Chapter 57: Might Of The Godless
A tense atmosphere filled the air, on one side were the godless numbering a little over three thousand and on the other was Merns army numbering a little under seven thousand.
Although outnumbered two to one, the ones filled with confidence and energy were the godless. Some of the men were in the fight against Scitus and had already regained some of their resolve.
“they can’t be stronger than that monstrous god.” Some said to each other.
“they are only human.” others whispered.
"what do you make of this, Albot?" Alcon asked his peer of the situation with a grimace. "our odds aren't good, we are on foreign land with weakened soldiers. Normally we should retreat but even that will be difficult, that is ignoring the fact that we would have to break Slayns direct order to do so." The two generals were between a rock and hard place, the strength of the Godless was not low but even they should have been wary of such a massive force but instead, they were brimming with confidence.
"you take the left flank, I'll take the right," Alcon said and Albot nodded in approval.
Clouds hid the sun as shadows shrouded the two armies and then a shout, "CHARGE!!!!" filled the battlefield and so the two armies moved forward. Likon charged forward leading a small group of cavalry along with him. these three hundred men tore through the initial infantry to shreds, entering more than five lines deep before another force led by Azias tore through another set of several lines of infantry allowing for Likon to circle back and commence his strike again.
The two generals were working in tandem to tear through the center army directly aiming for Albot's and Alcon's heads.
The Mern army expanded their reach, spreading themselves thinner and slowly circled themselves around the Godless army, all the while archers shot their arrows into the mass of soldiers. The Godless lifted their shields and blocked the archers' arrows all the while slicing the arms and legs of the opponents in front of them.
“AHHH!!!!!” the godless shouted from the depths of their hearts, they were tearing through the encirclement with sheer brute force.
As the godless army pushed forward an invisible war was happening among the mages. The Mern army would create their spells but then the godless would disrupt their concentration, then the godless would form their spells but Merns army was ready to counter their spells and easily undid them before they could leave the mages' fingertips.
For an agonizing, two minutes this small war lasted until the fatigue finally overcame the Mern army mage division and several mages began to drop. They had been worked too hard, among all other classes, Mages needed rest the most, otherwise, they would be unable to concentrate during spellcasting which could have catastrophic consequences.
"FIRE TRAP!!!" one mage shouted as the spell formed in front of him, he realized a mistake in his calculations, but it was already too late to fix it.
BOOM!!!! In his sleepy daze, he had invested too much mana in its creation causing the ball of fire to become unstable and combust in front of him. The fire quickly spread to thirty nearby soldiers, screams of pain and agony echoed for a few seconds before the flames turned its unfortunate victims to ashes.
As soon as the first mage went down, a few others fell and soon after that, the Godless mages were free to cast their spells creating mass panic amongst the Mern army.
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Blood stained the battlefield and the center army was near gone then.
"retreat!!!" Albot shouted to his men, they had held the army long enough, Slayn wouldn't be able to complain. They had lost a little under two thousand soldiers but their retreat would most certainly end in the loss of far more. The godless were dominating the battlefield, their losses were less than one hundred and with each passing second their advantages only grew. The cavalry sliced through the Mern army, the infantry smashed the opponents' limbs and the mages broke the enemies will, all the while archers made sure to make quick work of those on the outer rim.
Those godless that had lost their courage during the fight against Scitus had regained their spark, they were strong, they were mighty it was just that the god they fought was far stronger than any of them could have imagined. The army roared to life as they quickly moved towards the retreating army and then suddenly.
"blinding flash!!!!!" the voice of a woman echoed throughout the battlefield and alongside it was a blinding light which then caused mass panic among the godless. The blindness only lasted a few moments, but it was enough for the rest of the Mern army to successfully escape.
"Korin." Albot muttered to himself as he led his army away from the battlefield, their confidence had been completely shattered and their wills were all but broken. Despite having numbers on their side, it was a one-sided slaughter. They could still hear the roaring cheers of their enemies echoing in their minds.
"shut-up, we aren't out of danger just yet, now that our army has scattered, they'll most likely send a party out to finish the remnants . " during the retreat many soldiers were disoriented and so they all picked different directions to run towards, fortunately, three thousand managed to all go with Alcon and Albot during the retreat but the other one thousand were probably scattered and lost.
Some time passed and with the help of korin casting a mass agility spell, they managed to flee back far enough from the godless for them to not bother chasing after them. along the way, they managed to find a few hundred men. As the night dwindled to a close, loud shouts were heard among the leaders' tents.
“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO YOUR SUBORDINATES!!!!” she shouted as Albot and Alcon quietly listened.
"we did what we could." Albot spoke, "but we had our hands tied, Slayn wanted this done fast and we certainly did not have the rations to last us a normal traveling pace." Although Korin was a slave, although she was below free men like Albot and Alcon, they both knew that Korin was a person no one could dare touch. She was a special existence, one of three. No matter the circumstance, any injury that befell Korin by any man or women would be met with death and not by her hands but by Mern himself and he would make sure it was slow and excruciating.
……………
Three hours earlier….
Slayn and his small group of elite soldiers neared the kingdom it was oddly peaceful, once they had entered the kingdom any sign of wild beast or monster completely ceased. it was like a paradise compared to the hell they were before with constant battle after battle, monster after monster, it was nearly endless. The number of attacks was odd even by the standards of the oasis, it was an anomaly beyond comprehension.
Some time inside the kingdom of monsters another astounding anomaly occurred. One moment the small party of six were quickly traversing the forest at an insanely quick pace and then a thunderous shock boomed passed them decimating thousands of trees in a singular straight line. The unit looked to their leader Slayn but he had completely vanished alongside the boom.
At the end of the line of collapsed trees was a singular person, a man perhaps no older than twenty, his arms were bloodied, and his arms skin was gone.
"that was unexpected," Scitus said to himself as he desperately tried to move his broken bones. He bled from his mouth as his broken bones crunched underneath his weight.
Light heal." Suddenly a warm light encompassed the young god as a small needle made of light quickly stitched his broken limbs into place and as the needle passed his torn flesh, and new skin was put in its place. In a matter of seconds, his body was completely restored.
"if not for me shielding my body beforehand, I would be nothing but dust"
Just as he was getting ready to head out and return to his kingdom he felt a sudden sharp pain penetrate his heart. He looked back and saw a bloodied Slayn desperately holding onto his sword. Slayn's entire body was covered in deep bruises and heavy cuts from the impact of the trees and from the initial impact of meeting Scitus while in midair.
Scitus's eyes' glow slowly left him as he uttered a single response. "that was certainly unexpected." Scitus slid of Slayn's sword dead