Chapter 178: War (Part 2)

  In the early morning, a large contingent of griffin knights left the army's camp, taking to the air and heading northeast. Two Temple Knights rode on the two strongest griffins, flying far ahead at the forefront. This griffin unit numbered nearly a hundred, half of the remaining griffin forces.

  Last night, the allied forces did not suffer the night attack that the Temple Knights had feared, but the reconnaissance squads sent out had disappeared without a trace, not even their bodies were found. These reconnaissance soldiers were chosen one in a thousand for their skills and had received special training in wilderness reconnaissance and combat at night, but the result of this operation proved that no matter the training, humans could never match beasts, especially beasts as intelligent and well-trained as humans. The orcs, having gained air superiority, seemed intent on expanding it.

  This was the first seemingly insignificant advantage the orcs had gained, but it did not make the soldiers of the allied forces vigilant; instead, it further fueled their fighting spirit. The cautious approach of the Temple Knights had already made them feel extremely impatient. This was also one of the reasons why the two Temple Knights decided to take action themselves. Any impulse and fighting spirit, if suppressed for too long, would eventually become a problem.

  The morning sun had just risen from the distant horizon, its golden rays bathing the wasteland. Ahead was a large forest, the most vibrant place in the Barbarian Highlands. Though not as tall and dense as a tropical rainforest, it was still lush. The griffin unit was far from the main army, and now in this wasteland under the morning sky, there was no scent of slaughter or blood. But the two Temple Knights did not dare to be the slightest bit careless. They understood that deadly intent could be hidden in this dry air at any moment. Although dawn should be when the Wyverns, having flown all night, were most tired, the mindset of caution had long taken root in their minds. This was not excessive caution, but they knew it was truly necessary.

  Sure enough, a sharp whistling sound suddenly pierced the quiet of the morning wasteland. Two giant crossbow bolts shot out suddenly from a patch of woods below at an angle, their targets being the two Temple Knights at the forefront.

  "Below them?" Both Temple Knights were stunned. Wilskey, at a speed barely visible to the naked eye, nocked an arrow to his golden bow, drew the string, and released. In that brief instant, he shot an arrow that collided mid-air with the incoming crossbow bolt, both shattering and falling away.

  Aldric held a massive war gun nearly five meters long, so heavy that even the strongest griffin beneath him struggled to fly. But he held it as if it were a dry twig. This astonishingly long war gun was not for attack, but for defense. With just a slight flick of his wrist, the tip of the gun deflected the incoming crossbow bolt. The bolt, which could have easily pierced a griffin, fell askew.

  Two Wyverns, with flying branches and leaves, shot up abruptly from the forest. They showed no intention of attacking the two lone griffins, but instead howled and flew at full speed toward the east.

  "They were hiding in the forest the whole time? It seems they didn't move at night. It appears these Wyverns are only targeting the griffin knights during the day. Then the ones who took out the reconnaissance squad last night were other orcs? It seems they were quite well-prepared for this attack."

  "The lizardmen's eyesight is excellent. They should have seen that we are not ordinary griffin knights. And they must have orders from above not to clash with us directly." Wilskey snorted coldly, nocked another arrow, and drew the bow to full draw. A white, fierce light, with a sharp whistling sound, shot through the air. This arrow, drawn purely by his arm strength, was faster and sharper than the bolts fired by the ballista.

  The Wyvern was still more than a li away, and the head of such a flying beast was not large. From a distance of over a li, to an ordinary person, it would appear no bigger than a sesame seed. But this arrow flew in a straight line toward the Wyvern's head. Without deviation.

  A nimble and swift figure suddenly leaped up from the Wyvern's back, holding what seemed to be a black shield in its hand. This figure positioned itself right in front of the Wyvern's head. A loud metallic clang echoed from afar. The Wyvern continued to fly forward. The arrow had actually been blocked by this figure.

  "The lizardmen's reaction and arm strength are indeed good." Wilskey's eye twitched, but he remained composed, nocking another arrow and letting it fly. This time, his aim was the Wyvern's flapping wing, not the fleshy membrane at the back, but the wing bone at the front. The lizardman was on the Wyvern's back. This time, even if he wanted to block it, he couldn't. And a Wyvern with a broken wing was as good as dead.

  But with another loud clang, this arrow was also blocked. A lizardman grabbed the tail of another shield-bearing lizardman and swung him horizontally. The combined length of the two lizardmen was just enough to intercept this otherwise unblockable arrow.

  "Good. Worthy of being an elite force that even His Majesty the Pope warned us to be careful with. It's just a pity those idiots behind can't see it." Even Aldric couldn't help but speak upon seeing this: "With such quality and skill, they probably wouldn't be any worse than the personal guards of those generals."

  Wilskey did not speak, but took a deep breath. The glow of Battle Qi flickered around him. He nocked an arrow and drew his bow again. This time, he did not draw and release immediately, but slowly pulled back. His already disproportionately thick right arm swelled to a terrifying degree. The bulging muscles and veins were like a sculpture carved from granite. He did not release until the entire golden bow was bent into a perfect arc.

  If the previous two arrows were lightning, then this one was thunder. A deafening roar enveloped the white arrow of light as it shot toward the Wyvern. This arrow did not aim at any specific part. With such power and the destructive force it represented, any part would be the same.

  The Wyvern's shrill, piercing cry was cut short. In a spray of blood and flesh, its massive body was nearly split in two from tail to head by this single arrow. Besides a huge gouge in its flesh that didn't look like it could be made by an arrow, flying internal organs, bones, muscles, and spraying blood filled the surrounding space. This giant king of the sky was shattered and scattered like a pile of junk by a single arrow.

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  A thunderous cheer and roar erupted from the mouths of the griffin knights behind. To kill such a massive beast with sheer destructive power, and from a distance of over a li, such archery was simply unimaginable.

  But Wilskey's expression grew even more somber. Not just because it took him three arrows, with the last one being a full-power shot, to kill just one Wyvern, but because he saw that the figures on the Wyvern's back all jumped off just as his arrow was about to hit. This was undoubtedly the correct choice, because this arrow was aimed not only at the Wyvern, but also at the orcs on its back.

  Any Wyvern was an invaluable weapon and asset to Oufu, but in less than the blink of an eye, the orcs on its back made the most rational judgment, knowing they could not block such a heaven-shaking arrow, and immediately abandoned their beast to jump. This showed not only the exceptional physical prowess and reflexes of the orcs, but also their minds and judgment.

  The Wyvern was not flying too high, and below was a forest. This height of nearly a hundred meters was no problem for the lizardmen. Wilskey watched the few figures disappear into the trees, hesitated for a moment, then turned to Aldric and said: "These can't be ordinary orcs. They must be specially arranged elites. What do you think? Should we continue the pursuit?"

  Aldric's voice deepened. "Are you afraid that what that kid Javi said is true, that a trap is waiting for us?"

  "The main griffin force is right behind us, and behind them are tens of thousands of troops. Even if it's a trap, we have no reason to retreat. And even if Gru came himself, I don't believe we couldn't handle him. And even if we couldn't, retreating without injury shouldn't be a problem, right?"

  Wilskey did not speak, but raised the Golden Battle Bow in his hand again, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the other Wyvern flying away in the distance.

  Almost identical to the previous one, Wilskey's arrows were blocked by the orcs on the Wyvern's back through various means. It wasn't until he gathered his Battle Qi and fired that all-out shot that the orcs on the Wyvern fled in disarray, allowing him to shoot it down. But the orcs on the Wyvern also seized that moment to fire a crossbow bolt, and a griffin knight was pierced and fell into the forest.

  After two consecutive full-power shots that required gathering his Battle Qi, Wilskey was also slightly tired. At this moment, Aldric suddenly shouted: "Be careful. Here it comes."

  A glow of light, no less impressive than Wilskey's full-power shot, roared towards them from below at an angle. It was a spear. The white Battle Qi light around it churned the air, and the branches and leaves of the trees near the spear's trajectory were stirred into a burst of green ripples shooting into the sky. The spear was aimed directly at Wilskey.

  With a clang, Aldric's massive, five-meter-long war gun blocked the spear. After the impact, the spear spun, tracing an arc as it rebounded. The Temple Knight's whole body shook, and the glow of his Battle Qi flickered and vanished. Aldric had also infused his Battle Qi into his weapon. The clash was evenly matched. He was stunned: "Not Gru?"

  Aldric's griffin let out a mournful cry and began to stagger and slide downward. The shockwave from the impact, while nothing to a Temple Knight, was too much for the griffin to bear.

  "Squads one and two, with me! Squads three and four, provide air cover for Wilskey!" Aldric roared, leaping from his faltering griffin. He cast a Feather Fall on himself mid-air and dropped straight into the forest. Since he realized it wasn't Gru, it was necessary to take the initiative. As long as it wasn't Gru himself, he was confident that the two of them, Temple Knights, could handle any enemy from Oufu, especially with the support of over a hundred griffin knights.

  Half of the griffin knights behind immediately rushed forward, gliding towards where Aldric was falling, while the other half formed a protective circle around Wilskey in mid-air.

  Wilskey frowned at the forest below, trying to search for the figure that had just thrown the spear. From the force and Battle Qi of that spear, while he was certain it wasn't Gru, it was still a rare and powerful opponent. Although he still couldn't find the person through the dense foliage, he suddenly had a realization and shouted to the griffin knights forming a tight protective circle around him: "All of you, scatter! Get away from me! Maintain a distance of at least fifty meters between each other!"

  The griffin knights were stunned. But before they could react to the Temple Knight's command, a dazzling white orb of light shot up from the woods below at an angle, flying towards the dense cluster of griffins.

  "A Thunderblast Bomb? Could it be Sedros?" Wilskey was taken aback. With his eyesight, he could clearly see the crackling lightning on the orb, so he was surprised. He had expected the attack to be the green fireballs imbued with necrotic poison.

  Wilskey lightning-fast drew a small, crystal demon-breaking arrow from his back, nocked it, and fired. To a Temple Knight, such advanced magic was nothing. The moment the small crystal arrow entered the sphere of lightning, it completely dissipated and purified the immense destructive power within. And in the next instant, Wilskey had already drawn his bow again, nocked an arrow, and fired towards the position from which the Thunderblast Bomb had been launched.

  This was a crimson crystal arrow. The moment it entered the forest, it erupted into a ball of scorching flame. Wilskey stared intently, unblinking, at the patch of magical fire. The Golden Battle Bow in his hands was already drawn to a full draw with another arrow nocked. He hadn't actually seen the figure who launched the Thunderblast Bomb, but was using this flame burst arrow to force them out.

  Sure enough, two figures fled in disarray from the flames. But Wilskey was stunned, because it was not Sedros as he had expected, but the figures of two young humans. A man and a woman, and both of them actually radiated the light of white magic.

  Although stunned for a moment, Wilskey's arrow still flew. Whether they were orcs or humans, and regardless of the magic they used, anyone who appeared and attacked at this time was an enemy.

  Although this arrow was not a full-power shot like the one that shattered the Wyvern, it was still as fast as lightning and as powerful as thunder. But the young man below drew a long sword and managed to block it. Although the man was sent flying by the immense force, his sword knocked from his grasp, he had still blocked it.

  The battle mages among the griffin knights also spotted the two figures. Immediately, dozens of fireballs, ice arrows, and lightning bolts shot towards them. But due to the distance and the fact that the casting standards of the battle mages could not compare to dedicated mages, they could not hit their targets accurately. The two dodged clumsily amidst the rain of magical attacks.

  Seeing the white magic aura on the two, Wilskey's heart moved. With his eyesight, he could naturally tell that the strength of the young man and woman was far from the level where they could cast a high-level magic like Thunderblast Bomb silently. The previous one was undoubtedly a scroll. So he ordered the surrounding griffin knights: "Capture them alive."

  A squad of griffin knights, hearing this, immediately swarmed down, and the battle mages ceased their attacks. Wilskey's gaze searched the forest below for the target he truly wanted to see. Unconsciously, a faint, almost imperceptible stench of corpses reached his nostrils. Wilskey was suddenly startled and looked up.

  High in the sky above was a large black dot, and this dot was scattering countless tiny black raindrops downward. From the moment the Temple Knight detected it and looked up, the tiny black raindrops were already above their heads. The stench of corpses, faint before, suddenly became overwhelmingly strong. This curtain of black rain covered an area of several hundred meters, enveloping most of the griffin knights.

  "Mage units, use Purification! Everyone, get into the woods! Try not to be touched by this Necromantic corpse water!" Wilskey roared to all griffin units. He could tell from the smell what these black raindrops were, and the identity of the black dot high in the sky was also self-evident.

  So all the attacks in the forest had been a diversion to attract everyone's attention, giving this person the opportunity to ascend from elsewhere and fly over this position. This was undoubtedly a well-arranged, ingenious trap. It not only anticipated that they would take the initiative to attack the Wyverns but also sacrificed two Wyverns to lure them to this spot.

  Although it was not yet clear what the next part of the trap would be, at least Wilskey had now found an opportunity: at such a high altitude, that person was practically a living target. He raised his bow and roared: "You're courting death." An arrow, wrapped in his Battle Qi and fired with all his strength, left the string.

  As he fired the arrow, he also wondered, if that person was up there, then who was the one who threw the spear from below?

  In the woods below, Aldric, holding the massive war gun, asked, stunned, "Was that you who threw that spear just now?"

  "It was. Well? How was my full-power attack, Lord Temple Knight?" the being replied. To be precise, this was not a person, at least not in the true sense of the word. Although his speech was fluent, and even his expression and demeanor were natural, the wolf's head and massive physique still indicated that his identity was indeed different from that of a human.