NOVEL NEXT Chapter 248
Jenith was furious because she knew there was a way to win this fight. The number of the Demon King’s Army was only about half of her forces. To overcome this numerical disadvantage and to carry out a decisive battle, the Demon King deployed highly mobile units, striking Jenith as she moved.
If Jenith had succeeded in repelling the first charge, the formation wouldn’t have collapsed, and she could have leisurely observed the movements of the enemy from a stable position. From the Demon King’s perspective, since the initial attack failed to breach the enemy lines, he had no choice but to gradually unleash the hidden reserves one by one.
In Jenith’s advantage, she could have monitored the splintered enemy units emerging with her staff, taking them down one at a time or at the very least, disrupting their regrouping to push them into a clearly unfavorable situation. Had that been the case, the balance of this battle would have been completely turned.
The Demon King put everything on the line with that single charge. It was as bold and dangerous as Jenith’s advance operation, a decision only the fiercest and most decisive general could make. That one decision pushed Jenith to the brink of destruction.
“We can’t give up.”
Jenith grit her teeth tightly, cutting down a Shadow Knight as she muttered. No matter how much she looked around, enemies surrounded her, but such a method of encirclement would inevitably reveal thin spots. Jenith approached Baron Koesernis, who was struggling in the middle of the battlefield with his old body.
“If this were a fight against human troops, I would have already permitted surrender. But against the Demon King’s Army, it doesn’t mean much.”
“They say those captured humans are magically enslaved and subjected to harsh forced labor underground. They say the numbers reach the tens or even hundreds of thousands. Who would want to see such a fate?”
Jenith barely suppressed the tears that threatened to spill. It was utterly pathetic that she couldn’t even issue a surrender order in the face of a devastating defeat.
There were soldiers fighting back, but it was merely the difference between delaying inevitable annihilation and standing still to die. This army would be annihilated within the next hour. Unless a miracle occurred before then, Jenith too would not be able to escape alive.
And then, a miracle happened.
“Baron, is that flag black too? I’m curious if my eyes are deceiving me.”
While pouring out lightning magic towards the enemy in a frenzy, Jenith looked toward the fluttering flags far in the south and asked. Koesernis shook his head with his eyes wide open.
“No. My eyes may be old, but I can see that flag’s color.”
“So, the arrival of a green flag here is not just my imagination?”
“The one drawn over green is a white laurel crown. That’s definitely the Eramenia Army!”
In that moment, the attention of the Demon King and all the demonic legions shifted southward. The Demon King quickly halted the attack and glanced south with an urgent expression. Fairies clad in gleaming golden armor and armed with long spears were trudging northward.
The horses slowed down to conserve energy for the upcoming battle, moving at a leisurely pace. The orderly movements of the Eramenia Army, preparing calmly for the fight, were much more frightening and imposing than a chaotic rush.
At the forefront was the fairy lord, Margaret, draped in a green cloak and wearing a crown of leaves. Thus, the third queen made her appearance in the battle of queens. Unlike the other Eramenia cavalry who wielded lances, she held two longswords in her hands, gazing upon the battlefield with bright fairy eyes and clicking her tongue.
“As expected, the rendezvous point is closer than anticipated. It seems the enemy’s mobile unit quickly blocked our movements.”
“Blocking is an understatement; they pushed us to the brink of destruction. If the enemy had moved slightly faster or we had been slightly slower, there would only be corpses left here.”
Phineas spoke. Margaret nodded, smacking her lips in agreement.
“I arrived too late. If I had been quicker, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“You were late. But not too late.”
“Yeah, that does seem to be the case. Halt the entire army!”
As the distance enough for a charge against the enemies was closed, Margaret raised her hand, ordering her troops to stop. Without pausing, she continued with her commands.
“Rest the spears in the saddles!”
The ten thousand cavalry simultaneously dropped their lances and rested them in their saddles. The fairy lord promptly issued the next command.
“Load one arrow!”
Every cavalryman was a spear soldier as well as an archer. The soldiers skillfully pulled the bows they carried on their backs and drew back the bowstrings. The Demon King was not idle either. Maintaining a besieged state over the Southern Army, he spread a large formation with a thick right wing to hold back the cavalry as much as possible.
The right wing facing south was packed tightly with goblin cavalry, serving as meat shields to protect the Shadow Knights. The black knights, ready to engage in melee combat against the slowed enemies, gazed unwaveringly toward the south.
As the enemy’s attention shifted towards the Eramenia Army, Jenith’s forces finally caught a breath. It was still not a situation for a counterattack, but a very precious opportunity for regrouping.
“A black knight? If we have the luxury, let’s take one as a trophy. It suits my name.”
Flags fluttered from north to south, as a powerful northern wind howled, determined to halt the Elf Legion. But before the will of the fairy, nature was trivial. Their existence was a living wind, a storm, and a typhoon. Margaret quietly murmured as she raised her twin swords forward.
“I’ve waited so long, comrades. I’m sorry for making you wait, my friends.”
The Eramenia Army finished preparing for the charge. The Demon King felt a cold sweat running down his brow as he realized a massive storm was about to crash down.
“Brothers of the Empire, I have returned.”
Margaret kicked her steed’s side and galloped forward. In the wind, her hair and cloak fluttered behind her like wings. As the lord charged, the elves sprinted forward, shooting arrows straight ahead.
The barrage of arrows flew in an arc, and the goblins hastily summoned to form a wing shield melted away like snow. Violet, with a near-manic command, hurriedly gathered forces to block the enemy’s charge, but Margaret was already issuing her next order.
“Spear!”
It was a concise command. With this single word, ten thousand fairies simultaneously stowed their bows and drew the lances resting in their saddles.
The cavalry formation of the Demon King’s army, hastily assembled, wasn’t bad. But no matter how convincing, hastily put together was still hastily put together.
The green flag rode the tide of golden waves, while the black bulwark was woefully weak against the oncoming tsunami. Soon, the wave crashed through the barricades. The Demon King’s proud elite cavalry shattered like clay pottery baked in the sand.
Jenith stood dumbfounded, watching the golden storm, muttering.
“Beautiful…”
Shadow Knights were fundamentally not beings of this world. The ghostly knights, having lost their life force, disappeared into smoke with a pop upon contact with the elves’ spears, leaving no corpses behind. They had been immensely powerful beings while alive, but in death, they could not fulfill their roles.
With no bodies left behind, they couldn’t even be minimal obstacles to impede the charging enemy cavalry. The packs of wolves swiftly swept away and slumped lifelessly in their place posed no obstruction against the steeds of the fairies.
The Demon King sensed that the tide of battle had turned and bellowed loudly for retreat.
“Fall back! The entire army retreat northwest! Don’t scatter! Escape swiftly while maintaining formation! Retreat! All troops fall back!”
The Demon King also spread his wings and began to flee from the battlefield faster than anyone else. The Eramenia Army did not miss the opportunity and started a fierce pursuit of the Demon King, who had revealed his massive wings. Some elves, enjoying the leisure, resumed wielding their bows and aimed with remarkable precision at the fleeing Demon King.
“Ugh!”
The Demon King felt dozens of arrows embed themselves in his wings, letting out a painful scream as he folded them in. Realizing too late that being conspicuous turned one into a target, the Demon King hurriedly crouched down, trying to melt back into his forces to dodge the rain of arrows.
Fortunately, several loyal knights took it upon themselves to act as shields, expiring in his stead, but the momentum of the pursuers was fierce, and the ranks of knights willing to serve as shields were dwindling fast.
Margaret rode past, just grazing near Jenith.
“How do you see the situation now?”
Jenith, unable to hide her pleasure at seeing Margaret, asked. With a confident smile, Margaret answered.
“You’ve lost this battle, little one! But now it’s our turn to win!”
Margaret raised a slightly trembling hand, pointing her sword northward.
“Warriors of Eramenia! Do you see that beast with white horns running away in a frenzy? Hunt it down! If you kill it, our name will become a legend here!”
“Margaret… Margaret… again, it’s Margaret!”
Violet gritted her sharp teeth, continuing to leap on two legs and flee. 100 years ago, she had dealt the Demon King a humiliating defeat for the first time, and it was the fairy lord who almost took her life with a single arrow, hindering her at the most crucial moment of victory yet again.
The terror Violet felt when she first laid eyes on Margaret was immense. But the trauma and fear the Demon King felt upon seeing Margaret were no less significant.
These two queens held each other’s greatest wounds and traumas in their memories. They caused each other to fear and instilled immense dread in each other.
Today, the fear emanating from Margaret overwhelmed Violet.