The Centaur rabble and the allied army had slaughtered each other until blood flowed like rivers. The allied army had temporarily fallen into a disadvantage and suffered heavy casualties, but the Centaurs had not escaped unscathed either. Between those who had fled and those who had died, there were already five or six thousand casualties.
If the stalemate continued, the allied army still had a chance to turn defeat into victory. The Centaur rabble was only a force hastily scraped together, while the allied army consisted of professional troops who had trained year-round.
Although Centaurs could adapt to this kind of large-scale war through instinct and nature, if their losses grew too great, the Centaur forces would very likely collapse and flee across the board.
But that depended on whether the allied army could hold out until then. The Thunder Tribe had not come merely to watch the show. They began to move!
The Centaur Chieftain led his guards in organizing the troops into formation and slowly pressing forward, preparing to completely crush the already disadvantaged allied army.
Having learned from last time, when a lack of high-end fighters had caused his troops to collapse, the Centaur Chieftain had brought all the Thunder Tribe's top combatants this time: his deputy, the Centaur Commander, and eight Centaur Royal Guards.
The Centaur Royal Guards were all powerful warriors selected from tens of thousands of Centaurs. Their strength was roughly comparable to the Centaur leaders Harrot had encountered that day. Even Transcendent Knights on the allied side would be utterly outmatched by them.
His deputy, the Centaur Commander, was even more formidable. He was a Legendary Expert who had failed in a struggle to seize leadership of another territory.
He had been severely wounded after failing to claim the position of chieftain, and his strength had greatly declined. Even so, he still possessed half the combat power he had at his peak. With his help, the Centaur Chieftain had full confidence in defeating the human Legendary Expert he had encountered last time.
Marquis Prague and Grand Duke Lance noticed the Thunder Tribe's movements. Aside from the nearly ten thousand even more powerful Centaur troops, the ten powerful warriors at their head also worried them.
Those eight Centaur Royal Guards had extraordinary presences. Even ordinary Bloodline Nobles would likely struggle to withstand them. As for that deputy, whose build was comparable to the Centaur Chieftain's, even the two of them felt pressure from him. Even if he was not at the Legendary Level, he could not be far from it.
Marquis Prague said uneasily, "This is bad. The allied army is already on the verge of collapse. If these Centaurs charge in, we definitely won't be able to stop them! We have to think of something!"
Grand Duke Lance narrowed his eyes and said gravely, "We'll do our utmost. Follow the original plan and lure the Centaur Chieftain into a kill zone. We'll see whether losing their leader can make them scatter. There is nothing else we can do. We can only rely on the Archmage!"
"But what if even the Archmage can't do anything?" Marquis Prague asked, staring straight into Grand Duke Lance's eyes. He was dissatisfied with that answer. An Archmage was not a god, and might not be able to fight ten thousand enemies alone. Defeating an army of more than ten thousand Centaurs by himself was simply too difficult.
"Then there truly is nothing we can do. We can only retreat. With your strength and mine, it shouldn't be a problem to carve out a path and escort a small number of people to safety!" Grand Duke Lance lowered his head and began wiping the longsword in his hand, avoiding Marquis Prague's gaze.
Seeing Grand Duke Lance being so pessimistic, Marquis Prague wanted to say something, but held it back. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly.
Grand Duke Lance had fought Orcs year-round and had suffered more defeats than victories. He had long grown used to this sense of helplessness. Even Legendary Experts could not alter the course of a battle through individual strength alone. He understood that principle better than anyone.
Marquis Prague, meanwhile, had only advanced to the Legendary Level a few years ago. He had happened to do so just as the Orcs withdrew, and had hardly encountered any problem he could not solve.
Whether it was magical beast invasions or foreign enemies, he could settle everything with a good beating. But after coming east to open up new lands, he had suffered setback after setback, and for a time, he found it hard to accept.
At this moment, the Centaur Chieftain was already leading the Thunder Tribe's army toward the battlefield. Witnessing this change, the center and right-wing troops, which had barely been holding on, instantly fell into disarray.
Although the Thunder Tribe's Centaur forces did not have particularly refined military training either, they could at least obey the Centaur Chieftain's command. With a clear objective, they advanced together toward the central army where Marquis Prague was stationed!
In the Centaur Chieftain's eyes, the most important thing in defeating an enemy was defeating its leader. The leader of these humans had to be that Legendary Expert.
Marquis Prague had not concealed his aura, so the Centaur Chieftain sensed him from far away. However, Grand Duke Lance had concealed his aura in order to carry out the ambush plan, so the Centaur Chieftain did not notice him.
The Thunder Tribe's Centaurs were a cut above ordinary Centaurs in both strength and size. Under the Centaur Chieftain's leadership, they could barely be considered orderly.
The psychological blow dealt to the allied army by ten thousand orderly, intelligent Centaurs pressing down on them was devastating. They were already at a disadvantage, and now the enemy was increasing the pressure of its assault. Aside from the Dwarf Legion, which could still steady itself, even Marquis Prague's elite troops were beginning to despair.
As the Thunder Tribe drew closer, the allied army's morale had fallen to rock bottom. Human wails and Centaur roars filled the battlefield. Many soldiers had already begun fleeing, and even nobles and Transcendent Knights were starting to suffer casualties.
The Thunder Tribe's Centaurs laughed loudly. To them, the coming battle would be no different from sweeping away garbage.
Just as this army of ten thousand Centaurs was about to join the slaughter of the allied army—
Night fell! It was originally noon, but the bright surroundings suddenly darkened!
Other than the left side of the battlefield, where both sides had completely gone red-eyed and become locked in chaotic melee, humans and Centaurs everywhere else were stunned by the strange sight and raised their heads to look at the sky.
Directly above the battlefield, the sky was covered by thick clouds. Not even a sliver of sunlight could pass through, and the faint light that remained came from an extremely distant place.
Even on the left side of the battlefield, where everyone had gone bloodthirsty, many Centaurs and humans began to stop fighting. As the sounds of killing and shouting across the battlefield weakened, an inexplicable silence seemed to descend.
"It's the Archmage! Archmage Iltiran!" Some sharp-eyed people spotted a white-bearded elf floating high in the sky.
Harrot noticed him as well. Marcus's words echoed in his mind: "He can use several types of magic at the level of natural disasters." The scene before him truly lived up to the description of "natural-disaster level."
The black clouds did not last long. They were merely the prelude to the spell. Suddenly, a great hole opened in the center of the clouds, and an enormous meteor dozens of meters in diameter came crashing down.
Its target was the very center of the Thunder Tribe's forces!
The entire battlefield instantly erupted. Both Centaurs and humans began shouting and fleeing in panic. Even though they knew the meteor was not aimed at them, the human soldiers still fled into the distance in terror.
Harrot was utterly shocked. A meteor! This is freaking insane!
Harrot did not have time to complain. He hurriedly warned everyone, "Find cover, get down, and cover your ears!" Although they were several kilometers away from the meteor, they would still be affected to some extent!
The meteor rubbed violently against the air and became a dazzling fireball. It hurtled from a height of a thousand meters toward the ground at terrifying speed. The Centaurs panicked, and the Thunder Tribe's army descended into complete chaos. More than ten thousand of them crowded together and shouted, utterly losing all order.
Before they could scatter and flee, the meteor violently smashed into the center of their army.
"BOOM!!!"
The impact between the meteor and the ground produced a terrifying explosion. The blast engulfed an area hundreds of meters wide, and the fire it threw up illuminated the entire battlefield.
Smoke and dust instantly covered the entire battlefield, while the earth shook violently. Humans and Centaurs who were even slightly closer were thrown to the ground, blood streaming from their ears as the deafening impact and explosion ruptured their eardrums.
The Thunder Tribe suffered appalling casualties. The meteor had struck directly in the center of their forces. Although the Centaur troops were relatively spread out, the explosion spanning hundreds of meters still directly claimed the lives of over a thousand Centaurs. The rest were severely affected and badly injured.
A massive crater a hundred meters across was left in the ground. The Centaur corpses had long since been completely incinerated and vanished in the extreme heat. Only outside the crater could fragments of Centaur bodies killed by the explosion's aftershock be seen.
The Thunder Tribe, the longtime overlord of this territory, the Thunder Tribe that had even defeated Orcs, suffered a devastating blow in a single instant.
Yet what drove the Centaurs further into despair was that the magic continued. After the massive meteor fell, large swarms of smaller meteors several meters in diameter began raining down one after another.
Although the smaller meteors lacked that world-ending momentum, their power was still far beyond what these Centaurs could withstand. Meteors continued to fall and explode, taking Centaur lives.
The other Centaurs, entangled in battle with the humans, were not attacked by the meteors. But witnessing that horrifying sight, their morale was just as shattered. This terrifying magic, like a natural disaster, had completely crushed their spirits.
Although none of the Centaurs understood where the meteors had come from, the instinctive terror in their bodies made them forget about killing the invaders before them. They began fleeing the battlefield as though escaping a disaster.
"These meteors are from our ally, the elven Archmage! With the Archmage's help, these mere Centaurs are nothing!"
The human nobles and Knights loudly encouraged their soldiers, reorganizing the forces that had been on the verge of falling apart.
Marquis Prague and Grand Duke Lance looked delighted, but they were also shocked. They were both at the Legendary Level, so how could the gap be this enormous?
The two did not dwell too much on the difference between their strength and the Archmage's. In any case, humans were unlikely to go to war with elves, and the Archmage was also a great being who had once helped humans establish their kingdom.
"We won! We've won this battle!" Marquis Prague said excitedly. The Centaur rabble was fleeing across the board, while the Thunder Tribe had been badly crippled. The Archmage's legendary magic had completely turned the tide!
"Prepare men to hunt down the Centaurs. The ordinary rabble can be spared, but those few with exceptional strength must be killed! Especially the two at the Legendary Level!" Besides providing the Legendary Expert hearts promised to the Archmage as payment, they themselves had no desire to let a tiger return to the mountains.
Meteors several meters in diameter continued raining down. Explosions and flames filled the Thunder Tribe's position. It was a hellish scene as Centaurs cried, screamed, and fled in every direction.
The Centaur Chieftain looked up at the meteors falling from the sky, at Archmage Iltiran floating in the air and continuously casting magic, at the allied army watching him like tigers ready to pounce, and at the Centaur troops fleeing everywhere with horrific casualties. He did not choose to run. Instead, he tightened his grip on his heavy axe and prepared to fight!
Before you continue