Chapter 429: Attack of the Murlocs

Sponsored By: Wesley Brown, Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Maxamaicus, Emblyon, maou99sama

How to determine if a female is a Demoness:

Whip the suspected Demoness. If she feels pain, then she must be a Demoness. But if she doesn’t feel pain, that’s still no guarantee that she isn’t a Demoness. After all, her Devil Patron might have given her the ability to resist the sacred whip.

Have the suspected Demoness hug a heated iron for a minute. Check the wounds after three days. If there are burn marks, then she must be a Demoness. But if there aren’t any burn marks, that’s still no guarantee that she isn’t a Demoness. After all, her Devil Patron might have given her the ability to resist flames.

Tie up the suspected Demoness and toss her into a large body of water. If she floats, then she must be a Demoness. But even if she sinks, that’s still no guarantee that she isn’t a Demoness. After all, her Devil Patron might have given her the ability to sink.

Use a needle to prick the suspected Demoness’s hand. If she experiences pain and starts to bleed, then she is innocent. If she doesn’t feel pain or bleed, then she must be a Demoness. But even if she bleeds and feels pains, that’s still no guarantee that she is innocent. After all, her Devil Patron might have given her the ability to bleed and scream in pain.

— From |Demoness’s Hammer|

Note to future readers: Because the methods listed in |Demoness’s Hammer| have been proven dubious at best, the book has been declared as obsolete for a long time now. While there have been cases of certain kingdoms running out of females due to adherence to this book, these cases are merely the result of the natural course of history, definitely not the fault of religion.

The Murlocs who suddenly attacked us were all pitch black from top to toe. Each of them had a pair of human hands and legs. However, there was a membrane between each appendage that connected every finger or toe in the fashion of a duck’s feet.

These black Murlocs all wielded stone spears, though there was always that oddball or two who wanted to be different and wielded a stone blade instead.

By the dozens, these fishy humanoids rushed up the river banks right at us. With just a quick glance, I counted at least a hundred Murlocs on land right now. In a mere moment, they had already surrounded the five attendants trying to cover our retreat. Yet even then their numbers did not stop increasing.

“Mgrrrllllll!”

Dozens of black Murlocs gurgled in some strange, almost nonsensical language before charging at us. Just like that, our escorts had to section out three more Six-stars to handle the newcomers. Shield in hand and longsword in the other, these three Dark Elves stood their ground fearlessly in the face of this black swarm.

“Leave quickly! The two of you must protect his holiness no matter the cost!”

One of the three attendants yelled out without even turning around to face her companions. Following that, a Murloc stone spear rammed right into her shield and she no longer had the time to monitor our situation. Her shield held fast, and she took this opportunity to stab the unfortunate Murloc right through its brains with her longsword.

With barely any resistance at all, she quickly withdrew her bloody sword and slammed her shield into another incoming Murloc. A flash of steel later, that foolish Murloc’s stone spear was split in half!

Yet this attendant wasn’t the only one performing admirably right now. Her two other companions had racked up an impressive kill score in the few seconds of engagement. No matter who it was, those that tried to bypass them were slain without remorse!

Just what you’d expect of a Dark Elven Six-star, they really don’t fool around when it comes to killing, do they? I doubt those fishies have any warrior that can stand up to their steel wall.

Unfortunately, my optimism was quickly disproved by the sheer numbers the Murlocs brought to bear this time. In just the blink of an eye, another hundred black Murlocs came waddling up onto land. Even though these were mostly all One-stars, there were still some Two-star, Three-star elites mixed in with the horde. At times, there was even the odd Murloc Warleader or two who possessed the strength of a Four-star.

Individually, these Murlocs were clearly not a match for the attendants. However, their sheer numbers meant that it was only a time before the attendants were all buried by their warriors.

Because of that, there soon appeared several dozens of Murlocs who managed to break through the defensive lines created by the eight attendants.

“Your holiness, please make your escape without us, we’ll hold them back here.”

Faced with an ever-growing horde of Murlocs, the last two attendants made the difficult decision to stay behind. Through their sacrifice, they planned to buy Jezsere and I the time we needed to escape. Without any hesitation whatsoever, the two of them took up the same formation their sisters used previously. By now, the Murlocs were already within smelling distance of us. The two Dark Elves raised their shield to block the incoming barrage of spears, then slammed down on the nearest Murloc, stunning him for a quick sword kill.

Thanks to their combination of sword and shield, they were able to rotate smoothly between defense and offense, not at all like an assassin’s dual wielding style which left one open at times. In a chaotic battle like this, their balanced style was proving highly effective, especially since their shields served as a means to stun their opponents as well. Because the stone spears weren’t able to pierce their shields, that meant that they didn’t have to dodge any projectiles either.

These Six-star Dark Elves were not only accomplished warriors, they were mages as well. In other words, they were Magisters. While they might not have been able to blast off huge spells instantly like the mages, they could still cast defensive and small-scale spells instantly. Yet it was this difference in spellcasting ability that proved decisive in this battle of attrition. Without the ability to fire off huge area-of-effect spells instantly, it meant that they had no chance to fire off any such spells at all. Without any huge area-of-effect spells to deal with this horde, the Dark Elves were doomed to failure.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before all ten of them fell, assuming of course, that I didn’t intervene.

No matter what the reason was, it was a fact that these attendants were risking their lives in order to protect me and Jezsere. No matter what, I wasn’t about to let a beautiful lady just die like that, especially not ten of them. Grabbing my adorable little white bunny, I began beating my purple wings and fired off a rain of feathers at the incoming Murlocs.

Normally, my Mana Feathers weren’t all that deadly against opponents of my level. However, what if they were all lower starred? Against these Murlocs, my Mana Feathers were basically a one shot one kill skill. In fact, I was practically bullying them now.

“Mgwwwrrrrr!”

Countless Murlocs were turned into hedgehogs in an instant by my Mana Feathers. While not all of them might have died, that wasn’t a problem either. After all, my Mana Feathers were all imbued with my consciousness. And recently, I developed a new add-on skill on top of Rising Feathers: Feather Explosion!

Because these Mana Feather did not contain all that much mana within them to begin with, the resulting explosion was a small one as well. Even so, it was enough to blow a tiny but bloody hole into any Murloc unfortunate enough to be pricked. Those who fell victim to my new skill immediately fell to the ground gurgling in pain. The sheer pain contained within each gurgle was enough to affect those who weren’t even injured.

Perhaps it was because this resulting scene was just too bloody, or perhaps the thought of being blown up was too terrifying, but the remaining Murlocs finally halted their relentless charge and began to retreat.

However, that didn’t mean this battle was over either. A real battlefield was always as fluid as water. Even when you thought that the opponent was routed, there was always that sliver of chance that they recovered. While my Mana Feathers were able to cause severe injuries, that didn’t mean that everyone affected was dead either. Some of the stronger willed Murlocs began to rise to their feet, albeit shakily. Despite that, these wounded warriors still charged fearlessly at the attendants, hoping to at least drag down one of them in a last hurrah. Seeing that, even the retreating Murlocs were inspired to action once more.

The horde began reforming for another wave of attack at the Dark Elves who had just gained a brief moment of respite.

In a lot of ways, such relentless attacks were the very antithesis of Dark Elven tactics. Dark Elves, and Elves in general, all favored agile tactics, and not brute force. If one had to attach a number to the strength of these Elves, then their strength would be 0.8 times that of a normal human’s. Just based on that fact alone, Elves weren’t suited for battles of attrition.

Blast it, I think my Mana Feathers ended up spurring them on instead. At this rate, even me and Jezsere might be in trouble.

“Master… Jez is…cries”