Supreme Magus novel Chapter 3669

The Upyrs shrank their forms to coat themselves in their armors and conjured thick Spirit Barriers. All they achieved was to offer the Annihilation Bullets a smaller target.

The seven pillars of light possessed double the strength of the Upyr and their equipment combined, piercing through their defenses like paper. The Bullets burned their prey with elemental fury, leaving behind only a crater full of ashes.

Meanwhile, the undead forces kept retreating inside the Stonewall Fortress to recuperate while the Dread Knights galloped behind the Engine. The battlefront had kept them from exploiting their best weapon, Windwalker, but now they had all the space they needed to move.

The bloodline ability of their steeds condensed the air in front of the Dread Knights' speartips in a spiral pattern, both creating a slipstream effect in front of the horses and accumulating destructive power as they moved.

It allowed a Dread Knight to accelerate without end as long as they kept moving.

***

"There's no point holding the formation now that there is only one enemy." Jorl said while studying the situation from the safety of Orpal's lair via the clone's eyes. "Send half the Upyrs to jam Lith's armor with Frost Soul and the other half to storm the castle.

"Without the defensive arrays, they are just lambs herded for the slaughter. Only if we get to them before they recover their strength, though."

"Good point." Orpal nodded and had his clone parrot Jorl's words.

"Remind me again." Erion's voice oozed malice. "Why are we following Orpal instead of Jorl?"

"Because Orpal can raise an army from scratch and Jorl can kick your ass in a second. Now shut the fuck up, worm. I'm learning how to lead my troops into battle." Akhton the Bastet growled the Jormungandr into silence.

***

Half of the Upyr army charged at the Engine while activating their shared bloodline ability. The other half ignored the colossus and the Dread Knights, aiming for the Stonewall Fortress.

No matter how hard or thick it was, natural non-enchanted stone offered no protection against plant folk who could swim through it like water.

'Shield Wall.' Lith threw the Yurial Guard in front of the fortress, and the artifact shapeshifted.

It became thinner, barely over two centimeters (1') thick, but it was now 25 meters (82') tall and more than twice across, covering the exposed front of the Fortress.

The Upyrs never slowed their charge and slammed into the colossal shield with the boom of a thunderstorm. Yurial Guard was thinner, but still made of an Adamant-Davross alloy.

On top of that, it had no offensive enchantments, its power core focused solely on protection and stalling for time. Despite the mass and numbers of the Upyrs, Yurial Guard resisted the onslaught by using part of the accumulated energy to coat itself and the Fortress with a Spirit Barrier.

'Frost Soul incoming!' Solus warned Lith.

'I need your help for this.' The blue eye on the Engine's face lit up, and the golden light on its chest turned blue.

Each Upyr had a different energy signature, but they all used the same bloodline ability generated by the same source: Orpal's blood. There had been no time to turn anyone into a Upyr, and Orpal trusted no one not to take their new powers and defect from his cause.

The Eyes of Menadion filtered out the useless energy signatures until only the Vurdalak's remained. Then the Ears locked on it, allowing Lith and Solus to control the countless Frost Souls like a single tidal wave.

The Engine swept the air with its remaining hand, and the cold front stopped its advance.

The Upyrs still couldn't cast any spell or project any enchantment outside their bodies, whereas the tower's workings were unaffected by Frost Soul.