Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Chapter 721 The Great Battle begins

Each of the nine demons summoned by Zylok's contract with Surtr had its own peculiarities.

At first, they were all strategically positioned on the capitol, in the center of the empty city, all protecting their passage home.

One of them, called Zalthar, was a typical demon, with flaming eyes that could melt steel with a single glance. When the first platoon entered the city, he said to the others:

"They've finally decided to show up." Just like that, a fiery axe formed in his hand and he flapped his flaming wings in the direction of the platoon. "Don't you dare follow me, they're all mine!"

Clearly, Zalthar was the most impulsive and desperate for battle among all the demons, because he stayed in the first circle of hell and only had the opportunity to punish the poorest and most desperate souls.

However, the demon known as Lyzan was a little wiser than Zalthar, so she asked herself:

"Do they only have a small army? I thought humans were more numerous in Midgard, even more so given the amount of their souls being tortured by us."

Lyzan had huge wings, but they weren't made of fire like Zalthar's, but of shadows as black as his eyes.

Belial, the demon on her right, smiled, putting a hand to his mouth. "Hihihihi! I guess it was a bit much to ask all of us to come here, this is all going to happen very quickly."

Leading the parallel platoon was Dodir and, when he saw the fire demon coming towards them, with a fireball cutting through the city sky, he smiled just as Kaizen did at its beginning and shouted to the army:

"For the souls of all the residents of Mibothen!"

With a unison roar, the army advanced towards the city's parallel entrance, where normally only carriages and wagons entered.

The impact of the fireball in front of the platoon produced an intense impact wave, which caused everyone's hair to be thrown back, but all the players remained standing. There were just over three hundred of them.

[You have begun a Battle against Boss Zathar, The Terrible, Demon Commander of the First Circle of Hell].

Zathar was intimidating. He was bigger than any man in the army, with his impressive height of over four meters and his long wings of fire making him scarier than any other creature these players had ever faced. Even Dodir, who wasn't usually afraid of anything, almost succumbed to the reality of the creature's power in front of him. However, when he noticed Zathar's gaze and sadistic smile, he remembered a skill of his.

[Activating Class Skill <Warrior's Trumpet>].

The <Warrior's Trumpet> was a rare skill of the Warrior Class, but it wasn't gained through the Skill Tree, but through an exclusive quest obtained from a retired warrior in the north of Holinda. Despite being a skill, it wasn't a very famous one, because the mission was very difficult and the skill was only Rank B, but its effect was formidable.

[The skill <Warrior's Trumpet> is active. Each player around the player activating this skill will mean a temporary gain of half a level for the activating player].

[Dodir has received +150 temporary levels].

In addition, the <Warrior's Trumpet> had a nullifying effect, meaning that any effect of fear or psychological paralysis imposed by any skill was nullified in its presence. Thus, the soldiers around Dodir advanced, their swords and spears euphoric.

However, the fire demon was incredibly agile for his size, dodging most of the powerful blows with agility. Its flaming eyes stared at the soldiers, and any prolonged eye contact resulted in their armor starting to melt. For the first two minutes of the battle, screams of agony echoed as the soldiers were consumed by the supernatural fire and what's worse, Zathar's life bar didn't drop even a centimeter.

Dodir stood up and advanced again. His axe sliced through the air in a powerful arc, hitting Zalthar squarely. However, the fire demon didn't seem to be fazed. He let out another cruel laugh as the axe's scratches were extinguished on his skin.

"Is this how you intend to defeat me, humans? With metal toys? HAHAHAHA!" Zathar shouted.

Lyzan watched the battle with interest, even from afar. She couldn't deny Zalthar, but she also saw the determination of the human soldiers, and that was repulsive to her. How could they still have so much hope if they were only fighting a demon?

The battle between Zathar and Dodir's platoon continued to shake the city, with human soldiers fighting bravely despite the flames and Zalthar's power.

Dodir was much stronger than usual, but he didn't feel any different from normal, because as much as he was trying to inflict some damage on Zathar, it was useless.

However, at a moment when the platoon's numbers began to dwindle too much, a flash appeared in the sky, descending like a shooting star on the battlefield and when it hit the ground, the structures of the buildings of the houses shook so much that some couldn't stand.

As the dust from the structures of the houses around the battle area disappeared with the sudden arrival, a mysterious figure emerged from the glare on the ground. It was a young man with brown hair and eyes as beautiful as the sun. His presence radiated confidence, and his calm smile hid a formidable strength. This was Dathan, one of the most powerful players in Tretidian, although his fame was much less prominent than his leader, Blood Lily.

Dodir's eyes narrowed in recognition when he saw Dathan appear on the battlefield.

"Who's that boy?" muttered one of the soldiers, watching Dathan's arrival with curiosity.

"He's Dathan, my vice-captain," explained Dodir, a smile appearing on his tired face again.

Dathan stepped forward confidently, his calming presence acting as a balm to the tired and desperate soldiers. He raised a hand, and an aura of magical energy began to form around him. Then a stake of effervescent light appeared under his head and, in a smooth gesture, he threw it, which split into a gust of energy needles towards Zathar, the fire demon.

The blast of energy needles launched by Dathan cut through the air with a high-pitched whistle before hitting Zathar full on. The fire demon let out a deafening scream as the needles penetrated his flaming skin, causing magical flames to dance around him. For the first time since the battle began, Zathar's life bar began to dwindle, albeit slowly.

The human soldiers, rekindling their hope with Dathan's arrival, redoubled their efforts and, wielding swords, spears and bows, they advanced, taking advantage of the fire demon's temporary weakening.

"Forward! This is our chance to turn the tide!" Dodir shouted.

The human army began to move in unison, forming an impenetrable encirclement around the city. They organized themselves into disciplined formations, led by the most experienced and skilled players. The catapults were strategically positioned, ready to fire huge flaming projectiles at the demonic defenses.

Meanwhile, Dathan continued to channel his magic. Magic circles glowed beneath his feet as he conjured his light spells, hurling them at the fire demon. Each of Dathan's attacks weakened Zathar even more, causing his magical resistance to begin to give way, although his life not so much.

Dodir, inspired by the new vigor that Dathan had brought to the battle, dashed towards Zathar and swung his axe at the demon, hitting him square in the jaw and forcing him to lie down.

Zathar raised a hand towards the sky, practically begging for help from the other demons, but when his eyes turned towards the capitol, he saw that several of his fellow demons were no longer there. The truth is that, at the same time as the reinforcements were arriving to help Dodir's platoon, platoons were starting to appear throughout the rest of the city, some hidden with magic in the middle of the city, others dominating the walls to strategically position mages and archers.

In addition, the main entrance was completely destroyed with a single swing of the King's Sword carried by Kaizen, and the demon of the third circle, Belial, felt that this was a challenge for him.

"So, the human Zylok freed the human Kaizen, too bad... for him, because I'm going to kill him and get that sword for our master! Hihihihi!" Belial whispered, as he walked forward.

Thus, at the forefront of the attack to reclaim the Royal Capital of Mibothen, Kaizen leads the way along the main avenue, which is a practically straight path to the capitol, but also in full view of the demons.

…

Edi ted by: Dr Hitsuji

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