“Pull back. I want all troops to pull back right now.”
Jin announced via the System Channel in a solemn way. The humanoids inside the Dungeon Maker War Room were just mildly surprised after the scenes they had just watched. While Gold was a Scholar of the East who was meant to protect the people from the Farming World, he could not not condone the Southerners’ actions.
As for the monsters on the field, they were completely shocked. Some monsters like the Devil Dragons were still preparing to sortie out while others like Mr Derpy and Lord Wolte had just been warming up so far.
“I repeat. With immediate effect, every monster on the battlefield is to pull back. Those getting ready to join us, stay where you are. Wyrstriker, get your company of Goblin Wyvern Knights to protect the backline as they retreat. The System has set up one big portal for all of you to go through. Ayse and Keyrin focus your magic near the base and strike any flying monsters who come too close for the moment and await further orders. Forneus, return back to Spiky’s airbase at the top and rendezvous with me. I will need you and your mount to fly me over. I plan to personally have a chat with the Nine Ocean Phoenix.” Jin elaborated and after some slight hesitation, they started to comply.
Qiu Yue, who had not been present in the Dungeon Maker, was just as confused by the orders, but she did not question the Big Boss. She immediately assisted in opening a larger portal via the temporal regulator and the goblin support unit began packing their stuff to return to the Dungeon Instances. Wyrstriker also retreated back to the defensive lines and did not stretch any further than he was supposed to.
As for Spiky, the Southerners could consider themselves lucky that the Altered Transforming Spider had been benevolent enough to shed off its long legs before he went away. Nevertheless, because it was merely a ditched part of the spider, the high ground became as flimsy as a dead skin and if the archers stayed there for too long, they would undoubtedly fall to their death when the flying monsters came to their vicinity and destroy it.
Forneus, who had been raring for a good fight just sighed at the wasted opportunity. Fortunately, he knew that unlike the Demonopolis Army where he had to stay on standby on a regular basis, Jin would provide him the excitement with the upcoming fight with the Demon Rats. Besides, with the new augmentation, it seemed as if he might have strained himself a little too much magic and retreating would allow his mana circuits an opportunity for solace.
But for now, the order only required him to bring Jin to the Nine Ocean’s Phoenix for a talk and that did not mean he could not ‘defend’ himself. Thus, Forneus bent the rules a little and killed anything in his path back to the airbase and he did so by going a big round while waiting for the airbase to clear up.
However, this retreat had a significant impact against the current tide of battle. The Zurgling Queen realised that the aerial forces were retreating and through the eyes of her scouts, she also noticed that the special combatants were moving away too for some reason. Blinded by her rage, she did not even question it and just took the opportunity to order her children to attack full force.
On the other hand, the Nine Oceans Phoenix wondered if this was part of some scheme by those humans. Yet, she did not bother to voice her opinion in the matter since the Zurgling Queen’s kids’ rampage should reveal everything. In her opinion, it was better to have those monsters have the brunt of a major attack and instead of some of their more valuable allies.
In the meantime, the Southern Soldiers were devastated by the change of attitude from their monstrous allies. That sudden retreat caused them to panic for a moment as they understood that without the weremice the gaps in their defence line would not be covered. And without the Wyvern Riders’ interference, the archers proved unable to deal with vast number of Winged Monsters who dove straight towards the Southern Capital’s fortress walls.
“What is the meaning of this?! I thought we had a deal!” Leopardo questioned loudly, enraged that the special organisation had renegaded on their ‘deal’.
Meomi, who had stayed behind for a while longer, zoomed towards Leopardo with murderous intent. Her climbing gear allowed her to reach speeds she could not have achieved herself but Leopardo’s instincts kicked in and allowed him to block her attack with his shield.
However, it was not without difficulty. For the first time in a while, there was someone smaller than him who had been able to knock himself backwards. And not only that, Meomi followed up the attack despite the knockback impact against the shield by using the climbing gear as an anchor with the wires attached to the ground.
Her attacks turned out to be fiercer than Leopardo expected for someone who had failed to complete the Sacred Trial of the Citadel’s Stairs. He did not know that Meomi had a hidden trait which she had been keeping well even among her friends and Jin.
Advanced Catzerker Fury.
Because of the intense fight she was in with the Demon Rats, Meomi had somehow managed to break through the limits of the Catzerker Fury upgrade card and had managed to manifest it as a superior werecat ability. With it she became capable of fighting stronger, and faster as time went by. The only problem was that once she started it, she was not allowed to stop as the drawback since the drawback would cause her bones and muscle to be weary, exhausted and potentially break upon a moment’s rest.
Since the activation of her Advanced Catzerker Fury trait she had been fighting both winged monsters and Zurglings simultaneously making her ascend beyond her base stats and fight with twice her capabilities she had possessed when she had entered the city. It was therefore only to be expected that her the current onslaught of attacks made it hard for even a competent veteran spearman like Leopardo to find an opening.
The Southern Soldiers were used to quick decision, and it was not hard to tell that Meomi and the other monsters must have betrayed the Southerners, so they went forth to protect the interim leader of the capital. Yet, this only fuelled Meomi’s Catzerker Fury even further the moment they were killed by the werecat.
“Our master might not have told us the reason for his decision, but my instincts are telling me that you must have done something awful to warrant such a drastic move! Calling us monsters? The only monster I see is you!” Meomi shouted as she slid her gunblade along the piercing spear strike from Leopardo.
Compared to Wyrstriker and Nubwort’s training in spearmanship, Meomi scoffed at this Interim’s leader’s way of the spear. She too had asked for training against spears since the Demon Rats had been using it frequently as a means of attack though she did not expect to use it against a human so soon. (Without to her knowledge, the System had already upgraded some of her iterations in the Bank Heist Dungeon Instance with her improved knowledge against spear users.)
“Meomi! What are you doing?!” Nightingale tried to block her crazed friend, but Meomi was too far gone to stop for her former housemaid. If she ended up getting in the way, all the werecat had to do was kill her, to explain later. After all, it was not the end for Nightingale if she died by her claws.
For now, Meomi believed that if she did not bring down Leopardo now, the chance to do so in the future would be harder, if not impossible.
