"Don't even think about it!"
Maiev, reacting the fastest, let out a furious cry as she hurled her moon-gladius, infused with lunar power, at the giant bat in the sky, attempting to force Tichondrius to dodge.
Simultaneously, she shouted orders to the nearby priestesses: "Combine your defensive divine techniques! Lunar Domain!"
"Yes... Yes, ma'am!"
Although the responses were uneven, the combat priestesses led by example, and the slower members of the Sisterhood joined in one by one to reinforce the defensive spell.
Just as Maiev's moon-gladius was batted aside by Tichondrius' leathery wings, a translucent shield enveloped all the priestesses, narrowly blocking Tichondrius' attack.
The fragile defensive barrier wavered under the biting of countless fierce otherworldly insects. It wasn't until a large number of priestesses contributed their strength to the reinforcement that the defensive screen known as the "Lunar Domain" gradually became stable and solid.
However, mere defense could not extract everyone from the current crisis. Although Dejahna's earlier area-of-effect attack had severely wounded the enemies, given the physical resilience of demons, it was only a matter of time before they recovered.
Furthermore, most of the Infernals—those hard-bodied fel-constructs—had survived the previous wave of the "Moon Goddess Orbital Cannon." They were currently continuing their slow crawl toward the small grove.
Seeing his sneak attack fail, Tichondrius chose not to strike the Lunar Domain head-on. Instead, he moved cunningly outside the barrier.
Whenever Maiev and the others showed signs of attempting to evacuate, he would immediately respond in advance, hovering and harassing near the direction of their planned retreat.
After multiple failed attempts, Maiev looked at the closing Infernals and the regrouping Felguards with growing anxiety and irritation.
"Damn it! This guy is clearly trying to stall for time!"
Under the encroaching crisis, Andreas struggled to maintain his composure.
He had not given up hope for survival, quietly scanning the battlefield from the rear of the priestess formation.
If the Felguards and Infernals complete their encirclement, and with this giant bat lurking to strike from the shadows, the main force of the Sisterhood of Elune might be wiped out here.
Andreas turned his gaze toward the Moon Guard hundreds of meters away. These elite mage units had stopped moving; many were watching with folded arms, seemingly enjoying the spectacle.
But as Andreas had noticed before, there were also many within the Moon Guard who harbored strong resentment toward the Burning Legion's attitude—treating them like slaves—and the increasingly outrageous atrocities committed in recent years.
Time to gamble. I hope these Moon Guards can grasp my meaning.
Having made up his mind, Andreas stopped holding back. His purple mutated Moonfire condensed into several bands of dark light, striking toward Tichondrius in succession.
At the same time, several vines burrowed out from the ground, reaching out toward the giant bat in mid-air like grasping claws.
Tichondrius was currently teasing the combat priestesses who possessed ranged capabilities with a playful expression.
The arrows and offensive divine arts shot by Shandris and the others were mostly swatted away by his broad leathery wings. Aside from Maiev, few could pose a sufficient threat to him, which allowed him to harass the barrier with impunity.
The energy fluctuations from above instinctively caused Tichondrius to flap his wings and dodge to the side.
However, the dark Moonfire sent by Andreas didn't focus on a single point; instead, it acted like a rapid-fire machine gun, sealing off all of Tichondrius' surrounding escape routes.
On the other hand, the shadow vines, upon breaking through the soil, instinctively attacked the being with the highest energy source on the field.
The flailing vines further restricted Tichondrius' room to maneuver. The giant bat was forced to endure part of the Moonfire while braced behind a fel shield, doing his best to avoid being entangled by the vines.
"Humph?"
The Dreadlord leader's gaze turned toward the focused Andreas with slight surprise.
"Interesting. I didn't expect to find such a mismatched outlier among this group of priestesses who use the power of Light."
Though his surprise attack didn't succeed, Andreas was not discouraged. He ignored Tichondrius' provocation and continued to calmly launch attacks at the agile bat in the sky.
...
"Major, look!"
The young Moon Guard, previously filled with indignation, pointed toward the sky above the grove where the battle was raging.
Major Delier nodded solemnly. "I see it."
In the eyes of some observant Moon Guards, the seemingly random writhing of the vines and the dark light bands in the sky gradually formed a strange pattern—or rather, words.
The young Moon Guard watched the shifting characters intently, muttering them aloud.
"Kin... help?"
Unlike the linguistic instincts remaining in his body after transmigrating, Andreas, who had only just begun to learn the Night Elf script, could only convey such a simple message.
Yet these few short characters silenced several Moon Guards who were already dissatisfied with the Burning Legion.
"Kin... is it?"
Major Delier clenched his fists, his expression showing a fierce internal struggle.
"Phew—"
After several seconds, he released his grip and let out a long sigh. "A simple, yet incredibly heavy word."
Turning to look at the young man who was anxiously fidgeting, Delier asked with unreadable emotion in his eyes, "Jorge, what are your thoughts?"
Jorge stood up straight and replied solemnly, "Major, I think... I want to help them."
"I have no right to judge whether the Queen's choices are right or wrong, but these so-called 'divine messengers'—Major, you must have harbored doubts about them for a long time as well, haven't you?"
"Is that so..."
Delier closed his eyes in silence for a moment, then turned to face his subordinates.
Deliberately ignoring the group cheering for the demons, Delier raised his voice: "Everyone! Hear me out!"
Once most of the Moon Guards had turned their attention to him, Delier continued loudly, "I trust this isn't the first time any of you have seen the demons' atrocities. Do you truly believe their actions are justified? That they are for the benefit of the Highborne and the order of our society?"
"Tch—"
Before the other Moon Guards could respond, a blue-haired man spoke up with a sneer of dismissal. "And if not? Major Delier, do you intend to question Her Majesty the Queen's decision?"
Delier glanced at him. Although all Moon Guards wore standard light armor, this man's enchanted decorations were significantly more numerous than the others.
"Captain Albert Moon-Crown, I wasn't asking just you. Let's hear the opinions of the others first."
Jorge raised his right hand as if in open defiance. "Major! I believe Her Majesty is simply blinded by the demons' silver-tongued lies. Just as Lord Ravencrest advocated—there must be villains stirring up trouble within and outside the court!"
Jorge's words sparked discussion and lamentation among many Moon Guards.
"Lord Ravencrest?"
"He was an absolute loyalist, a paragon of nobility. To think he was assassinated by the Queen's guard, Kur'talos... it's unbelievable."
"Some say High Councilor Xavius issued the order using the Queen's name. If that's true, doesn't it mean the villain is..."
"Silence!"
Albert shouted angrily, "Lord Xavius acts solely for the nation! The assassination of the traitor Ravencrest was an order personally issued by Her Majesty! Do you all wish to commit treason as well?"
"Solely for the nation?"
Jorge sneered. "I doubt that. Do any of you dare to point at Xavius' demon-twisted form and say with a straight heart that he truly acts for the nation?"
Seeing his subordinates on the verge of a brawl due to their differences, Major Delier reached out to stop the argument.
"I have no right to make a decision on behalf of any of you. But I cannot stand by and watch the Priestesses of Elune—who showed us mercy—die miserably at the hands of demons. To Elune, this is undoubtedly a profanation."
"Those willing to come with me to help them, please stand to my front right. This is a voluntary choice; no one will be forced."