Chapter 45 : Chapter 45
Chapter 45. Heavy Losses
Several black shadows darted through the wreckage of the beast tide like ghosts, moving so fast that only afterimages remained.
They were Crawlers with Sky-level combat strength.
Dark energy swirled around their bodies. Even before they approached, the soldiers in the front line of the Vanguard Battalion felt a piercing chill.
“Watch out!”
A captain had barely shouted the warning when the shadows suddenly accelerated. Dark energy surged out like a tidal wave.
Several dull, wet sounds followed.
More than a dozen Bronze Rank knights at the very front were crushed into pieces along with their armor. Blood and shattered bones splattered across the comrades behind them.
As if receiving a signal, thunderous rumbles suddenly echoed from both sides of the canyon walls.
Countless caves split open within the rock.
Black masses of Crawlers poured out of those caves like waterfalls, cascading down toward the Ninth Legion below.
“Kill!”
The soldiers of the Fourth and Fifth Battalions had already climbed halfway up the cliffs. Now they were locked in brutal combat with the Crawlers pouring from the caves.
Longswords struck against the Crawlers’ carapaces, throwing sparks into the air.
Meanwhile, the Crawlers’ hooked claws tore open the throats of soldiers, and screams echoed across the cliff walls.
“Archers, mages—suppress both sides!”
Marquis Peter’s shout carried clear urgency.
He swung his sword to cut down a charging Crawler, only to see even more dark shapes surging from the caves.
“Quickly. Do not let them complete the encirclement!”
The archers immediately drew their bows.
Dense volleys of arrows flew toward the cliffs like swarms of locusts, piercing through the eyes of many Crawlers.
The mages gathered Fireballs and Ice Spikes into concentrated bursts, bombarding the cave entrances.
Collapsing rocks temporarily blocked several openings, but they could not stop the endless tide of Crawlers.
Prince Kande stared at the Sky-level Crawlers.
They were steadily approaching the core of the Vanguard Battalion. Wherever their dark energy passed, soldiers fell in clusters.
He rushed down immediately.
The other Sky Knights abandoned their attempts to deal with the Crawlers along the canyon walls and followed Prince Kande into the descent.
Meanwhile, the mages in the sky gathered back to back, forming a circle.
They crossed their hands before their chests and began chanting obscure and lengthy incantations.
This was the prelude to a Super-Tier Spell.
Such magic normally required a Legendary Archmage to control, yet they were forcibly activating it together.
Nearly tens of thousands of Crawlers had poured out from the cliffs.
If they did not act now, the Ninth Legion would eventually be swallowed by this black tide.
The chanting grew louder and louder, as if resonating with heaven and earth.
The wind in the canyon suddenly stopped.
Even the shrieks of the Crawlers weakened.
In the next instant, the sky turned dark as ink.
Thunderclouds rolled overhead, and purple lightning danced like furious serpents, striking precisely into the dense Crawler hordes.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
The lightning seemed to possess eyes of its own.
It avoided the allied soldiers and exploded only among the Crawlers.
Then dozens of massive lightning pillars crashed down from the clouds.
They struck the cave entrances on both sides of the canyon.
Rocks shattered under the thunderous light. The caves were blasted apart, and the Crawlers pouring out were instantly burned into charred corpses.
The smell of scorched flesh spread through the canyon.
The Crawler tide halted abruptly.
When the soldiers of the Fourth and Fifth Battalions descended from the cliffs, only five squads remained.
Every one of them was wounded.
Their armor was shattered. Their faces were smeared with blood and dust.
As they looked toward the sky, their expressions carried the dazed disbelief of those who had survived disaster.
Meanwhile, the three mages in the sky slowly fell.
Their hair turned white at a visible speed.
Deep wrinkles spread across their faces as if they had aged decades in an instant.
Just before reaching the ground, they lost consciousness without making a sound. Their bodies went limp, like dolls without bones.
“Quickly—carry the three master mages inside!”
Marquis Peter roared, his eyes reddening.
The price of forcibly releasing a Super-Tier Spell was the burning of life force.
These mages had nearly traded their lives for this brief chance to breathe.
The knights rushed forward immediately.
They carefully carried the three mages into the center of the formation and raised a temporary shield barrier around them.
William stood where he was.
He looked at the lingering lightning scars and the charred caves along the cliff walls, then turned his gaze toward the three unconscious mages.
His heart felt heavy.
“So this is a Secret Realm war…”
The wind sweeping through the canyon carried the smell of blood.
Soldiers collapsed onto the ground, their armor stained with blood that mixed with cold sweat.
Yet none of them dared to relax their guard.
Above them came the furious shouts of Prince Kande and the Sky Knights, mixed with the shrill screams of Crawlers.
Flashes of Dou Qi collisions occasionally pierced the clouds, causing the canyon floor to flicker between light and darkness.
Marquis Peter’s hand never left the hilt of his sword.
The strain turned his knuckles pale.
He looked up at the battle raging in the sky, then scanned the charred caves on both sides of the cliffs.
His brows tightened into a knot.
“Something is wrong.”
The adjutant beside him immediately asked, “Marquis, what seems wrong?”
“If there were truly this many Crawlers in the Secret Realm, His Majesty would never have allowed us to enter so easily for training.”
Marquis Peter spoke in a low voice.
“This looks more like a hunt.”
“Could it be that the other Legions did not encounter Crawlers at all?”
He turned around.
“Messenger!”
A soldier carrying a message tube stepped forward immediately.
“Present!”
“Write a report. Send the full situation here to His Majesty.”
“The number of Crawlers has exceeded expectations several times over. We were ambushed and suffered heavy losses. The Fourth and Fifth Battalions are nearly wiped out.”
“Three Sky mages burned their life force to release a Super-Tier Spell just to give us a chance to breathe.”
Marquis Peter spoke rapidly.
“Also ask about the situation of the other Legions. Find out whether they encountered the same attack.”
The messenger quickly wrote everything down.
Ink spread across the rough parchment as the hurried handwriting trembled slightly.
After finishing, he dried the ink, folded the letter, and placed it inside the bronze tube.
Then he took out a raven from the cage hanging at his waist.
The raven’s black eyes turned restlessly as it pecked at its feathers.
The messenger carefully tied the tube to its leg, gently patted its head, and whispered, “Go. Deliver this message quickly.”
The raven spread its wings and circled above the canyon.
It seemed wary of the battle in the sky.
Finally, it flapped its wings and flew toward the direction of the Secret Realm Entrance.
Soon it became a tiny black dot before disappearing into the clouds.
Marquis Peter watched the direction where the raven vanished.
But he felt no reassurance in his heart.
If the other Legions were completely safe, then the Ninth Legion had truly drawn the worst possible lot.