Taking Command

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The Repeating Crossbow bolts flew toward them, only to be blocked by the Heavy Armor Demon Soldiers in front of the Corroders, who raised their tower shields.

The few bolts that slipped through struck the Corroders, raising only a handful of tiny sparks without even piercing their shells.

"Leon! Is your Compound Bow just a stick for the fire?!" Lin Mo cursed furiously from his perch in the tree.

"Take those disgusting things out already!"

"I can't!"

For the first time, Leon's voice was full of anxiety and helplessness.

"Damn it! Their tower shields... we can't shoot through them!"

Lin Mo focused his gaze, and his heart sank.

Those Tower-Shield Demon Soldiers had used some foul-smelling slime to plaster the corpses of their slain comrades onto their tower shields, layer upon layer.

The armor-piercing arrows fired from the Compound Bows could easily penetrate the corpses, but doing so drained their kinetic energy, leaving them lodged firmly in the heavy tower shields.

Had the Demon Clan fitted itself with a second layer of armor?

The Enchanted Compound Bows were no longer effective!

Just then, the Corroders' second volley came screaming toward them.

This time, their target was no longer the defensive line on the ground, but the greatest threat to them-the elven sharpshooters in the canopy!

A dark green beam precisely severed a thick branch beside Leon.

The branch, sturdy enough to support several elves, broke and fell without a sound.

The two sharpshooters on it vanished into the demonic tide below before they could even scream, torn to pieces in an instant.

The tide of battle had turned.

The firepower advantage the elves had gained with their new weapons was laughably fragile against these mobile artillery platforms clad in "corpse armor."

"No, we have to charge!"

Watching the defensive line melt away bit by bit and her people die one after another, Fendona clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on the Moonlight Staff, ready to lead the charge herself.

"Charge where?!"

A figure slid down from the tree like lightning. Lin Mo grabbed her arm with enough force to make her stumble.

"You're the commander now, not a fucking berserker!"

"If you charge out there, what happens to everyone behind you? Is your whole tribe supposed to die with you?!"

"Then tell me what to do!" Fendona's eyes were bloodshot with desperation. She pointed at the Corroders in the distance, still spewing beams of death, her voice trembling.

"If this keeps up, we'll all die! Every second we waste, my people..."

Lin Mo did not answer.

He stared fixedly at the nauseating Corroders, his mind racing.

He had just noticed a detail.

After the Corroders fired their beams, the fleshy growths on their backs visibly shriveled. They needed about ten seconds to swell up again and "recharge."

And at that moment, the Tower-Shield Demon Soldiers protecting them would lower their shields slightly to adjust their stance.

An extremely brief opening between attacks.

That's the boss's post-attack recovery window!

"I've got it!"

"What?" Fendona stared at him blankly.

"We've got a play!" Lin Mo gripped Fendona's shoulders with both hands, his words coming as fast as a burst of gunfire.

"Follow my orders!"

"All crossbowmen, forget the artillery! Drive back every grunt charging at the front! Don't let a single one through!"

"Then gather all your elven earth mages! Have them wait for my signal!"

"Earth magic?" Fendona froze.

"That does very little damage to the Demon Clan..."

"Don't ask!" Lin Mo radiated an authority stronger than ever before.

"If you have to ask, it's The Art of War!"

His overbearing confidence, that absolute certainty that following his lead could not go wrong, actually made Fendona nod instinctively.

It was a desperate gamble, but they had to try!

Lin Mo spun around and roared toward the mages' position behind the defensive line with all his strength.

"All earth mages! Follow my command!"

"Get your best tricks ready! Earth Rift, Quicksand Trap, Earthspike Forest-whatever makes their lives hell!"

"Target the ground beneath those giant fleshy growths!"

Fendona immediately repeated and amplified his orders. Though thoroughly confused, the mages began chanting at once.

Brownish-yellow light, the color of the earth element, lit up the tips of their staffs.

Lin Mo's eyes remained locked on the distance, like a leopard about to pounce on its prey.

The growths on the Corroders' backs were about to finish charging for the third time!

"Now!"

Lin Mo swept his hand down and roared himself hoarse.

"Cast!"

"Rip the ground out from under them!"

Light burst from the magic staffs.

In an instant, the distant Demon Clan formation descended into chaos.

Beneath the Corroders, some patches of ground collapsed into deep pits, others heaved into mounds, and still others erupted with sharp earth spikes. Everything shook so violently that they could barely stay upright!

"Aaargh-!!!"

The Tower-Shield Demon Soldiers adjusting their stances instantly toppled and staggered in every direction. Countless deadly gaps opened in their formerly seamless shield wall!

The Corroders, which had just finished charging and were preparing to fire, were left utterly disoriented by this sudden assault from the terrain itself.

The next volley of corrosive beams went wildly off course. Several blasted their own allies square in the face, filling the Demon Clan ranks with howls as they burned.

This moment of chaos was exactly what Lin Mo had been waiting for!

He threw back his head and howled toward the canopy like a wolf.

"Leon!"

"What are you standing around for?!"

"Fucking shoot!!!"

Leon, who already had his bow drawn and ready, roared.

"Sharpshooters, ready! Target the Corroders!"

"Enchant your arrows with Explosion!"

"Fire!!!"

"Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!"

The deep, powerful twangs of bowstrings blended together as more than five hundred arrows bearing golden Explosion runes became more than five hundred streaks of death, tearing through the air!

The arrows passed unerringly through the enormous gaps the unsteady Tower-Shield Demon Soldiers had left exposed!

An arrow bearing an Explosion rune struck precisely behind the knee of a Tower-Shield Demon Soldier before it could cover the spot.

Boom!

With a muffled blast, the monster, over three meters tall, let out a piercing howl. Half its thigh and its knee burst into a spray of mangled flesh.

With its support gone, it crashed to its knees and pitched forward uncontrollably, fully exposing the "charging" Corroder behind it.

"Now!" Leon's eyes flashed, and the arrow he had held at full draw shot from his bow.

The arrow tore through the air and struck the wildly swelling green growth on the Corroder's back with absolute precision.

Splat-boom!!!

The growth exploded.

It looked like a giant watermelon filled with rotten entrails being blown apart in an instant.

Green slime sprayed in every direction like acid rain, splashing across the faces of all the Tower-Shield Demon Soldiers protecting it.

"Screee-aaaargh!!"

The demon soldiers shrieked as their own weapon ate away at them, rolling on the ground in agony. The impenetrable shield wall began collapsing from within.