His reinforcements had made it to battle. The crustaceans were indeed only casually pushing the battle forward on the second. The berserker ape soon changed that, ripping right through the weaklings to hit the blizzard mage and its C tier one offs. Delilah and her alternate realm forces had immediately dived through the dimensional boundary finding very little resistance. The Frozen gate forces had already sent them all forward. Krista winged overhead practically unnoticed since all eyes were on the giant ape lumbering their way.
Krista smashed right through the second frozen mage dome shield despite it being powered by an A tier and its support. A moment later she added another notch and ended this battle, before quickly winging back up. The mages were thrown into such disarray firing after the archangel that the berserker ape only took a handful of frost spells before making it to their position.
Krista was already winging forward toward the entrance to the third floor along with the other archangels, Gnther’s air division, and all the alternate realm dragons. Only one of the 12 iron glider flies had not made it. Peter had been needlessly worried by sending 12 copies on the D tier scouts. The message had been simple. Peter needed what reinforcements could make it to the front as soon as possible.
The air units found only a handful of units that could attempt to stop them on their way forward. Frozen gate had brought most of its elites forward for the final push. Word about Krista and the air units was also not traveling fast enough for them to even prepare to stop them. Any ice fiend that winged its way up to block their path was shredded since they were at most C tiers.
Delilah however would likely be well behind. They were running on the ground. Plus they had to pop back into the physical dimension to pass from floor to floor. Once again word was not being passed in time to put much effort to stop them since they only needed 15 to 20 seconds of presence before they could dive right back through the dimensional boundary on the next floor.
The berserker ape was rampaging nearly unopposed since all the elites that had been left back were already dealt with.
Delilah and the berserker ape were most definitely needed however. Krista was flying over thousands of C tiers on her way forward. There would likely be something like 20,000 in total by the time she reached the front. The demon cores would have likely just continued the attrition of C tiers fighting, if they had more time. It was clearly the knowledge of his pending reinforcements that had forced them into this final push.
The only concern was Krista and the other archangels' limited holy power. Fortunately, they had burnt only a little to finish off their conquest of the Pitfiend core, and had regained some since. However, flying at their current speed they were burning it down pretty quickly. However, Peter’s worry was only for a few minutes. Krista had just over half her holy power when she made it to the seventh floor. The B tier archangels had only a fourth, so would only be able to fight for a minute or two when they arrived on the eighth floor. It might be enough.
Krista continued right over the enemy forces, who only began to register the enemy air units' existence when she was already half way across the floor. A few fiends scrambled toward the entrance to the eighth floor to perhaps warn their commanders and other elites, but several dozen blink dragons transported right in front of the gate. They were not the most intimidating of opponents, but they were able to delay the warning for another 10 seconds.
The S tier mage was likely smugly bringing its power to bear on the cracking shield of its enemies. Peter had moved enough mages forward that Glenda and the others were having difficulty keeping the barrier up. The other two A tiers, cologne mage and galactic warlock, had both fallen to the S tier mages special attack. The unit had not been running on empty as previously assumed, the dwindling mage barriers had not been able to stop them. Peter had no doubt that the next black blob would be earmarked for Glenda assuming the tri point mage recovered enough of the special energy. Most of the 100 mining apes and other B tiers had either fallen or were fighting for their life as they were pushed back.
Peter decided he would never rip on Krista’s water skating again. He had not told her anything other than the fact he needed the reinforcements as soon as possible. The archangel had burst through the entrance without warning. She had initially arched up for greater altitude before locating the S tier mage. Her wings became vertical, eliminating lift before holy energy propelled her forward. The S tier mage barely managed to start turning due to the cries of alarm from its fellow demon backliners. The S tier that had killed several other S tiers and plenty of A tiers with one attack was cut down just as easily.
Krista immediately cut several more mages including another A tier before streaking away. Other B tier archangels had stayed low, choosing to get several kills before they also fought for altitude. Before the mages could reorient on them Gnther came in sending them all sprawling with hurricane force winds.
There were still a good 20 A tiers and hundreds of B tiers along with thousands of C tiers on the floor, but the battle momentum had instantly been lost with the elimination of the demon’s backline . Krista led her archangels toward the opposite end of the floor while Gnther’s sky gnomes and tempest fowls created general havoc in the back. The B tier archangels only got to make a few passes before they used the last of their holy power to glide to safety near Glenda.
Krista continued on killing 4 more A tiers before a claw ripped her right arm off and scored her side. The arm and celestial sword tumbled away even as the archangel climbed to safety. She ended up joining the defenders in safety for healing. They could not regrow limbs unless the unit could regrow them naturally. Peter was not sure of the extent of the S tiers holy powers, but he doubted it allowed regeneration of missing body parts. Hopefully, they would be able to find her arm to reattach it later.
With Gnther harassing the enemy mages, Glenda and C tier mages were free to let loose with their magic. A full power star fall pounded a large area wounding most of the remaining enemy elites. Hundreds of lesser magic spells shot forth into the demon masses as they all shifted to the offensive.
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The demon army did not stop with the loss of their elites. They continually fought forward, threatening to overwhelm his forces through pure numbers. Peter could only hope they were able to chew up the tens of thousands of C tiers down from both sides. A fairly difficult task given the state of many of his defenders. Already the earth strider and all the other auxiliary gnomes and dark elves were moving forward to help hold the line against the endless tide. Delilah’s arrival provided some much needed relief, but things were still spread pretty thin.
Peter could hardly worry about the word from Eli that his first floor was once again under siege from yet another demon force. It was seemingly endless. Eli’s forces had already been left behind by his beast horde. The crustaceans would slow the new army down, but likely not for long. Peter had to wonder if their owner, Eli, had asked them to proceed at everything slowly, or if this was just the crustacean unit’s nature. Regardless, it was frustrating him to no end. Eli was not even forthcoming with information. He did realize they had to win this battle, if he wanted to survive. Press ganged or not, he should be helping out to ensure his own survival.
During the next hour, all Peter could do was watch his forces whittle down thousands of demons. Elyra’s assault force had been run down from behind and had stalled due to the high casualties. Her own dungeon had just barely escaped destruction, and already Gabriel and her remaining defenders were facing yet another force of demons. Peter did not know where they were all coming from.
Predator was now in full control of his dungeon’s entrance. He had sent a force to aid Elyra’s assault. The hope was that they could knock out another one of the demon cores. Gabriel started to retake his own first few floors as did Gretchen. Eli was supposedly attacking flame whelp, but the incoming information from the core was dodgy as always. He could just as well be lying or half-assing the attack.
It was supposed to be Gabriel’s plan to put pressure on all fronts against the demon cores. None of them had any clue whether it was working. Seemingly there were always more demons to take up the mantle of any that fell. He could only hope that Gretchen, Gabriel, and Predator had some resources they had been hanging onto, because he was sure Elyra and himself would be pretty spent just defending their cores. He had already pulled up all his auxiliary forces, and his mages were past being spent.
Peter eventually sent word to his beast horde. He had some of them setting up to receive the next upcoming army. Peter sent a few metal glider flies to scout them out as soon as Eli reported his forces had fallen. Luckily they were still back on the second floor. It would give them another 20 minutes to prepare, but then Peter saw what was coming.
It was clearly another army from Bonefiend along with support from the beastfiend core based on a small horde of demon beasts . Both had likely drained heavily from their own dungeons wanting to give it their all to take Peter out. Peter saw that there were a good number of A and B tiers mixed in. Then he clearly caught sight of the S tier commander of this new force. The unit was called a bone ripper. It was a small humanoid sized unit. Its flesh was black like most pit fiends, but the head was just a skull with purple fire in each eye socket.
If Peter had run into this thing back on earth he would have been terrified, but it was far from the scariest unit that he had seen since becoming a dungeon core. However, thanks to Elyra’s fight with the guy, he knew this bone ripper had a mental attack. Peter could only assume it was a triplification unit using bonefiend, pit fiend, and the terror type that Elyra had taken out years ago to start the beef with the demon faction rookies.
Another half hour passed before the new demon force made it to the fifth floor. Where they found themselves facing only a few hundred C tiers from Peter’s beast horde. It was just a delay tactic as well as a distraction. A half hour was enough time for Delilah to make her way back. The beasts charged across the stone platforms as demon beasts charged across to meet them midway. Peter’s beasts would not last long.
Delilah had immediately found a ballista to kneel on as she sighted in on the enemy commander. Her diminutive form would have been hard to pick out from across the floor so she should be relatively safe as long as she could stay well ahead of enemy forces. Her own sight however was enhanced substantially by a monocle-like aiming aid.. As a B tier, Delilah had significantly more manna than most of his riflemen units. She however was the only one that carried tier 7 night crystal, a full two tiers above even the tier 5 black crystal, but far more powerful.
Peter did not have much of the stuff. It was the only tier 7 material he had found in the mine. The first legendary material that he had gotten in any form. There seemed to be a quantum leap in power between advanced resources (Tier 5 and 6) and legendary materials (Tier 7 and 8). Delilah was probably emptying the majority of her manna into the one sigil encrusted crystal. Through tests, they also knew that the rifle barrel would likely warp out due to the force. However, it had not seemingly affected its aim during the few tests they had conducted.
Delilah took her time, a black flare of energy should not be too noticeable in the darkened floor without some sort of sensory ability. Even with the barrel braced against the top of the ballista crossbeam, holding things steady with that much energy had to be difficult, but Delilah managed to do so for nearly a minute. Then all at once the rifle bucked up the barrel already warping as the force drove her shoulder back.
The pitch black flare of energy however streaked forward on target. Delilah had just enough time to recover from the kick, so that she could see the result. Peter was of course already watching his best close up of the enemy commander. The shot hit high on the shoulder, the S tier was knocked down and back, even as the pitch black projectile continued on into another A tier that had been in line behind the S tier. The A tier had died before it even hit the floor. However, after a few seconds the bone ripper clawed its way back to its feet.
Its right arm was gone along with the shoulder blade and some of the side. It was a wound that would be instantly fatal to a regular human, but this guy apparently could manage. Delilah's eyes widened. Realizing that she had stayed too long, she dropped the now worthless rifle as she ran for the exit. Delilah did not make it far before her body seized up midstride. She slammed down only 20 feet from the portal to the sixth floor. The bone ripper had its remaining left arm extended in her direction.
Peter felt a surge of terror himself. One felt by people in a helpless situation. His C tier beasts only lasted a couple of minutes before the demon beasts dealt with them. All the while, Peter could only watch as Delilah fought to try to claw her way forward. All she had to do was get herself through that portal, then she would likely be free from the terror attack that was locking up her body. The bone ripper had a firm unrelenting hold on her however, so progress was slow. It was immediately apparent that she would need several times the amount of time that she now had.
Delilah had only made it half way when the last friendly beast fell. The bone ripper’s hold was too powerful. Peter could only watch, his heart sinking as the demon beasts surged forward. Initially, he had felt slightly hopeful, but now she did not have a chance at escaping. A part of him died when the hairless wolf-like beast made it savaging her with its wide open maw.
Delilah screamed, but not for long. Then the demon beast dropped her before going through to the sixth floor. To it, she was just another inconsequential enemy.
