Chapter 68: The Defeat of the Gnolls
With a brief respite, the soldiers quickly regaiheir posure. Thanks to the blood-rest potions, most of them had recovered their fighting strength.
Ange, anding the soldiers to stabilize the line, once again reized the importance of the blood-rest potions.
At the same time, Ange had a clearer uanding of the timing aating power of the lord's fireball spell.
In rge-scale battles, the destructive ford intimidation of spellcasters could easily shift the bance of victory.
"Perhaps we need more spellcasters?"
Ange quickly shook off this somewhat fanciful thought.
After all, spellcasters like the lord, who were willing to a battle, were still rare.
What Ange didn't know was that Matthew, who had just cast his spell, was reveling iream of experience point notifications.
The only regret Matthew had was that despite wiping out so many gnolls, he hadn’t earned any precious skill points.
Still, Matthew wasn't disced. His strategy had been successful.
Killing over 20 gnolls had restored 55 mana points, pletely offsetting the cost of casting two fireball spells with his staff!
Matthew had a faint premonition: as his two feats tio level up, he was not far from being a true battlefield spell on!
Iingly, Matthew noticed that ia dispyed, nearly half of the gnoll warriors he killed had yielded experience points reduced by about 30%.
Matthew made a bold assumption: the effeana Drain likely came at the cost of dev some of the experience points from his kills.
However, Matthew was more than happy to make that trade!
Dead enemies were the best enemies!
Power firmly in his grasp was true strength!
Now that he had acted, Matthew decided to go all out.
Without even needing to aim precisely, he could unleash magic missiles like a mae gun, targeting the gnoll hordes with deadly accuracy.
Havilessly trained in his previous life, Matthew had raised his Magic Missile to Level 3, allowing him to fire six missiles at once, each dealing 3 points of damage!
Coupled with his 24 intelligence, his spell modifier of +7, and a +5 damage bonus, the missiles became a true force of death!
With this single skill, he took out three gnoll warriors!
This time, luck was on Matthew's side, as he activated Mana Drain twi quick succession, rec 10 mana points.
Perfectly replenishing the mana he had spent casting Magic Missile!
It was almost as if he was casting spells without any cost!
Wanting to test his true bat abilities, Matthew transformed into a Magic Missile mae gun.
He unleashed a barrage of magic missiles, effortlessly cutting through the gnoll ranks.
In the blink of ahe densely packed gnolls on the left fhinned out, the ground littered with corpses riddled with fist-sized holes.
Matthew even believed that if the gnolls kept clustering together, he could kill hundreds of them!
Of course, Matthew didn't go that far. After decimating the left fnk, he chose to stop, not wanting to reveal more of his strength.
The gnolls attag the front a suffered heavy losses, their offensive severely weakened.
Squelch!
Crack!
"Run... Run!"
"Too terrifying..."
"Ahh...!"
"We 't win... We're losing..."
"..."
The gnolls' agonized screams shattered the morale of the rest.
After witnessing the age, many of the gnolls began to flee.
Unaware of this, the gnolls on the right fnk, led by a gnoll brute, tiheir furious assault.
But the gnoll brute soon realized that the previously crumbling defenses had somehow bee imperable again.
It couldn't prehend why these human soldiers didn’t tire.
Didn’t they fear death?
Didn’t they get wounded?
"Kill...!"
The fierce battle cries came from behind the barricades as more and more human soldiers gathered, their bloodied spears relentlessly stabbing forward.
The gnolls were caught off guard and quickly suffered heavy losses, with seven ht falling immediately.
The gnoll brute itself was targeted, arrows and spears driving into its body, leaving gaping wounds.
The sharp pain she gnoll brute out of its delusions of grandeur.
"The human soldiers' numbers have suddenly increased. Could it be that their reinforts have arrived?"
"It's highly possible! After all, their numbers sometimes seem greater thahe kobolds..."
"Should we tinue fighting?"
"Wait, why has the sound of battle from the other dires already gone silent?"
Feeling a growing sense of dread, the gnoll brute finally realized that its rades were rapidly dwindling.
Some gnoll scouts had even started openly retreating.
The gnolls attag from the other dires had left nothing but corpses behind.
For the first time, the overwhelming stench of blood dide the brute but instead filled it with a deep, soul-crushing fear.
The gnoll brute couldn't accept this reality.
"This is impossible!"
As the terrifying thought crossed its mind, a deadly sense of impending doom seized it.
A bright red fireball flew from behind the barricade, and with a deafening explosion, it engulfed the gnolls.
Feeling the intense heat of the fmes, the gnoll brute prepared to make o charge.
Its limited experieh spellcasters remi that they could only attack a certain number of times. If it could just hold out...
Boom!
A searing fireball enveloped the brute’s position, the scorg fmes snuffing out its st shred of hope, plunging it iernal darkness.
"Ding! Your dragonborn kobold, Silverfang, has sin ae gnoll brute, earning 140 experience points."
As Matthew logged the data, he became acutely aware of the vast gulf between normal batants aes. The doubled experience points served as a stant reminder.
With the death of the st gnoll brute, the remaining gnolls desded into utter chaos, fleeing in all dires.
The sudden battle ended.
The gnolls had suffered devastating losses, with only about a hundred managing to escape!
Ange looked to Matthew fuidance, but he merely shook his head and poio the injured soldiers, saying:
"Prioritize treating all the wouo prevent any sting damage."
Matthew’s care for his soldiers and his regard for the welfare of the territory's inhabitants were well-known and respected.
Ange, deeply admiring this trait in her lord, annouhe victory and immediately began anizing relief efforts.
The soldiers, finally able to rex, broke out in cheers:
"They're running..."
"We’ve won!"
"Victory!"
"Wait, when did I get this wound on my leg?"
"What are you waiting for? Drink a blood-rest potion before you bleed out!"
"Get that wound ed up..."
"Don’t even think about grabbing the loot yet, e lie down first..."
"..."
--------------------------------------------------------
Some pictures of ses from the previous chapter:
Old John Sshing Through the Barricade
The Gnoll Brute Attacked by Arrows and Spears
Matthew Unleashing a Double-Cast Fireball Spell
FAL
