The third legion, led by Ophelia, has lost more than half of its fighting capability. The cavalry, naturally, is faster, with knights leading the charge. However, the infantry struggles to outrun the surging monsters, resulting in a large group of soldiers fighting and retreating simultaneously. There are casualties on both sides at every moment.
"Damn it!" With each of her soldiers falling, Ophelia's face filled with anger. She fiercely thrust her slender sword, and a sword qi pierced through a monster's head. But immediately, new monsters rushed in, relentless and seemingly unstoppable.
Her knight's battle attire, predominantly white and gold, had delicate metallic protection in critical areas, with faint magical patterns barely visible. However, at this moment, this ornate battle clothing was drenched in blood, a combination of her own and mostly from the monsters.
General Eudal was the first to reach the battlefield, riding on his dragon. After all, his dragon could fly, rendering any comparison with ground horses futile.
"Boom boom boom!" Eudal sat on his dragon's back, and a stream of green breath violently spewed forth from the dragon's mouth. Its effect was comparable to a large-scale magic attack. Under the intense heat, every monster swept by the breath was vaporized into nothingness. Instantly, a corridor of void appeared between the legion and the monsters.
"Retreat! Increase the speed of retreat!" Ophelia joyfully gave the order upon seeing the situation.
All the soldiers in the third legion immediately accelerated, even though their bodies were exhausted. Faced with the threat of death, their bodies unleashed great potential. They wished they had two more legs to run away.
"Ah!" Observing the performance of her legion soldiers, Ophelia couldn't help but sigh. After this, it would probably take a long time for the third legion to recover, not just in terms of personnel loss, but more importantly, in terms of morale damage, which would be difficult to restore in a short period of time.
"Squeak!" Just as Ophelia changed direction, a loud cry suddenly sounded from the sky. A huge black eagle-like monster emerged and pounced on her with its sharp claws. Though she managed to dodge on horseback, her mount was torn apart.
"Protect the commander!" Ophelia's guard knight captain saw her being attacked and tried to force the monster eagle back with a heavy sword strike, unleashing a sword qi. However, to everyone's surprise, the eagle monster did not dodge at all. Its sharp claws broke the sword qi into pieces, and it immediately dove towards the guard knight captain, tearing through his sturdy armor and leaving behind a pool of blood.
"Captain!" Other guard knights saw their captain being killed, their eyes bloodshot. With all their strength, they launched their strongest long-range attacks toward the monster eagle.
The monster eagle completely ignored these attacks. Its pitch-black feathers were as solid as steel, sparks flying whenever it was struck. It hovered in the sky for a while, ready to leave except for one thing: it suddenly emerged from within the clouds, accompanied by hundreds of smaller eagles.
"Retreat quickly! Don't prolong the battle!" Ophelia ordered. Although her mount was gone, it had no impact on her. She leaped into the air and, halfway through, a pair of faint illusory wings suddenly spread open on her back, allowing her to fly.
However, Ophelia's plan was completely thwarted. The monster eagle seemed to have fixated on her, especially due to its advantage in the air. The sword qi of an ordinary knight could not cause any effective damage. Although Ophelia could fly, her illusory wings were no match for these naturally flying monsters, particularly when she was surrounded by a dozen monster eagles. With a formidable leader among them, she was forced to focus on the battle and couldn't find an opportunity to escape.
"Captain, we'll hold them off. You go ahead!" The guard knights saw Ophelia being entangled in the air and quickly turned around to support her.
"Niece Ophelia, leave this to me. You go!" Yudal rode a flying dragon towards the giant eagles. The dragon used its claws and mouth simultaneously, causing several giant eagles to fall from the sky.
"Screech!" The leader of the monstrous giant eagles, the one who attacked Ophelia first, let out a cry and pounced towards Yudal. Soon, the two sides were engaged in a fierce battle.
Yudal himself was powerful, and as a sub-dragon, he was naturally not weak. Their years of cooperation made them extremely tacit, and the leader of the giant eagles was no match for them. However, it had help from its subordinates, and for a moment, victory or defeat could not be determined.
But Ophelia's situation had improved slightly. The monster giant eagles that were helping their leader weren't the only ones attacking the legion. There were some attacking the legion as well.
Ground support had also arrived, and Yudal's thousand-man knight unit was like a sharp sword, quickly pushing aside a bloody area, greatly relieving the pressure on the Third Legion's retreat.
Bexia followed closely behind. A beetle-like monster that had escaped his attention charged towards him, but he quickly dug a hole and dodged it. Sensing Bexia's arrival, the monster immediately emerged from the ground and lunged at him with its disgusting mouthparts.
"Get lost!" Bexia shouted loudly, and his Hidden Dragon Cold Star traced a beautiful arc in the air, directly splitting the monster in half.
Bexia searched for Ophelia's figure. It was easier to see her from a distance, but once inside the wave of monsters, it was impossible to see anything. Moreover, there was fighting everywhere, and it was impossible to rely on sound to shout for each other.
Luckily, Ophelia unfurled her wings and occasionally flew to deal with the giant eagles, which allowed Bexia to determine her position.
Bexia was full of energy, attacking with his warblade and magic. The surrounding monsters weren't strong, and even though his magic was low-level, in such a vast group of monsters, any throw could hit them. As for the damage, it went without saying. It was almost always an instant kill. Even the undead, after being injured, would die under their own companions' feet, turning into a pile of flesh.
"Ophelia, sister!" Bexia finally pushed forward to Ophelia's side and shouted at her as she battled several giant eagle monsters in mid-air.
"Bexia?!" Ophelia saw him as she followed the voice and her eyes flashed with surprise and joy. However, in her distraction, two giant eagles suddenly attacked her.
"Be careful!" Bexia quickly reminded.
"Huh?!" Ophelia let out a soft cry and swung her slender sword, unleashing a green hurricane. After decimating a large number of black feathers, the two giant eagles managed to escape, but the danger was resolved.
"How did you get here?" Ophelia landed beside Bexia, and they fought off the surrounding monsters back-to-back.
"It's a long story. I'll tell you in detail later. For now, let's break through and escape!"
"Hmm?!" Ophelia nodded, and with a swift thrust of her sword, a whirlwind was unleashed...
