Chapter 455: A Roaring Start of the Battle
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
General Grigory was a very foul mood. Too many things that had happened lately that ground his gears. Everything started with the theft of the demonic crystal: A group of unknown origins, probably some cunning demon had orchestrated the heist that night. After causing a ruckus in the camp, they stole the crystal with the crazed demon king's last words. But more incredibly, they took his house as well. That left Grigory furious, and very confused at the same time.
To make it worse, the crystal was lost under his guard, and that almost caused a fracture within the Allied Army. It was only through the efforts of the Pope that the clamouring of the heroes died down and the matter suppressed. Grigory had since been after the mystery behind the crystal's theft. The veteran of countless wars knew that there was something much deeper to this. But before he even managed to sniff out a trail, the reappearance of the Demon King's Army rocked the world.
Grigory immediately felt that the theft of the crystal has something to do with the reappearance of Helcrown. But now was not the time to dig further, and he left the matter at that and led his army personally into the scorching barrens of the demonic plane.
As his army marched at double speed, he had indeed caught sight of Helcrown appearing in midair. The sight of the city's foreboding shadow had the Allied Army take a step back. That spine chilling sight could not be further from reality. Even as Helcrown disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, Grigory still had his men encamped at the southern area of the Shattered Plains, directly facing Serathon's and Banuklaak's demonic host. As they stood guard against the demons, they were also monitoring the mountains which Helcrown had disappeared.
General Grigory stood in front of his encampment surveying the black rock mountain, and recalled what happened in the war ten years ago. Rather than harbouring only hatred or fear like his kinsmen, Grigory was rather curious about the nature of the demon king. He would ponder for days on end of the motives and structure of the demon king's actions, and seriously considered the influence he had on this world. Whether it is good or bad, he would get to the bottom of it. And this sense of curiosity was not unique to Grigory; the other six heroes and the Pope too shared the sentiment. Regardless, the crazed demon king was a mysterious adversary, and there is much to be gained from the fallen demon king.
At the very moment, Grigory's adjutant ran towards him in a hurry. "General! A transmission from the rear!"
Grigory was jolted out of his thoughts, and turned. "What's the situation?"
"A group of mysterious.... silver metallic beasts appeared out of nowhere. They broke through twenty three planes through the air. They seemed like they are military unit with an objective, and they are heading towards the demonic plane."
Grigory frowned. "What sort of report is that? Mysterious silver beasts? Are the sentries at the gates that illiterate?"
"That's how the transmission was," the adjutant shrugged. "Those things appeared rather suddenly, and they were so unique that no one have seen them before. Perhaps General you might..."
Before the adjutant could finish, a roaring thundercrack broke through the sky!
Grigory looked up towards the source of the sound, and was greeted with the horrific sight of the sky splitting itself apart, as the horror-inspiring black city slowly appear from the breach!
The entire encampment fell into a massive furore, and despite the veterans quickly brought the scene under control, the screams of fear and panic still spread throughout the encampment. Many soldiers pointed to the air with a bone-rattling shiver. "HELCROWN! IT HAS APPEARED!"
At the same moment, the situation of the demonic host on the other side of the Shattered Plains were no better. Even those vicious demons were nothing but fodder in face of the might of the Demon King's Army. Even from that distance, Grigory could hear their roars and cries. Even till now, ten years after his fall, the demon king was still a feared figure.
"FORMATION!!! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!" Grigory drew his longsword and using his magically enhanced voice, his command boomed across the camp. "Paladins, summon the light! Arcane Cannons, prepare to fire!"
On the other end of the plain, Serathon's slithering voice rumbled throughout the the demon host's camp. "GET A GRIP, YOU COWARDS! Demonblasters, Terrorgheists, Gargoyles! On me! TAKE THAT CITY DOWN!!"
Allied Army or Demonic Host, both were hellbent on taking down Helcrown the moment they knew that the city survived. All of them were prepared to blast the city out of the sky the moment it reappeared!
There was no need to reconfirm or reassess the situation, there was no need for reconnaissance or diplomatic manoeuvrers. The enemy was the crazed demon king, the primal disaster of the world whose reign of terror spanned hundreds of years. There was no time to hesitate, for any moment loss meant the second coming of apocalypse. Thus, every soldier present were at the ready, ready to rain hell upon their foe.
There was no possibility for diplomacy in the first place.
Holy light radiated from the Allied Army, and the radiance expelled the dark clouds above them. Giant conical arcane cannons were being brought to bear by arcane golems, the heavy artillery lumbered as it was turned into position, facing Helcrown. Azure arcane energies soon gathered within the cannon, letting out sharp screeching noises. The demon host too quickly moved into formation, and cannons, encrusted with demonic runes too trained their cannons towards the floating city, the Terrorgheists flying above gathered the gargoyles into a spearhead formation, and was waiting for the opportunity to charge in the moment the cannons breach the shields.
Y'zaks and the remnants of his army stood at the parapets. The plains before them lit into a hive of activity the moment Helcrown reappeared. But the demon king was expressionless. Well, you couldn't tell most of the time anyway.
"We have located the last of the teleportation gate," The MDT rang within Hao Ren's head. "ETA five minutes."
"Five minutes to go." Hao Ren nodded at Y'zaks. "Maintain that gate behind us."
Helcrown had reappeared even before the Aerym Elves had arrived. This was to provide a dimensional tether, to allow the elves to go into the dimension and grab the floating hulk out of the place. And before that, Helcrown would become the primary target of attack.
"Maintain the gate!" Y'zaks raised his Black Sword. Green runes hissed as it glow bright. "Cannons to bear! FIRE AT WILL!!"
The dark energy spire above Helcrown blasted out a blinding light, the dimensional gate behind the city stabilised under the light. At the time time, the heavy guns of both the Allied Army and the demon host roared.
Sky shattering screech rang out as the both arcane and demonic cannons fired. The city-levelling warmachines belched hot white bolts and corrupting dark energies towards the city in a storm of fire and fury. Helcrown was the epicentre of the attack.
At the same time, the spires on the outer walls of Helcrown glowed bright, and countless of runic wards appeared on the spires, launching counter fires to intercept the destructive payloads.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!! Ear ringing explosions thundered as the missiles collided against each other. Most of the offensive payload were taken out by the counter fire, but some still found their mark as they impacted against the Helcrown's energy barriers. The scorching and unstable payloads fizzled against the barrier as Helcrown was engulfed in a fusillade of fire and brimstone. As if apocalypse was nigh.
Against the earth shattering explosions, the dimensional gate behind the city stood.
Serathon swung his warglaive. "Terrorgheists! ATTACK!"
"DEPLOY THE CANNONS!" Y'zaks roared. The sound of his roar even turned a few of the Terrorgheists into rocks before shattering, raining rocks on the ground below. The embrasures on the castle walls pulled aside as the cannons were deployed. Hundreds of menacing red light glowed from the gaps. The cannons were fully charged.
A mere city was facing two of the largest armies ever assembled. The odds were so lopsided at first glance that it was hilarious. But as the first round of cannon fire rained up both the Allied Army and the demon hosts, Y'zaks bellowed.
"Mongrels! My buddy were could summon a warhost of elves to blast your arses back to kingdom come with just a phone call!"
Hao Ren was glad that Y'lisabet was already sent back into the keep....