chazo had already prepared a contingency plan for this situation. If Nola appeared, the eagle-knights would give up attacking the soldiers on the tower and instead engage her. If she pursued, they would retreat. If she retreated, they would feign an attack. Their primary task was to divert her attention.

However, just as the attacked eagle-knights scattered, the situation took an unexpected turn.

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Nola didn’t even glance at the scattered eagle-knights. Her fiery red figure charged straight towards Chazo’s siege team. Her burning red hair and cat ears instantly became the focus of everyone’s attention. The rapidly advancing siege team subconsciously slowed down, wary of her. If not for their training, they would have already been thinking of scattering under the pressure of her reputation.

What is she trying to do?

A question arose in Chazo’s mind, and his hand holding the necklace tightened. As long as he wanted, he could let the Demon General possess him at any time—as long as he didn’t use too much power, or if there were also Darkborn in the Holy Son Faction, no one would be able to discover that he had borrowed their power.

Soon, Nola gave him the answer.

She suddenly stopped just as she was about to charge into the siege team. With her Flame Greatsword in hand, her heroic figure looked down upon the entire army. Then, her angry shout echoed across the plains.

“Chazo, our grudge has lasted for a long time! Today, I, in the name of the Holy Son Nola, challenge you to a duel! Do you dare to fight me to the death?!”

Tsk!

To pull this stunt!

Chazo’s eyes became sharp, and he clicked his tongue viciously.

To challenge him, the king, to a duel in front of the entire army was almost no different from the most sacred Heroic Spirit Ritual among the beastfolk. Although theoretically he could pretend not to hear and refuse her challenge, the consequence would be to bear the name of a coward. Even if it was just a title and he remained the king, he would become a weak person laughed at by everyone.

The more inferior a person felt, the more they cared about others’ opinions of them. Although he was the king, he had always felt ashamed that his true strength was only at the Third Tier. Now that he had been provoked to this extent, there was no room for retreat.

In that case, I will accept this invitation.

Defeating the Holy Son could make her submit to him, avoiding the casualties brought by a battle between the two armies. With the Demon General of Absolute Death present, he would not lose to her.

At this thought, Chazo snorted coldly.

“Old friend, it’s our turn.”

“Leave it to me.”

In the blink of an eye, the gaunt Chazo’s muscles bulged as if inflated. His aura surged visibly. Before Nola could call him out, he took the initiative to fly into the air, becoming another focus of attention.

“I didn’t expect you to deliver yourself to my door! I accept your challenge! Let’s decide who is the ruler of the Cold Night!”

There was no need to swear to the Ancestral Spirit, nor any need for unnecessary words. The conflict between the two sides had long reached an irreconcilable point. Therefore, the moment his voice fell, Nola, holding her Flame Greatsword, and Chazo, using a black spear as his weapon, charged at each other. The fierce battle, accompanied by the re-sounding horns, marked the beginning of the decisive battle between the Holy Son Faction and the Royalist Faction on the plains.