Although they had decided to use the ice road plan, there were still many points worth discussing. Plans could never keep up with changes, and only by making every possible preparation in advance could they ensure they would not be defeated. After another detailed discussion, they finally decided to set out.
"Do you think it'll work?" Unas asked Gordon as they emerged from the conference hall.
"Whether it works or not, it's better than being stuck in a stalemate," Gordon said, seemingly doubtful. "If we drag this out any longer, it'll be even harder to attack once it gets dark. We have to at least try."
"At least we don't have to charge in first this time." At the meeting, it had been decided that Pulhart's force would lead the attack, while the vanguard only had to follow at the very rear and go through the motions.
"The vanguard lost seven men. Our losses were heavy, and morale has plummeted. There's little chance we'll be sent out in front again." Gordon sighed, his tone carrying an indescribable sense of loss. Unas, however, found this war fanatic a little hard to understand.
The various forces soon broke camp and headed for the location Pulhart had indicated. The vanguard set out at the very rear of the column.
The destination was not far away. After walking south along the lakeshore for half an hour, they reached the designated spot. Five hundred meters really was a short distance; cavalry could reach the island in a single charge, provided there was a thick, level road beneath them.
The lake was far from calm. Irregular ripples spread across its surface, as though countless large fish were darting about in the water. Needless to say, those were certainly not fish. The Undead beneath the water had followed the human army here, ready at any moment to devour any humans who dared cross.
They chose a reasonably level stretch of shore, where Angela, Du'an and their assistants had already taken up their positions. Du'an had drawn a complex circular Magic Circle on the ground, and Angela stood at its center. All the mages were softly chanting melodious incantations.
The mages' position was surrounded by a tight ring of troops. Their spellcasting could not be disturbed, and Tyrosus personally stood at the front, guarding against a possible attack.
A full quarter of an hour passed before a blast of cold suddenly erupted from the Magic Circle. The enormous gem on Angela's staff radiated a brilliant violet light, and the soldiers standing in a tight ring around them could not help shivering.
A layer of white frost instantly spread across a broad expanse of water. Cracking sounds came from the lake as large sheets of water began to freeze, but this was only a thin layer of floating ice and was not worth a damn.
Angela's chanting suddenly grew louder. As she completed the final note, a pale blue mist gushed from her staff.
The swirling column of blue vapor shot into the lake like a drill, then rapidly spread forward.
With a tremendous cracking, a sheet of ice a full ten meters wide rose from the water, reaching nearly a meter above the surface. Angela continued pouring blue vapor into it, and the ice extended rapidly forward.
This ice was no longer floating on the surface. It had frozen all the way down to the lakebed, dividing the water on either side like a dam. Everyone could see that the mages were not making a floating ice bridge, but building a sturdy ice causeway!
At that moment, the sky darkened, and someone shouted, "Enemy attack!"
Unas looked up and saw a pitch-black vortex suddenly appear high in the sky. A house-sized meteor burning with green flames shot out of it. Tiny fragments of green fire constantly broke away from the meteor, forming a Rain of Fire that covered the entire army. Judging by its trajectory, the meteor was headed straight for the Magic Circle.
At the same time, the water near the shore began churning violently. The Undead looked ready to attack from the water, while the insect swarm on the island in the middle of the lake stirred into an uproar at a few shrieked commands.
The Dreadlord Bessarius could finally restrain itself no longer. It launched an all-out attack to stop the spell from being completed, going so far as to use its ultimate skill—summoning an Infernal.
The Argent Dawn had long been prepared for this. Holy Light barriers of all sizes sprang up rapidly. Nearly every officer of knight rank or above had been issued White Obsidian inscribed with a Holy Light Magic Circle, and their assigned areas had been divided up in advance so that the barriers could protect every soldier in the force.
The barriers blocked the rain of Fel fire, but Holy Light barriers could not defend against physical attacks. The countless fragments of rock raining down still had considerable destructive power and caused some chaos among the troops.
The vanguard had no such trouble. They were at the very rear, and after Gordon raised a barrier, only a few small stones came their way.
The mages were at the center of the attack, but in addition to the golden barrier personally raised by Tyrosus, which shone more brightly than anything else on the field, a violet shield also covered them—the Violet Barrier. It deflected the dense barrage of falling stones, and there were naturally others to deal with the largest meteor, or rather, the Infernal.
Just as the Infernal was about to crash into the Violet Barrier, a figure radiating dazzling golden light leaped out of the crowd. A pair of enormous wings of light spread from his back, and he held a three-meter-wide siege shield in both hands. Like a cannonball, he slammed into the falling Infernal from the side.
With a tremendous crash, the siege shield shattered, and the violent impact changed the Infernal's trajectory. It plunged into the water at an angle with a splash, sending up vast clouds of white steam. Angela seized the opportunity to divert her attention and release a blast of freezing air, sealing the demon completely in ice at the bottom of the lake.
After gliding some distance on the wings of light, the figure also fell into the crowd.
The Dreadlord's spell had failed completely. Seeing that nothing could be done, Bessarius hurriedly ordered the restless Undead beneath the water and the insect swarm on the island to retreat. It now realized that these enemies would not be so easy to deal with, and could not help growing somewhat furious and frustrated.
It had thought the water Archmage merely intended to cast another spell to scatter the Undead beneath the water, so it had ordered them into a tight formation. It had not expected frost magic instead. If the ice causeway formed, the large force of Undead, slow-moving underwater and unable to scatter in time, would be sealed in the ice. But now it seemed powerless to stop it.
Fortunately, an ice road only ten meters wide would not be so easy to cross, and it still held the advantage of terrain.
The soldiers unfortunate enough to be struck by falling stones had suffered only minor injuries, and were quickly healed by the Paladins' and Priests' Holy Light. The only person seriously injured was the warrior who had collided with the Infernal in midair. As soon as he landed, several healing Priests hurried over to him.
With no more interference, Angela increased her mana output. The Magic Circle beneath her feet multiplied the Water Elemental energy she could draw upon several times over, and the spiraling column of blue vapor continued extending forward until it reached the island in the middle of the lake.
The column did not stop there. It made a ninety-degree turn and shot straight up into the sky, reaching the heavens like a slender blue tower standing on the island.
Snow began falling on the island. Vast numbers of insects were frozen to death outright, while even more fled in every direction. The demon's shrieks rang out again and again, but few insects turned back. Their instincts had now overcome their demonic master's commands.
Meanwhile, the long white passage across the lake to its center was complete. In the latter half of the ice causeway, countless Undead soldiers beneath the water had been frozen directly into the ice. The water on both sides of the causeway had also frozen into thick sheets, temporarily sealing away the entire Undead army beneath it.
Amid the cheers of the entire army, a gratified smile appeared on Angela's weary face. "I didn't expect such a pleasant surprise. The Undead underwater were actually all packed together."
Du'an nodded and gave her a slight bow, then vanished in a flash of green light with two of his subordinates. His mana was nearly exhausted and his objective had been achieved, so he would not remain on the dangerous battlefield and had teleported back to the monastery early. He had also tried to persuade Angela to return with him, but had clearly failed.
Mages' lives were precious, and at some point a rule of war had emerged: mages on the battlefield had the right to decide for themselves whether to advance or retreat. But Angela was clearly not the sort to shrink back in battle. She wanted to wait until the moment of victory or defeat.
The miracle the mages had created left everyone utterly astonished. Unas stared in amazement as well, and a joke that circulated in the game suddenly popped into his head: If the almighty mages aren't nerfed, Warcraft is doomed!