Because of the food shortage, there wasn’t a single person who wasn’t eager to jump into battle right now. So hungry…so damned hungry…
The moment the bone pillars entered our field of vision, a certain bunch of potatoes, whose brains couldn’t rein in their desires, immediately charged ahead without a second thought.
Without my command, Mo Xixidi took off with a bunch of devils by his side: “Follow me boys, there’s food ahead!”
“Woohhhhh!!!” Heads filled with nothing but hunger, the devils charged ahead like swarm of bees while howling nonsensically.
‘You pig-heads, can’t you see how many enemies there are in front of you?! Or are you trying to say that you rather die in battle than die of starvation?’
Being a primal devil of the horned devil branch, Mo Xixidi’s final form was that of an abyss devil which was known for being perpetually hungry. That was the biggest characteristics of those of the Gluttony branch. They loved to eat or collect treasure. Even if they knew that it was pointless to eat and even if they couldn’t take a another bite, they would still gladly indulge in their desires.
Given all that, the last ten plus days must have truly been torturous for him. However, even if I could understand his excitement, such disobedience mustn’t be allowed.
Because of Mo Xixidi’s wilful actions, the lizardmen ended up rushing into battle as well, led by those three four-star lizardmen heads. Upon noticing Mo Xixidi’s actions, they merely paused for a second before immediately rushing off as well. Perhaps they thought that I had given that order, or perhaps they simply convinced themselves that it was my order, either way, with that potato acting as the leader, they didn’t have to worry too much about the consequences later.
Assuming there was still a later…
A single bone pillar was able to summon forth over a thousand skeletons. In that case, how many skeletons were 100 bone pillars able to summon? That was a question I didn’t want to consider mostly because I didn’t have the time to do so.
With their growling stomachs egging them on, Mo Xixidi and his band of a thousand plus devils had already charged into range of one bone pillar. Behind them, were two thousand over lizardmen who were just as moronic and just as hungry. With their prey standing right before them, they didn’t even bother considering the potential consequences of what they were about to do.
Thus, as I had suspected all along, the moment Mo Xixidi set foot into the bone pillar’s range, it exploded in a shower of skeletons. Around it, the other bone pillars began summoning skeletons as well as if that single bone pillar had set off a domino effect amongst the neighboring pillars.
Ceiling darkening for a second, the giant pall of darkness immediately revealed itself as a shower of skeletons that crashed into the incoming devils. With no formation to speak, they were easily split apart in the first wave alone.
In contrast, the lizardmen put on a much better showing than those red-skinned fools. Though their gait were unsteady from ten days of food deficiency, they still managed to summon forth an impressive burst of strength in front of their prey.
Thanks to their draconic bloodlines, they were easily able to withstand the dives of the lightweight skeletons and even managed to rip apart several of their skulls before they could land.
Thus, I had two complete opposites play out before my very eyes: a bunch of devils getting pushed around by falling skeletons while a bunch of lizardmen easily swatted aside said falling skeletons.
Strictly speaking, the lizardmen held a distinct advantage over the devils because of their racial traits. On the other hand, the devils weren’t actually considered devils till they evolved into a five-star. The reason was that five-star devils all had a common trait: their original sin blessing.
Any devil below the rank of five-stars was basically a slave or fodder in devil society. The only exceptions to this treatment were those who were already blessed with an original sin and ended up evolving into their respective primal stages. For example, Julia, Mo Xixidi, Mimiya, etc.
Naturally, two to three thousand skeletons weren’t a problem for Mo Xixidi and his devils. However, what I was worried about was that the rest of the bone pillars might activate in response to their attacks. Not knowing whether or when they would explode, I knew that I had to recall that potato as soon as possible. It was either that or have them withdraw from battle as soon as possible.
“Habona, quick, I need you to…”
Just as I was about to ask her to drag Mo Xixidi back here, the ceilings darkened once more and I knew that I was too late. One after another, the bone pillars began exploding in a shower of skeletons that swarmed towards Mo Xixidi and the others. Given their distance, it wouldn’t be long before they were overwhelmed by these newcomers.
‘I knew this was a bad time to attack, damnit! Those brainless gluttons!’
And yet while I hated his wilful decision, I couldn’t leave him to die either. Whether it was out of consideration for Julia’s feelings or our future combat strength, I had to rescue that potato. Even if I couldn’t do so, I had to at least make an attempt.
…otherwise my relationship with Julia and the others might sour.
Taking a deep breath amidst the anxious gaze of Julia, I had no choice but to announce the start of battle: “Everyone, charge!”
‘Damn it, I wanted to take this slowly too. We could’ve just activated those bone pillars one at a time given how far apart they were and slowly replenished supplies while recovering our strength at the same time, now however…heck, even if things ended up going awry, I could’ve at least made some preparations beforehand instead of running around like a bunch of headless chickens.’
Thankfully, the worst case scenario didn’t happen and the activations stopped after ten or so bone pillars exploded. Assuming each had a thousand skeletons, that was merely 10,000 skeletons, roughly the same as our own numbers.
Moreover, the individual strength of these skeletons weren’t even that strong, the majority were one to two-stars with some random smattering of three-stars.
“Numila, Eugenia, fire off your composite magic. Elena, I want you to harvest those soul flames right away and carve out an exchange array.” While I did say to charge, it wasn’t like I could brainlessly move my army to attack either. Some degree of planning was still required. “Evilin, I need you to command the dogmen and get them to rescue the wounded.”
Commands after commands were issued without any breaks, each other were dutifully acknowledged in an orderly fashioned.
As for Mo Xixidi, his surroundings had long since devolved into a chaotic mess. Because the devils were able to consume soul flames directly, Mo Xixidi and his devils couldn’t help but rush into battle. Arms bulging with each grasp, he easily broke off a skeletal beast’s skull and sucked out the soul flame within as if it was a coconut.
With its contents emptied, he then casually tossed it aside and let forth a satisfied burp before looking for another target.
Unlike the devils, the lizardmen weren’t able to feast directly on souls and had to rely on meat to sustain themselves. Upon noticing this problem, the lizardmen at the forefront immediately tried to carve out an exchange array in the midst of battle; it was a rather simple process after all. Unfortunately, they ended up failing because there were simply too many skeletons swarming them.
Being in a hungry state from the beginning, their initial burst of strength had already begun to wear off and soon the sea of skeletons began to overwhelm them as well.
“Dearest, we’re ready.” It was then that Numila chimed in from above me — their channeling was complete.
‘Hopefully, their spell would be able to keep that sea of bones at bay…’
Other than the dogmen and some harpies, most of my troops had already engaged the undead. In order to speed up our recovery, I had Habona spearhead a charge into the skeleton sea with a division of werewolves along with Manasha and her medusas. As for the soul flames, I had Elena and her harpies swoop in to snatch them before our surroundings could swallow them. Thanks to their flight capabilities, they were able to enter and leave as they pleased.
The werewolves and medusas were all the cream of the crop of my army, and this was made abundantly clear in the initial charge alone. Tails and claws flying about, my elites immediately took a chunk out of the skeleton sea.
A second later, the harpies dove in, talons primed and ready to pick up the soul flames as if they were hawks preying upon a field of mice. Roughly five minutes later, our first batch of soul flame were ready for the exchange array.
Voice raised, I immediately recalled Westley and his lizardmen and had his brethren replenish their strength. The moment they were done, I had the next batch of lizardmen recalled.
Because the devils had the ability to consume soul flames directly, I didn’t recall them right away. In a way, this was Mo Xixidi’s punishment for disobeying me.
It was then that Numila and Eugenia finished casting their spell. High above, the two harpies witches fearlessly flew off in the direction of the sea of bones. Around them, the elemental energies crackled. Upon infusing mana into Flametail which was still circling around Numila, the energies immediately condensed into a giant fireball of wind and flames. From my standpoint, it was as if they had in their talons, a miniature sun of unimaginable heat.
The instant the fireball stopped expanding, Numila tossed it right into the heart of the skeleton sea. By now, even more bone pillars had activated and the undead count seemed to be increasing without limit. It was precisely this reason that made her fire off the spell at this moment.
*boom!*
The world seemed to quiet down in the instant the massive ball of flames crashed into the ground with a deafening boom. Immediately, a wave of blinding light washed over us, followed by a scorching wave of heat. All around, the residual flames flew about in a veritable eruption of fire and sparks. Fanned by the howling winds, they immediately roared to life once more and enveloped the skeletons in a sea of flames that almost covered half of the battlefield. With just that spell alone, over ten thousand skeletons were wiped out and that was a conservative estimation on my part as well.
Once more, magic proved itself as the eternal king of group warfare. It was said that a hundred warriors wouldn’t even be able to output the same destruction as ten mages of the same level let alone a composite magic boosted by the epic-grade Flametail.
As the flames swallowed up the countless skeletons, that suffocating heat began to roast my troops as well. A number of lizardmen began to show signs of faltering. Not only that, even my devils, known for their fire resistance, began to show signs of discomfort.
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