The Paladin in the Abyss-Chapter 414 - 428: Anticipate the Enemy’s Moves First

Chapter 414: Chapter 428: Anticipate the Enemy’s Moves First

The searing Fireball struck the dense wall of Thorns, immediately exploding into numerous leaping snakes of fire, which ignited all flammable material nearby—this included the thorny plants and the struggling cannon fodder on them, not yet fully dead. The burning Thorn Wall turned into a gruesome barbecue rack for the Demons, and a nauseating burnt scent drifted into the defenders’ nostrils with the wind.

Without any surprises, the ignited vines would burn out within a minute, but Lancelot guessed that the Spellcasters who had created these vines must have had a countermeasure in place.

Sure enough, he immediately sensed a massive fluctuation of magic. What lit up this time was a pale blue Magic Aura, corresponding to the Transformation System of magic. The originally vibrant green vines rapidly turned gray, and their weight seemed to have changed, no longer tumbling under the impact of the Demon fodder.

In just a few moments, the vines seemed to have turned into stone. Their surface was still burning, but what actually burned were the Low Rank Demons hanging on them (and continuously colliding with them). The pitiful screams of this cannon fodder almost drove one insane—the powerful life force of the Fiends and their resistance to fire now served as a curse, making their deaths agonizing and prolonged.

This magic was the response of the elder Elven Sage, Quirion. He had anticipated the Demons would use fire, so as soon as he summoned the Thorn Wall, he immediately began preparing the Petrify spell to turn wood to stone. Petrification could not be completed instantly, but since the process worked from the outside inward, as soon as the surface of the plants turned to stone, the burning stopped.

Moreover, since he only needed to turn the ignited section of the vines to stone, the preparation time for the spell was much shorter. He could have summoned a stone wall from the start, but that would not have served to delay the enemy.

...

All these arrangements were made after he arrived, and the spells were prepared on the spot. The time it took to memorize a spell depended on its complexity; generally speaking, each Circle Rank required at least 1 minute of preparation time. The earlier Thorn Wall was a 6th Circle spell, and the subsequent wood-to-stone was a 5th Circle spell. Preparing these spells took some time, but luckily it was just enough.

But this was their limit. The ritual of joint casting required each Spellcaster to prepare the same spell, and Pascaler’s defenders had not made preparations for joint casting beforehand, so they had to memorize spells on the fly. As it turned out, memorizing two middle-rank spells was already the limit of what time allowed. Had it been delayed any longer, the walls might have fallen.

Once turned to stone, the thorns on the vines remained sharp but no longer had the resilience they did as plants. The Demons soon realized that these stone spikes could be easily broken off, which they then used to pull themselves up.

The petrified thorn wall was a column with a radius of about five feet. Though not very tall, the surface was rugged, so climbing over was not so easy. Moreover, in this process, they still had to be wary of the Archers in the high towers, their constantly shoving comrades behind, and the burning corpses.

As if to add to their troubles, the yellow light of curse magic lit up again, and huge amounts of grease fell from the sky, splattering on the thorns; shortly after, the remaining sparks ignited it.

Unlike the water-rich vines, the grease was much more flammable. Wherever it splashed, towering flames enveloped the area, and the Low Rank Demons trying to climb over the petrified thorn wall cried out in chaos. While the Demons indeed were resistant to fire, most could not completely avoid such damage like true Devils, nor could they ignore the pain the burns caused.

Unlike being nailed to spikes and unable to break free, these burned Low Rank Demons had long forgotten the terror of their overseers. They frantically jumped back from the wall of burning Thorns, creating even more chaos within the already crowded mass of Low Rank Demons.

Demons are not an empathetic race, not only did they not help extinguish the flames on their peers, but they used their claws to shoo away those aflame beings that neared them. In such a dense gathering, this inevitably led to injuring others, which in turn sparked even more fights.

The chaos quickly spread among the crowded fodder of Demons. Lancelot was experiencing this kind of Demon-involved, war-level battle for the first time. In his incredulous eyes, the massive army of Demons just collapsed, although moments before it seemed like they were about to seal the fortress’s fate. Instead, they now frenziedly slaughtered each other in place.

Having spent so much time in the Abyss, he wasn’t unfamiliar with the nature of the Fiends—volatile, cruel, murderous, and exceedingly cunning (perhaps Succubi being the only exception). Yet, seeing an entire army of Demons disintegrate on the battlefield due to infighting still greatly broadened his horizons.

The Grease Spell was only a Circle Rank Technique, but due to its practicality, almost all Mages prepared this Magic. Using the Grease Spell was entirely an impulsive idea from the old Elf, unlike the formulaic Dwarves, the Elves were always very creative in battle. However, after using the Spell, Quirion had no other moves left. He gestured, and the Elven Sages that had been surrounding him quickly led their Apprentices away, moving closer to the walls to provide direct support for the troops in the battle.

Meanwhile, the battle on the walls continued, and the two hundred men Lancelot brought played a decisive role. They bravely rushed to the most critical areas, stopping the fiercest enemies. Every hero recognized in the story greatly boosted the morale of the defending soldiers.

Unlike those especially showy, high-profile ‘returning heroes,’ Lancelot fought very subtly. His Great Sword didn’t glow, and he didn’t shout the names of his moves when cutting down foes. Yet, unnoticed, a large space cleared around him. The reason was simple—the Human Knight’s efficiency in killing was too high, staying near him meant having little ‘participation’ in the fight.

But what the attacking Demons saw was a stretch of the wall seemingly undefended except for one blood-soaked Knight still stubbornly holding out. Only when they leaped onto the ramparts and saw the ground littered with mangled bodies of their kin did they realize something was amiss.

Meanwhile, at a distance, the atmosphere among the main ranks of the Demon army gradually grew eerie. Cang Ye still floated silently in the midst of the Demons, its plain curtain hiding its face and emotions, but an invisible pressure made it almost impossible for the surrounding attendants to breathe.

The one who looked the most uneasy was a shriveled, dark-skinned Demon who looked like a charred Gnome. It wore a suit of ornate armor embedded with gemstones, and its palm had three scythe-like red fingers, as if they had been soaked in fresh blood for a long time.

This was Sniel, the commander of the Soul Wail Legion, the nominal leader of the Low Rank Demons who were now slaughtering each other on the battlefield.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.