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Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer… but in this case, it was a decidedly fast killer. Aishael who was still in the midst of organizing her troops had spotted the Harpies flying towards her. With a quick flick of her wrist and a couple of slashes later, a couple of energy slashes were sent out. At the same time, her longsword fell back into its sheath with a clean snap.

Those poor Harpies were immediately brought down from the ceiling, crashing unceremoniously into the ground with a bang, still alive but no longer a threat. Unfortunately for them, the former wasn’t going to be true for long as well. A couple of eagle-eyed Half-Elves promptly seized upon this opportunity to score a couple of kills for themselves, turning both the Harpies into pin cushions in the process… that will you teach birds a lesson!

The 5000 strong Composite Dark Elven Army was led by Reyage. Because Jezsere decided to follow me, he ended up being roped into the reinforcements as well. Given his background, he wasn’t suitable to be a lowly soldier, especially not when Paliseth had plans for him to be the leader of the clan in the future. In light of that, this war was a good opportunity to rack up some merit for himself. Even though it wasn’t a large war, it was still an opportunity that held no disadvantages.

Reyage himself was an Assassin, but unlike the others, he was trained by Paliseth personally. Because of that, he was stronger than most elites of other clans.

As such, the sudden ambush by the Minotaurs and Harpies did not throw him into disarray. Under his calm leadership, the Dark Elves quickly regained their footing and formed into a defensive position under his orders. Shieldbearers at the front and long-range attackers at the back, they prepared for the oncoming onslaught of the Minotaurs and Harpies.

While the Half-Elves were already engaging with the airborne Harpies, their numbers were too many for the Half-Elves to handle alone. From just a glance alone, I counted at least 7000 Harpies. Faced with such overwhelming numbers, the best the Half-Elves could do was ensure that their ranks did not fall to the harassment of the Harpies. Yet despite their best efforts, it was only a matter of time before these Harpies broke free with their obvious airborne advantage. The Harpies, having felt the sting of the Half-Elven army, decided to turn their sights on Reyage’s army.

Unfortunately for these Harpies, if they thought the Half-Elves were bad, the Dark Elves were only going to be worse. This was a properly maintained and trained army that was organised for the purpose for handling battles such as this. Furthermore, this was Paliseth’s own son leading the battle, the soldiers were all the best of the best. This very army held the honorable title of the Blood Brigade.

The only reason why there was even a brief moment of confusion was because Reyage was suddenly shoved in as their commander. Simply put, Paliseth really went all out to pave the way for this son of hers.

Dozens of Harpies swooped down with the intent of grabbing a member of the Blood Brigade. But this was the worst possible target they could have ever chosen. The Archers and Mages of the Brigade were already ready and waiting. Not only that, this particular army had an occupation unique to them, the Javalineers. Armed with short spears, these Javalineers might not have had the longest of ranges when compared to the Archers or Mages, but as long as the target was within their effective range, their accuracy rate was well over 90%.

Furthermore, a short spear was a lot stronger than a mere arrow. One hit was all it took to skewer a Harpy. In contrast, an arrow probably had to hit a weak point like the head or heart in order to take down the target.

Now… the Elves were all a force to be reckoned with, but when it came to the Murlocs…

5000 Murlocs was definitely a staggering figure, but their lack of training meant that they were in complete disarray when faced with such an ambush. In fact, quite a number of Murlocs had already thrown aside their weapons and jumped into the river.

The Murloc Shaman and Clanleader tried whatever they could, scolding, beating, cursing, but nothing could stem the tide of deserters. Something worth noting at this point was that these Minotaurs had clashed with the Murlocs before. The result was that the Murlocs were thoroughly trounced. As for the Harpies… in their own words, they hated those flying birds…

In the proverbial food chain of the Underdepths, the Minotaurs and Harpies were well above the Murlocs, like how a cat was to a mouse. The Murlocs weren’t willing conscripts to begin with, so even if the Murloc Shaman and Clanleader were here to control them, there was no way they could overcome the innate fear in their hearts. That was how much higher up in the food chain the Minotaurs and Harpies were. At the same Star-level, a Murloc had no chance of ever winning against a Minotaur or Harpy.

Murlocs? Hah, how about you guys call yourselves salted fish instead.

Out of the 5000 or so Murlocs that marched with us, not all had managed to escape in the chaos, roughly half of their numbers rallied back under the Murloc Shaman and Clanleader. Of those that fled, some chose the river while some chose to run in the unfortunate direction of the Blood Brigade.

Amidst the chaos of the fleeing Murlocs, the Bridgade’s well laid out formation was nearly destroyed in the process. Thankfully, this army also had an Assassin unit of nearly 200. Training such Assassins were the forte of the Shadowhunter Clan so any Assassin who had successfully graduated were all top-notch. The moment they noticed the disruption caused by the Murlocs, they promptly struck from the shadows. Reyage had already instructed these Assassins beforehand to look after the perimeters for this very reason.

An unusual reason, to be certain, but he was proven right this time. Without even needing any further instructions, any Murloc who even got a webbed foot close to the Brigade was immediately met with a blade from the shadows.

It was only after a hundred over Murlocs had died that these poor fishes finally realised they were fleeing in the wrong direction. Not only did they end up dying despite not having met an opponent, they died at the hands of their own allies… truly a tragic fate.

The cold-bloodedness of this display had the effect of bringing the Murlocs back under control. By using this momentary fear and shock, the Murloc Shaman and Clanleader had successfully reorganised these Murlocs back into the main force.

The head of these Assassins was a veiled female Dark Elf who could be seen signalling to another Assassin to restrain these two brothers. The plan was to herd the remaining Murlocs towards the charging Minotaurs. Naturally, the two brothers weren’t too happy about this treatment, but they both had a dagger to their necks right now. Clearly, a dagger was a lot sharper than their scales.

As expected, rather than losing their fishy self, they would much rather lose a fishy brother. The two brothers expressed their willingness to obey orders and began leading the charge themselves.

Yet not long after they did so, they sneaked a glance at each other. The path they were taking so happened to lie near the river. Clearly, they were plotting something right now. Too bad for them, there were four Assassins already dispatched to follow them. As long as they dared make a move, their fishy lives were over!

At that point, a maelstrom of emotions flowed within their eyes, none of them positive. But what were to do in this damned if they do, damned if they don’t situation? Charge, that’s what.

At the same time that the Murlocs arrived on scene, my three Fire Elementals had made contact with the Minotaurs. With their bodies covered completely in flames, every strike they threw out scorched the air around them. Some of the weaker Minotaurs were even affected by the sheer heat of their presence and began to lose consciousness. Axes began to fall, followed closely by the sonorous thuds of collapsing Minotaurs.

At the level of a Seven-star, the flames of a Fire Elemental had to at least be a thousand degrees celsius. Naturally, these Fire Elementals knew to control their flames outside of battle. During combat however, their mighty flames were fully brought to bear. Lower starred Minotaurs, while stronger than a bull, were still at the level of a normal mortal -certainly not a match for the scorching flames of the Fire Elementals.

In actuality, this burning environment was confined to a circle around each Fire Elemental. This was a skill of theirs in which they could instantly raise the heat around them to a certain degree in order to deal with weaker foes. Right this very instant, wherever the Fire Elementals were, a circular no man’s land was formed around them.

Being summoned, however, they had a fatal flaw of endurance. While they might have had great effect on the Minotaurs, it was still a fact that this wasn’t Purgatory; they couldn’t replenish their fire element easily. Each time they inflicted severe injuries on the Minotaurs, they expanded a great deal of their energies as well. As their reserves slowly drained, their size began to shrink. Even the glow around them had grown noticeably dimmer by now.

The Minotaurs had noticed this point too, which was why they furiously charged at the Fire Elementals. Even if their heavy weaponry were unable to damage the Fire Elementals, they were still useful in expanding their energies.

This obviously wasn’t the most efficient of methods to handle the Minotaurs, but what choice did they have but to overwhelm these mighty creatures with their sheer numbers? While that was happening, the remaining Minotaurs routed around their comrades and continued charging towards us.

When I summoned those three Fire Elementals, I knew full well that the line wouldn’t hold forever. My only hope was that those three would be able to buy us some time, which they did magnificently. At this point, all the armies had already taken up formations and the Murlocs were even herded in the right direction.

“MOOOOOO!!!”

Just like that, a bunch of three meters tall Minotaurs, armed with gigantic maces, axes and hammers clashed with a bunch of Murlocs, coming in at 1.6 meters at most and armed with bone clubs and broken spears. The outcome was clear for all to see… a complete massacre…

Shameless Self-promotion

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If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.