The elven blade dancers whose legs had been riddled with holes were truly admirable warriors. When they saw the magical machines close in on them and were about to simply stride past them, they grit their teeth, endured the pain, and picked up their sabers once again. They tried to climb up from the ground and strike at the enemy.
Tigule casually continued forward, freely allowing the enemy to strike at the thick, pillar-like metal legs of the Goblin Shredder. Sparks were the only things sent flying. The mechanical leg of the Goblin Shredder that he controlled lightly lifted and kicked these crippled elves to the side of the road before continuing forward with his squad.
Seeing that a frontal assault wouldn't work, these alert blade dancers immediately dashed into the woods, relying on the trees for cover to close in on the magical machines.
Weng! Weng! Weng!
Several explosive sounds rang out. Bark and sap went flying from ancient trees that would take two to three men to encircle completely. A clean bowl-sized hole that penetrated all the way through would appear from every ferocious metal bullet that was shot. Even the dense ancient trees could not endure such continuous firing.
Many ancient trees groaned and collapsed amidst trembling leaves and flying fragments.
Still, the blade dancers had managed to rush within a distance of the magical machines with the ancient trees as cover.
Tigule smiled wickedly and controlled the Goblin Shredder to move forward. Acceleration flames blasted out from behind the machine as its large metal body charged at the enemy.
Chapter 635 The Dark Witches
The newest version of the Goblin Shredder was a mighty magical machine warrior.
Its lower half still used the extremely stable spider-model mechanical legs, while its upper half was a massive humanoid body of metal. Four strange mechanical arms were attached to that torso.
Two of those four mechanical arms were fitted with a metal drill and a spinning disc respectively; these were weapons meant for melee combat. Equipped on the other two limbs were miniature energy cannons that could reach a stable output of energy shots reaching one hundred and forty points every five seconds.
The individual strength of each energy shot didn't seem to match the Goblin Shredder's identity as a Second Grade magical machine. However, even a Second Grade adept's magical defenses couldn't endure for more than a few seconds once the Shredder closed the distance and rained down relentlessly upon the enemy.
Moreover, the various energy restrictions that prevented the installation of excessively powerful magic energy weapons had vanished with the activation of the miniaturized magic generator furnace in the Goblin Shredder's chest. With the stacking of multiple magic energy weapons, the Goblin Shredder had been forged into a fearsome war machine by the goblin technicians.
The Goblin Shredder charged forward at the elven blade dancers, whirling its four mechanical arms as violent energy shots blasted out of the guns. These blade dancers who were only pseudo-adept level were either knocked aside, hit by the energy shockwaves, or even simply blown away by the Shredder's massive body.
In a single instant, eight blade dancers had been taken down by Tigule. They all had broken bones and torn muscles.
Dong. Dong. Dong.
The magical machines strode over these elves with neat and orderly footsteps and continued to advance toward the top of the mountain. The construction machines following behind them surged forward and quickly put manacles on these elves. They then tossed them into the goblin chariots.
Two dozen metal eyeballs continuously circled them, preventing them from missing any elves while also keeping an eye out for any ambushes or assaults from other elves.
Striking the unprepared with preparation and throwing metal against flesh; the orderly magical machine army was practically a tightly-held iron fist. It smashed right through the groups of elves that had gathered together hastily without any resistance.
The Goblin Shredder that Tigule piloted was fitted with a magic generator furnace. It would almost never have an issue with insufficient energy. As such, Tigule led the charge as the vanguard. Meanwhile, the magical machines would retreat to the backlines every fifteen minutes to recharge their magic energy batteries.
At any rate, they had plenty of magical machines. They could take turns on the battlefield with no worries about faltering!
The Dark Witches floating in the skies upon their flying brooms couldn't help but be impressed by the unstoppable magical machine army.
Truly, the Fate Witches were the rich ones. Bringing such an army of metal golems from the World of Adepts over to fight the local natives had shown incredible results, just as they had expected. If one were to be brutally honest, these magical machines alone would have been enough to raze Jintha'Alor if the male adept had been willing to spend more magical crystals.
These magical machines still worked against low-grade elves. However, the price needed for them to win against high-grade elves with advanced combat professions was just too high!
The first losses among the magical machines happened as the Dark Witches watched.
The ones who launched the assault on the machines were a group of elven archers in light leather armor. They had scimitars at their waists and quivers on their backs. There were both male and female elves in their ranks, and every one of them had extraordinary archery skills as well as swift, agile movements.
They climbed up the tall trees and shot arrows at the machines as they leaped from tree to tree as if they were merely walking upon the flat ground. As elven archers that had already advanced, every one of them could draw forth a remarkable strength that resembled an inner power of some sort. This power could be attached to the arrows to increase their lethality.
Ordinary arrows, even those with triple-edge arrowheads that were most useful for piercing armor, had a difficult time penetrating the thick metal armor of the combat magical machines. However, these arrows glowing with the mysterious power reduced the solid bodies of the machines into butter. They shot right through.
The destructive power of the arrows exploded within the magical machines, triggering the self-destruction of the energy system. The three Archers standing at the front of the formation were destroyed by the elven archers, one by one!
This time, there was no need for Greem's orders. The goblin technicians hiding within the squad quickly gave their orders. The next second, the long-awaited barrage appeared once again. The bullets stormed into the trees where the elven archers were hiding.
The trees trembled, branches snapped, and splinters flew everywhere.
Mixed within were the pitiful cries of elven archers being struck by the bullets.
It couldn't have been avoided. Elven archers, be they male or female, were just too frail and slender. None of them could endure the force of the bullets, even if they had tough leather armor protecting them. The condition of their bodies meant a single bullet was enough to cripple them. Two rounds might even snap their bodies in half!
Once the Archers put their full might on display, the opposing elven archers couldn't even find stable footholds. They could only grit their teeth and move between the ancient trees. The arrows that they shot while on the run were still powerful, but they could no longer pierce the armor as effectively as before.
It was a batch of excellent slaves. It would be far too much of a shame for them to be killed off by the magical machines like this.
As such, Uzzah nodded her head slightly as three First Grade dark witches pressed down on their flying brooms and zoomed into the forest.
Since the Dark Witches had started moving out, Tigule naturally wouldn't try and fight with them over the enemy. The Archers immediately stopped firing and continued up the hill road in formation. The magical machine remains that had been reduced to scattered components were then carefully retrieved by the construction machines.
The three dark witches rode upon their flying brooms and arrogantly wove through the dense woods. They cackled in
cessantly as if without a single fear in this world.
A female elven archer with short green hair couldn't stand the arrogance of the witches. She hid in a dense canopy and took the opportunity of a dark witch passing by her side to fire her arrow. The arrow struck the witch right upon her in the center of her head, between her exposed brows.
The elven archer's heart was filled with the pleasure of exacting revenge when she saw the witch's broken body fall from the sky. Just as she was savoring the feeling, the anxious call of her companion rang out from a nearby tree.
"Verna, run!"
Run? Why do I need to run?
Before the green-haired elf could understand what was happening, a vague silhouette slowly appeared out of the tree's shadow behind her.
Snap! A beam of black light hit the green-haired elf, paralyzing her in an instant and making it hard for her to move even a finger. In the next second, a sinister, slimy, and dark form wrapped around her body. The unknown enemy leaned against her ear and laughed wickedly, "Kehkehkeh. Poor brat, how did it feel to kill me just now? Do you want to have a taste of being killed as well?"
She had no time to reply. A large cluster of shadows surged forward and instantly dragged this green-haired elven archer into a bottomless pit of darkness.
A brief moment later, the darkness dispersed, yet no sign of the female elf remained.
Most of the so-called dark witches had transformed their bodies into shadow substance; they no longer had vital spots within their bodies. Without substantial magic damage, normal physical damage was practically ineffective against a dark witch.
That was why the three Dark Witches were utterly fearless in the face of two dozen advanced elven archers (First Grade), even though they were only at First Grade. In fact, they could use their odd physical damage immunity and potent shadow movement powers to crush the enemy and leave them with no means of defending themselves.
If it weren't for the powerful elven archery techniques that they possessed, the dark witches would have slaughtered them a lot faster. These archery techniques allowed them to draw out some form of energy attack that resembled magic. If the witches pressed the elves too hard, they might use some kind of suicidal attack to drag the witches along with them.
Right now, the three dark witches were flashing about, disappearing and reappearing at will while using their ability to jump between shadows to dance around the elven archers. They used their shadow powers to paralyze their enemy the moment they found the chance to do so. They would then drag the enemy into the Realm of Shadows.
The dark witches were slowly, yet efficiently, eating away at the numbers of the elven archers through this method.
The elven archers had gathered together, but despite multiple attempts to fight back, they had achieved nothing.
Even their powerful elven archery techniques were ineffective if they couldn't use a single saturated attack to kill a witch in a single blow. Any damage that the dark witches received could be negated by regenerating from the shadows that were everywhere.
After losing eight companions, the remaining elven archers could no longer endure the pressure. They whistled and rushed to Jintha'Alor along the winding paths.
At this point, a strong force of elves had already gathered before the giant tree hall at the waist of Jintha'Alor's hill. Judging from where the fleeing archers were running, they intended to group up with that force of elves.
"Hmph! The enemy has appeared! You lot, don't be standing around anymore. All of you go down. Leave all the archers behind." Uzzah watched the whole situation unfold from above and finally gave the order to her subordinates.
"Understood!" The dark witches bowed in unison.
Apart from the Second Grade dark witch, who stayed by Uzzah's side, the other Dark Witches laughed sinisterly at the same time and dove down from the skies. They lunged straight at the elven archers who were jumping between the ancient trees.
Greem turned into a massive flame humanoid and stood in the air, silently assessing the formation that the enemy had arranged themselves into in front of the tree hall.
The most eye-catching member of the enemy's ranks were those three unbelievably tall and ancient treants.
Their bodies were seven meters from top to bottom. Even the three to four-meter tall magical machines looked like dwarves before them.
Their formerly withered and wrinkled bark turned into layers of tough wooden armor. The green canopy turned into flowing long hair. Several cracks appeared on their bodies. From afar, they looked like the facial features that humans possessed.
Moreover, these towering treants all had firm and solid muscles. Circles of wooden patterns filled their bodies. Their lower bodies were covered with thick roots, while their arms were formed by tens of thousands of branches and vines twisted together.
In particular, the ten-meter-tall Deadwood Guard even held a massive tree in his thick humanoid hand as a makeshift weapon. That tree alone would have taken two men to embrace fully.
That intimidating aura of might was fearsome! So fearsome that it made one want to avert their sight!
Chapter 636 Relentless Advance
The seven treants stood in a row, instantly erecting a wooden wall in front of the elven ranks.
Three sacred unicorns, two big and one small, stood behind them.
They were handsome white horses. Apart from their black hooves, the rest of their body was white. Their surroundings were rich with a powerful sacred aura, and milky-white light glowed from the jade-white horn upon their heads.
It was almost as if the unicorns all possessed an individual, sacred halo of their own. The green lights carrying the plague viruses would automatically fade away wherever they went. None of the green lights could get within twenty meters of them. Moreover, many of the elven civilians had successfully taken shelter within the tree hall thanks to their blessings. None of these civilians had been affected by the plague curse.
The witches couldn't help but feel their hearts burn with excitement when witnessing this miraculous feat of neutralizing the poison. The eyes that gazed upon the three unicorns were all filled with some trace of greed and passion.
The young unicorn seemed to have been affected by the heavy atmosphere. It constantly dug at the ground with its front hooves, as if it was extremely anxious. The female unicorn walked to the young unicorn's side and rubbed her child with her snout. She then shielded her child behind her own body.
The Second Grade weapons master stood upon the tree hall. He wore only simple leather armor as he lightly brandished a strange weapon with both of his hands– Moon Blades. It was a type of peculiar weapon that resembled a crescent moon. Sharp bladed teeth filled the curved sword, except for a small handle on its back.
The moon blades would inflict horrifying slicing and cutting damage to enemies when it flickered and spun rapidly. It was also particularly suitable for piercing armor. However, due to the difficulty of controlling the weapon, most elven warriors that had yet to reach the level of a weapons master didn't dare to use this weapon.
A beautiful female elf with a slender figure also stood at the weapons master's side. She held a large bow in her hands with an arrow nocked upon it. The edge of the arrowhead shimmered with the light of dense magic.
She was probably the Second Grade elven deadshot who was the deputy captain of the garrison!
Greem's vision was excellent. He even saw a group of druids in green leaf robes and wolf, eagle, or deer helms behind the ranks of the elves. They held large oaken staffs in their hands. The green light of natural power shrouded these staffs as the druids gazed upon the battlefield with eager and determined expressions.
Perhaps they were the only ones among the elves who felt no fear!
According to the information that Greem had obtained, the way in which Grades were defined in the Faen Plane was very similar to the World of Adepts. The only difference was that the strength of each Grade was slightly watered down when compared to the World
of Adepts.
At least among the elven fighters that Greem had come into contact with, their basic grade levels were as follows:
Flower Fairies (Intermediate Apprentice)—— Green Fairies (First Grade).
Creatures like flower fairies were still pretty good options as scouts and messengers. Sadly, their bodies were far too frail, making the appearance of First and Second Grade fairies a rare thing. It was apparent that their maximum development potential was basically First Grade.
Blade Dancers (Advanced Apprentice)——War Dancers (First Grade)——Weapons Master (Second Grade)——Weapons Grandmaster (Third Grade)——Storm Sword Saint (Fourth Grade).
It was an assassin or warrior-type profession that possessed great mobility. They were good at using rapid attacks to defeat the opponent while using their quick movements to avoid most of the enemy's attacks.
Of course, there was a significant flaw in this profession; they couldn't wear heavy armor. That also caused their overall defense to be shallow. To make up for this weakness, the low-grade blade dancers would often carve confusing war tattoos upon their exposed bodies to achieve the effect of obscuring the human eye and redirecting the enemy's line of sight.
Elven Bowmen (Intermediate Apprentice)——Elven Archer (First Grade)——Elven Deadshot (Second Grade)——Magic Marksmen (Third Grade)——Phantom Ranger (Fourth Grade).
In all honesty, the elven archers were probably the only long-ranged units of the elves.
However, considering the elven racial talent for archery, almost all elves possessed superior skills at firing an arrow. That was why the elves were a fearsome race in the event of an all-out war. They were a race where every single civilian could pick up a bow and become an archer.
If the elven archers were compared with the adepts, the archers would come off superior when comparing explosive power. However, the combat techniques of the elven archers were far too simplistic and repetitive. It was easy for them to die to the countless strange skills that the adepts possessed if an elven archer were to ever engage an adept in a duel.
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