NOVPUB
Chapter 387: 387
Seeing that Gurnak shook his head, appearing at the city wall and looking at the advancing demon army. There was still a large uncorrupted land before they could reach the city.
The land is to their advantage if they are to hold off this army while dealing with the ratmen who will be making an appearance in his city. Gurnak was a mage who specialised in gravity and seeing their world response to the demon made him make some connection to his gravity magic.
The world responded to the demon by squashing them into meat paste by exuding a heavy amount of pressure on them, too bad their world response was only passive as the crushed meat paste of the demon are scattered around, leading to their land being corrupted and giving other incoming demons advantage of not bearing the same pressure.
A magic circle appeared behind Gurnak like a halo as his figure slowly took to the sky, with his eyes closed. He was making contact with the pressure passively released from the world against the demons.
The demon army was quickly approaching the edge of the corrupted land and uncorrupted land when Gurnak made a connection, his figure completely gone still.
The unseen pressure became visible to all who were paying attention to the battlefield. It appeared as a curtain of light purple rain that stretched out in a straight line between the corrupted and uncorrupted land.
The purple rain intensified, each drop now looking like a miniature black hole, devouring the demons that dared to cross. The screams of the demon horde echoed, a cacophony of pain and fear.
But the demons were relentless. They clawed at the curtain, their sheer numbers slowly eroding its strength. Gurnak, his face contorted in concentration, pushed harder, drawing more and more of the world’s pressure into his own magic.
The purple rain began to twist and writhe, forming a chaotic vortex that sucked the demons in. The ground trembled as the vortex grew, threatening to consume the approaching demon army.
Gurnak underestimated the concentration this would require, as the magic circle he had deployed around the city slowly dimmed. Vorenza noticed this and immediately gave the order. The third-stage demon fell back while countless first- and second-stage demons surged forward into the gravity well created by Gurnak.
Back at the city, the soldiers and mages guarding the breach saw the magic circle dimming. The mages immediately cast levitation spells and took to the sky.
The ogre soldiers, shields at the ready, braced themselves as their general roared, "Hold!"
The general signaled, and they slowly stepped back. The only sounds were the screams of civilians pushing toward the portals and the roars of the demons beyond the city walls.
The magic circle vanished, leaving a small, steadily widening hole. A heavy silence fell, punctuated by the soldiers’ nervous gulps as they awaited the enemy.
A white thread shot from the hole. The soldiers raised their shields, but the thread expanded upon contact, adhering to several soldiers before retracting and pulling them screaming into the void.
The general’s roar cut through the chaos, demanding focus. "Shields up! Brace yourselves!" His voice, a mix of urgency and determination, attempted to steady the soldiers’ trembling hearts. no𝚟𝚙u𝚋.c𝚘m
The white threads continued to snake from the expanding hole, their unnatural movements almost hypnotic. Each thread glistened eerily in the dimming light, its sharp whistling a warning of deadly precision. They darted between shields, snagging soldiers with uncanny accuracy and dragging them into the void.
The mages seeing the chaos conjured stream of flames directed at hole, followed by squealing and schreeches of the ratmen, the ratmen whol were taking their time had to move immediately as the flames seemed to have a mind of it’s own as it drills through the hole eating away at them.
Sknull seeing the flames coming from the hole, Immediately roared out "Attack, for goddess" The ratmen immediately began pushing towards the flames as they rushed out of the hole.
The mages immediately stoppped the flames as the ratmen rushed out of the hole to meet with the ogre army in wait so as to not affect one of their own.
The city became now the battlefield was a maelstrom of fear and chaos. Civilians surged through the streets, desperate to reach the portals. Cries of panic and despair echoed off the stone walls of the narrow alleys, blending with the distant roar of combat at the breach. The city guard struggled to maintain order, forming hasty barricades to prevent stampedes while redirecting the flow of terrified citizens.
At the breach, the ogre soldiers held their ground with grim resolve. Their shields, reinforced with heavy iron and wards, formed a nearly impenetrable wall. Behind them, archers and spearmen lined the battlements, their weapons trained on the growing horde of ratmen and their grotesque hybrid monstrosities.
The hybrids were a nightmare given form—hulking creatures with the skittering legs of demon-spiders and the sinewy, muscular torsos of ratmen. Their multifaceted eyes gleamed with malicious intelligence, and their chittering voices formed an eerie counterpoint to the battle cries of the advancing ratmen.
The general’s voice boomed again. "Hold the line! Do not falter!" He brandished a massive halberd, its blade etched with runes that glowed faintly in the gloom.
Suddenly, a deafening crack split the air as one of the hybrids leaped over the shield wall, its spindly legs piercing the ground with enough force to send shockwaves rippling through the ranks. The creature’s fanged maw opened wide, releasing a venomous spray that hissed as it struck shields and armor. Soldiers scrambled to counter, their weapons clanging against the creature’s chitinous exoskeleton.
Above, the mages circling above unleashed a barrage of spells. Arcs of lightning, shards of ice, and searing bursts of fire rained down upon the ratmen. For every spell that struck true, dozens of ratmen fell, their bodies consumed by the magical onslaught. But the tide of the horde was relentless, pushing forward with manic fervor, their grotesque war chants growing louder.
"Incoming!" a soldier shouted as one of the hybrids reared back and expelled a dense webbing toward the battlements. The sticky mass engulfed several archers, pulling them down to the frenzied ratmen below.
The general snarled, "Focus fire on the hybrids! Bring them down!" His halberd swung in a deadly arc, severing one of the hybrid’s legs. The creature screeched, collapsing as soldiers swarmed it, stabbing with spears and blades until it ceased moving.
The priest who also emerged seeing how the ogre’s army was taking care of them, set their gaze at the screaming civilians not too far away. From the depths, more hybrids clawed their way to the surface, their emergence accompanied by bursts of foul-smelling smoke.
The ogre, occupied by the rushing ratman horde, could do nothing as the hybrid rushed towards the civilians.
Captain Aldric of the city guard rallied his troops. "To me! Protect the civilians! Use the enchanted pikes!" The guardsmen formed tight phalanxes, their weapons glowing faintly with imbued magic. They met the advancing hybrids head-on, thrusting their pikes into vulnerable joints and eyes.
Overhead, Archmage Elinor extended her staff, channeling a massive spell. "Everyone, clear the square!" she commanded. A glowing sigil formed in the air, pulsing with power. The apprentices abandoned their efforts at the portals and joined her, feeding their energy into the growing spell.
The sigil detonated, releasing a dome of light that engulfed the hybrids and ratmen near the square. When the light faded, only scorched ground remained where the invaders had stood. The crowd erupted into a mix of cheers and sobs, but Elinor’s grim expression silenced any celebration.
"This is only the first wave," she muttered to her apprentices. "Prepare for more. We’ll hold the city or die trying."
Back at the breach, the general surveyed the battlefield. The ratmen had begun erecting crude siege engines, their corrupted biological tech forming grotesque catapults and battering rams from the carcasses of their own fallen.
Back underground as more ratmen were grouping up for the next stage of attack as the priest dicuss on what strategy to use. A ratman stood inconspicious, hidden as most other rtamen ignored his existence.
This ratman managed to make his way to the next group to attack, with a wave of a priest staff. The next group rushed out of the hole with this ratman following close behind.
Once this ratman got to the surface he was attracted by a glowing portal off in the distance from the breach. The wind blew moving the cloak covering the ratman to show it was chief, still battered up but he still was able to move.
Unlike other ratman, the chief had a new goal once he saw the portal. He had planned on escaping from the city but now this portal worked best for him.
Chief, ignoring the shrieks and skittering of his brethren as they surged towards the city walls, veered sharply to the west. The portal, shimmering with an otherworldly luminescence, pulsed like a beacon in his vision.
