Lord of the Sky City

"Forward, everyone!"

Against the raiders that pounced like mad dogs, Monte, the Captain of the Guard, raised his broadaxe and issued the forward command with a robust voice. He immediately took a step along with the guards behind him.

By this time, the Guard Corps had already formed a large square formation. Three hundred guards, fifty in a row, constituted six rows of a formation. The front three rows were close-combat soldiers, the fourth row were mages, and the last two rows were archers.

So when Monte issued the forward command, the first three rows of guards stepped forward with him, taking firm and steady steps towards the approaching raiders!

Simultaneously, the remote unit in the back three rows also readied themselves. All mages activated their magic, fireballs appeared in their hands, leaping continuously between their palms, while the archers all drew their bows, pulling the strings to the fullest, aiming the arrow tips up to the sky.

It was evident that after several months of training, the quality of the Guard Corps had improved beyond comparison. Describing them as well-trained was not an exaggeration; one could say that, save for slightly fewer numbers, the Guard Corps were almost no different from a formal military unit in terms of overall quality.

In contrast to the disciplined guards, the raiders charging head-on were much more disorganized. Those raiders bursting out from the ruins had no formation to speak of and resembled scattered sand; calling them warriors would be a stretch—they appeared more like a pack of wild beasts.

However, the raiders also had their advantage: they were numerous. At least five hundred people emerged from the wreckage, nearly doubling the number of the Guard Corps!

Honestly, when Rocky saw so many raiders rushing out, he was also taken aback; he hadn't expected the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group to be so large. Counting these raiders and the crew operating the fleet, the numbers in the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group should be close to a thousand!

What Rocky didn't know was that groups like the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group didn't just target goods during their raids. They didn't spare the merchant ships themselves, nor the people aboard.

These raiders took everything, and with the backing of a mid-sized city in the sky, Wild Horse City would secretly hand over the city's criminals and prisoners of war to the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group, thereby replenishing their numbers regularly.

That's why the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group had so many people, which may seem abnormal, but upon closer consideration, it wasn't all that surprising.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Despite this, Rocky still wasn't overly worried. Even though the raiders were vastly outnumbered, he still had great confidence in his own Guard Corps.

The Guard Corps also didn't betray his trust. Once the raider beasts approached within a hundred meters of the guard formation, a furious roar came from the remote unit in the back!

"Archers! Release arrows!"

The leader of the Archer Troops was named Chu Dong. He came from Backhill Village and had been Lin Feng's right-hand man back in the village. He was also the leader of the Archer Troops, so naturally, after joining Thunderhawk City's Guard Corps, he took up the same position.

Following Chu Dong's roar, a hundred archers simultaneously released their fully drawn bowstrings. Shortly after, a rustling noise filled the air as a hundred arrows flew upwards. They drew an arc in the sky before turning downwards, plunging fiercely towards the raiders below!

"Draw bows!"

After the first volley of arrows, Chu Dong shouted again. The archers, following his command, uniformly drew new arrows from behind and drew their bows again, aiming towards the sky.

"Release!"

After the command, another volley of arrows shot forth.

"Draw bows!"

"Release!"

"Draw the bow!"

"Release!"

Under Chu Dong's constant command, the Archer Troops mechanically repeated the series of actions: nocking, drawing, and releasing the arrows. It was through these repetitive actions that wave after wave of arrow rain was shot into the sky, descending like raindrops!

The bandits madly charging toward the Guard Corps suffered greatly under the continuous arrow rain.

Those bandits with shields could barely guarantee their safety amidst the successive waves of arrows, but the unlucky ones without shields had no way to deal with it. With nowhere to hide or take cover, their only option was to rely on luck. If they were lucky, they would escape unscathed; if not, they would be riddled with arrows and turned into sieves.

The bandits who had managed to withstand the relentless arrow rain and approached the main formation of the Guard Corps—after covering a distance of a hundred meters—had already lost nearly a hundred men.

Some were shot dead by arrows, others lost their ability to charge due to being wounded, collapsing to the ground and crying out in agony; all in all, nearly a hundred lost their fighting capability.

But even after enduring the onslaught of arrow rain, the bandits who had just reached the Guard Corps' main line had no time to catch their breath before a series of fireballs flew over the front lines and smashed into them!

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Compared to arrows, magic had a shorter range but possessed much greater power. Any bandit hit by a fireball would be burned by the flames and severely injured, even if they had shields or wore armor.

Even so, this was not the worst for the bandits. What was more disastrous was that after taking hits from both the arrow rain and magic, the steadily advancing Guards suddenly accelerated and charged toward them!

"Brothers! Charge with me!"

Monte, the Captain of the Guard, roared and raised his broadaxe high, becoming the first to charge at the bandits and initiating the battle!

"Roar!"

In two strides, Monte reached a bandit and, with a roar, swung his broadaxe in a horizontal sweep. The massive axe head surged toward the bandit's waist, all the while radiating the light of mana!

The axe Monte wielded was specially purchased for him by Rocky. Whether in terms of material or forging, it was far superior to the weapons used by regular guards. Consequently, this axe was also the prime choice for Orton's experimental enhancements, and after being empowered by Orton, its power had surpassed that of a Two-Star Mana Weapon!

A Two-Star Mana Weapon was considered quite powerful already, commanding a market price of at least several thousand Gold Coins. Naturally, one could imagine its formidable power.

So when Monte's axe swept across the bandit's waist, the bandit was cut in half, transforming into two pieces!

Blood, lots of blood, sprayed out from the bisected body of the bandit a moment later, reaching up to the sky and then falling down like rain, splattering onto Monte.

As he was drenched in blood, Monte felt a wave of irritability mixed with an incomparable excitement and let out an earth-shattering roar!

His roar shook the entire battlefield, and the bandits who were charging toward him immediately turned tail and ran, because everyone knew never to provoke a Beastman stimulated by blood. Such a foe was not to be trifled with!

That roar also fully unveiled the prelude to the ground battle. With this roar as the starting signal, more and more guards and bandits encountered each other, clashed, and then killed their opponents!