The resulting shockwave tore through the air. The land at the point of impact shook violently.
Dozens of adventurers and Goblins located right at the center of the explosion did not even have time to realize what happened. Their bodies were blown to pieces and evaporated into ash in a fraction of a second.
Wuuussshhh!
The residual wave of fire then swept fiercely across the surrounding land. Its stinging heat instantly roasted the adventurers and monsters who survived the initial impact.
"Aaaaargh! It's hot! Help me!"
"My skin is burning! Please put it out—arghhh!" the adventurers shrieked with piercing voices. They rolled desperately on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames that were devouring their bodies alive.
At the same time, dozens of Goblins nearby suffered the same fate.
"Kieeeaaakkk!"
"Gryaaaaargh!" those dwarfed monsters shrieked with hoarse, deafening howls.
Their green bodies charred. They thrashed inside the flames before finally becoming piles of charcoal, mingling with the corpses of the adventurers. That attack did not discriminate between friend and foe.
Aeliana's eyes widened in horror. The stench of burning flesh instantly filled the air, making her stomach churn with nausea.
"Nooo! They... they are all burned to a crisp!" Aeliana screamed with a trembling and desperate voice. She could not bear to watch humans turning to ash before her eyes.
Provoked by overflowing panic, fear, and anger, Aeliana shouted at the captain in front of her.
"Lorien! Quickly kill that monster right now!" Aeliana demanded hysterically.
Lorien did not turn around. His eyes were locked on the two-headed Ogre at the far end of the battlefield.
"I know!" Lorien replied sharply. He swung his sword brutally, cleaving two Hobgoblins trying to block his path, and continued pacing his steps forward without hesitation toward the source of the explosion.
However, before the thick smoke from the first explosion could be blown away by the wind, Aeliana spotted a second threat.
The long-haired head of the Ogre was casting magic once again. A second red magic circle instantly materialized in front of its palm, preparing to unleash another lethal fireball toward the crowd of surviving adventurers.
Aeliana's instincts immediately took over. She realized the distance was still too far; Lorien would not have time to stop the Ogre's incantation.
Remembering the order to save her remaining mana, she immediately reached into the [Magic Bag] at her waist—the gift from Zareth Caldris.
Her hand moved as fast as lightning. She pulled out a tier-three magic parchment scroll.
Without wasting a single second to think, Aeliana channeled a small thread of her mana into the paper to trigger its magic. The parchment in Aeliana's hand instantly burned and turned to dust.
[Tier 3 - Fireball]
The fireball shot against the wind, flying straight toward the rear lines.
In that exact same second, the two-headed Ogre released its own fireball from its palm. The two fireballs launched at high speed from opposite directions, cleaving the air.
Aeliana had calculated the angle perfectly. The two fireballs collided right in mid-air, halting the trajectory of the Ogre's fireball before it could reach and roast the adventurer ranks.
BLAAAAAARRR!
The collision of those two tier-three spells triggered a giant explosion that blinded the sky. A shockwave cleaved the air and radiated a heat that instantly snatched the breath from their lungs.
Halted right in the middle of its path, the residual destructive energy spilled downwards. High-temperature sparks plummeted down like a meteor shower, striking directly onto the monster lines.
Its heat instantly seared flesh, killing dozens of Goblins as well as the Hobgoblin cavalry clustered tightly beneath the point of explosion.
"Kieeeaaakk! Kiekkk!" the Goblins shrieked with hoarse, ear-piercing squeals as the flames devoured their dwarfed bodies until they turned to charcoal.
"Gryaaaaargh!" the Hobgoblins roared with deep, raspy voices. They thrashed desperately, rolling on the ground trying to extinguish the fire burning their bodies entirely.
"Auuunnggg! Kaaaiinggg!" howls of agony from the Dire Wolves echoed back and forth amidst the chaos.
The thick fur of those giant wolves actually became the perfect fuel, causing them to be roasted alive alongside their riders.
The screams of monsters burning alive echoed across the entire battlefield. It broke the tightly packed enemy lines and opened a wide path for Lorien to lead his party piercing straight toward the rear.
Far at the end, the two-headed Ogre did not go on a rampage when its magic was successfully neutralized.
Its long-haired left head glared sharply at Aeliana, who was holding the residual dust of the scroll in her hand. Instead of casting follow-up magic, the giant monster lowered its hand and began walking closer with constant, heavy steps.
Lorien Caldwell immediately realized the opportunity. An open area dividing the monster troops had now been created from the explosion crater.
"The path is open! Follow me!" Lorien shouted with a sharp command tone, cutting through the noise of the battlefield.
Seeing this opening, the four veteran adventurer parties from the Gold Tier did not waste the opportunity. The captains of each party immediately responded to the call by raising their weapons high.
"Tighten the lines! Merge our formation with The Gilded Falcons!" one heavily armored captain exclaimed to his party members.
"Don't waste time! Follow their steps and pierce the enemy defenses!" another captain ordered with a hoarse voice.
They immediately closed in and merged their combat strength into a single, solid line.
Lorien, demonstrating his true capacity as an adventurer nearing the Mithril rank, spurred his pace, piercing through the thin smoke. The Gold-Tier captains responded to Lorien's movements behind him with high discipline.
Within seconds, the atmosphere at the center line of the battle changed drastically.
There were no longer screams of panic like the amateur adventurers, nor arrogant cheers and elbowing actions scrambling for position. Their muscles were tense yet controlled. The gazes of those experienced fighters looked as cold as ice, entirely focused on the battle.
Lorien and those Gold-Tier adventurer parties ran across the shallow crater still billowing smoke. Upon the ground's surface, dozens of Goblins and Hobgoblin cavalry moaned dying, their bodies blistered and charred, engulfed by flames.
There was no pity, nor was there any greed to pick up loot right then and there.
Lorien pushed his pace. His sword flashed rapidly, cleanly severing the neck of a Hobgoblin trying to crawl to grasp his leg.
At his side, Klei moved like a soundless shadow. The dagger in his hand swooped with precision toward the forehead of a groaning monster, snatching its life in silence.
At the same time, the Gold adventurers around him thrust their spears and swords toward the hearts and throats of those burning monsters. They slaughtered the crippled remnants of the army with precision, delivering instant deaths while maintaining their running speed.
As soon as the explosion smoke behind them cleared, a wall of monsters awaited.
Across the smoking crater, lines of Orcs had arranged a formation. These monsters, towering over two meters tall, stood lined up like a wall of flesh.
Their grayish-green skin was covered by folds of coarse muscle. Their pointed ears tensed, while elongated fangs protruded from their lower jaws like boar tusks.
Unlike the wild Goblins that attacked randomly, these Orcs did not charge brutally. Those dozens of muscular monsters actually took a coordinated defensive stance.
"Grrrhhhh... Grooooaarrr!"
A heavy, hoarse, low growl was heard from their throats. The sound was so synchronous, it vibrated the air around the crater like the beating of war drums.
The consecutive sound of thick wood clashing hard against the ground surface echoed in unison. The Orcs planted their shields, locking every side together to form one sturdy defensive wall.
From behind the narrow gaps of those shields, the tips of spiked wooden clubs were thrust forward simultaneously. They formed a highly dense phalanx formation, awaiting the collision from the human side.
Facing that fortress of flesh, the Gold-Tier adventurers proved their worth.
An archer on the left flank halted his steps. He drew his bowstring until it curved maximally and used [Tier C - Piercing Arrow]. Silver light instantly coated his arrow.
The arrow shot like a flash of lightning cleaving the air, slamming into the Orc lines.
Crack!
A loud sound of splintering wood was heard as the arrow successfully punched a hole in the foremost shield and tore through the Orc's chest behind it, straight through to the back.
"Groooaaargh!" the Orc roared in pain, its voice hoarse enduring the hole in its chest before its massive body collapsed, falling face-first.
Seeing one small crack in the enemy's shield line due to the death of the first Orc, a silver-armored spear user immediately capitalized on the opening. He spun his weapon quickly.
The adventurer leaped forward, charging ahead using [Tier C - Single Blow].
His steel spearhead swooped sharply, sliding perfectly into the narrow gap between two shields, and pierced straight through the throat of the next Orc attempting to cover the gap.
"Khh... khrok... ghh," the Orc groaned, choking on death, its eyes bulging wide as its neck was destroyed.
Green blood vomited heavily from behind the lines, soaking the tip of the adventurer's spear a second before the monster collapsed.
At the front line, the bear beastman captain took over the execution. The man leaped high, cleaving the air, then swung his giant double-headed axe vertically with full force.
[Tier C - Heavy Axe]
That attack crushed the wooden shield while simultaneously splitting the Orc's collarbone into two symmetrical pieces.
That torn phalanx line was instantly punished without mercy by the Gold-Tier adventurer mages. A burst of [Tier 2 - Flamethrower] devoured the coarse green skin and the remaining shields from the front.
As those monsters thrashed from the heat and broke formation, a high-powered wave of dense air from [Tier 2 - Wind Impulse] slammed into their chests, crushing their breathing rhythm and bringing down those sturdy stances.
In the ensuing chaos, a flash of blue lightning struck out, cleaving the air. The sting of [Tier 2 - Electric Shock] spread like lightning across the chain of tightly packed monsters, forcing their massive muscles to spasm stiffly en masse and crumbling the remaining resistance in an instant.
The destruction of the phalanx formation at the front line was not the end of the Orcs' resistance. Behind the remnants of their split and charred comrades' corpses, dozens of still-fit Orcs stepped forward.
They trampled on the piles of their own comrades' corpses without the slightest hesitation.
"GROOOAAAARRGH!"
Angry roars exploded from their throats, vibrating the air around the battlefield, accompanied by flashes of crazed, glowing purple eyes.
The Orcs swung their spiked wooden clubs blindly toward the adventurer formation.
CLANG!
THUD!
As a Gold-Tier adventurer's longsword was raised to parry that rough smash, the clinking sound of thick steel against hard wood echoed shrilly, deafening the ears.
"Kkhh... Damn it! This monster—" the Gold-Tier adventurer groaned with grinding teeth.
His breath hitched heavily. The veins in his neck and arms bulged tensely, enduring the weight of the downward-pressing smash. A dull vibration spread quickly through the sword handle, making his fingers momentarily numb from the monster's raw strength.
Along the entire defensive line, the battlefield turned into a contest of physical strength and stamina. The muscles of the adventurers' necks bulged tensely. They had to withstand the pushing force from the Orcs who refused to die.
A Gold-Tier adventurer faced off one-on-one against the thickest-muscled Orc. The downward swing of the monster's spiked wooden mace hurtled wildly from above, intending to crush his skull. The adventurer responded nimbly. He raised his steel sword with both hands to parry.
"GROOOAAAARRGH!"
The Orc roared loudly with a deafening bellow right in front of the adventurer's face. Its saliva spattered as the monster forced the downward pressure using its entire body weight.
The earth beneath the adventurer's feet yielded. His shoes sank a few centimeters into the dirt.
In terms of physical strength, the Orc was able to match him perfectly. The two were locked in a lethal duel of strength.
The adventurer smirked slightly amidst his ragged breath.
"Your muscles are indeed strong, monster," he murmured sharply, "but your weapon is merely a piece of wood."
Channeling mana into his arm muscles, the adventurer activated [Tier C - Strong Slash].
With one focused push to forcefully parry, he delivered a sharp swing from bottom to top. His steel sword cut straight upward without resistance.
CRACK!
The sword blade cleaved that thick wooden mace. The sword glided smoothly, cleaving the Orc's left chest.
"Khrroook..." the Orc groaned, choking as its lungs were split open.
Green blood spurted heavily. The duel ended not because of a contest of muscle strength, but rather due to the far superior quality of human weaponry.
Right as the pressure began to weigh down and slow the breathing rhythm of the Gold adventurer parties, cheers exploded from the rear.
Fresh reinforcements arrived. Dozens of Silver-rank adventurers surged in like an unstoppable flood.