How come this arcanist is invincible?

Chapter 93 Invading the City

As Kane pondered the gains and losses of the battle, a sudden clang of metal and a dying howl echoed from the forest ahead.

As the final scream faded, a figure clad in light armor stepped out of the forest.

The light armor was inlaid with a striking gold sword and shield emblem, the mark of the ruling council.

It was Rufus.

The visor covered most of his face, revealing only his hard-lined jawline.

Behind him followed more than ten agile, professionally-equipped scouts in light armor, clearly a scout squad specializing in infiltration and raids.

Rufus held in his hand the head of a male drow descendant, the dead man's eyes wide open, still bearing the shock and resentment of his dying moments.

He looked at him as if he were carrying some filth, his face full of undisguised disgust.

Kane instantly grasped the overall situation.

Their adventurer squadron was used as bait to lure the drow out from the very beginning.

Meanwhile, Rufus's scout squad had already secretly circled behind enemy lines.

These Nord scouts, who had fought the Drow for years, accurately seized the opportunity when the Drow retreated and their formation became disorganized, wiping out the fleeing Drow descendants.

Rufus swept his gaze across the broken corpses of adventurers scattered on the ground, then glanced at the few remaining remains of drow warriors.

He scoffed, his tone full of disdain:

"A piece of trash is a piece of trash; it can't even be used as bait properly."

The surviving adventurers remained silent and bowed their heads in the face of this blatant humiliation.

In the oppressive silence, a young man of similar age to Russell suddenly began to sob softly.

"I want to go home..."

He crawled trembling toward Rufus, his blood-stained hands gripping the other's steel-plated boots tightly, tears mingling with the blood on his face.

"Sir, please let me leave. I have a mother and a sister at home..."

Rufus slowly lowered his head, staring at the pleading youth at his feet, a sinister smile appearing beneath his helmet:

"Oh? You're going to desert?"

"No! I didn't..." The young man suddenly realized he had misspoke and tried to explain incoherently.

Rufus had already drawn his one-handed sword from his waist, and with a flash of cold light, he slashed at the young man's neck.

"Bang!"

A sharp, metallic clang suddenly rang out, and Kane swung his scimitar in time, precisely parrying the attack.

Rufus raised an eyebrow, his tone cold and stern: "What? You intend to disobey military orders?"

The scout beside him immediately took the crossbow bolts from his back and aimed them all at Kane.

Kane stepped forward slowly, lowered his scimitar, and said in a deep voice:

"Sir, there's no need to go to extremes. Our squadron has already suffered more than half its casualties, and we still need more manpower for the upcoming battles."

Rufus stared at Kane for a moment, then suddenly sneered, turned and kicked the young man away:

"Get out of here. Rather than die by my sword, I'd rather you die by the drow's blade. At least then you'll be considered a fallen warrior."

The young man felt as if he had been granted a pardon and thanked Kane repeatedly.

Kane didn't look at him, but simply ordered, "Live on."

The young man nodded, choking back tears, and staggered to hide behind the crowd.

Before long, a squad of soldiers wearing bird-beak masks arrived and methodically cleaned up the battlefield.

They used shrouds to cover the bodies, applied pungent medical ointments to the wounded, and inventoried every piece of equipment that was still usable.

Kane noticed that many of the corpses were deliberately coated with a medicated oil that smelled of decay and sweetness, and then they were lifted onto trailers and transported away individually.

He was puzzled and turned to Declan beside him to ask:

"According to Nord custom, a warrior's body should be cremated and the ashes sent back to their homeland. Why are we applying this?"

Declan looked blank and simply shook his head to indicate that he didn't know.

Kane's suspicions grew heavier, and he subconsciously thought of the ghouls that were supposedly controlled by the Bewitching School.

After the battlefield was cleaned up, Kane gathered the surviving members of his team.

Declan stepped forward first, asking urgently, "Lord Kane, what... what do we do next?"

Kane looked around and saw that there were only seven or eight survivors, all of them wounded and demoralized.

"We have suffered heavy losses and will likely be merged with other adventurer squadrons, and we will also receive additional manpower."

Delan looked at the city guards counting casualties not far away, his face full of regret, while the others also had solemn expressions.

"We were blinded by greed."

Delan said bitterly:

"Capturing a drow can be exchanged for a huge amount of gold coins, but the compensation for dying in battle is only ten gold coins—this amount can be accumulated over several years by doing regular tasks steadily."

But now…”

Kane nodded silently, saying nothing more; he had always been an outsider to this war.

The group returned to camp for a quick rest, and the next day they merged with several other remaining troops.

The adventurers' sorrow had not yet faded with time when new military orders arrived.

They were driven once again into the eternal battlefield on the outskirts of the dark forest.

The outer perimeter of this forest has long since become a meat grinder that devours lives.

Adventurers were used as the lowest form of bait, forced to plunge into the forest to fight under the pressure of monetary bounties and the threat of the overseer team.

Their equipment was rudimentary, their strength varied greatly, and they lacked unified command. Faced with the fierce offensive of the Drow warriors, they suffered heavy casualties.

The Legion's scout squadrons would only emerge when the adventurers were routed, to reap the remaining drow and the scattered survivors.

The two sides clashed in the forest, and the battle was deadlocked but slowly advanced deeper into the forest.

About two weeks later, the legion finally arrived at its destination—a stronghold city established by the Drow family "Spiderblade".

Compared to the war-torn city of Shantar in Nord, this city was extremely simple, surrounded only by a black stone wall.

The walls were covered with Drow archers, their figures, holding bows, appearing and disappearing in the night.

"We've finally arrived."

Kane gazed at the black city standing in the night and murmured softly.

Various scenarios about the Drow flashed through his mind.

The history of this race can be traced back to the age of the gods, when cities were either ruled by a single family or jointly controlled by several large families.

The building is predominantly made of black marble, exuding a unique, eerie, and gloomy aesthetic.

Even though the spider goddess Rose no longer sends out divine pronouncements, there are still devout priests who uphold the ancient rituals.

The city walls and buildings of the city-state are covered with obscure and mysterious runes.

He glanced to his side; Talia, the half-elf, and Declan were still there, but the team behind him had been completely replaced.

Those who make it this far are mostly professional adventurers; most of the apprentices have perished in the forest.

Their bodies were dragged back to the war city in batches by the logistics team.

……

The troops had just assembled outside the city and had no time to rest when the bugle call to attack sounded shrilly.

Soon, the infantry regiment slowly pushed five huge magic-powered turrets to the front of the battle line, each requiring more than ten people to operate.

"It's a magic-powered turret! The Nord barbarians actually got their hands on this! Destroy it!"

A female drow dressed as a priestess on the city wall cried out in alarm upon seeing this.

Before the words were even finished, two giant black eagles with wingspans of several meters took flight from the city and flew straight towards the fort.

But just as they rose into the air, several ballistae from the Nord Legion roared out.

The thick crossbow bolt pierced the giant eagle's body, blood splattering everywhere, and its mournful cry echoed through the night sky.

Meanwhile, soldiers below the turret loaded heavy iron balls into the cannon barrel, while another lit the fuse.

"boom--!"

A deafening roar shook the earth, and many adventurers were horrified, feeling the ground beneath their feet tremble violently.

The iron ball, accompanied by a whistling sound, crashed into the city of Zhuoer, instantly creating a huge gap in the city wall.

Immediately afterwards, the second and third iron balls were launched in succession.

The Drow archers on the city wall screamed and fell to the ground, their blood flowing down the wall and staining it red.

The Nord Legion remained unmoved, continuing to fire as ordered.

The attack only began after the city walls had been blasted open in more than a dozen places and the entire city had been reduced to ruins.

Kane and Declan exchanged a glance, then lowered their voices and said:

"After we enter the city, find a reason to separate from me. If you manage to return to the city of war alive, help me mail that letter."

Declan nodded solemnly, "I understand."

During this period of fighting, he was rescued many times and has accumulated a lot of favors.

The infantry corps was the first to rush into the ruins, with many soldiers carrying nets and shackles, clearly intending to capture prisoners.

Rufus appeared quickly and gave a stern order for the adventurer squadron to follow up with the charge.

Kane took a deep breath, gripped his scimitar, and entered the city. Talia watched his retreating figure, her eyes filled with worry.

The half-elf beside her looked at her thoughtfully: "You seem very worried about him."

Talia bit her lower lip, her voice low:

"Yes, but I'm a selfish person; I just want to survive."

The half-elf chuckled softly: "Who isn't?"

……

Kane weaved through the rubble and debris, his feet dappled with corpses.

There were drow with missing limbs, giant spiders pierced by crossbow bolts, and many adventurers and soldiers who died with their eyes wide open in disbelief.

As he passed the dead black giant eagle, he saw a huge crossbow bolt piercing its chest and back.

This rare creature, which could fetch thousands of gold coins on the Nord black market, was now lifeless.

"Those backup plans that intend to make me 'die in battle' should be coming out soon."

Kane scanned his surroundings with sharp eyes, deliberately luring the snake out of its hole to expose the person hiding in the shadows.

Deep within the ruins, as he passed a partially collapsed cellar, he suddenly heard a faint sobbing sound coming from under the stone slabs.

He crouched down, lifted the stone slab, and saw a young boy, about ten years old, hiding inside.

Beside her, the corpse of a Zor woman was already cold.

The child saw Kane and instantly looked terrified, shrinking back into himself.

Kane glanced at the already cold corpse, then at the child.

He gently placed the stone slab down, turned, and left, thinking to himself:

"Although the drow are an inherently evil and lawful race, this child is still an innocent life."

The moment he turned around, the child hesitated, took out a crossbow from his pocket and pointed it at him, but then slowly put it down.

Kane continued his exploration into the city's core area.

The black stone building collapsed, and the power of the magic cannons crushed everything into dust. In the distance, the sounds of fighting and screams could be faintly heard.

He was thinking to himself:

"According to the standards, the matriarch or priestess of this city should be at least a third-tier powerhouse, but she has not yet shown herself."

Either they abandoned their people and fled beforehand, or... they fought a third-tier expert from Nord in the shadows and were severely injured, or even killed.

They arrived at a secluded corner, surrounded by ruins and wreckage, with the corpses of many dwarf slaves lying on the ground.

Kane suddenly stopped and said in a deep voice:

"Come out, I've found you."

Footsteps and the scraping of armor rang out as Rufus emerged from the shadows, his sword and shield gleaming coldly.