Published at 1st of July 2023 9:30 am

Chapter 599.2: You’re Flirting With Another Queen (2)

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Army buff spells were one of the rarest and most restrictive kinds of spells on the Sia Continent.

They were hardly effective at all when cast on an individual, but when utilized on the battlefield, they could induce huge changes reminiscent of a chemical reaction.

Army buff spells didn’t just enhance the soldiers’ fighting prowess. What was more important was their effect on their psychological state, and the psychological state of many soldiers was what determined an army’s morale.

Morale was one of the intangible factors that had a massive impact on the outcome of a battle. An army’s morale was usually built on their training and their experience on the battlefield, and further augmented through offering material rewards.

However, those who possessed army buff spells simply needed to cast their spells. This was practically a cheat, which was why those who possessed army buff spells were thought to be natural military commanders.

In the eras without war, there were only two ways to be promoted to a general in most countries. One was to overcome one’s limitations and reach Origin Level 3, and the other was to possess an army buff spell.

In truth, there were few chances to cast army buff spells on the battlefield. They were used only when an army was in a desperate position and needed something potent to turn things around.

Or at least, this was what the human military commanders knew about army buff spells, but this common sense they had taken for granted had been shattered today by the Deviant Sovereign.

Army buff spells usually buffed at most thousands to ten thousand, but the ashlike mana fragments descending from the sky enhanced over a hundred thousand deviants at once.

Thunderous war cries boomed. The roused deviants leaped out of their cover, tossed aside their shields, and charged at the humans rushing at them. This wasn’t just a partial counterattack but an all-out assault.

Such a situation caught the human armies off guard.

The commanding team stationed at the back flew into a fluster. Nora and Charlotte, who stood at the center of the military formation, frowned.

Despite the abrupt change in the situation, the massive giant and the armored valkyrie charging at the forefront didn’t falter in the least. Kurt’s eyes glowed with savagery, while Brittany’s body crackled with lightning. Instead of slowing down, they actually further accelerated like madmen.

The two of them had no choice but to push forth, or else their soldiers’ morale would plummet.

‘When two men cross paths on a narrow road, it’s the braver one who triumphs.’

Such a saying might not be suitable for battle on such terrain, but that was not to discount the importance of courage in war. The morale of the human armies had already been compromised by the Deviant Sovereign’s army buff spell; their hesitation, at this juncture, could spread fear across all of the armies.

Should they halt their footsteps, the soldiers behind them would halt theirs too. The cumulative loss in momentum arising from that would spell defeat for the human armies. Thus, the two of them couldn’t back down, even if it meant dying in the enemies’ formation.

The valiance they displayed snapped their accompanying vanguard knights out of the shock they received from the Deviant Sovereign’s army buff spell. They quickly gripped their reins tight and charged alongside their commanders.

When the commanders led by example, the soldiers reciprocated with their courage.

They knew that they couldn’t back down now that they were carrying the fate of their race on their shoulders. They had already resolved themselves to death.

The human cavalrymen stormed eastward with raised spears, vowing to tear down any obstacles that stood in their path. In response, the frenzied deviant soldiers charged westward with furious growls, determined to destroy anyone who dared to threaten their Sovereign.

Two waves, one the gray of steel and the other of ash, swiftly closed in on each other along the border of Hawe Desert before eventually colliding.

Boom!

Thousands of metallic reverberations shook the desert as the two armies clashed.

Kurt, with mana enveloping his mountainlike body, rammed down over a hundred deviants, smashing them into bloodied bits. Brittany unleashed innumerable bolts of lightning and swiftly zapped down hundreds of enemies.

At the same time, the first wave of cavalrymen skewered many deviants with their spears before taking their retreat, and the second wave of cavalrymen quickly took their place.

The humans had clinched the initial advantage in the clash, but the deviants weren’t fazed by their comrades’ deaths. With ear-splitting roars, they swung their weapons down on the humans closest to them.

The battle quickly intensified, and the number of casualties soared.

When the initial momentum of the vanguard battalions died out, the other human armies quickly followed up by launching their attacks too.

Racing across the battlefield with her four limbs like a cat, the swift Selina was the first one to charge into the enemies following the vanguard battalions. Her saber sliced right through the defenses of the deviants to splatter blood upon the desert.

Juliana stood in a blood puddle not too far behind and silently chanted her incantation, summoning countless blood spears that simultaneously shot forth to skewer the deviants.

The archers behind tirelessly shot their arrows to stall the deviants’ momentum, as the Rosaian soldiers recharged their weapons’ mana.

While Nora was still recovering from her exertion from using the Square of the War Angels, the Genesis Goddess Church’s clergymen raised their staffs to channel an army spell. A cloud of flames slowly formed above their heads.

However, the deviants paid no heed to their movements. They had gone berserk under the effects of the army buff spell. They abandoned all strategy to obey their feral instincts to tear their enemies apart.

Tens of thousands of deviants were rushing up to the second defense line to charge at the human armies. They anxiously wanted to spill the enemies’ blood to prove their loyalty to their Sovereign, and their intense emotions manifested as unyielding tenacity. Even on their dying breath, they sought to land one more attack on their enemies.

Both the humans and the deviants had already employed all of their means at this point, and their intense battle dyed the pristine desert red.

Over time, due to the deviants’ army buff spell subsiding and the relentless waves of army spells and Rosaian blanket bombings, the humans began to reclaim their advantage. Just as the odds were about to turn in the humans’ favor, weird black spheres suddenly appeared in the sky.

These black spheres were around the size of a fist. They were so well-camouflaged in the darkness of the night that they hardly caught anyone’s attention. Neither the archers nor the magicians in the backline noticed them.

Shortly after these black spheres appeared, an intense mana pulsation shook the sky.

All of a sudden, these black spheres began sucking up all of the mana in their vicinity like little black holes. The mana they absorbed was compressed into terrifying bundles of energy that could obliterate everything within a given radius once released. The sheer intensity of the mana pulsations prompted the soldiers on the ground to look up.

Even Nora narrowed her eyes as well.

“That is…!”

Nora was immediately reminded of the black spheres Roel had previously told her about, and that compelled her to invoke the Square of the War Angels once more. She slit her wrist and dripped her blood onto the square via the stone sword.

A golden light surged into the sky once more. The assimilatory power of the Angel Sovereign swiftly suffused all of the black spheres in the vicinity and forced them to explode prematurely. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to reach the further black spheres in time.

Boom!

Fifteen black spheres whizzed from the midst of the deviants’ armies toward the back line of the human armies before unleashing devastating explosions.

This was the first time since the commencement of battle that the humans had suffered an aerial attack. Although Nora had wiped out most of the black spheres before they could strike, the explosions of the remainder still took many lives.

More importantly, this explosion told the human armies that they wouldn’t be able to claim the upper hand even when the effects of the army buff spell subsided. The deviants were capable of long-range attacks as well, which meant that their back line was no longer safe.

It was at this point that the trajectory of the battle changed.

The Deviant Sovereign, despite being much further inside the desert, continued to summon more black spheres to attack the human armies from afar. After a series of attacks, the deviants’ morale rose higher than ever, whereas the human armies began losing steam.

To deal with the black spheres, Nora had to frequently activate the Square of the War Angels, preventing her from summoning the holy swords to rain upon the deviants once more. Furthermore, Rosa was also on the verge of depleting the ammunition for its long-range artillery weapon.

Kurt’s gigantic body had many weapons lodged in it. Brittany’s armor was covered in cracks. Selina had gotten injured fighting one of the deviant commanders, but she refused to retreat from the frontline. Juliana’s power was starting to weaken as the night gave way to the day.

As the deviants grew even more aggressive, Roel’s heretic army and the Ascarts’ personal army joined the battle too, but they weren’t enough to fend against the buffed deviants.

“If only we had more soldiers…” murmured Charlotte, who had been using the Arbiter to direct the bombardment so as to maximize the casualties.

Her heart slowly turned cold. This was a conclusion she couldn’t accept.

An entire night of fighting had thoroughly exhausted the soldiers on both sides, but the Deviant Sovereign’s support seemed to be neverending. If anything, the number of black spheres flying over seemed to only increase in number.

At this point, the human armies should not be trying to make a breakthrough anymore but instead, finding an opportunity to withdraw their forces, or else they would be at risk of facing a complete wipeout.

Charlotte understood that, but retreating at this juncture spelled Roel’s death. The Battle of Scorched Earth would have been in vain, and she would lose her lover too. Just the thought of the implications drained her face of blood.

Similarly, Nora was also on the verge of falling into despair.

Just as the two highest commanders of this military operation were facing a dilemma, a black-haired, amethyst-eyed woman suddenly emerged from the northern valley on horseback. She calmly scanned the battlefield before turning her sights toward Nora and Charlotte.

Nora seemed to have noticed her gaze and instinctively raised her head. Charlotte’s body shuddered, and she looked upward as well. Then, the two of them widened their eyes in shock.

“That is…”

Before their eyes, the black-haired, amethyst-eyed woman drew her sword and pointed it at the sky. Tens of thousands of Austinean soldiers immediately emerged from behind her.

Lilian Ackermann then swung her sword down and pointed it forward.

Deafening war cries and the thunderous galloping of horse hooves ensued. Black-armored cavalrymen charged down the mountain valley like a sharp black sword seeking to tear through the deviants’ formation.

…

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