Chapter 187: The Siege of Thaldrasil

Chapter 187: Chapter 187: The Siege of Thaldrasil

Chapter 187: The Siege of Thaldrasil

The ground beneath the diplomatic sector vibrated violently.

The mutated rock-trolls had just been the opening act. The true horde finally breached the lower mountain roads.

A screeching, terrifying sea of corrupted monsters flooded into the grand plaza. The sheer volume of the shadow army threatened to swallow the Elven and Dwarven soldiers whole.

Bram Stoneheart stood at the very front of the unified army. He slammed his massive tower shield into the cracked cobblestones. Aegon Logcheville and Reina Frost stood firmly on his flanks.

"Zombified mountain beasts in the front row," Aegon yelled over the deafening noise.

Aegon pointed his blazing spear at the towering, undead creatures leading the charge. Thick plates of dense dark matter covered their rotting, gray hides. They looked like walking, undead siege engines.

"Page forty-two of the Academy bestiary," Aegon laughed recklessly.

"The text specifically notes their plating deflects standard magic."

"I hate page forty-two," Reina grunted. She swung her heavy double-sided axe. She unleashed a wave of unforgiving, glacial cold to freeze the ground in front of their position.

"Watch the flanks. We have four-eyed shadow hounds inbound."

Fast, sleek canine monsters darted around the heavy mountain beasts. They possessed four glowing red eyes and snapping jaws dripping with sickly green liquid.

HISS!

A hound spat a volley of highly corrosive acid. Bram raised his tower shield. The green liquid splattered against the enchanted metal. The acid smoked heavily, but it failed to pierce the dense Dwarven iron.

"Corrupted goblin-mutants are scaling the walls," Lucien noted smoothly from the rear. He elegantly thrust his rapier through a lunging hound.

Small, shrieking goblins bounded over the courtyard debris. They were horrifyingly mutated.

Their shadowy arms were stretched out to six feet long. The elongated limbs allowed them to swing and vault like grotesque, lethal monkeys.

"They never covered six-foot goblin arms in our first-year combat classes," Aegon grinned fiercely.

Aegon stepped forward and unleashed a sweeping arc of his Blood Fire. The intense, crimson flames incinerated a cluster of airborne goblins instantly.

High above the brutal melee, the shattered balconies of the estate served as the perfect sniper roost.

Natalie Tokks stood near the edge of the ruined marble railing. She drew back the string of her Gale-Bow. She ignored the ground forces entirely.

Mutated, shadowy bat-creatures swooped down from the thick gray clouds, aiming directly for the vulnerable Elven healers.

Natalie fired in a rapid, rhythmic blur. Glowing wind arrows pierced the aerial targets with flawless accuracy, dropping the bats out of the sky before they could strike.

Right beside her, Lyra Voltaire vibrated with pure, unhinged joy.

The blonde alchemist held a handful of glowing paper rune-tags. Her eyes were wide with manic, chaotic excitement. The sheer scale of the target-rich environment was a dream come true.

"Oh, this is the best field trip ever!" Lyra cackled wildly. She kissed a bright red paper tag and hurled it over the balcony.

"Eat fire, you ugly mutts!"

[Inferno Lotus Tag]

The paper tag fluttered down into the densest pack of shadow hounds.

BOOM!

A massive, blooming lotus flower made of pure, searing fire erupted on the pavement. A dozen hounds were instantly vaporized in the blistering heat.

"More! More! We need more explosions!" Lyra cheered happily. She grabbed a sickly green tag and threw it directly at the heavily armored mountain beasts.

[Corrosion-Bane Tag]

SPLAT!

The green tag detonated into a thick cloud of caustic, acidic mist. The dark matter plating on the mountain beasts hissed violently. The armor melted away in seconds, exposing their rotting, vulnerable flesh.

"Natalie, shoot the fleshy bits!" Lyra yelled loudly, already winding up her next pitch.

Natalie seamlessly adjusted her aim. She put three wind arrows directly through the exposed skulls of the beasts.

Lyra pulled out a crackling, bright yellow rune-tag.

"Let us see how you handle a hundred thousand volts of pure fun!" Lyra screamed with a massive smile.

[Thunder-Crack Tag]

CRACK!

A localized, terrifying lightning storm exploded right in the center of the goblin swarm. The elongated mutants convulsed wildly. They dropped to the cobblestones as crisp, smoking husks.

The Vanguard was holding the line. But the thousands of ordinary Elven and Dwarven soldiers were beginning to buckle under the sheer, endless volume of the horde.

Draven stood on the highest point of the courtyard rubble.

He did not draw a weapon. He conserved his failing, fractured human host body. He did not need to swing a sword to win a war. He tapped his temple, accessing his cosmic core.

[The Omniscient Cartographer’s World Map]

A massive, glowing holographic grid materialized in his mind.

[Tactical Appraisal]

Draven looked over the battlefield. He read the shifting monster lines and the allied formations like an open book. He saw exactly where the Dwarven shields were cracking. He saw exactly where the Elven archers were blind.

Draven pulled a slender, silver swagger stick from his heavy iron belt. It was an old habit from his past life.

He was a military Platoon Commander. He had spent years managing battlefields just like this one.

He utilized a highly precise thread of his vector magic.

He isolated the sound of his own voice, projecting it directly into the eardrums of Forge-King Thorgar and High-Warden Sylveth.

"Commanders, listen to my voice," Draven spoke softly. His tone was perfectly calm, echoing in their minds with deep, inspiring authority.

"You are the greatest warriors of this mountain. Stand tall. Your victory today is a certainty. I did not bring you out here to die. We are minimizing casualties. Follow my stick, and every single one of your soldiers goes home alive."

Thorgar and Sylveth looked up through the smoke. They saw the human boy pointing his silver swagger stick toward the eastern flank.

"Thorgar," Draven relayed smoothly.

"The mountain beasts are preparing a heavy charge on your left flank. Step your shield-bearers back exactly three paces. Let them stumble into the empty gap."

Thorgar immediately barked the order. The heavy Dwarven infantry stepped back in perfect unison.

The charging mountain beasts hit nothing but empty air. They stumbled forward clumsily, completely losing their balance.

"Sylveth," Draven commanded instantly.

"Shift your archers thirty degrees north. Ignore the heavy beasts. Target the shadow hounds trying to flank behind them. Fire now."

A devastating volley of Elven starlight arrows rained down from the sky. The flanking shadow hounds were pinned to the cobblestones before they could even launch their acid.

Draven pointed his silver stick toward the center.

"Bram, hold the line. Aegon, push forward five yards and create a firewall to funnel the goblins into a choke point. Elven mages, prepare mass healing spells for the second Dwarven squad."

Draven’s voice was a calm, rhythmic drumbeat cutting through the chaos. He spoke with the flawless, terrifying experience of a veteran commander who had seen countless wars. He anticipated the monster movements ten seconds before they happened.

He plugged the gaps. He shifted the magic volleys. He reinforced the steel shields.

"Do not break formation," Draven encouraged them through the vector link.

"You are a perfect machine. They are just mindless beasts. Grind them to dust."

The terrified Elven and Dwarven soldiers felt the monumental shift in the battle.

They were no longer fighting a desperate, losing struggle. They were executing a perfect, brutal military strategy.

Their fear completely vanished. It was replaced by an overwhelming, lethal efficiency. They trusted the calm voice giving orders from the high ground.

Draven stood on the rubble, watching the monster army break against his flawless formations.

The King Level Beast had brought a mindless horde to a structured war. And Draven was going to orchestrate the slaughter of every single one of them.