Chapter 643: Beginning the Rescue
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
The blizzard kept increasing in magnitude as well as area. Even from several dozen kilometers away, demons in the demon wave could sense impending danger. They either turned around and ran, or killed their own allies for the sake of opening up a path. They all instinctively wanted to get away from this threat.
The eternal battle between Order G.o.ds and Chaos Abyss demons had reenacted itself countless times already over all the Holy Wars. However, it was extremely rare that a battle would be so brutal right at the beginning of a Holy War. The venerated Main G.o.ds seemed just like lions locked together in an arena as they viciously tore at and battled against each other without retreating.
Every single second, countless heroic spirits and G.o.d Envoys were peris.h.i.+ng. This was an unavoidable battle with no path to retreat. Elegant elven martial arts techniques couldn’t compare to the demons’ violent, berserk natures and combat instincts. Magic spells would only cause the furious demons to prematurely self-destruct. In front of the endless waves of demon cannon fodder, the legendary elven heroes were all torn apart or exploded and killed by the demon war slaves.
However, the Elven G.o.ds had no s.p.a.ce or time to be retreating here. They were gambling their countless years of acc.u.mulation, just like an addicted gambler who couldn’t stop gambling. They were betting everything on this meat grinder that was absolutely hopeless, all for the sake of obtaining a little more time.
Behind the Elven G.o.ds was a pitch-black floating castle that flew above the Moonwheel Capital. This floating castle had already opened up all its pa.s.sageways. Countless floating airs.h.i.+ps and combat airs.h.i.+ps were flying all around, helping the surviving elves enter this floating city.
Yongye City was now serving a critical purpose at this moment. Once Yongye City was filled, I could either place it back inside my personal h.e.l.l world, or have it drive off at its turtle-like speed. Either option would be quite safe.
By the way, as I previously mentioned, my personal h.e.l.l world was also a part of h.e.l.l itself. Although the aura of death there wasn’t as powerful as in the main h.e.l.l, it would still be a type of negative energy which would be harmful or even fatal to the living. This was why my Yongye City had never had living residents on board all this time.
For powerful individuals, it would be possible to defend against this type of negative energy that didn’t have any negative intent as long as they weren’t foolish enough to try and absorb it. However, this negative energy would be a fatal killer, impossible to defend against, for ordinary people with no special abilities.
I had previously performed some experiments in my personal h.e.l.l world’s environment. For an ordinary person, it would take three hours at most before they would be permanently stuck here. Any living person would become the dead in my personal h.e.l.l world, but they would still be able to live on there in the form of undead spirits. However, I figured that the elves probably wouldn’t enjoy permanently living in my perpetually dark world.
Considering how elves had even worse physical bodies than humans, it would probably only be safe for elves to stay there for less than two hours. But, if they were also within Yongye City which activated its defense spells to keep out the aura of death, this time limit could probably be extended.
Still, when considering how typical mage towers and floating castles would have limited mana, activating such a defense spell for a long period of time would be suicidal, and no defense spell could be kept up for too long… Alright, the perceptive readers among you might have noticed how I used the word “typical”. Of course, my Yongye City was different! It possessed an “infinite mana core”!
Cough, let us ignore how I managed to obtain infinite mana for my Yongye City. Still, even though the defense spell could be maintained permanently, the dimensional laws of h.e.l.l would still constantly invade anyone who entered. The defense spell would only somewhat lengthen the amount of time that someone could stay without dying. Those who left h.e.l.l afterwards would be lucky to get off with only a major illness. If they stayed for too long in h.e.l.l, they would still die. Thinking back on the unlucky bandits I experimented on, some of them had already started transforming into undead on the fifth day, and all the bandits had become undead by the seventh day. I felt that for the elves, it would be only safe for them to stay three or four days.
Of course, unless it was absolutely necessary, I didn’t want to expose my personal h.e.l.l world, as this was truly one of my aces among aces. However, when considering the situation today, some things would be unavoidable.
My original plan was that the floating airs.h.i.+ps should have been enough to only take the elven children with us. If too many elves came along with us, then I would bring out my floating castle and slowly fly them.
If we were forced onto the brink, then I would put the elves in Yongye City, and then into my personal h.e.l.l world. I would be able to easily escape by myself, and then rush across the snowy Herit Mountains that everyone considered impossible to cross before the elves in my personal h.e.l.l world died. I would then open up my world on the plains across from the Herit Mountains and release all the elves, leaving them to their own devices there.
Of course, the prerequisite for all of this would be to have all the elves enter my floating castle. This way, we could be much freer in our planning.
“Children, elderly, and women first. Hey, you’re a young male elf, so why aren’t you off fighting against the demon wave? You’re trying to fight for a spot with women and children? Aren’t you embarra.s.sed?”
Harloys kicked away a young male elf who had been attempting to rush forward for a spot. Her appearance helped to restore elven morale.
Harloys had brought all four Superior Elf species along with her to wholeheartedly partic.i.p.ate in rescuing the elves. Her unique Gold Elf appearance with brilliant golden hair, fair white skin, and tall figure attracted a great deal of attention. Her three pieces of G.o.d Equipment representing Gold Elf royal authority attracted even more attention. Many silver elves and moon elves were looking at her with truly complex expressions.
As for why I had the elves do most of the work in rescuing the Moonwheel Capital elves, apart from the reason that the elves would be rea.s.sured and less on guard against other elves, it was also because I felt that a rescue effort would be the best possible method of improving reputation.
Our rescue effort hadn’t yet received the express permission of the “Moonwheel Capital Elven Empire” and its Superior Elves and royalty. However, judging from the current situation, while they still didn’t intend to retreat yet, they didn’t at all try to stop our rescue efforts. This was despite how we were making it obvious that we were stealing their population from them… It wasn’t like they could stop their own people from trying to find a way to survive.
Yep, when it came to it, I would toss a few combat airs.h.i.+ps over to pick up the Moonwheel Capital Elven Empire royalty and higher-ups.
At this moment, the new Borealis was no longer moving. It was incapable of moving as countless amounts of ice, snow, and frost had enveloped the entire airs.h.i.+p at the core of the spell. A tremendous blizzard was blowing everywhere around the airs.h.i.+p. Between the sky and the land were countless flying and dancing ice fairies.
Even more astonis.h.i.+ng was that right around the new Borealis and right below it in the Moonwheel Capital, even though the wind was still freezing, there was no snow. This was the only area with no snow as far as the eye could see.
Even a forbidden spell would have a safe area. That would be where the caster was located. Right now, all of the Chaos Faction forces were approaching this direction.
Apart from the Borealis that I was on, all the other airs.h.i.+ps and warriors were now partic.i.p.ating in battle. However, they weren’t on the frontlines of battle with the Elven G.o.ds, as they weren’t going to be cannon fodder. Instead, they were outside the remaining walls of the Moonwheel Capital, stopping the demons and demonic beasts that made it through.
This would greatly reduce the risk, as well as help receive grat.i.tude and favor from the elves. This would also be quite appropriate for these mortal human warriors to acc.u.mulate combat experience and obtain equipment data rather than instantly dying to the demon wave.
The other airs.h.i.+ps’ main cannons took turns firing. Every explosion killed large groups of tens or even hundreds of demons. This highly efficient and low-risk fighting style made the elves discover that they were indeed behind the times.
However, what attracted the most attention in the air wasn’t actually the large airs.h.i.+ps. Instead, it was the much smaller Gnome Phoenix combat airs.h.i.+ps that commanded the most attention.
The Gnome Phoenix was a modified and improved version of gnome helicopters. Gnome helicopters weren’t a new invention, yet they had never been chosen by aerial knights before, primarily because gnome helicopters were highly p.r.o.ne to mechanical problems. Also, if any mechanical problems occurred on a gnome helicopter, the helicopter and pilot would both crash and be smashed into tiny pieces.
However, the Gnome Phoenix model was different from the original version which had been so p.r.o.ne to mechanical problems. The Gnome Phoenix had two overlapping rotors that both helped the helicopter to fly. That way, even if one rotor broke, that would only lower the helicopter’s mobility, and it would still be possible to descend safely. Additionally, even if both rotors broke, we had prepared parachutes for the pilots… This type of “rebirth from death” was why this new model was named “Phoenix”.
The Gnome Phoenixes weren’t even equipped with weapons. They were merely quite simple mechanical contraptions. Calling them a type of combat airs.h.i.+p would be somewhat of an exaggeration as their only function would be to help someone fly. However, these simply designed, incredibly cheap, and weakest airs.h.i.+ps of all had earned glorious combat achievements.
The Gnome Phoenixes constantly sprayed a special potion down on the ground. This potion was known as “Cleaning Agent #2”, an accidental byproduct from one of Olivia’s experiments. This potion was originally intended to be laundry detergent. However, the results of experiments showed that this potion was actually an excellent stimulant and aphrodisiac… Cough, cough, shouldn’t we all be used to such “surprises” accidentally invented during the course of scientific research?
An appropriate amount of stimulation on the battlefield would be a good thing. Fear and anger would both be excellent stimulants that could help warriors to utilize their full power. However, overly excited minds and emotions would actually negatively affect one’s combat potential. People would make mistakes from using too much force, or overload their own muscles and cramp up. There was also extreme fatigue that would come after too much stimulation. All of these would be fatal.
But when such a super fast-acting stimulant met with the demon war slaves who would all self-destruct upon being overly stimulated, it would make such a perfect pairing. The combat results obtainable from this were obvious.
Everywhere that the Gnome Phoenix helicopters went, they opened up potion bottles and sprayed down potion and powder, followed by successive sounds of explosions from below. Not only that, the demons were now densely packed together in order to surround and attack the remaining Moonwheel Capital city walls. The self-destruction from a single demon war slave would kill another several demon war slaves, and several of those would also self-destruct… A single potion that cost less than ten silver coins to produce could actually kill several dozen mid-level demons in one go? This was something almost inconceivable.
There were 300 or so Gnome Phoenix helicopters that weren’t armed with anything other than this potion. Yet, they attracted the most attention in this battle. Everywhere that they went, countless explosions came from below. However, I knew that such great combat results wouldn’t continue for long.
We had brought along many new weapons, equipment, and potions to experiment with in actual battle. Every single type was limited in number. But, since this particular potion was so highly effective, I would be having it ma.s.s-produced in much greater quant.i.ty in the future, and then selling it as an expensive new weapon.
“You’re selling a potion that’s a combination of a stimulant and aphrodisiac as a new biological weapon? I don’t even know how to comment anymore…”
However, considering how only ordinary demons would be entering the mortal plane after the demon wave ended, it was unlikely that this potion would be selling well. Well, it was still likely to be effective against fire element demons. As long as a single inferno demon was lured into self-destructing, that would cause a tremendous amount of damage to its demon allies.
“Forget it, let’s stop thinking so much. There’s still more than 40 different potions that are still awaiting experimentation.”
Ice Aeon was now in its final explosive period. Its magic formula had stabilized, which meant that I could now mult.i.task and concentrate on other things. Although I still needed to physically speak this ridiculously long incantation, I actually had more freedom to pay attention to the battle.
The ground battle was also in a stalemate now. The addition of the Mist Alliance’s human warriors helped the elves to recover. However, something displeasing was that the human warriors already suffered injuries and death right from fighting their first demons.
Although it seemed like the elves were having an easy time against these demon war slaves, the Mist Alliance’s heavy infantry and magic swordsmen immediately suffered against these demon war slaves that had tremendous physical strength and didn’t fear pain. Not only that, the demon war slaves might self-destruct at any moment. Indeed, this made them an incredibly difficult foe to face in melee.
Even with all our preparations made beforehand, fresh soldiers could still only become veteran soldiers through actual combat. They didn’t have experience fighting against such an enemy, so injuries and death were unavoidable. Thankfully, Reyne personally partic.i.p.ated in battle, and managed to stabilize the combat situation with her fierce fighting.
What surprised me was that her two concubines also partic.i.p.ated in battle. One was a hardened, swift swordswoman, while the other was a skilled mage who knew how to cast both magic and Divine Arts. They were actually surprisingly skilled.
“How much longer for your forbidden spell to complete?”
“About one hour.”
“…Didn’t you tell me earlier that you only needed another half an hour? Ten minutes have pa.s.sed since then! Now you’re telling me that you need another hour?”
Reyne was quite angry as she talked to Harloys. Since I was unable to move or talk right now, anything I wanted to express could only be said through Harloys.
More than one hundred elite warriors had already died in the first round of combat against the demon wave. While Reyne could only inwardly sigh at the demon wave’s well-deserved reputation, her heart ached for all the dead warriors. Naturally, this also caused her temper to flare.
“Whenever he says half an hour at most, he usually means three hours…”
Harloys’ voice trailed off as she spoke. This was indeed a bad situation. Every second, countless warriors were dying. The strength of the enemy was far stronger than expected.
But at such a time, both sides could only fight with all they had. There was no turning back for either side. The first side that was unable to take it and backed down would be finished.
“Roland, you truly are the #1 pit digger to appear in the past thousand years. Not only do you dig pitfalls for your enemies, you also dig them for your allies!”
Cough, what did this have to do with me? Why was I being wrongfully blamed like this?