Chapter 34: Achievement
"Am I right? Duoyin wants war between our two sides. No matter who wins, the ultimate victor will only be Duoyin."
A faint golden glimmer flickered in the Elf Queen's eyes, a gentle smile on her face.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He could sense that the Elf Queen wasn't a healing-type, yet her ability possessed extremely powerful healing effects. Of course, this was related to his own Charm Attribute being only 0.1 points.
"Hmm?"
The Elf Queen looked at Su Xiao with some confusion. She could feel that her ability had taken effect, yet this Great Lord from the Chaos Legion seemed to have no reaction.
"How about we talk in my Elf Palace? Even though we're enemies, we'll have common ground."
"..."
"Failed, then."
The Elf Queen sighed softly, the smile on her face gradually fading.
"Full of useless chatter. All troops, charge."
Su Xiao drew the longsword at his waist and pointed it forward. Barbatos behind him let out a furious roar, and the 420,000 Wolf Cavalry behind him also shouted, the sound waves shaking the heavens.
"Front charge formation, ready!"
The Orc Hero, Worpole, shouted as he urged his mount, a dire wolf, charging at the forefront. A distance of a hundred meters was enough for the charge.
The Wolf Cavalry Legion displayed extraordinary adaptability. The front ranks assembled, while the middle and rear ranks circled to the flanks, preparing to assault the enemy's sides.
On the elk's back, the Elf Queen's eyes showed a barely noticeable shock. She truly hadn't expected the enemy to initiate a decisive battle like this. After all, the enemy had just finished attacking the Ancient Tree Key; these Wolf Cavalry weren't at their peak state.
Whoosh. A blue afterimage passed through the Elf Queen's head. Strangely, there were no guards around her.
After Banishment pierced through the Elf Queen's head, her body gradually turned into bubbles and eventually dissipated in the air. The Elf Queen wasn't present in person; given her status, she wouldn't come to the front lines.
Banishment, in its shattered form, flew back and attached itself to Su Xiao's sleeve. He leaped onto the back of the Demon Flame Dragon, Barbatos, and psychic threads spread from his hand, sinking into Barbatos's back. This way, he could fully control Barbatos.
A crystal layer spread across Barbatos's lower abdomen to enhance its defense. Barbatos's size was enormous, and forming these crystal layers consumed nearly 12,000 Mana Points from Su Xiao.
"Prepare for battle!"
An Elf Prince wearing a metal helmet shouted as he urged his brown elk forward, charging at the very front.
On their side were a total of 420,000 Wolf Cavalry, while the enemy had 500,000 Dawn Warriors. When the two sides clashed, it was truly hard to say who would win or lose.
"Kill."
The Orc Hero, Worpole, charged at the forefront. The muscles on his right arm bulged, and the black armor almost fused with his body was etched with magma-like patterns.
The two massive armies charged at each other, colliding after a brief sprint. The front ranks of the Elves screamed in agony. Dire wolves howled as they were sent flying backward. Grey Orcs let out roars. The blood of both sides stained the ground red.
In just over ten seconds, the two armies were locked in chaotic melee. The Wolf Cavalry on their side surged into the battlefield in waves with their charging momentum, while behind the enemy lines, a volley of arrows rained down.
A dragon's roar came from above. Su Xiao stood on Barbatos's back, now fully controlling this Demon Flame Dragon.
Under Su Xiao's control, Barbatos lowered its flight altitude. When it was a few dozen meters above the ground, it had already gathered its Dragonflame.
Whoosh!
A massive torrent of Dragonflame spewed forth. The lower it went, the larger the area the Dragonflame covered. Upon hitting the ground, the continuously spewed Dragonflame spread outward.
Su Xiao controlled Barbatos to turn its head, flying forward while spewing Dragonflame in a Z-shaped pattern. As the Dragonflame spread across the ground, the Z-shaped scorch marks connected into a vast expanse.
Barbatos's Dragonflame was incredibly powerful. Even Dawn Warriors would turn to charcoal after being scorched in it for about 3 seconds.
Thump, thump, thump...
Several arrows embedded themselves under Barbatos's abdomen. Its Health Points dropped by about 0.1%. Don't underestimate this drop. If 6,000 to 8,000 Dawn Warriors aimed a volley at Barbatos, it would be instantly killed, without even a chance to use Bio Energy to recover its Health Points.
Conversely, if Barbatos wasn't killed in one volley, thanks to the large number of Life Stones in its stomach, these would convert into Bio Energy, rapidly restoring its Health Points. As long as it had enough Bio Energy in its body and wasn't instantly killed, Barbatos was extremely difficult to destroy.
After one round of Dragonflame spewing, Barbatos entered a "High Temperature" state. If it continued spewing Dragonflame, the high temperature in its head would burn its brain.
Barbatos was an elite Demon Flame Dragon. Like the leader-level Demon Beast, Abaddon, and the Mantis Armor, Bru, it was a high-level Insect Race unit with individual consciousness.
One round of Dragonflame spewing killed about 3,000 enemies. Su Xiao controlled Barbatos to gain altitude. In about half a minute, Barbatos could perform the next round of Dragonflame spewing.
In this kind of plains battle, Barbatos's kill count dropped sharply. During siege warfare, it could burn a large area in one go.
Several hundred arrows embedded themselves in Barbatos's abdomen, chest, and below its neck. As its Bio Energy healed the wounds, these arrows were pushed out of its body by regenerating flesh, falling towards the battlefield below.
The sounds of battle from below reached Su Xiao's ears. He knew that to attack the Elven Great Forest now, there was no other good way but to fight a bloody battle here. If the Dawn Forces retreated into the forest, it would be very troublesome, as the forest terrain wasn't suitable for Wolf Cavalry combat.
Less than ten minutes into the battle, the Elf Queen ordered the main Elf forces to retreat, fighting a delaying action towards the Elven Great Forest.
Amu was exceptionally fierce in the chaotic battle. The [King's Soul] it wore provided the Battle Axe Grandmaster X basic ability, but Amu didn't become a technique-type. Its heavy Dragonheart Axe meant that any enemy daring to block it would either die or be crippled. As for counterattacking Amu, that was even worse.
Amu's current Ice Shield had the Life Rebound effect. This ability determined the final rebound intensity based on the enemy's attack power and Amu's own Health Points.
From above, Su Xiao saw a Dawn Warrior raise his sword and jump to strike Amu, only to be instantly killed by the Ice Shield's rebound damage. The enemy's body was shattered by the 'Life Rebound' effect.
Compared to Amu, Baha was all about speed. It constantly teleported through space, appearing behind the necks of enemies, fast, efficient, and using Energy Poison. That was Baha's fighting style.
As for the fellow follower, Bubu Wang, he was crouching behind Su Xiao, afraid that an arrow might fly over, looking like he just wanted to survive. If he were down on the battlefield, even in a one-on-one fight with a Dawn Warrior, Bubu would be beaten so badly he'd question his doggy existence.
After a chaotic march, when the Elven Great Forest appeared in the distance, the scattered Elf formations gradually gathered. They wanted to rush back into the Elven Great Forest in one go, where they would have the home-field advantage.
It could be said that the Dawn Forces had achieved a temporary victory. They had successfully rescued the Elf Elder, Ruth. More importantly, while Ruth was rescued, another 40,000 Dawn Warriors had also joined the main force.
Besides these, the Elves had another goal. The Elf Queen wanted to use her own ability to end this war. Unfortunately, she failed.
It had to be admitted that even on the plains, the Dawn Forces were still powerful. The Wolf Cavalry Legion would find it very difficult to annihilate them.
High in the sky, on the back of the Demon Flame Dragon, Barbatos, Su Xiao looked down at the Dawn Forces, which had regrouped and were charging towards the Elven Great Forest. He knew the opportunity had come. With the enemy's current formation, one Apollo would not annihilate them completely, but at least half of the Dawn Forces would be left here.
[Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo] appeared in Su Xiao's hand. He was now several thousand meters above the ground. Activating Apollo at this distance wouldn't alert the enemy below.
Crack, crack, crack~
A crystal layer formed on Su Xiao's right hand. He made a throwing motion downwards and began counting in his mind. When there were 5 seconds left before Apollo exploded, the Apollo in his right hand had become scorching hot.
Boom!!
A burst of air pressure broke out. Apollo turned into a blazing red afterimage, shooting straight downwards.
Dong!!
It was like a small sun landing. A fireball three kilometers in diameter crashed to the ground. Ruth, who was at the rear of the Dawn Forces, was sent flying by a wave of heat. His ears buzzed, momentarily deafened by the explosion's roar.
After a moment, Ruth patted his scorched hair. As soon as the fire on his head was extinguished, he stood there dumbfounded. A semi-circular crater three kilometers in diameter appeared in his vision. The crater was filled with golden flames and flowing magma.
High above, the white steam in Su Xiao's hand dissipated, and the crystal layer fell from his hand. This Apollo had killed over sixty percent of the Dawn Forces.
Besides a massive amount of Battle Merit, Su Xiao also received a large number of notifications. Among them were four about the campaign-type titles obtained after killing over half of the Dawn Forces.
Checking these four titles, Su Xiao found that the sub-titles needed to upgrade War Lord were now sufficient. War Lord could finally be upgraded to a Seven-Star Title.
Confirming this, Su Xiao ordered Baha to relay the command for a full retreat. There was no need to continue. He planned to first upgrade Apollo to a Seven-Star Title, then deal with the Elves later. This was more prudent.