Chapter 245. Taro’s Tactics. Lyra’s Strength.

On Lyra’s side, the armies were in a balanced situation. Taro was keeping the enemy in check while Lyra was slowly advancing in formation. Both sides were spending Aether Mana and Anima Energy at a regular pace. 

Lyra looked toward Taro and squinted. He had not attacked even once, making her doubtful of what he was planning. While she had been fighting with her army, it was clear that she was making too little progress. ‘At least I’ve managed to fill the moat, and now we can start attacking the doors.’ 

Looking sideways, she called a group of turtle men that she had on her side. These people were from an allied clan that owed her something and had come as a way to return the favor. “You twenty will advance while being protected and carry this item to the door. Once you place it down, retreat and use your defensive skills. If you manage to blow up the doors, I’ll count the favor as paid.”

The elder of that group nodded and stepped forward. He extended his hand, grabbing the circular item Lyra gave them. It was around the size of a big watermelon, but the turtlekin could easily grab it with one of his hands. “Lady Lyra, create a defensive path for us to advance.”

Lyra nodded. “Understood.” Then, she shouted. “Open path!” Those were the keywords for the Aethermancers to create the defensive path. 

In an instant, around 400 people moved in perfect coordination right as the twenty turtle men rushed forward. 

Taro looked over and spoke unhurriedly. “Reinforce the door and ignore them. Focus on the enemy army. Now that they are protecting those turtlemen, our attacks will penetrate deeply.”

The person at his side shouted. “Protect the door! Ramp up the attacks! Ignore the approaching enemy!”

Taro’s assistant asked. “Why ignore them?”

Taro answered swiftly. “They have clearly planned their defense. Trying to brute force a reinforced front is wasting resources. It’s better to attack the weakened front and reduce the overall strength.”

As soon as he finished explaining, the people on the wall finished charging their more powerful attacks and released them en masse toward the weakened army. Lyra saw the enemies on the wall redoubling their efforts at attacking her people and her face fell. ‘Are you really going to ignore the door!? Madman!’

Taro’s eyes swept the battlefield and saw several attacks striking true and managing to either kill or severely injure many people. He nodded and ordered. “Evacuate the wall above the doors and command them to hide in the reinforced defense sites near the entrance.”

The assistant quickly nodded and set off, carrying his orders. 

Lyra scoffed and focused on the door. Seeing that the twenty turtle men had done it, she smiled and shouted. “Spear Formation! We are going to breach into the city soon!”

The army moved with her words as the commanders repeated her orders. The soldiers moved from a stretched-out line to a more compact formation. It was clear that they were preparing to breach through the doors. 

Lyra snorted. “You’ve underestimated the strength of the <City Wall Buster>, Taro.” Once the twenty turtlemen were relatively far, Lyra remotely activated it with a Runic device.

BOOOOM!

The area where it exploded expanded like a balloon as a massive explosion occurred. The wall above the doors also got blasted into oblivion, sending debris flying into the air. 

Taro’s hair was blown back by the shockwave. When he looked over, he hummed. “A bit stronger than expected.” 

He moved from his standing position, quickly appearing at the edge of the location. Looking around, he nodded. “It was stronger than expected. However, it seems that it wasn’t completely out of our expectations. The protective areas are still standing.” Seeing the walls in such a miserable condition, he felt a bit of heartache. ‘Repairing this will cost a fortune.’

The assistant, coughing from the dust cloud and with her face cutely painted white, commented. “C-City lord, cough! There have been twenty immediate deaths by, COUGH, the explosion.” 

Taro frowned. “Did the defenses fail?”

The assistant shook her head. “Unfortunate people who got hit on the head by rocks that flew out from the explosion.”

Taro sighed. “That’s such a shame.” Then, he looked toward the enemy army and saw that they were moving forward again. He ordered. “Create a chokepoint! Don’t leave the walls undefended! Make sure to be careful of the enemies breaching through.”

When the enemy army arrived, they pushed through the bridge and entered the city. On the other side, several people from Taro’s army were standing with heavy armor and shields, ready to clash with the people coming through the chokepoint. 

Both armies readied their bodies, tensed their muscles, and then pushed forward into a frontal clash. 

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The sound of armors, swords, spears, and shields colliding echoed around as both sides tried to push the other back. Taro ordered. “Throw the liquid!”

A large amount of a black substance flew and fell on the enemies. Because they were so close, unlike Folter, they failed to react and were completely bathed in it. Instantly, several fire spells and arrows landed, igniting the fluid. 

WHOOSH!

A firestorm surged on the chokepoint, spreading back toward the people who started screaming in pain as they burnt alive.

Lyra frowned and humphed. Her body’s aura suddenly increased several times as her body grew in size. Together with her, several other Sylvans in Lyra’s army also grew in size, revealing their transformed states.

Taro looked over and smiled. “Finally. Activate the <Humming Array>!”

As soon as his orders spread, hidden people nearby rushed forward and placed their hands against the wall. Their energies sunk into the wall, lighting up several formation lines that soon started vibrating at a very low frequency and high intensity. For humans, this would create slight discomfort and nausea. However, for Sylvans, it was a bit more disrupting than that. 

Lyra was about to use her frost powers to stop the fire when a strident sound pierced her ears, making her widen her eyes and hold her head in agony. “Ah! What is this!?”

HUMMMMM~. 

The vibrations of infrasound affected all the transformed Sylvans, forcing them to hold their ears. Their bodies felt like they were trembling from the inside out, making some of the weaker Sylvans puke out of reflex. 

Lyra glared at the walls and shouted. “<Moonlit Flowerbloom>!” 

Her back opened, showing several bell-like white flowers that aimed at the walls and fired a ray of pure frost. As the ice sunk into the walls, the array began to stop its vibrations, slowly returning the combat capability to the Sylvans.

Taro frowned and commented. “Roll down the stones. I didn’t know Lyra had this attack. Is it something new she got recently?”

Several spherical boulders started rolling down from the middle of the street that led toward the door. The allied army parted without problems since the enemies were still dealing with the fire and couldn’t really push through. 

At first, Taro had thought that the Sylvans would rush and attack the walls. However, he had prepared reinforcing <Arrays>, which would take away their attention for a long time. In the meantime, he would thin down the enemy army, and when they restarted their attack, he would use the boulders to run over a few more people. 

Sadly, that plan was completely invalidated by Lyra alone. At the end of the day, Lyra was a Level 29 who could easily fight the average Level 30. 

Taro saw the large boulders rolling down the slope and striking into the fiery mess, creating more confusion and fear in the people who were surrounded by flames. 

However, tricks were tricks at the end of the day. While effective, they were not enough to turn the tides of the battle. Taro rubbed his chin and looked toward the other side of the city. ‘I wonder if they can finish before we lose here. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve, but I don’t think I can hold Lyra back for more than two more hours…’

Lyra and the other Sylvans finally made the walls stop vibrating, and Taro’s heart tightened. ‘Too quick. Even if I call for help, it might be too late by the time it arrives. There are at least 100 transformed Sylvans in the enemy group…’ He frowned and sighed. ‘Too many will die, but I really don’t have any other option.’ 

Taro was about to tell his assistant to inform Delia that he needed two of those serpents to fight Lyra together with him. However, before he gave the order, he heard a powerful and penetrative beastly roar coming from the sky. 

“Hm?” 

Looking upward, he saw Ophion flying down toward him with several people on his back. Taro’s lips arched when he saw Wert, Thalia, and Kael. ‘If these three are here, that means that the other side is already done. It seems that Liu Shu has really done it.’

Taro raised his arm, and Ophion landed by his side. Taro didn’t lose time and got directly to the point. “I need you to help me stop, or even kill, Lyra. She is about to push-.”

BOOM!

Everyone looked over to the entrance and saw the several transformed Sylvans pushing through the flames and putting them out. Taro shouted. “Sylvans, transform!”

The Sylvans in Taro’s army transformed, their numbers around half that of the enemy’s army. While they were fewer, Ophion’s group carried fourteen <Second Energy Cycle> powerhouses. 

Ophion’s group also didn’t lose time speaking and joined the frontlines. Their presence was like a bomb exploding, sending several people flying. 

While pushing forward, Lyra looked at them and frowned. ‘Hm? That’s… Wert? Isn’t he fighting Elowen on the other side?’

While she had many questions, she couldn’t really waste much time, and shouted. “Kill the big serpent first! Since it is so big, it is an easy target!”

Ophion looked at Lyra and opened his mouth, hissing powerfully. Lyra waved her arms, the flowers on her back shooting the frost rays at Ophion together with many other spells.

Ophion crossed his wings and hardened them with his skills.

BOOM!

An enormous explosion occurred, and Lyra looked at the damage numbers. ‘How much… Huh?’

[-2,450]!

[-2,680]!

[-2,210]!

…

Numbers of similar magnitude appeared. With Ophion’s 800,000 Phoer Body Essence reserves, these attacks tickled him. His defense was as solid as ever. 

The enormous serpent opened his wings and roared, blasting out of the dust cloud around him and revealing his pristine body. Wert flashed past the giant serpent with a laugh. “Hurting this big boy will need a bit more than that! Take this!”

He reached the frontlines and swung his ax, the air pressure he carried creating a sonic boom. 

BOOM!

Five people were cleaved in half while the air burst, sending those corpses flying. 

Thalia’s body was surrounded with powerful flames as she grew in size and sent a wave of terrifying magma toward Lyra. Lyra pointed at the approaching attack, sending a wave of frost that clashed with the magma, stopping it.

Thalia grinned and said. “Lyra, I am your opponent!”

Lyra growled. “If it was your sect master, I would consider it, but you are not worthy!”

Kael appeared by Lyra’s side, piercing forward with his spear. 

BANG!

Lyra summoned an ice wall, blocking the attack. However, the wall burst because of Kael’s strength.

Kael spun his spear and grinned. “How about the two of us?”

Lyra opened her arms, her body lowering the surrounding temperature. “As I said. Not enough!”

WHOOSH!

A torrent of frost spread outward like a wave. But before it did so, Taro appeared and slashed at the attack. “<Spell Break>.”

Clang~.

His thin sword struck the attack, creating a melodic ring and disrupting it. The spell’s internal structure lost the coherence it was built upon, leaving the frost wave with just its initial momentum. This lowered its overall strength a few notches, allowing others to defend themselves.

Taro smirked. “While they are both insufficient, with me here, I think we make a good resistance.”

Lyra’s eyes were basically spewing chilling rays as she glared at them. At the side, there was a massively powerful serpent that was striking terror into her army, and she needed to confront it. However, it was the truth that these three could at least hold her back for a long time. “If that’s so, I’ll deal with all of you quickly, and then I’ll kill that snake!”

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