Chapter 186: Relief
Misha County, below Mida City
A makeshift defense line of less than a hundred people was already on the verge of collapse, their physical and mental strength gradually breaking down. This team, comprised of adventurers, players, and a small number of civilians, had been holding out here for nearly sixteen hours. Before them lay thousands of mangled corpses and several times that number of Mutants, outnumbering these 'warriors'. These monsters, who knew no hunger, no fatigue, and no fear, relentlessly assaulted the defense line. They might not have been particularly strong, but with their superior physical prowess compared to ordinary people, they steadily expanded their gains…
Behind the temporary defense line was a group of trembling civilians. These unfortunate people, infected with the Plague, were vigilantly protected. A dozen 'hunters' patrolled around them, ready to decapitate anyone showing signs of going mad at the first instant, because infected individuals were easiest to kill in the first few tens of seconds after transforming into monsters, before their physical abilities significantly improved.
They couldn't help but be wary, because the thousands of corpses not far away and the monsters furiously assaulting the defense line had, not long ago, been the kin of these very people.
Therefore, despite their fear, these constantly watched infected individuals showed no dissatisfaction, for they all knew that if another ruthless City Lord had been in Charge of Mida City, they would likely have been ordered to be executed before they even went mad.
“Ah ah ah ah!”
“Ugh wuu…”
“Ah! Ah ah ah!”
Another series of howls, one after another, erupted among the crowd, followed by several agile figures sweeping through, sending a few half-human, half-ghost heads flying.
“I was just talking to him…”
A young-looking Elf Thief stood frozen in place, staring in disbelief at the headless corpse before him, the red-tinged-with-black dagger in his hand trembling slightly.
“Good for you. If you had hesitated a moment longer, you might very well be like that guy now.” A black panther appeared silently beside the Elf girl, raising a paw and pointing to a Dwarf Ranger collapsed in a pool of blood not far away: “That poor Dwarf was also talking to someone just now, but unfortunately, his reaction speed was a bit slower than yours.”
Tears welled in the Elf girl’s eyes, and she nodded solemnly: “I understand, Emang Blackleaf.”
Then, a furious shout was heard…
“Rotten Leaf, if you have time to chat with others, why don't you come over and treat my wound quickly!”
The young Thief looked back to see the Dwarf, who had been lying in a pool of blood, swaying as he stood up, glaring darkly at the Druid beside him…
“Too bad you're still alive, Loom,” the black panther humanly curled its lips, then sauntered over to the very cautious Dwarf. With a front roll, it transformed into a feminine-looking, brown-skinned Elf. He skillfully pulled out a small earthen jar from his pocket, dug out a chunk of brown paste, and deftly applied it to the other's waist wound: “Bear with the pain, it'll heal quickly. And remember not to… oh, sorry, I forgot you're still single, so there's nothing to avoid.”
The Dwarf Ranger glared fiercely at the Druid before him, then grimaced as he stood up: “This work is not for humans.”
“Feeling bad?” The Druid Emang Blackleaf sneered, pointing to the precarious defense line not far away: “Want to swap with them?”
Ranger Loom squatted on the ground, re-stringing his double crossbow without looking up, and said: “If it weren’t for the shortage of hands here, I would have gone. Hey, do you have any steel wire left? I’ve run out.”
The Druid shook his head.
“Please use this if you don’t mind!” The young Elf girl from before ran over, handing a bundle of light pink silk threads to the Mid-Tier Ranger: “Mageweb Spider silk, I had some left over from making traps.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“You’re welcome! I’ll go on patrol now!”
“Oh… hmm.”
After a moment of silence, the Druid Blackleaf reverted to his black panther form, casting a cold glance at Loom, who was spacing out beside him: “Your thoughts are dangerous.”
Loom turned his head to change his bowstring: “Huh?”
“She’s over a hundred years older than you.”
“Get lost…”
On the other side, at the front of the temporary defense line
Byron, the captain of Mida City's guard, slammed into two Mutants, then backhanded a sword to crush the head of the one on the left. He turned and shouted to his deputy: “Are the numbers of these monsters decreasing?”
The female deputy, carrying a shield, nodded: “Yes!”
“But we're also reaching our limit here.” Byron sighed, glancing around at the scarred warriors: “It's going to be dangerous if this continues.”
The female deputy nodded: “Yes!”
Captain Byron, a Mid-Tier professional, rolled his eyes, panting as he stomped on a monster with only its upper body remaining, and thrust his sword down fiercely: “The last mercenary squad has come out to help, there shouldn't be any more reinforcements in the city, right?”
“Yes, yes!”
“Are you literally beaten senseless!?”
“Yes, yes!”
“…”
…
Twenty minutes later, the effective combat strength on the defense line below Mida City was less than seventy people. Some of the casualties were due to exhaustion or serious injuries, temporarily retreating to the rear, while others were dragged out of their positions and torn apart by the suicidal Mutants… if those few broken wooden stakes could even be called positions.
“Old Li, I can’t go on!” A Half-Orc of the Tiger clan, with two totems stuck in front of him, swayed and collapsed to the ground, waving a hand at the Dwarf Priest with the long braid beside him: “Don’t heal me anymore, my stamina has been at rock bottom for ten minutes, I’ll collapse if I cast another spell.”
The Dwarf Priest, called Old Li, glanced at him, then raised a hand and pointed not far away: “Your wife is surrounded by a pile of zombies.”
“Wife!!” The Half-Orc roared and stood up, fiercely waving his two furry, fat hands forward: “Spirits of the elements, heed my call—Cross Lightning!”
Crackling!
Two purple electric bolts extended from his hands, causing several Mutants around an Elf female warrior to convulse.
“Thanks, hubby!” The beautiful Elf female warrior looked back and blew him a kiss, then immediately executed a Heavy Storm, slicing the paralyzed Mutants into seventeen or eighteen pieces.
“Justice Aura.” The Dwarf Priest waved out a red aura, bestowing a bit of strength and stamina on everyone around him, then looked back at his old classmate: “You seem to have plenty of energy, don't you?”
The latter lay half-dead on the ground, sticking out his tongue to cool down, and whispered: “Nonsense, my wife finally got younger once. What if she accidentally dies and respawns as a Goblin or something?”
“Old Zhao, stop with the bad omens, everyone is pretty much at their limit.” The Dwarf Priest, who believed in the sun god of Justice and Courage, smashed a Dog-Headed Kobold Mutant in front of him with his war hammer, then looked back and said: “Change the mana totem.”
Shaman Old Zhao nodded, slapped the Earth Binding Totem in front of him to smithereens, then conjured a slender blue totem out of thin air and plunged it into the ground: “After this battle, I’m taking my wife to travel around No Wrongdoing Great…”
“You shut up!” Old Li cursed back, then asked with a strange expression: “Didn’t you two buy game capsules to monitor whether your kid was having an online romance in the game?”
Old Zhao smacked his lips: “It’s fine, my wife is young again anyway, so let’s just pretend we don’t have that kid!”
“You’re really open-minded… No, wait a minute!” Old Li was about to say something when his expression suddenly turned serious, and he frowned: “Did you hear anything?”
“What?” Old Zhao blinked, felt carefully for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise: “An earthquake!?”
“Earthquake, my ass!” The Elf female warrior from before had already rushed back, extended her plate-armored gauntlet, firmly pressed down on her husband’s head, and twisted it hard: “Look over there.”
“Ow, ow, ow… What is that?!”
“Knights?”
“So many Knights!”
“Paladins! I see the Holy Emblem of the sun god!”
“And the Dawn Sect, ah, thank the Goddess!”
More and more exclamations arose, and this motley army of civilians, guards, players, adventurers, and mercenary groups immediately felt a surge in morale. In their great joy, they actually pushed back dozens of Mutants that had already squeezed inside the defense line!
Then, the Knights not far away instantly changed formation. The steel torrent, which had been advancing like a wall, transformed in the blink of an eye into two sharp triangular assault formations, like two keen bayonets, stabbing fiercely forward!
Blessing of Strength, Holy Power Infusion, Devotion Aura—divine spells that even Mid-Tier Paladins could master spread out from them like ripples. These Knights, from different sects, had completed their status buffs in an instant and uniformly raised their heavy lances.
“A single Knight is nothing to fear, but when they begin to Charge in organized formations…” Shaman Old Zhao, leaning on his mana totem, earnestly explained to his wife: “They will be unstoppable! Even the most incompetent Knights, once they begin a mass Charge, will become the masters of the battlefield! The romance of men…”
And so, the next second…
“Goddess grant me strength!”
A graceful figure descended from the sky, a slender cross sweeping out, sending four or five Mutants flying dozens of meters away. The Elf Holy Maiden, surrounded by holy light, actually arrived on the battlefield before the Knight Order: “God says, I shall mete out punishment to the impure!”
Two golden war hammers, several meters tall, whistled down from the air, smashing a dozen monsters closest to the front of the defense line into dust~
【Holy Word: Hammer of Justice】
“The rest is up to you.” Xia Lian turned majestically and shouted to the Knights who were now very close: “Finish them quickly!”
“Yes, Holy Maiden!”
Two steel torrents, imbued with holy radiance, sped past Xia Lian. Hundreds of synchronized war cries boomed, almost knocking the already exhausted Holy Maiden to the ground.
…
“The romance of men?” The ‘young’ Elf female warrior, not yet forty years old, looked at Shaman Old Zhao with a half-smile, then chuckled: “Aren’t you ashamed~”
Old Zhao blushed and held it in for a long time, then started shouting along with the NPCs beside him: “Long live the Holy Maiden!”
“What are you shouting about!” The female Elf punched her husband to the ground, then jumped up and down, vigorously waving her arms: “Long live the Holy Maiden!”
…
The battle ended quickly.
Even though Xia Lian had brought only Mid-Tier Paladins this time, these disciplined tough men still directly annihilated over two hundred Mutants in the first Charge. Old Zhao was right; in the context of group combat, there was almost no profession more terrifying than 'Knight', especially on vast plains. Once the Knight Order reached a certain speed, they could even become immune to most low-level magic through a power similar to 'resonance' or 'synchronization'. As long as there wasn't too great a disparity in strength, no one could survive intact by allowing a Knight Order to Charge freely.
The student who said an artillery unit and a tank brigade of the same scale aren't afraid of a Knight Order, sit down!
A total of over five hundred Mutants were all wiped out. Their bodies (and their dismembered remains) were piled together for burning, while the unmutated Plague infected were given a group healing Holy Word by Xia Lian, and then guarded by dozens of Knights. The latter would care for the wounded while also carrying out the task of 'clearing' any Mutants at the first sign.
Meanwhile, the brave motley army established a small outpost not far away, and would only be allowed back into the city after the Priests confirmed they were 'safe'. These people, who dared to fight outside the city, were very sensible and therefore had no objections.
…
Ten minutes later
Mida City, City Hall
Unlike Hofur City, which was a severe disaster area before, Mida City had not undergone large-scale evacuation and relocation. Its administrative organs were still functioning, so Xia Lian and others, led by High Priest Furman, came directly here to meet the City Lord.
He was an Elf man over six hundred years old, yet still vibrant and full of spirit.
“I am Solanin Wind. It is a pleasure to meet you, Holy Maiden Xia Lian Zhuye, my kin.” The middle-aged Elf, dressed in hunting attire, bowed respectfully to Xia Lian with a smile.
Xia Lian, her face somewhat pale, nodded slightly: “It is a pleasure to meet you. I hope we arrived in time.”
“It is more than enough, Holy Maiden.” City Lord Solanin patted the quiver at his waist, smiling: “This old man was almost going to join the last reserve team.”
Xia Lian paused, then carefully scrutinized the City Lord, who at first glance seemed unremarkable in strength, and upon closer inspection appeared surprisingly weak. She subconsciously asked: “Going up to die?”
Solanin: “…”
Mo Tan, unable to bear it any longer, coughed: “The Holy Maiden means, you were going to go up and share life and death with the warriors?”
Solanin smiled and nodded: “I wouldn’t want to be the last person to fall in this city; it wouldn’t sound good.”
Xia Lian: “So, going to die?”
Solanin: “…”
‘How has she lived this long without being beaten to death by someone?’
Mo Tan quietly sent Yu Cheng a message.
‘She’s lucky, I guess (⊙ω⊙`)’
Yu Cheng replied instantly.
Chapter 183: End