Chapter 284: The Empty Lair (Part 2)

  Lancelot frowned. Judging from the guards and priests outside, it really didn't seem like the giant dragon had left. Furthermore, he believed that since Tima had spent ten years preparing and investigating, if he said the dragon should be here, then it absolutely should be here.

  "Where's the dragon? Get out here." Stoic once again swung the huge axe in his hand, creating a whooshing sound. This completely unexpected situation turned his full fighting spirit and fervor into anger. This was not just anger transformed from fighting will, but also fear of the unknown. He didn't know what was going on at all.

  "Get ou..." Before he could finish roaring, Stoic's head suddenly shattered. Bone fragments and brain matter and flesh scattered all over the sky. His two bull horns, however, remained perfectly intact, spinning twice in the air before falling to the ground.

  The battle in Othello had not yet subsided; on the contrary, it was becoming increasingly intense.

  The Minotaur warriors were no longer just guarding the High Priest Tima on the high platform. They all brandished their axes and charged at the Drow, colliding fiercely with the battle lizard riders.

  Axes hacked into the bodies of the giant lizards, the lances of the Drow riders on the lizards pierced the vital points of the Minotaur warriors, and the huge mouths of the lizards would tear off large chunks of flesh with each bite. But amidst the heaven-shaking howls and spraying blood, neither side would fall. Instead, they would press on, hacking, stabbing, and tearing again. The life force of the giant lizards was exceptionally tenacious, and that of the Minotaur warriors was no less. Moreover, their half-mad state in battle doubled their endurance. Often, it wasn't until a giant lizard was chopped into a pulp, the lizard rider on top was pulled down and slain by a Minotaur, and the Minotaur warrior himself was riddled with holes like a sieve, with hardly a piece of intact flesh to be found, that both sides would finally collapse.

  These two powerful melee units had both caused the human armies great suffering in their battles against Erathia. Now, locked in mutual slaughter, they were like two groups of meat grinders grinding against each other.

  The Evil Eyes and Harpies floating in mid-air no longer had such a great advantage. The powerful bows and hard crossbows of the Drow could also harm them. Especially the huge bolts fired from the crossbow carts. The slow-moving Evil Eyes became like balloons in mid-air under the fire of these machines. One shot would burst one. The Medusa had also joined the fray. Although the movement of these Gorgons was slow, their arrows were uncannily accurate, and Harpies fell from the sky incessantly. The Minotaur warriors, however, did not dare to engage these ranged archers in close combat. At close range, the gaze of a Gorgon could instantly petrify and paralyze. Even the constitution of a Minotaur could not resist it.

  Magic was no longer a one-man show by High Priest Tima. Fireballs, ice arrows, venom, and flames flew everywhere. Large-scale auras of bloodthirst, curses, and weakness also lit up. Minotaur priests and Drow priests performed their spells like a show, attacking each other's soldiers. The ruins of Othello, spanning several miles, had now completely evolved into a battlefield. The sounds of battle cries and screams shook the heavens.

  High Priest Tima stood on the high platform, overlooking the battle scene below. His expression was grim.

  Matron Choi Hana was already lying at his feet, her limbs broken.

  "Damn it. What the hell is the problem?" High Priest Tima roared.

  "How should I know? Didn't you say your plan was foolproof?" Chieftain Loralei was also furious. All of her kin had joined this battle. Watching her Harpies scream and be shot by Medusa, their feathers flying everywhere as they fell from the sky, she wished she could take a couple of bites out of High Priest Tima.

  Beside the two of them was a Beholder floating silently. The Beholder's volume was much larger than the other Evil Eyes. And not only did it have the large central eye that could emit a burning ray, but it also had several smaller eyeballs around it. This was the leader of all Evil Eyes. Although it had a huge mouth beneath its large eye, it could not speak. This kind of creature could only communicate telepathically. The feeling of disgust emanating from it was palpable. It was equally dissatisfied with the current situation.

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  What had caused the battle to reach a stalemate was not the Othello forces, who had been half-killed by the initial magic, but the Drow and Medusa reinforcements rushing in from all directions. The Othello forces were truly no match for the combined Minotaur forces, who had mobilized their entire race, even though they intended to break out. They were quickly defeated by the well-prepared Minotaur forces. Even Matron Choi Hana was captured alive. The Drow who had been sent to seek help from all directions did not escape either. High Priest Tima had planned for ten years, so naturally, he would not have overlooked this. Although these Drow scouts were already highly skilled in stealth, they were still completely exposed before the Beholders waiting at all the critical passes.

  But this ten-year plan had unexpectedly gone awry. The forces from the other four Drow cities had somehow simultaneously detected High Priest Tima's actions and dispatched reinforcements to support this location. Although they could no longer save Othello, they had caught the combined Minotaur forces, who were preparing to regroup and march on another city, completely off guard.

  What made High Priest Tima most uneasy right now was that there seemed to be no news from the Temple Knights.

  "You three bastards, may the Dragon of Shadows condemn your souls into the bodies of maggots, to roll in Troglodyte dung for all eternity." Matron Choi Hana, on the ground, continued to curse with a hoarse voice.

  "Don't bother praying to the Dragon of Shadows. They'll be bringing me Moriel's dragon head soon." High Priest Tima stomped another foot on Matron Choi Hana's limb. Matron Choi Hana let out a sharp, piercing scream. There was no sound of bones breaking. Under the immense weight and hoof of a Minotaur, the delicate bones of a Drow were no different from biscuits, shattering silently.

  After panting and groaning for a long while, Matron Choi Hana still hadn't fainted. She struggled to ask, "More than ten years ago, was it you who destroyed the great seal of Moriel?"

  "Other than you Drow yourselves, who else would dare enter that dragon's lair? I just took advantage of the situation. I know that Moriel must have had a very uncomfortable past ten years." High Priest Tima smiled.

  "Don't tell me, you also incited the great Moriel's emissary to leave Nighon? Only a few of our elders knew about this matter. If Moriel's emissary were still here, you would never have dared to do this..."

  "There are no 'what ifs' in this world. There are never any 'what ifs'." This time, Tima's hind hoof landed on Matron Choi Hana's head. He didn't use too much force; the pressure was just enough to knock her unconscious.

  The battle was gradually reaching a clear outcome. The Minotaurs, after all, had the advantage in numbers and combat strength and were beginning to gain the upper hand. Moreover, the reinforcements from the rear had basically all arrived. Although the victory was costly, it looked like they would still win.

  High Priest Tima looked at the Harpies and the Beholder, saying, "Although there have been some complications here, the battle is still in our favor. I have already sent people to mobilize the Troglodyte slaves. After we finish here, we will immediately head to the lairs of the Drow and Medusa. As for Moriel, there's no need to worry. The Church's Temple Knights are more than enough to handle her. Those seven are the Church's elite. As long as they perish together with Moriel, then we will be the ultimate winners. Whether it's the unification of power in Nighon, or the greatly reduced strength of the Church we'll have to face when we attack the surface, the ones who profit in the end will be us."

  "How do you know they will perish together? Neither side are fools, and neither are they something we can handle." Loralei asked, half-doubting.

  "I have my own methods. They are but pawns on my chessboard." The Minotaur priest smiled, like a demonic idol.

  "You also dispatched fifty of your most elite warriors with them. Are you just writing them off?"

  "To gain something, one must inevitably make a corresponding payment. To take out the Church's seven most precious pawns, sacrificing fifty or sixty of our own seems hardly to matter. Even if they are my sons, it's the same." Tima smiled. This smile was not like a Minotaur's, but a human's.

  "Squeak?" The Beholder suddenly twisted its body. Its eye, the size of a human head, looked towards a nearby rock wall. It had been swaying its strange body from side to side, as if searching for something, and only now had it found it.

  Loralei and High Priest Tima were startled. Their gazes followed the Beholder's.

  The small eyeballs around the Beholder's main eye lit up with a faint light, intertwining and overlapping on the rock wall. In the midst of this halo of light, a person appeared where the rock wall had been.

  Seeing that it was actually a person, both Loralei and Tima were startled. Then they immediately recognized him as one of the seven Temple Knights, and were instantly greatly alarmed. When they saw a little more clearly what this person was holding in his hand, and especially when Tima could sense the magical fluctuations emanating from it, he was immediately filled with utter horror.

  "Stop him, stop him quickly!" High Priest Tima cried out, just like Matron Choi Hana had a short while ago.

  Stoic was the commander of the guard of the Horned Demon Temple. Only the foremost warrior among the Minotaurs was qualified to hold this position. Although his intelligence was no greater than that of other Minotaurs, his combat strength was absolutely unquestionable. In his many years of battle against Erathia and the Church, the great wheel axe in his hand had even beheaded a Temple Knight.

  Even Lancelot had to admit that in a head-on confrontation, it would take him at least several minutes to defeat this Minotaur. But now, in the blink of an eye, this foremost warrior among the Minotaurs was already headless.

  Stoic's headless huge body swayed twice. He still held his huge steel axe in his hand, as if wanting to swing it, but finally, it collapsed with a loud thud.

  His huge bull head had been slapped off by a single palm.