Chapter 72: the true plan

The girls were only about seven meters away from their target, the black snake man. They could even see his panicked expression from that distance. However, because the snake men on the opposing side were acting as if they had been injected with chicken blood, they fought fearlessly, launching suicidal attacks with total disregard for their own lives.

​This small distance might have seemedppm

negligible in any other situation—a gap they could easily close in two to three seconds. Now, however, it felt as though they were stuck in a quagmire. Seeing the enemy’s aggressive reaction, the girls quickly changed their formation. Brenda and Magenta stepped to the very front to act as the spearhead for the decapitation strike.

​Magenta, as usual, activated her skills. Since the enemy had already lowered their defense, and with the additional power boost from the pill, she didn’t bother using any fancy moves. Relying purely on brute force, she swung her two-handed axe in vicious, powerful horizontal strikes. Moving forward, every swing ended more than 4 lifes; she killed with every step and every swing.

​Beside her, Brenda switched her title boost to focus on attack and speed, swapping her longsword for a greatsword. She cut through the opposing side just as viciously. Although she wasn’t quite as effective as Magenta, the two of them acted as a dual-engine vanguard, pushing forward through the dense crowd of enemies.

​Since this was a decapitation strike, they also summoned their pawns to hold off the surrounding opponents. With every step forward, enemies were left behind for the pawns to handle, preventing sneak attacks from the rear. This tactic successfully held the flanks while allowing the main group to advance without wasting time on the snake men swarming from behind and the sides.

​In this brutal yet effective manner, they pushed forward steadily.

​Even though the snake men were suffering heavy casualties, the girls noticed that the creatures didn’t hesitate for a single second to throw away their lives. This only solidified their resolve, confirming that the black snake man must be a high-ranking figure. They pressed on, determined to achieve their goal.

​However, as more and more snake men threw themselves into the meat grinder, the snakemen’s formation was suddenly grounded to a halt.

​On the other side, the black snake man was truly panicking. The enemy was right in front of him, and although his stalling tactics were working, he knew he needed to buy even more time. He began mobilizing the snake men from the flanks. As usual, they disregarded their shields and swords, converging toward his position to form an even thicker wall of flesh.

​The black snake man also attempted to maneuver backward so he wouldn’t remain a stationary target, hoping to create enough space for the incoming snake men to slot in between them and delay the attackers further.

​Just as he started to fall back, one of the guards beside him reacted with astonishing speed. The guard forcefully shoved the black snake man to the side.

​The guard who took the black snake man’s place suddenly jerked backward and stopped moving. The other guards immediately rushed forward to form a shieldwall around their leader.

​The black snake man, thoroughly confused, And was about to shout at the guard who had shoved him when that guard suddenly collapsed to the ground, followed shortly by several others. Looking closer, he saw an arrow deeply embedded in the guard’s head.

​It was none other than the work of Astra.

​Far away from the main clash, Astra lowered her bow and shook her head. She knew another shot would be futile; that split second had been her only chance to snipe the leader and end the battle. Seeing that the target had been saved, she refrained from wasting another assassination attempt and resumed firing covering shots to assist the others.

​The black snake man felt a surge of lingering fear. To avoid being sniped again, he ordered his guards to stay put. The guards raised their heavy tower shields above their heads, completely surrounding him to block any further surprise attacks from the archer. The first guard had been killed because he had thrown his shield due to their weight; now, protected by a wall of reinforced tower shields, the black snake man was safely encased in iron. Even with the immense power and accuracy of Astra’s arrows, she couldn’t penetrate them.

​Although Astra’s assassination attempt failed, the brief moment of chaos caused the other snakemen assault to falter. The girls seized this split-second opportunity to rapidly close the gap. Shortly after, the hesitation faded, and the battlefield reverted back into an absolute meat grinder.

​As Magenta and Brenda continued clearing a path, the snake men suddenly altered their tactics. Just as Magenta swung her axe, a snake man blocked her path with a heavy shield. Taking advantage of her brief pause, the snake man dropped his shield and lunged directly at her and Brenda’s weapons rather than their bodies.

​This shift occurred in all the other: the snake men threw their bodies onto the girls’ weapons to trap them, while others dove straight for their legs to immobilize them.

​Taken by surprise by this sudden change, the girls found their weapons pinned down under piles of bodies as the snake men sacrificed themselves purely to hold them in place.

​At the same time, another shift occurred. The snake men on the far outer edges of the formation, who didn’t have enough time to reach the center, threw down their shields and with their weapons they charged directly toward Smith’s position.

​The black snake man was using this tactic to make the girls hesitate and fall back to save the teammates they had left behind. To his surprise, the girls didn’t flinch for a single second and continued hacking a path toward him.

​When Smith saw the horde of snake men rushing toward his position, he didn’t panic or show any sign of distress. Just like the girls, he remained completely calm and waited.

​At least 200 snake men were charging at him. Even if Astra and the other pawns stopped supporting the others to focus on the incoming crowd, they wouldn’t have enough time to kill them all.

​Yet surprisingly, Astra and the pawns didn’t even turn around. They continued firing arrows into the main formation, without shooting a single arrow toward the charging horde.

​Suddenly, a white, hexagon-shaped crystal pendant on Smith’s chest began to shimmer with a soft glow. Just as the snake men closed in, a solid white dome of shimmering energy materialized around Smith, Astra, and the pawns.

​The energy shield instantly halted the advance of the charging crowd. When the snake men desperately attacked the barrier, it merely produced slight ripples across the surface—like pebbles thrown into a pond. The shield didn’t become unstable in the slightest.

​Smith held the pendant around his neck as its stats flashed in his mind:

​Item: Pendant of Immunity

Description: Passively or actively generates an energy shield around the user. It completely nullifies total damage below 200 points for a duration of two minutes. For damage exceeding 200 points, durability depends on the intensity and magnitude of the incoming attacks.

​This was the most expensive item Jacob had given him. Smith knew he would be in debt for a long time trying to pay it off, but for a life-saving item like this, he hadn’t hesitated for a second to accept the exorbitant price. Right now, it proved to be worth every single point.

​On the other side, the black snake man had initially panicked when his distraction tactic failed to turn the girls back. Now, however, judging by the elapsed time, he realized he no longer needed to panic. His plan was finally coming to fruition.

​Even though the girls were still fighting fiercely and were now less than two meters away from him—a distance they could cover in less than a minute to complete the decapitation strike—Velvet felt a growing sense of unease.

​It puzzled her that even with the girls this close, the black snake man remained completely stationary. If she were in his position, she would have detached a small group of guards from the beginning to slowly retreat while using the incoming troops to wear the enemy down.

​and now Looking closer at him, Velvet discovered that the black snake man, who had been panicked and desperate at the start of the decapitation attempt, was no longer as shaken. Even when Smith was targeted, the girls hadn’t turned back, a turn of events that should have driven any battlefield commander—even a veteran—to a complete mental breakdown. Yet, the black snake man had grown increasingly calm and composed with every passing second.

​Velvet knew something was terribly wrong.

​A few seconds after they pushed forward, a sudden shift rippled across the battlefield. Right at the black snake man’s position, just one meter in front of him, everyone felt a powerful fluctuation.

​Sensing the aura of this energy, the girls’ expressions instantly transformed into sheer shock.

​The black snake man burst into triumphant laughter. At that exact moment, a black portal materialised right in front of him.

​It was none other than the exit from the slaughterhouse.