Chapter 398
The holy mages spread out, scanning ground with deep-penetration detection magic. They found two more corruption pits—one near the central gates, one near the western wall. Both were purified before any soldiers died in them.
But the trap had cost the humans twenty minutes of time and one hundred fifty soldiers.
At Third Line, Lyra watched the human advance halt and smiled grimly.
"The trap worked. One hundred fifty casualties, and we’ve bought twenty minutes of time."
"They’re purifying everything now," Seraphina reported. "Scanning for deep-buried traps. They won’t find any more—we only had resources to prepare three corruption pits."
"But they don’t know that. Elric will assume we have more. He’ll spend time checking every yard of ground." Lyra’s strategic thinking showed. "Twenty minutes bought, zero casualties on our side, and we’ve made them more cautious for the rest of the assault."
"But now they’re purifying everything. We won’t be able to use corruption magic again."
"I know. But we bought time and inflicted casualties. That’s all we can do—delay, inflict losses, survive until reinforcements arrive."
After twenty minutes of exhaustive scanning, the holy mages reported: "All deep-buried traps detected and purified. The path is now truly clear."
Elric gave the order to resume advance.
"Heavy infantry, forward! Push through eastern breaches! Light infantry, ram assault on central gates! Let’s break this wall!"
The human army surged forward once more.
This time, there were no traps.
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Eight hundred heavy infantry pushed through the eastern breaches, now advancing more cautiously after the trap but still moving forward with overwhelming force.
They established positions inside Third Line’s perimeter, shields raised, forming defensive phalanxes.
And finally met organized resistance.
From prepared positions behind the breached walls, settlement defenders opened fire.
One hundred fifty archers—goblins, serpentfolk, and trained humans—released coordinated volleys into the advancing infantry.
The arrows struck shields mostly, but some found gaps. Soldiers cried out as arrows punched through armor joints, caught unprotected faces, struck exposed legs.
"SHIELDS UP! ADVANCE IN FORMATION!" the phalanx commanders ordered.
The heavy infantry continued pushing forward despite arrow fire, their tower shields providing excellent protection against ranged attacks.
Commander Vex’ahlia watched the advancing infantry from her secondary defensive position. One hundred twenty settlement fighters were positioned to defend against the eastern breach assault.
"They’re pushing hard. We can’t hold this position long against these numbers."
"You don’t need to hold long. Inflict casualties, slow them down, then fall back to next defensive position." Lyra’s tactical plan was about layered defense, not static holding. "Make them fight for every yard. Every minute we delay is a minute closer to Loki’s arrival."
"Understood."
Commander Vex’ahlia drew her dual blades—wounds from yesterday had been treated overnight, and while her shoulders still ached, she could fight.
"Demon warriors, with me! We hit the leading phalanx, kill as many as possible in thirty seconds, then withdraw before they surround us!"
Her eighteen remaining elite demon warriors moved into position.
At the central gates, the battering ram assault had begun.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Twenty soldiers carried the massive ram, swinging it with synchronized rhythm against the reinforced gates.
Defenders on the walls above dropped oil barrels, trying to burn the ram housing. But the ram was covered with wet hides specifically to resist fire attacks—the oil burned but didn’t ignite the wooden ram itself.
Archers shot down at the ram crews, but the protective housing shielded them from most arrows. Casualties were light.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The gates groaned under repeated impacts. Thrak’s engineering was solid, but even the best gates couldn’t withstand sustained battering ram assault indefinitely.
On the western wall, light infantry had begun their assault. They raised ladders and began climbing, trying to get fighters onto the walls to open the gates from inside.
Skar’s serpentfolk defenders met them at the wall tops.
A human soldier reached the top of a ladder, pulling himself up—and immediately took a spear through his throat from a serpentfolk warrior. He fell backward, knocking two more soldiers off the ladder.
Another ladder went up. Serpentfolk pushed it away from the wall with long poles before soldiers could climb. The ladder fell backward with screaming men attached.
The battle was developing across all three sectors simultaneously—eastern breaches, central gates, western walls.
And the settlement defenders were outnumbered everywhere.
Commander Vex’ahlia led her demon elite warriors in a rapid strike against the leading human phalanx.
Eighteen purple-skinned demon warriors with supernatural speed and centuries of combat experience hit two hundred heavy infantry with devastating effect.
An elite named Kesh moved faster than human eyes could track. His twin blades carved through three soldiers before they could raise shields—throat, chest, gut. Three soldiers down in two seconds.
Another elite named Rethis used magic to enhance her strength. Her blade struck a tower shield with force that shattered the wood and broke the arm of the soldier holding it. Her follow-up strike killed him.
Commander Vex’ahlia herself fought with cold precision. Her dual blades found gaps in armor, struck exposed flesh, killed with surgical efficiency. She dropped five soldiers in fifteen seconds of combat.
But the human phalanx was professional, disciplined, and numerous.
"DEMON WARRIORS!" a human commander shouted. "CONCENTRATE FIRE! HOLY WATER WEAPONS!"
Fifty soldiers turned their attention to the demon elites specifically. Those with holy water-blessed weapons stepped forward—blessed swords that burned demonic flesh on contact.
Kesh killed his fourth soldier but took a blessed sword slash across his back. The holy water burned like acid, sending pain screaming through his demonic body. He gritted his teeth and kept fighting, but he was wounded now.
Rethis faced three soldiers with blessed weapons. She killed one, wounded another, but the third got through her guard and drove a blessed sword into her side. She screamed and fell back, the holy water burning her insides.
Commander Vex’ahlia saw her elites taking casualties.
"Withdraw! We’ve inflicted damage! Fall back before they surround us!"
The demon elite warriors disengaged with the same supernatural speed they’d used to engage, vanishing back toward prepared fallback positions.