Arcane Journey

Chapter 144

Araby City, Mage Tower.

The Duchess Myrcella Lauer walked to the desk in the room, and stroked a mirror with her slender white palm. The mirror was like the surface of a lake. After rippling in circles, the scene of a rocky wasteland suddenly emerged.

The mirror seemed to be connected to a mystical magic eye, and the wild scene was rapidly blurring and receding.

In an instant across the Ennook Desert, there loomed on the horizon an army as tiny as ants, swarming over the steepest west face of the mountains, filling every valley and crawling over every rock.

Behind this tight formation came a black army, and she even saw the suffocating body of the Shadow Dragon hovering in the sky, it was a dense formation from the City of Shadows.

Looking at the oppressive scene in the mirror, as always, the female lord's delicate face never showed any panic.

When shields become prosthetic legs, and long swords become crutches, people's hearts will collapse. When family members become prizes and enemies are promoted, hope will disappear.

She couldn't help but recall the desperate words.

She has experienced many wars and countless adventures, and even witnessed the incarnation of Bane, the god of tyranny, descending on the city of Araby.

To her, this seems to have long been used to it.

She is as beautiful as all young women, wearing a white silk robe, with smooth and fair skin, long brown-red hair hanging over her shoulders, and a serious and quiet face.

Although the sadness brought about by those conflicts is occasionally revealed in her silver-gray eyes, it also reveals the wisdom enough to despise war.

On the other side of the road through the north, a rocky wasteland covered with gravel.

Myrcella could see the banners of the assembled troops, the most prominent of which was the great purple banner of the Purple Dragon Knights of Cormyr.

The young knights were proud and eager to fight, for most of them were too young to know sorrow.

She dispelled these disturbing thoughts, focused her eyes on the magic mirror, and began to consider what role she would play in the upcoming war.

Most of Shade's army were tamed humanoids of the desert, and she figured that heavily armored purple dragon knights and battle mages could easily drive them away.

But what do they do when they face black knights and shadow mages, and even hordes of undead creatures from the shadow realm?
She gazed into the magic mirror, thinking, watching, waiting patiently
"Hoo hoo!."

A gust of wind engulfed in yellow sand blew past, and the conflict broke out in an instant. The scout team of the Mokou Town garrison encountered the scouting cavalry of the Bedai barbarians rushing to the front.

The Bedai of the Ennook Desert are a nomadic force of humans who make a living by raiding and leading caravans through hidden passages, and make the surface of the wasteland their home.

These Bedai barbarians were subdivided into nearly a hundred smaller tribes, all led by their respective chiefs.

The wealth of chiefs is measured by the size of their herds and how well they are kept.

They are constantly migrating from one oasis to another, and rarely stay in the same area for a long time.

Since the melting of the highest glaciers, countless oases have loomed in the desert, and the number of these nomadic barbarians has also expanded at an alarming rate.

Hearing the sound of battle, and the constant reports coming in, the chieftain of the Bedai from the Moose Clan was impatient to send his troops.

"The offal from the Black Lion Tribe and the Gray Wolf Tribe is finally here! Lao Tzu's big ax is already hungry and thirsty, for the glory of Tempus! Ready to fight!"

Singing the hymn of Tempus, the god of war, this fierce tribal chief led his men to fight and die.

Salo, the dragon vein warlock who leads the garrison of Mokou Town, is very patient. As a former mercenary captain, he is an excellent strategist.

"Tex! Don't be impulsive, withdraw all your people."

His powerful palm like a dragon's claw pressed down the burly and majestic body of the barbaric chief who was eager to fight, and he gave an order in a slightly cold tone:

"Today we shall see a greater battle scene than any of us have ever seen, and even Tempus, your God of War, will love it. But until then, I wish you the best fighting in your own field .”

The moose tribe is one of nearly a hundred tribes of the Bedai barbarians in the desert.

When he learned that the Bedai barbarians who took refuge in the City of Shadows were the Black Lion Tribe and the Gray Wolf Tribe, he immediately dispatched his men to persuade the old enemies of these two tribes to assist him in this defensive battle.

In fact, before the battle started, he had already asked his deputy Ranger Puranda to carefully choose this place, and the lord was also very supportive of his plan.

His thousand-man team consisting of garrison, recruited adventurers, and barbarian warriors from the moose tribe was divided into four parts and distributed among the foothills of the desert and rocky wasteland. Warg cavalry of the tribe of men and gray wolves.

Once this place is lost, this group of barbarian cavalry will rush to the territory of Mokou Town in one go.

There was a decisive battle between the army of Ghost City and the main force of Mokou Town. Naturally, it was impossible for him to let this barbarian chief disrupt his plan.

Therefore, this foothill, which is dominated by rocks and low hills, was chosen as the battlefield for the decisive battle with the Bedai barbarians.

Below the position of the defenders, there are many small roads through Mokou Town, but the cliffs above them are extremely steep, so there is no need to worry about attacks from above.

Salo mixed the defenders' teams according to the terrain.

A narrow and broken path was guarded by tough barbarian warriors, and the ranger Puranda formed an army of archers in ambush on the commanding heights of the foothills.

The two rocky, rugged and complex terrains are filled with all kinds of adventurers and soldiers of the garrison.

This kind of complex terrain is the best battle ground for these newly converted mercenaries and unorganized and undisciplined adventurers.

Salo, the barbarian chief and Puranda beside him waited from the second line of defense.

They knew that the battle was imminent, and those around them could feel the approaching enemy. Their domesticated wolf was howling loudly and uncomfortably.

At this moment, in the lower part of the east of the foothills, there was a sudden burst of dazzling flames and crackling sounds. This was a gift from the scroll of fireball to the enemy.

Before the troops set off, Graal, who was in charge of logistics, personally handed him twenty scrolls of fireball, just for this moment.

"Boom!"

Groups of scorching flames exploded, gravel rained down from the moose tribe's first line of defense, and the smoke and dust mixed with wind and sand blocked the sight of the watchmen.

In the army of the Bedai barbarians, a large group of kobolds, gnolls, goblins and other humanoid creatures who were driven to be the vanguard were frightened by magic, and some wolf cavalry mixed in these evil creatures were also confused. Frightened.

The enemy walking in the front approached the narrow intersection in a panic amidst the explosion, and was immediately submerged in a large group of barbarian warriors from the moose tribe who rushed out.

Some gnolls were split in half by the barbarian's giant sword and battle axe, while some kobolds were lifted above their heads and smashed against the hard stone wall, turning into a puddle of flesh.

"We must rush out to meet the enemy!" the barbarian chief of the moose tribe roared, watching his tribe enjoying the fun of rushing and fighting, he could no longer help himself.

He held his steel battle-ax high in the air, and shouted, "Fight for the glory of Tempus, for revenge! Kill the bastards of the Black Lion Tribe and the Gray Wolf Tribe!"

"Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!"

Immediately, all the Bedai barbarians in the second line of defense followed him and shouted, and the loud and clear voices eager for battle echoed in the foothills, and for a moment, they even overwhelmed the shouts ahead.

"It's not yet time." Salo said calmly, his voice was very small, but he suppressed the roar of the barbarian chief.

He watched condescendingly from afar the path of movement of enemy troops.

Although many humanoid creatures encountered the barbarian defenders and suffered the baptism of fireball, but the barbarian warriors and cavalry of the Black Lion and Gray Wolf tribes realized the danger, they immediately bypassed this dead end and walked along the low road. The path advances towards the second and third lines of defense.

"What are you waiting for?" the impatient chief asked, his eyes shrinking in fright from Salo's cold golden pupils, and he fell silent again.

Ranger Puranda unhurriedly raised a flag in the air in a battle-ready pose.

When most of the warriors and cavalry of the Black Lion tribe stepped into the defense line with complex terrain, he suddenly lowered the flag.

Immediately afterwards, on various commanding heights at the foot of the mountain, there was a sudden sound of bows and crossbows.

Sharp arrows poured down like rain, those screaming enemies, roaring wargs, were silenced again and again.

When the rain of arrows stopped, the irrepressible chief of the moose tribe immediately picked up his steel tomahawk and led his barbarian warriors, shouting the name of Tempus, the god of war, and rushed down in a panic.

Seeing this situation, Dragon Vein Warlock Salo smiled helplessly.

He originally planned to release fireballs on the group of enemies who fell into an ambush, and throw the bottles of blazing glue and strong acid prepared in advance.

Who would have thought that the plan would be disrupted by the other party.

Fortunately, this didn't affect him too much.

"We must also fight." Ranger Puranda put away his longbow, and drew two scimitars from his waist.

Salo nodded silently. He carefully observed the situation. The chief of the moose tribe had already thrown into battle with hundreds of his fighters, fighting together.

"I should have thought a long time ago that it is impossible for us to unite these barbarian warriors who are dazed by hatred to defend the high ground honestly." Salo said to the Ranger.

Although angry at the impulsive barbarian chieftain, he was still amazed at his bravery.

The barbarian chief swung the stainless steel battle ax in a sweep, provoked three enemies, and threw them far away. The stumped limbs and broken arms flew high into the air along with gushing blood.

"Actually, it's also understandable."

There seemed to be a perpetual smile in the ranger Puranda's bright gray-blue eyes, undiminished by the heat of battle.

"After all, with the support of the City of Shadows, the two barbarian tribes, the Black Lion and the Gray Wolf, not only conquered the Black Crow tribe, but also slaughtered more than half of the moose tribe's tribe, and once pushed them to the point of extermination. Enemies are extremely jealous when they meet. .”

Salo, the leader of the garrison team, no longer hesitated, and gave an order, and the horns sounded in an instant.

All the adventurers and soldiers hiding in the foothills rushed out and rushed to the battlefield disturbed by the Bedai barbarians.

Cries and shouts echoed in the air, and everyone wrestled and slashed with swords and axes.

The warriors and cavalry of the tribes of the Black Lion and the Gray Wolf were attacked from the back and the back, and people died constantly. The warrior's spear pierced the back, the adventurer's hook pulled them off the back of the mount, the narrow ax pierced the leather armor, and the sharp arrow Shoot their nimble, leaping, pouncing wargs.

War is bloodshed, armored warriors hammering their enemies, cracking their heads and skulls, piercing wooden shields, and breaking hands that hold them.

The half-dragon Salo smashed the head of a warg with a hammer, and the chief of the gray wolf tribe on the wolf's back was thrown to the ground by him like a weak baby, and was stabbed by the ranger Puranda who attacked Slit throat.

In just a moment, the enemy who had a numerical advantage was defeated by them and fell into a disadvantage.

The barbarian warriors of the moose tribe stood guard at the intersection, forming a strong line of defense, so that those who tried to escape could only escape from other narrow paths with complicated terrain in a panic.

At this moment, something that made Salo worry all the time happened.

He saw a sudden burst of magic power, a dense volley, bursting fireballs and lightning, many destructive magic energies, and swirling destructive lightning, attacking the moose tribe's defense line, tearing a huge gap.

In an instant, people were turned on their backs, and many humanoid creatures were also knocked to the ground.

Obviously, they are nothing more than human shields, and the mages from Shadow City don't care about their lives at all.

Witnessing this cruel disaster, Salo's expression became extremely ugly.

He heard the heart-piercing cries of many warriors in the baptism of magic, and saw the scorched marks on the rough ground after being baptized by powerful magic.

He couldn't help but blame himself for ignoring the threat of magical attack.

After all, he instinctively believed that it was almost impossible for these desert nomadic barbarians to have spellcasters or shamans, and at the same time, he had scouted that there were no spellcasters in their teams.

However, they did not carefully consider how the city of Shadows, known as the most powerful spellcasting group in the mainland, could not be good at teleportation spells with full strategic significance.

The magical slaughter lasted a few seconds, but to the horrified defenders, it seemed like hours.

Salo quickly concentrated, looking for the source of the magic.

When he found the traces of the ghost mages, he immediately realized that these mages who had lived in the shadow plane and the floating city for a long time had made a fatal mistake.

Gathering ignorantly in a dense forest, they hide in the shadows and cast deadly magic incessantly.

Salo gave a vengeful sneer.

Immediately after a thought, a turbulent flame barrier enveloped his body, bursting out bursts of scorching breath, approaching the two gnolls and a goblin within the range of the flames, everything that could be ignited was engulfed by the flames.

This is the combat skill of the Desert Wind School taught to him by the lord.

Its purpose is to allow him to suppress the violent blood of the real dragon and skillfully control the power of the flame.

The Dragon Vein Warlock took a deep breath, stretched his wide blood-red dragon wings, held the hammer engulfed in flames, and dashed down from midair, like a sharp arrow piercing the enemy's heart.

Wrapped in the blazing flames, he flew down, and a fireball the size of an ogre's head shot out of his hand, opening the way for him, and exploded in the bushes.

In the flames of the explosion, Salo slapped his blood-red dragon wings and nimbly galloped to the right of the forest, then made another sharp turn and passed along the dense bushes.

The flames wrapped around him ignited all the branches and leaves wherever he went.

The shade mages have made a fatal mistake!
He knew that these mages had probably set up magic barriers to counter the counter magic, repel or disperse the flames.

But trees are combustible, and even if the flames can't burn them, they'll be temporarily blinded, effectively rendering them ineffective.

And the smoke!

The thick woods were wet and muddy from the previous heavy rain and fog, and the air was heavy with billowing clouds of smoke.

This was even worse for the mages, who countered the attacks of fire and cast their spells to conjure up floods as usual.

Their reaction was so strong that the flames were about to be extinguished by them, but how could Salo have mercy on them.

Swinging his flaming hammer, he continued to gallop around the bushes.

Every time he emerged from the smoke, he could easily kill a panicked mage.

The strength of a dozen ghost mages is not that outstanding, and his flaming gold hammer can even easily smash their spell shields.

Salo was suspended in mid-air like a predator, watching indifferently, because he knew that the enemy would not be able to stay in the bushes for long.

As he expected, a wraith mage rose from among the trees and rose above the flames, trying to determine where the enemy was in the woods.

Salo's ready-to-go warhammer struck him in the back of the head like lightning.

With a crackling sound, the mage rolled in the air, and finally hung in place until his flying spell expired, before falling back into the woods.

When the last mage was dealt with by him, the dragon vein warlock returned to the original battlefield again.

He saw a new group of enemies rushing down from the foothills.

This is a group of tall cyclops.

Cyclops is not some big thinker or strategist.

They are slow to learn, too old to innovate.

While their size and strength make them a formidable threat in combat, they are often fooled by the tricks of clever foes.

Casting magic in the face of a cyclops can scare them, who have almost never seen magic and are therefore prone to mistake wizards, clerics, or other spellcasters for powerful divine grantees.

Obviously, this is reinforcements from the City of Shadows.

The Cyclops charged fiercely, brandishing huge wooden clubs.

An adventurer couldn't dodge, and was hit on the head on the spot, bursting like a broken watermelon. Another barbarian warrior was knocked upside down by the cyclops, fell to the ground, twitched a few times and died.

The ranger Puranda took cover, and calmly faced the Cyclops with his longbow in hand.

A cold light flashed.

A giant with a pierced eye wailed in pain and fell on his back.

The chief of the moose tribe rushed over quickly, chopping another Cyclops to the ground.

Another cold light flashed, and the third Cyclops fell to the ground dead.

A group of Cyclops finally rushed up, Puranda had no chance to shoot the third arrow, he drew out his scimitar, and went forward with the barbarian chief.

The ranger rushed quickly into the crowd of cyclops.

He hit the first cyclops from the side, and a cutlass cut deep into the back of the giant's thigh stopped its charge.

The ranger turned around again, knelt down on one knee, stabbed straight up with the machete, and the tip of the gleaming scimitar hit the knee of the next giant.

The Cyclops squatted down with a howl, and bent straight at Puranda, but the nimble ranger had already stood up and disappeared.

The giant ran head-on in front of the barbarian and was disembowelled by a steel battle-axe.

Seeing a large number of Cyclops rushing down from the foot of the mountain, Salo's expression changed suddenly. He quickly eliminated the opponent in front of him, and hit the group of Cyclops who rushed towards the ranger head-on.

A Cyclops who spotted him blocked his way with a hard wooden club hovering in his hand.

Salo squatted down hastily, and swung the flaming hammer above his head.

The sound of the hammer hitting the knee sounded like a huge tree trunk being smashed, and the Cyclops fell to the ground screaming.

——"Fire breath!"

At the same time, Salo flew into the air, took a deep breath, and hot flames spewed out from his mouth, swept in front of the five charging Cyclops, and drowned them.

He turned quickly and saw Puranda and the barbarian chief fighting hard amidst the siege of the Cyclops.

The dragon vein warlock swooped down to them almost instantly at an incredible speed.

His flaming hammer was like dense raindrops, mercilessly calling on the heads of each giant, causing them to fall to the ground and die one after another.

"If this continues, we will be defeated soon." The escaped ranger said to Salo with a short respite.

Salo followed Puranda's gaze.

He found in disbelief that there were still nearly [-] Cyclops on the foot of the mountain, holding all kinds of heavy weapons and launching a ferocious charge.

"The Cyclops moves very slowly. In the current situation, we can only take advantage of the terrain and fight while retreating." Salo frowned and expressed his thoughts.

Just when he was about to put it into action, rock arms on the ground as thick as the thighs of the Cyclops suddenly broke through the ground, twisting and locking the bodies of the charging Cyclops like snakes.

More than 20 Cyclops who were hit by the attack screamed and struggled frantically, but were crushed to death by the shrinking arms.

Streams of blood flowed down the rough outline of the rock's arm.

Along with the sound of tremors from the ground, burly and tall gray-skinned giants appeared from the foothills on the other side.

The group of gray-skinned giants raised their feet and stomped heavily, and the invisible energy of the earth element surged past.

Ripples appeared on the hard surface, and the splashing ripples were like raging winds, shaking more than 200 Cyclops upside down.

The Cyclops stood in front of the gray skin giant like a child, they began to panic and flee under the pressure of the invisible blood.

"We are stone giants from the Underdark."

The leader of the stone giant, Lewood, smashed a wolf man to death with a fist, grabbed an ogre's thigh, threw it high into the air, and then rushed to Salo, saying in a low voice, "By the order of the lord of Mokou Town, Come to support you and end the battle here as quickly as possible."

(End of this chapter)