Infinite Classes in the Apocalypse

Chapter 86: Siege of the Citadel 4

The massive doors of the castle’s grand hall groaned as they parted open, the sound carrying across the entire battlefield like a warning of what’s to come.

From the darkness within, a figure stepped forward. Long robes embroidered with patterns that seemed to shift in the light trailed behind it.

Two guards followed closely behind, their armours darker and far heavier than that of the other Dark Elves.

The last thing to arrive was a sudden pressure.

It slammed into Damon like a wave. His breath caught for a moment, his muscles tightening at the suffocating presence. Around him, several of the weaker human fighters dropped to the ground, their knees buckling under the pressure. Others staggered, gasping for air as they clutched their fists in hopes of remaining standing.

Eve, who stood no more than a meter away from Damon, cursed under her breath, while Nyla, who was also close by, leaned onto her hammer, catching a ragged breath as she refused to falter.

For a moment, the battlefield turned silent. Both humans and the Dark Elves watched the arrival of the new figure. The first felt dread at the terrifying enemy before them, while the latter found newfound energy for battle upon seeing their leader.

Then the moment shattered.

The Dark Elves moved with a renewed strength as the battle roared back to life, far more desperate than before.

Countless bodies littered the ground around them, too many to count at a single glance. The casualties on both sides were terrifying.

Near the tunnel entrance, a handful of wounded human fighters were being dragged back, their bodies leaving long trails of blood. The twins stood firmly at the chokepoint, casting their shields and blocking enemies to finish off the injured.

But despite that desperate attempt to save every injured, most never made it far.

There was no mercy on either side. Both humans and the dark elves finished every kill they could.

Suddenly, the newcomers came to a halt.

"It has to be their leader," Damon noted.

It was an easy deduction, one that he didn’t have to dwell long on.

The enemy leader’s head tilted slightly, its movements slow and deliberate as though the chaos of the battle happening right before him was nothing more than a slight inconvenience. Its gaze drifted across the battlefield.

Theodore tore through the enemies like a beast, his axe rising and falling in brutal arcs, each strike cracking armours and breaking bones. There was no thought to his movement, no plan, just pure, brutal battle for survival.

Not far from him, Ivy moved with swift elegance, her flames striking enemies in precise and deadly bursts. She moved through the chaos with calculated ease, every one of her attacks buying another human a second longer to live.

Victor was everywhere at once.

One moment, he was parrying an incoming blade, and the next, his hand glowed as he healed a severed limb.

It was astonishing what kinds of injuries he was able to heal while other healers in the human ranks could only stop minor cuts.

Suddenly, the two guards beside the enemy leader vanished.

They moved like a blur, but before they could reach Damon or any other human...

CLANG!

The Dark Knight met them head-on. Its blade caught the first strike with a crack that carried beyond the castle walls. The second guard left no room for errors, its blade

Behind them, the leader finally moved.

With a slow, deliberate motion, it drew its sword. The blade curved like a crescent moon, its edge gleaming faintly as though it drank in the light around it.

Without wasting a second, the blade lifted and pointed directly at Damon, and with a quiet understanding between them, they both charged forward to meet one another.

Damon activated Berserker’s Fury right before the clash, and despite the sudden boost in all three of his stats, the impact reverberated through his arms with a terrifying force.

But before their blades could even recover from the initial clash, Damon’s chest suddenly split open, his armour cracking in a thin and precise diagonal angle as his blood sprayed through the gap.

Damon’s eyes widened at the sudden damage.

’I blocked it...’

His mind went into overdrive, his Absolute Comprehension activated as he tried to understand what happened, but before he could reach any concrete conclusion, the enemy pivoted to the side and raised its weapon for another strike.

CLANG!

Just like with the last strike, despite Damon blocking the horizontal strike, his armour split open, and another cut appeared across his oblique. But this time, more than just a pain, he caught a glimpse of something.

There was an invisible force that followed the dark elf’s movements. And when it struck, it followed with perfect precision, rendering Damon’s blocks completely useless.

This time, the dark elf leader retaliated quicker, its blade coming at Damon’s neck, but instead of simply blocking the attack, Damon deflected the blade and used his shadow manipulation to step behind the enemy, using his own blade to deal damage as he finally realised what exactly that force was.

’It’s manipulating wind in order to cause double damage...’

The enemy sidestepped before Damon could find its back, his blade only catching its shoulder before another attack came at him.

Damon stepped through the shadows once more, but before he could retaliate with a follow-up strike, a sudden scream tore through the entire battlefield.

He turned just in time to see Elias drop to the ground as one of the enemies pulled its blade out of his back. The middle-aged man’s eyes seemed to lock onto Damon for a moment before life faded away from them.

Only now did Damon catch a glimpse of the battle around him, with the casualties on the ground far outnumbering those who were still alive.

And with that single glance across the battlefield, one thing became terribly apparent to him. If the battle doesn’t end soon, there will be no one left alive at the end of it.