Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree-Chapter 435: Slaughter

Airships continuously dragged plumes of smoke as they crashed, plummeting onto the battlefield below, causing even greater chaos and casualties.

Flying creatures were also continually shot down with precision, reduced to minced flesh, or incinerated into cinders under powerful area magic.

The entire Sobbing Blood Plain, from sky to earth, was boiling over, with the sounds of slaughter rising and falling like tsunamis, deafeningly loud.

On the long battle line, every inch of land was burning, every breath carried the scent of blood.

This war had entered the most brutal and bloody full-scale attrition phase right from the start.

Duke and Vivian remained on the edge of the battlefield, watching over the perimeter of the plain, witnessing countless lives locked in combat ahead.

Even at such a distant edge of the battlefield, they still faced some dangers.

The sources of danger mostly came from some unknown range firepower, with residues of energy-type attacks occasionally raining down.

Duke’s Sand Guardian again played a critical role, as this automatic defense and counterattack ability was extremely suitable for the battlefield environment.

The situation on the battlefield was ever-changing, with various attacks flooding in from all directions, requiring a lot of attention just to defend while staying alert.

Duke found it much easier, able not only to protect himself but also to have the capacity to take care of Vivian.

They primarily focused on self-preservation, trying to stay away from the intense center of the battlefield.

Currently, there was nothing requiring their involvement, as no enemy had charged this far; the war had only just begun.

With relatively easy defense, Duke also had the opportunity to observe the situation on the battlefield.

For him, it was also a rare learning opportunity to gain more understanding of the plane wars.

In the area closest to Duke, there happened to be Green-skinned Orc troops engaged in combat.

Unlike most of the slave creatures he had seen before, which charged based on instinct and numbers, the actions of the Green-skinned Orcs were astonishingly disciplined and tactical.

Their advance was not a chaotic rush but organized in basic combat groups of about ten, maintaining proper distances between groups to allow mutual support, yet not so dense as to become targets for enemy area attacks.

"Waaagh!" A burlier orc let out a rough yet clear battle cry, the energy gun in his hand flickering with a dangerous glow.

With this roar, the orc warriors immediately took action. They didn’t charge headlong, but alternated covering each other, skillfully using any available cover on the battlefield.

It might be piles of slave creature corpses, the ruins of bombed-out fortifications, or even craters on the ground.

These Green-skinned Orcs wielded heavy energy guns on their shoulders with astounding power.

They did not shoot randomly but, under their captain’s command, executed precise volleys or efficient pinpoint shots.

Such precise and efficient firepower far exceeded the destructive capabilities of ordinary slave creatures.

The slaughter on the Sobbing Blood Plain, far from ceasing after the initial brutal clashes, burned more fiercely and enduringly as if fed by immense fuel.

The warfare fell into a cruel tug-of-war and attrition.

The Native Alliance Army demonstrated unexpected resilience and a do-or-die spirit, fully aware that the plain behind them was their homeland, and retreat was not an option.

Capitalizing on their numerous Awakeneds and the potential unleashed when pushed to the brink, they often managed to organize fierce counterattacks on localized fronts.

Duke saw a Level 2 Awakened, bloodied and seemingly exhausted, who, after all his comrades had perished, roared as he burned himself, transforming into a gigantic fire giant, incinerating a small squad of Green-skinned Orcs and dozens of slave creatures before finally dying. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Scenes like this occasionally played out on the long battle line.

The Native Alliance Army’s defense line resembled a resilient colloid, often managing to seal breaches with flesh and death-defying counterattacks after being deeply dented by the steel flood of the United Legion.

Corpses of soldiers from both sides piled up layer upon layer in front of contested positions, staining the dark red plain with deeper, viscous hues.

The ongoing high-intensity attrition also brought subtle but critical changes to the nature of the war.

On the United Legion’s side, although the slave creature swarm tactics continued, the command was evidently more focused on precise iron-and-fire strikes.

The batteries of magic-guided cannons no longer provided wide-ranging coverage but concentrated on pinpoint elimination of strongholds on the Native Alliance Army’s defense line, Awakened gathering zones, and subsequent troop assembly points.

Green-skinned Orcs, as units with relatively high intelligence and comprehension, were no longer casually thrown into the frontal meat grinder but served more as fire brigades and tin openers.

They often executed specific tactical missions, specifically targeting tough spots that suddenly appeared on the legion’s defensive line or rapidly sealing gaps resulting from the Native Alliance Army’s counterattacks.

Meanwhile, the Native Alliance Army began adopting more flexible and nimble tactics.

Realizing that matching strength and attrition against the Wizards’ side was unsustainable, they started organizing numerous assault teams comprised of elite Awakened and small units.

Using the chaos and dust on the battlefield as cover, they infiltrated the line, specializing in attacking the United Legion’s logistics nodes, isolated magic-guided cannon positions, and key reinforcement source nodes.

Duke’s squad encountered such infiltration raids several times, with the situation being quite dangerous.

As these raiding teams typically included at least one Level 2 Awakened, Duke could only avoid their sharp edges, refraining from direct engagement with the enemy Level 2 Awakened.’

He clearly understood his role; in such a battlefield, he was merely there to handle miscellaneous tasks, not as a main force.

Level 2 Awakened were naturally dealt with by stronger slave creatures or Wizards, which was beyond their mission scope.

Although most of these raids were repelled, they nonetheless caused significant trouble and losses for the legion, forcing the frontline troops to split forces to protect the flank and rear, further slowing the advance.

The relentless combat greatly altered the environment of the Sobbing Blood Plain.

The land was already unrecognizable, riddled with countless craters, scorched earth, broken weapons, and undistinguishable wreckage.

In some areas, repeated bombardment by strong energy magic even caused bizarre energy mutations, suffused with dangerous radioactive dust or chaotic energy currents, where unwary low-level slave creatures might spontaneously combust or melt.

Corpses piled up like mountains, and despite both sides’ efforts to clear them, the speed could not match the rate of their creation.

During lulls in combat, the intense stench of decay was suffocating, attracting numerous scavenger creatures native to this plane, who lingered at the battleground’s edge, awaiting a feast.