Volume 9 Chapter 12 (2/2)

They were simply cladding their wings with their wind—thus granting it excellent cutting capabilities—and hitting their enemies with it.

As for the others, they were receiving damage from the sonic boom generated by dragons.

The fight was too one-sided. It shouldn't even be called a fight at this rate. Which could be said to be the obvious result.

Pitting the empowered high-end B rank Tempest Wyverns against the low-end Holy Cranes who excelled only in defeating undead monsters was like pitting a fully-armed special forces member against a demon exorcist.

Before long, the Holy Cranes all fell.

The Tempest Wyverns then gave a victory roar.

”GRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY”

Duke roared as well.

However, it wasn't to celebrate or to give praise to the Tempest Wyverns. It was a command for the Darkness Dragons to do the next move.

The hindrance out of the way, the Darkness Dragons were now free to drop the contents of the containers they were carrying.

Perhaps knowing what those containers had within, the goblins and orcs ran for their lives while some tried to fire magic and arrows in attempt to stall the dragons.

In the end, it was all futile.

The effective range of an aerial bombardment was vast. Escape for the goblins and orcs was pretty much now impossible.

Magic and arrows were also useless since those wouldn't reach the dragons. And even if those attacks did reach the dragons, their buffs and already tough body made it so that they didn't mind at all.

And so, the 30 Darkness Dragons reached their designated positions. Bombarding from these positions would kill the highest number of enemies.

The containers then opened and released the bombs they had within.

Like that, crimson flowers bloomed in the ground.

The whole place was covered in flames. In the flames of hell.

After dropping the bombs, the Darkness Dragons turned around, swooped down, and unleashed darkness breath attacks on those that were tough enough to survive.

The Tempest Wyverns joined as well and attacked with blades of wind.

In just a few minutes, the army made up of goblins and orcs was on the brink of annihilation.

[Pig] Demon Lord Agares was right in being vigilant against the Darkness Dragons, but the countermeasure he thought up was certainly not enough.

Agares should have, among other things, taken into consideration the Holy Cranes' low stats. Like Procell who prepared both Darkness Dragons and Tempest Wyverns, he should have prepared another monster to make up for the Holy Cranes' weaknesses.

That ability to foresee things was what granted Procell this victory.

A few more minutes passed and the flames have died down.

A few monsters survived by using their allies as shield, having extremely high defensive capabilities, and by just being really lucky.

The Goblin General and the Orc King that Duke purposefully let survive were currently reorganizing their surviving troops. Thinking they could do such a leisurely thing like reorganizing was foolish though.

”Pyugyaaaaaaaaa”

”Gyuigyui”

”Kyaaaaaaaaa”

Shrieks of goblins and orcs resound all over again.

This time, it wasn't caused by the dragons.

From the goblins and orcs' shadows, from the grave markers' shadows, from the dragons in the sky's shadows, large blue dogs came and struck the goblins and orcs at their vital spots.

These large dogs were Abyss Howls.

They were monsters that used shadows as the medium to enter and exit the other dimension.

From the start of the fight, these monsters were patiently waiting for a chance like this. A chance to do their roles as assassins that strike from the shadows.

After their initial attack, the Abyss Howls roared.

It was no ordinary roar though. It was a skill.

Dark Roar: Launches a roar filled with magic power. If the target is successfully inflicted, its body will be stiffened and weakened. Chances of success will be halved for monsters of A rank and above. When this skill is simultaneously used by a group of skill-holders, there is a bonus to the success rate.

※Do note that the potency of the weakening and stupefying effects don't receive any bonuses, just the success rate.

The roars of 30 Abyss Howls reverberated in the Graveyard area.

Like that, the survivors were frozen in place.

Duke then initiated the endgame by summoning some undead from beneath the ground that was a few meters away from where the bombs fell.

These undead were monsters and humans resurrected by Duke's [Enhanced Resurrection]. Instead of becoming weaker by turning undead, they were actually stronger than when they were alive.

Even the once-human undead were strong. As for why, they were actually artificial heroes. These A-rank-monster-equivalents were once sent by the [Black] Demon Lord, but were now turned into Duke's fighting force.

These undead were disposable units.

Per his lord's policy, Duke was supposed to lead Avalon's war potential in such a way that it would result in no casualties. However, these undead were corpses of those that once were their enemies.

Sending them to attack relentlessly and unafraid of death, or to act as a wall was completely fine.

There were many among the enemy army that could overpower the undead horde, but thanks to the bombardment, the dragons' breath attacks, and the Abyss Howls surprise attacks, the enemy army could do nothing but get taken down one after the other.

Which was a bit of a shame too because the undead horde couldn't demonstrate their true might.

In about an hour, the [Pig] Demon Lord's attacking force was almost no more.

The only ones to remain were the leaders and a few others.

Right then, Duke in his dragon form descended.

Overwhelmed, the leaders' hearts gave way and they fell to their knees.

Their instincts were repeatedly telling them defeat was inevitable.

”It's about time we end this. Before I kill you, Goblin General and Orc King, I, as a fellow leader, have something to ask you. Do any of you know why I commanded to let the two of you live until this moment, despite finding your army-wide strengthening troublesome? Well?”

The Goblin General and the Orc King each tried to voice out their opinions, but Duke simply shook his head.

”The answer is so that I may present you to my lord. You and your guards seem to be the strongest among all of you. From this moment on, you are no longer leaders, merely servants to our lord.”

In the next moment, the Goblin General and the Orc King's heads flew.

Their guards then received deathblows one after the other from the Abyss Howls that appeared from the shadows.

Their bodies then began turning into blue particles of light. For a moment, they felt relieved that it was all over. However, there was a monster that denied them of that relief.

Duke used his [Enhanced Resurrection] skill and resurrected them.

After doing so, Duke reverted back to his dragonewt form.

At the same time, the resurrected Goblin General, Orc King, and their guards all knelt before Duke, their faces devoid of any emotion.

”Henceforth, devote yourself to our lord, the supreme Demon Lord, [Creation] Demon Lord Procell. Fuhaha, I've gotten quite the nice present for my lord, haven't I? Quite the powerful pawns they are. If I combine this report with my suggestion for the improvements of our defense, my lord should be greatly pleased. At any rate, everyone, take this moment to rest. The next wave of attackers should be here soon enough. Though I hope there are strong individuals in that wave as well so that I can make my present even nicer.”

As Procell's appointed staff officer, Duke wasn't satisfied with just winning. For his beloved lord, he wanted more.

Because of that, some would say he was more relentless and merciless than even Procell.

If one seriously wanted to conquer Avalon, they first had to bring down Duke through whatever means they could. Or else, they were liable to repeat [Pig] Demon Lord Agares's biggest mistake.