Chapter 25: The Unbreachable City? (Fifth Update)
Two consecutive prompts appeared, leaving Su Xiao slightly surprised. He wasn't surprised by the speed at which Huishenshi and Yueshitu were earning battle merits, but rather where they were getting them from.
Last night, Su Xiao had asked High Lord Arkadia about the recent death toll of their Grey Orc soldiers.
The pressure on the border defense line was increasing. After reading the battle report High Lord Arkadia provided, Su Xiao sensed something was wrong. This number of casualties wasn't enough to account for the battle merits Huishenshi and Yueshitu had earned.
Based on the battle merits those two had obtained, the sum of their achievements should mean they had indirectly killed hundreds of thousands of Grey Orc soldiers. Yet recently, their side's death toll was only around 70,000.
Su Xiao opened the battle merit ranking, and a list appeared.
[The prestige ranking has been refreshed. Current ranking is as follows:]
First Place: Huishenshi (Reincarnation Paradise), 235,000 battle merits.
Second Place: Yueshitu (Apocalypse Paradise), 234,700 battle merits.
Third Place: Bai Ye (Reincarnation Paradise), 229,600 battle merits.
Fourth Place: Flame Master (Sanctuary Paradise), 18,166 battle merits.
Fifth Place: Gulu (Reincarnation Paradise), 12,200 battle merits.
Sixth Place: Shepherd Owl (Holy Light Paradise), 4,190 battle merits.
Seventh Place: Wasteland Sea (Watchful Paradise), 875 battle merits.
...
From top to bottom, reaching the fourth place, the style changed dramatically, dropping directly from six digits to five digits.
Flame Master hadn't even reached 20,000 battle merits, while Su Xiao, Huishenshi, and Yueshitu were all charging toward the 300,000 mark. As for Wasteland Sea in seventh place with his 875 battle merits, saying he was cowering in a corner trembling wasn't an exaggeration.
The only enemy of the Six-Tribe Alliance was the Chaos Legion. Killing soldiers of the Chaos Legion should be the most effective way to earn battle merits, at least based on Su Xiao's current intelligence.
Huishenshi and Yueshitu clearly hadn't killed too many Grey Orcs. Otherwise, a reduction of hundreds of thousands of Grey Orc soldiers would have caused their side's defense line to collapse.
This was what puzzled Su Xiao. Where exactly were those two earning their battle merits?
In fact, Yueshitu, who was somewhere else, was also puzzled about where Su Xiao had gotten his over 200,000 battle merits. She and Huishenshi were both using somewhat special methods, killing enemies in a certain location to earn battle merits. At this stage, killing enemies "over there" gave nearly 6 times the battle merit yield.
In a canyon in the central war zone, explosions continued unabated. Amidst the flames, a man with a mask covering the lower half of his face stood in deep thought. He was Flame Master, currently ranked fourth on the battle merit list.
The flames dissipated around Flame Master. He opened the battle merit list again, looked at the battle merit amounts of the top three, and veins bulged on his forehead.
"F*** this battle merit ranking."
Flame Master cursed crudely, his expression as dark as water. His mentality was completely shattered at this point. He had been fighting on the battlefield for several days straight, without sleep, only taking time to gulp down water and stuff a few compressed biscuits into his mouth, which counted as a meal.
Even so, his gap with the third place was a full 211,434 points, a difference of more than ten times.
"The Origin Stone is good too, very good."
As Flame Master spoke, he pressed one hand against the ground. With a boom, a massive explosion occurred in the canyon. Grey Orcs screamed and struggled in the flames, eventually being burned to charcoal.
...
South of the war zone, Moonlight Fortress. This was one of the fortresses blocking the southern war zone from the Elven Great Forest. The moon held extraordinary significance for the Elven race, so the importance of a fortress named after it was self-evident.
Moonlight Fortress had a total garrison of over 300,000, with more than 60,000 Elven civilians living inside. It was defended by Elven Elder Ruth.
Unlike the deceased Elven Prince Warren, Elven Elder Ruth's status in the Elven Great Forest was second only to the Elven Queen. He was one of the few powerholders in the Elven race's second tier.
The scorching sun shone on Moonlight Fortress. The entire fortress's walls emitted a faint silver-white glow. The city walls were reinforced with 109 magical formations. To obtain these formations, the Elven race had paid a great price to the Duoyin Empire. The returns were also great. Since the sealing of the Dark Lord Agamemnon and the War Demon, this fortress had never been shaken.
Within the Elven race, it was called the Immovable City, representing that it could never be breached.
Elven Elder Ruth stood on the fortress wall. A gentle breeze blew. Though he was old, his brow and eyes still showed the handsome features of his youth.
"Lord Ruth, the brown plum wine you requested."
An Elven maid carried a tray. The metal cup on it emitted wisps of cold air. Being able to drink iced fruit wine in midsummer was a very luxurious thing in this era.
"Hmm."
Elven Elder Ruth picked up the brown plum wine, took a small sip, and looked at an Elven warrior beside him who carried a heavy bow and had a stern expression.
"Elrog, what do you think would happen if the War Demon came to attack Moonlight Fortress?"
Elven Elder Ruth spoke. The Elven Warrior Elrog beside him shook his head.
"Are you saying we can't hold it?"
Elven Elder Ruth's gaze showed slight displeasure, but Elrog shook his head again.
"Lord Ruth, any person of sound mind wouldn't come to attack the Immovable City."
Elrog's expression was serious. He wasn't flattering; he seemed to be stating a fact.
"Hahahaha, Elrog, for such a serious person like you to say something like that..."
The clean-shaven Elven Elder Ruth laughed. He enjoyed chatting with Elrog. The latter could say the words he most wanted to hear in the most serious tone.
"Lord, this has nothing to do with my character. I've been stationed at the Immovable City for 15 years. She cannot be breached. If the War Demon came personally, his legend would end here. His era has passed."
Elrog slightly lowered his head to show respect to Ruth.
"Indeed, that's the case. Duoyin's formations are too powerful. This isn't a good thing. We need to guard against..."
Elven Elder Ruth stopped mid-sentence.
"Elrog, your eyesight is better. What is that?"
Ruth looked into the distance, confusion in his eyes. Elrog looked as directed. After a moment of gazing, a stunned expression appeared on his face.
"Lord, that seems... to be a black dragon?"
"Black dragon?"
Ruth looked at Elrog with a peculiar expression. There were no true dragons on the Canglong Continent. As for the Azure Dragons, they only existed in legends and stories.
"Lord, I'm certain. It matches the legendary dragon species. Look, it's getting closer. It seems... there are cavalry charging too. Enemy attack!"
Elrog shouted. A few seconds later, several signal flares shot into the sky.
"Roar!!"
A dragon's roar came. Below, tens of thousands of troops were charging. As the army passed, large clouds of dust rose behind them.
Bang, bang, bang...
Bowstrings snapped. Elven warriors on the city walls drew their bows and fired. A dark rain of arrows flew toward the Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos.
Su Xiao stood on Barbatos's back. Due to the high-speed flight, the wind whipped his black feather cloak behind him.
Whoosh. Barbatos breathed dragonflame. Under the scorching flames, the incoming rain of arrows all turned into charcoal and molten iron, flying past Su Xiao.
Just as the first volley ended, the second volley came. Arrows embedded themselves in Barbatos's abdomen. It felt like a large patch of toothpicks had been stuck into its chest and belly, but they were embedded very shallowly, wobbling precariously.
Barbatos was somewhat angered by the arrows. Under Su Xiao's mental command, Barbatos slightly raised its head, gathered dragonflame, and sprayed it toward the city wall.
Barbatos's dragonflame was no joke. It had three abilities, all enhancing its dragonflame.
Skill 4, Dragonflame (Active, Lv.70): Can spew dragonflame by consuming bio-energy. Damage intensity depends on the bio-energy consumed and the enemy's stamina attribute. Deals 7 times or more damage to building-type units.
Tip: If burned by this dragonflame for more than 2 seconds, the target will suffer an internal continuous burning effect, dealing 5.7% of lost health as defense-ignoring damage per second. The burning effect lasts 10 seconds.
Skill 5, Demon Dragonflame (Passive, X): Dragonflame damage rank +1.
Skill 6, Life Burn (Passive, X): If the enemy is burned by dragonflame, the healing effect they receive is reduced by 67%. After leaving the dragonflame range, this effect lasts 23 to 70 seconds.
...
Whoosh. Dragonflame sprayed onto the city wall. The flames struck the stone surface, spreading outward while exploding, crackling. As Barbatos flapped its dragon wings and flew sideways, the dragonflame from its mouth began to sweep across the city wall, burning every inch without missing a spot.
Screams of agony spread across the city wall. Elves wailed in the flames. Because the dragonflame's temperature was so terrifying, some of them even exploded in the fire.
At that moment, 540,000 wolf cavalry had already charged to the base of the city wall. They immediately dispersed, circling around both sides of the fortress, eventually completely surrounding it.
Taking advantage of the dragonflame suppressing the Elves on the city wall, wolves leaped up. Their claws extended, and they began climbing the city wall. The Grey Orcs on their backs pulled out two hooked blades from their waists. The lower bodies of the Grey Orcs were fixed to the saddle armor on the wolves' backs, prepared for this kind of wall climbing.
The wolves climbed with their claws, while the Grey Orcs on their backs used the two hooked blades to hook into the rock crevices of the city wall, assisting the wolves in climbing.
A scene of despair unfolded before the Elves. The wolf cavalry almost ignored the city wall, climbing up from all directions, leaving no escape route for the enemy.
The Immovable City, Moonlight Fortress. 57 seconds after the battle began, its frontal defense was breached.