Chapter 682 Assault On The Undying
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAARRR!!!"
The loud screeches of the undying ones rushed through the air like a perverse trumpet. As their coarse, bitter sound resounded throughout the battlefield, the ground shook as a result of their march… just as the air trembled as a result of their flight.
The army of death—the very one that every single Elf had feared for months now—were marching towards them in hordes unseen before.
A few thousand Dragons decorated the sky, but the majority of forces came from the Monsters that looked just as grotesque as—if not more than—the Undead Dragons.
Their rotting flesh was held in place by the disturbing Miasma that filtered around the individual members of the army and formed a cloud over the entire group.
Their threatening presence was enough to—
~BOOOOOOOOOOM!~
The first projectile that was launched from the Camp of the Elves marked the start of their own march—both figuratively and literally.
It was all a blur, but the 'thing' that was thrust into the air by the Elves and one of their trebuchet-looking catapults was able to instantly obliterate one of the Undead Dragons that charged towards them.
The horrid creature's entire body was set ablaze in an advent of flames and pressure, completely reducing to dust in only a few seconds.
There was no moment of silence that followed.
The army of the dead could show no hesitation, and so they merely kept marching forward. Unfortunately for them, they weren't the only army that lacked the shackles of emotions.
"RISEEEEE!!!"
As those words burst out into the air—spoken by the voices of all the Elves within the barricaded Camp—yet another miracle happened.
~RUMBLE!~
The earth began to shake.
~RUMBLE!~
It parted, creating a straight line across the earth which made way for the new participants in the battle. ~RUMBLE!~
Their emergence caused the air around to undulate. It felt like everything around them was unraveling as they arose from their depths—the Grand Elementals.
Flames. Water. Earth. Wind. Lightning.
One of these base Elements made up each Elemental, and there was enough variety among them that the battleground soon became a colorful field. No longer was it painted in black, matched with a dreary splash of purple. Instead, it seemed flowers—or perhaps glorious lanterns of bright colors—had sprung out of the earth to add a new flavor to the canvas of death.
Each Grand Elemental stood proud and tall, all of them bursting with abundant Mana and an intensity of the element they represented.
Yes, they were only a thousand.
Compared to the Undead Army, they were much fewer. The ratio was about 10:1, in favor of the forces of the undying. But…
~WHOOOOOM!~
… In terms of quality, the Grand Elementals were not lacking in the slightest.
In blurs of light, and echoes similar to whispers, the Elementals bravely charged into battle. They cared not for the wave of Miasma they were headed for, or the horrible Undead that glared at them with immense killing intent.
All the Grand Elementals cared for was the mission.
They conjured up weapons, or relied on Magic-like effects to break into the vanguard, completely wrecking the formation of the Undead with the overwhelming strength that they had. Unlike with living entities, Elementals could not particularly suffer from Miasma Poisoning. If the Miasma in the atmosphere was too intense, an Elemental could perish due to its Mana being eaten away and corrupted by Miasma. However, this was no poisoning.
It was simply a fatal attack.
To prevent this, Elementals had to constantly keep up a barrier. In a way, this served as a form of passive protection, while also doing their best to actively assault.
Unfortunately for the undying ones, however, these weren't regular Elementals.
They were Grand Elementals, all of whom shared a very intense climate of Mana. The pressure of pure energy that surrounded them was more than enough to counteract the effects of the Miasma that oozed out of the Undead.
No… it was even superior.
The Miasma around the Undead began to thin out at a rapid pace—almost as if the opposite of Miasma Poisoning was taking effect.
Just as this was happening, the slaughter of the Undead was being carried out by the Elementals.
Yes… the slaughter.
Undead entities weren't immortal. They were simply very difficult to kill—not only due to the Miasma, but also due to their tenacity.
Even if their heads were blasted off, Undead entities would keep fighting. They were machines that spread nothing but chaos and death.
Some even had regenerative abilities, making them practically impossible to deal with.
As such, the only way to completely eliminate an Undead is by destroying every facet of their body—preferably in one strike.
The goal wasn't to simply cut off a limb, slice off the head, or even decapitate the head. That wasn't enough.
One had to baptize them in the very destruction that they liked to dish out. By destroying their entire bodies—either by setting them ablaze, or crushing them beyond recovery—the Undead would have no way to keep fighting.
Unless they had some special regenerative Skills, their chances of survival were zero.
The quality of these Undead was high. Not only did they maintain the Level that they had during their lifetime, but they also had their Skills.
That meant they were major threats and worthy challenges for the Grand Elementals.
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!~
… Or not.
They didn't really stand a chance at all.
The Undead were nothing but sacks of rotting meant to be completely obliterated by their adversaries.
Yes, they had the advantage of numbers, and they were much stronger than normal Undead, but that did them no benefit when facing the Grand Elementals.
The reason was simply due to a difference in Tiers.
A majority of the Undead Monsters were B or C Tier, with a few being A-Tier. The A-Tier Undead often served as Generals, based on the formation the army implemented, which meant they were placed at the rear of each squad.
Rarely would an A-Tier be encountered first.
Normally, this formation would have worked perfectly well due to the inability of the Elves to deal any lasting damage on the Undead, and even if they did, only the small fry would suffer it. However, it worked to their detriment when facing the Elementals.
Not only were the latter much faster than the average Monster, easily sweeping through them and destroying them before they could even comprehend what was happening, but by the time the A-Tier Undead was encountered, it was left vulnerable to at least two or three Grand Elementals.
There was no way such an Undead would win.
Ultimately, the Undead—despite performing their best, based on the instructions of their Master—seemed to not be trying at all.
The way they died so quickly and easily made them appear so weak.
… So powerless.
One would think that help would come from the skies.
After all, the Undead Dragons dominated that space, and as such… they were supposed to serve as an active backup for the footsoldiers. Unfortunately for the Undead Army, even the Dragons were occupied.
~BOOOOOOOOOOOM!~
For each explosion that burst through the air, like fireworks painting the night sky with beauty, an Undead Dragon perished.
The thick, dark clouds rumbled constantly as the Dragons did their best to resist.
They let oud intense breaths of flames, or Miasma—both, in most cases.
The destruction and devastation that the attack should have caused was insurmountable. However, the barrier that protected the Camp of the Elves prevented anything from coming through.
And, as a reward for their attempt to counterattack—
~WHOOOOOSH!~
~BOOOOOOOOOM!~
~WHOOOOOOOOSH!~
~BOOOOOOOOOOM!~
—More projectiles were launched, and more Undead Dragons were killed off.
The Projectiles were either massive golden-looking rocks being flung into the air by catapults, or massive crossbows with golden arrows.
Both were manned by Elves, and their ability to consistently get a bullseye was outstanding. One had to wonder if this was due to the effects of the Items, or perhaps a result of the pure skill of the Elves.
Either way, the Dragons were being dominated by the constant barrage of attacks that they eventually began to adopt a new tactic.
Rather than being spaced out, they gathered together in one very compact wave. As a result, the air of Miasma around them became thicker—more intense.
Due to this, everything around them grew perverse and distorted, reducing the efficacy of any projectile that would be launched towards them. This tactic not only achieved that, but it also made the projectiles a lot more predictable.
If they knew where the attacks were coming from, they could easily counter it.
The Elves had to be freaking out at this point. No matter how fast their projectiles were, they wouldn't be enough to stop this horde of Undead Dragons.
~ZZZZTTTZZZZ…~
—Or so they thought.
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!~
Like a massive spear that descended from the heavens itself, a massive strike of lightning, mixed with the flavors of all the other elements, came crashing into the group of Dragons.
Floating above the blinding display of overwhelming power was the Absolute Elemental General, its majestic form staring down at the chaos beneath it.
In one powerful strike… it completely ruined the formation of the Undead Dragons.