The Winds of Azyr converged here!
Under the meticulous control of the manipulators, it transformed into the majestic power of the Heavens and surged forth!
Either as a force of protection, gathering in harmonic resonance to shroud the tribal legions—boosting the Beastmen's strength and their unseen "luck."
Or as violent lightning and celestial energy, pouring down entirely upon the heads of the Greenskins!
"Comet of Casandora!"
The Sagegors, riding their Manticore mounts, soared into the high sky.
There, they joined forces to pull upon the power of the Azyr—the Wind of Heavens.
They dragged down wandering meteors from the upper layers of the magical winds, hurling them into the battlefield.
The massive explosions caused by the falling meteors instantly cleared the enemy within a radius of dozens of meters around the impact points.
They were reduced to corpses and scattered fragments.
"Gate of Chaos!"
A variant of the Tzeentchian spell "Infernal Gateway," the Sagegor mages joined hands to tear open a one-way rift between the Realm of Chaos and the mortal world.
A torrent of the most primal and violent Winds of Chaos erupted from the fissure.
It swallowed and dissolved all matter it touched, making it disappear from the mortal world entirely.
Another fan-shaped area of Greenskins was wiped out.
Compared to the destruction of the Comet of Casandora, the Gate of Chaos was purer and more "clean."
No rotting meat, severed limbs, or debris were left behind.
The areas swept by the Winds of Chaos were remarkably tidy—like grease wiped away by a rag with detergent; the spot was clean, though filth remained around it.
Yet the Greenskins continued to surge forward, filling the voids left by their fallen comrades.
The tribe held a total advantage in magic.
In a situation where neither side possessed large-scale long-range weaponry, and with the addition of the Monster Legion, Al's side—despite being at an absolute numerical disadvantage—simultaneously controlled the air and maintained fire superiority.
Driven by bloodlust and a desire for destruction, the Greenskin army that had frantically charged into the Sacred Grove was now bottlenecked.
They were trapped between the outer city and the location of the main garrison banner.
The aerial monster corps, consisting of Manticores, Griffons, and Wyverns, operated under the commands of Al atop the Griffon Empress.
They utilized diving tactics, specifically targeting the Greenskins' weak points.
Death descended from the sky. Every pounce by the flying monsters overturned swathes of enemies and slaughtered hundreds of Orcs.
Coordinating with them were the Heavily Armored Khorngors, who advanced as stubbornly and firmly as the Inara Mountains.
With every step they took, they left a field of enemy corpses, constantly compressing and shrinking the encirclement around the Greenskins.
They tore apart the Orcs that had been isolated or separated from the main horde.
In street fighting, the Heavily Armored Khorngors clad in Chaos Plate were terrifying, tireless engines of slaughter.
The passages previously damaged and occupied by Greenskins could accommodate dozens of halberd-wielding Khorngors pushing forward.
Behind them, Beastmen wielding greatswords and axe-shields followed closely.
With every step, the lives of Greenskin Orcs were harvested, crushed beneath iron boots.
In front of them, dozens of armored Stone Trolls rampaged through the Greenskin huddles.
Specific Shamans were tasked with monitoring the progress of these vanguard units.
They ensured that support—such as Thorns Shield, Stone Flesh, Rhea's Blessing, Regeneration, and Healing—was always cast at the critical moment onto these Stone Trolls "showering in the sea of soldiers."
With magical support and the double protection of armor and stone skin, these nearly invulnerable monsters pushed forward relentlessly.
They threw the Greenskin battle lines into chaos before being harvested by the steadily advancing Khorngors.
Alina did not join this street battle, where the density of formations was so high there was almost no room to dodge.
Although her full suit of armor was no weaker than Cold Love in terms of defense—and far superior to that of the Stone Trolls—Al had issued strict orders.
He forbade his adoptive mother from engaging in reckless combat to avoid unnecessary risks.
After all, this wasn't actually like a game where a Hero-Lord could slaughter thousands alone while surrounded.
Of course, if a Chosen Living Saint or a sword-pulling Tyrion-level figure appeared, they could certainly fight their way in and out.
But Al already saw the hope of victory and did not wish to invite accidents.
He only needed to fight methodically, utilizing the narrow terrain to negate the enemy's numerical advantage.
By leveraging the monster corps' breakthrough capability and the quality of his Heavily Armored Khorngors, he could continuously crush the Greenskin lines while inflicting massive casualties.
With the magical winds guided in advance, the already abundant power in the Piña Forest became even more potent around the Sacred Grove.
The Sagegor mages—who could master Lores such as Heavens, Light, Metal, and Fire—and the Beastman Shamans—mastering Life, Beasts, and the Wild—unleashed their buffs, debuffs, and damaging spells without reservation.
The Sagegors, who worshipped the All-Knowing Mother, were not yet equals to the elite human mages of the Scholar Council in terms of individual casting.
However, they possessed a greater advantage: a high compatibility for joint casting.
This allowed them to release spells far beyond their individual capacities or enhance the range and effects of existing ones.
A spell like the Celestial Comet, if cast by the Dragon Emperor of Cathay, would be a "Heaven's Grace Earth-Shattering Punch."
It could cause ley line shifts similar to an Old Slann manipulating continental plates, destroying or terraforming an entire region's environment and ecology.
It could even smash out a "Great Mouth" for Ogres to worship.
But the Sagegor mages, casting together, could currently only guide smaller meteors to hit target locations, causing destruction within a diameter of dozens of meters.
For the density of enemies the tribe currently faced, this was enough.
Al remained in the sky, overlooking the battlefield.
After the Greenskin Wyverns were defeated and shredded by the monster corps of Griffons and Manticores, he faced no further threat in the air.
He was as steady as Mount Inara.
He could oversee the entire Sacred Grove, cross-referencing it with the map in his Blessing, achieving a "God-view" control over the entire battlefield.
In this state, even micromanagement like "archers move left twenty meters" was not impossible.
Al was not only focused on the tactical situation but was also observing the movements of the few "Special Units" within the tribal legions.
The "Sons of Al"—his scions.
Individuals created through the power of the Four Mothers for the purpose of war, infused with Al's bloodline.
They inherited his legacy and blessings—God-blessed Beastman warriors whose growth speed far exceeded their peers.
In the previous siege and the current battle, they displayed superlative quality and capability.
Without exaggeration, every "Son of Al" was an elite warrior.
Marked with the Eight-Pointed Hexagram, a single scion could lead a unit and become its spearhead or its shield.
Ten of them could stabilize a failing flank.
A hundred scions charging as one could instantly reverse the tide of an entire front.
Though Al had previously used them primarily as commanders, seeing them now—brave and peerless warriors charging at the front—he saw the morale-boosting effect they had on the other soldiers.
He couldn't help but waver.
"Is using super-soldiers for boarding actions and melee truly more useful than keeping them in the ranks as commanders to stabilize hearts?"
He began to ponder.
Amidst his thoughts, the battlefield situation shifted again.
The Greenskin commander had seemingly lost patience.
He was no longer willing to use ordinary Boyz and Big 'Uns for a grinding battle—wasting Greenskin lives to exhaust the energy of enemies who seemed tireless (due to the Blood River Blessing).
Such a "trickle-in" tactic of weak against strong would inevitably result in massive losses of ordinary soldiers and devastate overall army morale.
Eventually, they would reach a state where every rustle of leaves signaled a ghost.
While Greenskins didn't understand the nuance of that, a competent general understood that if the "Good Boyz" suffered too many casualties without winning, they would turn into "daft Goblins" and flee like cowards.
If the positions were reversed and Al were the Greenskin commander, his habit of playing it safe would lead him to a different path.
Given that the enemy's specifics were unknown but had shown great strength and threat, he would absolutely choose a stalling tactic.
He would find ways to delay the enemy reinforcements, then launch a massive assault to annihilate the resistance still holding out in the city, taking the inner city as his own position.
The tables have turned—I'm the defender now!
Simultaneously, he would prepare a "Plan B" for escaping.
He'd keep an elite guard close, ready to manifest the fine qualities of the "Donkey-Cart Drift" across the Gaoliang River or "Wang Baobao crossing the river on a log."
Even an outcome of "barely escaping with one's life" is far better than dying in a crushing defeat.
But he was facing Greenskins.
The most war-hungry, WAAAAAGH!-driven, unreasonable race that only listened to whoever had the hardest fist and could lead everyone to a good scrap!
The Greenskin commander seemed completely disappointed in the ordinary Boyz.
While withdrawing the Orcs clogged in the streets and the urban meat-grinder, it pushed more chips onto the table.
Savage Orc Big 'Uns!
Black Orc Guards!
Deploy!
Watching two tides clearly different from the rest of the enemy advance aggressively against the grain, Al guessed the enemy's intent.
They intended to use their elite units—few in number but still massive relative to the defenders—to contain or counterattack this suddenly appearing group of Beastmen who had trapped the Greenskins in the city and made their WAAAAAGH! very unsatisfying.
"In that case..."
Al watched his own legions as the enemy's retreat began, as they started their grand advance.
He also saw Misha's unit outside the city—having crushed the camp remnants—entering the city with unbated momentum to support the main body.
"Halt advance! Prepare to receive the enemy's elite!"
The remnants of the Sacred Grove's original defenders were currently huddled near the Great Banner, close to the north of the city.
They had even managed to collapse towers to create artificial obstacles to stall the Greenskins.
Once Al's reinforcements entered, the Greenskin pressure on them lessened.
In the eyes of the Greenskin General, those defenders were already prisoners or dead men; the priority was the reinforcements behind them.
WAAAAAGH!-ing a group of fresh, strong enemies was far more exciting than hitting the dying ones!