The First Army

=Alnub Forest, Tube Mountains, 20 Kilometers East from the Machine Base=

At the foot of the hill, the first army of 100,000 soldiers stood. They were of common birth, all ranking either [E] to [C], while their leaders were high ranking nobility, in the ranks of [B-] to [A] strong. They sharpened their swords and pranced their spears as they began to march.

"Men!" A voice cried out, on his Land Dragon was their general, he was old but skilled, frail but strong. His raspy voice echoed among the ranks of knights, spearmen, and bowmen who were following him into battle.

People known him as General Valir.

[IMAGES]

"Today shall be the day!"

The first column crested the hill and came before them the sight of the enemy. The might thin walls and the menacing towers which seemingly stared at them, looking down upon them. The wall was long and stretched as far as the eye could see, upon those walls were a small number of metal demons. These metal demons were short in numbers.

But they did not underestimate the enemy, they remembered that these metal demons can take out thousands of men alone, most of them are in a peak of A-rank, what more could a thousand of them do to them? They're leaders and warriors who are also A-ranks, furthermore, they also had the blessings of the gods, that was their unnerving factor. Leading them was a strong and seasoned General at the mid stages of A-rank, who, along with the mages that paved their path through the forest, made them feel at ease.

At last, a small scrimmage of light from the sun escaped through a rare hole in the black smoke that covered the sky. It shined upon the general who was on horseback. He was seen by all his men for he was up on the hill. He gazed upon his army and drew out his sword, holding it high.

"Today!" He shouted.

"We shall redeem our brothers!" The knights drew their swords.

"We shall avenge the women and children!" The spearmen lowered their spears.

"We, in the name of the Goddess and the Pope!" The archers pulled their bows.

"Hereby condemn!" The mages cast their spells.

"These demons to hell!" And the drums of war sounded.

The horns echoed and the drums rolled. As the Airships soared above the smoked sky did the army charge forth.

The general, whose birth name was Valir, charged with his ten guards and led the assault.

It was a beautiful display of courage and will, the determination in their eyes and the utmost confidence they possessed. The goddess was watching from a distance, smiling and clapping her hands, this was her redemption, her triumph! The beginning of her path to glory among heaven.

They charged down the hill, the Land Dragons they rode were speeding forth. The knights and spearmen were charging in tight columns as the archers positioned themselves over the hill.

"Fire!" Their commanders shouted.

They released and then came out their arrows. In-front of the archers were several mages who positioned themselves in front of them. Both were either late stages of C-rank to early stages of B-rank, but thanks to the Goddess' blessing, their magic and physical abilities have gone stronger. They raised their hands up high and cast a small circle of magic over their heads.

The arrows would pass through the circles and they would be enhanced, from measly iron-tipped arrows they would become magic arrows with power to penetrate the very skin of B-rank monsters. These arrows shined blue in accordance with the Goddess who lent them most of their extra power, and these arrows appeared as missiles in the sky.

The blue trails of arrows soared above, illuminating the shrouded battlefield, but to their surprise, the arrows failed to reach the walls.

A transparent dome suddenly made itself known and covered the entirety of the wall and separated even the smoke which covered the sky. This was unprecedented magic that required the skills of a powerful mage.

But this wasn't magic they were seeing, what they were seeing was the manifestation of an energy barrier, though one of the most weakest of the bunch, it could repel below 9th tier magical spells and weapons. A reason for this weakness was due to the fact that the main core that generated this dome was located at exactly the Main Hub of the Machine Empire where the wormhole was based. It covered a vast area, the entirety of their territory.

The vast area meant that the dome was stretched and so its defensive qualities were significantly reduced, nonetheless the barrier proved to be a strong hurdle.

The arrows bounced off the barrier, making little splashes before either breaking apart or outright just fall to the ground.

There was no visible resistance, the barrier was the only problem they had. The menacing towers that towered over the thin walls were not doing anything, there was no hostile fire. The metal demons on the walls suddenly disappeared, as if they all abandoned hope and retreated.

Seeing this, Valir shouted in rejoice.

"The enemy has retreated! Attack! Attack!"

The orders were spread among the commanders and the commanders told their troops. The mages began pounding the barrier with spell after spell as the soldiers tried desperately to hack and slash their way in. But it proved futile.

Minutes passed, the tension faded and the army began to settle. The Griffins were nowhere to be seen as they disappeared amid the smoke. The mages continued to batter the barrier but still not working, so they have no choice to used 9th tier spells which it draining their mana quickly and it seemed to be working, one mage hurled a large boulder at the barrier with a speed of a hypersonic missile unfortunately it shattered, but few pieces of the boulder managed to slide through.

More minutes passed and finally, the barrier disappeared. The highest rank mages were the first ones to take the charge, they dashed to the walls and confidently jumped over it. The soldiers behind them watched as they disappeared behind the thin walls.

The general did not want his army to be left behind in the spoils, they had to secure a foothold for the millions of other men who would march in with them, for the crusade! He thought. His army once again marched in columns, knights, spearmen, and bowmen with the general leading the way.

And then, an eerie silence. Tension began to build up as chills went down their spines, all of them. Even the battle-hardened veterans felt the fear crawl. And that fear made itself known.

One soldier looked up the dark clouds and saw something pierce through the sky, and then another, and then another.

These were the Naval fleets of Airships, or what was left of them. And then the surviving Griffins descended from the clouds and the fight that was taking place beyond the sights finally came to them. The Griffin riders against the metal beasts which flew at speeds incomprehensible in their eyes. They watched at their riders were massacred one by one.

Suddenly, an explosion pierces a section of the thin wall in front of them and the screaming body of a mage emerged from the smoke.

She screamed in pain, her wails echoing through the plains as blood drooped from her forehead. Her robes torn and left eye blinded. Behind her, from the smoke, came the metal demons. They wielded their advance muskets, they slowly walked behind the mage.

As she wailed and cried for help, one of the metal demon raised its weapon and beheaded her.

The soldiers who witnessed this were struck with fear and a loss of hope, the mages they looked up to pave their path to glory were reduced to mere humans screaming for their help and beheaded in front of them. The general also witnessed this, he felt the fear and the loss for hope but he persevered.

"Charge! For the Theocracy!" He screamed! And his commanders screamed with him. They once again drew out their enchanted weapons and they went in.

The metal demons also charged towards them, they wielded these strange swords which glowed and had an odd shape and rods of steel which breathed out fast red projectiles, it was a massacre before they even clashed

There were only a handful of metal demons but they had the strength of a peak A-rank, or translate that to a Level 100. The general was the first to clash swords with the metal demon. He jumped out of his Land Dragon veru high and began to vertically slash at the Metal Demon. The Metal Demon blocks it and started its counter attack. The sheer power from the metal demon's swing was enough to push him further more to the air as he lands towards the ground again.

He hit the soil below him hard. The metal demon seemed to be waiting for him as it merely stood and stared with its two red glowing eyes. As his men battled around him, more Griffins and parts of the Airships began to fall and the sky was lit up in a spectacle of explosions which resembled fireworks. The thunderous roars of each Griffins and metal beast filled their ears.

The general saw this but he focused on the opponent in front of him.

"Die demon!" He shouted, like a bullet, he charged leaving a crater behind him. He ran towards his metal foe and once more their swords met, for the first time of 15 years of never wage battles, he finally uses his swordsmanship skill again, {Faultless Warrior}.

The skill gives him more power and control over his weapon, and free from any errors or mistakes. Normally, his enchanted sword upon the first contact with the metal demon's glowing variant should have been incinerated due to the fact that the metal demon wielded a mere handle which upon activation would manifest a rod of concentrated plasma.

His sword, however, was able to counteract the heat because it was enchanted with {Bane of Arthropods IV}, {Sharpness V}, {Smite V}, {Sweeping Edge II}, {Unbreaking V}, and {Fire Aspect IV}. The battle around them raged on as their fight did as well.

Valir swung his sword from his head and aimed to decapitate the metal demon but the metal demon was as fast as he is as it blocked his attack. They continued their duel as many of the general's men fell, the army of 100 thousand was being massacred.

300 Metal Demons were literally throwing themselves in the middle of thousands, yet they would massacre hundred of thousands in minutes.

The magic arrows barely scratched them as they continued to mow down their ranks. And then it happened, an explosion in the sky so powerful it drove the clouds of smoke away. The sun brimmed so bright as the clouds were pushed in a circular fashion.

The battle in the clouds was finally over and their their entire airforce were all dead.

Valir was exhausted, bruised all over but began to heal abit from his inner magic. He could no longer maintain his skill, his magic badly diminished after just ten minutes of fighting against one metal demon. Doing their fight, craters and damages are all over the area.

"You did good," A voice rang out from the shadows behind the jagged rubble.

And then he appeared, smiling directly at him.

"W-who are you!?" General Valir cried. He pointed his sword towards them, eyes gleaming with fear, even he is very strong in the mid stages of A-rank, his still human.

The Androids surrounded him and cut off any escape. He already had trouble taking down one of them with most of his skills and magic, now, he was surrounded by ten. Leading them was someone so ominous, it further deepened the fear already lingering in his heart.

Despite shouting his question from the top of his lungs, the menacing man in front of him did not reply. He only stared at him for a brief moment before setting his sights towards the distance behind the general.

His entire army has been decimated, what's left of the 100,000 troops he had have routed to the forest, some of them never to be seen again.

The general had his eyes fixed on the man. He was afraid and no longer had that iron will, despite facing many near-death moments and monstrosities that would make a normal man insane, he stood firm despite it. Now, he was only staring at a man, a meager man! But he was beyond terrified. An aura of complete darkness and despair enveloped the man's cold stature.

It oozed from its body like a slime only visible to those who can manipulate magic. The man's eyes then returned to stare at him, seemingly looking into his soul.

He panted as he sweated like a dog drooling from its mouth. His hands shivered as he gripped his sword ever so tightly. The man took a step forward, and then another. Each step felt like a giant stomping towards him, at any moment he could be crushed by the pressure alone.

N-No!

He thought. He mustered whatever courage he had hiding behind his already shattered mind before finally saying in a loud voice.

"Out, ye demo-...!"

Then suddenly fell backwards with his sword. Blood oozed from a hole in his forehead and his arms twitched.

"Hm, you shot him," The man remarked.

"Was there a problem?" A soft voice replied.

Emerging from the smoke behind the man was a beautiful girl. In her hands was a modified Sniper Rifle, she had shot the general from a distance out of pure annoyance.

She walked beside Artemis and cocked her weapon.

"I was hoping to duel him,"

"Nah, he couldn't even handle one of our soldiers, how do you expect him to handle you?"

"Still,"

The ten Androids then scurried behind the two of them.

"Shall we go?" The woman asked and smiled.

"Yes, we shall" The man replied.

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Numbers and Casualties:

Android Total Numbers: 300 Android Number of Casualties: 12 Android Total Remains: 288

Army Total Numbers: 100,000 Army Number of Casualties: 99,759 Army Total Remains: 241

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References: Minecraft & 300

Minecraft: -{Bane of Arthropods IV} -{Sharpness V} -{Smite V} -{Sweeping Edge II} -{Unbreaking V} -{Fire Aspect IV}

300: -300 vs 100,000