Chapter 22: Corpses of the Fallen

The outcome was exactly what Koda had expected.

The senior demon officer was retreating.

His Meteor Shower had devastated both armies, but the spell had consumed an enormous amount of infernal energy. His face was pale, his breathing ragged, and the runes on his armor had dimmed. Whatever reserves he had left were barely enough to sustain another powerful spell.

Even if he could summon another Meteor Shower, it would accomplish little. The elven commanders had already begun turning the battle around.

The lesser demons were being slaughtered. The infernal archers had lost most of their protection, and the succubi were suffering heavy casualties as the resurrected elven warriors pushed through their ranks.

The officer surveyed the battlefield and reached a decision.

"All surviving high-ranking demons, hold the enemy back!" he commanded. "The rest of you, buy me enough time to withdraw!"

Several demons turned toward him in disbelief.

"You’re abandoning us?" one of the abyssal demons roared.

The officer did not answer.

Instead, he turned and began retreating toward the rear of the battlefield.

"You coward!" another demon shouted. "You summoned us here with promises of spoils and souls! Now you expect us to die while you run?"

The officer’s expression remained cold.

"Obey your contracts!"

The words struck harder than any weapon.

The surviving high-ranking demons had entered the war through infernal summoning contracts. The rewards had been generous, and the conditions had appeared reasonable when they first agreed. They had expected a profitable campaign, an opportunity to slaughter enemies, and a chance to collect the spoils of war.

They had not expected to be sacrificed to cover their summoner’s escape.

Yet the contracts bound them to his commands.

One of the great demons swung his weapon at an approaching elven warrior, splitting the soldier’s shield in half. A second elf drove a spear into his side, and the demon staggered.

"May the Abyss devour you, Vaelric’s whelp!" he roared toward the retreating officer. "If we meet again in the depths of Hell, I’ll tear your horns from your skull!"

A flash of magic struck him before he could continue.

His massive body dissolved into a cloud of ash.

Koda watched everything from beneath the cover of the fallen centaur captain.

He had suspected the officer would abandon his weaker soldiers when the situation became unfavorable. Seeing it happen confirmed his judgment.

The powerful did not necessarily protect their subordinates. Sometimes, they viewed them as nothing more than expendable resources.

’Good thing I never trusted him.’

The officer raised his weapon and gathered the remaining energy around his body. A brief distortion rippled through the air.

Then he vanished.

He had used his remaining power to teleport away from the battlefield.

The surviving demons cursed him, but none could change what had happened. Their summoner had escaped, leaving them to face the advancing elves alone.

Koda remained motionless.

If he had been standing beside the officer when the retreat began, he would almost certainly have been ordered to stay behind. His position as a Vanguard Leader might have given him authority over weaker demons, but it would not have protected him from a command issued by someone vastly stronger.

He had survived because he had stayed out of the officer’s immediate circle of trust.

More importantly, he had refused to stake his life on another demon’s promises.

The elven forces surged forward.

Their wyverns rose into the smoke-filled sky, spreading their wings as the remaining high-ranking demons struggled to hold the line. The elven commanders followed with their surviving troops, determined not to let the infernal officer escape.

They had suffered heavy losses, and allowing their enemy to withdraw without pursuit would only invite another attack.

Still, the elves did not abandon their dead.

A small detachment remained behind to collect the fallen warriors while the main force continued its pursuit. The soldiers moved carefully through the scorched battlefield, extinguishing lingering flames and searching beneath the rubble for survivors.

Koda listened to their movements.

He had assumed the elves would pursue the fleeing officer immediately, leaving the battlefield unattended. Instead, they had assigned several dozen soldiers to recover their dead.

That complicated his escape.

He could not remain beneath the corpses forever. The acid from the green dragon’s breath had already caused enough pain, and the centaur’s weight was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

Worse, his position would be exposed if the elves began moving the bodies.

He needed an opportunity to leave without attracting attention.

Unfortunately, the soldiers were thorough.

They gathered the bodies of their fallen comrades and separated them from the remains of the demons. Some warriors had been burned beyond recognition, leaving little more than blackened fragments. Others had been crushed beneath rocks or torn apart by the explosions.

The elves could not resurrect them all.

The commander who had used Resurrection had already expended much of his magical strength. More importantly, the souls of the dead could only remain near their bodies for a limited time before departing or dissipating.

Once that window passed, restoring the body would not restore the person.

Without a soul, resurrection could produce nothing more than an empty corpse, potentially leaving behind a mindless undead creature.

The elves refused to subject their fallen comrades to such a fate.

Instead, they prepared to carry the bodies away for proper burial.

Koda watched through a narrow gap between the corpses.

Several dwarven soldiers approached his hiding place. One of them noticed the pile of centaur bodies and called for assistance.

"Help me move these! There may be some of our wounded underneath!"

Two dwarves hurried over.

The first grabbed the nearest centaur corpse and began dragging it away.

Koda’s muscles tightened.

The body shifted.

A dark red patch of exposed scales appeared beneath it.

The dwarf stopped.

For one brief moment, he stared at the unnatural shape beneath the corpse, apparently struggling to understand what he was seeing.

Then Koda’s tail lashed out.

The pointed tip pierced the dwarf’s neck before he could raise the alarm.

His eyes widened.

Koda pulled him closer, then shoved the corpse aside and rose from the pile.

The remaining dwarves stumbled backward.

A towering black-scaled demon stood before them, his ember-red eyes fixed on their faces. His armor was scorched, and green acid still clung to several patches of his scales. His bone talons extended from his fists with a sharp, scraping sound.

A thin black haze curled around his body.

For a moment, none of the dwarves moved.

Then one of them shouted, "Demon! Kill it!"

Koda struck first.

His tail whipped sideways, throwing the dead dwarf into two approaching soldiers. Before they could regain their balance, Koda lunged forward and drove his claws through the nearest dwarf’s armor.

The soldier collapsed.

The others finally reacted, drawing their weapons and rushing him from several directions.

Koda dropped onto all fours.

His powerful legs propelled him across the ground, allowing him to slip beneath a swinging hammer. He struck the wielder’s knee, twisted around, and opened the dwarf’s throat with his talons.

The remaining soldiers surrounded him.

Their formation was better than he had expected, but these were not frontline warriors. They had been left behind to recover corpses, not fight a surviving demon alone.

Koda had no intention of giving them time to organize.

He seized one dwarf by the leg and hurled him into another. Both crashed against the ground with a sickening impact.

A hammer came flying toward his head.

Koda sensed the movement and raised his hand.

Psychokinesis caught the weapon in midair.

For a brief instant, it hung motionless between them.

Then Koda reversed its momentum.

The hammer shot back toward its owner and struck him in the head, dropping him instantly.

The dwarves pressed forward again.

Koda met them without hesitation.

He had no reason to show mercy to soldiers who would kill him if given the chance. Every second spent fighting increased the risk that the elven commanders would notice the disturbance and return.

He needed to finish this quickly.

Several minutes later, the last dwarf fell.

Koda stood among the scattered bodies, breathing heavily. His wounds still burned from the dragon’s acid, and the battle had drained more of his strength than he liked.

But he was alive.

He looked toward the distant battlefield. The remaining elven soldiers had heard the commotion, yet most were already occupied with their duties. Beyond them, the main army had disappeared into the smoke in pursuit of the fleeing demon officer.

Koda slowly flexed his fingers.

Only then did he notice the lights.

Small spheres of spiritual energy floated above the battlefield, scattered among the corpses like fireflies. Some were faint, while others shone brightly enough to catch his attention from several paces away.

Koda’s expression changed.

The battlefield had claimed countless lives, and the remnants of their energy had not yet dispersed.

He could not afford to linger here indefinitely. The elves might return, and his injuries still needed attention.

Nevertheless, the sight presented an opportunity he could not ignore.

Koda had survived the battle by refusing to fight on someone else’s terms.

Now, if he could gather what the fallen had left behind without exposing himself, he might turn the aftermath of this massacre into something useful.

He lowered his body and moved toward the nearest sphere.