School Transmigration: I, Chosen as the Saint by Dragons at the Start-Chapter 194 --Storming the Inner City

As Hawkes made his way, executing his cruel punishments, even the most steadfast minds found it hard to confront such a powerful and merciless enemy.

The collapse of the ironclad army was inevitable.

Now, looking up at the inner city, Army Maquis felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he had returned to the days in Ironblade City.

Back then, he encountered true warriors, indulged in the thrill of battle, and earned himself a fair share of wounds.

Yet, given another chance, he would still risk it all to clash with the mighty, for engaging with formidable adversaries was the essence of his existence.

Who were the strong within the inner city?

Hawkes ordered, "Dismantle the iron bars on the road."

"Tidy up the ranks."

Hawkes’s commands were always strictly followed by his subordinates.

The demon army soldiers began clanging away, dismantling the iron bars and roughly clearing the main roads, surrounding the inner city in tight formations.

As for tidying up the ranks, the demon army was always short on weapons and rarely had uniform attire, so tidying up was much the same as lining up in formation.

The two wizards exchanged glances, puzzled about what Hawkes intended by wasting this quarter of an hour.

Inside the inner city, someone else was also ’wasting’ time.

Blight, whose arcanergy had recovered to thirty percent, insisted on leaving the city to duel with Hawkes.

Fortunately, Woody, now very obedient to the acting city lord, firmly held Blight back.

"Let me go and hold them off. I’ve fled once; I can’t flee a second time," Blight said through clenched teeth.

"This isn’t about fleeing," Messy replied, growing somewhat impatient.

"This secret tunnel leads directly to Glazed Pavilion. You and Woody take the guards and launch a surprise attack there. Capturing Glazed Pavilion would also be a great achievement. Then, you can lead reinforcements back here..."

"Nonsense! We both know we can’t last until then, staying in the inner city means death. I don’t care if I die, but if you die, the empire suffers too great a loss."

In Blight’s eyes, Messy was undoubtedly talented.

"Big brother, neither of you can die. I’ll stay behind," Woody interjected.

"Woody, you’re a hero of the empire for killing the traitor king; you can’t die either," Messy said with a smile to Woody.

"I didn’t kill him," Woody stammered, "You never asked me; actually, it was a sister who did it."

"Is there another force involved?" Messy pondered for a moment before saying, "That doesn’t matter. Now, you need to hurry into the secret tunnel. I’ll stay behind."

"No!" Blight was stubborn.

"You’ve seen what I’m capable of; unfortunately, only I can buy enough time now. Woody, carry him." Messy didn’t explain further.

Woody hoisted Blight into the tunnel, where the guards were already waiting with torches.

Blight cursed nonstop as Messy closed the entrance to the tunnel.

He then went to the entrance of the main hall and issued a command for a fight to the death to the Loyalist Army.

Then he heard a roar, like a lion’s, cutting through the air.

"Surrender or not?" Hawkes, having lined up his troops, bellowed towards the inner city.

Such a roar had previously completely broken the spirit of thousands from the ironclad army.

"Fight to the death!"

The retort from the city’s master was in no way inferior to Hawkes’s.

The faces of the two wizards changed instantly.

One of them said to Hawkes, "That shout wasn’t just technique; it’s the power of a legendary ward.

The entire inner city has become a ward." The other wizard added, "I can feel a continuous flow of arcanergy within the inner city."

"What ward? Can it repair the gate if I smash it?"

With that, Hawkes charged forward with astonishing speed and struck the city gate with a punch, causing ripples to spread across it.

With a loud shout, the arcanergy was dispersed, and the gate collapsed thunderously.

How similar it was to Ironblade City, except this time he had his troops well-organized to witness his feat.

Deep inside, he hoped the one watching was Champion King Melania.

The demon army erupted into cheers, rushing into the inner city.

Mingate was doomed to fall.

Messy was aware of this but still intended to struggle until the very last moment, the longer, the better.

Hawkes hadn’t expected the battle, which should have been quickly resolved, to be dragged on for hours by the Loyalist Army.

The inner city’s gate was ultimately inconsequential, with only a handful of people positioned on the walls by the Loyalist Army.

The majority resisted in the city, causing significant trouble for the demon army with their sudden appearances and disappearances through secret tunnels and hidden rooms.

However, the greatest problem wasn’t the tunnels or hidden rooms.

As Hawkes stepped into the inner city, he noticed something off – the ward of the inner city was weakening the invaders’ strength.

It felt as if invisible hands were grasping at his body, slowing his movements.

Of course, to him, this was hardly an issue, but the ordinary demon army soldiers were clearly affected, their actions becoming sluggish and uncoordinated.

Worse still, the inner city was laden with numerous traps, from the streets to courtyards to interiors, everywhere.

Many demon soldiers triggered these traps and were instantly killed.

Hawkes, not well-versed in breaking formations or barriers, knew only to fight with his fists.

The two demon wizards seemed hesitant to act, whether out of helplessness or reservation remained unclear.

Hawkes, frustrated, took it upon himself to "clear mines," so to speak, setting off explosions wherever he went.

Yet, something even more vexing occurred – the Loyalist Army, upon sighting Hawkes, would dash into secret tunnels, only to reemerge elsewhere and continue their desperate struggle against the demon army.

Hawkes felt as if he were playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole, thoroughly manipulated by the mastermind behind all this.

He had intended to unleash his full might but was restrained by the wizards.

The two wizards feared he might accidentally harm his own forces and, more crucially, they needed Hawkes to conserve his strength.

These wizards, with their superior sensory abilities compared to Hawkes, detected a dense concentration of arcanergy in the direction of the main hall, which seemed to be shielded by another layer of ward.

Reluctantly, Hawkes found a room to rest, waiting for his soldiers to conclude the battle.

Aware that this conflict would result in significant losses, he preferred out of sight, out of mind.

As the sun set in the west, the last member of the Loyalist Army finally fell.

Hawkes didn’t bother to count, but he knew the cost was in the thousands.

The brutality of this war, first at Ironblade City and now at Mingate, was overwhelming.

If only the opponents were as ineffectual as the Snow King.

While that would diminish the thrill of battle, it would also mean fewer lives lost.

What was the Champion King doing? Hawkes couldn’t help but think of Melania and how, if she and her champion army were present, perhaps not as many of his men would have perished.

With these thoughts, he approached the main hall, which his troops had thoroughly surrounded.

Glancing at the main hall, Hawkes involuntarily opened his mouth in astonishment.

The hall was filled with arcanergy, seemingly on the verge of overflowing at any moment.

A layer of white mist, composed entirely of arcanergy, floated above the ground.

But what truly shocked him was the sight of several white fish, formed from arcanergy, swimming through the air.

What in the world was that?

As Hawkes pondered, suddenly, the hall erupted, launching hundreds of arrows transformed from arcanergy.

Outside, the demon military array was met with screams of agony, the scent of blood growing even more intense.

"All forces, retreat fifty meters," Hawkes commanded, aware this was beyond the capability of ordinary soldiers or officers to handle.

"This ward is likely... Army Maquis, wait," one wizard began to caution Hawkes, but he had already charged forward.

Approaching the entrance of the main hall without hesitation, he encountered a wall of arcanergy gathered from the ward, blocking his path.

Pushing against it, Hawkes gradually exerted his full strength.

Hindered by the ward, he unleashed his extraordinary potential, his body radiating a red glow.

Struggling forward, he reached out to grasp one of the fish floating in the air, just when a powerful blast of arcanergy struck him, forcing him out of the main hall.

Hawkes stumbled backward several steps before managing to steady himself.

"Army Maquis,"

"Leave this to us," the two wizards intervened.

However, the wizards began chanting spells; one pulled out a black stone, and the other placed a black pearl atop it.

The pearl quickly merged into the stone, which then levitated, drawing in countless strands of dark mist.

The corpses within Mingate rapidly decayed and vanished, the black stone emitting an ominous aura.

"Darksoul?" Messy exclaimed in shock.

At that moment, the black stone unleashed a potent black beam towards the ward.

The entire hall was shattered, yet the ward struggled to maintain itself.

Messy looked towards the west, where the sun hovered at the brink of setting without dipping below the horizon.

He burst into laughter, proclaiming, "Hahaha, it seems hope is lost for everyone."

With a forceful slap of his right hand on a magic array on the ground, mist-like arcanergy dispersed, revealing hundreds of bright stones.

With a point of his left hand, those stones hurtled towards the spot struck by the black beam.

The ward shattered, the black stone cracked, and where they collided, an extremely unstable grey mist formed.

In the next instant, the grey mist rapidly expanded, engulfing the entire inner city, then contracted and vanished, leaving behind only a muffled boom.

...

Since passing through Myriad Stones Mountain, the old boozer Fikell had experienced several tremors of the earth, and each occurrence never boded well.

The scenes he witnessed upon first crossing Myriad Stones Mountain still filled Fikell with dread to this day.