Volume 3, Chapter 84 – The Real Offensive

Translator Note

1 chapter unlock

Every scene in the projection seemed to confirm Anmutu’s suspicions as he watched the confident Xue Tian’ao on the high platform, causing him to involuntarily suck in a breath of cold air.

After a moment of silence, the Second Prince of the Red Lotus Leaf Empire looked cautiously at the middle-aged man in military uniform behind him. “General Bach…”

“Hmm? What is it, Your Highness?”

“Do we have any more spatial teleportation magic stones?”

“We do… but? Your Highness, why are you suddenly asking about that?”

“Get them ready; we’ll likely need them soon.”

“Eh? Why… why do you say that? Isn’t the crisis resolved? Haven’t those Abyssal Demons been routed?” the middle-aged man asked in confusion.

Beside them, the other envoys visiting the Snownight Empire also looked toward their master with similar bewilderment. In response, Anmutu let out a helpless sigh and turned back, gazing at the original battlefield with a complicated expression.

“The group of Abyssal Demons that attacked before were mostly just recently transformed from humans…”

“Hmm? Transformed? Infected?”

“Yes, they should have been transformed from Northern Frontier soldiers. Strictly speaking, they are merely newborns among the Abyssal Demons, so their combat power isn’t strong, and their defensive capabilities are even more lacking.”

“This…”

Rеаd oո КatReаdіոɡСafе

Hearing this, the middle-aged man felt a chill run down his spine. After all, if his Highness was correct and the group of Abyssal Demons that broke through the Northern Frontier’s defenses wasn’t this batch, then where were those demons?

“Your Highness, then… where are those Abyssal Demons? Why would they only send ‘newborns’ to attack?”

As if guessing the question the middle-aged man wanted to ask, Anmutu revealed a bitter smile and gazed toward the distant Albero Canyon with a heavy heart.

“If… I haven’t guessed wrong, these city-attacking Abyssal Demons were all cannon fodder… used to lure the Sky Dome defenders out…”

At this moment, outside Sky Dome City.

“Die!!”

Accompanied by the roar of the muscular man, the last sixth tier Abyssal Demon let out a mournful cry before its head was severed by Toma’s axe. In that instant, across the vast snowy plains, all the Abyssal Demons had been put to rest by the Royal Knight Corps.

Looking at the nauseating corpses of the Abyssal Demons littering the ground, Toma, drenched in blood and looking quite terrifying, couldn’t help but reveal an excited smile. He even raised his battle-axe and let out a wild roar toward the heavens.

“Aaaaaahhh!!”

With Toma taking the lead, the other Royal Knights couldn’t help but raise their swords and cheer. After all, this battle could be described as unprecedented. Without the assistance of an eighth tier powerhouse and relying solely on their own strength, they had crushed such a massive swarm of Abyssal Demons without suffering many casualties.

A human army had not only defeated the Abyssal Demons but had done so with almost no losses? In the past, this would have been unthinkable, yet now it had become a reality.

Rеаԁ оո КаtRеαdіոɡСαfе

In an instant, Xue Tian’ao’s weapons and tactics caused them to admire their Emperor even more. The battlefield, which had been filled with a murderous aura, became lively due to the knights’ cheers. Laughter and shouts of joy replaced the roars of fierce beasts and the cries of slaughter.

Toma himself gazed toward Sky Dome with immense excitement, looking in the direction of the imperial palace. Although they were far apart, Toma hoped that Xue Tian’ao could see his victorious posture. Once upon a time, he had been nothing but a destitute youth.

After receiving Xue Tian’ao’s grace, he had not only become a seventh tier powerhouse but had also led an army to crush an invasion of Abyssal Demons. Surely, he would go down in history!

At the thought of his dream of rising above others coming true today, a brilliant smile appeared on Toma’s blood-stained face.

…

Unfortunately, this smile did not last long.

For just as Toma was cheering and shouting, “ROOOAAARRR!!”

A sudden, earth-shaking roar instantly shattered the joyful atmosphere of the Knight Corps. Toma’s expression changed abruptly as he turned his head unexpectedly toward the forest behind them and the large canyon nearby.

The Royal Knights and Imperial Guard soldiers also looked toward the canyon with trepidation as an ominous feeling began to sprout in everyone’s hearts.

‘What… what is that sound?’ Toma couldn’t help but ask himself.

In the next instant, his question was answered.

The scene before him caused the seventh tier powerhouse’s eyes to shrink violently and his face to contort as cold sweat began to pour down his forehead.

“No… how… how are there more?!”

Rеαⅾ οո ΚаtRеaԁіոgСαfе

Reflected in Toma’s terrified eyes, accompanied by an earth-shaking boom, a terrifyingly intense purple-black light erupted from within the towering Albero Canyon! As this light burst forth, the sky suddenly changed color. A nauseating aura and an unprecedented sense of pressure surged toward Toma and the others as the purple light spread.

The pressure, like a mountain weighing down, forced everyone to hold their breath. The incredibly dense aura of Shadow Essence made everyone gasp. The previous joy in their hearts had vanished, replaced by an indescribable sense of trembling.

Under the spreading black light, the massive canyon collapsed with a roar.

A terrifying shockwave erupted from within. This power, carrying the breath of death, caused the forest surrounding the canyon to wither at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning it into a dead land.

Dark clouds shrieked across the horizon as lightning tore through them. A bloody stench filled the air between heaven and earth. Bursts of beastly roars like wailing ghosts, the sound of the earth trembling continuously, and the whistling of the wild winds together played a melody of the end.

Accompanied by this music, countless monsters of various shapes and sizes, hideous and filled with bloodlust and madness, charged out from the dead forest. They roared with an overwhelming momentum, rushing toward Toma and the tens of thousands of troops behind him like a thunderbolt.

Watching this scene, Toma’s heart was instantly seized by fear, and his hands gripping the battle-axe began to tremble uncontrollably.

‘These, these Abyssal Demons?! Why… why?!’

Gazing at the swarm of Abyssal Demons howling toward him like a towering tidal wave, Toma could clearly feel the immense pressure approaching.

Clearly, compared to the wave of Abyssal Demons that had attacked the city earlier, this group that had suddenly rushed out of the forest possessed far more terrifying strength. The momentum of their charge alone was worlds apart from the previous batch. Every single demon in front of them had an aura that was more robust, more tyrannical, and more dangerous.

Moreover, with just a glance, Toma horrifiedly discovered dozens of peak sixth tier Abyssal Demons, as well as two seventh tier Abyssal Demons that resembled wyverns, their bodies shrouded in corrosive mist.

Combined with this unestimable number, if they clashed with these monsters on the open plains, he and the Royal Knights behind him would surely be doomed! They needed heavy firepower and barrier protection to fight these monsters!

Therefore, Toma wanted to retreat.

Reaⅾ on ΚatRеαⅾіոɡСαfе

But he suddenly discovered a desperate fact. Because they had pursued the previous demons, their unit was now too far from the city gates and too close to the canyon.

Furthermore, the speed of this group of Abyssal Demons was extraordinarily fast.

In the mere moment it took for Toma to think, they had already reached them! It seemed Toma and the Royal Knight Corps no longer had the option to ‘retreat’.

Helpless, Toma could only grit his teeth and roar at the top of his lungs, “Form up! Abrosen Defense Formation! Hurry!!”

However, Toma quickly realized in despair that they didn’t even have time to form a line, let alone assume a defensive stance.

The roaring Abyssal Demons, bringing death, despair, and fear, were like a flash flood. With a momentum that could swallow mountains and rivers, they crashed into Toma and his men.

Under the dumbfounded gaze of Lingmu and the others atop the city walls, the swarm of Abyssal Demons swept away thousands of lives in an instant, like autumn leaves in a gale.

They were submerged, and then consumed.

Countless soldiers were shocked beyond measure, unable to make any effective counterattack before they watched their comrades and themselves be swallowed by the tsunami of Abyssal Demons. Engulfed by the rolling torrent, they left nothing behind except for their screams before death.

The scorched earth was once again soaked in steaming blood, but this time, the blood no longer belonged to the Abyssal Demons, but to humans.

Mangled bodies were trampled under the claws and teeth of the Abyssal Demons, tossed about as severed limbs, internal organs, and brains mixed with snow and silt flew through the air.

In an instant, shrill screams echoed across the plains.