The Vastness of Magical Destiny
Chapter 247 - 10: Counterattack_3

Chapter 247: Chapter 10: Counterattack_3

Like baskets the size of a Hammer of Thor, they clashed continuously, and a sky full of thunder mingled with countless flashes of lightning fell like a meteor shower onto the heads of Homer’s army, hurled by Komer and Rebry. Mud splattered and corpses lay strewn about. Even though the warriors of Homer had been trained in defensive magic, such unimaginably intense magic attacks were like an inconceivable nightmare to them. Wave after wave of thunderous strikes coupled with overwhelming torrents of air battered relentlessly on the three attack formations Homer’s army had arranged. With almost no cover, soldiers raised their shields in vain, but these metal shields only invited more fierce bombardments. The soldiers fell in droves, their charred corpses emitting a foul burnt stench. The ground was pitted with large craters formed by lightning strikes, resembling a hell on earth. Homer’s soldiers could only desperately cling to the strict discipline instilled by their officers’ commands, hoping that this wave of magic attacks would not last too long, giving them a chance to survive this ordeal.

Faced with such an advantage, the half-beast soldiers, who should have initiated their attack according to the plan, were too stunned to move. The terrifying attack power they were witnessing was far beyond their understanding. Although they had been exposed to various descriptions of magic attacks and even small-scale demonstrations beforehand, nothing had prepared them for the sheer terror induced by "Thunder Shock," a powerful magic array. Paralyzed by fear, they huddled together, trembling, and barely managed to maintain their formation, hugging their spears and shields close.

Even though the half-beast soldiers were slow to initiate their attack, the "Thunder Shock," akin to a natural disaster, had utterly broken the will of three thousand Homer soldiers. Despite their steadfast determination and discipline, no words could describe the blows they suffered. Solid as iron, the warriors couldn’t hold on much longer. When the most devastating strike of the large magic attack caused a ten-foot radius of the ground to collapse beneath the center of the three advancing wings, Homer’s army finally couldn’t stand any longer and began to flee. Once the first deserter appeared, the collapse quickly turned into a rout. Seeing the Homer warriors fleeing en masse, the officers of the half-beastman armaments snapped out of their stupor and frantically ordered their soldiers to pursue and annihilate the enemy. The scene at Banassia was replayed, with only the roles of victor and vanquished reversed, and Homer’s soldiers now the ones in flight.

Standing quietly atop a hill, observing the scene below, the war had, at this point, left no room for suspense. Completely demoralized, Homer’s army was in a state of utter collapse, and the once hesitant half-beast soldiers turned into the fiercest of beasts. Compared to the physical prowess of the half-beasts, the mortal soldiers were no match in terms of either strength or speed. A great war was declared over practically before the two armies had made proper contact, a rarity in the annals of war on the Continent, yet it had occurred twice within a month in the Leon Region.

Attempting to flee, Knight Balmore was entangled by two skeleton warriors summoned by Puppet Mage Mihayevich almost immediately. Already grievously injured, Knight Balmore faced the skeleton warriors, armed with swords and dancing blades, and nearly lost all will to fight. As a knight officer accustomed to commanding troops in battle, his knowledge of necromancy, a magic from the Dark World, was limited. The near-perfect coordination of the skeleton warriors drastically reduced the already compromised combat effectiveness of Knight Balmore, who, after escaping the battlefield by merely five hundred meters, was wounded and slain by the two skeltons. The advancing beast warriors, facing two skeleton adversaries whose allegiance was unknown, dared only circle around at a distance. It was not until the skeletons vanished into thin air that the beast warriors boldly approached and captured the severely injured Knight Balmore alive.

The battle of Mandu saw three thousand elite Homer soldiers reduced to less than three hundred captured alive, with the rest either slain on the spot by magic or at the hands of the frenzied half-beast soldiers. A battle that was thought to be a foregone conclusion indeed ended unequivocally—only the anticipated victor and vanquished had switched sides.

The Battle of Mandu not only greatly boosted the morale of the mob armaments, but also instilled new confidence in the half-beast mob soldiers after undergoing a baptism of magic. The eastern mob armament, which had previously withdrawn from Izmir due to fears of an unfavorable situation, immediately switched to the counterattack upon receiving support from these victorious southern mob forces. Over thirty thousand mob armaments surrounded Izmir tightly, and without the support of mages as a fresh force and with their main army wiped out, over two thousand soldiers of Homer, despite enduring a whole day against attacks from a mob ten times their size, finally collapsed after causing the attackers over five thousand casualties. Of the more than two thousand Homer soldiers and a thousand noble private soldiers, apart from about five hundred who were taken prisoner, all were slain in a bloody and brutal battle that seemed even crueller as no mages participated, marking the first time the entire Leon Region fell completely.

The complete conquest of Leon greatly inflamed the ambitions of the mob leaders, and several mob armies could finally, with great pride, settle down and for the first time held a joint meeting in Izmir. Although Puppet Mage Mihayevich, seen as a spokesperson for Caucasus, was earnestly invited to participate, he graciously declined under Komer’s direction. Blinded by their victory, the mob armaments quickly set their sights on returning to the north of Leon. Their goal was to liberate all the slaves in the Leon Region, a plan that was swiftly put into action. Within two weeks, Banassia and Murray, now unmanned, fell one after the other to the mob armed with eighty thousand strong that surged like floodwaters toward the north, attempting to cross the Nissai River and swarm Bruce Fortress. However, the garrison forces of Bruce Fortress, bolstered by three thousand soldiers of Homer urgently recalled from the Busen Plain, had regrettably burnt down the Floating Bridge to the southern bank of the Nissai River. The wide and rapid Nissai River became a natural barrier, severing the Leon Region from the rest of the Homer Region.