Chapter 94: Troops Arrive at Agrik

Just when the defenders' eyes and firepower were firmly attracted by the aerial battlefield, the earth began a different frequency of, deeper tremor. The demons' ground main force seized this fleeting opportunity and launched a general offensive.

Charging at the very front were still the endless Dretches and Abyssal Hounds. But this time, they were no longer a scattered frenzy, but had formed a rough and dense charge formation under the whipping and supervision of the Hezrou in the rear.

Their goal was to consume the defenders' ground long-range firepower, fill the traps and trenches in front of the city wall with corpses, and pave the way for the real siege units behind. Lizardman archers and crossbowmen had to divert a portion of their long-range firepower, pouring arrow rain down the city, harvesting these cannon fodder in swaths.

Several flesh giant towers forged from the skeletons of huge creatures and demon metal, dragged by countless Dretches, approached the city wall slowly like moving mountains. The tops of the towers were loaded with Hezrou and Mariliths, who kept roaring, preparing to pour directly onto the city wall the moment the towers leaned against it.

Several Hell Beasts, comparable in size to small castles and draped in thick bone armor, dragging giant battering rams burning with green fel fire, began to accelerate. Their target for impact was none other than that section of the main city gate that had been repeatedly bombarded by the Demon Lord and had already developed cracks!

Further back, a demon machine resembling a giant spider (Weaver Engine) stopped its steps, its bulging abdomen constantly writhing, throwing balls of living artillery wrapped in strong acid or curse energy high toward the rear of the city wall, attempting to strike the defenders' reserves and command nodes.

At the same time, under the cover of shadows and chaos, the demons' elite units began to act. They no longer tried to climb the smooth city walls, but followed the paths provided by the living siege towers, or simply used the mountains of their companions' corpses as stepping stones, rushing to the city wall with astonishing agility, aiming directly at those key positions operating heavy weapons.

Vrocks, these massive demons, advanced while hard-carrying arrows and magic. They brandished huge weapons, not to kill the enemy, but to smash the battlements and fortifications of the city wall, attempting to expand the breakthrough for subsequent troops.

Everything's collapse began with a loud noise of steel and boulders breaking that surpassed all the battlefield's clamor.

That main city gate area, which had been continuously bombarded by Ak Saluosi and repeatedly rammed by the Hell Beast's battering ram, finally shattered and collapsed completely amidst a groan of unwillingness. Huge basalt blocks collapsed inward, raising smoke and dust that reached the sky, revealing a gap wide enough for three Vrocks to pass side by side.

"The gate! The gate is broken!"

The desperate cry spread along the city wall instantly, even briefly overpowering the demons' roars. This gap was not just the loss of a physical defense line, but a fatal blow to the defenders' will.

The first wave to pour in were countless Hezrou, who had long been hungry and thirsty, stepping on the corpses of their own kind. They brandished weapons and rushed into the gap like a meat grinder, colliding with the Ogre heavy infantry who had come up to block it. In an instant, the most barbaric and bloody melee broke out at the gap.

Immediately following, the massive Vrocks pushed away the remaining rubble with their shoulders, further expanding the gap. They were like bulldozers, forcibly pushing open the shield wall formed by the Ogres, opening a wider path for subsequent troops.

Most deadly was that several Mariliths darted in like deadly vipers along the shadows of the ruins inside the city wall. Their targets were no longer fixed defense lines, but hunting commanders, destroying ballista bases, and rushing inward, attempting to lower the drawbridge or open other city gates!

On the city wall, it also fell into a desperate situation simultaneously. A section of the city wall collapsed due to the Vrocks' continuous violent smashing, and the defenders on it fell along with their equipment. The living siege tower finally leaned against another section of the city wall, the tower collapsed with a bang, like a bridge being set up, and the elite demons inside poured onto the city wall like a floodgate opening, engaging in a tragic battle for the city wall with the defenders.

"Vickers, the situation is clear, the fall of the front line is only a matter of time. Immediately organize reserves to retreat to the second-line fortress!"

"The actual attack intensity of the demons is significantly lower than our worst-case scenario. If this is not a feint, then through the tiered defense of the fortress cluster, we are fully capable of delaying the war for a month, creating a precious counterattack window for the coalition. Aequilon, what do you think?"

"A month? By that time, your bones will be cold! The more we and they die, the more materials they have to forcibly tear open the plane and welcome the Abyssal Lord to open the door! You think we are delaying them? On the contrary, we are using our own lives to help them complete that damn sacrificial ritual!"

…………

After twenty days of preparation, Harimala was finally about to complete his mission. He saw him fiercely stab the staff woven from living runes into the scorched earth mixed with demon flesh and soil beneath his feet. With this as the center, a huge desecrated magic circle suddenly lit up, emitting an ominous, light-devouring dark red glow.

The moment the ritual started, all the corpses that fell on the battlefield, whether demons or defenders, seemed to be drained of their essence by an invisible force, quickly shriveling and turning into streams of turbid energy, pouring into the magic circle like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

After sacrificing tens of thousands of lives and souls, the space in the center of the magic circle was forcibly torn open. That was no longer the unstable rift from before; this was a stable plane channel with lava and darkness flowing at its edges.

It was huge, deep, and emitted an ultimate evil aura that made all creatures of the material plane feel trembling from the depths of their souls. Through that opening, one could vaguely see that behind it was a boundless, terrifying scene burning with eternal flames and filled with endless despair; that was a corner of the Abyss.

Immediately following, a giant claw covered in thick obsidian-like armor and entwined with eternal hellfire suddenly reached out from the channel and rested on the edge of the channel. Just a claw, its size already exceeded that of a Vrock. Subsequently, a massive figure that seemed to be composed of pure malice and the concept of destruction slowly squeezed out of the channel.

Looking at the image in front of the crystal ball, Sakavi was expressionless, and the other high-level officials also looked very depressed. Outside Agrik, it had already been surrounded by the demon army, completely cutting off all contact.

The image inside the crystal ball, after violent fluctuations, returned to dead darkness. In the command hall, the air seemed to solidify. Grand Duke Sakavi's face was like a bronze statue, without any ripples. Looking around, every high-level official's face was covered with the shadow of despair; Agrik had become an isolated city, completely surrounded by the demons' army, with all contact with the outside world cut off.

"Cowards! A bunch of trash who retreat in the face of battle!" Iroge slapped the stone table violently with a claw, leaving deep scorch marks, "The wooden-headed ones in the Black Forest are especially hateful! With such a short distance, they should have crawled here long ago! Are they rushing with their toes?!"

"Calm down, we have already delayed the demons for forty-five days. If they wanted to come, they would have come long ago; do they need to wait until now? What do you say, Vilna?" Sakavi said leisurely while drinking coffee.

"I admit, the direction of the war has indeed deviated from my initial deduction." Vilna took a deep breath, her eyes sweeping over everyone present, her voice returning to her usual calmness, "But did you notice a detail? The demons' troop strength has not increased infinitely as expected. This indicates that the coalition's main force has already burned the war into the Abyss itself."

"So what? Vilna! The promise you made so firmly at the beginning has now become a piece of toilet paper that can be thrown away after wiping?!" Vickers' roar made the hall rustle, and electric light shot from his dragon eyes.

"We paid such a heavy price just to verify your exquisite misjudgment? Where is the reinforcement you made us firmly believe in? Is all our sacrifice just to achieve that great victory you spoke of happening elsewhere? Truly... a high-level argument!"

"The young man is still unable to hold his breath." Sakavi's voice carried a trace of mockery after experiencing the world, "From the moment we decided to get involved in this war, we should have understood that the coalition never regarded us as their own."

What, afraid after just one defeat? Can you survive by shrinking your head? If you want something, you have to rely on your own courage and strength to seize it, expecting others to hand it over? That is the thought of a naive Juvenile Dragon."

"Grand Duke, are you proposing that we independently face the demon army of over one million outside the city, as well as an Abyssal Lord of Demigod Rank?"

Morax's voice was calm to the point of cruelty, as if stating an irrefutable calculation, "Based on the current comparison of military strength and analysis of power levels, I believe the probability of victory is infinitely close to zero. This is a judgment based on facts, unrelated to courage."

"You are right, the situation is indeed severe." Sakavi's voice was low and steady, but carried the firmness of an anvil, "But this precisely means that we must try. I am very interested in measuring the power of that Abyssal Lord personally."

Don't forget, Agrik's defense system was designed from the beginning based on simultaneously resisting the attacks of two Demigods. Now, isn't this the perfect time to test its power?"

Ogre Marshal Sha Lu Te carefully moved forward half a step, his eyes sweeping over the various powerful dragons, and finally landed on the ground, respectfully saying: "Respected lords, 'My 500,000 legions have not suffered major attrition so far, their swords are still sharp, and their will to fight has long been boiling."

Previously on the Bohe plains, we had already made up our minds to die, it was because we absolutely obeyed the Grand Duke's strategic will that we took the initiative to retreat and preserved this strength, now... we are willing to serve as the vanguard of the counterattack and take back the lost glory." ===== CHAPTER 95 =====