Although the Piercing Explosive Lance was a bizarre weapon, it performed impressively in the game!
Players had no fear of death, and their minds remained perfectly clear, allowing them to unleash its true power.
With their extensive aerial combat experience, the Gryphon Riders were far more skilled at using the Piercing Explosive Lance than the players.
They shouted as they closed in on the Red Dragons, then seized their Piercing Explosive Lances and thrust them in hard.
Then they flew away through the flames and smoke of the explosions, laughing triumphantly.
"Hahaha, this thing really packs a punch!"
"So cool! Now this is how real men fight!"
Each Gryphon Rider carried three Piercing Explosive Lances.
They took turns attacking, using these bizarre weapons that looked every bit like toilet plungers to leave scar after scar on the Red Dragons.
Beneath the scorched-through scales, large patches of the Red Dragons' flesh had been charred by the searing heat of the metal jets.
These wounds were not fatal, but they inflicted tremendous pain on the Red Dragons.
They were like prisoners in ancient times being branded with hot irons by guards.
The difference was that they were not bound and could still resist this brutality.
But the Gryphon Riders torturing them flew faster and outnumbered them.
They certainly could not catch their tormentors, and dodging was difficult too.
The Gryphon Riders circling nearby could launch an attack at any moment.
Whenever they saw a Gryphon Rider approaching with ill intent, the suffering Red Dragons instinctively tried to dodge.
But if they swerved too far, they would expose their Orc handlers, who would then be killed by the Gryphon Riders' magical hammers.
For their own safety, the Orc handlers naturally refused to let their living shields stray too far.
That doomed the Red Dragons to continued suffering.
The Gryphon Riders had mastered the use of the Piercing Explosive Lance.
In the end, they used all three of the Piercing Explosive Lances they carried on the flock of Red Dragons.
Aside from the Orc handlers' mounts, most of the other Red Dragons enjoyed more than ten hits apiece.
Although these flesh wounds could not kill them, their effects were far from negligible!
Driven by the pain, many of the Red Dragons were already on the verge of madness.
Without the Orc handlers straining to control them, they would likely have thrown caution to the wind and fought the Gryphon Riders to the death.
The Red Dragons' attention was entirely focused on the Gryphon Riders.
The battle unfolding on the ground no longer had anything to do with them.
Watching the aerial battle through the Mage's Eye, Herad was thankful he had prepared a backup plan.
Had the Red Dragons really launched a surprise attack under cover of the morning mist, this battle would have been very difficult to win!
Still, preparing two contingencies-or even more-had always been his way of doing things.
At that moment, the battle on the ground was locked in a grueling stalemate.
The Orcs Fleet's surprise attack under cover of the morning mist had been highly successful.
By the time the High Elf Rangers realized something was wrong, the Orcs Fleet was only two or three hundred meters from the harbor.
At that distance, there was no chance of stopping them from reaching shore.
Huge shadows surged into the harbor and slammed into the docks.
Then numerous hulking figures leaped down from those huge shadows.
As those hulking figures approached, the Allied Forces' melee troops moved up to meet them.
The defensive position closest to the harbor quickly became a brutal meat grinder.
Hampered by the morning mist, the Human Musketeer units were effectively rendered useless.
Their aim was mediocre, and they lacked the nerve to move close to their targets and fire.
With visibility no greater than ten meters, the situation truly tested a shooter's nerves!
Only the battle-hardened High Elf Rangers could continue calmly shooting at the enemy.
The Orc Warriors assaulting the Allied Forces' melee troops fully displayed their savagery and bloodlust.
Drinking demon blood had profoundly affected these Orc Warriors' minds.
Once they entered combat, their rage surged rapidly, naturally giving their fighting strength a tremendous boost.
Although that advantage was considerable, their excessively erratic temperaments were hardly a good thing.
Quite a few Orc Warriors became so crazed with killing that they charged into the human infantry's formations, only to be surrounded and killed on the spot.
Demon blood merely made their attacks more savage; it did not make them immortal.
When several spears and shortswords stabbed into them, these green-faced, tusked Orc Warriors died very promptly indeed!
Still, their reckless charges put enormous pressure on the human infantry.
The frenzied swings of their great axes before they died could send human infantrymen flying backward.
Fortunately, all the human infantry wore heavy plate armor.
They would not be chopped in half by a single axe blow.
Even so, the human infantry still suffered considerable casualties!
Those sent flying backward were certain to suffer grievous injuries.
The unlucky ones died on the spot before a Priest could save them.
Every Orc Warrior who launched a suicidal charge shook that seemingly impregnable defensive line with their own death and those of their enemies.
The five First-Generation Paladins were evenly spaced along the defensive line, serving as frontline commanders and emergency responders.
Whenever a nearby section of the line faltered, they moved over and quelled the chaos with their great hammers.
Their hammers, blazing with golden light, could easily send the frenzied Orc Warriors flying or smash them flat.
It was a perfect reversal of how the Orc Warriors had crushed the human infantry.
But the Orc Warriors could not break through the First-Generation Paladins' defenses.
Their glittering golden armor looked utterly gaudy.
Yet reinforced by holy energy, its defensive power was astonishing!
The Orc Warriors' great axes struck it with all their strength without producing so much as a spark.
Holy energy neutralized and deflected the axe blows, making that savage strength seem as though it had been unleashed into empty air.
The golden hammers swung by the First-Generation Paladins, however, usually killed in a single blow.
This was a completely one-sided slaughter!
Even Orc Warriors who had achieved considerable mastery of rage were still no match for the First-Generation Paladins.
In the game, there was only a slight gap between Warriors and Paladins.
A duel between them held some uncertainty.
In reality, however, the difference was like heaven and earth!
Uther, the strongest of the First-Generation Paladins, lavishly unleashed an enormous amount of holy energy, forming a powerful Divine Storm.
The surrounding Orc Warriors all activated their rage energy to resist it.
Before the sweeping golden holy energy, their scarlet rage energy was like tiny candle flames in a gale.
As their rage energy was annihilated, the Orc Warriors collapsed limply, becoming cold corpses.
Orcs who had drunk demon blood possessed a trace of demonic heritage.
Holy energy was the bane of demons and the undead, making it perfectly suited to counter these Orcs.
Uther was a favorite of the Holy Light, and the holy energy within him flowed without end, allowing him to unleash another Divine Storm soon afterward.
He alone could hold off an entire Orc army.
The Holy Light was a form of divine magic.
The strength of these casters depended entirely on how much the Holy Light Consciousness favored them.
The strong could be extraordinarily powerful, while the weak could be feeble indeed.
But these First-Generation Paladins were all talented men carefully nurtured by Archbishop Faol.
Naturally, they were immensely powerful!
Even Turalyon, who had been utterly trounced by the Arcane Scavenger, had only looked so helpless because his opponent was simply too strong.
Uther, Saidan Dathrohan, Tirion Fordring, Turalyon, and Gavinrad, whom Sir Lothar had recommended.
The five powerful First-Generation Paladins formed an unbreakable bastion along the battle line!
These unkillable champions of the Holy Light had an endless supply of strength, more than enough to hold out until the morning mist cleared.
When that happened, the Allied Forces' musketeers and artillery would have their feast.
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