Chapter 209: The Power of the Five Dragons
Life and death hung in the balance.
Without hesitation, Horens swiftly faded away, his body disappearing in an instant. Years of training had honed his combat instincts to their peak.
The moment he realized he was under attack, he opened the gateway to the Shadow Realm!
Forced Shadow Retreat!
As the gentle embrace of the shadow world enveloped him, Horens's immense pain finally dissipated. Immune to the sensation of agony with the aid of shadow energy, he quickly mapped out his retreat route.
Firstly, a mandatory Shadow Pulse was necessary.
Though this action risked further damage to his already torn body, it was the only way to escape.
Relying on this pulse, he needed to reach the border between the next shadow realm and the primary material realm.
Then, with unwavering willpower and resilience, he must swiftly flee the battlefield to preserve his life.
In his years as an assassin, such scenes were few but not unheard of. Horens remembered several instances from his youth where he was relentlessly pursued, feeling as if death was imminent. Yet, each time, he managed to evade capture through sheer survival instinct and adept escape tactics.
And this time, he believed it would be no different.
In the blink of an eye, thoughts flashed through his mind. Intense survival instinct compelled his body to hunch over, his brain racing furiously.
Power from the shadow realm surged from all directions, forming a vortex at his core.
As the energy reached its zenith, he was on the brink of successfully unleashing a Shadow Pulse.
But just then, in the pitch-black world, a pale yet aggressive figure forcefully intruded.
In that moment, Horens's eyes widened in disbelief.
He couldn't fathom how the enemy had pinpointed the exact shadow node where he had concealed himself!
In the twinkling of an eye, a rough skeletal hand seized his neck.
"Come out, you!"
When Horens heard the voice, he was forcibly yanked out of the shadow world.
Simultaneously, a massive bone blade hacked at his chin, severing two-thirds of his head and half of his shoulder.
"This bull, how da—"
This was Horens's final thought in this world.
With a thud, the corpse of the Zolotendron assassin fell to the ground, knocking over a shelf in the kitchen.
The clattering of falling plates echoed around.
The nearby soldiers were finally alerted.
A few seconds later, a pale but gaunt soldier rushed in first. He wore armor that clearly didn't fit properly and sported an oversized hat, beneath which gleamed a pair of lively eyes.
"What's happened, Sister Peggy?!"
The young man asked nervously.
Peggy, holding the severed torso, replied:
"Nothing, just caught a sneaky fellow."
The young man exclaimed in astonishment:
"Wow, is this an assassin?"
"To hide in darkness, did they dye their skin black?"
Peggy pondered over the corpse in her hands and mused:
"Is there a possibility... this is a Zolotendron?"
The surprise in the young man's eyes deepened:
"So this is a Zolotendron? Turns out there really are naturally dark-skinned folks!"
He looked at Peggy with admiration:
"Sister Peggy, you know so much!"
Peggy chuckled.
She rather liked this clever young man named Dom.
Among the participants from Rolling Stone Town in this battle, Dom was the youngest.
Originally a reservist, he eagerly sought to join the fray upon hearing there was money to be made.
Military officials repeatedly denied Dom's request to participate, but he managed to finagle his way in through various channels.
Finally, he secured a chance to join the logistical support team as a reservist.
Officially, the logistical support team was under the command of an elder from the garrison.
But since the first day of the battle, Dom had been trailing behind Peggy, this unconventional member of the support team, like a little tail.
There was a hint of a trailing feeling.
This made Peggy quite fond of him.
"Sister Peggy, there's fighting over there. Do you think more assassins might sneak in?"
Dom inquired.
Peggy nodded.
"You go inform Allen (logistics supervisor) to notify Zeller and the cavalry commanders separately."
"I'll personally inspect the camp."
Dom eagerly asked:
"I'll go inform them!"
"But regarding searching for other assassins, is there anything I can do to help?"
Peggy thought for a moment:
"There is."
"You go rearrange the positions of the two real gems at the camp entrance."
Dom suddenly realized:
"Because the positions of the true sight gems weren't right, that's how the assassins managed to sneak in, right?"
"Are you asking me to adjust their positions now to force potential assassins to reveal themselves?"
However, Peggy shook her head:
"No."
"Counter-stealth is my innate instinct, without needing other powers."
"Those two gems are too dazzling, hurting my soul fire. Move them to a corner, away from my sight."
Dom looked dumbfounded for a moment.
After a while, he scratched his head and complied.
Meanwhile,
On the southwestern slope,
The infantry from Rolling Stone Town clashed with the night-assault troops led by Highleaf.
Blade, with his innate divine power, led the charge.
After the undead army contracted its formation towards the north, he took charge of the defensive line around the foot of the mountain.
With the cooperation of a dozen or so guards,
They quickly dispatched the forefront team of half-orcs.
Soon after,
They tangled with a new human infantry unit.
However, the overall intensity of the battle wasn't high.
Apart from the eliminated half-orc team,
Although the enemy seemed formidable,
Their squads were spread out, elongating the front lines, giving an impression of a comprehensive attack, yet lacking the expected ferocity.
During the infantry skirmish,
Matthew flew across the sky on a pegasus, observing the battle below while keeping an eye on the black dragons' movements.
He noticed significant movements from the human forces of Highleaf. Not only did almost the entire army mobilize, but there were also archers providing continuous cover fire.
In the previous encounter,
Matthew's undead suffered considerable losses due to being caught off guard.
Fortunately, under Matthew's command now,
The undead had regained control of the northern foothills and riverbanks.
The undead army and Blade's guards had formed a relatively solid defense line.
Matthew also attempted to order the undead to launch an offensive.
But the results were mediocre.
Mainly because his focus made it challenging to micro-manage the undead squads.
And lacking intelligence, they were prone to tactical disadvantages in engagements.
Matthew quickly realized—
Without spells of the caliber of undead natural disasters,
A purely undead army wasn't suitable for offense.
But it was suitable for defense.
Therefore, he didn't pursue more, choosing to continue with a steady approach, having the zombies hold the flanks to ensure the safety of Blade and others.
For a while,
Shouts were heard near the west slope.
But soon,
Matthew realized that the intensity of this battle wasn't as high as expected.
The assaulting enemy seemed to have no intention to advance further.
Some enemy squads even retreated significantly after encountering strong resistance.
There was no dragging of feet.
This feeling was quite inexplicable.
Either the enemy never intended to attack the mountain frontally, or they were engaging in a psychological game of deception.
This made Matthew extremely curious about the strategy of the enemy's overall commander, Delava.
But as the main commander, Rhaegar remained calm.
He repeatedly used his booming voice to command everyone not to pursue, but to hold their positions.
Thus, the battle shifted from a surprise attack to mostly a stalemate, with occasional intense clashes on certain fronts. However, once casualties occurred, the enemy quickly retreated!
After about half an hour of fighting,
Faint glimmers began to light up the sky.
Dawn was nearing.
However, at this moment, Matthew noticed that the dense fog near the mossy hills had reached its peak!
Visibility near the battlefield dropped to less than three meters.
If not for Rhaegar's exceptionally loud voice, which could be heard accurately even amidst countless noises,
Perhaps just the dense fog alone would have posed significant obstacles to issuing commands.
To be safe,
The Rolling Stone Town faction decided to shrink their defensive lines.
But just then,
Blade and the others also noticed that the enemy began to retreat swiftly!
With this process,
The wind direction seemed to change.
The fog shrouding the enemy suddenly began to dissipate.
The situation of the human troops ahead of Highleaf was now laid bare!
They appeared to be only around 300 people!
There were no more reinforcements.
"The enemy seems to have a problem!"
"Their main force hasn't shown up!"
"This is still a harassment, but it's more like a genuine feint attack this time!"
"If we're bold enough, we might be able to swallow up this feint attack force entirely!"
Blade fiercely struck down an enemy, then charged up the hill.
He arrived beside Rhaegar and inquired whether they should pursue.
Rhaegar looked up at the sky.
From the vast fog-covered sky came Matthew's faint voice:
"Don't rush, you go down and gather the troops."
"You can pursue a bit, but don't cross that little river!"
As he spoke,
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