170: Soldiers unite in one place

The sharp-eyed Lai'en injected powerful force field magic energy from the Evocation school into the arrow in his hand.

Immediately after the arrow struck the Gnoll spellcaster's throat, the magical archery skill “Explosive Arrow” took effect.

All Gnolls within a 10-foot radius each took 2d6 points of force damage.

The low-health spellcaster clutched his ruptured throat, screaming silently, watching his life drain away until it finally vanished into nothingness.

The ordinary Gnolls, trapped by the mist and unable to escape, were left for the archers behind.

The Druid and his bear companion, along with two tall Treants, followed at the very rear of the party, delivering finishing blows to the Gnolls caught in traps or still faintly breathing.

The Water Elemental summoned by the Water Sprite transformed into a stream of water, chasing beyond the mist to pursue the few escaping Gnoll soldiers.

Lai'en quickened his pace, heading north, searching for any remaining Gnoll spellcasters.

After he dealt with three low-health spellcasters using magical arrows, two Gnoll spellcasters still managed to cast spells in the western part of the mist.

They were “Plague Cloud” and “Earth Wolf Spirit.”

The boy, upon detecting “Plague Cloud,” immediately stripped away the contaminated mist.

He then activated the five-ring divine spell “Tsunami” attached to the Pearl Dragon Scale Armor.

A linear giant wave, 100 feet wide, appeared out of thin air before him, carrying an irresistible force, pressing down like a mountain upon the Earth Wolf Spirits and the Gnolls behind them.

The Earth Wolf Spirits, crushed by tens of tons of seawater, instantly vanished from the prime material plane, returning to the Abyss.

Nearly a thousand Gnolls behind them were simultaneously engulfed by the tidal wave.

After one wave, less than one in a hundred Gnolls survived, either severely wounded or near death.

Thousands of Gnoll corpses, along with a few dying Gnolls, were swept away by the seawater.

At this moment, the Dragon King had already flown up the mountain slope to the summit.

The Young Duke, through the Dragon King's vision, learned that there were many more Gnolls scattered throughout the forest on the summit.

If he were to indiscriminately breathe dragonfire, he could quickly eliminate these Gnolls, but other living beings in the forest would also be destroyed.

He had no choice but to order the Dragon King to return and spray a steam cloud over the remaining Gnolls on the mountain slope again.

The boy himself altered the structure of the dense fog maze, luring the remaining approximately 1700 Gnolls from the southwest towards the north.

At the same time, he quickly searched for any overlooked spellcasters among them on horseback.

Indeed, the Young Duke spotted several more spellcasters from afar.

He didn't know if their throats were also scalded, or for some other reason.

When most of the Gnolls gathered in the northern middle section, Lai'en's white horse galloped closer, and those few Gnoll spellcasters still showed no signs of casting spells.

The boy used a pearl as a casting medium to activate the six-ring arcane spell: “Pearl Dragon's Might.”

Centered on him, all hostile Gnolls within 300 feet, none of whom had a Perception score exceeding 20, failed their saving throws—all over 1500 Gnolls within the spell's range.

Permanent Fear! And their Defense Rating decreased by 1 per minute.

With the big spell cast, it was time for the arrow hunt.

The magical arrows in Lai'en's hand transitioned from being shot out one by one at high speed to being shot three at a time in continuous succession.

Through several days of high-intensity archery and killing, his archery speed had not only increased by about fifty percent again, but he had also re-learned the archery technique of shooting three arrows simultaneously.

The cavalry behind Lai'en also caught up at this point, beginning to follow the Young Duke in shooting down the terrified Gnolls who couldn't even perform blocking actions.

“Group Two members go to the front to shoot the Gnolls not affected by fear!” Lai'en commanded loudly.

John and the other heralds loudly relayed the Grand Duke's order to the rear.

The Water Elementals, having finished sweeping up the stragglers on the east side, now arrived on the west side, treading through the puddles left by the seawater on the ground, beginning to hunt down the remaining Gnolls who had been swept far away.

After the Dragon King swept the mountain slope again, there were hardly any Gnolls left with breath along its flight path.

Lai'en had it retract its dragon breath and devour the Gnoll corpses into his system space.

He stripped the armor, weapons, arrows, and other equipment, leaving them within the space.

Afterward, the Young Duke sent the Dragon King to scout the summit for enemy intelligence, while he himself led everyone back inside the wall to rest.

He piled the recovered arrows in an open area, letting everyone retrieve their corresponding number of arrows.

The others cooked meals or cleaned and maintained arrows as needed.

The fiercely fought battlefield from moments ago seemed to have everyone vanish without a trace in an instant.

Only a cloud of white mist, several hundred feet in diameter, remained floating at the foot of the mountain.

During the day, looking down from the summit, it was still a very conspicuous target.

Information relayed by the invisible Dragon King's telepathy indicated that there were still several thousand Gnolls on the summit, and an endless stream of Gnolls was gathering from the southwest of the peak.

The Young Duke instructed the Dragon King to fly continuously southwest, to find the entrance to Saint Cavell Valley that the Water Sprite Lilian had mentioned, and to see if these Gnolls were coming from there.

Only a few Gnolls on the edge of the summit witnessed the major battle that morning.

Most of the Gnolls inside the summit did not know what kind of war had occurred at the foot of the mountain.

It was only when they descended the mountain that they smelled death, especially around the dense fog, where the stench of blood was overwhelming.

Again, fearless Gnolls began to rush into the white mist.

Lai'en still used the same method he had used against the Gnolls last night, luring these beasts from hell into the mist; gradually, most of the descending Gnolls only dared to surround the circular mist from beyond an arrow's range, beginning to encircle it.

This created a situation similar to last night.

Three hours later, the Dragon King relayed a message telepathically: it had found the pass.

Massive numbers of Gnolls in the southwestern valley were climbing through this narrow pass, entering the Cloud Mist Peak summit.

The Young Duke ordered the Dragon King to once again guard that pass with its dragon breath, preventing the Gnolls from Saint Cavell Valley from continuing to ascend into Cloud Mist Peak from there.

Nearing midnight, the main force of the Allied Forces finally arrived.

The personnel were all present, but the forced march had left these troops exhausted.

Lai'en personally led men to eliminate the over 800 Gnolls north of the wall, welcoming the main force inside the enclosure.

High Lord Ryan Black, Lord of Kedas, and Burning Flame Kewenruide once again gathered their forces.

They discussed attacking Cloud Mist Peak summit the next morning, with all cavalry dismounting and joining the main infantry force.