Countess Dantalion"s grand entrance may have been turned around, but without a doubt, she had bought enough time for Prince Stolas" troops to push to the frontline. The mages had also used this break to patch their s.h.i.+elds for the next impact. They ensured that the safe zone was stable enough for formation organisation and for the commanders to take control over the battlefield.
The cultivators, while useful in delaying the advance, knew that it was inevitable that they could not hold down the enemy army. Otherwise, what kind of dungeon would this be if they could defeat the enemy at the first line? The cultivators were actually looking forward to getting beaten back and becoming more desperate before ultimately achieving a hard-earned victory.
Although they were unaware that this was not just one of Jin"s normal dungeons, the dungeon supplier himself also planned around the fact that the demon army would eventually forge forward. Due to their increasingly ma.s.sive numbers in the protected safe zone, this was becoming more and more true.
The cultivators who partic.i.p.ated in the first wave of attack experienced it first hand. More demons, led by commanders, proved to be more than Jin"s customers could handle, once most of the clay soldiers had been dealt with.
At some point, Qiu Yue stopped a.s.signing cultivators to the beachhead and instead started placing them along the enormous sky bridge. It was to become the next battlefield before the demon army reached the first defensive platform. To say that the sky bridge was just a wide st.u.r.dy bridge would be a complete understatement.
The entire sky bridge was as big as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and had been filled with defensive guard posts manned by the Fortress Golems who were itching for some action. The new, improved Sherman Tanks had also been stationed there with the Dark Templars while Lord Wolte was guarding the very end of the bridge to provide support fire whenever needed.
As for the start of the bridge, anti-infantry and anti-tank mines had been specially placed along the main road and cultivators had been informed not to traverse that area. Their half masks gave them the directions and warnings as to their surroundings so they should know how to avoid the mines as they retreated.
While Prince Stolas received a clearer picture of Lord Moloch"s created city, he realised that the bridge was a vital structure which could not be allowed to get destroyed. It was their only way upwards since most of the cities seemed to be floating in the "sky". Moloch"s army had already prevented them from using Countess Dantalion"s Turtle as a possible flying platform. Thus, if they were unable to seize the sky bridge completely, it would definitely be a ha.s.sle to push forward in search for the dungeon core or Moloch himself.
"This Moloch really knows how to make things difficult for us." Prince Stolas spat the sentence out of spite but also with a hint of admiration. For decades if not centuries, there was virtually no one who had dared to fight or betray King Baal.
Betrayal would mean eternal humiliation most often by getting scorned to the very depths of poverty. Some were even subjected to constant death sentences to deter others from ever attempting it. But Moloch...the former Viscount Moloch, renowned for his calmness and logical ideas, had made the most illogical decision possible for a Demon n.o.ble. This made Prince Stolas wonder if he had really found a holy grail that could potentially bring King Baal down to his knees.
Would Stolas live long enough to see that happen or was surviving this entire battle so far merely luck? He had no f.u.c.king idea. Either way, he was there, intending to clear the air with regards to the incident that happened between Moloch and King Baal.
There was so much secrecy between Moloch"s demotion that even as a prince, Stolas was unable to learn any information from his spies. Once they had gone beyond the boundaries and the next day King Baal personally threw the freshly cut-off head of Stolas" spy right into his arms, warning him to never interfere again.
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"For being rather inexperienced in the trade of war, you did rather well holding the defensive lines." Princess Gaap praised as she teleported in with the next wave of elite troops. "Earl Furfur told me the details, and I too am looking forward to battle against a force that could annihilate Duke Vepar"s famed Horned Armoured Knights and our Jousting Elite Knight Forcas."
She bundled her long hair to cover the right side of her face. Prince Stolas had never interacted much with his elder sister Gaap, but he knew there was a battle scar which she always kept out of view from people during battle.
While it could be regarded as merely a small battle scar, to her, it seemed to be a matter of pride. As a daughter of the Demon King, she could have easily let someone heal it, but she had decided to keep it. Still, Stolas chose to reserve his comments about such a controversial action and updated her about the current situation.
"Hmm? Oh is that why that flying turtle went cras.h.i.+ng down into the sea?" Gaap wondered, making Prince Stolas turn around and watch how the turtle was attempting to find refuge from the attacks within the deep sea.
"That pet of Dantalion. I guess it"s smart enough to pretend that it"s too injured to fight. Going underwater will let it recover to take revenge later."
Stolas was surprised that Gaap knew a thing or two about Flashy and only nodded in response. What they did not know was the true horrors waiting under the water ready to consume anything that entered the sea.
While Flashy made the right deduction for a tactical retreat off the battlefield, it never expected someone else to be down there. Multiple high powered harpoons were thrown at the unsuspecting injured turtle. (Courtesy of Weslie for her water-resistant steampunk harpoon gun.)
Realising that it was in danger, Flashy tried to swim upwards, but even more harpoons penetrated its skin and continued to drag the poor turtle further down into the sea. Although the magical energy s.h.i.+eld had already dissipated, Flashy was still able to protect Countess Dantalion soldiers even if it went underwater by conjuring large breathable bubbles around its sh.e.l.l. The bubbles had light restorative effects, but it was negligible for the soldiers who were severely injured.
However, with Flashy being dragged to the bottom of the sea, the increasing sea pressure caused those bubbles to burst, and its pain stopped the flying turtle from producing any more of these breathable bubbles.
Thus, the flower demon soldiers once again became mere helpless prey for the Deep Ones lurking around to kill and feast on them. Even with the mages trying to counter-attack, they were no match against the Deep Ones, especially in their native element.
Those creatures may be ferocious but they also possessed the intelligence to target the higher priority targets and focused on the magical light the mages produced during chanting. The Deep Ones were all very delighted that they received a surprise warm-up/food before the actual contingency plan that Qiu Yue and Derek had prepared.
And...as for the flying turtle, well... if it knew that it was mostly ignored to be a sacrifice for the patron of these creatures, it would have already lost consciousness than to antic.i.p.ate the awaiting horror further down the seafloor.