Aleric was attacked by seven beast captains together . They are all between level 52 and 55.
Torin immediately shielded him with his own body, so Aleric wouldn't have to take the attacks directly.
Aleric knew he couldn't evade this time but suddenly, a gust of wind swept across the battlefield.
Seven heads rolled at the same time.
The beast captains who had attacked Aleric and Torin were dead, their bodies falling to the ground.
A cold voice rang out over the battlefield with a sneer, "You beasts! You dare attack my brother's land?"
A horse galloped into the field and stopped. Standing on it was a guy around 19 years old... his cold gaze and handsome face immediately drew everyone's attention. Even General Kaine and Hadrian stood up from their chairs on the mountaintop.
Hadrian looked at Silas with utmost devotion in his eyes. He murmured in his heart, 'My Lord! My Lord himself showed up!'
Silas looked coldly at the battlefield and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Where are my Whip Guards?"
From two directions, two massive forces started heading toward the battlefield. In front of them was Selene Voss, one of the twelve Shadows of Silas.
Zephyr came beside Silas and started hovering in the air.
Aleric, Torin, all the generals, and even the beast soldiers looked toward the massive force coming toward them.
General Kaine on the mountaintop, looking at the two forces both consisting of 200,000 elite soldiers, totaling 400,000 . He recognized them immediately. Each was commanded by two renowned generals of the Imperium: General Vadric Bolt, level 73, and General Casper August, level 72.
He stammered, "A-are... aren't they from Varnholt Duchy and Morvain Duchy? Have the two dukes already defected to the Valerius family?"
Duke Morvain and Duke Varnholt are two of the free dukes in the imperium and they hate the three ancient families , they even voted against them a few days ago in the main hall of the imperium...
Hadrian didn't say anything. He just thought to himself, 'Haha! Master gave that filthy emperor a huge surprise. She even took over those two duchies' personal forces... it's a huge slap to his face.'
Yes, this was the surprise Selene had prepared for the Emperor of the Luminus Imperium. He dared to stand against the family of their lord, Silas Valerius. Huh, let him see that even his own duchies are not safe.
Selene and the huge army came before Silas, then knelt together.
They shouted, "Whip Guards are at your service, my Lord!"
Silas looked coldly toward the enemies and declared, "Kill them! Kill every single invader who dared invade the land of Valerius..."
The army stood up again. This time they took out whips from their spatial equipment . Each and every one of them was equipped with whips now. Selene took out her two twin whips infused with lightning... and flew toward the sky to meet General Gorthak. Zephiron immediately gave her space. Although she was only level 74, with her lightning-infused whips she could easily kill any level 80 warrior.
Gorthak's face turned grim. On the other side, General Taurus also felt a chill run down his spine, just thinking about fighting Zephiron alone.
Silas looked coldly at the battlefield. "Zephyr! Kill those beasts..."
Zephyr moved. Huge tornados appeared due to his action, and Zephyr started killing them mercilessly. None of the human soldiers were hit by his tornados.
He was also a divine element user , tornado divine affinity.
General Kaine atop the mountain started grabbing his own hair at this moment. He couldn't believe his eyes at all. "Another divine mage! How? How is this possible..."
But the soldiers behind him all felt immense respect for the warriors protecting their land.
This time the battle completely turned around. Beast soldiers started dying one after another, while the human soldiers had already gained the advantage... killing beastmen mercilessly.
Aleric stopped fighting and, alongside Torin, came back to the city wall where Silas was standing alone now, commanding the army from time to time.
Aleric came before Silas and without saying anything, hugged his brother tightly. Silas chuckled and rubbed his back.
"Thank you," Aleric said quietly. "Thank you, Silas, for saving Torin."
Silas frowned. "Torin?" Then he looked at the tiger beastman standing in front, and immediately understood . Aleric was gone, he had already fallen for this cute beastman.
He chuckled. "How could I let those fools take over my brother's land? Are all the Valerius dead?"
Aleric let go and looked at him with a smile. "You've become completely different, Silas! It's only been a few days since we were apart, and you've become so... so mature."
Silas just chuckled. "Do you want those fools on the mountaintop to get a scolding too?"
Aleric glanced toward the distant mountain and said, "Someone was looking at me with hostility this morning. It's not bad to scare them a little bit..."
Silas just nodded, his eyes on the battle below.
Below the wall, the world had turned into a storm.
Zephyr raised both hands, and the sky answered. A dozen tornadoes , each a hundred meters wide, spinning with divine wind tore down from the clouds and hit the beast army.
He just walked forward in the air, and the tornadoes walked with him.
Thousands upon thousands of beastmen were lifted screaming into the funnels. Their heavy armor meant nothing . The divine wind shredded plate, fur, and bone alike, turning them into a red mist that painted the inside of the cyclones.
Zephyr flicked his wrist, and one tornado slammed into another, grinding an entire battalion of 5,000 beastmen into nothing in a single second.
Not one human soldier was touched; the winds parted around the Red Fort lines like they recognized their master.
On the ground, the new soldiers charged in behind the storm and every single one of them drew a whip.
General Vadric Bolt, level 73, led the Varnholt elites with his long steel whip crackling with blue sparks. He snapped it once and the lash cut through twenty beastmen at the waist, their armor splitting like paper. With the second crack, the whip wrapped a captain's neck and ripped the head clean off.
Beside him, General Casper August, level 72, moved like a shadow with twin chain-whips. He spun, and the whips sang. Lashing out in arcs of silver light, wrapping legs, throats, and swords, then jerking back. Beastmen fell in pieces, throats crushed, limbs torn, screaming as the Whip Guards killed mercilessly.
Behind them, all 400,000 Whip Guards did the same. The desert filled with the sound of ten thousand cracks ...
snap ! snap !
And every crackling of the whips took a life.
Now already inspired, General Lucan and General Varrus who had felt helpless minutes before got back on their feet and roared. They drove their exhausted men forward, and now the humans killed mercilessly, cutting down the panicked beasts trying to flee the tornadoes.
On the left flank, Corvin finally found his opening against General Skritch.
The kobold general hissed and lunged with his poisoned daggers, but Corvin took the stab on his vambrace, grabbed Skritch's snout with his bare hand, and drove his greatsword straight up through the jaw. The blade punched out the top of the skull in a spray of green blood. Skritch twitched once then went limp.
On the right, Aldric dueled General Ragnar.
Ragnar was as strong as Aldric, his black axe meeting Aldric's sword again and again until sparks flew. Aldric feinted low, then spun and thrust. His sword found the gap under Ragnar's arm, pierced the heart, and kept going until it burst out his back. Aldric twisted, ripped the sword free, and Ragnar collapsed to his knees, dead before he hit the sand.
In the sky, the fight had changed.
Now that Selene had taken Gorthak, Zephiron faced Taurus alone and Taurus finally understood what a divine mage truly was.
Zephiron didn't even move. He just pointed two fingers. The clouds above turned purple.
"Divine Punishment," he whispered.
A pillar of purple lightning thicker than a tower fell straight down and engulfed Taurus. The level 80 general screamed as his legendary armor melted, his horns cracked, his skin blackened and crisped. When the light faded, Taurus was still standing as a charred statue then he crumbled into ash that blew away on the wind.
At the same moment, Selene danced around Gorthak.
Her twin whips, infused with living lightning, sang as they lashed. Gorthak blocked one, but the second wrapped around his throat. Selene smiled coldly and pulled. Lightning ran down the whip, through his armor, through his spine. Gorthak convulsed, eyes bulging, then the whip snapped tight and his head flew clean off separated from his body, his massive body dropping like a felled tree.
Two huge thuds shook the desert.
The head and body of General Gorthak shake the battle ground. Two of the strongest generals are already deader that dead.
The remaining beastmen saw it and broke. They threw down their weapons and ran.
Silas watched it all from the wall, his face cold.
"Clean it up," he said softly.
And after the command from Silas, each and every Whip Guard moved like terrifying entities. They killed every single beast soldier like they were just ants.
Silas ordered again, his voice carrying over the whole battlefield...
"Hang their corpses outside the city wall. So that if they dare to attack us again, they will be sure of their demise here."
His words were cold but even the soldiers from Aetherion and the original Valerius soldiers felt their blood burn. Even the soldiers on the mountaintop felt the same.
They all thought in their heads, 'Not a single Valerius is normal!'
Now Zephyr, Zephiron, Selene, Aldric, General Corvin, Lucan, Varrus, Vadric, and Casper all returned to Silas and Aleric's side.
Zephiron, Corvin, Lucan, and Varrus looked at Silas with new, profound understanding. Today they had seen just how terrifying this young lord of the Valerius Archduchy truly was... He had not only created his own force, he had even made the personal armies of two free dukes defect from their houses.
Just the thought alone made them shiver.
Silas looked coldly at the mountaintop.
"Now everything is cleaned up... except for those fools," he said while a cold smile appeared in his face .