The abyssal guard was fierce and powerful. He was nimble and skilled at using his sword despite being a demon.
The abyssal guard let out a raging roar and used his skills. It's whole body was engulfed in massive hell fire. Each time the elite demon swung his flaming sword, the solar knights had to dodge.
With the additional strength borrowed from Azralion's blood, no one here can win against the abyssal guard one on one. Even Leanora who was amplified by the Solar Core Formation could only fight him evenly.
Still there were many solar knights present. The abyssal guard was greatly outnumbered even with the help of his new powers. He could barely hold on.
"Chance!"
Leanora arrived behind the abyssal guard. She raised her sword to attack but before her attack landed, a hellhound launched itself onto her.
"Not again!"
Leanora groaned in annoyance as she got pushed down. She furiously thrust her sword into the hellhound's body without much efforts and got up. The low tier demons were no threat to Leanora.
However there were a lot of them and enough to distract her. The low tier demons were not here to kill the solar knights but to support the abyssal guard. They were throwing themselves at the solar knights like moths jumping into the flame.
Every living beings had the will to survive. Even most of the demons and demonic creatures were the same. However Azralion's control over the demons was absolute.
Adrosiean had given sufficient equipments and power to made sure that no demons could break free from Azralion's control. Thus, these demons were diving headlong into their deaths whether they were willing or not.
Because of the demons and corrupted beasts obstructing them nonstop, the solar knights cannot kill the abyssal guard quickly.
The abyssal guard was sacrificing the demons to stall for time. If not for that, the solar knights would had already slain him long ago.
In another battlefield, without the solar knights, the vanguard army was taking quite a beating from the demonic army.
Although the falcon knights were temporarily holding in their place, the normal soldiers were still dying in a rapid rate while more and more demons and corrupted beasts were continuously pouring out of the darkness of the forest waves after waves.
The vanguard army did not find a single demon on their way. However, now there were already several thousands of them and more were still keep coming in large waves. Leanora had no time to deduce about anything and could only focus on fighting.
Currently, the situation seemed like a deadlock. But the reality was that the alliance army was without any reinforcements while the demonic army had endless numbers of demons.
"We have to destroy that blood red crystal! It is the source of this demon's power. I will restrain him. You guys quickly go and destroy it."
Leanora ordered the solar knights. Although the abyssal guard had became very powerful, she was also a top elite of the strongest empire on the continent.
Furthermore, she had several high grade equipments given by the Solarstras Empire. To guarantee her safety, the Solarstras Empire even gave her a valuable magic item from the empire's treasury before she was sent out.
With such support from the Solarstras Empire, even if she could not obtain victory, Leanora was confident that she could stall the abyssal guard for quite some times.
The solar knights acknowledged. They ignored the abyssal guard and directly went towards the blood crystal. Seeing it, the abyssal guard tried to block them.
"Your opponent is me!"
Leanora launched series of attacks towards the abyssal guard. The abyssal guard cannot chase after the solar knights anymore and forced to fight Leanora.
The two's swords clashed. Without the other solar knights, the Solar Core Formation was already cancelled and Leanora's strength was no longer amplified.
Leanora was disadvantage in all aspects against the abyssal guard. She could only block against the abyssal guard's attacks most of the time without being able to counterattack. But the abyssal guard also cannot kill her in a short time.
The abyssal guard roared loudly. Hearing his roar, dozens of demons and corrupted beasts rushed out to attack the solar knights. They disregarded their own lives and attacked the solar knights in a frenzied state. However it was still futile as the solar knights killed their way towards the blood crystal.
After some efforts, a young solar knight swung his sword and shattered the defenseless red crystal.
"We did it!"
The solar knights cheered. Leanora's eyes brightened. She felt that the abyssal guard's strength was diminishing in a rapid rate. Two solar knights leaped towards the abyssal guard from behind and plunged their swords into it's body.
The abyssal guard was caught off guard and let out a painful roar. Leanora took the chance and thrust her sword into the abyssal guard's chest.
"Break!"
With a twist of her sword, Leanora activated her skill. The abyssal guard's body was ignited by a bright pillar of light as he lost his life without leaving a proper corpse.
With the death of their commander who was controlling them, the low tier demons and corrupted beasts instinctively ran away and disappeared into the forest. Loud cheers and celebrations could be heard from the soldiers.
However Leanora frowned deeply. She knew something was definitely wrong. The other solar knights also had solemn expressions. This was a victory for the alliance army. They had successfully slain the enemy commander and destroyed the source of the corruption. Or so they thought.
"Everything is in place. It is time to make my move."
At the same time, deep inside the crimson forest, Azralion's eyes flashed with a sinister light. He stood up from his throne and walked out of his demonic castle. Hundreds of abyssal guards followed behind him.
Back to the battlefield, despite destroying the blood crystal and killing the demon commander, the toxic fog was still there. In fact the fog seemed to be becoming thicker around them.
"The fog is still intensifying. What is going on? Wait, this can't be!"
Leanora sensed something but she was too late. Just before the solar knights could figure out the abnormality, the whole demonic altar suddenly lit up with eerie light and detonated with a loud explosion. The solar knights who were at the middle of the demonic altar were completely caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.
It was too sudden and even Leanora barely had time to react. Thick poisonous fog gushed out violently with the explosion as it quickly spread towards the surroundings.
"This is a trap!"
Leanora and the solar knights had no time to get shocked and quickly back away. The slower soldiers and the solar knights who got their legs injured from the explosion were not so lucky. They cannot run fast enough and left behind in the dark fog.
Painful screams could be heard from the dark fog. The toxin from the explosion very different from before and extremely potent even for the solar knights. The deaths of normal soldiers were no problem as a whole for an empire. However, the solar knights were valuable elites.
Leanora gritted her teeth as she watched these elites die pitifully under her leadership. But there was nothing she could do to save them. Even she had barely escaped from her death. More than half of the solar knights had perished under the explolsion while the rest suffered serious injuries.
The alliance army quickly back away from the altar ruins before the poisonous fog engulfed them. Everything had happened way too abruptly.
"Me... Meteorites!!!"
Before the human soldiers could take a breather, a horrified shout could be heard. Leanora's expression changed as she raised her head to look up. Her pupils shrank in shock and terror. Dozens of huge flaming orbs were approaching the vanguard army rapidly and becoming bigger in her sight. Leanora shouted in a panic.
"Everyone, defend yourselves!"
"Solar Guard!"
Leanora yelled as she activated her skills in a hurry. Massive fiery orbs rained down from the sky like meteors and bombarded the alliance army. These were not meteorites but fireballs that were shot out from afar by Azralion using the legendary equipment, Blazing Inferno.
Because of the enhancement from the legendary grade equipment, Azralion's flame related attacks were extremely powerful. With chains of massive explosions, the human soldiers were completely helpless and burned into ashes without being able to put up any resistance.
Furthermore, the alliance army was in a tight defensive formation. With such a formation, the troops cannot move freely to dodge. Their formation had became their greatest weakness. They were like sitting ducks and easy targets for Azralion's bombardments.
The vanguard army went into a frenzy and started to run around aimlessly in disarray under the countless explosions. The formation crumbled and several unlucky soldiers were even killed during the stampede by their own panicking comrades.
The remaining solar knights and falcon knights tried to calm the situation down but their efforts showed no avail. Moreover, the elite knights themselves were having a hard time defending against the devastating impacts.
Leanora had an ugly expression. She knew that the vanguard army had fallen into a deadly trap.
The chains of events were all calculated by Azralion from start to finish. Azralion had made the whole vanguard army helpless without even showing himself.