417 Cost of Victory

"Ha! At least, you are still better off than the rest of us, old fools. Our strengths have already declined to the mid-high ranks, while you are still at the Peak-rank Battle Master Realm!"

While the Venerable Shamans were getting frustrated over not being dealing enough damage, Chief Baskara recovered to his feet and shouted, "The Undead Battle Kings are only moving due to the Liches' power and will! We don't need to destroy it! We just need to exhaust its power with our Soul Weapons, and it will become inanimate once more!"

"Easier said than done, Boya! This thing hits you once, and it's all over for you!" A Venerable Shaman said while dodging a claw attack from the single-armed Undead Battle King. 

Due to it also missing a leg, the single-armed Battle King lost its balance and fell to the ground. 

"F*ck it up!" Another Venerable Shaman roared, taking the opportunity dish in a few slashes on the single-armed Battle King's back. 

Two more joined the fray before a Venerable Shaman with a pickaxe as his Soul Weapon warned, "Watch out for the other one!"

Swoosh!

The other Undead Battle King swiped one of three Venerable Shamans with its claws. Thanks to the prior warning, everyone managed to evade the attack in time.

However, one of them barely dodged the attack with a Limbo-style retreat, bending backward in an arc while the Undead Battle King's nails lightly grazed his wrinkly left cheeks. 

"Woo, that was a close one! It almost got me!" The Venerable Shaman exclaimed excitedly in retreat. Dancing on the thin line between life and death in battle was exhilarating!

Kacha!

However, the Venerable Shaman's expression suddenly stiffened after a sharp electrifying pain shot up his back!

"Aiyo! I pulled my back! I'm too old for this sh*t!" The person collapsed to the down cursed in pain. 

The other Venerable Shamans had a change in exchange as one of them shouted, "Quickly get back!" 

"I got him!" 

Chief Baskara's figure flashed next to the Venerable Shaman with the strained back and quickly dragged the elder to safety before one of the Undead Battle King could get to him. 

The sudden movements sent another jolt of pain through the elder's back as the Venerable Shaman cried, "Woah--! Easy there, Baskara Boya! This Old Man can't take it!" 

At the same time, an Undead Battle King's attack landed on the elder's original spot, shattering the ground apart with a deafening explosion!

Dirt and gravel flew into the air as the elder looked back and gulped as they drew further away from the area. 

"Do you prefer to be a meat patty under that thing's hit? I can toss you back if that is what you want, Venerable Shaman." Chief Baskara said. 

"Chief, the Tier 4 Demon-slaying Arrows are loaded and ready for firing!" A warrior shouted at the top of his lungs from the wall. 

"I got it! Artillery Team, be ready to fire on my signal!" Chief Baskara shouted back to the walls before saying, "Venerable Shamans, please retreat first! I will lure them away!"

"Alright, be careful!" 

The Venerable Shamans were all old. They were no longer capable of fighting drawn-out battles; thus, they quickly agreed. 

After passing the Venerable Shaman with the strained back to them, Chief Baskara went ahead to grab the two Undead Battle Kings' attention. 

Meanwhile, the two Liches continued to watch everything from afar. Nevertheless, their expressions were terrible to behold. 

The turn of events has been far from desirable. Before their Undead Battle Kings could get close to the human settlement and play with the humans, they were already severely damaged by the human's deadly weapon of mass destruction. 

"Darn it, these humans are not easy to deal with! Why is there such a huge disparity in their tribes?!"

"This human tribe is, after all, the one guarding the Death Passage. They would naturally not be weak if they can keep other demons at bay. We have lost big on this one. Even if we manage to harvest some more negative here, the amount is insignificant to the price paid in the process."

"...Right. Losing two Undead Battle Kings is a big loss! We can repair their bodies, but their quality will not be the same... We should consider retreating." The Lich said. 

They were Greater Demons, but their personal battle prowess was not high. They were not the Battle Masters' opponents on their own.

"Retreating is good. If we don't pull them out now, there will be nothing left to pull out." The other Lich agreed. 

The Undead Battle Kings were already missing a few limbs, and their undead flesh was scorched black. One of them even have their bones exposed at the waist and looked like they could snap in half, but that is still far from the case. 

However, just as the Liches were about to issue the command to their Undead Battle Kings, a human's voice could be heard roaring powerfully, "Fire now!"

Twang! Twang!

The Artillery Team immediately fired the giant ballistas as ordered. Simultaneously, Chief Baskara broke away from the Undead Battle Kings and distanced himself as much as he could in a short instance!

Boom!

Numerous Tier 4 Demon-slaying Arrows exploded on the two Battle Kings' broken bodies. Without any vision obstruction, everyone could see the blazing ball of hellfire enlarging from the impact point!

The power of Tier 4 Demon-slaying Arrows cannot be compared to Tier 5 Demon-slaying Arrows, but it was powerful enough to slaying Greater Demons and the like! The twin Liches' faceless expression plummeted at the sight of inferno before them.

"Accursed humans! They still had more of these wretched things!" The left Lich snarled venomously with a hint of fear. If the two Liches were hit by such weapons, they would be incinerated in body and soul!

Creatures of darkness and death alignment had a natural weakness against extreme Yang elements like fire, light, lightning, and life.

While Chief Baskara escaped early, the explosions still rapidly expanded, closing the distance between them.

"Oh, no! The chief is not going to make it!

"Watch out, chief!"

The warriors on the wall cried out concerns and warnings. Tier 4 Demon-slaying Arrows might not necessarily kill all Greater Demons with strong defenses, but it is more than enough to kill even Battle Kings if they took the hits directly!

After all, the human flesh is weak without Enchanted Equipment to protect them!

"Arghh!"

Chief Baskara growled in pain as the blazing hellfire reached him and contacted his back. His crimson armor protected him from direct contact, but the scorching high temperature still overheated the armor and burned his back!

It was only for a brief moment before the explosion reached its peak and stopped expanding. Chief Baskara was propelled forward by the force of the blast! 

His body flew, bounced along the ground a few times before rolling towards the foot of the wall. His body did not stop until it hit the wall. 

The Great Warriors immediately jumped down to fetch him after seeing their chief lying motionlessly. 

They flipped him over to carry on one of their backs when they found out that the end of Chief Baskara's head was scorched terribly. All the hair had been reduced to ashes, and the skin was melted.

"The chief needs immediate medical attention! Where is the doctor?!"

"Pass him to me. He cannot be treated here. We need to bring him back to my place!" One of the six Venerable Shamans stepped forward and said to the Great Warrior.

He was the best doctor in the tribe! But even so, he was not a Shaman with unique healing abilities! He relied on his understanding of medicine to heal others!

"Yes, Venerable Shaman!" The Great Warrior complied and carefully handed the unconscious Chief Baskara over to the Venerable Shaman.

After they left, another Venerable Shaman stepped forward and loudly spoke, "Chief Baskara is gone, but the battle must go on! Load the next round of Tier 4 Demon-slaying Arrows!"

Everyone immediately busied themselves under the Venerable Shaman's order. Someone needed to take command, and the Venerable Shaman became that someone.

The tribe cannot be without a leader, especially during an important battle. Otherwise, the tribe would fall into chaos!

Eventually, the fire from the explosion died down, and the sight was clear again. The two Undead Battle Kings were seen in an even more broken-down state. 

The actual damage paled in comparison to when they were hit by Tier 5 Demon-slaying Arrows. Even so, the Liches lost their will to continue fighting. They did not want their new toys to be destroyed, just like that.

"Cursed those humans! They are preparing to fire even more of those wretched bolts of fire!"

"Come back here, you, useless things! We are getting out of here!"

The Undead Battle Kings started to retreat back to the Liches awkwardly with their broken bodies after they were ordered. 

"They're retreating!"

"We've won!"

The tribesmen watch them suddenly leave with surprise before they started breaking into cheers. However, another group was happy with the turn of events.

"But at what cost? We cannot let them leave! If they come back later, it will be even more troublesome! We must finish them here once and for all!" A Great Warrior said objectively.

A Venerable Shaman immediately rejected, "No! We cannot chase them. Pursuing a retreating enemy is never wise! Not only will we lose the advantage of our ballista, but we will also have to face the Liches."

"Liches are weak at combat, but they are still Greater Demons. Push them too far, and we will suffer for it."