The leaders of each individual demon platoon were baffled at the sight of many Orc crying for some Princess of the Dunes, to the point they decided that it was too overwhelming to confront them head-on. Instead, they decided on a pincer formation with the number of troops they had.
The Demon Troops knew that there might be some enemies hiding within forested areas, but the bright lights and the sounds were extremely annoying and distracting. However, the cultivators that were hiding behind the bushes had become used to it.
Unlike the demon soldiers who saw this kind of scene for the first time in their life, these kinds of concerts were too common of a thing for the Pandarens and many even had a side panel screen open to watch or at least listen to the show while performing their kills.
It was essentially killing two birds with one stone for enjoying the show and racking up points to get rewards (It also made them feel like they were the protagonist of a show with their very own musical background).
As the demon soldiers tried to charge forth to disrupt the concert, they were intercepted by Sandy’s Fan Club with the Orcs manhandling them by grabbing their weapons and breaking their skulls for disturbing the concert. After which, they broke into an intense fan club cheer which was in sync during the song’s instrumentals.
The Orcs could not have done that without Ke Mi’s strengthened magical buff accompanied by Sandy’s enchanting vocals. Thanks to it, they reached a heightened state of both euphoria and strength.
To the onlooking cultivators, they estimated that upon hearing the music, the Orcs became as strong as the Demon Trolls but Jin who had the exact numbers knew that their strength and constitution was actually equivalent to a single Giant.
Seeing how the frontal assault was really a dead end, the demon troops proceeded with the pincer assault. However, they did not know that all sides were riddled with traps and ambushes awaiting the Demon Horde, making their only option would be to thin their numbers until the defenders were forced to retreat further.
Also, they would soon learn that all the trees within this defensive platform were offshoots of Shu, the magical Treant, which he commanded them like a private army. Unlike the situation at the Sky Bridge where the System had to spend processing power to provide real-time monitoring, Shu’s offshoots were already transmitting the information to the System and the War Room Tacticians, giving them the full situation amidst the concert.
This information was also transmitted to the Pandarens on the ground, and that was how they were able to continuously ambush the Demon Troops at every turn, lure them into a trap where the System would activate it and remove them from the battle. (The teams leading them were naturally awarded points for acting as bait)
Aside from the ambushes, Shu was also using his offshoots to capture isolated groups of demon soldiers by grabbing on their legs and tripping them. After which, the offshoots would drag their bodies to their trunks and wrap them up further for consumption. Some of the Demon Soldiers tried to cut the roots, but their attempts were futile as Shu had passed on his own physical resistance against normal weapons.
The leaders or higher-tiered soldiers were the only ones in possession of magical weapons who would be able to break free. Yet even if they did, his offshoots were everywhere, and there was no way to escape, especially when the trees marked any such particular individual as being a threat to the entire forest. Hence, more effort (and roots) were used to make sure mages, or talented soldiers were enrobed into the trunks.
Similar to Mr Derpy, all these consumed Demons were subsequently transformed into magical energy to be absorbed into Shu as he prepared the very same spell where walls of trees would emerge to protect the Pandarens. Afterwards, he was strengthening the mini-castle fortresses that were built as defensive emplacements against the Demon Horde. However, as the first wave were nothing but pitiful bugs and insects in Shu’s eyes, he continued to eat as many as he could before the need arose.
On the other hand, The Wyvern Goblin Knights finally retreated with heavy casualties on their side. Many were heavily injured, with some even killed, despite the Pandawans’ saving grace. The dogfight with the Dragon Devils and subsequent Bat Bottleflies had incurred a sense of weariness among the Goblin Knights, and even their Wyverns had been pushed to near exhaustion. If not for Ayse’s Lost Tech, they believed they would have lost a long time ago.
The only thing that was stopping the Demon Aerial Forces to go after them was the still surviving Clay Dragon and the Mousefolks. The Clay Dragon had a regenerative rune which ran parallel to his other runes. As long as the damage was not that extensive, the Clay Dragon would be able to continue moving.
The Magpies of Que Er had also assisted in the recovery of the Clay Dragon as they carried some ready-made clay and placed it on the Dragon’s body, allowing the rune to recover the Clay Dragon’s body even faster. In addition, the Mousefolks played a pivotal role in its survival as many of the Bat Bottleflies attempted to break it down by spewing poison balls at it. Some of the Bat Bottlflies even ledged on the Clay Dragon and broke its clay to the extent of nearly breaking the Dragon into two.
Yet, those Mousefolks came out of their machine gun emplacements and with just a rope as their lifeline, they battled with the Bat Bottleflies at the top of the moving Clay Dragon. Kiva’s air units regarded those Mousefolks as a bad joke, an opinion which quickly changed, upon contact with these small warriors.
To them, the Bat Bottleflies became merely extra practice training for their swordplay. As disciples of Zeru, the Mousefolks swiftly dispatched the Bat Bottleflies from lodging on the Clay Dragon and allowed it to remain as the reigning King of the Skies.
Separately, the injured Dragon Devils were diverted from the dog fight and proceeded to terrorise the other platforms where they encountered similarly serious resistance from the defenders. The Anti-Air Companies were relentless in their attacks, and it got even worse when the Dragon Devils attempted to swoop down to destroy them.
Heavy anchor bolts bound their wings and pulled the Dragon Devil down as the Anti Air continued their volley of attacks. Yet, that did not pull the spirit of the Dragon Devils as they spew fire to burn whatever they could despite their dying breath. Most of the Anti Air Companies in the various platforms had been reduced by at least half their strength. And if the Demon King continued to push for more aerial forces, it would be possible that they would have reign air superiority.
However, the remaining Dragon Devils who struggled were at their last straw as the Fortress Golems within the vicinity sprayed anti-air missiles from their guard posts, ensuring that the Dragon Devils became nothing but a poor paper kite caught in a hurricane of pain.
It was safe to assume that the mightiest air force the Demons could muster had been brought down by well-placed defences and a bit of luck on the defender’s side. Still, the tacticians were scrambling to reorganise the air defences to shore up what was lost or else the Demon Horde might have the upper hand later on.
But for the Naval War Theatre, the Stalingrad had without a doubt assumed superiority of the sea once more.
