Volume 4 Chapter 171: Sarni City After the Clash of Darkness
Translator: The Light
Edits by Lord Immortal
It had been preordained that tonight would not be an ordinary night in Sarni City. The moon did not appear in the night sky, and Sarni City’s leader, d.u.c.h.ess Bellina, was still having fun inside her secret study. She was oblivious to the situation happening on the city wall’s defense line.
Sarni City’s city walls were brightly lit by the numerous torches held in the defenders’ hands. The Beastmen’s night ambushes weren’t anything new. They had been attacking every night since the siege began, so they would probably attack again tonight!
The defenders of Sarni City were geared up, their copper guns and arquebuses primed and loaded. When the time came, however, it wasn’t the Beastmen. Instead, it was other demons who launched the offensive.
From the skies came zombie dragon knights and stone gargoyles. On the ground, large troops of skeleton soldiers and hungry ghouls charged the city. These demonic creatures were summoned by the Dark Humans. Darkness Wizard G.o.d Kenneth had decided to help the Beastmen after watching them fail to take the city night after night.
Although the defenders were startled by this scene, they still raised their firearms and began to shoot. However, they were not as effective against these demonic creatures as they were against the Beastmen. The creatures seemed to be blessed with some extraordinary force, so the firearms could barely budge them.
“What’s going on, really... It’s the middle of the night; let a girl sleep!”
“Bella, you’ve come... You could’ve at least wiped your face!”
Blood Demon King Eleanor turned around, seeing the slightly annoyed expression on Bella’s face. She figured it was due to Bella rus.h.i.+ng out, but there were several hickeys still on her face, probably left by an unknown girl.
“This... This is off-topic. Eleanor, can you tell me about the situation on the walls?”
Bella finally realized that there were signs of dissoluteness on her face. After all, Eleanor’s gaze had been rather piercing. If Bella still didn’t understand what was going on, she would have to be kicked in the head by a mule. Thankfully, none of her girlfriends was the jealous sort; otherwise, she would have been placed on the chopping block many times already.
Bella had been getting intimate with Dinah, and right when they were reaching the climax, they were interrupted by the abnormal sounds coming from the city walls. Seeing the l.u.s.tful expression on President Dinah’s face gave Bella an incomparable feeling of frustration. After telling Succubus Queen Aisha to “take care” of Dinah, she left in the middle of the act, annoyed.
“Give up on the outer walls. All units retreat to the middle and inner walls!”
Under Eleanor’s directions, the defenders on the outer wall fell back to the other lines of defense. The three-meter tall outer wall served adequately to defend against the normal Beastmen, but against the Dark Humans’ demonic army, it was rather ineffective. Some of the huge scavenger ghosts were already three meters tall; the outer wall was only a paper fortification for them.
“Gentlemen, do not tell outsiders what you are about to see.”
As for d.u.c.h.ess Bellina’s request, the defenders of Sarni City were unsure as to why she would make such an odd demand. However, they still acquiesced; after all, the leader’s word was the law for them.
In the main camp of the Beastmen, Darkness Wizard G.o.d Kenneth and Wolf King Springhall were currently observing the battlefield. The demon army was now a.s.saulting the outer walls. It had pushed the defenders, who had always stubbornly held their ground, to retreat.
“Master Kenneth, thank you for your aid. This time, with your help, we’ll definitely break open Sarni City.”
“Hmph, it would be better if you guys could be a bit more useful. That way, we wouldn’t have to keep coming to your rescue.”
Although Springhall was upset with Kenneth’s statement, he could only bottle up his feelings without a word. After all, it was only with the Dark Humans’ help that the Beastman Race had been able to acc.u.mulate so much power. Ninety percent of the food supplies and their military needs were bestowed by the Dark Humans; Springhall could only keep his mouth shut.
Although Kenneth looked carefree, he was secretly somewhat uneasy. Let alone the disappearance of his Witches, Anya and the other captured female a.s.sa.s.sins also had been stolen by someone else. The payoff of his hard work was swallowed by a third party.
Even the bondage equipment on their bodies had been taken. Clearly, their rescuers weren’t planning on freeing them. It was very likely that it was a gentleman with similar tastes who had looted them away to enjoy in private.
There was nothing more frustrating than being beaten at his own game. Kenneth would rather they were rescued by some hero. At least, he would feel a bit better.
Silver Fox Princess Vanessa and White Wolf Princess Tania were also in the Beastmen’s main camp. They were a long distance away from the command center, though. Vanessa looked at the small piece of paper in her hand and sank into silence. This strip of paper had been left in her carriage by Bella, along with two dark black rings.
The note told her to make sure Princess Tania wore a ring, in order to stay safe. The entire thing harped on about the rings.
“What’s wrong, Vanessa? You’ve been s.p.a.cing out ever since you got back. Did d.u.c.h.ess Bellina bully you?”
“Tania, what are you talking about? We’re both girls, so how would she bully me! Oh, right, you should put this ring on.”
“It looks pretty, but why do you want me to wear it?”
“Don’t worry about why; just hurry up and put it on. Where did you come up with so many questions!”
Vanessa decided to trust d.u.c.h.ess Bellina’s suggestion. She hadn’t detected any hostile magic spells on the rings. At most, they were some sort of distinction of ident.i.ty, nothing threatening.
Right as the Dark Wizards’ summons were about to breach Sarni City’s outer walls, there was a sudden disturbance. A large number of other demons had suddenly joined the battle.
In the formerly dark, moonless night sky, a blood-red moon appeared. Under the b.l.o.o.d.y moonlight, large packs of bone dragon knights and flying demon guards charged into the air against the zombie dragon knights and gargoyles.
In an instant, the skies above Sarni City turned into a messy clash of demons. Bone and zombie dragon knights grappled in the air as their undead mounts charged at each other, using their claws and tails to attack. Since both sides were darkness demons, the effect of dark energy attacks was feeble. The demons directly fought with their bodies. It was a savage, brutal scene.
The Demon Guards also joined the battle, throwing themselves against the gargoyles. Every so often, the bodies of the demon guards and the gargoyles would fall down to the ground. In Sarni City, besides the guards stationed on the walls, all of the citizens had retreated into their cellars following Bella’s citywide announcement.
On the streets of Sarni City, different types of demons seemed to materialize out of thin air. They surged like a tidal wave toward the city walls and open gates.
The areas surrounding Sarni City had already become a demonic battlefield. Skeleton soldiers and ghouls ma.s.sacred each other on the outskirts. Battles between demonkind were far more horrible than human battles. Demons would never retreat and would fight until their bodies were completely destroyed.
The Beastmen army was quickly influenced by the scene of over a million rus.h.i.+ng demons coming from Sarni City. The entire horizon was filled with their shadows. Several million of them were like a black locust swarm as they surged toward the Beastmen. The earth shook and quaked under their steps, the oppressive atmosphere cras.h.i.+ng down on the Beastmen.
These demons had come from the Darkness Sacred Region’s grand demon army. They totaled over 3 million and were lead by Quasi-Devil Cornice. As a former demon princess, her command abilities were even better than her counterpart, Sky Demon King Dolores.
Although the Beastmen were adept fighters, they were nothing in comparison to the demons. The Beastmen weren’t afraid of injuries, but the demons weren’t even scared of death. The Beastmen were terrified of this type of enemy, and right in their first clash, they were defeated. Many didn’t even have a chance to escape before being cut down by skeleton soldiers and ghouls.
Although both sides were demons, Sarni City’s defenders wore the emblem of the Sarnia Duchyâ??a lily sealâ??on their shoulders. They also raised the banner of Sarnia Duchy. Since the Darkness Sacred Region didn’t have a flag of their own, the demons naturally adopted Sarnia Duchy’s heraldry.
In the skies above, Lisha rode a golden dragon into battle. This was the Golden Dragon Princess Laceman’s first time seeing such a large scale demonic armed conflict. At first, she was unused to the situation. Battling alongside demon guards and bone dragon knights, perhaps only the black dragon race would have experienced such a thing before.
Although she was inexperienced, Laceman could only stubbornly advance; there was no room for hesitation. Seeing the appearance of a golden dragon, several zombie dragon knights directed their mounts to attack. The golden dragon slashed its claws and struck a zombie dragon back several meters.
In terms of quality, zombie dragons were a lower rank than bone dragons. Bone dragons were created by refining dragon bones with darkness magic, so they were extremely strong. On the contrary, Zombie dragons were created from the corpses of dead dragons. Needless to say, their bodies were weakened by the corpses’ natural decomposition.
Taking advantage of Laceman’s powerful strike, several bone dragon knights hurried over to reinforce their golden comrade. With their aid, Lisha was able to dismount the enemy zombie dragon knight successfully.
The battle on the ground was even more of a mess. The demons of the Darkness Sacred Region only recognized Sarnia Duchy’s lily flower badge. Those bearing the insignia were treated as allies, while all other moving things were killed; it was that simple.
Bella’s roommates, after wearing Sarnia Duchy’s emblem, also joined this “chaotic dance of demons”. Noreya flashed through the battleground. Tumultuous battlefields like this were an a.s.sa.s.sin’s banquet, and she specifically targeted the Beastmen army’s officers and commanders.
Many Beastmen officers didn’t even have time to react before they were beheaded from behind. Kriss fought in the most conventional manner, wielding twin swords as she stood in front of Sarni City’s walls and carved through the invading demon army. Each of her strikes chopped dozens of skeleton soldiers and ghouls.
The most astonis.h.i.+ng fact was that Kriss’s sword energy possessed a friendly fire recognition system and automatically avoided the demonic reinforcements from the Darkness Sacred Region. After dozens of sword moves, the only corpses were that of the enemy; her allied demons were completely unharmed. This level of control was the peak of swordsmans.h.i.+p.
Ariel and Elaine, as long-range caster cla.s.ses, stood in the center of their friendly forces. In these kinds of muddled melees, mages were basically limited to using fireball and fire arrow. These kinds of small to mid-scale magic spells were to protect allied forces from friendly fire.
Ariel fought conservatively, only using fireball and related small scale magic to attack. Standing guard around her were several elite level demon captains, to protect her from any sneak attacks.
Elaine, behind Noreya, was the one with free reigns to use her abilities. Although most puppet masters were very weak in close-quarter combat, Elaine, as a close-range killing machine, was an exception. Other master’s puppet silk was far too fragile to even touch someone directly, let alone kill them.
Elaine fought near Ariel, protecting her. She would usually be in charge of protecting a party’s priests and mages, but since there were no priests, she simply guarded Ariel.
Bella mixed into the allied demon army and treated the entire battle as practice. Any enemies that got close to her were instantly shattered by her blunt strikes. As soon as she saw one, she’d destroy it.
The Beastmen’s main camp was built exceptionally crudely. There were practically no defenses, and in a single a.s.sault, the allied demon army trampled down the fence. The pathetic Beastmen began retreating; the sight of over a million fleeing Beastmen was quite majestic.
Wolf King Springhall had never issued an order to hold the line. Yet, this previously undefeated beast king couldn’t bring himself to announce the retreat order. He could only silently accept defeat and wordlessly retreat with his troops.
The most fortunate Beastmen were White Wolf Princess Tania and Silver Fox Princess Vanessa. Wearing the mysterious black rings that Bella had given them, the demons of the Darkness Sacred region did not attack them. They had even helped defend the girls from some berserk demons that could no longer tell friend from foe.
Tania and Vanessa wordlessly looked at each other. The value of these black rings had already proven themselves. Due to their complicated emotions, neither said a word as they retreated with the Beastmen army.
The demons aiding the Beastmen army only numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Facing an army of nearly three million demons, they instantly crumpled. The numbers disparity was insurmountable.
Darkness Wizard G.o.d Kenneth had an ugly expression on his face. He couldn’t accept what was currently happening. He hadn’t lost to an enemy hero but instead lost to a superior user of darkness.
“d.u.c.h.ess Bellina, so you were an underling of a demon king... No. A mere underling having such a force would be against the rules.”
Bella, flanked by her demonic minions, quickly charged into the Beastmen main camp. There, she saw Kenneth, who looked like a young man wearing dark wizard robes. He expressionlessly stared at Bella. He couldn’t be considered handsome, with ordinary looks.
Kenneth was also evaluating Bella. This blond-haired beauty was wearing a Holy Knight’s armor while being followed by large packs of demon guards. This juxtaposition gave Kenneth a great sense of irony.
Bella’s beautiful blue eyes gave off no hint of evil, and it was this imperceivable evil that was the most dangerous of all. Kenneth couldn’t figure out whether she was a Demon King or a simple demon. He was at a loss for words.
“That collection of yours was remarkable. I have already accepted all of it. Also, your a.s.sistant witches... you understand.”
“d.u.c.h.ess Bellina, you... It’s good that you’re happy. This time, it is my loss. However, I have the backing of a Demon King...”
“I don’t give a hoot. I’m just a selfish girl, nothing else.”
Kenneth barely suppressed his anger and avoided cursing at her. Not only did Bella snitch his trophies of war, but she had also stolen his personal witches, whom he had painstakingly raised for years. However, he could only wait until later to avenge this grudge.
In the end, Kenneth escaped with the teleportation magic that was inherent to his divine artifact. Bella didn’t chase after him since his destination was unclear. Added on to the fact that he was a fellow “gentleman”, she decided to let him off this time.
When the next day dawned, there was nothing left outside of Sarni City beside a field of beastmen corpses. With the help of the Darkness Sacred Region’s vanguard forces, Sarnia Duchy won the siege against the million-strong Beastmen army.
In last night’s battle, the Beastmen had lost almost 50,000 men. Counting in the casualties during the rest of the siege, they had lost a total of over 100,000 troops. Despite this, Wolf King Springhall did not retreat back to the Beastmen Continent. He decided to attack the Gabriel Empire from a different direction. Losing a tenth of his entire army with nothing to show, this result would be enough for the Beast Emperor to rescind his Beast King t.i.tle.
Sarnia Duchy had a little over 1,000 fatalities, which was negligible. Once the fallen priests of the Darkness Sacred Region arrived, the casualties could be resurrected. d.u.c.h.ess Bellina retreated back to the Darkness Sacred Region with her girlfriends in order to plan for the upcoming storm.