Chapter 130 - Nearing Their Limits
It's the second day of the undead raid and the humans of Grenton were losing, badly. Some undead were able to get into town and a few non-combatants have died. Galius had been gravely injured after battling some ogre kings. Kithra was already low on mana and was nearing her limit in stamina as well. Iselv was trying his hardest to stop the undead from ramming through the gates, but even with his extreme vitality, he was losing too much blood.
The two holy maidens have done their best as they have destroyed most of the fortified scaling towers. But they too were nearing their very limit, even with the divine blessings of their respective deities they still possess human bodies which had limitations. Still, even in these grim circumstances, they fought on.
...
Rachel who has been fighting nonstop as she exhausted her mana and stamina, was getting stronger as she was nearing her very limit, this was another unique trait of the holy maiden that serves the God of War Hieus. Still, even with her increased strength and abilities the most she could do is defeat the ogre kings, and she was still incapable of matching the undead dragons, much less the Elder Lich. So before she loses her consciousness, Rachel did one last burst attack killing a large force of ogre kings, and undead skeletal warriors.
Natasha, on the other hand, was actually getting weaker because of the unique constitution given to her by her on diety the Goddess of Justice Tiditte. Because of her failure to stop the undead from breaching Grenton and innocent civilians have died, she was penalized for being unable to administer justice. The effect of this is randomly activated, if the holy maiden or the chosen hero was able to administer justice, he or she would gain tremendous power for a limited time, but if one fails to administer justice then the holy maiden or chosen hero will lose significant fighting power.
After the two holy maidens gave their all and have nothing else to give, Natasha carried the unconscious Rachel as the two of them retreated back to the walls of Grenton.
...
The Regalcrags who have been valiantly fighting on the front lines were now half their initial numbers. They have slain numerous Dullahans, skeletal warriors, undead mages, and even some ogres. They were the greatest force Grenton currently has, but even they were almost done and gone. The warhorses that bravely charged with them, again and again, have fallen. The Regalcrags who were the greatest on horseback were now fighting on foot which greatly decreased their battle effectiveness.
Still, even with this handicap, they fought with only one thing on their minds. To die a glorious death, that would be remembered for ages to come. Now that their honor has finally been restored in this battle, they can now truly lift their heads up high, as they die with their honor intact.
"FIGHT TO OUR DEATHS AND TOWARDS OUR GLORY! FIGHT MY VALIANT BRETHREN! FIGHT AND SHOW THE WORLD THE STRENGTH AND COURAGE OF THE REGALCRAGS!" Stephan who was already covered in numerous stab wounds shouted at his remaining men. He lifted his spear and the remaining members of his family cheered. They with no fear happily dashed deeper into enemy lines.
...
Hilda who was unable to return to the walls of Grenton was in the middle of a fight against an undead warrior. Most of her men have died now and there were only three of them left. Her armor was already smashed and broken, her shield was worthless now. The only thing she had left was her sword and mace. Her mana was completely depleted and she was fighting with only her physical skills.
Block with the sword, attack with the mace, she kept on repeating this until her body was now automatically moving in the most proficient way possible. She was growing in this battle, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough. As another skeletal warrior was crushed, Hilda heard the dying screams of her companions. She without hesitation burned their bodies into ashes, so they cannot be used as material for another undead.
Now she was truly alone in the middle of the battlefield. Her conscious was already murky at this point but she kept on moving, since stopping means death. She already surpassed her limits long ago, as her body was near the point of breaking.
...
Valdel who was watching on the walls of Grenton, could no longer take it anymore and jumped towards the battlefield. This time Lara didn't stop him from doing so. That was how dire the situation was.
Yet the moment he jumped one of the undead dragons finally moved and attacked him with a long-range spell. Valdel quickly blocked using the Zweihander absorbing the spell.
It would seem that it wasn't just them doing the waiting, the other side was doing the same thing. Since only the undead dragons could fight effectively against Valdel and Lara, the elder lich didn't bother to use them as long as Valdel and Lara didn't move.
Now that Lara figured that out she immediately joined the battle as well. The remaining undead dragon came and attack Lara. Now both sides' most powerful pieces have joined the board the whole battlefield became even more chaotic.
Valdel and Lara quickly lured the two undead dragons away from Grenton and started their battle further away. The battle between the four powerful individuals proved even more menacing than the battle between thousands of undead and hundreds of humans.
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Hilda who saw Valdel and Lara fighting against the two undead dragons had a faint smile on her face. The first time she met those two, she didn't really have a good impression of them, since they were causing trouble the first time they entered the guild, which doubled her work. Now she was entrusting the lives of the people of Grenton to them. In those lives included her family, her sisters and her mother.
...
Hilda who was in the middle of the undead army was suddenly hit by a fireball spell from behind. Even though it was a low-level spell, without mana or her armor protecting her, this attack was able to burn her back.
As she was struggling to stand up an undead warrior was able to stab a sword on her right leg. Hilda countered and smashed the undead with her mace, but now she was unable to move. The mages on the walls were able to provide support, but now unable to move at all Hilda was a sitting duck.
She was even bleeding quite profusely which lowered her chances for survival. As she was laying down on the ground waiting for her death, Hilda began to see a hallucination. She saw herself smiling while holding a child on her hands, and there in front of her was a man smiling back at her.
She didn't know why the man turned out to be him, but Hilda found it to be alright. She then smiled as she started to cry.
'Why show me something like that in the end... I... I don't, want to die...' As her consciousness was slowly fading, she felt a very familiar overpowering mana and bloodlust engulf the battlefield.
"You're late... Idiot...." Those were Hilda's last thoughts before everything turned dark.