Chapter 120 – The Final Battle (8)
When Brendel activated his ability, he suddenly realized that he was unable to handle the air resistance as the warhorse charged through the area. Scarlett had taken the brunt of the first time he used it, but now that he was alone he reached his limits to handle it.
It was nearly impossible for a player in the game to get a pet that surpa.s.sed their own stats, but Brendel had gotten a mount that had an innate 132 OZ worth of agility. With the ability Charge added to it, he had completely broken the sound barrier so many times that he felt like he had turned into a fly that crashed onto a sheet of metal and was dragged through nearly fifteen kilometers with an insane speed.
When it finally stopped, Brendel could not stop himself from vomiting out the contents of his stomach. Blood was flowing from his eyes, nose and ears. His organs were completely damaged, and green words kept flashing in his eyes. The remaining life he had was literally a few pixels left on his HP bar.
[How did Scarlett managed to endure that? Did she use her spear or something to cut through air resistance?]
Brendel had twenty times the normal physique of a normal person and his defense and regeneration was just barely enough for him to survive that. If he was given enough time to rest, that physique would even allow him to recuperate without side effects.
[There’s no time to rest and that monster definitely won’t give me time to do so. Because it travels in a straight line at such a ridiculous speed, we couldn’t outrun it earlier. Give it a minute and it would be next to me again. Should I sacrifice this card and let it go to the graveyard?]
He broke into another bout of cold sweat when he remembered how difficult it was to escape from Ekman.
This was a desperate move to have his mount lure the enemy away, but the closer he was able to get to the meeting place, the stronger the Silver Elves would become when they joined up with him. Despite the numerous twists and turns, he was able to travel nearly forty kilometers from where he started and was close to where the Silver Elves fought Redi.
Twenty Silver Elves at level 50 would be enough to handle a level 50 Boss. When Nalaethar finished his battle, he would return to the meeting place with his full speed.
[The travel time for them to return is ten minutes. Once the Lizardmen fall below a certain number they will probably retreat. Perhaps twenty minutes for them to give up? Hewjil is one thing, but hopefully Medissa can kill Conrad.]
Brendel spent a few seconds to consider the outcomes and his options. He did not find any obvious shortcomings to his plans, so he got off the horse and patted its metallic head. This machine like artifact seemed like it was created by some factory in his previous world. It was intricately built and its toughness was extraordinary, appearing like it was never going to tire. Even that attack from Ekman only put a small scratch on it.
But losing this mount meant that he was gambling every token on the table. If the monster did not pursue the mount and came after him instead, then that would be the end of him. Brendel’s heart beated rapidly and he could not suppress his tension. Even so, he made up his mind and yelled:
“SILVER BMW! RUN LIKE THE WIND!” He yelled out the name he gave to his pet horse at the last moment, and finished the details of his orders in his mind.
Since the warhorse was not a living creature, it would not have any fears when it faced the monster. It looked at Brendel once with its red gem-like eyes as if to confirm his orders before turning around and disappeared into the forest.
Brendel sighed and flinched in pain as he reached for the Silver Horse card. He took it out and began to move as quickly as he possibly could, while listening carefully for any signs of Ekman. It was not long before he heard of angry bellows getting further away from his back, while causing the critters in front of him to flee in terror.
============ Hewjil POV ============
As long as one had not fallen completely into a crazed bloodl.u.s.t state, they would always recover their senses at some point.
Hewjil had poured almost all its Lizardmen into the ruins like an addicted gambler, but the place seemed like it was a black hole that sucked out the lives of its men.
At first the initial tactics that it played to get its men to attack the backlines worked, as the mercenaries did not appear again and the Silver Elves lost their ranged cover, while its own Lizardmen’s crossbow users gathered up to give cover to the Lizardmen warriors. The situation had reversed, surely, before it quickly discovered that the Silver Elves gave up on attacking in the open and chose to retreat to the ruins.
They moved back into narrow streets and hidden corners, and all of a sudden Hewjil realized the Silver Elves were using the territory to perform hit and run tactics. However, what shocked it was not the loss of his men, but the fact that when one of the Silver Elves of was caught out of position and killed, then turned into white light and shot back to the place where the Elven Kings were entombed.
This was the first time where Hewjil realized these Silver Elves were abnormal.
However, that thought was soon replaced by another problem. It had spotted a flag at the roof of the highest building. Even till now the mercenaries did not appear, but so did his men who were supposed to attack the backlines. The Lizardmen who fought against the Silver Elves in the frontlines were greatly demoralized, and the latter did not waste any time in launching another attack to take advantage of them.
This time, they managed to push the Lizardmen out and even took the control of the outer section. Hewjil was furious again, but it realized it just needed to gather all its men and surround that section. When he turned around to check the number of Lizardmen it had, its eyes bulged.
There was just a handful of Lizardmen behind him.
All of its tokens were already on the table, and yet the Silver Elves acted like it did not matter whether there a hundred Lizardmen or a thousand Lizardmen. Would the situation change even if it went in personally?
Hewjil felt the blood drain out of its face.
Unlike the other Lizardmen, it was intelligent enough to predict the conclusion of this battle. It called out another of its adjutant immediately.
“Tell the frontline commander to put more pressure and force the Silver Elves back.”
“Chief, are we going to launch a final attack?” The adjutant asked.
“No.” Hewjile shook its head: “We’re leaving. Only us.”
“What? But our brothers……”
“Ignore them. We can’t care about them anymore.” The leader of the Lizardmen shook its head regretfully. It held out its glittering pendant on its neck. “As long as this is with us, we can seek help from the Tree Shepherds and take back this area later. I know where these Silver Elves come from. The next time we are here I will be ready.”
“But do we not inform Conrad if we just leave?”
Hewjil hesitated for a moment before it shook its head. “Don’t worry, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d is an Emissary who controls members that have the Blood of G.o.ds. Even without us, he can take care of himself.”
[It would be good if something happens to him anyway— But if that b.a.s.t.a.r.d dies in this area, I’m going to pay a hefty price as well. This is such a tricky problem.]
Hewjil observed the battlefiled again. Even though the Lizardmen in the battle still had the upper hand, it did not seem like the Silver Elves had any signs of defeat yet. If the battle took another twenty minutes or so, the total number of his Lizardmen lost would be more than half and the situation would change.
At that point, trying to escape would depend on whether the Silver Elves were willing to let them go.
The Lizardmen were treated as slaves in Kirrlutz, and the pockets of their resistance had gone on for centuries. Hewjil’s instinct was honed by the constant resistance it had against Kirrlutz and the Empire, and the long years of evading capture as a bandit made him sensitive to danger.
It was time to escape.
============= Nalaethar’s POV =============
Nalaethar discovered that the Lizardmen suddenly increased their resistance, but they appeared hesistant and reluctant to do so. With this opening, the Elven commander who had centuries of experience decisively grabbed the chance and blew his horn. The Elven warriors immediately gathered into position and charged straight into the heart of the enemies. The Lizardmen crossbowmen shot out their bolts in a panic, but were hardly effective as they bounced off their armor.
The synergy of the Elven warriors was like a portable fortress that cut down the Lizardmen unerringly.
The waves of Lizardmen finally parted and completely fell into chaos. When they realized Hewjil was gone, they fell into confusion and screamed, scampering off to the forest in all directions.
Nalaethar let his men pursue them for a while, but they were like green c.o.c.kroaches which fled so fast that even the Silver Elves felt impressed. Brendel would have made fun of the Lizardmen’s excellent escape if he was there.