Chapter 404 Aegis Heart

Chapter 404 Aegis Heart　　It is dangerous to use Large scale magic in the early stage of the battle. In large-scale battles like this, the magician will become a primary target for everyone.

Although it is good as bait, it will also make the casting sixth-grade magician useless for the rest of the battle whether they successfully cast the spell. Moreover, there are a lot of combatants with full strength on the Nergal side to interrupt the duchess's casting.

No matter how thick and durable her protection, she will never be able to withstand the continued attack from the Nergal's army, especially from their magician unit. Magicians are famous for their firepower and attack range.

Some spells are even designed for long-range attacks. Moreover, the fourth-grade magician could use Flying spells and maneuver in the sky while casting their spells.

When it comes to the open battlefield, the most troublesome unit is these fourth-grade magicians. They are the only unit with high mobility and attack power. All they need is to dodge the airborne attack to keep themself safe.

Unless their mana is exhausted, they are like flies that hover all over the place while shooting various spells. 

Seeing the approaching Duke Oceanpunch, "Hervy, I will leave this place to you." said Duke Crestflare while coming towards the incoming Duke.

"Yes, my lord." replied Count Hervy Dalton shortly.

Just as the Duke Ocean is flying towards the Duchess Sunarm, Duke Crestflare swings his flaming greatsword on his path [Sword Art - Blazing Slash]. *Clang* The two dukes clash their weapons and create a large shockwave nearby.

"Emeric!!" said Duke Oceanpunch.

"Allan." replied Duke Crestflare coldly.

Before Duke Oceanpunch could respond, Duke Crestflare covered his greatsword with thick fire mana [Crestflare Sword Art - Crest Impact]. *BOOM* Duke Oceanpunch gets thrown back hundreds of meters away from the force.

At the same time, Duke Crestflare is pursuing Duke Oceanpunch and keeps pushing him away from the battlefield.

"Wanting to push me away, huh? Fine, let's continue where we left off in our previous fight." said Duke Oceanpunch.

"Hmph.. You are 50 years too early to fight me." replied Duke Crestflare while attacking the Duke Oceanpunch.

While the two dukes battle far away from the battlefield, the remaining six Nergal's fifth-grade generals decide to attack the Duchess Sunarm. 

"Shield up!!" shouted Count Dalton.

The shield-bearer units immediately on their position and charge their shield with mana creating a barrier around the Duchess. *BOM* *BOM* *BAM* Various attacks hit their shield and barrier.

Fortunately, the enemy's fifth-grade general couldn't keep staying and attacking in one place since they would become an easy target for the Heart kingdom's soldiers. Otherwise, they could destroy the shield unit formation easily.

Still, the attack from the fifth-grade combatant is not something to be taken lightly. In a few minutes, the entire shield unit had already reached its limit. Some of them are even heavily injured and lose their shields. 

Moreover, their mana is bottomed out despite already consuming some mana potions. Seeing the shield unit is already on their end, Count Dalton looks at the watch on his wrist before giving another command.

"Shield barrier, use the skill!!" shouted Count Dalton.

Hearing the Count's command, shield units immediately use all their remaining mana [Shield Art - Stand Ground]. A flash of bright light covers the whole team and creates a solid transparent barrier.

"Hmph.. Futile attempt!!" said one of the Nergal's generals before hitting them.

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam* The shield unit once again gets bombarded by the enemies' fifth-grade generals. However, they found the shield unit managed to withstand their attack easily compared to before.

"How come?!!" exclaimed one of the fifth-grade generals.

"Keep attacking!! The barrier is getting weaker. Must be some kind of special joint skill." said the other fifth-grade generals.

Despite saying that, the fifth-grade general became more restless, seeing the barrier withstood the continuous bombardment and their attack. After another few minutes, the shield unit finally collapsed.

"Finally!! Everyone attacks!!" shouted one of the fifth-grade generals.

It has already been almost ten minutes since the Duchess Sunarm cast her spell. They couldn't waste any more time or their army would be annihilated. Just as their attack penetrates all the barriers surrounding the Duchess, a bright magic circle appears below her.

At the same time, five fourth-grade magicians used their entire mana to cast the spell below the Duchess [Divine Magic - Aegis Heart]. A large white shield appears surrounding the Duchess. No matter which angle the attack comes from, the shield will always block it.

"Since when Heart kingdom has a lot of strong defensive skills and spells?!!" complained one of the fifth-grade generals.

At the same time, the Temple of Death's priest head at the Windshire Fort found the spell very familiar to their own. But, he immediately shrugged it off since some of their stolen spells were also sold on the black market ever since one month ago.

It is not weird if the Heart kingdom managed to obtain their altered version of their divine spells. At the same time, Jade is still fighting against the Duke Thunder Strides's illusion.

"Hm… I think I got it. It must be pretty hard for you to create such a skill like this. Still, you underestimate me too much by only leaving three sixth-grade combatants to hold me." said Jade.

The three Duke/Duchess didn't say anything and kept launching their attack. Jade dodges every single one of them easily.

"Stay silent, huh?! Anyway, you should look above." said Jade.

The three Dukes/Duchess feel something above and look at it. Then, they see a very gigantic red sphere in the sky. The sphere was hovering and didn't get affected by the heavy storm in the surrounding area. It looks very solid and sturdy despite the lack of any support from the ground.

Seeing the giant red sphere, the three dukes couldn't help but have a cold sweat. Before they could react, the sphere fell down at a speed they never expected [Crimson Orb - Ground Mash]. 

At the last second, before the Crimson Orb hits the entire area, the three dukes/duchess use their full strength to counter it. Some long wire appears from Duke Thunderstride and becomes a giant hand imbued with lightning elemental [Lightning Construct]. 

Duke Wargrip focuses all his mana on his hand and throws it above him [Fist Art - Final Blow]. Duchess Rainscar also immediately cast a spell [4th Circle - Bottomless Ground].

*BOOOM* The Crimson Orb hit the entire area and the three Duke. Then, it shrinks instantly and appears on Jade's hand. The whole area becomes a massive crater from Jade's attack.

Looking at the few destroyed battle golems nearby, "Hooo.. So, this is the thing that I fought before. Quite a strong battle golem." said Jade.

Then, he looked at the swamp-like area not far from him. The three Dukes/Duchess appeared from the swap exhausted while looking at Jade.

"You see, if I am an ordinary seventh-grade combatant, I may be stuck inside your illusion longer. However, I stayed in that dimension for years. Many places there could produce more strong hallucinations than this. Hell, Surya Dessert is famous for its mirage." said Jade.

"I don't know how you can create such sophisticated hallucinations. But, it would be useless if I used a large-scale attack like this and destroyed the whole area."  added Jade while smirking.

Suddenly, Jade looked in a certain direction seriously. In the meantime, the Nergal's general became more anxious as Aegis Heart was powerful and could block all their attacks.

"Tch… What is our magician unit doing?! Why didn't they cast any fourth circle spells?" yelled the Nergal's general.

Just as they wonder why the Nergal's magician unit is not working properly, the storm gets stronger and makes everyone's visibility lower. 

They couldn't even see any of the flying magicians or projectiles in the sky. Far away from the battlefield, Archmage Ikalis looked at the stormy sky solemnly.

"Something is coming." said the Archmage shortly before disappearing from his spot.

Then, one of the knights approached the Nergal's fifth-grade generals.

"Sir, our backline is getting attacked!!" said the knight in a hurry.

"What!! How large is the army?" asked one of the generals.

"They are led by a sixth-grade combatant and an army specializing in stealth. Right now, we barely hang on while only the flying fourth magician survives." reported the knight.

"How come the communication unit didn't tell us before?!!"  said one of the fifth-grade generals.

"M-Most of our communication unit is somehow killed." replied one of the generals.

"Fuck!! Move back!! Retreat!!" said one of the generals while gritting his teeth.

"Retreat?!! But, we…" complained the other generals.

"It is either retreat now or getting annihilated by the super large scale spells. Without the help of our magician unit, we will never penetrate that weird barrier spell." said one of the generals.

"Tch.. Fine. Move back!! Retreat!!" yelled the rest of the generals.

Suddenly, the large magic circle in the sky begins to shine.

"Shit!! We are too late!! Retreat!! Forget everything, just focus on getting out of the spell range." shouted the Nergal's generals.

Just as the large magic circle is active, a huge bright thunder penetrates the magic circle and breaks it. *Prang* The Duchess Sunarm immediately coughed blood and fell to the ground. At the same time, the big thunder hit the ground and created a massive crater on it.