When the distance between the two armies widened to more than fifty steps, Clemens Holzmeister gave his order, and his son pressed the single button on the box in his hand. Before a breath passed, the explosives laid under the ground carrying the Emerald Leaf Guild army began to detonate.
The mines containing all kinds of elemental attacks were blowing whoever was on them to pieces, and as if this wasn't enough, the metal marbles they scattered ensured the damage spread over a wider area. There was no room for doubt; these weapons were designed by engineers who graduated from the Orc War Academy.
"Raise your shields, take a defensive stance!"
"Gather around me, be quick!"
The two generals used defensive skills containing the elements they could use in their weapons. While Lion created an earth barrier enclosing his four sides, Tiger was countering the attacks with his flames, but the area they could affect was very limited.
Besides this, the mines covered almost half of the battlefield. Wind of Death had risked making a massive expenditure for Batu's plan. When the dwarf butler reappeared next to his master, it was seen that someone else had made a sacrifice too. Half of the Sand Army perished during the mine flash.
Those who had been with them for a short time and were under the influence of Boss's power were all currently dead. Except for Batu's Golden Army and Boss's five-thousand-strong Hyenas, only the Elite Ten members had managed to survive.
Despite this, when the detonation of the mines ended, it was seen that the one suffering the real loss was the enemy. Except for the right flank forces who stayed back and were able to react in time, the number of those who could continue to take a breath was only around five thousand.
The numbers maintained their equality. Thanks to the cautious character of Lion's son, the Emerald Leaf Merchant Guild was still in a position to respond. When the dust cloud on the battlefield completely dispersed, the enemies made eye contact again.
The Elite Ten members headed towards the right flank of the enemy, the dwarf butler towards the left side, and Boss towards Tiger, whom he had to part with just as he started to warm up. The mercenaries and warriors also took their places opposite each other; from this moment on, the battle of only the survivors would be experienced.
"How much longer will you hide behind your soldiers? You are afraid to show your face; at least show you are a man and step up to me!"
Batu took his two swords in his hand and attacked the enemy commander with provocative words. Izumrud stood like a mountain, but his son knew that right now he wasn't a normal mountain, but a volcano. He had fallen into a trap twice and lost his numerical superiority; it was impossible for him to stay calm in the face of an unacceptable failure for a merchant guild leader.
"The time has come to crush the head of the snake I raised in my bosom!"
Izumrud, crossing his swords appearing in his two hands in front of him, threw himself to the forefront in a single large step. The hilts of the swords, one hand-span wide and more than a meter long, were covered with emerald-colored stones. Batu bent his wrists and began to spin his twin swords; the leader of the Golden Army liked flashy moves.
Except for Wind of Death, everyone had found themselves an opponent, and the final act was opening. While the dwarf darting from Dona Gracia's side set his eyes on Tiger's son again, the two engineers could now see there was no place for them here.
Lion and his few thousand mercenaries didn't lunge forward; the Elite Ten members, taking some of the Golden Army forces that merged with the Sand Army behind them, were suppressing him. When fifteen minutes passed, some of the orc warriors who figured out the state of mind of the Emerald Leaf Guild Army general began to fall back.
Three members of the Elite Ten; the orc warriors using chakram, bow, and whip changed fronts and headed to the Left flank. The dwarf butler, losing the pressure of the Madcaps, couldn't suppress Tiger's Son as before, even if he wasn't in a difficult situation in front of him. The Elite Ten members, seeing the weakness there, took the initiative and, as they changed places, began to show their difference.
"Watch out, focus on the newly arriving trio!"
When Tiger's Son noticed the change, he gave his order to his commanders; he didn't move to the front line, but his enemy had come for him. The dwarf and his daggers were at work; while the wound he opened on the enemy's face continued to bleed, he was showing himself once again.
"Let's see where you will run this time, dwarf?"
Even if Tiger's Son was caught off guard before, it wasn't so this time; he appeared around an area surrounded by walls of fire, and while this happened, dozens of mercenaries burned to death. The lives he lost for the sake of luring his enemy into a trap weren't important. The two people possessed an area completely separating them from the outside world.
In the place surrounded by walls of fire twenty steps by twenty steps in size and exceeding ten steps in length, Dona Gracia's dwarf butler and Tiger's Son, scattering fires from his axe, were going to fight. The mercenary went on the attack without delay, chasing his enemy with flames accompanying wide swings.
"What happened? Can't you run away whenever you want anymore?"
Even if the arrogant young man couldn't secure a hit with every attack, he could smell the burning scent rising from his enemy; victory was very close. A few minutes later, he cornered the dwarf and both cut and burned him with consecutive swings.
"You should have known your place as a simple butler. Now I will go and tear that foul-smelling fatty to pieces!"
The new target of Tiger's Son, who turned his back, was none other than Dona Gracia in the enemy ranks. He was walking step by step towards the borders of the trap of fire, but with the growl a hand-span away from his ear, he swung his axe.
"You cannot touch the most beautiful one!"
"Who, what are you?"
With sharp teeth protruding from a jaw extending forward, purple hair falling down to both sides of a pointed head, and a serpentine body exceeding five steps in length, the person speaking was the dwarf butler he thought he killed just a moment ago.
"It's been years since I transformed into my true form; I had gotten quite used to the body you destroyed."
Tiger's Son swung his axe, and his enemy caught it with its protruding jaw. A smile appeared on the young man's face; flames separated from his weapon and leaped onto the creature resembling a giant snake. Everything would be over in a moment; this time he would burn it until it turned to ash, but his enemy's body stood intact even though ten seconds had passed.
"Will your feeble flames destroy this body that grew within the lavas underground?"
While the jaw holding the weapon was fixed in place, its serpentine body wrapped around Tiger's Son. Before the young commander could understand what happened, he could only move from his shoulders up, and when he lifted his head up, he saw a mouth opened to its fullest.
"No! Father, save me!"
No one had heard the conversation of the duo between the walls of fire, but this cry would reach all the way to General Tiger. The man seeing the trap his son used to kill the enemy was fighting Boss far away because he didn't expect such a request to come, but as soon as he heard the call, he moved towards that direction.
"Did I tell you that you could go somewhere?"
Boss focused the black energy overflowing from his body onto a single person; General Tiger had slowed down despite all the reinforcements on his equipment. When he heard his son's last scream, he was trying to run, but it was impossible for him to achieve this.
When the walls of fire losing the person they drew power from collapsed in seconds, he saw the headless body of the young commander; he was just lying there alone on the ground. Dona Gracia's dwarf butler was nowhere to be found; no one who didn't look closely could see the hole left under the corpse of Tiger's Son.
"I will kill, I will kill you all one by one!"
Tiger's body was engulfed in flames, and Boss's reign over him with his black energy ended. Three small glass tubes fell to the ground; General Tiger had drunk all of the potions that only general-class warriors could use.