Read Novel Full Chapter 1584 Retreat
Chapter 1584 Retreat
[Warp Gate] ripped open at the position where his girls were clustered together.
The portal scraped what little remained of Quinlan's mana and his vision whited out. The world came back in smeared patches, three concussion images refusing to merge.
<Everyone. Go.>
The command hit every girl through [Master's Link] at once.
Hearing the extreme strain in his voice, Ayame took over.
<Western flank, you're closest, move! Aurora, Sylvaris, I know you're spent, but I need every last drop on a defensive spell from each of you. Lucille, carry them, Serika, provide protection! Kitsara, grab Iris! Kaelira, Lyra, you're shielding!>
The samurai's voice cracked across the link and the response was immediate.
"Assist the retreat!" Scar shouted and the soul army shifted, spectral soldiers reformed from a scattered perimeter into a lane of ghostly bodies, fighting off the dwarves and elves with all they had.
Rosie's roots moved in tandem, tendrils bursting from the earth along the lane's base to trip the enemies pressing inward, yank shields out of formation, and open breaks the spectral soldiers exploited.
Aurora and Sylvaris cast at the same time.
Aurora's staff came up and the last of her mana poured out in a lattice of golden barriers that layered over her friends. Beside her, Sylvaris raised both hands and silver moonlight solidified into luminous walls along the flanks, filling the spaces between the soul soldiers. Neither spell was strong. But together they turned a collapsing corridor into a tunnel of gold and silver light that held for the seconds that mattered.
Both women dropped.
Lucille caught Aurora before her knees buckled, swept the alchemist onto her shoulder, and reached for Sylvaris with her free arm. The moon elf was lighter than she expected. Lucille hooked her around the waist and ran with a caster on each side.
Serika flanked her. A dwarven hammer came for Lucille's exposed back and the Solar Fist's blazing knuckles intercepted it mid-swing, deflecting the head into the dirt.
Lucille crossed the portal with both women. Serika followed a step behind, her broken fingers leaving a trail of blood.
Kitsara grabbed Iris by the collar.
The swordfighter was still swinging, her blade carving a line across a dwarven shield even as the foxkin hauled her backward.
"Let go of me! I can still fight!"
"Why are all the short, black-haired sword women I know irredeemable masochists?" Kitsara grunted, pulling harder. "Is it in the genes?"
Iris's head snapped around. "Don't you dare compare me to that slit-eyed slut! Let go before I-"
Kitsara's teeth were gritted, her arms trembling from the effort of dragging a woman whose Strength stat dwarfed hers. Three illusory copies of herself flickered into existence, each one grabbing a different part of Iris and pulling.
"Save the kinky talk for when you join the harem. We can discuss it with Quinlan."
An animalistic growl left the lips of the Child of Reckoning.
She was still raging when the four Kitsaras dragged her into the portal, tumbling in a tangle of limbs and fox tails.
Across the field, sixty meters out, Raika had Vex on her back. The unconscious Hexwitch had blood running from her nose and ears, soaking into Raika's clothes.
Orianna moved behind her. Flower summons bloomed in the air around them, petals burning with combat enchantments. An elven arrow detonated against a wall of razor petals that shredded the shaft. A second arrow tore past and Orianna took it on her forearm, the broadhead burying itself in the muscle below her elbow. She didn't slow. Her flowers closed tighter around Raika and Vex.
Two dwarves broke past the spectral line and charged their flank.
A root burst from the ground and caught the lead dwarf across the shins, dropping him face-first into the dirt. The second swung for Raika's back and a soul soldier caught the axe on a spectral blade, holding it long enough for the three of them to clear the distance.
Raika crossed through with Vex still bleeding on her back. Orianna followed a step behind, arrow buried in her forearm, her flower summons dying one by one as she passed.
As more and more girls followed, Lyra, Kaelira, and Ayame held the line.
They'd been there since the [Warp Gate] materialized, protecting others as they passed. Lyra on the left, Kaelira on the right, Ayame in the center filling the spaces between them with a blade that never stopped moving.
Lyra's [Bastion Stance] locked her legs into the earth and tripled her resistance. It wasn't enough. A warhammer hit her guard and the impact traveled up both arms and into her spine. A second blow landed before the first finished reverberating and the runic steel buckled, the surface caving inward.
Her boots cracked the ground beneath them from the force being driven down and she was being pushed back inch by inch because the dwarves hitting her were twenty levels above her and every blow proved it.
Kaelira's [Runeweaver's Armory] manifested a reinforced shield that caught a dwarven axe, then another, then a hammer that cracked it down the center on the first swing. She manifested a second before the first finished shattering. It lasted two hits.
"Treacherous creatures. I always knew your kind couldn't be trusted, but this?!"
The tomboy elf was livid. All the girls were, but to her, it felt doubly personal.
Feng dragged Felicity past them while they held. The youngest princess's purple eyes were glassy, her sword clutched in both hands but held wrong, the blade angled at nothing. The guilt from Ragnar quoting her words before the warhammer fell had hollowed her out, and Feng had to steer her by the hands to keep her moving. They crossed the portal and vanished.
The rest followed in clusters behind them.
Ayame's katana found the seam beneath a dwarf's gorget and she had to saw the blade to get it past the blacksteel. One kill. Four strokes that had to be precisely aimed at vital spots on the heavy armor just to bring down a single dwarf.
By the time his body dropped three more had taken his place.