After an entire night of bitter battle, the elves finally managed to endure until dawn. However, demons weren't undead creatures. They weren't afraid of sunlight at all. In fact, the sunlight was even warmer and more comfortable than the sunlight from the Chaos Abyss, which made them instinctively feel joy and excitement.
Since both demons and elves had night vision, there was no difference between night and day for both sides.
Dawn arrived, but the battle in the Moonwheel Capital was only becoming more and more intense. After an entire night of fierce battles, the defenders had to rest, eat, and sleep. High fatigue meant high battle losses. However, demons … were single-use cannon fodder to begin with. The moment they were activated, their lifespan would begin ticking down, and their numbers were almost limitless. What was there to cherish?
The elves needed food to replenish their supplies. The low-level cannon fodder demons had already lost all sense of reason. They had no concept of hunger at all. Even if they were starving, they would instinctively eat dirt and trees. When high-level demons were thirsty or hungry, they would simply find a random demon of their own species or opponent to eat.
"Crunchy, chicken-flavored."
Fighting a battle of attrition against the demons' demon army? That would teach those bastards who only had muscles for brains what attrition was. Before the demons were completely destroyed, no objective factor would be able to stop them.
After a long night, the forests around the Moonwheel Capital's outskirts had become nothing more than rotten wastelands. The extravagant and sturdy outer city walls were now in tatters. The smell of blood and sulfur in the air was nauseating. The ground near the city walls was now completely dyed red. The smell of blood was so heavy that it was suffocating. This was the final remains of countless demon war slaves that had reached the end of their lives.
The elves also suffered heavy losses. The treants suffered heavy losses, and one of their trump cards, the Silver Elf Knight squadron, lost 10% of its members. After the demon war slaves reached the city walls, the ordinary defenders had even more vicious battles against them. They were either swallowed alive by the demon war slaves or self-destructed and dragged to Hell.
Since they couldn't defeat the demons in melee combat, why not use ranged combat to exhaust them? That was indeed what the elves thought and did. However, the results were incredibly poor.
The elves' melee warriors were more agile. They could only be considered third-rate meat shields. However, the elves had always been proud of their ranger squadrons. Very few species had established ranger squadrons.
Their agile and light bodies, coupled with simple nature magic, not only could they buff themselves, but they could also recruit animal companions. Their sharp arrows, which could suddenly attack from nowhere, were the nightmares of any enemy who invaded the ranger's territory. They were practically invincible in jungle warfare and guerrilla warfare.
But this time, the archery that the Elven Rangers were so proud of had met with the most undefeatable opponent.
Sharp arrows were indeed fatal to humanoid creatures. Just piercing through a vital point would be enough to take a life. However, to giants, human greatswords were nothing more than toothpicks. To demons with thick skin and flesh, elves' arrows were nothing more than uncomfortable porcupine needles if they couldn't find a demon's vital point.
The demon's vitals? That was a demon's greatest secret. Every demon had a different evolutionary path. Every demon had a different body structure. Naturally, their vitals would be different. Some demons had three hearts and two brains. However, only one was the most important. All the others could be regenerated. It would be meaningless to attack any one of them. Some demons even had their vitals in their lower limbs. Their heads and bodies were nothing more than decorations. The soles of their feet were their vitals.
Agility-type warriors who focused on attacking vital spots in combat would probably least want to face off against creatures that had almost no vital spots. However, elementals, demons, undead creatures, and other non-physical creatures were all the same. In such a situation, they were often even weaker than the physically strong barbarians.
Unfortunately, these magical creatures had already lost their sense of pain. Their large size meant that normal piercing attacks would be ineffective. In their brainless berserk state, they would have no concept of fear even if their heads were pierced. With all these factors combined, even if they were turned into target practice targets, they wouldn't be able to stop their advance.
In the past, enchanted moonlight arrows and explosive arrows would be of great use in such a situation. However, these enchanted and enchanted magic arrows were incredibly expensive tactical resources. Using them on ordinary demons would be a waste.
In the end, the elves' ranger squads, which they were so proud of, became nothing more than spectators on the battlefield. In fact, ranger generals even started forbidding the elves from casually shooting arrows in order to avoid wasting precious arrows.
The melee elves had suffered far too heavy losses, and the long-range archers were far too ineffective. In the end, the moon elves could only helplessly use their mages as reinforcements.
One night, just one night, and the elves were forced to use their mages and mana reserves. Fireballs exploded outside the city walls, and blizzards washed over all the demons on the city walls. A single night of bitter battle had used up more than 20% of all the mage towers' mana reserves!
This didn't mean that the elves were in desperate straits. It simply meant that the elves' regular combat strength was far too weak against the demon cannon fodder. The tremendous first demon wave had forced the elves into a battle of attrition that gave them the greatest headache.
Currently, the area between the outer city wall and the second city wall was filled with pitiful screams and pitiful scenes.
Injured soldiers were being carried down from the city wall on stretchers. Those with only broken arms or legs were already considered lucky. The healers were doing their best to save them from death. The smell of blood, sweat, and sulfur mixed together. The stench was nauseating. But at this time, even the Superior Elves, who were usually the most picky about cleanliness, didn't have any reason to feel disgusted.
Moon Elf Empress Afina's eyes were filled with sorrow as she watched everything unfold before her. All the ministers around her also remained silent.
Nobody had expected that the outer city wall would be almost completely lost in just one night. When the Moonwheel Capital was designed, the Moonwheel Capital had been designed with a hypothetical human mega empire surrounding it. The Moonwheel Capital would also need to buy enough time to wait for the elves' reinforcements. Yet, the Moonwheel Capital was so weak that it couldn't even withstand a single blow from the demon wave.
The lightning defensive spell formation on the city wall … had run out of energy.
The magical vines that had been nurtured for over a hundred years would kill all invaders … but the demons had eaten them all.
The powerful mage towers and the game team's long-range reinforcements … they had used up too much energy and needed to be stopped.
There were also ancient war trees planted by the city wall … the demon cube indicated that occasionally eating vegetables was quite good for one's stomach.
Earth-element mages buffed and repaired the city wall … but the repairs weren't as fast as the destruction. More than one or two earth element mages had been dragged out of the city wall after running out of mana.
Hippogryphs, giant eagles, and the Pegasus Knight's aerial reinforcements … In front of the endless cannon fodder formations, these reinforcements were no different from ground combat forces. Occasionally, some demon war slaves would suddenly appear and drag them down.
Even the most intricate defensive spell formations and mechanisms would have their limits. The demons didn't even need to think of any way to break through them. A sufficient amount of cannon fodder would be more than enough to flatten everything. The current generation of elves finally understood why their ancestors had said that the first demon wave would be impossible to resist.
A berserk demon war slave wouldn't be weak to begin with. Even if it lost its mind, it would obtain even greater power. However, such a warrior would have a weakness. If given enough time and space, even a Silver-ranked warrior would be able to defeat a demon war slave without being injured. But when the demon war slave's numbers reached an almost limitless number, when these "berserk warriors" appeared on the battlefield where one could only advance and not retreat, they would naturally become meat reapers …
"It seems that it's only a matter of time before the city falls …"
Everyone had such doubts. However, nobody dared to say it out loud. It seemed that no matter what trump card the elves used, the demon war slaves would simply use cannon fodder to flatten everything.
"When will reinforcements arrive …?"
Afina muttered to herself in a daze. However, nobody dared to answer her. That was because all of the elves' reinforcements were already here. The only "reinforcements" outside had a rather special status.
In the end, the Silver Elf Grand Knight Captain (General) who had the most special status of all the elves could only brace himself and speak up.
"Your Majesty, the latest contact we received said that the earliest would be the night after tomorrow …"
"Didn't they say that they would arrive this afternoon?! Could it be … could it be that those bastards who took advantage of the situation still intend to threaten us at this time? Those bastards, we've already agreed to their shameless conditions. What else do they want! Could it be … could it be that they intend to increase the price!? Those shameless and despicable bastards … "
Afina could still be considered a young elf among the elves. However, her noble bloodline and outstanding political abilities made her quite famous. But now, her hysterical attitude was really damaging to her former image.
"… They said that the Elemental Tide is attacking our airships. Our mages and equipment need time to adjust. Our mages said that this is indeed necessary preparation work. Last night, several of our mage towers were permanently damaged, and two archmages even died … "
The elves also knew what would happen if they forcefully ordered the mages to cast spells. However, they still gave such a cruel order last night. After all, losing the outer city walls on the very first night would be a tremendous blow to the elves' morale.
Perhaps it was because there were outsiders present, or perhaps it was because screaming released too much pressure, but Afina's expression calmed down quite a bit.
"… Please ask them to send reinforcements as soon as possible. We … we shall continue to make concessions … Even if it's a day faster, no, half a day faster would be fine."
Their heavy words were filled with unwillingness. Nobody had expected things to turn out this way. However, this heavy reality had dealt a heavy blow to the elves' self-confidence. Their secret confidence of 'we'll definitely be able to defeat the Demon Wave, and perhaps even counterattack the Chaos Abyss' had finally vanished into thin air.
"We … we're unable to stop the demon wave by ourselves …"
Alright then, the elves were finally admitting that they were unable to deal with the demon wave.
Actually, due to the lack of information across all continents, this type of seemingly inconceivable secret confidence was quite common. No matter how powerful other elves' armies sounded, they were still other elves' armies, and would be useless paper tigers. Even if the entire world said that the elves' treasured armies were no match for the elves, they would still believe that the elves' armies were capable of doing so.
Some of the elves' confidence was created because of propaganda and espionage. Some of the elves told lies to give the elves confidence. Even the elves' leaders themselves began to believe them.
"Even if the enemy is indeed stronger than us, our warriors aren't to be trifled with. Perhaps we'll be able to win!"
Actually, this type of foolish behavior had been used on countless battlefields. Usually, this type of secret confidence would vanish without a trace after a single battle.
If the elves were to "make concessions" right now, it would be the equivalent of giving the elves an exorbitant price. At the very least, the Full Moon Elven Empire would no longer be able to maintain its "orthodoxy".
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty! Our ancestors' ideals! The Gods' ambitions! They won't want to see this! "
"We can't, Your Majesty, we can't!"
The elves all began to express their loyalty. Some elves were even angrily glaring at their empress, as if they were watching their unfilial descendants selling off their family's property … But actually, most elves were inwardly delighted. Someone was finally going to take the blame.
At any rate, all they had to do was change their empress, which was an acceptable ending. Meanwhile, Afina herself would most likely become a sacrifice for the change of generation.
Actually, from the moment that she decided to migrate, she was already destined to become a sinner of the Full Moon Elven Empire.
"No, our elves finally managed to break free from their shackles. We don't need to wag our tails and beg the elves' descendants!"
Suddenly, a deep voice interrupted the elves' discussion. When I looked up, I saw a hazy figure wearing a silver mage robe with a halo of light revolving behind him. His holy appearance made him seem as if he was the incarnation of a God.
Dimensional Doors leading to the upper planes opened up around him. Divine Envoys from the Heavens, the Elf Valkyrie, and divine beasts surrounded by starlight all walked out of these dimensional doors.
The Elven Gods had interfered …
Back on the floating battleship, I had chatted with Harloys about this battle situation.
"With the Elven Gods here, they probably won't die too quickly. At the very least, they should be able to last until we arrive."
"… I'm just worried that if the Elven Gods interfere, they might die even faster. Just look, with the Elven Gods interfering, would Donatis still be able to slack off? That means they'll probably die even faster, right? "
Just as I expected, the black giant was able to stand up and pick up his obsidian greatsword that was stained with the Gods' blood when that figure of light appeared. Finally, there was a worthy prey.
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