Chapter 1099: Jungle Plains

It was difficult for the elves and humans to properly coordinate by using carrier pigeons to communicate, but eventually, the jungle saw a tide of of enemies arrive before them, even with the constant flood of new dirt-blooded soldiers, both of the two ruling forces of this land spared no efforts to eradicate whatever it was that was brewing atop the mountain.

They were not allowed to get close however, from the camps surrounding the jungle, tides of enemy soldiers poured out, assuming battle formations, getting through them was deemed to be difficult, especially since the terrain was not exactly favourable, although the jungle and mountain looked like a stranded piece of land in the surroundings, it would be inaccurate to call the biome beyond it a plain.

It was full of bumps, the foliages were numerous, and a sparsely, some jungle trees were growing, so although it was possible to move an army through this place without much problem, it still was not simple, especially when the enemy had gotten used to this rugged terrain, and seemingly, they had even purposefully nurtured it.

Indeed, the portions of the jungles who had been cut down mercilessly had been taken care of, and the vegetation was returning at an impressive rate, and since the soldiers here were used to the dense jungle, what laid beyond was easy for them to manoeuvre.

The human soldiers, however, struggled to adapt, the elves were doing much better, but the openness of the would-be battlefield was not very conducive to their typical tactics.

Usually, they stayed hidden in their homeland, defending it from invaders, rarely had they ever moved out of it to attack, when they stepped out, it was because there was no threat in doing so, so finding themselves in a field like this one, they were somewhat out of their depth.

They were not here to achieve a military victory over the opposing army though, they were only here to storm the mountain and put a stop to the horrors that were certainly taken place there, neither humans nor elves were willing to allow the dirt-bloods to breed new soldiers bearing higher concentrations of elvish blood, letting them do so would just be asking for disaster.

After the arrival of the two armies, it did not take long for things to escalate, the sparse jungle plains erupted into chaos as blood began to be spilled in droves, the elves fired powerful arrows as a group, tearing through the ranks of the dirt-bloods effortlessly, spilling so much blood that certain areas quickly turned into crimson swamps.

On the side of the humans, things were far more chaotic, the soldiers and knights clashed with the ranks of the dirt-bloods, and they had no choice but to experience the crushing of giants head-on, the soldiers that could not use fighting spirit could only stick together to have a chance to stand up to one of these goliaths.

The knights could deal with even the powerful dirt-bloods easily enough, but nearly immediately, they were swarmed by Ill-Bred Minutemen instead, although these particular dirt-bloods were short and possessed feeble bodies, they were highly competent in the usage of fighting spirit, and knew how to use their short size and light bodies to their advantage.

Like a theatre performance, one could see the goblin-human hybrids leaping over the heads of the soldiers and knights, using their polearms.

They even climbed and vaulted over their own allies to land cheap shots, compared to the Ill-Bred Minutemen from the beginning of the war, these ones were more dangerous, a special training regimen had been developed, and the increase in the amount of captive fighting spirit users meant that the youngest of these minutemen, possessed potent fighting spirit to begin with.

Even if their physical bodies ultimately left them at a disadvantage in terms of brute strength, they could match the knights when it came to the strength of their fighting spirit, and it was important not to forget, but the Ill-Bred Minutemen, whilst the most accomplished and most numerous, were not the only one amongst the dirt-bloods capable of wielding fighting spirit.

Dozens of soldiers were sent flying through the air, their weapons shattered, armours caved, limbs twisted at painful angles, even a knight was sent rolling against the ground, his momentum only stopped as soldiers were in the way.

“I… I can’t feel my right leg anymore…” the knight coughed up a pinkish, foamy blood, a clear sign that at least one of his lungs was damaged.

The soldiers dragged him away as other knights stepped forward to confront the enemy soldier who had just shaved away a good portion of the soldiers in a single swing.

It was one of those giant dirt-bloods, wearing a full set of plate armour, and cloak draped over his shoulders, he looked like a decadent, yet noble knight as he towered over the battlefield, he wasn’t enormous, standing a height of around three meters.

But his body was large, limbs long and thicker than tree trunks, wielding a mace, the giant dirt-blood loudly shouted through his helm, he said something in a language the humans could not understand, and stanced himself up to attack again.

And indeed, fighting spirit flared from his body, it was not very refined, but the sheer quantity of it all, and the pure strength he naturally possessed still allowed for him to be a dire threat to the knights, even an elite warrior would have to be careful around this guy.

The elites could not participate however, lest they wanted to attract the hunters of the battlefield, so instead of relying on a stronger fellow, multiple knights moved in unison, alongside them soldiers moved to face the other dirt-bloods that threatened to get in the way.

Similar scenes were happening all over the battlefield, although somewhat rare, amidst the sea of dirt-bloods, there were still plenty of users of fighting spirit that were not Ill-Bred Minutemen, and those often proved to be exceptionally dangerous as they were a threat the humans had rarely, if ever, had to deal with.

Meanwhile, the elves experienced their own share of troubles, their arrows could tear apart the advancing ranks of their enemies, but the dirt-bloods were not helpless before them, the monsters parted ways, allowing for a bestial dirt-blood to barrel toward the elves, its body resembled that of an exceptionally large, but its head was shaped somewhat like that of a human.

Its body was flaring with a fighting spirit that differed from normal.

The bestial dirt-blood was approahing rapidly, arrows pierced the air, fire was focused upon it, but its scales, enhanced by fighting spirit were resilient, and furthermore, its energy formed a sort of cushion around it, slowing down incoming projectiles.

“Brace!” one elf shouted, seconds before the lizard crashed into the elvish ranks, creating an opportunity for many more dirt-bloods to approach…