"The orcs have suffered heavy casualties! Judging by the bodies scattered across the battlefield, it seems the Woodland Elves launched a full-force countercharge against the orcs, sparing no cost!
Tsk, tsk, tsk!" Omsk muttered as he carefully observed the lifeless bodies of orcs and elves strewn across the battlefield.
He counted silently, estimating that at least two to three hundred elves had perished here. The orcs' losses, however, were even more catastrophic, their corpses piled upon one another.
The entire battlefield reeked of blood and decay, with a few crows leisurely strutting across the bodies, picking at their preferred bits.
"Damn it!" Vanervi's eyes burned red with rage as the sight of fallen elven warriors struck a raw nerve.
Strands of fiery battle aura surged from his body, and a wave of powerful energy belonging to a sixth-tier ranger radiated across the area.
"This is bad!" Omsk's pupils contracted.
For Thranduil, the Elven King, to personally lead his forces into such a desperate charge, the situation must have been dire.
Glancing at the vast crater in the distance, Omsk was certain that Thranduil had encountered at least two sixth-tier enemies—or perhaps even the Witch-king of Angmar himself.
No one else could force a battle-hardened and peak-form Elven King into such a dire situation.
And now, with Vanervi recklessly revealing his high-tier energy, it was certain to draw the attention of some ominous presence.
"Get out of here!" Omsk shouted at Rynar, spinning around and charging out of his hiding spot. He hoped to divert the enemy's attention away from the smaller battalion.
"Boom!"
Crimson battle energy exploded upward, the nearby trees rapidly curling and withering before bursting into flames.
From within the inferno, Vanervi emerged, his sword Manikati in hand. He realized the recklessness of his actions but knew there was no turning back now.
His only option was to face the unknown enemies head-on and buy time for Rynar to retreat.
A third-tier paladin was far too fragile in the chaos of a sixth-tier battle; even the shockwaves of such a confrontation could spell instant death.
"Let's see what demons and monsters lurk in this decaying forest!" Vanervi steadied Manikati with both hands as scorching battle energy spiraled along its blade.
"Light stands at the end of darkness!"
Omsk, astride his abyssal warhorse and gripping a lance, advanced steadily toward the orcs near the entrance to the Singrey Sanctuary.
His black-and-white battle aura churned and intertwined, the silent rhythm of hoofbeats echoing ominously.
"Your Highness! Lead the soldiers inside! I will clear the path with my lance!" Omsk's mental link connected to Rynar, his voice resounding in Rynar's mind.
"Citizens of Zaltarion, charge!" Rynar shouted without hesitation, trusting Omsk completely.
As the knights charged forward, Rynar blended into the group.
This was a deliberate move by the knight order to protect him; even though the knights shared damage collectively in their glory state, no one could guarantee Rynar's safety against a sixth-tier opponent.
History had plenty of examples of such power obliterating knightly formations, even with shared defenses.
Sennar, for instance, could easily shatter a hundred-knight glory formation with a single full-powered strike.
"Stop right there, human knights!" Khâmul, astride his nightmare steed and wielding a flail, blocked Rynar's group.
"Boom!"
A torrent of battle energy streaked like a meteor toward Khâmul. The fifth-tier knight skill Piercing Lance of the Sun had been unleashed.
"Your opponent is me!" Omsk declared calmly, his lance raised in challenge after Khâmul blocked the attack with a shield.
"Foolish mortal!" Khâmul's hollow mouth twisted into a grin, and the soul-fire in his eyes flared intensely.
"Corrupting Spirit!"
Khâmul raised his hand, and a black hexagram flashed briefly before releasing a sinister light.
A purple-black skull hurtled toward Omsk, a skill designed to halve the target's resistance to evil-based attacks.
"Dispelling Light!" Omsk wouldn't allow himself to be hit by such an attack. His pride as a high-resistance knight meant he couldn't afford to have his defenses weakened.
"Hero of Light and Shadow!"
Khâmul hesitated for a moment when the radiant aura from Omsk's body instantly dispelled his skill. A Light-Shadow Knight—a match for a dark hero—had entered the fray.
"Shadow Strike!" A jet-black lance projection shot forth from Omsk's weapon.
"Tricks of a novice!" Khâmul sneered. Shadow energy had little effect on beings of darkness. Sensing the attack's attribute, he chose to tank it head-on.
"Argh—hiss!" Khâmul screamed, clutching the searing wound on his chest. Light-shadow duality!
The hidden power of the Light-Shadow Knight lay in its dual attributes. While the visible energy could be sensed, the concealed counterpart only revealed itself upon impact.
"Die!" Omsk charged forward, his lance blazing with radiant energy. The dazzling light left Khâmul temporarily blinded.
"Curse the light!" Khâmul wailed, retreating while covering his eyes. Dark knights loathed light and holy energy more than anything.
"Slash!" Vanervi appeared suddenly before Khâmul, raising Manikati in a fiery arc. Sparks flew as the blade descended with devastating force.
"Khâmul is finished!" Both Vanervi and Omsk thought simultaneously. Against the full power of two sixth-tier opponents, even Khâmul couldn't survive.
"Necromantic Barrier!" From the void, Lydirias appeared, casting a barrier formed of wailing souls before Khâmul.
"Bang!"
"Argh!"
"Whoosh!" A wicked battle axe cleaved toward Omsk and Vanervi in an eerie arc.
"Clang!" Omsk thrust his lance into the ground, blocking the axe's momentum, and urged his steed forward, charging straight at Lydirias.
"Necrotic Conversion!" Lydirias retreated, pulling Khâmul with him. In their place, two undead minions materialized, their vacant eyes staring blankly.
"Damn it!" Omsk cursed, forced to halt. His charge had been wasted, and his target had vanished.
"They escaped?" Vanervi fumed. He had painstakingly concealed himself, hoping to ambush a Ringwraith at a critical moment alongside Omsk.
Their near-perfect coordination had gone to waste due to the swift reaction of their enemies.
"We're in big trouble," Omsk muttered, glancing at Rynar's forces still advancing steadily through the orcs.
"Damned Sennar is here!" Vanervi's face darkened. A two-on-two had now turned into a three-on-two—greatly reducing their chances of victory.
"We retreat while fighting!" Omsk suggested. If they were trapped by three Ringwraiths, it would be a disaster.
Their relentless negative status effects alone could exhaust a paladin to death, not to mention a Light-Shadow Knight and a ranger.
"It seems we'll have to fall back to Singrey," Vanervi said reluctantly.
They had planned to escort Rynar and the soldiers into Singrey while holding back the orcs outside. However, the presence of three Ringwraiths had thoroughly derailed that plan.
In the shadowy forest, a terrifying sixth-tier battle was about to erupt.
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